Generally speaking, the feudal empire punished those who committed rebellion (rebels) as lingchi, and hunted down and killed the remnants, leaving no living mouth. The Manchu Qing did the same to the high-ranking generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, as long as they were captured alive, they were basically executed by Ling Chi; even if they surrendered voluntarily, the Qing Dynasty also killed them, rarely giving a way to live. So, after the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, were there any high-ranking generals who could successfully evade the Qing Dynasty and spend the rest of their lives safely? "Safely spend the rest of your life" here refers to being able to die well, whether it is a surrenderer or a hermit. Because, some high-ranking generals who surrendered, the Qing Dynasty still found reasons to execute them; or exiled to other places, alive to death, Li Zhaoshou, Chen Guorui and so on belonged to this category. In fact, there are many high-ranking generals who survived, one of them lived to be 94 years old, one gave birth to 7 children, and one almost survived until the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
01. Wei Jun, this person is the younger brother of Wei Changhui, the King of the North, known as the most powerful Guozong, there is no one, the comprehensive military ability is comparable to Shi Dakai, and he is an absolute general. Luo Zenan, the third figure of the Xiang Army, was killed by one of his cannons; Hu Linyi, a famous minister of Zhongxing, was almost captured alive by him; and Liu Changyou, the governor of Zhili, was almost killed by his knife. Unfortunately, after the Tianjing Incident, Hong Xiuquan, Chen Yucheng, Yang Fuqing, and others repeatedly provoked Wei Jun, provoking the Chizhou Mutiny, and Wei Jun had no choice but to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. After surrendering, Wei Jun began to attack Chen Yucheng fiercely, leading troops to attack Zongyang and winning the first merit for the Qing army to take Anqing. However, Wei Jun was relatively low-key, never taking the initiative to ask for officials from the imperial court, nor did he put up a shelf, because he was able to die well and died of illness in Wuhu.
02. Gu Longxian, this person is a general under Wei Jun, brave and invincible, and has made great achievements for the Taiping Heavenly State. After Wei Jun's rebellion, Hong Xiuquan and Li Xiucheng became suspicious of him and assigned him to fight guerrillas in the mountains of southern Anhui, and could not touch the rich lands such as Suzhou and Hangzhou. In this way, Gu Longxian led 80,000 soldiers and horses to surrender to the Qing Dynasty in anger, and also offered three cities, and Zeng Guofan was very happy and gave him the position of prefect. However, Gu Longxian had no interest in being an official, he just wanted to go home and live a good life. In the summer of 1863, when the war was still going on, Gu Longxian resigned from his hometown in Huizhou, married his wife and had children, and gave birth to 6 men and 1 woman, which can be called a winner in life, which makes everyone very envious.
03. Li Rongfa, known as His Royal Highness Zhong'er, is the adopted son of Li Xiucheng, the King of Zhong. When the Taiping Army entered Hubei, Li Rongfa, who was only 10 years old, was lonely and helpless, so he defected to the Taiping Army and was taken back by Li Xiucheng. After the Tianjing Incident, Li Rongfa began to emerge, killing more than 1,000 foreign gunmen and wounding Gordon in the Battle of Changshu. After the fall of Tianjing, Li Rongfa covered the breakthrough of the Young Heavenly King, and was later captured by the Xiang army in Jiangxi. Fortunately, Li Rongfa was captured by Chen Baozhen, the grandfather of Chen Yinke, one of the four masters of Tsinghua's great studies (the only feudal official who supported the Penghu Reform). Chen Baozhen saw that Li Rongfa was young and had an extraordinary instrument, so he secretly released him and sent a maid to him as a wife, so that they could live and work in peace and contentment. In this way, Li Rongfa can be called the king of luck.
04. Lai Hanying, this person is the brother of Lai Lianying, the eldest wife of the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, and is the uncle of the country who is like a fake exchange, who once led more than 10,000 Western Expeditionary Forces from Nanjing all the way to Nanchang, seized the vast grain-producing land in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and provided a steady stream of grain supplies for Tianjing. However, in order to monopolize power and limit Hong Xiuquan's power, Yang Xiuqing let him return to Tianjing to sort out the literature on the grounds of the defeat of nanchang and exclude him from the core of power. After the fall of Tianjing, Lai Hanying secretly fled back to his hometown in Huaxian County, Guangdong Province, changed his name and surname, continued to engage in business and practice medicine, and lived until 1909, at the age of 94. It is said that when Sun Yat-sen was a child, he heard an old man tell the story of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and this person should be Lai Hanying.
05. Hong Quanfu, this person is the nephew of the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, Xiao Yong is invincible, once led 3,000 soldiers and horses out of Tianjing, straight to the camp of Zhu Hongzhang, the general of the Xiang Army, left and right, known as "Hong Crazy". For this reason, Hong Xiuquan named him the King of Ying, implying that he was as brave as King Chen Yucheng. After the fall of Tianjing, Hong Quanfu escaped with the help of missionaries and returned to Hua County, Guangdong Province, and later went to the Americas to do hard work, and joined Hongmen as a leader. In 1902, Hong Quanfu contacted revolutionary parties throughout Guangdong and launched an armed uprising to prepare for the creation of the Republic of China. Unfortunately, the matter leaked and the uprising failed, and Hong Quanfu ran to Singapore for refuge, and then secretly sneaked back to China to recuperate. In 1910, Hong Quanfu died of illness at the age of 74. If he lived another 2 years, he would see the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
06. Zhang Zongyu, this person is an important leader of the "Twist Army", because the "Twist Army" pursues the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Zhengshuo, so Zhang Zongyu can also be regarded as a fierce general of the Taiping Army. Do you know that Zhang Zongyu was also crowned king of Liang? He is the prince of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom like a fake bag. In May 1865, Zhang Zongyu gathered 60,000 soldiers and horses to set up an ambush in Heze Gaolouzhai, Shandong, and lured the first general of the Eight Banners, Monk Greenqin, to lead his troops to pursue, completely annihilating more than 7,000 people in the Eight Banners Horse Team. In this way, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and others were able to extend their power tentacles to the north, thus changing the military and political pattern of the late Qing Dynasty. In 1868, after Zhang Zongyu's defeat, he led 18 cavalry to escape, retreated on a small island, successfully evaded the pursuit, and spent the rest of his life.
07. Ma Ronghe, this person is a xiao general under the British king Chen Yucheng, who leads the most elite small left team under the Command of Yingdian and leads the cavalry across the battlefield and kills countless enemies. Unfortunately, Ma Ronghe never received the title of king, and Hong Xiuquan was crowned with 2700 princes, but he did not have his share. For this reason, Ma Ronghe was very dissatisfied. Soon after the fall of Tianjing, he led 70,000 soldiers and horses to surrender to Yinghan, the inspector of Anhui, but the Qing Dynasty did not reuse him, only giving him a guerrilla position. In 1874, Ma Ronghe betrayed Yang Fuqing, the auxiliary king, in Fujian, and led soldiers to capture him and send him to the Qing Dynasty, and punished Ling Chi. Ma Ronghe made great contributions, but the Qing Dynasty still did not reward him, and continued to let him do guerrilla duties until his death. However, it is not bad to be able to die well, stronger than Li Zhaoshou and Chen Guorui.
08. Qin Ruiqi, who was an early god worshiper, was one of the participants in the Jintian Rebellion, subordinate to xiao Chaogui, the Western King, and later became a fierce general under the Northern King, guarding tianjing, and guarding the Yuhuatai, which shows that his status is not ordinary. After the fall of Tianjing, Qin Ruiqi took his wife, son and other 3 people disguised as refugees, secretly escaped from the capital, begged all the way, went out day and night, and returned to his father-in-law's house in Xiangzhou, Guangxi. After a year in Xiangzhou, he absconded back to Pingnan again, and then opened up wasteland to cultivate land and evade the Qing Dynasty. He died of illness in 1874.
In summary, Wei Jun, Gu Longxian, Li Rongfa, Lai Hanying, Hong Quanfu, Ma Ronghe, Zhang Zongyu, Qin Ruiqi and other senior taiping generals successfully evaded the Qing Dynasty and spent the rest of their lives safely. In this way, they are considered to be winners in life. In particular, Gu Longxian and Li Rongfa are absolute lucky stars and kings of luck.
Bibliography: The Complete History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom