The Taiping Rebellion was the largest large-scale anti-Qing movement in China in the mid-19th century. In the early days, under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing and others, the rebel army broke through the bamboo and captured many provinces and cities across the country. Just when the future of the movement was in full swing, Hong Xiuquan, the King of Heaven, began to live a luxurious life, coveting pleasure, and handing over power to Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King. At the same time, divisions began to appear within several great kings, vying for power and profit, and infighting broke out.
In August 1856, Yang Xiuqing was proud of his achievements and forced Hong Xiuquan to name him "Long Live". After Hong Xiuquan knew his calculations, he immediately summoned Shi Dakai and Wei Changhui back to Beijing to save each other. In early September, Yang Xiuqing and tens of thousands of his men were brutally killed by Wei Changhui. Soon, Wei Changhui was executed by Hong Xiuquan, and Shi Dakai also ran away because of the suspicion of the Heavenly King. During this infighting, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was greatly affected, most of the bases in Hubei and Jiangxi were lost, and the uprising began to decline.
In order to eliminate the rebel army, the Qing government joined hands with foreigners, and the military situation of the rebel army continued to deteriorate. When Zeng Guofan led the Xiang army to capture Tianjing, a palace maid who had served Hong Xiuquan told him that the king had died of illness a month ago. Zeng Guofan hated Hong Xiu to the bone, so he had his body chopped up, then burned to ashes, and finally mixed the ashes into gunpowder, and blasted it out with cannons, making him "frustrate the ashes". Hong Xiuquan's son was also hunted down by the Qing government and died under the Qing saber, and his people were also slaughtered by the Qing government.
However, there are rumors that Hong Xiuquan did not die, and at that time, a general named Lai Hanying escorted one of his sons to escape. Who is Lai Hanying? It is reported that he is the younger brother of Lai Lianying, Hong Xiuquan's wife, and when he was young, he practiced medicine and business in Guangxi. During the "Jintian Uprising", he participated in the uprising with four cousins, and was later made a deputy minister for his military merits.
After Yang Xiuqing came to power, he was overwhelmed, and Lai Hanying, Luo Gang, and others were very dissatisfied with this, so they wanted to get rid of it and fully assist Hong Xiuquan in order to achieve great things. Yang Xiuqing knew that Lai Hanying was not his own person, and he had been looking for an excuse to get rid of them, but he had not found the opportunity. Lai Hanying decided to preemptively persuade Hong Xiuquan to get rid of Yang Xiuqing's hidden danger as soon as possible, and also listed a bunch of his crimes. Hong Xiuquan said that he knew that the Eastern King was a cancer, but he had been in power for too long, and Most of Tianjing was his subordinates, and when he recalled the Northern King and the Wing King, he would get rid of them. Lai Hanying took the opportunity to offer a plan to the Heavenly King, and found a good reason to let the Northern and Wing Kings return to Beijing, which would not arouse Yang Xiuqing's suspicions. After Hong Xiuquan listened, he agreed to his proposal.
Before Hong Xiuquan's death, Lai Hanying fled Tianjing with one of his sons. Lai Hanying took his nephew and family into anonymity, and no one knew where they went. Until 1909, the 96-year-old Lai Hanying told two earth-shattering secrets before his death: Hong Xiuquan's unhighed son, who had been hidden in anonymity, and married and had children; in the "Tianjing Incident", Wei Changhui killed Yang Xiuqing because of his personal grudge, not Hong Xiuquan wanted him to die. After saying that, he died. As for where Hong Xiuquan's descendants were, he did not explain.