Wei Changhui

Wei Changhui

Wei Changhui

He was born in Taiping County, Guangdong Province in 1853. At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, his ancestors moved to Guangxi and settled in Jintian village of Guiping. His family is rich, he seldom studied, he knows the meaning of literature, he has talent, and he can adapt to circumstances. In 1848, he joined the God worship Association and soon became the backbone. He became brothers with Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan and was called the fifth son of the heavenly father. After the Jintian uprising, he served as the deputy commander of Houhu and led the right army general. He was officially granted the northern king, which was called "the king of the north"

Six thousand years old

Second to

King

best-known leader of the Taiping Rebellion

、

East King

Yang Xiuqing

，

West King

Xiao Chaogui

Nanwang

Feng Yunshan

.

Life of the characters

Early experience

Wei Changhui was born in 1823 and had a rich family, but he was often bullied and blackmailed by the local big families, which aroused his resistance to the rule of the Qing Dynasty. In October 1848 (September of the 28th year of Daoguang), Feng Yunshan was released from prison and returned to Zijing mountain. He passed by Jintian and stayed with Wei's family. He talked with Wei Changhui very much. Wei Changhui joined God worship. When Jintian organized the camp, Wei Changhui did his best to offer his family's wealth, led his family to join the camp, and secretly "opened the furnace and fired weapons to eliminate demons" in his family, making a lot of preparations for the uprising. After the Jintian uprising, he took part in various military and political command activities, and had a great influence on the Taiping Army and the masses. As a result, the Qing government once regarded him as the "rebel leader" and placed him above Hong Xiuquan in many memorials and imperial edicts.

In 1851, Wei Changhui was granted the title of commander of the right army, and soon he was granted the title of deputy military division. In December, the Taiping Army established the title of king in Yong'an, and Wei Changhui was granted the title of king of the north at the age of 6000. After that, Wei Changhui also made great achievements in the process of Taiping Army going out of Guangxi, entering the two lakes, going down the two rivers and conquering Nanjing. After Feng Yunshan and Xiao Chaogui died, Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai became the main assistants of Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing. After the founding of Tianjing, Wei Changhui was in charge of daily political affairs and Wei Xu tasks. At that time, the military affairs of all parties must first "report" Wei Changhui and "report" Shi Dakai, and then "report" Yang Xiuqing's ruling. Wei Changhui was only next to Yang Xiuqing.

In the middle of March of the third year of Xianfeng (late April 1853), shortly after the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was established, Wen Xian, governor of Hong Kong and minister to China of Britain, went to Tianjing by ship to spy and blackmail. Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai pointed out in an interview with Wenhan's representative, who translated middle, "if you help Manchu, it's really a big mistake; but even if you help it, it's useless", indicating the principled position of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. After the capital of Tianjing was established, the conflict between Wei Changhui and Yang Xiuqing developed continuously due to the power struggle. Wei Changhui also joined the Taiping army very early. He once read a book about "small talents", which Yang Xiuqing was afraid of. He often fought outside and held heavy troops, which was a threat to Yang Xiuqing who was keen on dictatorship. Yang Xiuqing was also arrogant and had no respect for Wei Changhui. He often insulted Wei Changhui with trifles and beat him hundreds of times. Wei Changhui is insidious and cruel. He shows respect and fear for Yang Xiuqing. He pretends that he is still scared and dare not speak too much. When Yang Xiuqing arrived in the sedan chair, he helped the sedan chair to greet him. After three or four sentences, he knelt down to thank him and said, "I don't know if I'm not taught by my fourth brother, but I'm tender hearted." But in his heart, he was very resentful and wanted to seize his power.

In July and August of 1856 (the sixth year of Xianfeng), the contradiction between Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing intensified. When Hong Xiuquan ordered Wei Changhui in Jiangxi to return to Beijing to kill Yang Xiuqing. After receiving the imperial edict, Wei Changhui led 3000 elite people back to Tianjing in the starry night. On the way back to Beijing, he urged Qin Rigang, who was also dissatisfied with Yang Xiuqing, to kill Yang together. Late at night on September 1, they arrived in Tianjing and controlled the main traffic road in Tianjing. In the early morning of the 2nd, Wei Changhui led his troops to attack Dongwang mansion, killing Yang Xiuqing and all the men, women, old and young in the mansion, and then searching and killing Yang Xiuqing's relatives and old troops in the whole city. On the 4th, he pretended that the king of heaven had issued an imperial edict, saying that he and Qin Rigang had committed the crime of indiscriminate killing in dealing with Yang Xiuqing's usurpation of the throne, which exceeded the imperial edict and should be punished by four hundred people. He lured thousands of Yang's remaining members to Tianwang mansion to observe the punishment, and then killed them all. It is also said that the plot was planned by Hong Xiuquan's wife Lai. In two months, the massacre did not stop. More than 20000 people died before and after the massacre. The high and middle-level backbone forces in Tianjing were slaughtered, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in trouble. The Tianjing incident also became the turning point of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from prosperity to decline.

The change of Tianjing

In 1856, just as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom continued to win the victory over the Manchu Qing regime and pushed forward to the whole country, the "Tianjing change" event, which decided the fate of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, broke out in Tianjing. From then on, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom went to the road of collapse.

Main motivation

If we study the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, we can see that the "Tianjing change" did not happen by accident: Yang Xiuqing pretended to be the "heavenly Father" to seek the supreme power, and Hong Xiuquan ordered Wei Changhui to kill Yang Xiuqing in order to maintain his supreme authority. Yang Xiuqing was one of the important leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He was born in a poor peasant family who "has been planting mountains and burning carbon for a long time". As early as 1845, under the guidance of Feng Yunshan, he participated in the God worship Association founded by Hong Xiuquan. Because of his outstanding political organization ability, he quickly became an important core figure of the God worship Association.

Power struggle

On January 11, 1851, Yang Xiuqing and Hong Xiuquan organized and launched the Jintian uprising, which was named "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom". In March of the same year, Hong Xiu's full name was Tianwang, and Yang Xiuqing was appointed Zuo Fuzheng's military commander and led the general of the Chinese army. In December, the East King of Jin was called "nine thousand years old", and other kings were controlled by him. On March 29, 1853, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was established in Nanjing, and Yang Xiuqing was appointed to preside over the government. Since then, he "monopolized all the powers" and "monopolized everything" and became the actual supreme person in charge of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. According to historical records, the huge Dongwang mansion at that time became the real supreme decision-making organ of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Everything was discussed there, and then the heavenly king was played, and the heavenly king approved everything as usual.

In August 1856, because of Yang Xiuqing's pretence of "heavenly father coming down to earth" and "forcing the heavenly king to live long live in the East King's house", the power struggle between the heavenly king and the East King became more and more intense. Not only that, Yang Xiuqing, who was in power, was domineering and domineering during the period of administration, so that the kings "had a lot of grievances." Wei Changhui, the northern king of China, was "under the sun, while Yin wanted to seize its power.". Wei Changhui was also one of the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He joined the God worship Association in 1848 and soon became the backbone. He became brothers with Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan. The statement that Wei Changhui is the fifth son of the heavenly Father may come from the literati's notes and unofficial history records of the Qing Dynasty. According to the imperial edict of the heavenly Father, there is no record that Wei Changhui is the fifth son. In many official books of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there is no record that Wei Changhui is "the fifth brother" or "the fifth brother". After the Jintian uprising, Wei Changhui served as the Deputy military commander of the rear guard, led the right army general, and granted the northern king the title of "6000 years old". After the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was established in Nanjing, Wei Changhui was second only to the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan and the eastern King Yang Xiuqing. But he was dissatisfied with the powerful Yang Xiuqing.

The so-called "Rome wasn't built in a day." In the power struggle of "triangle relationship" between Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing and Wei Changhui, Gai was triggered by the events of "heavenly Father descending to earth" and "Heavenly King's Secret edict". The power struggle between Yang Xiuqing and Wei Changhui, to a certain extent, is the result of the abnormal political power structure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Then in 1856, the "Tianjing change" broke out.

military situation

It is very beneficial for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to investigate the military situation in the first half of 1856: in March, the Taiping army conquered Ji'an and Fuzhou. In April, Chen Yucheng led his troops to rescue Zhenjiang, and attacked inside and outside the garrison, breaking through the Qing army, and Zhenjiang was released. In the same month, the Taiping Army crossed the river from Zhenjiang to Yangzhou. The "Jiangbei camp" of the Qing Dynasty fled, and the Taiping army conquered Yangzhou again. In June, the Taiping army defeated the "Jiangnan camp" of the Qing Dynasty, retreated to Rongbu, Danyang, and liberated Tianjing. However, at this time, the power struggle of the leadership of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had become white hot. On the night of September 1, 1856, Wei Changhui, the northern king, received the imperial edict from Hong Xiuquan, the heavenly king, and led 3000 troops to rush back to Tianjing from the front line of Jiangxi Province. In the early morning of the next day, Wei raided Dongwang's residence, killing all the Dongwang Yang Xiuqing and his family members, and then slaughtered the capital. In this appalling "Tianjing change", tens of thousands of Taiping soldiers fell into a pool of blood. As for the origin of the power struggle between Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing, it should be traced back to the event of "heavenly Father descending to earth" a few years ago.

political purposes

In January 1848, Feng Yunshan, an important leader of the God worship Association, was arrested by tuanlian and put in Guiping County prison. Hong Xiuquan, who is in Guixian County, is in a hurry to Guangzhou for rescue. In the Bauhinia mountain area, the God worship Association suddenly fell into the dilemma of being leaderless. In April of the same year, Yang Xiuqing took advantage of the popular superstition of "descending the child" in Xunzhou, pretending that "the heavenly father came down to earth and possessed the body" to reassure the public. When Hong Xiuquan returned from Guangzhou to the Zijingshan area, he had to confirm that Yang Xiuqing had the right to "descend from heaven to possess the body" and "preach on behalf of heaven".

Perhaps, in Hong Xiuquan's view, Yang Xiuqing's pretense of "heavenly father coming down to earth" at that time was a means of gathering people's hearts, boosting morale and fighting against the Qing Dynasty. Because, in October 1848, Xiao Chaogui also pretended that "the heavenly Brother Jesus came down to earth.". Similarly, in the winter of that year, Hong Xiuquan himself once denounced Confucius under the pretext of "God comes down to earth". In addition, as early as April 1837, Hong Xiuquan took part in the Guangzhou imperial examination and went home sick. Bedridden four

Chinese PinYin : Wei Chang Hui