First, the division of the leading group of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom made Tianjing its capital, it promulgated and implemented a series of systems and policies, and carried out the Northern Expedition, the Western Expedition and the siege war outside Tianjing. By the first half of 1856, except for the defeat in the Northern War, the Taiping Army had won great victories in Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui and other battlefields, defeating the Jiangbei camp in Yangzhou and the Jiangnan camp in Zhenjiang and Tianjing, reaching its military heyday. However, military victory does not mean the consolidation of political power. On the contrary, various contradictions and weaknesses in the uprising ranks have become more and more obvious.
Inside the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the composition is increasingly complex, involving many landlords, gentry, petty officials, businessmen, refugees and defeated brave people. Some of them are hidden enemies, some are speculators who follow the trend, and quite a few people are forced to participate. These people sow dissension among the Taiping Army, instigated flight and mutiny, and even secretly communicated with the Qing army in an attempt to destroy from within, which brought great harm to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Zhang Yu's rebellion in Tianjin in 1854 is a prominent example. Zhang was born in the Qing Dynasty. When the Taiping Army attacked Nanjing, he participated in organizing the reactionary forces in the city. After the Taiping Army conquered Nanjing, he entered the Taiping Army's Northern Code and official residence under the pseudonym of Ye Zhifa, lurking down, spreading rumors and provoking the relationship between Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan in an attempt to make the Taiping Army kill each other. He colluded with the hidden reactionary Wu, wooed a few defenders in Weaving Camp, Earth Camp and Wooden Camp and some defenders in Shuiximen, secretly contacted Jiangnan Camp, and passed secret information many times, so as to act as an insider when the Qing army attacked the city. 1In March of 854, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cracked the rebellion in time, and Zhang and his associates were arrested and executed.
The ideal of absolute egalitarianism in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not and cannot be realized in rural and urban areas. Although the feudal relations of production were impacted and destroyed to some extent, they were still preserved or restored. The political power established on the basis of such a society is bound to have feudal attributes at the same time, and this feudalism will become increasingly strong with the development of the situation. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom promulgated a set of etiquette system that "grades should be divided up and down, and the system should judge grades". From the heavenly king to the ordinary soldier, the ranks are very strict. When the king travels, the officers and men must avoid the roadside and shout long live or chitose, otherwise hell to pay. Kings and princes are hereditary. These situations show that the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom tried to ensure their authority and consolidate the order of the kingdom through the feudal hierarchy.
After the capital was Tianjing, the ideological style of the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom changed. In the early days of the uprising, the simple ideological style of "wearing sandals and walking with peers" was mostly abandoned and replaced by the pursuit of power, fame and wealth and luxurious life. After the Taiping Army entered Nanjing, it immediately launched a large-scale construction, expanded the Governor's Office of Liangjiang into a Heavenly Palace, demolished a large number of houses, and used thousands of male and female laborers. It was "half a year's work, extremely magnificent" and was destroyed by fire. 1854, rebuilt on the original site, the Guanting Lin Yuan, Fiona Fang more than ten miles, "resplendent". "Luxury is unparalleled." The buildings in East Wang Fu are also "extremely exquisite and pleasing to the eye". Wearing clothes, clothes, horses and chariots is extremely luxurious. In addition, Tianwang constantly selects folk women to be officials. These conditions show that the life of the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom became very luxurious and corrupt after they entered Tianjing.
The relationship between the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom gradually alienated. The original "sleep and eat, love the same flesh and blood" has become "mutual suspicion", and the sectarian color is increasingly obvious. Hong Xiuquan spent a lot of energy on religious theology writing, divorced from the practice of struggle and the masses. Yang, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai and others formed their own groups through their families, relatives and subordinates, and each controlled a part of the army. Yang has mastered most of the military and political power, so Dongfu Group is the most powerful. The power struggle between these groups has become increasingly fierce. 1In September, 856, the leading group of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom split openly.
Yang has outstanding political and military talents, and his leading position is inseparable from his great development in the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, with the development of the uprising and the rise of personal power, Yang's tendency to be arrogant and overbearing has become increasingly serious, and he is "arrogant and arrogant, but he does not know how to avoid it". (1) Whip or execute Taiping soldiers at will. Wei Changhui, North China King, Qin Rigang, Yan Wang and other senior officials have all been whipped by him. Even because Hong Xiuquan treated concubines and female officials rudely, Yang borrowed "fatherless blood" to punish him. Yang's overbearing style expanded his contradiction with Hong, Wei, Shi and Qin. 1856 In August and September, the Jiangnan camp was defeated and the siege of Tianjing was temporarily lifted. Yang took the opportunity to further expand his personal power, "forcing the heavenly king to go to the east to seal him long live." (2) Although Hong Xiuquan agreed to Yang's request, he immediately ordered Wei Changhui of Jiangxi and Shi Dakai of Hubei to return to Tianjing quickly.
Wei Changhui was dissatisfied with Yang Zao, but on the surface he flattered Yang. His brother and Yang's aunt fought over the house, and he even tortured his brother to pieces. Wei Changhui's purpose in buttering up Yang is to "seize the world". (3) After receiving Hong Xiuquan's tip-off, Wei Changhui immediately led more than 3,000 confidant troops to Tianjing late at night on September 1, surrounded Dongdong and killed Yang and his family in the early morning of the next day. With the scuffle in Beijing the day after tomorrow, more than 20,000 outstanding generals and soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom died. After this massacre, Wei Changhui took control of Tianjing and monopolized the military and political power, resulting in a terrible situation in Tianjing.
In mid-September, Shi Dakai arrived in Tianjin from Hubei. After he returned to Tianjing, he blamed Wei Changhui for killing indiscriminately. Wei Changhui tried to kill Shi Dakai again. Shi Dakai fled to Anqing overnight after hearing the news, and all his youngest sons in Tianjing were killed by Wei Changhui. So Shi Dakai mobilized troops in Anhui and stationed near Ningguo, demanding that Hong Xiuquan punish Wei Changhui. Wei Changhui's massacre and fighting violence with violence aroused the anger of the vast number of soldiers in Tianjing. Hong Xiuquan accepted the soldier's request and killed Wei Changhui and more than 200 of his confidants in early June 165438+, ending Wei Changhui's two-month reign of terror in Tianjing.
1At the end of October, Shi Dakai returned to Tianjin. Hong Xiuquan ordered him to manage government affairs and "enjoy the DPRK". However, after the Yang Wei incident, Hong Xiuquan also had doubts about Shi Dakai, so he made his eldest brother Hong Renfa an Wang and his second brother Hong Renda an Wang to contain Shi Dakai. Shi Dakai was forced to leave Tianjing in June 1857 and led the troops to fight independently. His actions greatly dispersed and weakened the power of the Taiping Army and facilitated the enemy's attack.
Shi Dakai led his troops from Anqing and started activities in Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian and other provinces at first, but the situation was unfavorable after repeated wars and defeats. From 65438 to 0859, he moved to Hunan, Guangxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other provinces and defeated the Qing army many times, which played a certain role in promoting mass uprisings in these areas. However, after he left Tianjing, he fought alone, did not establish a base area, and the supply of food and weapons was difficult. The combat effectiveness of the troops is weakening day by day, the morale of the army is gradually weakening, and separatist regimes and rebellions are constantly appearing. 1In May of 863, Shi Dakai was surrounded by the Qing army in Daduhezi Land (Anshunchang) in Sichuan. He fought many defeats and suffered heavy casualties. There are only more than 7,000 people under his command, and food is cut off. Shi Dakai was desperate and took his five-year-old sons Shi and Zaifu Zeng Shihe into the Qing camp, hoping to stop the last resistance in exchange for preserving the remains. This is obviously an unrealistic fantasy. His remaining 2,000 people were slaughtered by the Qing army overnight, and the rest who had been demobilized were killed in succession. Shi Dakai himself was taken to Chengdu and executed in Lingchi. "When he died, he looked cheerful" and "neither supercilious nor flattering". ①
The split of the leading group of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has brought extremely serious consequences. It destroyed internal unity, weakened the combat effectiveness of the army, damaged the vitality of the army, and lost the favorable opportunity to win and annihilate the enemy. The Qing government took the opportunity to rally all reactionary forces to fight back. The situation in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has gone from bad to worse. /kloc-at the end of 0/856, Wuchang and Hanyang fell back into the hands of the enemy, and then most of Jiangxi was captured by the Qing army. The Qing army rebuilt the camps in Jiangbei and Jiangnan, and captured Zhenjiang and besieged Tianjing in February 1857 and 65438+. 1in may of 858, Lin qirong, commander of Jiujiang Taiping army, led 17000 people to fight fiercely with the Qing army, all of whom died heroically.
Second, the situation after the split and the proposal of a "new chapter for senior minister"
After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leadership group split, the situation was frustrated. Hong Xiuquan promoted Chen Yucheng, Li Xiucheng and Li Shixian, young generals who fought bloody battles with the Qing army for many years, to be captains of various armies. They led the Taiping Army to fight hard and saved the crisis.
1858 In August, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng called generals from all walks of life to hold a military meeting in Bayang Town (southeast of Tongcheng County), Anhui Province, and decided to adopt the policy of joint operations to jointly lift the siege of Tianjing by the Qing army. In September, Chen and Li joined forces in Chuzhou and attacked Pukou. They defeated Jiangbei Camp again, annihilated more than 10,000 people, conquered Jiangpu and Pukou, opened the traffic between Tianjing and Jiangbei, and lifted the blockade of Tianjing by the Qing army in Jiangbei. Hong Xiuquan renamed Jiangpu area as Pu Tian Province, and sent heavy troops to station.
While Taiping Army attacked Jiangbei Camp, Li, the main force of Xiang Army, took advantage of Jiujiang to attack Anhui, which matched Luzhou's throat sanhe town. 165438+1At the beginning of October, Chen Yucheng heard the news from Jiangpu to the west, and went straight into Baishishan and Jinniuling in southeast sanhe town, bypassing the back road of Xiang Army. Li Xiucheng came to help on orders from Hong Xiuquan. The Taiping army stormed in the fog, and Li was in a panic. He tried his best to break through, but he couldn't get out. After fierce fighting, Taiping Army destroyed all the camps of Xiang Army, killed more than 400 civil and military officials including Zeng Guofan's younger brother and thousands of Xiang Army, and Li committed suicide. This was a great blow to Zeng Guofan's Xiang army. He had to admit: "The defeat of the Three Rivers wiped out nearly 6,000 people in Hunan, which was not a disaster, and the morale of our city was not good." ①
After the victory of Three Rivers, the morale of Taiping Army rose again. Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng led the troops to pursue 56-point attack, and the Qing army besieged Anqing fled without fighting, and the northern part of Anhui was returned to the Taiping Army. 1859 In March, Chen Yucheng and Nian Army defeated the Qing army outside Luzhou and captured Anhui Governor Li. In southern Anhui, 1858 65438+ In February, Li Shixian defeated the Qing army in Ningguowan Town, killing the prefect Deng Shaoliang, which turned the tables. In Jiangxi, Yang Fuqing captured Jingdezhen in February 1858 and 65438+, and repeatedly defeated Zhang Department of Xiang Army, which contained Zeng Guofan's troops. The situation in the upper reaches of Tianjin has temporarily stabilized.
1in April, 859, Hong Rengan came to Tianjin from Hongkong. After jintian uprising, Hong Rengan was arrested by the Qing army and took refuge in Hong Kong on 1852. He personally contacted some western capitalist cultures in Hong Kong, and was deeply influenced by Christianity because of his frequent contact with foreign missionaries. Shortly after he arrived in Tianjin, he was made king and prime minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Because of the dissatisfaction of the generals, Hong Xiuquan soon made Chen Yucheng king of England, Li Xiuwei loyal to the king, and the rest were successively made kings.
Hong Rengan put forward to Hong Xiuquan a plan of overall planning-Senior Minister's New Chapter. (2) Politically, he advocates that the key to legislation is to "only care about trying to choose the right person". The so-called "trying" is to formulate laws and systems. He pointed out the importance of legislation and thought that Britain became "the strongest country at that time because of its good laws." He opposed the "party alliance" and emphasized that "arrogance should be small, top-down and power should be unified" in view of the tendency of decentralization and centrifugation at that time.
Economically, Hong Rengan advocates imitating western capitalism and developing modern transportation, including building railways, highways, roads, navigation and postal services. Develop financial undertakings, including setting up banks, issuing paper money and promoting insurance. He also advocated rewarding private mining and developing "boat skills" such as steamboats and ships.
In terms of ideology, culture, customs and habits, he advocated the establishment of learning halls and hospitals, the construction of disabled homes for the blind and deaf, widows' homes, small churches and nurseries, the prohibition of temples, the transformation of eight evils of yin and yang, the elimination of nine evils, the prohibition of infant drowning, human trafficking and the use of handmaiden, and the prohibition of opium import. He also criticized the style of study as "unpractical, specializing in prose". In the witty remarks of prose without floating, he advocated "writing on the spot" and "speaking with heart" and "being practical and clear, making people clear at a glance" with a simple style. ①
In diplomacy, Hong Rengan advocates free trade and cultural exchanges with capitalist countries, but does not allow outsiders to interfere in the internal affairs and "national laws" of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Hong Rengan's proposal has a distinctive capitalist color, which conforms to the objective requirements of social development in China at that time and is a great progress compared with the original egalitarian ideal of farmers. He not only attaches importance to cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries and absorbs advanced foreign science and technology, but also advocates adopting some relevant policies of western capitalist countries. He surpassed some contemporary landlord class intellectuals in "learning from the West". However, the "Senior Minister's New Chapter" did not arouse a positive reaction within the Taiping Army, and it was never implemented, except that Hong Xiuquan said that most of them agreed. Hong Rengan's thoughts and ideas had nothing to do with the peasant war in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, were not the product of peasant war practice, and did not reflect the most urgent interests and demands of peasants at that time.
Although the victory of Taiping Army in Pukou and Sanhe improved the situation, Tianjing was still surrounded by Jiangnan camp. Hong Rengan, Li Xiucheng and others agreed on strategies to understand the siege of Tianjing. 1in March, 860, Li Xiucheng sent Indiana Jones to capture Hangzhou, forcing Jiangnan camp to divide its troops for rescue, and then voluntarily withdrew its troops and returned to Tianjing. At the end of April, Li Xiucheng, Chen Yucheng and other five armies stormed the Jiangnan camp. In May, the Jiangnan camp was destroyed again, and the imperial envoys Chun and Zhang led the remnants to Danyang. The Taiping Army pursued victory and connected Danyang, Changzhou and Wuxi. The Qing army was defeated, Zhang fell into the water and died in Danyang, while He Shen committed suicide in Hushuguan. In June, Taiping Army successively conquered Suzhou, Jiaxing, Songjiang and other counties, opened up southern Jiangsu and established Sufu Province with Suzhou as its capital.
Taiping Army operational map
When the Taiping Army swept across the south of the Yangtze River and approached Shanghai, the bureaucrats, landlords and comprador in Shanghai were greatly frightened. Wu Xu sent by Xue Huan, governor of Jiangsu Province, went to ask the British and French consuls to send troops to defend the county seat. At this time, the foreign invaders completely tore up the mask of "neutrality", and the British and French ministers announced that they would help the Qing army "pacify all illegal rebellions and defend Shanghai." (1) the rogue wall in the United States also put forward a plan to organize foreign gun teams to March into the Qing government's route for providing foodstuff and comprador bureaucrat Yang Fang. This plan was approved by Xue Huan and Wu Xu, who supplied ordnance and military expenses. Wall recruited some foreign outlaws in China to form a foreign gun team and attacked Songjiang and Qingpu in July and August of 1860. However, he was badly beaten by the Taiping Army, and even suffered defeat, and he himself was seriously injured. When Li Xiucheng led the troops to approach Shanghai, the British and French allied forces evacuated from Tianjin to Shanghai helped the Qing government to resist the Taiping Army, and British warships moored in Huangpu River also opened fire on the Taiping Army. Li Xiucheng also wanted to reach an understanding with the "foreign brothers", but was forbidden to fight back, causing heavy casualties to the Taiping Army and had to retreat from the Shanghai area. The Taiping Army's first attack on Shanghai was thus destroyed by the armed intervention of foreign invaders.
Third, defend Anqing and manage Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
1860 In the spring and summer, the Jiangnan camp was destroyed, the Taiping Army moved eastward to Su Chang, and Zeng Guofan's Xiang army was stepping up its siege of Anqing. Anqing is the link between Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Nian Army in northern Anhui, and it is also a strategic place to protect Tianjing and ensure food supply. Defending Anqing is of great significance to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. At the end of September, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng met in Suzhou, and decided to carry out according to the original military plan, and divide the north and south armies, which are scheduled to meet in Wuhan in March and April of the following year. 186 1 In the spring of, Chen Yucheng led an army from Anhui to Hubei, conquered Huangzhou (now Huanggang) in March, and approached Wuhan. Wuchang city chaos, Huguang governor panic, officials have fled. Hu Linyi, the governor of Anhui Hubei Province, was so anxious that he vomited blood that he quickly dispatched Li Xuyi's department of Xiang to Tongcheng for help. At that time, Parkes, Counsellor of the British Concession in Hankou, rushed to Huangzhou to meet with Chen Yucheng to stop the Taiping Army from attacking Wuhan, saying that in order to protect Wuhan's business, the Taiping Army "must stay away from the port". Due to the interference of foreign invaders and the delay of Li Xiucheng's army division, the situation in Anqing is becoming increasingly tense. Chen Yucheng gave up attacking Wuhan and returned to Li to rescue Anqing. Li Xiucheng is determined to manage Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and holds a negative attitude towards the rescue of Anqing. It was not until June 1860, 1 1 that a large number of uprising people in Jiangxi and Hubei demanded to join the Taiping Army. Only then did he take recruiting soldiers and horses as the main purpose of marching westward, leaving the main force to defend Jiangsu and Changzhou, and led some troops from southern Anhui to Jiangxi via Zhejiang. 186 1 entered Hubei in June, and the striker captured Wuchang County. In Xingguo, Li Xiucheng met with the British consul in Hankou, Kim Jong Il, who obstructed and intimidated him. At that time, Chen Yucheng had returned to Anqing from Hubei, and Li Xiucheng finally gave up his plan to attack Wuhan and led his army to withdraw from Hubei to Jiangxi.
The Taiping Army's strategic decision to attack Wuhan and protect Anqing failed to come true. Zeng Guofan thought there was no worries, so he concentrated his forces on the siege of Anqing. Chen Yucheng organized reinforcements for many times and fought fiercely with Xiang in the periphery of Anqing, but failed to meet the defenders in the city. 1861September 5, Anqing fell. Since then, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has lost all the important towns in the upper reaches, and Tianjing has no shield.
After the fall of Anqing, Chen Yucheng transferred Luzhou. At the beginning of 1862, 30,000 troops were sent and Lai led to cooperate with the Nian army to March into Henan. At this time, the Xiang army took the opportunity to pounce on Luzhou, and the siege war and the anti-siege war fought fiercely in Luzhou for three months. In April, in view of the hopeless foreign aid, Chen Yucheng abandoned the city to break through. When he arrived in Shouzhou, he was trapped by the capricious leader Miao and sent to Shengbao Barracks. Shengbao wanted him to be crisp, and he angered Shengbao and said, "You are my defeated team. How can I deserve to kneel on your knees? You are an object of self-respect. " . (1) Shengbao tried to induce him to surrender. Chen Yucheng righteously replied, "When a gentleman dies, he dies. Why rap! " On June 4th, he was killed at the age of 26 in Yanjin.
When Chen Yucheng and other Taiping rebels competed with Xiang troops for Anqing, Li Xiucheng and Li Shixian's troops entered Zhejiang from Jiangxi, and from 186 1 to 10, they successively conquered Jinhua, Chuzhou (now Lishui County) and other cities, and took control of central Zhejiang. Li Xiucheng invaded Lin 'an and Yuhang and besieged Hangzhou. In February 65438, the Taiping Army broke Hangzhou, and Governor Wang Youling committed suicide. In the same month, Li Shixian's Huang Chengzhong and Fan Ruzeng also captured the important port of Ningbo. Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu have become the main bases of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in recent two or three years.
The occupation of Jiangsu and Zhejiang by the Taiping Army could not make up for its losses in the battlefield in northern Anhui and the upper reaches of Tianjing, and could not reverse the unfavorable military situation. Zeng Guofan sent his younger brother Ceng Guoquan, who was deployed in Jiangsu, to lead the troops down the Yangtze River and advance to Tianjing step by step. Xiang Navy also completely controlled the Yangtze River and mastered the military superiority.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is declining day by day, and the crisis is more clearly exposed. Hong Xiuquan was addicted to "grandfather, brother, me and young children sitting in the imperial court", and religious superstition dominated. The title of "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" was once changed to "Heavenly Kingdom" and later changed to "Heavenly Father, Heavenly Brother and Heavenly King Taiping Heavenly Kingdom". He can't properly handle the military and political affairs, but he "blames people with the words of heaven" and even says that "it is natural and peaceful to recognize the principles of heaven." (1) Li Xiucheng, Li Shixian and other generals refused to accept this, and the contradiction with Hong Xiuquan gradually deepened. Some major leaders in the late Tianjing period, Hong Rengan's prestige could not convince the public, while others were corrupt, incompetent and insatiable, or ganged up for personal gain. Tianjing officials all hoarded wealth and goods. The generals in the army have their own turf, "each takes care of his own, regardless of the overall situation." (2) Many civilian military commanders only pursue personal fame and fortune, and are proud of being promoted. Hong Xiuquan and other leaders failed to correctly handle these contradictions, but adopted the method of excessive knighthood and reward. By the time the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom failed, more than 2,700 people had been knighted. Therefore, the contradiction is more acute and complicated. "People don't want to accept it, and each has its own plans." ③
In the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the composition was more impure than that in the previous period, and the phenomenon of discipline relaxation was very serious. The new entrants to the Taiping Army include organized party teams, bandits, local ruffians and hooligans, and a large number of defeated Qing troops. For example, Suzhou recovered 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers led by alternate Taoist Li Wenbing. Taiping Army has been seriously corroded, with frequent incidents of burning, killing, looting, abusing people and fleeing and defecting. Some generals of Taiping Army are also degenerating. Li Xiucheng's Ministry has a high tax rate, Qian Guiren and Luo are in charge of Changshu politics, and Xiong Wanquan is in charge of Suzhou politics, all of which have a large amount of property. After amassing huge wealth in various ways, Qian Guiren made a pair of golden lion golden phoenix out of gold and dedicated it to Li Xiucheng, and built an official for Li Xiucheng.
Suzhou and Hangzhou are areas where the landlord class is relatively strong. They stubbornly resisted the Taiping Army by various means. The big landlord Bao in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, gathered 10,000 or 20,000 people for Yong ying armed forces and occupied Bao Village for more than half a year. Zhao Jingxian, a juren from Huzhou, was imprisoned in the city for nearly two years. In southern Jiangsu, the important leaders of Yingyong Armed Forces are: Xu Peiyun of Suzhou, Pang Zhonglu of Changshu, Hua Yilun of Wuxi, Yang Zonglian, Wang Yuanchang of Jiangyin, etc. The Taiping Army did not resolutely suppress these landlords' armed forces, but was often satisfied with appealing to them. As a result, the landlord's armed forces were preserved, waiting for an opportunity to move. Xu, Li Wenbing and others ostensibly used the banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but secretly they still got the support and command of honest officials, and colluded with Xiong Wanquan, Qian Guiren, Luo and others to form a rebel group and plan to launch a rebellion in Suzhou. After the conspiracy was exposed, Li Wenbing and Xu Peiyu were executed.
Township officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are seriously impure. In addition to the working people, there are rogue proletarians and a large number of landlords, gentlemen and people attached to the landlord class. In these areas, the political power of units at or below the county level is still mainly in the hands of the landlord class, and the situation of farmers has not changed much. Obviously, feudal land relations have not changed much. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom still carried out the same land policy as in the previous period, collecting land tax per mu, affirming "grain rent", allowing landlords to collect rent and recognizing landlords' land ownership. According to relevant data, 24 counties in southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang have adopted the method of maintaining the original land ownership relationship and allowing landlords to collect rents. In these areas, official or semi-official rent collection bureaus have been set up to help landlords collect rents, and it is stipulated that "stubborn tenants who refuse to swallow rents are allowed to send them to the bureaus to recover rents."
These measures to protect landlords met with fierce opposition from some Taiping rebels and farmers. Many soldiers in the Taiping Army expressed deep sympathy for the tenant farmers. They supported the farmers' struggle against rent, or "let the tenant farmers make trouble" or "advocated discussion on exemption from donation". (1) In some areas, farmers smashed rent collection offices and beat landlords or township officials who forcibly collected rent.
Although Jiangsu and Zhejiang base areas were opened in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there were complex contradictions and serious crises in these areas.
Although the peasant war of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom failed, it conquered more than 600 cities, swept half of China, established a regime that fought against the feudal regime of the Qing Dynasty for more than ten years, dealt a heavy blow to the feudal ruling class of China and foreign capitalist invaders, and wrote a glorious and immortal page in the history of China.