He was a military figure in modern China, a national hero, and one of the most legendary figures in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, who showed compassion for the people, and his life deeds were widely praised by later generations, and he was considered to be "the most perfect image of the peasant uprisings in China throughout the ages." This person was Shi Dakai, the righteous king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang, Shi Dakai followed Hong Xiuquan to join the Cult of God and participated in many of the sect's activities. After that, he followed Hong Xiuquan to launch the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, rebelling against the rule of the Qing government, and was one of the main leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. After Hong Xiuquan fixed the capital tianjing, Shi Dakai was awarded the title of "Wing King Five Thousand Years Old".
However, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, which swept most of China, had not yet won the final victory, and some leaders began to develop hedonism. Hong Xiuquan recruited beautiful women in the people and enriched the harem, thus slacking off in political affairs; Yang Xiuqing spent a lot of money to build the Eastern Palace. At the same time, Yang Xiuqing and Wei Changhui, the Northern King, for power, gradually deepened their contradictions, and the contradictions within the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom intensified.
At this time, Shi Dakai was fighting the Qing army outside. In the fifth year of Xianfeng, he severely damaged the Water Division of the Xiang Army at the mouth of jiujiang and hukou. Riding on the victory, he continued his western expedition, Three Grams of Wuchang. In November, he led an army into Jiangxi and captured a large area of territory in the three provinces of Anhui, Gansu, and Hubei. When he was fighting outside, he had no idea that the destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was coming.
In the seventh year of Xianfeng, the Tianjing Incident broke out. Yang Xiuqing was killed by Wei Changhui, and more than 20,000 of his men were also killed by the Northern King. When Shi Dakai learned of this, he immediately rushed back to Tianjing and denounced Wei Changhui for killing innocent people indiscriminately. Unexpectedly, Wei Changhui thought that Shi Dakai and Yang Xiuqing were in the same group, so he wanted to kill him. Fortunately, he escaped from Tianjing City, but his family members who remained in the city were not so lucky, and all of them were killed by Wei Changhui. Hong Xiuquan also ordered his arrest, and Shi Dakai had to flee to Anqing for refuge. His departure dealt a heavy blow to the later stages of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.
Later, Shi Da wrote to Hong Xiuquan and demanded that Wei Changhui be executed. Hong Xiuquan saw that everyone else supported Shi Dakai's proposal, so he ordered Wei Changhui to be killed, and Shi Dakai's relationship with him eased somewhat. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has lost several important people in succession, and it is already full of holes. At the same time, the Qing government was also stepping up its attacks on the rebel army, and even joined hands with foreigners to pursue and suppress the Taiping Army. The situation was very unfavorable to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Shi Dakai was defeated in several confrontations with the Qing army.
In the second year of Tongzhi, Shi Dakai led his troops deep into the Yuexi Mountains and reached the south bank of the Dadu River, and finally the entire army was destroyed, and Shi Dakai was captured. He was captured along with his five-year-old son, Shi Dingzhong. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement seriously threatened the pro-government rule, so Cixi hated the gang so much that she ordered Shi Dakai's father and son Ling Chi to be executed.
At that time, the number of Ling Chi's swords had increased to three thousand, and the governor of Sichuan thought that Shi Dingzhong was too young to bear this punishment at all, so he wrote to Cixi and asked her to be gracious and reduce her guilt by one degree. However, Cixi said that not a knife could be less, and that one less knife would be made up from the governor of Sichuan, and the governor had to carry out the orders of Cixi.
As soon as the executioner slashed twice, Shi Dingzhong fainted in pain. At this time, Cixi actually ordered: Raise him well, and then slowly cut him when he grows up. Some people say that Cixi is a fierce woman, which is also reasonable. She was so cruel to a little child as young as five years old, it was outrageous!
However, there are many historical books that prove that Shi Dingzhong was too young to execute Ling Chi, so he was blocked by people and suffocated alive.