【Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Series 509, Original Works of Little Buddha History, Please Do Not Reprint】
Many people know that "Li Xiucheng's Self-Description" was revised by Zeng Guofan, and Luo Ergang's predecessors also examined the Haoshou Poor Classic, and made a comprehensive interpretation and translation of "Li Xiucheng's Self-Description", however, "Li Xiucheng's Self-Statement" is still an important material for studying the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at the level of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Before the Tianjing Incident, Li Xiucheng and Hong Xiuquan must have been unfamiliar, and the chance of a middle-level officer going to the Heavenly King's Mansion was very rare, and if it were not for the Tianjing Incident, which caused the high-level officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to die or flee, Li Xiucheng would definitely not have much chance of becoming the pillar of the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. After the Tianjing Incident, Li Xiucheng, Chen Yucheng and other more capable middle-level officials were recommended to Hong Xiuquan, who entrusted them with heavy responsibilities and slowly became able to take charge of one side.
In "Li Xiucheng's Self-Description", although it is difficult for us to see Li Xiucheng's evaluation of Hong Xiuquan as a person, we can see from Li Xiucheng's record of Hong Xiuquan's behavior in his self-statement that in Li Xiucheng's eyes, Hong Xiuquan was completely an unreliable person, and when he dropped the chain at the critical time, he brought the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to the road of destruction.
In Li Xiucheng's eyes, the rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom mainly relied on two people: Feng Yunshan, the Southern King, and Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, who had nothing to do with Hong Xiuquan. Feng Yunshan and Hong Xiuquan went to Guangxi to preach together, halfway Hong Xiuquan ran back to Guangdong, Feng Yunshan was alone in Guangxi while working while preaching, although he and Hong Xiuquan were the same as the fallen readers, but he had achievements in astronomical calendar, military art, xiangshu, divination, he would look at the picture, think that Hong Xiuquan has all"
Alien Phase", "Extraordinary Appearance", "King's Phase"
So when he was preaching alone in Guangxi, he worshipped Hong Xiuquan, who had done nothing, as the leader.
The ranks were getting bigger and bigger, and more and more people came to the rescue, and the eastern king Yang Xiuqing, the western king Xiao Chaogui, the northern king Wei Changhui, the Ji king Shi Dakai, and other people all had the merit of Feng Yunshan's planning work, and in addition, the calendars, ordinances, and documents at the beginning of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were mostly deeply involved by Feng Yunshan, just as Li Xiucheng said
"The founder of the country is out of the plot of the Southern King, and the former doers are all the Southern King"
。
In the second year of Xianfeng, Feng Yunshan and Xiao Chaogui were killed one after another, Yang Xiuqing's family was dominant, Hong Xiuquan did not participate in military and political affairs, Yang Xiuqing became the actual ruler of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as the ninth thousand years old of the Eastern King, attacked the city strategically, and set the capital on the Western Expedition, none of them could see Yang Xiuqing standing in the forefront, it can be said that Yang Xiuqing's proper command allowed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to reach its peak before the Tianjing Incident, Li Xiucheng said when evaluating Yang Xiuqing:
"Military orders are strict and orderly, and rewards and punishments are clear... The Eastern King is in charge of things, everything is strictly organized, and the legislation is safe for the people."
Hong Xiuquan did nothing in the Heavenly King's Mansion, sat and enjoyed the fruits, and sent the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to the end of the road at a critical time, Yang Xiuqing made great contributions, and did not know how to restrain and offend Hong Xiuquan, Hong Xiuquan did not think of giving Yang Xiuqing some lessons, but directly gave his dead hand and let Wei Changhui and others destroy the Eastern Wangfu. However, after solving the Eastern Palace, Hong Xiuquan did not stand up in time, but allowed Wei Changhui and others to carry out a bloody purge in Tianjing City, and even Shi Dakai's family did not escape the disaster.
The catastrophe of the Tianjing Incident not only ruined several high-level officials, but also caused the taiping heavenly kingdom to collapse, Yang Xiuqing as the spokesman of the "Heavenly Father" actually died of civil unrest, originally Yang Xiuqing's existence was a kind of circumstantial evidence for the existence of Hong Xiuquan as the second son of the Heavenly Father, after Yang Xiuqing's death, there was no one to sing with Hong Xiuquan, and the team became more and more difficult to bring.
After the Tianjing Incident, Hong Xiuquan began to reuse his useless relatives, indiscriminately sealed officials, in order to limit the power of Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng, their subordinates were crowned kings, which was tantamount to letting the generals restrain themselves or even drag their legs, and slowly sending the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to the end of the road.
After the Xiang army besieged Tianjing, the situation became more and more severe, Li Xiucheng specially ran back to Tianjing, asked Hong Xiuquan to abandon Tianjing, and find another city, and Hong Xiuquan simply came to a series of riotous operations, once again dropped the chain at a critical time, and finally sent the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to a dead end: refused to leave Tianjing, scolded Li Xiucheng, thinking that he had the assistance of heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals; after the city cut off grain, let the people eat wild grasses to fill their hunger; he did not take medicine when he was sick, and left the mess to his son who did not understand anything. Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was overthrown during the reign of the Young Heavenly King, it was actually the end of Hong Xiuquan.
Of course, there are still many things that Hong Xiuquan dropped the chain, and in "Ten Mistakes of the Kingdom of Heaven", Li Xiucheng lists the key points, in addition to the Tianjing Incident, the appointment of relatives, and the indiscriminate sealing of officials, there are also: discord with Shi Dakai, the suspicion of the monarchs; do not ask about political affairs; do not use talents.
After reading Li Xiucheng's narration, I have to admit that Hong Xiuquan is really not suitable to be the head of a country. Some people say that Li Xiucheng is not completely trusted by Hong Xiuquan, and that his self-report is complaining, and his subjective will is extremely strong; some people say that Li Xiucheng is a witness to the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and his record is worthy of trust; what do you think? Discussion is welcome.
Reference: Li Xiucheng's Self-Description