In 1850, Hong Xiuquan issued a regimental camp order, which organized the battalions into a group, formed the Taiping Army to fight with the Qing army, and began an armed confrontation with the Qing court, initially under the title of "Taiping", and later with the founding number of "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", "The ancestors of Hong Yang, rose to the southeast to resist the Manchu Qing." ”
In this world, there will always be some things that are hidden in the unpredictable place, and people are confused in order to find the truth of the facts. There will always be some people, throughout their lives, hidden in their hearts that are unknown, and they regard them as their inner dependence and motivation for survival. And time slipped away at the fingertips, pushing people to the end of the truth, how did Li Xiu, the loyal king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, become captured? In 1962, Zeng Guofan's great-grandson threw out heavy historical materials to uncover the truth about his captivity.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement was an important peasant rebellion in history, and its original intention was to resist the dark rule and establish the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although this was a failed uprising, the process and the results were too idealistic, and in the end it was incapable of escaping the cruelty of reality, but this peasant movement produced countless well-known generals.
Li Xiucheng, who was born in Teng County, Guangxi, was one of the participants in this activity and was one of the main forces of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. Li Xiucheng is not a leader with a very good reputation, he is controversial, so there is also a saying that "The king of loyalty is not loyal", and the king of loyalty refers to Li Xiucheng. In the later stages of the movement, he did not assert his position and surrendered.
In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War, the unfavorable territory of the division gradually shrank, and was forced by the Xiang army to be bitterly forced, Li Xiucheng led his troops to go out on a campaign, and faced with a situation in which the enemy was strong and we were weak. In 1864, the Xiang army broke through the city wall and entered the pass. Li Xiucheng fled with Hong Tiangui at an emergency moment, but in the process of escaping, his identity was exposed and he was intercepted by the Xiang army.
Li Xiucheng was a thorn in the eye of the Xiang Army, because he killed many Xiang Army generals, so after the leader of the Xiang Army saw Li Xiucheng, he threatened to kill him, fortunately, under the persuasion of the Xiang Army minister, Li Xiucheng was not immediately executed, but did the opposite, gentle and relative, let Li Xiucheng write down the details of the Balance of Heaven and surrender.
It should be known that the generals who fell into the hands of the Xiang Army were almost all executed by Ling Chi, while Li Xiucheng was consciously or unconsciously revealing the answers they wanted to maintain their own lives. Zeng Guofan once recorded that Li Xiucheng wrote more than 36,000 words in prison, explaining in detail the details of the Tianping Taiguo, which were so detailed that the characteristics of each leader, and he also said that as long as he did not harm his own life, he would gather the soldiers of the Four Heavenly Balance Heavenly Kingdoms and let them all surrender.
In the mouths of many captured generals, the Qing army did not get useful information, Li Xiucheng was one of the leaders of the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom, involved in the whole process of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and he could be said to be familiar with the procedures in it. Therefore, he was more valuable to the Xiang Army, although Li Xiucheng's final outcome was not good, and he was executed after being transported to Beijing.
But that period of life in prison was a period of time when Li Xiucheng's reputation was destroyed. In prison, he was anxious to escape, so when he wrote the indictment, he wrote it very quickly, and in eight or nine days, he wrote less than 60,000 words. However, the content of this was not fully presented to the imperial court, but was deleted and revised by Zeng Guofan and Zhao Liewen, and only more than 27,000 words were finally presented to the imperial court.
The testimony written by Li Xiucheng mostly reviewed the gains and losses of the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom and did not involve too many military and political matters, but there were huge secrets hidden in it. In order to trick Li Xiucheng into saying that he wanted to negotiate peace with him, Zeng Guofan was afraid that this matter would be made a big fuss by others, so he deleted it. There is also the current situation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom winning the hearts and minds of the people, Li Xiucheng's dissatisfaction with the Huai Army, and the real cause of Hong Xiuquan's death. The purpose of Zeng Guofan's confession was to publicize his own merits, so he deleted the public opinion that was unfavorable to him.
Li Xiucheng was the head of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and he knew the details of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in great detail, so he reflected many little secrets that were not known. In his testimony, he expressed his dissatisfaction with Hong Ren, believing that he was not enough to crown the throne. Li Xiucheng admired and recognized Zeng Guofan. His proposal to buy foreigners' guns for self-defense was also unanimously approved by Zeng Guofan, so why did Zeng Guofan finally execute Li Xiucheng?
In 1962, Zeng Guofan's great-grandson revealed important historical materials, and it turned out that Li Xiucheng persuaded Zeng Guofan to claim the title of emperor, but Zeng Guofan did not agree. However, he was afraid that After Li Xiucheng entered Beijing, he would make a big fuss about this matter and bring himself a big disaster, so he killed him. The testimony was deleted, the secrets were unknown, and what was recorded in that real testimony was unknown.
Resources:
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom