For more than one hundred years, especially for more than half a century, Hong Xiuquan has been a myth in China. It was not until June 2000, after the publication of Teacher Pan's Miscellanies of Peace, that this myth began to burst.
In fact, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War was really a great tragedy. Its duration, scale, loss and influence are unprecedented in the history of China. In terms of population loss alone and the cruelty and destructiveness of both sides, it is also unique in world history. Even with modern equipment, including atomic bombs, World War II, with battlefields all over the world, is unmatched. The hurricane set off by Taiping Army swept through, and Lushe was a rubble market.
After taking off for many years, it is still devastated and desolate. The densely populated middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which is located in the center of the storm, is the area where Taiping Army and Qing Army repeatedly compete for burning and killing, and it is even more devastated.
Teacher Sun Yat-sen was born in 1866, only two years after the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the aftermath has not stopped. His hometown is not far from Hong Xiuquan's hometown. This is not surprising. When he was young, he heard the story of Hong Xiuquan and planted the seeds of anti-Qing in his young heart.
After Hong Xiuquan's death 10 years, Huang Xing, who was born in Hunan, also talked about his influence by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: "The motive force of my revolution was to read the Miscellaneous History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom when I was young. But seeing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom since jintian uprising, at first their brothers were quite knowledgeable and helped each other, so they were able to sweep Huguang and open up Jinling. Unfortunately, later, because their brothers were selfish, they fought for power and profit, killing each other and failed. When I read history, I feel angry and sigh. "
When the founding fathers of the Republic of China were young, shortly after the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the story of Hong Xiuquan resolutely raising the flag against the Qing Dynasty undoubtedly provided them with a ready-made example. But Hong Xiuquan's influence on them was limited to the anti-Qing movement.
After more than a century, the truth of history finally surfaced. After decades of thinking, Mr. Pan finally passed through the aura and fog of the past and returned to the scene and real history. Let's discover the scenes of ugliness, debauchery, shamelessness, barbarism, cruelty and superstition in this world once shrouded in sacred veil.
Hong Xiuquan tried many times, and there was a long preparation stage before plotting "river crab". 1In May, 844, he and his only companion, Feng Yunshan, went to the mountainous area of Guangxi to publicize his "Worship to God". Because of slow progress and hard life, he was impatient and left in just a few months. Three years later, when Feng Yunshan went through all the hardships to gain a foothold in Amethyst Mountain, he did so with great fanfare, which soon put worship in danger. At this time, he hid. After learning the news of Feng Yunshan's arrest, why did the leader ask the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi for help and flee from Guangxi? Feng was rescued by other believers before 1849 returned to the mountain. This is Hong Xiuquan 185 1 years ago. Feng Yunshan, who is good at physiognomy, would have become a human god if he deliberately created God. As the banner of * river crab *, nothing may happen in the future.
185 1 year, within a few days of starting his army in Jintian village, Hong Xiuquan couldn't wait to call himself the "King of Heaven" because he didn't even occupy a county. Just entered Yong 'an town, sealed the king and made a wish to the whole army. Starting from Guangxi, all the way out, all young and middle-aged people who captured a place and had no time to escape were coerced into joining the army or beheaded. The punishment is also extremely harsh. In addition to beheading, there are five horses and intestines. The scariest thing is "lighting up the sky". The so-called "lighting the sky" means that the prisoner is stripped naked, wrapped in linen, soaked in oil drums and lit at night. So before entering Nanjing, his team suddenly changed from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Entering Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, they were overjoyed. On the one hand, they carried out large-scale construction and built comfortable nests for a few people, on the other hand, they turned Nanjing into a big military camp. Men and women are divided into men and women, and husband and wife cannot live together. The military and civilians are not allowed to own private property, and normal business is cancelled and the supply system is implemented. It means "heaven", but it is actually "grave". It means "paradise on earth", but it's actually just a hell on earth.
Hong Xiuquan had more than a dozen concubines before he published "The River Crab". When Yong 'an broke through, it increased to 36 people. After the capital of Nanjing was established, there were a lot of beauty contests, and the magnificent Tianwangfu was full of beautiful women. According to his son's confession, he has 88 wives and 1000 maids at his disposal. So he can only use numbers, such as the thirtieth wife, the eighty-first wife and so on. Since then, Hong Xiuquan, who is only forty years old, has never left home. He only went to the fields a few times before 1864 committed suicide. Its dissolute and shameless degree is even worse than that of emperors in previous dynasties. Teacher Pan said that through today's nouveau riche, we can get a glimpse of Hong and Yang's thoughts, which is not bad. The purpose of small farmers to conquer the world and dominate the world is clearly expressed by Ah Q, which is nothing more than "Oh Mom" and a spring bed, that is, a woman with wealth and splendor. Whose "paradise" is this? Isn't it obvious? Among his poems, there is a book called "Jin Jia Xin Yue Fu", which truly describes the tragic scene of the "involuntary" beauty pageant at that time: "Today, unfortunately, it is a woman, especially a woman. Wang Lingchuan ordered the election of Wang Niang, and the mother and daughter were at loggerheads. They patrolled Li's front door, and the military commander searched the museum with cymbals. The big one escaped from the dark outside the museum, and the little one escaped into the old woman's bed. " The so-called woman refers to a woman; Female, refers to the virgin, that is, the folk call the yellow flower girl. It seems that many princes in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have a hobby of raping young girls and virgins. At this point, they are birds of a feather with the ancient emperor.
Besides Hong Xiuquan, Yang has the most women. 1854, less than a year after the capital Tianjing was established, Yang had 36 virgins, namely Wang Niang. Two years later, before his death, the team had expanded to 56 people. It is said that Yang's lewdness is far above Hong Xiuquan's. It was Yang's personal doctor who revealed the secret. Yang's eyes are already uncomfortable. After the establishment of Tianjing, the official business was busy and his condition deteriorated, so he hired a famous doctor to treat his eyes. According to the doctor's later recollection, Yang had to rely on longan and other drugs to nourish yin and tonify kidney because of excessive sexual life.
Besides the King of Heaven and the Five Kings of Yongan, there is another person who enjoys this privilege. This person is Qin Rigang.
Hong Xiuquan entered Nanjing in 1853, probably second only to the Nanjing Massacre of the Japanese army in 1938. All Manchu officials, Manchu people, intellectuals, monks and nuns, monks and businessmen, regardless of gender, age, will be beheaded. Many people were humiliated and killed, so their families committed suicide. Nanjing is full of blood. The cultural relics and historic sites in the ancient capital were seriously damaged, and a hundred schools of thought contended, and books were banned and burned, which was more thorough than Qin Shihuang. This is not only a massacre of life, but also a destruction of culture and civilization. Looking through the folk notes of the Qing Dynasty, there was a stage when the words "captured", "defiled by women" and "killed" appeared most frequently, and they were often few words. When they meet thieves, or disobey thieves, or even sit at home, they will be punished by God. The notes are simple, no sadness, no crying, no wailing, but very clear.
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Revolutionary Myth or Heresy?
"Abandoned his wife and mother hiding in the mountains, hunger strike for three days, mother is hungry, begging. The thief met him, forced him to give in and called him names. In a rage, the thief cut off his leg and cooked his rice. It's just a case in which a thief died by caesarean section. In the notes of the Qing dynasty, there are many incidents about escaping into the mountains behind my mother's back and being caught and killed. As for folk writers, there will only be more people who have never seen or heard of them. The thief mentioned here is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
There are several cases in the notes of the Qing dynasty that are really outrageous. "I am pregnant for several months, so I can't travel. I was cursed and then killed. " I am pregnant. I cried and scolded when I saw Gu Zhou killed. If a thief is angry, he will die. "A thief burned his neck with a whip, then cut his chest and abdomen and died." How crazy is it to hack a pregnant woman to death? In addition, wherever the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom went, Buddhist temples were completely destroyed, and there were many cases in which monks or gentry were killed to protect the Buddha statue.
In the eyes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, honest officials, Manchu, monks and nuns, gentry businessmen, intellectuals and so on. They were all regarded as "demons", plundered and slaughtered. "Any prisoner who looks at his hands, such as those with rosy palms and no heavy cocoons on his fingers, will be punished." . Because of the indiscriminate killing, Yang got an eye disease and offered a reward of 12 thousand silver for his treatment. As a result, no one called because the doctors were killed.
"All evil songs and plays will be stopped. If there is a gathering of people, the whole line will be paralyzed. " The criminal law of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can be described as a savage and ignorant Yu Dacheng. One of them said, "All brothers should be familiar with the doctrine of praise. If you are unfamiliar with the reporter after three weeks, you will be beheaded. " If you can't read well, you will be beheaded, which can be seen.
One year on the Double Ninth Festival, the kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a whim and simply held a meeting to climb mountains and run naked. According to the selected female year, "On the Double Ninth Festival, a group of thieves held a banquet in Zhongshan, snatched hundreds of women, snatched all their clothes and trousers and rushed down the mountain. They are naked and have nowhere to hide. The thief looked at the top of the mountain and thought he was laughing. " The streaking conference was a great success, with colorful flags fluttering and gongs and drums roaring. It is also recorded in the book that in the second year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Army captured Daozhou, the hometown of the great calligrapher He, dug up the body of his mother who had just died a year from the tomb and peed on the mouth of the body. "After getting dressed, take a stallion and drive it to his home. He is naked and looks ugly. " That is, the male dog's genitals are cut off and inserted into the lower part of the female corpse to be exposed.
1856 bloody massacre, named "Yang Wei infighting", is actually "Hongyang infighting". This fratricidal war, which had a profound impact on the fate of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was caused by Wang Yang's greed for "artifacts" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, forcing Hong Xiuquan and his son to call "Long live". Hongmi ordered Wei Changhui, the king of the North, to return to Beijing from the front overnight and kill the East Palace.
1863 12, facing extinction, Hong Xiuquan flatly rejected Li Xiucheng's plea of "staying in the city". He would rather die than leave his "Little Paradise" and comfort zone, denouncing and cursing Li Xiucheng: "I am an iron bucket, but no one helps me, someone will. If there are no soldiers, there are more heavenly soldiers than water. " Nanjing is under siege, and the food in the city is about to run out. He called on the military and civilians to feed on manna. Before breaking the city, he committed suicide by taking poison in despair, instead of sharing life and death with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. After the city was broken, there were only 10,000 people left in the metropolis with a population of 200,000 to 300,000, which was almost an empty city.
There is a book called Interview with Shield Nose, which contains an amazing and painful statement about the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The book said: "By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the cycle of dynasty change had ended, the government's ruling machine was completely rusty, and society was plagued by various diseases. Hong Xiuquan, a typical "three villages" local school teacher, was frustrated in the exam. In the name of "God-fearing Association", he gathered in Guangxi and established a dream "Little Paradise". A group of fanatical believers were caught up with Liangshan, turning religious beliefs into political forces, which eventually led to a great tragedy of countless deaths and injuries in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. " The book uses "countless people died" to describe this huge tragedy, but it doesn't say how many people died.
There are no residents in twenty or thirty miles in southern Jiangsu, and the population in some places is only one fifth.
Zhejiang province, a piece of ashes, way? Looking at each other, most of the previously well-fed families became hungry.
Anhui province, southern Anhui, "there is no farming in the wild, no smoke in the village, and people in the city eat each other"; In northern Anhui, "but there are white bones with yellow stems, no residents' towns, no one." "
Hundreds of miles away in Jiangxi, "I can't smell the sound of chickens and dogs, but I see the hungry people die in the road."
How many people died in this great tragedy is still a mystery. 1883 An American missionary said that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War cost China 50 million people.
At that time, US Ambassador to China William W. Rockhill estimated that the death toll caused by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War was 20 million. This is an estimate made by foreigners in China at that time, and there is not much factual basis. On the basis of conclusive historical data, contemporary population historians in China have re-estimated this and formed two opinions. The first opinion is that from 185 1 to 1864, the population of China decreased by 40%, and the absolute loss was1600,000, according to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, from 0755 to 790. The second opinion compares the pre-war population data with the census data of Xuan Tong in 19 1 1 year, and holds that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War caused at least 54 million people to die excessively in Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces. If the population losses in Hunan, Guangxi, Fujian, Sichuan and other battlefields are counted, the population losses caused by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War in China are at least 654.38 billion, and the direct excess death is 70 million.
No matter which of the above estimates is true, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War is not only an unprecedented catastrophe in the history of China, but also the most cruel war in the history of all mankind, because the Second World War only caused 50 million people to die excessively.
Who was more autocratic in ancient Europe or China?
Our history is often taken out of context. For example, Marx is quoted in the textbook: "The China Revolution threw Mars into the mine, and Europe will follow suit." But the textbook doesn't tell us that when Marx learned the truth about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he said, "They didn't set any tasks except changing the dynasty. They are more terrible to the people than to those in power. Their mission lies in grotesque destruction. "
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom regime is quite backward in thought and system, even behind the Qing Dynasty regime. There has never been a system of the integration of politics and religion in the history of China, which is the advantage of ancient China over ancient Europe. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is a typical system of integration of politics and religion. Once completed, wouldn't it bring China back to the dark Middle Ages? How can rational intellectuals, such as Zeng Guofan, support such a regime?