1814, the 19th year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty. There were several major events this year: Napoleon abdicated and was subsequently exiled to Elba Island in the Mediterranean ; Stephenson invented the world's first steam train locomotive; the King of the Netherlands promulgated the constitution.
And on January 11 of this year, the demon king who was about to turn the entire Qing Dynasty upside down was born: he was Hong Xiuquan !
The statue of Hong Xiuquan in the Tianwang Mansion in Nanjing
The birth of the devil boy in a remote village:
Experienced the three dynasties of Kangxi ; Yongzheng ; and Qianlong, a period of peace and prosperity that lasted for 134 years, but came to an abrupt end with the accession of Emperor Jiaqing. Especially since Jiaqing's later years, social conflicts have become acute and private secret societies have become prevalent. Among them, the ones that caused a headache for the court were: the Pao Gehui in Sichuan; the White Lotus Society in the north and south of the Yangtze River; and the Tiandi Hui and Xiaodao Hui founded in Fujian. It can be said that the living conditions of ordinary people at that time were quite bad.
Internet picture: Tiandihui structure diagram
It was against this background that Hong Xiuquan was born in Fuyuanshui, Huaxian County, Guangdong Province (now part of Huadu District, Guangzhou City). In fact, at the beginning, he was not named Hong Xiuquan, but , Hong Renkun, , and also had a nickname called Huoxiu. The name Hong Xiuquan was changed by himself later. As for why he changed his name, we will talk about it later.
Hong Xiuquan's former residence
A big fat boy was born in the Hong family. Counting his two brothers, the Hong family can be said to be prosperous in the local area. His father's name is Hong Jingyang, and he is the local village chief, equivalent to the current village cadre. It is conceivable that the cadre's family must be doing well. It is said that his family is the descendant of Hong Hao, a famous official in the Southern Song Dynasty, and also the Hakka people who later moved south.
Back then, this place was definitely a remote place, and there were very few families who could attend a private school for a few days. But Hong Renkun was lucky. His father saw that he was smart and sensible since he was a child, and he also understood the principle that knowledge can change your destiny, so he sent him to a local private school early.
Ancient Private School
In his childhood, Hong Renkun relied on his father, a village cadre, to have a sense of superiority in their village. In addition, he was really smart and did well in school, so he gradually became the boss among his classmates. The one who had the best relationship with him was Feng Yunshan, the Southern King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It can be seen that Hong Renkun has had the aura of taking the lead since he was a child!
When he first entered the imperial examination, he failed repeatedly:
Speaking of the imperial examination, this was definitely the most unbearable experience for Hong Renkun! However, his journey to the imperial examination was not entirely a failure. When he was seven years old, he was admitted to the local county school with excellent results and successfully became a child student.
Seven years old is the age of playing in the mud
Don't underestimate this child, this was also a great event at that time. Seeing his son studying so well, Hong Jingyang couldn't help but pay more attention to Hong Renkun's path to and in the imperial examination. If he could obtain fame and become an official, it would be a great event for his ancestors.
Time passed by, and when Hong Renkun was sixteen years old, he officially took the first exam in his life: he went to Guangzhou to take the prefectural exam . If you can pass the exam, you can take the college exam and next. If you pass the college examination, you will be the "scholar" we are familiar with. In other words, if Hong Renkun passed the government examination he took, he would not be a "scholar" yet, but would only be qualified to take the examination. Unfortunately, he failed in the first round of the government examination.
structural diagram of the imperial examination system
The first failure in the examination did not have a big impact on Hong Renkun. After all, he was still young and had a long way to go. After coming back, he made an analysis and summary and began to study hard.
In the blink of an eye, eight years passed. In 1836, 25-year-old Hong Renkun went to Guangzhou to take the exam again. Unexpectedly, Han Chuang had studied hard for eight years and failed the exam again this time.The frustrated Hong Renkun began to search for the reason for the failure. After thinking about it, he felt that the problem lay in his name. People in modern times often change their names to seek luck, let alone the feudal era at that time. This change was what later made the Qing Dynasty tremble: Hong Xiuquan!
Statue of Hong Xiuquan
I changed my name, and took the exam again the next year, but unfortunately, I still failed. After failing this time, Hong Xiuquan's self-esteem was really hurt. Not long after, he suddenly fell ill in his hometown.
Recovering from a Serious Illness Dreamland Romance:
After this illness, he lay in bed in a coma for four days and four nights, when he was half asleep and half awake. A white light flashed in his head, and he dreamed that an old man wearing a yellow robe appeared in the sky. This old man was tall and imposing. In front of this old man, there was an old man kneeling, who was Confucius, the great teacher of all ages. The old man in robes was scolding Confucius. The general meaning was: Nowadays, the people are ignorant and numb, and there are problems everywhere among the people. As a generation of saints, why don't you Take up the heavy responsibility of helping the world.
Sage Kong, the eternal teacher
As he spoke, he called Hong Xiuquan over and said to him: "You are my second son, and I am the Almighty God. Today I will make you the King of Heaven and the King of Dao, and send you to save the world. The people are in water and fire.” After saying this, God drifted away, and Hong Xiuquan's illness actually recovered.
This bizarre dream was not made up out of thin air. It is recorded in a history book called "Taiping Tianri". Of course, this record may not be credible, because the authors of this book are all relatives of Hong Xiuquan. One is Feng Yunshan, the other is Hong Rengan .
Statue of Feng Yunshan
Hong Xiuquan, who had just recovered from a serious illness, suddenly felt refreshed and fanciful about his dream, so he wrote a poem:
Holding the power of killing in the universe, killing evil and leaving righteousness to solve the problems of the people.
The eye leads to the mountains and rivers in the northwest, and the sound shakes the sun and the moon in the southeast.
When you spread your claws, you might think that the cloud road is too small, but why should you fear that the Han Dynasty will be too far away when you stand up?
The wind and thunder stir up three thousand waves, and Yi is like a flying dragon fixed in the sky.
From then on, Hong Xiuquan seemed to be a different person, often saying shocking words to the people in the village: I am the king of heaven, and the people of the world are under my control! It should be said that at this time, Hong Xiuquan had already begun to feel rebellious.
Hong Xiuquan's works are actually not as unbearable as those distorted on the Internet.
Last try and go to the examination room again:
The dream was a good dream, but it was a pity that I woke up. After returning to reality, the unwilling Hong Xiuquan decided to take the exam one last time. Although he hated the government and the examination room, he was lucky and expected to be ranked in the imperial class. In fact, this is not a contradiction. In the educational background at that time, such scholars abounded.
But Hong Xiuquan didn't know that his unrestrained thoughts and informal literary style had no room to develop within the strict rules of eight-part essay at that time. As expected, the fourth imperial examination that I had been preparing for for a long time failed again! After four exams and four failed attempts, Hong Xiuquan really gave up this time. After returning to his hometown, he worked as a private school teacher in nearby Lianhuatang Village.
The eight-part essay test paper of the number one scholar
My cousin comes to visit. The God-worshiping Cult was born:
Just when Hong Xiuquan was bored, his distant cousin Li Jingfang came to visit. After some pleasantries, Hong Xiuquan took out a book and asked Li Jingfang to read it. This book was "Good Words to Encourage the World" that he brought back when he went to Guangzhou to take the exam. In fact, at that time, the author of the Christian church brochure Liang Fa was also a missionary in Guangdong. It was originally a mediocre promotional brochure, but Li Jingfang was shocked and even more fascinated by the content inside. Hong Xiuquan, who was next to him, secretly noticed the deeper meaning behind this through his cousin's actions, that is, how powerful the appeal of religion is!
Good advice to the world
As mentioned before, various secret societies were prevalent during the Jiaqing period.For example: Organizations such as the Pao Brother Society, the Heaven and Earth Society, the Xiaodao Society, and the White Lotus Sect have members ranging from thousands to tens of thousands.
After careful consideration, Hong Xiuquan decided: He also wanted to establish a new church, and that was the God Worship Church!
Partner Feng Yunshan The God-worshiping religion has grown rapidly:
As the saying goes: Everything is difficult at the beginning! At first, the surrounding villages thought Hong Xiuquan was insane and ignored him. So Hong Xiuquan found Feng Yunshan, who supported him, and prepared to start doing some earth-shattering things, such as tearing down the statue of Confucius. I wanted to make a splash and enhance my prestige. Who would have thought that this would stir up a hornet's nest: the villagers were filled with indignation and wanted to kill the two bandits. For this reason, Hong Xiuquan also lost his job as a teacher at the private school.
Hong Xiuquan’s hometown, Fuyuan Reservoir, Huadu District, Guangzhou
But Hong Xiuquan was not discouraged. In order to promote his ideas, he and Feng Yunshan decided to leave Huaxian and spread their ideas in other places. First it was near Guangzhou, and then it was the Pearl River Delta . In 1844, the two of them came to Guangxi, and soon they decided to develop membership separately. Hong Xiuquan returned to his hometown in Huaxian County, on the one hand, to sort out and improve the teachings of the God-Worship Cult, and on the other hand, to take a look at the past few years. The development of my hometown.
Feng Yunshan, who was working alone in Guangxi, not only took the opportunity to attract wealthy Wei Changhui and wealthy Shi Da to join the membership, but also developed thousands of members. It can be seen that Feng Yunshan does have two skills.
Yiwang Shidakai
Just like that, the God Worship Cult is like a snowball, its reputation is getting bigger and bigger, and its number of people is also increasing. Especially the charcoal workers who burn charcoal in the Bauhinia Mountain area. These people are from poor backgrounds, there are many of them, and they cannot read any Chinese characters. They are easier to incite. And Yang Xiuqing; Xiao Chaogui is the talker of these charcoal workers. As soon as they joined the meeting, tens of thousands of poor people nearby also joined. By the beginning of 1850, the number of followers of God's religion had reached 70,000 to 80,000. Among them, there are more than 20,000 strong laborers.
Zijingshan District, Guiping, Guangxi
Jintian Uprising Founded as Taiping Heavenly Kingdom:
Seeing that Hong Xiuquan’s God Worship Society was becoming more and more influential, local officials began to panic, so they secretly mobilized their troops to prepare to wipe out this trend. power. Hong Xiuquan also knew that now the arrow was on the string and he had to resolutely start an uprising, otherwise he would be surrounded and annihilated by the army.
The summer of 1850, which was the twenty-fourth year of Daoguang. Hong Xiuquan issued a mobilization order, calling on members of the Church of God to gather in Jintian Village, Guiping County, Guangxi.
Mysterious ritual of worshiping God
After half a year of careful preparation, on January 11, 1851, Hong Xiuquan’s thirty-seventh birthday, he gathered more than 20,000 people and officially announced the uprising, and the founding of the country was named the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Subsequently, a senior leadership group with Feng Yunshan, Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, and Shi Dakai as the core was formed.
Guangxi Jintian Uprising
The key generals of Jintian Uprising
began a 14-year-long battle with the Qing Dynasty! The wave of uprising swept half of the Qing Dynasty! The Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan also became the last large-scale peasant uprising in the feudal era and had a profound impact on modern Chinese history!
# Modern History# #广西# #清朝# #太平天国#
