Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement is the last large-scale peasant uprising in Chinese history, sweeping over the southern region of Qing Dynasty. The blow to the southern rule of the Qing Dynasty is incredibly deep. For the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, many people will analyze it from a political and military perspective, and show the history of the Taiping Army from all aspects. However, today I will look at the life of the Taiping Army from another aspect, that is, their dietary life, and take you to see a strange and familiar Taiping Heavenly Kingdom .
Taiping Army
full of characteristics Holy Library system
Among the many special systems of the Taiping Army, the Holy Library system is a system with strong egalitarianism. After the Taiping Army occupied Yong'an, Guangxi in September 1851, the Holy Library system was determined. All gold, silver and treasures delivered by the Taiping Army must not be hidden privately. They need to be handed over to Holy Library . Those who rebel against the crime were controversial.
Holy Library System
As the unique logistics support system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, all materials produced or seized by the Taiping Army are uniformly handed over to the Holy Library, and the Holy Library will uniformly distribute the materials, money, grain, etc. needed by each army, which seems very fair. In the Taiping Army, officers and soldiers can only hold up to 5 taels of silver, more than 5 taels of silver, and those with smaller amounts are confiscated, and those with larger amounts are directly beheaded . Therefore, in the initial Taiping Army, all the materials seized were confiscated, and even the mutual gifts between the officers and soldiers must be handed over. As of 1853, the Taiping Army still strictly implemented this regulation .
food standards for Taiping Army
Because the Taiping Army implements the supply system , from Hong Xiuquan below to ordinary soldiers, the basic standards are not big, of course there will be differences in other aspects:
. The king of heaven has an additional 10 kilograms of meat every day, and then it will be reduced by one according to the official rank. For example, the intermediate officer has half a kilogram of meat every day;
. Every 25 Taiping Army can receive 200 kilograms of rice every week. 7 jin of oil and 7 jin of salt;
. Lower-level officers can apply for a different amount of grocery purchase money from the Holy Bank, as much as one or two taels of gold and dozens of taels of silver. These money are used to purchase chicken, duck, fish, meat, etc. to improve food for the Taiping Army;
. If large cities are conquered or other major military victories and various festivals are conquered, the Holy Bank will also pay additional meals. For example, in 1853, the Taiping Army distributed one pig and a few chunks of money per battalion during the Chinese New Year in Wuchang , and even cattle and sheep will be distributed.
Later in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom King Jue is flooded, and being able to eat meat is a welfare of the King Jue
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom legal festival
Gesheng Festival (the thirteenth day of the first lunar month of the Tianli) : Brother Tian is crucified;
Joseph Festival (the second day of the second lunar month of the Tianli) : Hong Xiuquan dreams of heavenly father;
Ascension Festival (21st month of the Tianli) : Hong Xiuquan ascended the top;
Master's Day (3rd day of the third month of the Tianli) : Heavenly Father ( Yang Xiuqing ) descends to the earth;
East King Ascension Festival (27th day of the seventh month of the Tianli) : Yang Xiuqing's death day;
Brother's Day (9th day of the ninth month of the Tianli) : Heavenly Brother ( Xiao Chaogui ) descends to the earth.
Uprising
Taiping Army's food stew
or above is just the food standard of the Taiping Army. The specific cooking is also obtained from each soldier below. As for how to eat the Taiping Army? One word is terrible. For example, after , Taiping Army received all kinds of cattle, sheep and pigs, they killed them directly, did not put blood to wash them, and threw them into the pot to cook. They even took them out and shared them with them before they were cooked. As for other ingredients, they didn't know how to make them. is basically stewed in a mess, such as sea cucumber stir-fried cabbage, shark fin roasted bean sprouts, bird's nest stewed radish , ginseng braised dog meat and other incredible cooking methods.
It is hard to imagine the taste of stewing pigs without seasoning
This is because the Taiping Army's troops all came from the poor people at the bottom of the Qing society. They lived a poor life in the early years. They often had food in their hunger and swallowed them whole. Even some expensive ingredients were mixed and messed up. As for the Guangxi old brothers who first participated in the Taiping Army Uprising, they generally like to eat fried foods and do not drink soup. They like to add Qin pepper to every dish. This Qin pepper is bitter and spicy, but they are happy to enjoy it. At the same time, they don't like to peel fruits. Eating kumquats, which require peeling, all the fruits that need to be peeled were eaten directly, and all the meat was eaten .
Qinjiao
Hong Xiuquan's special diet: love to eat centipede
Hong Xiuquan's diet is also distinctive, such as likes to eat raw and cold food , which is fine, but also likes to eat fried centipede . You should know that centipede itself has toxins, and long-term consumption will be harmful to the body. Originally, Hong Xiuquan likes to eat raw and cold food, causing the stomach to catch cold, which is very fragile. In addition, he likes to eat centipede, and the toxins in his body accumulate more and more, and eventually he was chronically poisoned. Later, after Hong Xiuquan fell ill, he did not like to see a doctor and did not cooperate with the treatment. He believed that God saved him and eventually died of illness.
is too thrilling
Of course, as the king of heaven, Hong Xiuquan could still share the joys and sorrows with the Taiping Army in the early days, but after entering Tianjing, he lived in the deep palace for a long time. His diet could not be just a simple centipede, but a variety of people and very rich. He would eat six birds (pigeons, birds, pheasants, eagles), six beasts (cows, sheep, deer, rabbit), six scales (breams, carp, sturgeons), six interstitial (shrimp, crab, clams, turtles) for each meal, and they were all whole, and they were served in a large pot, so a meal costs at least a few thousand taels of silver, which can be said to be very luxurious.
The favorites of Taiping Army: fish and dog meat
It is said that the most popular food in the Taiping Army is fish and dog meat. Fish is the most popular food on the Taiping Army menu. If you can get a fish, they will not be willing to eat it themselves and will give it to their superiors for use. When other kings hold banquets, they also respect the fish they presented as the ones.
At that time, due to the war, the fishermen fled. In order to ensure the supply of fish, the Taiping Army set up the " Diantianyu " yamen in Tianjing to be responsible for managing various aquaculture foods in the fish ponds in Tianjing. The fish caught were given to the royal palace, which was specially provided with food.
Dog meat
As for dog meat, because Guangxi has a tradition of eating dog meat, this tradition has also been brought into the Taiping Army. Every time the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom worships the Heavenly Father, it always uses dog meat to worship , instead of the traditional cattle, sheep and pigs. When it comes to improving the food, the Taiping Army will try its best to make a dog stew, which is very popular among the Taiping Army.
Overall, the food during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was both epoch-making egalitarianism and a unique Taiping Army Holy Cuban system. The early Taiping Army could still maintain the spirit of sharing weal and woe in the early stages of its business. After establishing its capital in Tianjing, the upper class began to enjoy themselves, especially Hong Xiuquan, as the leader, completely separated from the lower class soldiers and did not even come forward, which eventually led to the Taiping Army being in internal strife and was eventually destroyed by the Qing Dynasty.
