In 1864, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, which had persisted for 14 years, came to an end, and the Xiang army captured Tianjing, which had been besieged for many years, and directly killed the Tianwangfu. At that time, Hong Xiuquan had long since died and was buried in the palace. In the end, under the guidance of the palace maid, the Xiang army found the place where Hong Xiuquan was buried, opened the coffin and burned the body. Subsequently, the Xiang army mixed Hong Xiuquan's ashes into the lime and then hit the sky.
So how did Hong Xiuquan die? According to the Manchus, Hong Xiuquan's death was to commit suicide by taking poison. Zeng Guofan, who first proposed that Hong Xiuquan committed suicide by taking poison, reported the results of the battle to Muzong on the seventh day of the first month of The Third Year of Tongzhi (1864) after conquering Tianjing, and described it in great detail in the recital:
"Pang Jiyun, Sun Shangfu, etc., and all the civil and martial princes are the same, and the corpse obeys the cult, does not use a coffin, and wraps it all over the body with embroidered dragon yellow satin." Although hakama is hakama, it is also dragon satin. The head is bald and hairless, and it must still be fully preserved, and it has been white. Left and right arms, the flesh is still not shed. Examine the corpses, raise them to fire and burn them! There are pseudo-palace maids, who are women with the surname of Huang in Daozhou, that is, those who bury the corpse by hand. The courtiers were questioned, and it was confessed that Hong Xiuquan had not seen his ministers for many years before his death. On April 27, due to the emergency attack of the officers and troops, he was poisoned and died. ”
That is to say, as early as three months before the fall of Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan had already committed suicide by taking poison, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom chose not to mourn, perhaps only the upper echelons of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom knew.
This statement was widely spread and was recognized by later generations. Even Li Xiucheng said in his confession that Hong Xiuquan died of poisoning:
"See the soldiers of the Nine Marshals everywhere near the city. The king was anxious and irritated every day, that is, on the twenty-seventh day of April, he took poison and died. ”
Scholars have questioned this statement, after all, it is common knowledge in the field of historiography that "Li Xiucheng Confession" was changed by Zeng Guofan to the point that it was completely unrecognizable. However, the claim that Hong Xiuquan committed suicide by poisoning has been accepted by previous scholars of the Republic, and first-class historians such as Meng Sen, Liang Qichao, and Guo Tingyi have all agreed with it.
But by the time of the Republic, this argument was gradually rejected by historians who adhered to the view of class history. In their view, to say that Hong Xiuquan died of poison is entirely a slander by the class enemy.
All the information about Hong Xiuquan's suicide came from the enemy, the Qing court. The Taiping Army, which really knew or witnessed Hong Xiuquan's death, basically did not hold the view that God committed suicide. Therefore, the theory of suicide is quite strange. Second, from the perspective of Hong Xiuquan's personality, he would not choose to commit suicide.
The reason why the Qing court said that Hong Xiuquan committed suicide was to expand his own achievements and merits, which was not uncommon in the history of the Qing Dynasty. For example, during the Kangxi Dynasty, Gardan actually died of illness, but was said by the Qing court to drink medicine and die.
At the time of the siege of Tianjing, Li Xiucheng advised Hong Xiuquan to "leave the city and leave the city", but Hong Xiuquan threatened:
"The iron barrel is not supported, and someone is helping." Er said that there are no soldiers, and the heavenly soldiers of the fallen are more than water, so why be afraid of the demons? ”
Because of countless victories and averting dangers, Hong Xiuquan had long been immersed in fanatical religious sentiments, and had the confidence of ordinary people, how could he commit suicide?
In addition to committing suicide by taking poison, some people said that Hong Xiuquan swallowed gold and died. And this saying is spread from the foreign brothers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Yu Yu. In his book, he wrote:
"On August 17, the besieging army learned that the king had committed suicide by swallowing gold."
However, at this time, Yu Yu was not in Tianjing City, so his statement also lacked authority.
In modern times, scholars have deduced from the available data that Hong Xiuquan's death may be entirely due to an unhealthy life.
First of all, Hong Xiuquan indulged excessively, and as early as when Yong'an was crowned king, he had more than seventy concubines. In Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan's harem expanded again, reaching 88 people. In addition to regular concubines, there were also female ministers and even female swordsmen in the Heavenly Palace, and only Hong Xiu in the palace was a man. It is conceivable that among so many women, Hong Xiuquan would live an obscene and debauched life. In the midst of years of indulgence, it is natural that the body is deteriorating.
Secondly, Hong Xiuquan has an outlandish dietary hobby – fried centipedes. According to the confession of Hong Xiuquan's son Hong Tianguifu:
"My father doesn't eat pork and doesn't allow people to eat alcohol. My father usually ate raw and cold food, and since he arrived in Nanjing, he has used centipedes as a delicacy and fried them in oil. ”
Raw cold and fried food, and the ingredients are poisonous centipedes, how can Hong Xiuquan's body be healthy. More seriously, when Tianjing was besieged, Hong Xiuquan also took the initiative to eat a food called "sweet dew". According to research, "sweet dew" is actually a mixture of wild vegetables and wild grasses into a substitute food. Such eating habits can easily cause malnutrition. Li Hongzhang recovered the state and attacked Jinling. "Xiuquan was worried and angry, and his feet were swollen." Puffiness of the feet is caused by long-term consumption of weeds.
In the last years of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Army lost one after another, and external military pressure and internal court power struggles consumed Hong Xiuquan's limited energy, and at the same time, poor living habits and unscientific dietary structure also seriously eroded his health. In the end, this series of combined factors led Hong Xiuquan to the road to death. And suicide, Hong Xiuquan may not choose. And these will never be recorded in the history books of the Qing Dynasty.