1June, 864, Hong Xiuquan committed suicide in despair. On July 19 of the same year, "Tianjing" was captured by Ceng Guoquan, and the Taiping Army was completely annihilated. Why did Taiping Army fail? We just need to present Hong Xiuquan's true face to the readers, and the answer is self-evident.
Hong Xiuquan: The Original Intention of "Taking the Revolutionary Road"
Hong Xiuquan (18 14- 1864), formerly known as Ren Kun and nicknamed Huo Xiu, was born in Huaxian County, Guangdong Province. His father, Hong Jingyang, is from Bao Zheng, a neighboring village. His family is "thin" and his social status and economic conditions are good in the local area. Hong Renkun has two brothers. He is the only one of the three brothers who studies for fame. He enjoys a superior position at home. He entered a local private school at the age of 7, and was admitted as a boy at the age of 14. After four consecutive experiences 17 years, I failed to enter the school, that is, I failed to be admitted to the student (scholar). From repeated defeats and wars to public rebellion, he "sat in the library" as a private school teacher more than once, teaching children literacy and basic cultural knowledge, which was an informal occupation for quite a few old boys and old girls at that time. Generally speaking, the income is not much better than that of ordinary farmers, but the status is different. In addition, three people in Guangxi said that he was a "rogue, gambling every day, hoarding more refugees, making a living by escorting opium foreign goods, and traveling between Guangdong and Guangxi, which was thanked by businessmen." It is more likely that he did it after "traveling around the world" with Feng Yunshan in April 1844. It is disgraceful to gamble often, but it is not a big problem. In order to obtain the "tap" as the activity funds, it is not impossible to organize others to escort tobacco and foreign goods for merchants. When Hong Renkun becomes a climate, he and a handful of his associates will never mention these disgraceful experiences again, and no one will mention them to the gods and the Taiping Army. Li Xiucheng's confession did not say what Hong Xiuquan had done before the rebellion. He may not understand, or he may know that he is not just a teacher, but he just doesn't want to say it. Therefore, the materials provided by these three Guangxi people can neither be confirmed nor proved to be fabricated.
1837 Hong Renkun failed the list for the third time. This man, who has always had strong self-esteem and high hopes from the people, has suffered a great mental and psychological blow. When I got home, I was seriously ill and "died for seven days" (two days in a row) and "talked a lot". People have written many articles about this disease, especially Wandering in the Sky, as he told Feng Yunshan and Hong Rengan. There are several points that can be inferred: First, putting on a show to cover up shame; Second, struggling in extremely complicated suffering; Third, mild mental illness caused by strong stimulation; Fourth, wake up with delusional and dreamy psychological activities; Fifth, consider how to use superstition to rebel. With such a serious illness, there will naturally be obvious changes in personality, but it has not become a mental patient, so it can be cured without drugs and life does not need the care of others.
1842, taking the exam for the fourth time. Feng Yunshan, a book friend who dropped out of the list together, was extremely dissatisfied with the exam. From the perspective of astrology, Hong Renkun was "different" and "king-like" and urged him to lead the rebellion. Feng's persuasion was in line with his previous thoughts and dreams when he was seriously ill, so he broke the idea of being an official in the imperial examination. After Hong Renkun made up his mind to rebel, he said that God named him "Junquan on Peace Avenue" and called him "Hong Xiu, Hong Quan and Hong Xiuquan". Since then, Hong Renkun and Hong Huoxiu have been renamed as Hong Xiuquan. It took a lot of thought to change the name. Xiuquan opened it and said, "I (I) am the king of people." To put it simply, not being admitted to school-not being admitted to a scholar-is the decisive reason for rebellion, and this is being king. Being the king of people can not only realize "I want to start my own business and win the world", but also "seize power and beat Kun" and kill all the people I hate. Of course, it's not just rebellion and revenge, but more importantly, possession and enjoyment: possession of everything, "five grains are delicious" and "all the treasures in the world belong to me", which explains Hong's original intention of "embarking on the revolutionary road".
The main ideological and theoretical source of the establishment of God-worshipping headed by Hong Xiuquan is Liang Afa's popular sermon "Persuade the World". It doesn't introduce the Christian doctrine comprehensively and systematically, but sometimes it quotes China's traditional viewpoint to prove the Bible. But some theological knowledge involved, such as Almighty Father, Jesus' redemption, exclusive worship of God, no idolatry, eternal paradise, eternal suffering of hell, etc., were borrowed and fermented by Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan. As can be seen from the nondescript map of the world in front of Tianwangfu, Hong Xiuquan still knows almost nothing about the west and the world at this time. His "seeking truth from the west" is some theological knowledge in the book of exhortation. On this basis, we will continue to sublate and inject some contents according to his needs to create a worship meeting with him as the leader. We started by creating superstitions, then gradually tightened our control over followers, then launched a rebellion, seized power, and established a "paradise" on the ground. From this process, the worship of God created by Hong Xiuquan will be similar to a political cult.
First, preach that the savior descended to rule the country and even the world. All cult leaders in the world regard themselves as saviors. However, most of them did not or had no time to publicize the direct content of seizing political power and ruling the country and even the world. Hong Xiuquan took this as the core content very clearly. He declared that "the supreme old man in the sky has ordered all the people in the world to belong to me and all the treasures in the world to belong to me"; He obeyed the orders of the heavenly father and heavenly brother and came to the world as "one god of all nations"
Second, the doomsday theory is combined with the theory of rebellion and the theory of being an official. Why are you a savior? Because this is the end of the world. This is also the same argument of all cults. 1850 in May, he concretized the doomsday theory, saying that he was inspired by God: "In the thirty years of Daoguang (A.D. 1850), I brought disaster to the world, and the believers were saved. People who don't believe will get plague, no farmland and no house to live in. " Believers "have food and clothing every day, and there is no disaster or difficulty." When 185 1 broke through, Yongan further wrote a check and made an oath to seal the official position. Those who actively fight, "the big ones are the prime minister, the rules, the command, the generals and the guards, at least in the army, and they are hereditary from generation to generation, and the dragon robe horn was brought to China."
Third, words and deeds require the military and civilians to believe without reservation. Hong Xiuquan began by preaching that God had given him a sword and a seal, and then called himself "Red Sun" on the imperial seal, which was a red sun that shone all over the world, and asked his followers to be blind and superstitious. Inspired by his superstitious propaganda, Yang and Xiao Chaogui successively created the wizard-like heavenly father and heavenly brother. After the death of these two people, Hong Xiuquan lost his restraint and even talked about "Tianhua" casually, even saying that "there will be no one". He often writes down crooked poems conveying "God's will" on goose yellow satin and hangs them with great fanfare. This kind of behavior is self-creation to strengthen the mental control of Taiping Army officers and soldiers.
Fourth, the overall control of the participants. Hong Xiuquan not only exercised spiritual control over believers through superstitious propaganda, but also had a set of rules and measures for overall control over personal, family and property. At the beginning of the rebellion, he asked the participants to "sell their property at a low price" and "sell farmland houses and turn them over to the state treasury", and the old houses that could not be sold were set on fire. So one person participates, the whole family participates, and they are hostages to each other. If there is no retreat, everyone will become a pawn to cross the river. Soon after, every place occupied, people who were alive but didn't escape, whether they like it or not, were incorporated into the Taiping Army, that is, they were completely threatened. After the collection, anyone who does not hand over all the property or even hides more than five taels of silver is "evil, that is, evil, and the crime is extremely great"; If you can't recite dogma for more than 2 1 day, and you don't listen to "reasoning" twice for no reason, it is a serious violation of the law; Anyone who unconditionally refuses to obey, is unwilling to be a tame tool, and complains about strange words is called "the demon has not changed his mind"; Anyone who can't stand desertion at night is called "night shift"; Anyone who violates dogma and orders is called "demonizing", and the punishment for the above crimes is beheading. Many other laws and regulations, including cohabitation of husband and wife, improper behavior, commanding officers and sedan chairs on the road, noisy assembly, private discussion of military affairs, gathering people to drink alcohol, and cutting and shaving their hair, are all beheaded. Those who "rebel against evil spirits" are even sentenced to death for "lighting a lamp" and "dismembering five horses". Comprehensive and strict control makes people a tool without family property, thoughts and feelings, personal freedom and human dignity.