When the overseas powers opened the door of the Qing Dynasty with the help of ship guns, many patriots like Guan Tianpei emerged in the country.
But unfortunately, the feudal system has long been reduced to the obsolete of the times, and the decadent dynasty cannot resist the invasion of foreigners. From 1840 to 1842, in just two years, the British army fought the Qing court bitterly, and the rulers had to exchange a humiliating Treaty of Nanking as a bargaining chip in exchange for temporary stability.
For the people of the South, this treaty is undoubtedly a heavy burden. Due to the good economic development of the two Cantons at that time, almost all the reparations in the content of the treaty had to be borne by the local taxes of the Two Cantons. With the issuance of the imperial decree, the taxes in the two cantons soared month by month. Suddenly, the resistance of the people of the South was high.
This also laid the groundwork for the outbreak of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.
Through the records of the literature, we can see that Hong Xiuquan, the initiator of this uprising movement, was initially just a reader living in the Liangguang area. Due to Hong Xiu's bad luck at all times, he has been famous for many years. Reading in the old society was a very wasteful of money and energy, and studying for many years was not rewarded, which made Hong Xiuquan's Confucian belief almost collapse.
The distressed Hong Xiuquan fell ill with wind and cold, and when he was terminally ill, he accidentally came into contact with a religious book published by a Western church. Dissatisfaction with the status quo of society and distortions of values led Hong Xiuquan to misinterpret the religious content of the book. From then on, Hong Xiuquan began to call himself "Heavenly Father" and began to instill the original "God Religion" doctrine to the people around him.
At the beginning of the uprising, Hong Xiuquan's purpose was very clear. Since we want to compete with the imperial court, we must find a base for ourselves. Hong Xiuquan believes that whether it is economic significance or strategic significance, Nanjing is the best choice. Relying on the connections and followers accumulated over the years of missionary work, Hong Xiuquan launched the Jintian Uprising.
The spread of religion made Hong Xiuquan's teachings spread rapidly, and in just one year the followers of the "Cult of God" captured the city of Nanjing. Subsequently, Hong Xiuquan drew a large number of elites from the Taiping Army and marched north to prepare to take Beijing directly. At the same time, Hong Xiuquan transferred all the main forces in his army to the west and conquered the Two Lakes region.
The effect of Hong Xiuquan's two-front operation was remarkable, the Northern Expeditionary Army and Tianjin intercepted the main force of the imperial court going south, and the Western Route Army took the Two Lakes region with lightning speed. For a time, half of China's territory had become a dependency of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. After nearly three hundred years of loose life, the Eight Banners had become weak and weak, and they simply could not resist the brave and warlike rebel army.
In fact, if Hong Xiuquan had preached Catholic orthodoxy, I am afraid that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would have been supported by the Holy See. However, Hong Xiuquan was not a devout believer after all, and the teachings he preached deviated from Western Catholicism. In order to investigate the spread of the "Cult of God" in China, the Holy See sent priests to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for field visits.
Since the doctrines preached by Hong Xiuquan were all hybrids of strange and chaotic gods and Western doctrines, the Holy See also stood against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
With the rise of the Xiang Army formed by Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and others, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom gradually turned from an unfavorable situation to a passive situation. After the "Tianjing Incident", the internal beliefs of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom collapsed, and more and more believers turned away from Hong Xiuquan. In 1864, Hong Xiuquan died of illness, and Zeng Guofan led the Xiang army to capture Tianjing, and since then the vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement has been declared bankrupt.
Although Nanjing has been retaken, there are still many Taiping troops fighting outside the country that have not been destroyed. The people of these taiping heavenly kingdoms know that there is no place for them in the Central Plains today, and once they surrender, their fate awaits them only to go to the execution ground. The remnants of the Taiping Army wandered around, first fleeing to Shandong, then turning to Hunan and throwing themselves into the Twist Army.
Because the forces of the Twister Army were relatively scattered, it took several years for the Qing Army to quell the rebellion of the Twister Army.
After liberation, the residents of Wanyan Town, Binzhou City, Hunan Province, discovered a natural cave with a criss-crossed interior. The interior of the cave can accommodate thousands of people, and there are many fortifications and traces of life in the cave. On one of the walls of the cave, a remnant of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was found stationed here.
Judging from the time, this should be the remnants of the last exiled Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. By now, the cave has become a local tourist attraction. Many tourists come to visit the last taiping relics. It is said that the cave is not connected to the water source, but visitors can hear the clear sound of running water inside.
In addition, when visitors use flash to shoot in this cave, the flash fails without exception. These strange phenomena have become the biggest gimmick of the tourist attraction, and even scientists have come to visit the cave to explore the reasons for the sound of water, unfortunately, scholars have not yet explored the truth behind these strange phenomena.
Resources:
【History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", "The Rebellion of the Twisted Army" at the end of the Qing Dynasty】