In 1856, Hong Xiuquan secretly ordered Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai, and Qin Rigang to return to Beijing to kill Yang Xiuqing.
Soon, Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang acted quickly to solve Yang Xiuqing.
Shi Dakai, on the other hand, did not participate in the operation until more than ten days later, when he came to Tianjing and accused Wei Changhui of killing too many people.
Therefore, for a long time, there has been a lot of debate about Shi Dakai's motivation in this process.
Those who hold it say that Shi Dakai can't bear to kill each other; detractors, saying that Shi Dakai is his own big chess in the next game; There are also exculpators, saying that it was just because Shi Dakai was far away from Tianjing at that time and couldn't catch up; Some people even believe that Shi Dakai didn't know about it at the time···· In short, there are different opinions, and each seems to have its own reason.
However, after thinking about it, this is not a confusing thing, and the reason why Shi Dakai does not participate in the action is very clear!
Shi Dakai did participate in the planning of Zhu Yang
Shi Dakai did participate in Zhu Yang's scheme, there is no doubt about it.
Later, Li Xiucheng said: "The two people in the north wing are of one heart, and they are angry in the east", on the issue of killing Yang Xiuqing, Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai are on the same front, but, "Yi and the king of the north secretly discussed to kill one person in the east, kill three of his brothers, Yuan Qing, and Fuqing, and in addition, no more killings are allowed···
Li Xiucheng's statement has been confirmed by most sources.
Only Shi Dakai himself tried to avoid this matter.
In his later review, Shi Dakai said: He just heard that "Hong Xiuquan" was suspicious of each other. Wei Changhui asked to kill Yang Xiuqing, Hong Xiuquan "wanted to kill Yang, but he refused to do so, and deliberately added Yang Xiuqing as long live", and he Shi Dakai, the original intention was to solve and coordinate.
Obviously, although Shi Dakai avoided whether he participated in the discussion of Zhu Yang, he could not shirk between the lines.
The secret that Wei Changhui and Hong Xiuquan discussed is naturally a top secret. If Shi Dakai didn't participate in the planning and was not regarded as a fellow traveler by Wei Changhui, how could Shi Dakai know these things?
You must know that Dongwang's intelligence system is pervasive, and it is not that Dongwang himself does not know, but Shi Dakai, who is far away in Hubei, can learn such news!
According to Shi Dakai's own introduction, later, he returned to Tianjing and questioned Wei Changhui, and his mouth opened to say: What is the crime under him, and how can he be punished?
At that time, in Tianjing City, there was blood and rain, and the East Party was being killed everywhere. Shi Dakai's ability to enter the city alone shows that both Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai themselves regard themselves as members of the Zhuyang family. Shi Dakai went to oppose the expansion of the massacre and tried to discuss the aftermath after the killing of Yang Xiuqing···
Therefore, Shi Dakai participated in the conspiracy of Zhu Yang, which should be certain.
Shi Dakai did deliberately delay returning to Tianjing
So, why didn't Shi Dakai rush back to participate in the killing of Yang Xiuqing?
The view of "History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" is very representative: at that time, Wei Changhui was in Jiangxi and Shi Dakai was in Hubei, so Shi Dakai's road was farther, and before he could go back, Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang solved Yang Xiuqing.
However, this statement actually does not stand up to scrutiny.
Shi Da's journey to Tianjing is about 1/4 longer than Wei Changhui.
Therefore, according to common sense, although Shi Dakai will arrive slower, it will not be too slow.
At least when Wei Changhui killed Yang Xiuqing, Shi Dakai should have been on the way.
However, the actual situation is that when the news of "killing many people in the capital" came, Shi Dakai was still in Hongshan, Wuchang, and did not move at all.
And when Shi Dakai returned to Tianjing, it had been more than ten days since Yang Xiuqing was killed···
Obviously, Shi Dakai definitely didn't "can't catch up" because of the long distance, he didn't "rush there" at all.
It is impossible for Shi Dakai to "play big chess"
Since he participated in the conspiracy of Zhu Yang, and did not return to Beijing immediately after the edict, combined with the fact that he was in charge of the government for a time after that, there is a "conspiracy theory" in later generations, thinking that Shi Dakai deliberately made a big move in the next step.
This view believes that Shi Dakai has another calculation. He tried to get rid of Yang Xiuqing with Wei Changhui's hand, and then united with the rest of Yang Xiuqing to eradicate Wei Changhui together, sweep away all competitors, and become the first person under the Heavenly King···
The most typical is in the TV series "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", borrowing the mouths of some people, saying that Shi Dakai "the city is too deep"···
However, this statement is also illogical.
After Yang Xiuqing was killed, Shi Dakai only took Zeng Jinqian and Zhang Suimou back to Beijing, reprimanded Wei Changhui in person, and then feared being killed, he fled from the city, and then all his family members who stayed in Tianjing were killed!
In other words, in this process, Shi Dakai not only killed his whole family, but also died nine times himself.
If you are a little unlucky, Shi Dakai will not be able to escape from Tianjing, and he will not even be able to get out of the Beiwang Mansion!
Even if Shi Dakai is bold, he will not gamble with his life!
What's more, judging from the later situation, Hong Xiuquan was able to squeeze out Shi Dakai by casually inserting two brothers who had no skills, which shows that in the game of power, Shi Dakai is by no means a particularly clever chess player!
So, why didn't Shi Dakai participate in the action to kill Yang Xiuqing?
The actual reasons may not be as complex as later generations imagined···
Zhu Yang finally acted, and Shi Dakai was not needed to participate
Shi Dakai did participate in Zhu Yang's deliberations.
However, in the specific implementation, Shi Dakai was not included in the participation plan.
The reason is simple.
After Wei Changhui quickly arrived in Tianjing, he immediately launched an operation with Qin Rigang and Chen Chengying, and with Chen's response, he entered the Dongwang Mansion and solved Yang Xiuqing.
In other words, Wei Changhui rushed back as fast as he could, started as quickly as possible, and did not wait for Shi Dakai at all.
This shows that there is no plan to involve Shi Dakai in the action of killing Yang Xiuqing.
Indeed, if it is to rely on hard power, even if Shi Dakai comes, it will not be enough for Yang Xiuqing to fight.
The killing of Yang Xiuqing was a conspiracy action, and the key was the secrecy and suddenness of the action, and the number of participants did not play a decisive role. It is enough to rely on the strength of Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang and Chen Chengying's response, and he may not be needed.
This is probably the main reason why Shi Dakai did not come to participate in Zhu Yang.
illation
The following is personal reasoning, and I hope to advise you on the shortcomings.
1, Hong Xiuquan and Wei Changhui have the intention of removing Yang Xiuqing, and Shi Dakai is on the side of Hong Xiuquan and Wei Changhui.
First, after all, Shi Dakai is the winged king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, with strong strength and high prestige, so it is very necessary to fight for him to stand in line; Second, Shi Dakai was also dissatisfied with Yang Xiuqing; In the "Wrangler Incident", Shi Dakai's father-in-law Huang Yukun once committed suicide by jumping into the river after being punished by Yang Xiuqing, and Shi Dakai was also very uncomfortable every time he saw Yang Xiuqing's "panic and sweat", so it was entirely possible to win Shi Dakai's support.
Therefore, when Hong Xiuquan and Wei Changhui planned to punish Yang, they also recruited Shi Dakai to participate, and Shi Dakai was also one of the conspirators of the Zhuyang action.
Therefore, Shi Dakai knew the relevant situation and took sides, that is, the so-called "two people in the north wing are united and angry in the east", but in that meeting, everyone did not reach an opinion on the specific actions of Zhu Yang, but only established the principle of "only killing three of his brothers".
2. The situation has changed, and Shi Dakai did not participate in specific actions.
From the point of view of time, the discussion time between Shi Dakai, Wei Changhui and Hong Xiuquan can only be during the breaking of the Jiangnan camp in the summer of 1856.
After that, Yang Xiuqing transferred Shi Dakai and Wei Changhui to the outside world, and let Shi Dakai unify Wei Changhui's deployment, and Wei Changhui unified Shi Dakai's deployment as a precaution, so the situation changed.
After that, Yang Xiuqing forced Long Live to seal the seal, the situation was urgent, Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang acted urgently, this time, Shi Dakai may not be involved in the internal affairs···
Therefore, Shi Dakai only knew that "Hong Xiuquan was suspicious of each other in Jinling", and did not know the specific plan of action, and even led the operation to relieve the siege of Wuchang in Hongshan.
3. Because of the aftermath of the punishment of Yang, Shi Dakai fell out with Wei Changhui.
It's just that after the killing of Yang Xiuqing, Wei Changhui's massacre expanded rapidly, completely detaching from the original idea of "only killing three brothers", and it seems that the trend of expansion continues.
As the Winged King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and one of the participants in the Zhuyang Project, Shi Dakai returned to Tianjing with only two of his cronies to disagree with Wei Changhui.
However, communication broke down, and Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai became enemies!
Some friends believe that Shi Dakai went to question Wei Changhui in person in order to win over the hearts of the rest of the Eastern King.
Actually, it's overthinking.
At that time, there was already a bloody storm in Tianjing City, and Shi Dakai left alone, and it was a high probability that he would be killed by Wei Changhui.
Shi Da is going here, the danger is extremely great, and even the possibility of death is far greater than life.
On the other hand, at that time, Wei Changhui's massacre had already aroused the anger of the soldiers, so Shi Dakai's conditions were ripe to unite forces against Wei Changhui, and there was no need to "die once" at all.
Therefore, Shi Dakai should have originally underestimated Wei Changhui's murderous spirit and tried to communicate and resolve it, but he just ··· The development of events was completely beyond his imagination···
Of course, once again, this paragraph is a personal reasoning based on historical data, and if there are deficiencies, please criticize and correct them!
A "mess"
In fact, in the incident of the killing of Yang Xiuqing, the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, one counts as one, and they all have no long-term strategy.
Yang Xiuqing's "long live the forced seal" can be described as stupid and short-sighted.
At that time, Yang Xiuqing was in power, and his power and prestige had reached the extreme, and he was the actual leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
"Long live the forced seal", in addition to further exposing its ambitions, does not help to increase its strength!
Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang, the plan to kill Yang Xiuqing is not secretive.
However, after the killing of Yang Xiuqing, how to deal with the aftermath and how to appease Yang Xiuqing's old department is completely black.
So, apart from killing fearlessly, I don't know how to end it at all.
Hong Xiuquan's determination to get rid of Yang Xiuqing is a completely understandable idea in itself.
However, after killing Yang Xiuqing, there is no idea how to explain this matter in a religious sense and how to redistribute power···
And what about Shi Dakai? It's the same thing, where you hit.
Regarding Wei Changhui's indiscriminate killing, he only proposed "not much" and blamed others, but did not propose a pacifying strategy.
After turning his face with Wei Changhui, Shi Da developed a call to ask for Wei, recruited his subordinates, and asked the Heavenly King to kill Wei Changhui, and declared that if he did not have his head, he would return the class to the court···
It can be said that if it weren't for Hong Xiuquan to solve Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai really led his troops to attack Tianjing, then its destructiveness would have risen exponentially compared to Wei Changhui's massacre!
What's more, even if you Shi Dakai led his troops back to Tianjing, "Qingjun's side", and killed Wei Changhui, how would you face Hong Xiuquan?
It's okay··· Hong Xiuquan solved Wei Changhui by himself, otherwise, Shi Dakai didn't know what the follow-up would become!
In short, in the entire Zhuyang incident, the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, one counts as one, and none of them have a long-term strategy, they are only eager to solve the immediate problem, as for the consequences··· They were completely unenvisioned and prepared···
The power struggle itself is not terrible, what is terrible is that the players are all such "fierce men···
Regarding the action to kill Yang Xiuqing and the Tianjing Incident, people have analyzed a lot of personal motives and schemes.
But in fact··· There is not much need.
Because, although these people like infighting, the level of infighting is very clumsy, and most of the time there is no clear plan···
Their defeat was doomed.