Foreword: This article makes a bold speculation about the relationship between the early power core of the Worship of God, of course, everything is not speculation, but based on existing historical evidence.
Among the six kings of Shouyi, how Hong, Yang, Xiao, and Feng entered the core layer of power have been introduced in many articles before, especially the cooperation and contradictions between Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui.
How did Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai, who ranked fifth and sixth, enter the core layer of power, especially the "Heavenly Father's small family"? At present, the most common theory is that these two people brought people and money to join, and they were the earliest "original shares" of the God Worship Society. In fact, this is only the surface, the real core reason is the power game between Yang and Xiao.
If you understand the relationship between these four people before the Jintian Uprising, you will suddenly realize that the seeds of the Tianjing Incident many years later had been planted during the Jintian Village period.
Breaking the balance, Xiao Chaogui Lawei Changhui joined
Wei Changhui's family background and the reason for joining the God Worship Society have been talked about in an article before in this issue (see "The small townsman can't fight the big townsman, and Wei Changhui, who is wealthy, was forced to raise the clan against the Qing Dynasty"). Taking advantage of the oppression of the Wei family by big families, the most active person in pulling him into the club was Xiao Chaogui, who had become one of the leaders of the God Worship Society through the "rumors of Brother Tian" at this time.
Xiao Chaogui intended to recruit Wei Changhui into the association, first of all, he took a fancy to the Wei family's family background of "260 acres of paddy fields", which could fund the uprising.
In the twenty-ninth year of Daoguang, around the middle of the second month of the lunar calendar, Xiao Chaogui "possessed by his heavenly brother" and wrote a poem to Wei Changhui's father Wei Yuanyu (the genealogy discovered by later generations is Wei Yuanju), which reads:
The New Year's Festival flowers are full of flowers,
The money is free.
Reading for the children and prisoners,
正人子前二萧凉。
The first two sentences are about Wei Yuanju, and the last two sentences are about Wei Changhui, Wei Changhui's original name was Wei Zhizheng, also known as Wei Zheng (genealogical name Zhizheng), and he once became a prisoner by donation.
After the Wei family was humiliated, they began to use their property to prepare for the uprising.
Xiao Chaogui La Wei Changhui joined the gang, in addition to the public intention of preparing for the uprising, he also had a selfish intention, that is, to cultivate his own private party.
After Hong Xiuquan became the nominal sect leader and Feng Yunshan stepped aside, the leaders of the God Worship Society were actually Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui, and a delicate balance was reached between the two. In order to break this balance, Xiao Chaogui, who was bent on seizing power, decided to pull Wei Changhui into the "Heavenly Father's Small Family", which symbolized the core of power, after observing for more than half a year and seeing that the Wei family was indeed very enthusiastic about the preparations for the uprising. At that time, the members of this "family" included Hong Xiuquan, Feng Yunshan, Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui.
Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, and Yang Xiuqing before the Jintian Uprising. Wei Changhui, who was born as a landlord, can be clearly distinguished from his clothes - stills from the TV series "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom".
Wei Changhui became Xiao Chaogui's confidant
In the middle of August of the lunar calendar that year, Xiao Chaogui borrowed Brother Tian's upper body and said to Wei Changhui:
"Wei Zheng, why do you care about Erhu Chaogui?"
Wei Zhengshi didn't know what to call it, and his language was late.
The King of Heaven asked Brother Christ, "Brother Heaven, are Wei Zheng and his younger brothers compatriots in the High Heavens?"
Brother Tian said: "He always shares the same intestines with me. ”
"A total of intestines" was not enough, about ten days later, in late August, "Brother Tian" simply made it clear:
The eldest (heavenly) brother also told Wang Bowei (that is, Wei Yuanyu) and said: "Do you know that Hong Xiuquan has become an adult?"
Wang Bowei said: "I can know it." ”
Brother Tian said: "Since you know it, you know that it is Gu Sanxingnai (that is, Hong Xiuquan), Yunshan, Xiuqing, Chaogui, etc., and you are accumulating wealth in the sky." ”
Brother Tian said: "Erzi Weizheng's physical body is Ersheng Er's child, and he is also Erzi, but in the high heavens, he is my elder brother." You don't look good, and he is also small. ”
Wang Bowei said: "Obey." ”
Brother Tian said: "Is Er Ziwei going with the three stars?"
Wang Bowei said: "I can follow." ”
Brother Tian said: "If he can go, you can also go." The son is blessed, and the master is blessed. Blessed is one man, and the house is full of wading. One son received the emperor's favor, and the whole family ate Tianlu. ”
There are two core points in this dialogue, one is that "Brother Tian" officially recognized Wei Changhui as "elder brother", everyone is the son of "Heavenly Father", and Wei Yuanyu just gave birth to Wei Changhui's "physical body".
The second is that Wei Yuanyu will continue to use the manpower and material resources of the Wei family for the cause of the God Worship Society, and actively support the uprising is to "accumulate wealth in the sky" and "one son receives the emperor's favor, and the whole family eats Tianlu".
Xiao Chaogui took the opportunity to set the headquarters of the uprising in Jintian Village, and it can be said that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising broke out in Jintian Village, largely because the Wei family was in Jintian Village.
The reason why he can enter the core layer of power, Wei Changhui himself knows it, and since then he has become Xiao Chaogui's confidant. In "Brother Tian's Decree", Wei Changhui always appears with Xiao Chaogui and faithfully implements the various instructions of "Brother Tian" without ambiguity. Whoever Brother Tian wants to punish is to order Wei Changhui to personally "beat a hundred with a board" and "beat five hundred".
Of course, Wei Changhui's position did not depend entirely on the party's attachment to Xiao Chaogui, and it is undeniable that he was indeed talented, especially in the stage of organizing the uprising. It was precisely because of his outstanding performance that for a long time after the outbreak of the uprising, the Qing court mistakenly believed that "Wei Zheng" was the leader of the thieves in Jintian Village.
The core leadership of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom shortly after the Jintian Uprising - stills from the TV series "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom".
Balanced again, Yang Xiuqing pulled Shi Dakai to join
After Wei Changhui joined the "Heavenly Father's Little Family", the original balance was broken, and the situation became favorable to Xiao Chaogui, and Yang Xiuqing had to balance again in order to consolidate power.
Xiao Chaogui can bring people in, but Yang Xiuqing can't either? Yang Xiuqing's candidate is Shi Dakai.
Shi Dakai is not from Guiping County, where Jintian is located, but from neighboring Guixian County, and belongs to a rich peasant family, although he is not as landlord as Wei Changhui, he can also be said to have quite a lot of wealth. It is not known when he joined the Worship of God Society, but he became a backbone at a very young age, and according to his self-report written in 1863 when he was captured in Zidadi on the Dadu River, he was estimated to be "thirty-three years old" at the time of the Jintian Uprising.
Shi Dakai organized a congregation in his hometown, was righteous and famous, and later scattered his family wealth and came to Jintian with more than 1,000 Shi family disciples.
There is a legend that Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan personally went to Nabang Village in Guixian County and invited Shi Dakai to go out of the mountain. In fact, it is still possible for Feng Yunshan to go to visit, but with Hong Xiuquan's arrogant character, I am afraid that he will not be able to do it.
How did Shi Dakai enter the core of power and become the "seventh son of the Heavenly Father" and the "five thousand years old"? Because there is no evidence like Wei Changhui that is clearly recorded in the "Heavenly Brother's Sacred Decree", we can only speculate based on historical data.
One thing is clear, the relationship between Xiao Chaogui and Shi Dakai is not good.
There are very few records of Shi Dakai in the existing "Heavenly Brother's Sacred Decree", and among the few contents, one of them is Shi Dakai's public confrontation with Heavenly Brother - in the entire "Heavenly Brother's Holy Decree", this is also the only record that dares to openly disobey Heavenly Brother's words.
Cutting (Russian) and the winged king, jade embroidery to the front. Brother Tian said: "Wei Zheng, Da Kai, and Yuxiu (Wang's surname, the later deeds are unknown), what is the opinion of the three of the current Shengbinger?"
Wei Zhengzuo said: "Now that the army has destroyed the lair of Zhou Fengming (the leader of a local regiment), he is afraid to flee, and the army should return to the court to meet the Taiping King (that is, Hong Xiuquan). ”
Brother Tian said: "You say yes." ”
The Wing King and the Jade Embroidery both said that they could not be teachers.
Brother Tian said sharply: "According to Master My Son, in the eyes of Gao Tian, there is no nail matter. Why don't you have the courage to do it? Shi Fulong and the others are running out of food and grass, don't you know?"
The Wing King and the Jade Embroidery said: "The two younger brothers are also up in the back." ”
Brother Tian didn't answer. Conveyed to Wei Zheng and said: "Wei Zheng, the soldiers from afar will temporarily take the squad today." If there are those who wish to stay, one or twenty people will be distributed here.
The soldiers who are close to the place will stop here and return the day after tomorrow. ”
Wei Zhengzuo said: "Obey." ”
Brother Tian said: "Each wide grass (heart), put grass (heart), I will return to the sky." ”
Xiao Chaogui asked Shi Dakai to open a class because the grain and grass were exhausted, but Shi Dakai blatantly disobeyed orders, which was in stark contrast to Wei Changhui's deferential attitude on the side.
It can also be roughly inferred here that Shi Dakai is actually quite unimpressed with the so-called "Heavenly Brother" upper body, which may be due to his relatively calm mind, or it may be due to the young man's blood and strength.
Shi Dakai openly contradicted Xiao Chaogui, who was not a big measure, and he could still be among the "Heavenly Father's Little Family", which can only show one point, there is someone behind him, and this person is most likely Yang Xiuqing.
Because of the lack of historical data, it is not clear whether Yang Xiuqing recognized Shi Dakai, the "younger brother", through the "Heavenly Father's upper body", so that the core layer of power was rebalanced.
Yang Xiuqing chose Shi Dakai instead of Qin Rigang, Hu Yixuan, Meng Deen, Lin Fengxiang and others, except that Shi Dakai brought people and money into the gang, the most important reason is likely that Yang Xiuqing realized Shi Dakai's outstanding military and political talents.
In terms of knowing people and being good at their duties, Yang Xiuqing can be called successful, and Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng, commanders in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, all benefited from Yang Xiuqing's repeated promotions in the early years.
After the Jintian Uprising, because of the noble army of the Xiao Dynasty, Shi Dakaigui was the winged king, but he was pressed and could not come out, so that his name was not on many intelligence materials in the Qing court, and there were also many errors and omissions.
Until Xiao Chaogui died in battle under Changsha City, with the support of Yang Xiuqing, Shi Dakai's opportunity finally came, and he immediately showed his outstanding military talent. From Changsha to Jiangning, Shi Dakai led the army as the pioneer, the western expedition was critical, Shi Dakai took over the command, and the battle of Hukou killed Zeng Guofan and almost committed suicide.
Wing King Shi Dakai - stills from the TV series "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom".
The Tianjing Incident, the climax of the struggle between Yang and Xiao Quan
This not simple relationship between Yang and Shi can also be inferred from the process of the Tianjing Incident later.
To a certain extent, the Tianjing Incident is also the continuation and climax of the power game between Yang and Xiao at the beginning.
Xiao Chaogui's death made Wei Changhui, who had lost his backer, panic, panic, and the reason why he desperately tried to curry favor with Yang Xiuqing after entering Tianjing. Hong Xiuquan wants to kill Yang Xiuqing, and the best candidate must be Wei Changhui, because the Heavenly King knows all kinds of contradictions between the two, and only Wei can do it, and only Wei will do his best to carry it out without discount, including the massacre of Dongwangfu and Dongwang's subordinates.
It is said that Hong Xiuquan and Yang Mizhao also sent a copy to Shi Dakai, in fact, after a little analysis, you will find that this is completely false. Regardless of the relationship between Yang and Shi, Shi Dakai was on the front line in Hubei at that time, the farthest away from Tianjing, and Wei Changhui was in Jiangxi, so Hong Xiuquan didn't need to go far.
Shi Dakai returned to Beijing and questioned Wei Changhui why Wei attacked the Yiwang Mansion and killed Shi Dakai's family because Wei Changhui regarded Shi Dakai as the party of the East Wang. Shi Dakai is public and private, and he has to raise troops to fight Wei to avenge Yang Xiuqing.
Hong Xiuquan took advantage of the different factions of Wei and Shi, first used Wei Xuyang, and then issued a secret edict to Shi Xuwei, and finally squeezed Shi Da out of Beijing, and since then he has monopolized power.
The power game of the East and West Kings came to the end, but it was the Heavenly King who had been holding back and became the real big winner in the end.