By the time of the Bailian uprising, the peasant uprising had reached a state out of control.
The peasant uprising is rare and peculiar in the history of China. Only the peasant uprising will mean the end of the dynasty. Chen Sheng, Zhang Jiao, Huang Chao, Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Zicheng are vivid examples.
And they are all outstanding in the peasant uprising. Although the means of uprising vary widely, they have only one goal, that is, to be emperors.
Why do farmers rebel?
There are two reasons. First, the whole big machine of the imperial government has rotted to the bone and can't be reused. Second, the following society has been riddled with diseases and can't live any longer.
Hong Xiuquan was like this when he was alive.
Since the Opium War, the Qing government has gone from bad to worse. Later, land annexation accelerated, resulting in a large number of farmers losing their land and more and more refugees. Finally, coupled with the arrival of the Black Death, farmers can only choose to take risks and riot collectively when they can't survive and beg for death.
In this way, Hong Xiuquan, who loves to fool, naturally hit it off with these farmers.
Hong Xiuquan was born in Hua County, Guangdong Province in 18 14, and has been familiar with ancient books since childhood. 1847, Hong Xiuquan established an organization leading the worship of God in Guangxi. Later, in Guiping, Guangxi, a "God Worship" was established, which absorbed 2000 people including Yang, Xiao Chaogui and Wei Changhui to prepare for the anti-Qing movement.
But Hong Xiuquan is obviously from Huaxian County, Guangdong Province. Why did he go to Guangxi next door to rebel?
To know the answer to this question, we have to talk about the environment in Guangxi.
Now Guangxi is not a province, but a Zhuang Autonomous Region. Zhuang is the most populous ethnic group in China, with a population of 10 million. In addition, the environment in Guangxi is very complicated, because there are many brotherly nationalities, such as Miao, Yao, Yi and Li.
Now, let alone the late Qing Dynasty.
At that time, the whole province was a mixture of Han and Fan, both raw and cooked. Han people are divided into indigenous Han people and Hakkas. "Tuju" and "Hakka" are similar to "locals" and "mainlanders" now.
The friction between many ethnic groups, coupled with the friction between two Han groups, is self-evident.
Coupled with the barren land in Guangxi, it is not easy to make a living, and people who become fugitives abound. General Li Zongren also said that there were "no mountains, no caves and no bandits" in Guangxi.
These conditions are exactly what Guangdong lacks. If Hong Xiuquan revolted in Guangdong, not many people would follow him, because he is a Hakka and a discriminated minority among the Han people in Huaxian County, Guangdong Province. In addition, Hua County is close to Guangzhou, and the people's culture is generally high. It is unlikely that Hong Xiuquan wants to mislead the people with "bad words".
It is also for this reason that Hong Xiuquan will go to Guangxi, where he can be called a saint, a saint like a duck to water.
After the uprising began to "grow hair and change clothes", which is why it is called "long hair". In fact, this is just a form of winning people's hearts.
When the Qing army entered the customs, it issued a decree of shaving and changing clothes, which was called "leaving hair and leaving no head". Today's Hong Xiuquan is completely opposed to the Qing Dynasty-women don't have to wrap their feet and men don't have to shave their heads, keeping the state of "storing hair and changing clothes" in the Ming Dynasty.
However, Hong Xiuquan's "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" movement was defeated by Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan defeated "Long Hair" and abandoned Hong Xiuquan's "Dressed Country".
After the rebellion, if you want to see Hong Xiuquan's clothes in the Qing Dynasty again, you can only wear them in operas, and Han people can only entertain themselves on the stage.
The rulers are still those rulers, and Hong Xiuquan failed to end the rule of the Qing court.