On January 11, 1851, the 38-year-old Hong Xiuquan rose up in Jintian, Guangxi, vowing to revolt with the aim of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. The vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement thus began. In the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Feng Yunshan, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai and other high-level figures were sincerely united and cooperated seamlessly, so that this peasant uprising movement soon swept through most of China. It was not until March 1853 that the Taiping Army captured Jiangning (present-day Nanjing), and the capital was set here, renamed Tianjing.
However, as the Taiping Rebellion entered its heyday, some conflicts arose among its leaders. What's going on? This has to start from the grudge between Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing. We know that Hong Xiuquan, the Heavenly King, was the founder of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the supreme leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, with the development of the situation, Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, played an increasingly important role in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. By 1852, Yang Xiuqing had mastered the military power of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Especially when Yang Xiuqing announced that the Heavenly Father had been possessed by the Heavenly Father and was rumored to be the Heavenly Father, Hong Xiuquan had to obediently kneel down in front of Yang Xiuqing and let him dispose of it.
Is Hong Xiuquan willing to become a puppet at the mercy of others? Of course not. He was silently waiting for his chance. An incident occurred in 1856 that made Hong Xiuquan decide to strike back. In June of that year, the Taiping Army attacked the Jiangnan camp that the Qing army had painstakingly managed for many years, and lifted the siege of Tianjing for three years. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yang Xiuqing called "Heavenly Father under the Mortals", summoned the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan to the Eastern King's Mansion, and nakedly proposed that Hong Xiuquan seal him as "Long Live".
Hong Xiuquan pretended to admit it. After returning to the Heavenly King's Mansion, he immediately planned to eliminate Yang Xiuqing. At that time, among the five kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Xiao Chaogui, the western king, and Feng Yunshan, the southern king, were killed in battle, and the northern king Wei Changhui and the wing king Shi Dakai were urgently transferred to other places by Yang Xiuqing. In tianjing, there were only Yang Xiuqing, the eastern king, and Qin Rigang, the later king of Yan. Hong Xiuquan secretly ordered Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai, and Qin Rigang to eliminate Yang Xiuqing's forces. Under the secret orders of Hong Xiuquan, Wei Changhui rushed back to Tianjing with 3,000 soldiers overnight, and with the cooperation of Qin Rigang, the King of Yan, he invaded the Eastern Palace and took control of Yang Xiuqing's entire family and his henchmen. At Wei Changhui's order, Yang Xiuqing's entire family and thousands of men and women and his henchmen were killed. Later, Wei Changhui slaughtered Yang Xiuqing's subordinates in the name of hunting down the "Eastern Party". Even if they had laid down their arms, they were killed. Even some innocent people have become unjust ghosts, known in history as the "Tianjing Incident".
The Tianjing Incident shocked the whole country, Shi Dakai returned to Tianjing to witness the tragic situation, angrily condemned Wei Changhui, Wei Changhui even wanted to kill Shi Dakai at this time, Shi Dakai saw that the situation was not good, and escaped from Tianjing overnight. Wei Changhui did not stop and killed Shi Dakai's entire family and subordinates. An angry Shi Da opened his army to jingjing, Wei Changhui not only lied to Lingzhi at this time, but also began to jump the wall in a hurry, in order to seize the supreme power, he brazenly led his troops to besiege the Heavenly King's Palace, in a vain attempt to harm Hong Xiuquan, and Hong Xiuquan captured Wei Changhui alive. Hong Xiuquan ordered Wei Changhui's five horses to be dismembered and his head cut off and sent to the Yi king Shi Dakai's army. Not only that, Hong Xiuquan once again ordered that Wei Changhui's body be chopped into pieces of meat, each two inches square, and hung for public display, saying, "The flesh of the northern rape is only allowed to be seen, not taken." After killing Wei Changhui, the coup was finally put down, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was seriously injured and could no longer recover.
The ensuing sequelae were even more serious, in 1857 AD, due to the death of the Eastern King, the Western King, the Southern King, and the Northern King, Hong Xiuquan was jealous of the Wing King Shi Dakai, Shi Dakai led his troops to flee, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom changed from strategic offensive to defense, and then into battlefield defeat, until July 1864 (the third year of Tongzhi), Tianjing fell and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom collapsed.