After the Opium War, the Qing government passed on a large amount of military expenditure and huge compensation to the working people, which led to the intensification of class contradictions. Due to the five-port trade, a large number of foreign industrial products flooded into China, and the high-quality and low-price industrial products excluded the traditional household sideline and handicraft industry in China, which made farmers and craftsmen in the southeast coastal areas bankrupt and lost their livelihood. At the same time, landlords have intensified their exploitation of farmers, and land annexation has become more serious. The taxes paid by the Qing government increased year by year, which made farmers overwhelmed. 1840- 1850, floods, droughts and locust plagues in Guangdong, Guangxi and many parts of the country continued year after year, and the farmers' homes were destroyed, resulting in heavy losses and desperate situation. Farmers have resisted 1 10 times. Especially in Guangdong and Guangxi, due to the direct influence of the Opium War, social unrest became more intense.
During this period, Hong Xiuquan was attracted by the single theocratic thought and the Christian concept of equality in the Book of Persuasion, and combined the Christian concept of equality with the average concept of "the world is peaceful" and "everyone is equal" of China farmers. He spent three years engaged in the construction of religious theory, and from the requirements and interests of the peasant class, he wrote the Song of Saving the World by the Original Way and Awakening the World by the Original Way. He preached that "the emperor god" is the only "true god"; Everyone is the "son" of God, and everyone is equal before God. He pointed out that the supreme ruler of the Qing Dynasty was really a "Yamaraja devil", and "killing each other" in the world was the evil of "Yamaraja devil". At the same time, Feng Yunshan propagandized anti-Qing thoughts and organized sacrifices to gods among poor farmers and charcoal-burning workers in Bauhinia mountain area. 1849, more than 10,000 people worship God. Around 1850, the contradiction between worship of gods and landlord groups became increasingly acute, and the peasant uprising in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was brewed and launched under such a situation.
185 1 year 1 month1day, Hong Xiuquan led an uprising in Jintian Village, Guiping County, Guangxi Province, which was called "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" in history. In March, the Taiping Army moved to Wuxuan Dongxiang, and Hong Xiuquan was officially called the "King of Heaven"; In September, the Taiping Army captured Yongan County. During his stay in Yong 'an, he had a rest and system construction, which initially laid the embryonic form of the political system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. 1In April of 852, Taiping Army broke through Yong 'an, surrounded Guilin in the north and entered Hunan. Feng Yunshan was killed in the battle of Quanzhou. On the way to Hunan, the Taiping Army issued important proclamations such as "Four Directions for Praying for Hubu", which clarified the purpose of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to "eliminate evil and eliminate China" and called on the masses to respond in succession. Trackers and boatmen on the Xiangjiang River; Porters and porters on the dock; Blacksmiths, vendors and carpenters in towns; As well as coal miners in Chenzhou and Guiyang mountainous areas, took part in the uprising, and the Taiping Army grew rapidly. 1853 65438+ In October, the Taiping Army conquered three towns in Wuhan, and its strength increased to 500,000, which was a great victory. In February, the Taiping Army went hand in hand, along the east of the Yangtze River, and even entered Jiujiang, Anqing, Wuhu and other important towns.
1853, 19 In March, the Taiping Army conquered Nanjing, renamed Tianjing and made its capital. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom made Tianjin its capital, it carried out the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition in order to consolidate and develop the victory. 1May, 853, entered Beijing with Li Lingbing. The Northern Expeditionary Army went out of Jiangsu, crossed Anhui, entered Henan, crossed the Yellow River, entered Shanxi, went straight to Zhili, approached Tianjin, and finally failed because of the solo expedition. In order to control the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and ensure the safety of Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan sent troops to the western expedition. 1In May of 853, Lai, Zeng Tianyang led the troops back to Jiangxi and captured the vast areas of Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei. In Hunan, he defeated the Xiang army organized by Zeng Guofan with the landlord Ying Yong as the backbone many times. 1In the first half of 856, the Taiping Army launched a fierce siege and breakthrough war outside Tianjing, and successively broke through Jiangbei Daying and Jiangnan Daying, reaching its military peak. /kloc-in the winter of 0/853, the "celestial system" was formulated and promulgated, and the principle that "all fields in the world are cultivated by all people in the world" was put forward. Strive to build an ideal society with "farmland to plow, food to eat, clothes to wear, money to earn, injustice everywhere, and no one is hungry". The "celestial system" is to maintain absolute egalitarianism on the basis of small-scale peasant economy, and it is impossible to put it into practice. However, it expresses farmers' strong desire to acquire land. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also practiced equality between men and women; Reform the examination system; Adhere to the independence of foreign relations.
Just as the Taiping Army was victorious on the battlefield of the Western Expedition, in August of A.D. 1856, something happened in Tianjing City. Yang blamed Hong Xiuquan and forced him to call him "Long live" under the guise of "Father". Hong Xiuquan felt that it was counterproductive and apparently agreed to Yang's request; Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai and Qin Rigang from the front line were secretly called back to Beijing for rescue. Wei Changhui wanted to seize the opportunity to seek power and immediately rushed back to Tianjing with 3,000 chosen men. In the early morning of September 2, with the cooperation of Qin Rigang, they surrounded the East Palace and killed Yang and his family, as well as more than 20,000 officers and men. Tianjin is a terrible capital. Shi Dakai came back from Hubei and rebuked Wei Changhui for killing innocent people. Wei Changhui tried to kill Shi Dakai again, so Shi Dakai had to flee Tianjing in the middle of the night, and Shi Dakai's family was killed by Wei Changhui. Wei Changhui's behavior aroused the indignation of all officers and men of Taiping Army and the people. 102 165438+ Hong Xiuquan killed Wei Changhui and more than 200 people in his inner circle, thus quelling this fratricidal civil strife. After Wei Changhui was executed, Shi Dakai was recalled to Beijing to "manage government affairs". After the Tianjing Incident, Hong Xiuquan didn't trust Shi Dakai either, so he made Hong Renfa and Hong Renda king to contain Shi Dakai. Shi Dakai has neither real power nor doubt. 1June, 857, he led 65438+ ten thousand soldiers to the southwest. Shi Dakai's team went it alone. 1June, 863, was besieged by the Qing army on the Dadu River in Sichuan, and was completely annihilated. Tianjing incident became the turning point of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from prosperity to decline.
The Tianjing Rebellion and Shi Dakai's departure forced Taiping Army to change from strategic attack to defense. The Qing army took the opportunity to counterattack, captured many places in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, rebuilt camps in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, and besieged Tianjing. Hong Xiuquan entrusts with an important task, regains national prestige and promotes young generals such as Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng. 1858 In August, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng called generals from all walks of life to hold a military meeting in Zongyang, Anhui. Qi Xin, an army of all walks of life, broke through Pukou, wiped out more than 10,000 enemy troops in one fell swoop, and defeated the camp in Jiangbei again. 165438+ 10, more than 6,000 elite Xiang troops were annihilated in sanhe town, Anhui province, forcing the Qing army to withdraw from Anqing, thus stabilizing the situation in the upper reaches of Tianjing.
1859, Hong Rengan put forward "a new chapter of senior minister". Advocate "unification of power" and oppose "party alliance"; Open the way, "up and down the situation." Follow the example of the west and set up industrial, mining, transportation and financial undertakings; Allow private investment and employment of labor; Reward the folk skills of making utensils, allow their patents to be sold by themselves, trade freely between China and foreign countries and exchange equally, and set up schools, hospitals and social welfare institutions. As a political program in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, New Chapters of Shangshu has obvious capitalist tendency. 1860 in the first half of the year, Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng wiped out the Jiangnan camp and opened up the southern Jiangsu base area. 186 1 September, Anqing fell. In May of the following year, Chen Yucheng defeated Shouzhou and died after being captured. The western front of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is in irreparable danger.
After the Second Opium War, foreign invaders colluded with the Qing government to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom resolutely fought bravely against the invaders, and successively hit Chang, Chang 'an Army and Chang 'an Street Army, killing them and dealing a heavy blow to the aggressors. After the fall of Anqing, the Taiping Army's base areas in Jiangsu and Zhejiang also fell, leaving only Tianjing and its surrounding small areas. At this time, there is a shortage of grain and grass in Tianjing and no reinforcements outside, and the situation is becoming increasingly critical. Li Xiucheng put forward the idea of "not letting the city go" and created another base area, which was rejected by Hong Xiuquan. 1June, 864, Hong Xiuquan died of illness. /kloc-in July of 0/9, Xiang army dug a tunnel and smashed the city wall with gunpowder. After fierce street fighting, Tianjing fell. Most Taiping troops died heroically, and a few broke through. Young Heavenly Kings and Hong Rengan were captured in Jiangxi and sacrificed heroically. Li Xiucheng was captured when he broke through Tianjing and was killed by Zeng Guofan. The rest of the Taiping Army moved to the north and south of the Yangtze River until 1868.
This unprecedented peasant war of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the history of China lasted for more than 17 years, covering 18 province, shocking the whole of China, and finally failed under the joint strangulation of the Qing government and foreign invaders.
Cause of rise
1. Corrupt feudal rule and heavy exploitation led to the intensification of class contradictions. After the Opium War, in order to pay war reparations, the Qing government stepped up its search for people's fat and paste. Rule is more corrupt. Corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry also took the opportunity to blackmail the people. The hard-working masses who could not stand this kind of suffering revolted one after another.
2. The invasion of foreign capitalism has brought new disasters to the people of China.
3. Serious natural disasters. From 1846 to 1850, floods, droughts, pests and diseases in Guangdong and Guangxi regions continued, and the working people fell into the predicament of hunger and death.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement swept the dynasty order, impacted Confucian orthodoxy and shook the political foundation of the Qing Dynasty. Its Promulgation of "Celestial Tianmu System" expressed the farmers' ideal pursuit, and for the first time put forward China's first counter-plan of capitalist social reform in modern times-"a new chapter of senior minister". This bold attempt to reform the system is the wisdom crystallization of the advanced China people seeking truth from the West at that time. Anti-feudalism also served as the task of anti-aggression, which broke the western invaders' attempt to colonize China quickly.