In 1840, the British Empire launched the first Opium War against China, and China began to degenerate into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country after its defeat. The Qing government intensified its exploitation of the people in order to pay huge war reparations, and peasants everywhere rose up. The most famous of these was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement led by Hong Xiuquan.
But the vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement collapsed after only 16 years of existence. There are many reasons for its failure, among which it is inseparable from the extravagant and lavish life of the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan.
After fixing the capital of Tianjing, he was extremely extravagant, wantonly selected concubines, and his standards were extremely perverted and harsh, which accelerated the collapse and disintegration of the ruling clique.
How picky is Hong Xiuquan's concubine? What little-known scandals did he do? What does this have to do with his personality? Let's follow Uncle Nine's pen and ink to take a look.
Hong Xiuquan failed to establish the "Worship god religion"
In 1841, Hong Xiuquan was born in Hua County, Guangdong. Since he was a child, he was familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, and his father and fellow villagers were also optimistic that he could obtain a meritorious name and honor his ancestors. In desperation, he participated in three examinations for the Guangzhou Imperial Examination and failed.
At this time, Hong Xiuquan was 25 years old, and in ancient times, he was already an elderly unmarried unemployed young man.
After this blow, he returned home seriously ill and fell into a coma. In the confusion, it was as if an old man with a sword preached to him: I am God, and I have a son in the West named Jesus who rules the Western world. You are also my son, ruling the eastern world!
The sleeping Hong Xiuquan was like grasping the last straw in his life, and when he woke up, he quickly read the Christian book "Good Words of Persuasion" that he received when he took the exam in Guangzhou, and after reading it, he confirmed that the person he met in his dream was God.
He abandoned the way of Confucius and Mencius and began to believe in Christ God. In order to let more people follow him, he decisively founded the "Worship of God Religion".
At that time, Guangzhou, as a treaty port, had a developed economy, and people knew more about Western religions. Hong Xiuquan's "worship of God" that combines East and West has not won people's trust.
He and his friend Feng Yunshan hit it off, and the two of them went to the backcountry of Guangxi to preach together.
During this period, Hong Xiuquan wrote the "Original Dao Awakening World Training" and "Original Dao Jue Shi Xun" and other teaching books, which were widely circulated. More than 2,000 people joined the sect before and after, including Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui and others who later became famous.
In 1851, seeing that the time was ripe, Hong Xiuquan led the Jintian Uprising in Jintian Village, Guangxi. He proclaimed himself The Heavenly King, and the name of the country was Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
When Yong'an was established, he was crowned king: Yang Xiuqing, the eastern king, Xiao Chaogui, the western king, Feng Yunshan, the southern king, Wei Changhui, the northern king, and Shi Dakai, the wing king, and were uniformly controlled by the eastern king. After that, it went all the way north, and the momentum was like a bamboo.
Hong Xiuquan built the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and began to live a luxurious life
After the Qing government learned of the local rebellion, it hurriedly recruited the Eight Banner Soldiers and the Green Battalion Army to suppress it. However, at that time, the Qing soldiers were already rotten, from top to bottom, they only knew how to eat, drink and have fun, and firearms training had been abandoned for a long time.
Many soldiers smoked opium and were mentally exhausted. Such a situation could not meet the momentum of the Taiping Army.
In 1853, the Taiping Army marched north and conquered Wuchang. Hong Xiuquan claimed to have an army of 500,000 people, and went down the east side of the river, conquering Jiujiang and Wuhu one after another, until the army entered the city of Nanjing and set the capital at Tianjing. After that, the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition were launched successively. In 1856, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reached its military peak.
At this time, Hong Xiuquan should cherish this hard-won favorable fighter and go to the end of the Qing Dynasty with a single blow. But he has been blinded by power, and has begun a life of poverty and luxury, forgetting his original intention.
He had three meals a day and needed to be served by thousands of people. Twenty-four dishes must be served at each meal, not repeated daily. All cutlery is made of pure gold. Ceremonies such as music and cannon firing before the meal cannot be less.
The Tianwang Mansion where he lived was three times the size of the Forbidden City. There were more than eighty concubines of the Guangzheng brand, and there were more than eleven hundred concubines who had no names but only numbers.
In addition, there were no eunuchs in the Heavenly Palace, and all labor was done by more than 1,200 palace women. None of the men could enter the second gate of the Heavenly King's Mansion.
Since then, the Heavenly King has been immersed in gentle townships and rich and noble gardens, so political affairs are managed by Yang Xiuqing. He enthroned tens of thousands of kings, and all the princes coveted pleasure, and the whole country fell into singing and dancing.
Hong Xiuquan chose concubines to be picky and perverted by standards
His beauty pageant criteria are as follows: he must be a virgin; he must be born well, preferably everyone is bridesmaid; to pass Hong Xiuquan's interview, he especially likes women with big feet. Let's talk about it one by one.
First, in ancient times, the virgin body had the meaning of perfection, so the emperor chose concubines more importantly. At this time, Hong Xiuquan, who was completely like a feudal emperor, had long forgotten the concept of establishing the concept of "having food to eat, clothes to wear, money to make, everywhere uneven, everywhere to keep warm".
Second, he likes everyone's bridesmaid show, which is largely related to his inferiority complex that did not pass the imperial examination that year, and hopes to make up for his regrets. At the same time, this combination is also convenient for them to build a relationship with local magnates.
Third, many imperial concubines not only consider the appearance, but also involve political factors, such as the Qing Dynasty concubines only choose manchus, and sometimes for political marriage, they will choose the daughters of princes and ministers. Hong Xiuquan thinks about not considering these factors, and simply uses appearance and his own habits as the criterion for judging.
People often say that Su Hang produces beautiful women. Hong Xiuquan wants Suzhou to give him seven hundred beautiful women every year. Every time he celebrates his birthday, his men also pay tribute to him with six beautiful women. Every spring, the minister would also choose a beautiful woman at the gate of Nanjing city to send her to the palace.
Such a heavenly king, Hong Xiuquan, where there is still energy to realize political ideals. After the chaos in Tianjing, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom turned from prosperity to decline. In the later Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, although young talents such as Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng appeared, they could not save the crisis.
In 1856, a few days after Hong Xiuquan's death, Zeng Guofan led the Xiang army to attack the city of Nanjing. The vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement failed.
postscript
As the leader of the peasant revolt in modern China, Hong Xiuquan led the toiling masses to rebel against the rule of the Qing Dynasty in the early stages, and won popular support.
When he achieved his own achievements, he left his original political ideals behind, built the Heavenly King's Palace, and wantonly elected concubines. The criteria for choosing a concubine are extremely harsh and perverted, leaving thousands of women alone, and leaving countless families and children scattered and fragmented.
The eyes of the masses are bright, and his actions eventually buried the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, and finally allowed himself to be despised by posterity.