As an outstanding general in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Li Xiucheng was killed by the Qing army at the age of 42. Li Xiucheng must have descendants. 1864, Li Xiucheng introduced that the Qing army captured Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and carried out a cruel massacre in Tianjing. It is said that countless people died in the kingdom of heaven in Tian Ping at that time. As a family member of Li Xiucheng, I think he must have been killed, but later I found traces of Li Xiucheng's descendants by consulting historical materials. I am very happy.
Statue of Li Xiucheng
At present, one of Li Xiucheng's descendants is Li Xiucheng's second son, Li Rongfa, and some people say that Li Rongfa is Li Xiucheng's adopted son. Whether he is a godson or not, since Li Xiucheng is called Dad, let's assume that he is a descendant of Li Xiucheng. After Li Rongfa was arrested in Jiangxi, he was adopted by Chen Baozhen, the governor of Hunan Province, and betrothed a handmaid to Li Rongfa, but Li Rongfa died of depression soon.
The other is Li Xiucheng's youngest son, Li Qixiang, who was very young when he was arrested. Shen Baozhen said in the newspaper: "Imprisonment should be handled according to the rules when it reaches the age of twelve." As for the rules, the teenager who rebelled against the leader reached adulthood, that is, when he reached the age of 12, he was executed as usual and made the protagonist a slave. From here, we can know that Li Qixiang can't have any more descendants.
Li Xiucheng's son-in-law, Ai Jin, arrived in Nanyang Township, Fujian Province after the breakthrough, but was killed by Wang Haiyang and Kang Wang for no reason, and his wife and children were also missing. Li Xiucheng's other daughter married Cai, who later surrendered and was reused by the Qing Dynasty, and got a happy ending. But in Cai's genealogy, only spouses Yu, Zhang, Yang, Wang and Qian were buried together. I think Cai may be considered as Yang's son-in-law. Probably this is Li Xiucheng's daughter, pretending to be Yang to avoid disaster.
Introduction of Li Xiucheng's Personal Handwriting
Li Xiucheng's calligraphy, now a book, is a confession written by Wang Li Xiucheng, a loyal minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom peasant uprising leader, after being captured by Zeng Guofan. It is said that it is tens of thousands of words long, but Li Xiucheng's personal confession has been kept secret by Zeng Guofan's family. 1962, Mr. Yuenong Zeng, Zeng Guofan's great grandson, gave Li Xiucheng's handwritten confession to Taiwan Province World Bookstore for photocopying, which was called Li Xiucheng's handwritten confession.
Li Xiucheng's personal handwriting
It is said that Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was captured by the Qing army in 1864, and Li Xiucheng was captured. On July 28th, Zeng Guofan personally interrogated Li Xiucheng and asked Li Xiucheng to write a confession, so Li Xiucheng wrote tens of thousands of words, most of which were memories and summaries of the reasons for the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and his own combat experience. On August 7th, Li Xiucheng was executed by Zeng Guofan in Nanking, and later copied two confessions of Li Xiucheng. One was sent to the army in the Qing Dynasty, and the other was kept by his son Ceng Jize, who published a book "Contribution of Li Xiucheng", which is known as the "Nine Books" in the world, but Li Xiucheng's manuscript has never been seen before. It was not until September 1962 that Mr. Yuenong Zeng, Zeng Guofan's great grandson, sent the collected handwriting of Li Xiucheng to Taiwan Province World Bookstore for photocopying and named it "Li Xiucheng's Handletters".
Li Xiucheng's confession is 278 18, and Li Xiucheng's handwriting is 36 100. As an important general of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Li Xiucheng's handwriting is of great historical research value. Historians can study the details of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Zeng Guofan's life from this book, so the publication of this book is of great significance for clarifying historical facts.
Why wasn't Li Xiucheng killed?
The Qing dynasty punished the rebels very severely. Many generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, such as Shi Dakai and Li, were executed the next year after their arrest. Li Xiucheng was also punished by Ceng Guoquan in prison after his arrest. Later, Zeng Guofan personally interrogated Li Xiucheng, but we didn't know how to interrogate him. But after Zeng Guofan's interrogation, Li Xiucheng wrote a self-report of tens of thousands of words and was beheaded by Zeng Guofan.
Portrait of Li Xiucheng
Why wasn't Li Xiucheng executed that year? It is said that Li Xiucheng once begged Zeng Guofan to surrender, so Zeng Guofan was lenient with Li Xiucheng. I don't think that's true. Zeng Guofan will admire an upright hero, and will only be impressed by the hero's integrity, and will not be moved by the cry of a flatterer. Li Xiucheng's profile, I think Zeng Guofan will never be lenient to a fawning person. There is only one possibility. Zeng Guofan thinks that Li Xiucheng is a hero. Zeng Guofan's heroes cherish heroes, so they are merciful and make Li Xiucheng's death less painful.
It is said that when Li Xiucheng was just arrested, Ceng Guoquan had interrogated Li Xiucheng and punished Li Xiucheng for cutting his buttocks. According to the records of people present at that time, Li Xiucheng should not be punished by colored people behind his back. Visible Li Xiucheng is definitely not a person who is afraid of punishment and death. Later, on the third day after meeting Zeng Guofan, Li Xiucheng began to write a self-report on July 30th, 864/kloc-0. As can be seen from here, the conversation between Zeng Guofan and Li Xiucheng must have played a role. It is said that Li Xiucheng once surrendered Zeng Guofan and suggested that Zeng Guofan stand on his own feet as king. Perhaps it was the conversation with Zeng Guofan that made them appreciate each other, so Zeng Guofan decided not to execute Li Xiucheng that year, but to execute Li Xiucheng by beheading.
Is Liu Xiucheng Ling Chi? The answer is no, Li Xiucheng was beheaded by Zeng Guofan in Nanking.