Feng Yunshan, the "King of the South", was one of the key figures in the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He was born in a noble family, talented and talented, and he was a brother and sister to Hong Xiu, and contributed his life's work to the rise and fall of the kingdom of heaven. However, on the occasion of the victory of the Taiping army, Feng Yunshan fell into an extremely unfortunate accidental trap and was killed by artillery fire. When he was dying, he said his shocking last words to Hong Xiuquan, which seemed to foreshadow the fate of the fall of the kingdom of heaven. If Feng Yunshan didn't die, would the Kingdom of Heaven be able to avoid defeat?
The origin of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
The darkness and oppression of the old society gave birth to the people's desire for a bright life. By the middle of the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty had become increasingly corrupt, officials were rampant, and foreign powers invaded China. In Zhaoqing, Guangdong, a pair of close friends, Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan, witnessed the dark rule of the Qing Dynasty and the misery of the people, and resolved to overthrow this criminal regime.
Hong Xiuquan was talented and intelligent, but he was unable to study because of poverty, and he failed in the imperial examination for many years. Feng Yunshan was born in a scholarly family, with a solid family background, and was originally a teacher in the countryside. The two have known each other since childhood, and although they are from different backgrounds, they are like-minded, and they both hate the Qing Dynasty.
Under the leadership of Feng Yunshan, they founded the "God Worship Religion", claiming that "God sent Jesus Christ to earth for the second time to save the common people". Feng Yunshan was a teacher and eloquent, and he was widely a missionary in his hometown, attracting thousands of people to convert in just a few days. Hong Xiuquan went to Guangxi and other regions to preach the doctrine, and soon developed tens of thousands of followers. Most of these believers were poor peasants, who responded to the call of the worship of God and took up hoes and sulfur guns, went around destroying temples and punishing landlords and gentlemen.
The first armed contingent of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was born. Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the "Heavenly King", while Feng Yunshan was canonized as the "Southern King" and became a military advisor in charge of military power. All this is due to Feng Yunshan's careful planning and strategizing. Without his plan, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom might not have been established.
With Feng Yunshan's outstanding military command and outstanding strategy, the Taiping army continued to achieve victories and captured Guangdong, Guangxi and other places. The number of believers in the worship of God sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and the Taiping army won victories one after another. It's just that Feng Yunshan's unexpected death laid the foundation for the kingdom of heaven...
Feng Yunshan's foundational work
In the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Feng Yunshan made great contributions. As Hong Xiuquan's confidant and military advisor, he laid a solid foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven.
First of all, Feng Yunshan reorganized the military system and reorganized the bloated militia team into an elite division. He divided the troops into "corps," "divisions," "brigades," and "regiments," clarified the responsibilities of officers, and established a standardized operational command system. At the same time, Feng Yunshan also promulgated a series of military discipline regulations to ensure that the quality of the army is excellent and morale is high.
Secondly, Feng Yunshan strategized and formulated a sophisticated combat strategy for the Taiping army. He pays attention to the advantages of the terrain, is good at seeing and attacking, and has both offense and defense. In Guangxi and Guangdong, Feng Yunshan repeatedly performed miraculous feats, led the army to defeat the Qing army many times, and conquered dozens of cities. Among them, the Battle of Fangcheng in Guangxi is particularly classic, Feng Yunshan skillfully used a smoke screen to cover up, so that the Qing army was at a loss, and finally annihilated the enemy's main force.
Moreover, Feng Yunshan formulated a series of policies and regulations for the Kingdom of Heaven and laid the direction for development. He advocated "land rights and people ploughing", in which a large amount of land held by officials was distributed equally among the peasants; He advocated equality between men and women and abolished the bad habits of the old society; He also promulgated a decree to severely punish corruption, in an effort to eliminate the root cause of corruption among officials. These policies hit the nail on the head and won the hearts and minds of the people.
With Feng Yunshan's brilliant strategy, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom developed into a powerful force in just a few years, gaining prestige and fame at home and abroad. However, just when the kingdom of heaven was in full swing, an unfortunate episode dragged it to the abyss of destruction......
Yang Xiuqing's intervention
Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom achieved a gratifying victory in the early days, as the war intensified, there were also signs of contradictions and divisions within the Heavenly Kingdom. This can be traced back to a character named Yang Xiuqing.
Yang Xiuqing, who was originally a hooligan leader, later joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Because of his bravery and skill, he quickly rose to prominence in the army. Seeing the value of his force, Feng Yunshan promoted him to the governor of the Chinese army and was in charge of a large number of divisions and brigades.
However, Feng Yunshan had many doubts about Yang Xiuqing's approach. This little man from a humble background is greedy, rude, unmediated, and ruthless. Feng Yunshan privately encouraged Hong Xiuquan many times in private to guard against this ruthless villain, and not to be overused.
However, Hong Xiuquan appreciated Yang Xiuqing very much and did not listen to Feng Yunshan's advice. In the Battle of the Siege of Quanzhou, Yang Xiuqing made great achievements and was promoted to the governor of the forward battalion. This made him arrogant and domineering, and he began to eyeing the military and political power of the kingdom of heaven.
In June 1856, the Taiping army besieged the city of Quanzhou for a long time, but it was unable to break the enemy. Yang Xiuqing took the opportunity to provoke and slander Feng Yunshan's leadership mistakes in an attempt to overthrow the authority of this military advisor. Feng Yunshan was of course furious about this, and he decisively stepped forward to personally supervise the army to launch a general attack again.
When the fierce battle between the two sides was in full swing, Feng Yunshan was accidentally hit by the artillery fire of the Qing army and fell to the ground with serious injuries. This happened to fall into Yang Xiuqing's trick, he deliberately passed on the wrong military information to induce Feng Yunshan to go deep into the encirclement. The Taiping army was forced to retreat, and Feng Yunshan was captured by the enemy and tortured by humiliation.
Under the city of Quanzhou, in full view of everyone, Yang Xiuqing ignored Feng Yunshan's call for help and ignored it. In the end, the unyielding "King of the South" was brutally shot by the enemy, and he died in this way......
The impact of the fall of Feng Yunshan
The unexpected fall of Feng Yunshan dealt a fatal blow to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The words he said to Hong Xiuquan before his death were more like a cicada, heralding the fall of the kingdom of heaven.
"I feel relieved to see you, my life is not long, if you want to dominate the world, you must get rid of the traitors and villains, don't be merciful, Yang Xiuqing can't stay. Feng Yunshan took his last breath and said earnestly. He understands that leaving Yang Xiuqing, a sinister villain, will definitely bring disaster to heaven.
Hong Xiuquan couldn't help but burst into tears when he heard it. He and Feng Yunshan have known each other since childhood, and they are like brothers and sisters, and now they are full of grief when they witness the death of their best friend in this way. But for Yang Xiuqing's disposal, Hong Xiuquan hesitated. After all, Yang Xiuqing has made outstanding achievements in war, and the whole army relies on his commander, and once he is punished, I am afraid that it will cause the morale of the army to waver.
At this moment, Yang Xiuqing took advantage of the void and gave a heavy blow to Heaven. He provoked his subordinates, called for the overthrow of Hong Xiuquan and established himself as the king, and even slandered Feng Yunshan for "having a negative territory". For a time, there was an uproar in the army, and the formation was in chaos.
Faced with the wavering morale of the army, Hong Xiuquan had no choice but to expel Yang Xiuqing from the barracks. But Yang Xiuqing did not leave there, he led the dead party to regain the armed forces, and launched a coup d'état against Hong Xiuquan "The difficulty of the king's teacher". The two armies faced each other for nearly a year, fighting bloodily, and finally Hong Xiuquan repelled the civil strife with difficulty.
However, this battle had completely depleted the strength of the Taiping army. was originally a million-strong teacher, but now his vitality is greatly damaged. What's worse is that due to the discouragement of the army, many Taiping generals began to fight for each other in the Central Plains, without subordination to each other, with no military discipline and no ammunition and food.
Just as the kingdom of heaven was falling apart, the Qing authorities also took the opportunity to regroup and launched a full-scale "quelling the chaos" offensive. After years of fierce battles, in 1864, the Qing army captured Nanjing, the base of the Heavenly Kingdom, and the Heavenly Kingdom was completely destroyed......
The fall of the kingdom of heaven
Feng Yunshan's death was like a thunderbolt from heaven. From then on, the Taiping army was like a ship that had lost its course, swaying in a raging storm.
First of all, the morale of the army gradually dispersed, and the central military orders were no longer unified. Many generals who originally followed Feng Yunshan saw that he was calculated to death by Yang Xiuqing, a small person, and they were disgruntled, and they started anew. Some wander around with their families, and some simply set up their own doors and do not belong to each other. The backbone of the Taiping army quickly fell apart.
At the same time, the Qing government also saw the opportunity and reinvigorated its determination to quell the chaos. Famous generals such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang led heavy troops to press the border and launched a fierce attack on the Taiping army.
In the face of the powerful attack of the Qing army, because the morale of the army was weak, it was difficult for the armed forces of all walks of life to unify their command, and they were defeated one after another. The territory of the once "kingdom of heaven" is rapidly shrinking. Finally, in 1864, the Qing army captured the base of Nanjing, marking the complete destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Hong Xiuquan knew that the general trend had gone, and finally hanged himself, and his personal life came to an abrupt end. Before dying, he remembered the brotherhood with Feng Yunshan, and couldn't help but burst into tears, and said with emotion: "If I had listened to him earlier, how could the world be like this?" ＂
Looking back on the entire rise and fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Feng Yunshan can be described as a great achievement. He not only has extraordinary talent and foresight, but also has a wise and heroic leadership temperament to build a mustard division into a heroic division that shocks the southeast. If it weren't for the conspiracy of Yang Xiuqing, a traitorous villain, the Taiping Army might really be able to dominate the world.
However, the world is unpredictable, and heroes are inevitably conspired and calculated. Feng Yunshan died young, leaving behind infinite regrets. If he survives, then the kingdom of heaven may not fall; If he had been listened to at the time, history might have been rewritten......