The moment Li Xiucheng was captured, he was already doomed to death. But under the coaxing of Zeng Guofan, he naively thought that he had the hope of living. So he picked up a pen and touted Zeng Guofan's merits and kindness, and degraded his old leader Hong Xiuquan. However, his words and deeds in prison were exchanged for Zeng Guofan's private ridicule and the executioner's sharp butcher's knife. After being captured 17 days later, Zeng Guofan executed his old rival before the Qing court's holy will arrived. The funny thing is that the moment Li Xiu's adult head landed, he was still thinking about Zeng Guofan's "ender" in his heart.
So, what made Zeng Guofan rush to kill Li Xiucheng? Is it just because Lee so-sung said something he shouldn't have said in his confession? It's not that simple.
1. What did Li Xiucheng say in his confession?
On June 19, 1864 (July 22, 1864), Li Xiucheng, the King of Zhong, got lost in the mountains southeast of Nanjing, and Xiao Fusi, the qing dynasty's Fujian overland governor, was rewarded and captured Li Xiucheng.
After being captured, Li Xiucheng had a clear process of change in his thinking and attitude, and began to fantasize about surviving. The result was a confession of tens of thousands of words before dying.
The Qing army conquered Tianjing
When he knew that he would die, he calmly faced Zeng Guoquan's interrogation. Li Xiucheng fought against the Qing army for many years, and knew that he and the Qing army had an endless bloody feud, and once they became prisoners of the order, they would have no physiology, so when facing zeng Guoquan's torture threat on July 23, he broke his mouth and scolded: "Zeng Jiu, each of them is his master, and the rise and fall is impermanent. At this time, he looked righteous and awe-inspiring, with a style of "soldiers can be killed and cannot be disgraced".
When I really thought I had hope of being alive, my heart began to waver. Zhao Liewen persuaded Zeng Guoquan to use his punishment and began to talk to Li Xiucheng. He expressed regret for Li Xiu's effectiveness in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and blamed him for not surrendering to the Qing Dynasty earlier, if the Qing Dynasty had been surrendered earlier, the imperial court would not only not blame the past, but would also reuse it. Li Xiucheng said that each of them was his master, and he was knighted by Hong Xiuquan and had to be loyal to him. Zhao Liewen tentatively asked him what his plans were if The Qing Dynasty did not kill him. Li Xiucheng said that the taiping heavenly kingdom was gone, and he planned to write a letter to surrender his old Taiping Army and no longer be an enemy of the Qing Dynasty. A person who knows that he must die suddenly feels that there is a possibility of life, and will definitely go all out to survive, this is the nature of man. After the dialogue, Zhao Liewen felt that Li Xiucheng had the intention of begging for his life.
When Zeng Guofan falsely expressed regret for Li Xiucheng, Li Xiucheng completely gave in and began to write a self-statement. On June 25 of the third year of Tongzhi (July 29, 1864), Zeng Guofan arrived in Nanjing by steamship from Anqing, and the next day, before he saw Li Xiucheng, he planned to execute Li Xiucheng in Nanjing. During the interrogation of Li Xiucheng, he expressed his appreciation and regret, and he told Li Xiucheng that whether to execute Li Xiucheng depended on the will of the imperial court, and he promised to do his best to save the life of King Zhong. Zeng Guofan's seduction made Li Xiucheng feel grateful, and he began to step up writing confessions according to Zeng Guofan's requirements.
Li Xiucheng wrote a confession in prison.
So, what did Li Xiucheng's confession write, and was it enough to worry Zeng Guofan? The author summarizes the following:
The first is to write about his origin and family lineage, as well as his participation in the Taiping Army. He said he had taken the wrong path and was remorseful.
The second is to summarize the "Ten Mistakes of the Heavenly Dynasty" and point out ten major mistakes in the military and political aspects of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
The third was to put forward the "Ten Points of Surrender", to provide advice for Zeng Guofan to clean up the remnants of the Taiping Army, and to suggest that he himself surrender and disband the remnants of the Taiping Army in order to break up the resistance struggle of the Taiping Army.
The fourth is to propose that Zeng Guofan pay attention to resisting foreign aggression.
Fifth, it is recommended that Zeng Guofan oppose the Qing Dynasty. Of course, this article can no longer be found in the original manuscript of the existing confession, and when Zeng Guofan copied Li Xiucheng's confession and reported it to the Qing court, he certainly did not dare to keep such words. According to Luo Ergang, an expert on the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guangshan, the granddaughter of Zeng Guofan, once said, "Li Xiucheng persuaded Wen Zhenggong to become emperor, but Wen Zhenggong did not dare." ”
Sixth, it was full of rumors, vigorously praising Zeng Guofan and flattering the Xiang Army. Such as "Zhongcheng Lord's Quantity Is Wide", "One Dip of the Qing Emperor's Grace, Two Dips of the Middle Hall, Zhongcheng's Virtue", "Grace Depth and Breadth" and so on.
Li Xiucheng is a page of confessions
But the scheming Zeng Guofan saw Li Xiucheng's intentions, saying that Li Xiucheng flattered him, "offering mercy and mercy is nothing more than a life of trying to prolong the day." ”
On July 30, Zeng Guofan intended to execute Li Xiucheng, and on August 2, the Qing court issued a decree ordering Li Xiucheng and Hong Renda to be sent to the capital.
On August 3, Zeng Guofan formally decided to kill Li Xiucheng before the Arrival of the Holy Will. His aide Zhao Liewen wrote in his August 3 diary:
In the evening, he went to the middle hall for a long time to talk, and planned to put Li Xiucheng into the Fa-rectification, not to ask Yu. Yu replied: "It has been more than ten days since the capture, and everyone has seen it, and the confession has been recorded in the middle hall, and no one has any doubts." And this thief is very cunning, and it is not appropriate to enter the capital. "Same as the middle hall.
On August 7, Zeng Guofan executed Li Xiucheng before the Holy Will arrived. Poor Li Xiucheng was toyed with by Zeng Guofan until his death. He begged Zeng Guofan several times, but Zeng Guofan told him to obey the imperial court and that he could not be the lord. Zhao Liewen wrote in his diary about Li Xiucheng's execution:
Today, Li Meisheng was sent to tell him that the law of the land was difficult to break and could not be exonerated. Li Yue: "Zhongtang Houde, unforgettable, this life has been wrong, the next life wishes to repay" Yunyun. In the evening, he went to the city, repeated ten sentences of desperate words, had no rhyme and despised slang, paid the prisoner Pang Shengsan, and told his loyalty, so he was reprimanded.
You see, Li Xiucheng, who was seduced by Zeng Guofan, was still grateful to his death for "Zhongtang Houde, and he never forgot", saying that "this life has been wrong, and the next life wishes to repay".
The author believes that Li Xiucheng is in Nanjing, under the control of Zeng Guofan, so no matter what Li Xiucheng wrote in his confession, it is not enough to make Zeng Guofan afraid. The reason is very simple, no matter what Li Xiucheng wrote, Zeng Guofan could delete it and then report the confession to the imperial court. As I analyzed above, according to Luo Ergang's research, Li Xiucheng's confession of persuading Zeng Guofan to be called emperor has been deleted cleanly by Zeng Guofan.
Therefore, what scared Zeng Guofan was not Li Xiucheng's confession.
So, why did he rush to execute Li Xiucheng, and what was he afraid of?
Zeng Guofan
2. What really scared Zeng Guofan?
Li Xiucheng's confession was first handed over to Zeng Guofan, so no matter what he wrote, Zeng Guofan would not let words unfavorable to him appear in front of the Qing Dynasty's high-level.
To put it simply, I thought that Zeng Guofan was mainly afraid that Li Xiucheng would say a lot of things unfavorable to him after entering Beijing, which would lead to his own disaster. In fact, Zeng Guofan had been dealing with Li Xiucheng for many years, and he deeply felt that Li Xiucheng was "very cunning" and "cunning and stable" - in short, Li Xiucheng was very cunning. He had been in the eunuch sea for a long time, and he clearly knew that Li Xiu had become a beggar for his life, and he said a lot of words against his heart in the confession, and although Li Xiucheng wrote this on his hand, he might not really think so in his heart. If he were sent to Beijing alive, he could not guarantee what Li Xiucheng would say in front of the Qing court. What if Li Xiucheng "framed" himself as an emperor? This alone is enough for Zeng Guofan to be obsessed with walking around. Moreover, since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed, Zeng Guofan was highly stung, and the Qing court was already suspicious of Zeng Guofan, and if Li Xiucheng said that Zeng Guofan wanted to be emperor, then Zeng Guofan would not be able to wash away jumping into the Yellow River. For the safety of him and the Xiang army, he could only kill Li Xiucheng first to eliminate hidden dangers. Li Xiucheng died, but left Zeng Guofan's deleted confession, which could be exchanged anyway.
When Zeng Guofan's staff discussed with Zeng Guofan, they mentioned the consensus of the two men, that is, "this thief is very cunning and it is not appropriate to enter the capital", why is it "not appropriate to enter the capital"? Of course, these two people do not need to say it explicitly, and they care about each other. The reason is what I analyzed above, afraid that Li Xiucheng would say in front of the top level of the Qing court that Zeng Guofan had the intention of becoming emperor.
In addition, he and Li Xiu had been at war for many years, and every time after the war, he had to give a twist to the imperial court, in case the Qing court, after testifying with Li Xiucheng, found that Zeng Guofan had falsely reported his achievements, which was also a disaster for Zeng Guofan.
Therefore, Li Xiucheng was doomed not to beijing.
3. After-argument
Zeng Guofan knew that the Qing court would order Li Xiucheng to be sent to the capital, but he still killed him first, so as not to cause disaster for himself. I have to admit that this shows his political wisdom.
After killing Li Xiucheng, he falsely claimed to the Qing court that Li Xiucheng had been executed after being transferred to Jinling because the emperor had been mistakenly sent to Anqing, and could no longer send him to the capital. The Qing court had no choice but to express its approval.
"Li Xiu's Adult Genealogy" strongly praised Li Xiucheng:
From the end of the army, the rank is slight, and the wit is sharp, hardworking. Good at using soldiers, extremely courageous... Therefore, the last page of the Hong clan was able to raise the embers and prolong the wheezing, so that Zeng Zuo Li Peng and others worked hard and exhausted.
Such an evaluation is basically in line with historical facts. After Li Xiucheng died, the remnants of the Taiping Army were insignificant. And Zeng Guofan, who killed Li Xiucheng, is also likely to eliminate a disaster into invisibility.