Speaking of Zeng Shuiyuan, it is estimated that everyone is not very impressed, and they have not even heard of this number of people, after all, he has left little ink in the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, because he was eliminated by Yang Xiu at the peak moment and failed to make greater contributions. Zeng Shuiyuan, a native of Wuxuan, Guangxi, an early believer in the Cult of God, was the chief strategist under Xiao Chaogui, the 8,000-year-old king of the West, and a rare intellectual in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom camp. As a scholar, a famous private school teacher in the countryside, Zeng Shuiyuan and his family were relatively wealthy, but Feng Yunshan could speak the Tao, and he forced him into the revolutionary camp to carry out the anti-Qing struggle together. After Feng Yunshan's sacrifice, the heavy responsibilities such as drafting the documents of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were basically undertaken by Zeng Shuiyuan; houguan to tianguan zhengxiang was the chief minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and his status was quite prominent and dazzling. In order to win over Zeng Shuiyuan and expand his power, after Xiao Chaogui's death, Zeng Shuiyuan was incorporated into Yang Xiuqing's command and became the chief civil officer of the Eastern Temple, assisting Yang Xiuqing in handling daily administrative affairs.
In addition to being good at paperwork, Zeng Shuiyuan's level of marching and fighting was not bad, with a certain military quality, and he also served as Hong Xiuquan's personal bodyguard to protect the safety of the Heavenly King, and then went to the battlefield to fight because of the needs of war. In August 1852, Xiao Chaogui, the 8,000-year-old king of the Western Dynasty, led Zeng Shuiyuan, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang and other fierce generals and 2,000 soldiers and horses to attack Changsha, preparing to take the city by surprise. After the death of Xiao Chaogui, the Western King, Zeng Shuiyuan, while taking on the heavy task of besieging the city, joined hands with Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang to bid farewell to the Base Camp of Chenzhou, and let the Heavenly King Hongxiu send the main force to reinforce at full speed. With only 2,000 soldiers and horses, Zeng Shuiyuan not only refused to help while attacking the stronghold, but also used the tactic of "attacking the city in the cave" to blast through the city wall, and then because of the arrival of Deng Shaoliang, he did not enter Changsha. In November 1853, Zeng Shuiyuan led his troops from Tianjing to the north, all the way through the pass, annihilated more than 1,500 Qing troops in the "Jiangbei Camp", successfully rescued more than 7,000 Yangzhou defenders, and then formed the Northern Reinforcement Corps.
The military and political ability was outstanding, and Zeng Shuiyuan's position in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom naturally increased, and Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing all competed to win him over. However, Zeng Shuiyuan is after all the old department of the West King, and the West King is Hong Xiuquan's brother-in-law, so Zeng Shuiyuan is inclined to support the Heavenly King in many things. Zeng Shuiyuan was the chief civil officer of the East Temple at this time, but he did not like Yang Xiuqing's arrogant style, and there were often conflicts in the handling of government affairs; Zeng Shuiyuan insisted on his own opinion, and although Yang Xiuqing was dissatisfied, it was precisely when he employed people that he had to put up with it for the time being. With successive military victories, Yang Xiuqing's prestige soared, and he could even perform the "Heavenly Father's Lower Mortal" to rebuke (big ass) The Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, as if he were the actual king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and no one dared to challenge his authority. Zeng Shuiyuan was an intellectual, his cultural attainment was relatively high, and his concept of hierarchy of monarchs and subjects was also relatively strong; Yang Xiuqing's practice of deceiving the monarch and committing crimes, Zeng Shuiyuan saw it in his eyes, remembered it in his heart, and began to slowly alienate the Eastern King.
Zeng Shuiyuan was dissatisfied with Yang Xiuqing, but still stuck to his post and did his job well. However, Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, was the kind of person who had a vendetta and an extremely strong desire for power, and he naturally could not tolerate others to challenge his authority, as Li Xiucheng said: "It is the great size of the dynasty, the first person, do not know the taboo." In this way, Yang Xiuqing decided to clean up the water source of Zeng and find an opportunity to get rid of the old part of the West Hall. In August 1855, the female official of the Eastern Temple whispered that the Eastern King was arrogant and arrogant, and that he would not be able to die well in the future, and would definitely be killed by others. Zeng Shuiyuan, Li Shouchun and other first and second civil officials of the East Hall heard this, but they did not inform the Eastern King at the first time, perhaps they did not want to tell the Eastern King at all. However, Yang Xiuqing's eyes and ears were all over the capital, and the concealment of the "palace girl incident" by Zeng Shuiyuan, Li Shouchun, and others soon reached the ears of the Eastern King. In this way, Yang Xiuqing was furious and immediately performed "Heavenly Father Under The Mortals", calling Zeng Shuiyuan and Li Shouchun to rebuke: "Er saw how the female official was in a hurry at the gate of the palace, do you know?" How does the female official speak, have you ever heard of it? One by one". What about the water source? Admitting the facts, he said: "Because the boy is extremely ignorant, he sees that the female official is so hasty and timid, because he is helpless." This means that he was frightened at that time, so he could not tell the Eastern King at the first time.
The reason is not important, Yang Xiuqing as long as the result, no matter why you don't tell, in short, you are hiding the matter; the Eastern King is cursed, but the first and second leaders of the Eastern Palace civil officials are indifferent, how can this be? To this end, Yang Xiuqing continued to "spread rumors on behalf of the Heavenly Father" and asked the officials sitting in the East Hall how to deal with them, "And the boys, see how the sins of the two of them are?" The group replied, "These two people are so deceitful to the Eastern King, they are really dead and have more than enough to do!" Yang Xiuqing saw that everyone supported him, so he said: "Since the erzhong boy said that the two of them were really condemned for their sins, they were escorted out and beheaded to show the public." In this way, Zeng Shuiyuan and Li Shouchun were both beheaded and shown to the public, losing their lives. This is interesting, Zeng Shuiyuan and Li Shouchun were the core members of the East Temple, and they were also the absolute backbone of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Group, and they were beheaded just because they did not tell the "Words of the Palace Women", which was too much. In fact, this was Yang Xiuqing's last battle against the Forces of the West Temple, and it was an important part of strengthening the strength of the East Temple Group.
Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui were both halfway monks, relying on the "jumping god" as a side door to ascend to the throne, and the power in the religious field crushed Hong Xiuquan, Feng Yunshan and other founders of worshiping God. Don't you see, the early documents of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were all named "Heavenly Father" (Yang) and "Heavenly Brother" (Xiao)! Both can perform "dancing gods", yang xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui's status is naturally very high, and the contradictions between them also come from this. What is the contradiction between Yang and Xiao? Simply put, it is a power struggle to see who is the king. On the eve of the Jintian Uprising, Yang Xiuqing, who had been physically weak, fell seriously ill, and Xiao Chaogui took the opportunity to frequently perform "Heavenly Brother Under The Mortals", and with the help of Heavenly Brother "Jesus", killed Yang Xiuqing's father-in-law, Chen Lai, and Yang had to endure. Soon, Yang Xiuqing had an affair with Hong Xuanjiao (Lady Xiao), and when he was discovered, he performed "Heavenly Father Under The Mortal", saying that he was treating Hong Xuanjiao, which was god's will. In this way, the superficial relationship between Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui was quite uneventful, but in fact, they often fought secretly.
In December 1851, Xiao Chaogui was wounded in the Battle of Shuidou Village in Yong'an and could not pay attention to things, Yang Xiuqing took the opportunity to play "Heavenly Father Under The Mortals", allowing Hong Xiu to completely crown the five kings of the first righteousness and gain the power to control the kings. In August 1852, Xiao Chaogui's 2,000 soldiers and horses rushed to Changsha, Yang Xiuqing had nothing to do in the Chenzhou base camp, but did not send follow-up troops to follow at the first time, which indirectly led to Xiao's death, which was considered to be "sending the King of the West for a ride". In May 1853, 20,000 elite lone troops went deep into the Northern Expedition to Yanjing, and all the strong generals and elite soldiers were basically the strength of the West Temple. In April 1855, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang and other Western Temple generals were either killed or lingchi, and none of them survived. At this point, the strongest enemy of the West Temple forces withdrew from the stage, Yang Xiuqing had no scruples; in August, he played "Heavenly Father's Lower Fan" and killed the disobedient Zeng Shuiyuan. In this regard, the death of the chief chancellor Zeng Shuiyuan was Yang Xiuqing's last battle to eliminate the forces of the Western Temple. What do you think about that?
Bibliography: The Complete History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War, Chronicle of the Kingdom of Heaven