On March 19, 1853, the Taiping Army invaded Nanjing and occupied the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. On March 29, Hong Xiuquan entered Nanjing, and soon changed the governor of Liangjiang, Yamen, into the TianwangFu and Nanjing to Tianjing, announcing that the capital would be there. Unlike the peasant uprisings of previous generations, Hong Xiuquan did not want to be a rogue like Chen Sheng and Huang Chao, but followed Zhu Yuanzhang's example and established a Han dynasty. Although Hong Xiuquan himself soon became corrupt, his early attempts were still worthy of recognition.
After entering Nanjing, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom issued the "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System", which is not only a document of the land system, but also the ruling philosophy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System" stipulates the various systems of the kingdom of heaven. However, because the "Tianchao Tianmu System" is too idealistic, it is difficult to implement and implement the period in reality, so the system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is constantly changing.
In terms of the land system, the "Tianchao Tianmu System" stipulates the implementation of the commune land system. At the end of any dynasty, land annexation was very serious, and the same was true of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, after the establishment of any new dynasty, the land will be redistributed to win the hearts and minds of the people, and the same is true of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Tianchao Tianmu System divides land into nine grades, but distributes it more evenly. "Where the world goes down to the field, the people of the world cultivate together, and if there is not enough here, it will move to another place, and if there is a shortage in the other place, it will move here", "Whoever divides the land, according to the population, regardless of the man or woman, counts the number of his family, the number of people is divided, and the number of people is divided, and the widow is divided." ”
In addition to farming and weaving, the people can have a certain side business, "every family in the world, five hens, two mothers, no time is lost." Whether it is land or sideline products, their nature is publicly owned, and the people must hand over the rest of the private products to the "Holy Treasury" except for the basic means of production and subsistence. At the time of the harvest, the magistrate of heaven would send men to the localities to collect grain and store it in the treasury, "and so would all the wheat, beans, ramie, cloth, chickens, dogs, and silver coins."
This land system is actually the absolutely equal land system fantasized by the peasants, which is full of people's yearning for a "datong" society, and also expresses the Christian doctrine that all brothers in the world are brothers, and also carries the Confucian concept of "five acres of house, trees with mulberries". In modern times, we often refer to this beautiful idea as a "utopia", with the color of "utopian socialism". Therefore, this system is too perfect, that is, it cannot really be implemented, "this order has been ignored, it cannot be carried out", so the kingdom of heaven has to make some adjustments.
After the Taiping Army occupied the area outside Nanjing, in order to gain the support of the local people, the people were allowed to "pay grain and pay taxes as usual." That is, to recognize the people's possession of the land and let the people pay taxes. Of course, if a landlord flees, his land will be confiscated. The Taiping Army also suppressed some peasants who did not pay taxes.
Militarily, we should promote the use of all soldiers by the whole people and the use of soldiers in the peasants. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom organized the residents of Nanjing according to the organization of the Taiping Army, with one military commander for every 13,156 families, five brigade commanders under it, and 25 brigade commanders in the whole city. There are five pawn commanders under the brigade commander, four "two simas" under the pawn commander, and wu commanders and wu pawns under the "two simas". Every twenty-five houses set up a treasury and an auditorium, presided over by two Simas. One person from each household was appointed as a soldier, and "the rest of the widows, widows, and widows who were exempted from military service were all issued to the state treasury for support." ”
The Sacred Treasury system was a relatively successful one. According to the regulations, after the Taiping Army attacked the city, it could not take the gains for itself, but returned them to the Holy Treasury, which could ensure the normal operation of the regime and the purity of the army. Under this system, the officers at all levels of the Taiping Army did not differ much in their diet, "although they are princes and have no impermanence, they only have a system for eating meat, and the pseudo-heavenly kings give ten catties of meat on the day." It is reduced to half a pound in total, and there is nothing to do with the following. But in the later period, Hong Xiuquan's life became more and more corrupt, that is another story.
Culturally, after the Taiping Army entered Nanjing, it allowed the residents to accept the worship of God, wantonly destroyed temples, Taoist temples, Buddha statues, Confucius temples, expelled and killed monks, and even Catholics were persecuted to a certain extent. Marriage ceremonies for the people of heaven are all performed in the Auditorium and are financed by the Treasury.
The people of heaven must go to the great hall to receive education and teach the reading of the Old Testament Holy Book, the New Testament Holy Book, and the True Commandment. The traditional Confucian classics were extensively deleted and even burned. Hong Xiuquan's claim to "worship god" is itself the product of the fusion of Christianity and Confucianism, such as his "Original Dao Salvation Training", which absorbs a large number of Confucian moral dogmas. Hong Xiuquan not only deleted the Confucian classics, but also made extensive changes to the Bible to suit his own tastes.
In addition, many old habits were abolished, such as gambling, prostitutes, opium smoking, etc. were banned. The Kingdom of Heaven stipulates that men and women cannot live together, and all men must, like the Taiping Army, "have males and females, and must not mix." This system violates basic human desires and traditional ethics, and therefore lacks the support of the people. In addition, Hong Xiuquan himself was not bound by this system from the beginning, which is to engage in privileged treatment.
Heavenly King's Mansion
Separation, in the system of electing officials, stipulates the implementation of the probation system. It stipulates, "Whoever raises the burden of officials in every year of the world shall be punished by making up for the deficiencies of the officials, and shall be rewarded by those who are lifted, and those who are not lifted shall be punished." This is actually the implementation of the inspection system, but the criteria for selection are mainly based on military ability, not Confucian filial piety.
Of course, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also implemented the imperial examination system, and the "Collection of Thieves' Feelings" records that "in the year of the Decay Ugly (1853) kaike Jiangning". In the early stage, the examination is divided into three stages: county examination, provincial examination and Beijing examination, and in the later stage, it is divided into five stages: township examination, county examination, county examination, provincial examination and Beijing examination. In terms of examination content, it is mainly based on poetry, policies and arguments, that is, to examine the actual ability of individuals. Of course, the scope of the examination is mainly selected from the "classics" promulgated by Hong Xiuquan, such as the "True Destiny Edict Book", the "Old Testament Holy Book" and the "New Testament Holy Book".
Compared with the traditional imperial examination, the heavenly examination has many improvements and many flaws. The places of progress are: (1) the reference qualification is expanded, except for Confucianism, businessmen, etc. can participate, there is no occupational discrimination; (2) the content of the examination breaks through Cheng Zhu Lixue and becomes more practical; (3) the addition of women's subjects, ostensibly achieving equality between men and women, which is a major progress throughout the ages. The disadvantages are: (1) the scientific expedition is too complicated and excessive, and the number of places in the middle is large, resulting in the flood of merit; (2) it is wide and strict in use, and the way to ascend is too narrow; (3) the actual employment of people is controlled by several kings.
Diplomatically, although Hong Xiuquan is tough, he is unreasonable. After the establishment of the capital nanjing, emissaries from Britain, France, and the United States came to visit Nanjing, and they declared "neutrality" to test the attitude of the kingdom of heaven. Initially, they saw the kingdom of heaven as a Christian nation, so they had a good feeling and were looking forward to cooperation. In fact, they still want Hong Xiuquan to abide by the contents of the treaty in order to protect their own interests. Hong Xiuquan refused these demands, and believed that He regarded Britain, France, and the United States as vassals of the Kingdom of Heaven, and issued orders in the tone of a suzerainty.
The heavenly king's mansion painted by the missionaries
This shows that Hong Xiuquan and others have not been exposed to Western international law, and their understanding of the world is also very limited. He has a strong "heavenly kingdom" mentality, which is owned by the Chinese tradition. However, in 1854, Yang Xiuqing promulgated the "Reply to the Thirty-one Articles of the British and the Rebuke of the Fifty Commandments", which allowed all countries to trade freely, but strictly prohibited the sale of opium, refused to accept unequal treaties, and emphasized that foreign countries should pay tribute to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the king of heaven was the head of all countries. In the end, because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Western countries went against each other.
In summary, we can summarize the general situation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The so-called "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" is a political power established by a peasant class, and his governing philosophy carries the egalitarian illusions of the peasants, the beautiful idea of "utopia", and the expectation of christianity's "millennium prosperity". He was a peasant practice of the ideal kingdom and the Datong society for thousands of years. Of course, the end result is a failure, and so is practice. However, this practice also shows that Datong society has a social basis in China, and the subsequent Xinhai Revolution and the proletarian revolution were affected by it. For the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, we do not need to exalt too much, nor do we need to be denigrated, it is only an attempt on the Chinese road.
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