【Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Series 576, Original Works of Little Buddha History, Please Do Not Reprint】
In the fourteen years of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it can be said that there were many storms and storms, and many influential figures appeared in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty, including many famous generals such as Shi Dakai, Chen Yucheng, Cheng Xueqi, Luo Zenan, Zuo Zongtang, Jiang Zhongyuan, etc. Of course, there will also be many negative figures in the eyes of both sides, and most of these people have become negative, most of them stem from disloyalty to the regime, especially those who defected at the critical moment of the war between the two sides, bringing unpredictable losses to the regime.
Especially in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, many people who were crowned kings by Hong Xiuquan directly surrendered to the Qing army with their own people and towns for their own selfish interests, in exchange for high-ranking officials Houlu, however, not all people could rely on surrender in exchange for a better future: the General of Fengyang, Lian Tianfu Wanzongsheng, was killed after surrendering to the Qing army; eight high-ranking generals such as King Gao Yongkuan were killed after sacrificing the city of Suzhou; the monk Greenqin hated the anti-Qing people, thinking that the taiping generals obviously rebelled against the country but relied on surrender to get their official positions, and The hu king Lan Chengchun ran to surrender. It is tantamount to a sheep being tied up as soon as it reaches the monk's camp and executed immediately after the interrogation...
In fact, for the regime, there is also a type of person who is also a negative figure, that is, the person who harms the people, for example: Hong Xiuquan's cousin was in Anqing when it was so difficult, the whole city was short of food, his family also hid a lot of grain, and when Anqing was attacked by the Xiang army, he fled very quickly; in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Tianjing was besieged by the Xiang army for a long time, Li Xiucheng went to relieve the difficulties many times, and once he entrusted his rear to Chen Kunshu, but Chen Kunshu ignored Li Xiucheng's trust and made a blessing in Suzhou City. Failure to restrain themselves and their subordinates, the incident of arsonists disturbing the people, resulting in the displacement of the people, the complaints... Such a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom general like these two people can also count some people. The Huang Zilong we are going to talk about today is such a general.
Huang Zilong was a native of Tengxian County, Guangxi, who joined the Taiping Army in his early years, but his origin was unknown, and he later belonged to Li Xiucheng, and it was not until the ten years of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that he was able to be enfeoffed with loyalty to Tianyi, which was the beginning of his real development, and later Hong Xiuquan was madly crowned king, and Huang Zilong was able to make Xugong the King of Chao (in fact, Hong Xiuquan deliberately divided Li Xiucheng's forces, and many of his generals were crowned kings), becoming one of the more than 2,000 kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Li Xiucheng was one of the powerful factions in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and his senior generals were basically the chief officials of jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Huang Zilong was no exception, and he controlled Wuxi.
That is Wuxi is already a very rich place, and Huang Zilong did not cherish, after ruling Wuxi began to act arbitrarily, arbitrarily and violently, harshly treating the people, making complaints, the people fled the city of Wuxi, Luo Ergang's "History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" and Tao Shortfang's work "Chronicle of the Kingdom of Heaven" have relevant records:
"History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom": Huang Zilong wantonly demanded in Wuxi, residents moved to townships, the city gradually dispersed, and people called him "Chaobaidi".
"Chronicle of the Kingdom of Heaven": The King of Chao is not good at caring, not only is the responsibility of a city, not the people, the urban and rural disturbances, such as in the burning, Wuxi is rich, the hundred industries are prosperous, even if they are all unbearable, the city is empty, the city people fight out of the four townships to take refuge, the natives are sideways, and the trumpet is long known as the "ChaobaiDi" cloud.
Huang Zilong wanted to toss Wuxi wholeheartedly, and showed no concern for things outside the city, whether it was the tianjing in danger or Suzhou was trapped, he ignored Li Xiucheng's order to send troops, nestled in his own acre and three points of land, and later it was Really Li Xiucheng who waited for help every day, so he and the Changzhou guards went out to watch the play together - "Only the protector of Changzhou, out of the city, wandering and looking, just echoing." Huang Zilong knew very well in his heart that according to the trend at that time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would soon collapse, and he needed to make plans for his future, and the idea of surrendering to the Qing army had already sprouted.
In December 1863, the Suzhou garrison general Gao Yongkuan and others met with Li Hongzhang's confidant Cheng Xueqi and negotiated surrender with him, and two days later Gao Yongkuan and his henchmen killed and cut off the upright Tan Shaoguang as a gift of surrender, and soon after, Gao Yongkuan and eight other people were killed, and all the Taiping Army generals who followed them to surrender were slaughtered. After Huang Zilong heard the news, the whole person was petrified, there was no way to retreat, and he could only close all the city gates and fight the Qing army to the death.
A few days after Gao Yongkuan and others were killed, the Qing army captured the city of Wuxi, and Huang Zilong and his son were taken prisoner by the Qing army and subsequently killed. In fact, if we think about it, we also know that Huang Zilong cannot defend the city of Wuxi: First, he has lost the people's hearts, and the so-called people who have lost the way are helpless; second, he is bent on surrendering, and he has not done a good job in the defense of the city at all, how can he defeat the Huai army.
References: History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Chronicle of the Kingdom of Heaven