Li Xiucheng (1823-1864), a native of Xinwang Village, Dalili, Tengxian County, Guangxi, was once named King Zhong by Hong Xiuquan and an important general in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The biggest mystery about Li Xiucheng himself is that after he was exiled, he wrote a 50,000-word "Li Xiucheng's Self-Statement" to Zeng Guofan. Whether this "self-statement" is a "false surrender" or a "bitter delay"? What is Li Xiucheng's motive for writing? These are all worthy of our in-depth study.
Li Xiuben was born in a poor peasant family in Guangxi, and his early life was very difficult. In the first year of Xianfeng (1851), Li Xiucheng joined the Taiping Army. After that, he made many military exploits, and in the sixth year of Xianfeng (1856), he broke through the Qing army's Jiangbei camp and Jiangnan camp. At this time, there was a civil strife in the leadership of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and several high-ranking leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom killed each other, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom encountered unprecedented turmoil. As the saying goes, "the times make heroes". In the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858), Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng broke through the encirclement of the Qing army in September of that year, relieved the temporary crisis of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and were soon promoted. So why did such a "loyal king" who was named "Loyal King" by Hong Xiuquan write a "surrender letter" of tens of thousands of words?
After successive victories, Li Xiucheng opened up a new military base for it in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but due to his own personality reasons, coupled with the relaxation of the military bases in the upper reaches of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he was defeated one after another after the first year of Tongzhi (1862), and was finally captured by Zeng Guofan in June of the third year of Tongzhi (1864), and wrote a confession of tens of thousands of words, giving a detailed introduction to the internal situation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but was finally killed by Zeng Guofan. His "Self-Statement" was deleted and revised by Zeng Guofan and made public. It was not until the 60s of the last century that Zeng Younong, a descendant of Zeng Guofan, published the original manuscript of the "Self-Statement" in Taiwan, which triggered the academic community's exploration of his motivation for writing the "Self-Statement".
According to Li Xiucheng's "iron courage and loyalty" in his life, and after he was killed, it was rumored that Li Xiucheng wrote "Self-Statement" in order to rebel against Zeng Guofan and become the emperor of the Han people. It has been rumored in academic circles that he wrote his own statement mainly for the purpose of "pseudo-surrender". Mr. Luo Ergang's main argument is: First, starting from the specific historical conditions, Li Xiucheng was an important general in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at that time, with a high and powerful position, and under objective conditions, the Taiping army was trapped for several days without food, and out of subjective and objective considerations, Li Xiucheng was likely to lure Zeng Guofan to surrender. Mr. Luo pointed out that from the educational background, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom attached great importance to the imitation and research of strategy and tactics in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so it is very likely that Li Xiucheng imitated the case of the Shu general Jiang Wei who falsely surrendered to Wei Zhonghui in an attempt to restore Shu. However, historical research must rely on the verification of historical data, not just speculation, and Mr. Luo quickly abandoned this speculation due to insufficient evidence.
In 1962, Mr. Luo put forward the theory of "bitter meat and delaying the army", arguing that Li Xiucheng deliberately belittled himself in his "Self-Statement" in order to allow the enemy to relax his vigilance and give the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a buffer. But this speculation was not convincing to everyone, and the voice of "loyal to the king or disloyal" appeared in the academic community. During the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Luo was also subjected to political criticism. After the reform and opening up, Mr. Luo reopened the study of the motivation of the "Self-Statement", and proposed that at the end of 1977, the descendants of Zeng Guofan had provided a word of mouth, claiming: "Li Xiucheng persuaded Wen Zhenggong to be the emperor, but Wen Zhenggong did not dare", Mr. Luo believes that this is ironclad evidence that Li Xiucheng is indeed imitating the Shu general Jiang Wei and falsely surrendering Wei Zhonghui in order to restore Shu. However, due to the credibility of word-of-mouth materials and the question of time, the academic community does not recognize them.
Whether it is "luring surrender" or "delaying the army", it is a conjecture made by scholars based on the background of the times at that time, combined with Li Xiucheng's personal character, the situation of the enemy and us at that time, and the personal situation of Zeng Guofan. However, in historical research, it is necessary to "make bold guesses and carefully seek verification," and there is a point of evidence to speak a point. Whatever Li Xiucheng's motivation for writing, the end of history is that he was killed after writing his autobiography, and the Taiping Rebellion ended in failure. The long river of history is rolling forward, and what we need to do is to uphold the spirit of historical materialism, learn from historical experience, and build a better society.