The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom operated painstakingly in Nanjing for more than ten years, during which time they could be said to have plundered all the rare treasures in the imperial palace. In addition, including the various royal palaces, it is said that they are also piled up with gold and silver. However, after being destroyed, Zeng Guofan reported nothing to the Tongzhi Emperor in the inheritance of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and even said that the location of the silver treasury had not been found. So where did their gold and silver treasures go?
In fact, there are many versions of the treasure talk. First of all, from the historical data, in the summer of 1864, Zeng Guofan's younger brother Zeng Guofan led the Xiang army to attack Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which is now the city of Nanjing. After this news reached Beijing at that time, the Tongzhi Emperor could be described as a dragon and a great joy. On the one hand, the qing court's troubles were finally completely eradicated. On the other hand, when the Qing government treasury at that time was already in deficit for a long time, even the salaries of the troops had been in arrears for a long time. The Tongzhi Emperor also hoped that after capturing Tianjing, he could use the gold and silver treasures of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to rescue the country's urgent needs.
At the beginning of the siege, Zeng Guofan received a holy decree, and the imperial court asked him to concentrate the treasures in Tianjing City and report them to the household department. However, a month later, Zeng Guofan's paper fold directly poured cold water on the Tongzhi Emperor. Zeng Guofan said in the recital: For many years, both Chinese and foreign countries have spread the rumor that Hong Xiuquan is very rich, with gold and silver in his hands like mountains, and countless rare treasures. I was convinced of that before. Ben thought that after breaking the city with Zeng Guoquan, he would seal his silver treasury. If there are as many treasures as the outside world is rumored, then it is also a lot of wealth for the country. If there is not so much, at least it can be retained for military pay and refugee relief.
However, after we captured Tianjing, after three consecutive days and three nights of careful searching of the city, we did not find any so-called treasure houses at all. This was also a great surprise to Wei Chen. Although Zeng Guofan said it directly, in this recital, we can still vaguely feel a little bit of the meaning of wanting to cover up.
However, after the fold was sent to the imperial court, the Tongzhi Emperor quickly replied, presumably meaning that since no property had been found, there was no need to talk about handing it over. Treasure is secondary, after all, it is still a victory. It can be seen that the Tongzhi Emperor did not want to investigate this matter in order to appease the hearts of the army.
At this point, it seems that it should also be a satisfactory end. However, are the gold and silver treasures that the world has been madly rumored before really empty? Zeng Guofan's recital, how much moisture is in it? Probably things are not so simple.