Chapter 20: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
Daoguang 29th year December 18th, Forbidden City
The Daoguang Emperor, lying on his sickbed, looked at Lin Zexu's memorial and felt depressed. He planned to leave Lin Zexu for the next emperor to use, so Mu Zhang'a had been suppressing him in recent years. The Daoguang Emperor also turned a blind eye, letting the new emperor promote Lin Zexu after he took office, making Lin grateful and loyal to the new emperor until his death.
Daoguang had already established the secret heir system according to the Yongzheng Emperor, and had made the fourth son Yizong the crown prince. The imperial edict was hidden behind the tablet of Zhengda Guangming. Now he is having some regrets. The Qing dynasty is already in a precarious situation, but the sixth son Yiwei has both civil and military talents. Should he let Yiwei inherit the throne and give the young sixth son another chance?
"Come in," Daoguang said to the little eunuch who had entered. "Proclaim the imperial edict."
Aixinjueluo Yiwei heard that his father, the Emperor, had summoned him and hastily called upon his teacher, Du Shoutian, to discuss the meaning behind Daoguang's intentions.
Du Shoutian said: "Fourth brother, in terms of eloquence, can't compare to sixth brother. Remember, whatever the emperor asks you, just cry and express your filial piety. If really can't avoid it, be cautious with your answer, say something like 'I pray for the emperor's longevity day and night, wishing him a long life of one hundred years'. Absolutely must not compete with sixth brother."
Yi Ze nodded in agreement.
Daoguang saw that his two sons had arrived in front of him, so he took out Lin Zexu's memorial and let each of them read it once, asking for their opinions.
Only heard that the words of Yi were all reasonable, his mouth was like a river, and finally he recommended Li Xingyuan to replace Lin Zexu as the imperial commissioner to suppress bandits, and Daoguang nodded repeatedly.
Yiwei burst into loud wailing when it was his turn, leaving Daoguang bewildered. All he could hear was Yiwei sobbing: "I hope that the Emperor lives to be a hundred years old, so I will never have to worry about these problems."
Daoguang was an old man who thought that Yiwei was filial, and he had always advocated for governing the country with filial piety. He also felt that Yicong's heart was not on the right track, and he thought that Yicong's thorough understanding of national affairs might be a wish for himself to die early so that he could inherit the throne. The slightest sense of guilt towards Yicong in his heart had vanished into thin air.
A month later, Daoguang died in the Yiheyuan, and Xianfeng ascended to the throne. In the second year, he changed the era name to 'Xianfeng'. The will also established Yicong as the Duke of Gongqin. This made Xianfeng even more wary of Yicong, not allowing him to interfere with state affairs.
Li Yunzhong, upon hearing of Lin Zexu's death in Wuzhou, ordered the entire army to wear mourning attire for a day out of respect for the national hero. After the new Imperial Commissioner Li Xingyuan arrived in Guangxi, he ordered General Xiang Rong to lead the Wuzhou troops and Governor Zhou Tianjue to lead the Guilin and Yong'an armies to attack Tongxu County together.
Li Yunzhong saw the government army coming in a mighty manner, also carrying several large cannons. Hong Xiuquan ordered him to go to Jintian to attend his grand birthday celebration, and immediately withdrew from Tengxian to Jintian, and ordered Meng Shangsheng, who was defending Pingshan County: if the government troops came with all their might, they would also retreat to Jintian. Li Yunzhong did not want to fight hard against the government army. He planned to use the mountainous terrain to make the cannons that the government army relied on useless. On the way of withdrawing troops, many refugees and civilians secretly left the team, and Li Yunzhong also let them go.
In fact, he overestimated the big guns of this era. Unlike the big guns that can explode dozens of meters in radius in later generations, the cannons carried by the Qing army could only intimidate people and could only be effectively lethal if they hit directly. They were also used in siege warfare to kill defenders with flying stone debris.
Li Yunzhong led the army to Jintian, and found that there were already 20,000 to 30,000 people in Jintian Town. Adding the ones he brought, there were more than 60,000 people. Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan welcomed Li Yunzhong to Wei Zheng's home in Jintian Town. No, Wei Zheng had changed his name to Wei Changhui.
In the dead of night, Feng Yunshan found Li Yunzhong and said something to him. After a while, Li Yunzhong expressionlessly sent Feng Yunshan out the door.
On the second day, Hong Xiuquan held a swearing-in ceremony in Jintian and established the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace. The insurgent army was thereafter uniformly called the Taiping Army, and five armies were set up: the Front, Rear, Central, Left and Right Armies. Yang Xiuqing was made commander-in-chief of the Central Army, Xiao Chaogui commander-in-chief of the Front Army, Li Yuncong commander-in-chief of the Right Army, Feng Yunshan commander-in-chief of the Rear Army, and Wei Changhui commander-in-chief of the Left Army. Hong Xiuquan styled himself Heavenly King, conferred on Li Yuncong the title of 'Heavenly Master', and also conferred on Yang Xiuqing the title of Military Master.
With Li Yunzhong's military law as a reference, new military laws were promulgated: 1. Obey orders; 2. Separate male and female lines; 3. Do not offend the people; 4. Public heart and harmony, each following the head's rules; 5. Unite and work together, do not retreat in battle.
Others cheered and were excited, but Hu Yihuang, Zhang Suimou and others showed anger on their faces. The commander-in-chief who was supposed to be in charge had disappeared without a word and ended up with Wei Changhui. Several people looked at Li Yunzhong together, but got a hint of calmness, so they endured their anger and saw the ceremony through to the end.
After the swearing-in ceremony was completed, Hong Xiuquan convened a meeting of the main generals of the various armies to discuss matters and announce the numbers and personnel of each army.
Yang Xiuqing led the Central Army, with 5,000 people, mainly consisting of 1,000 Taiping soldiers from the Zijin Mountain area and 2,000 people developed by Shi Dakai in Guixian, as well as 2,000 mining workers organized by Qin Rigang. They were all elite troops who could endure hardship.
The vanguard led by Xiao Chaogui had 3,000 people, consisting of 2,000 charcoal burners and 1,000 robust men selected from the Taiping soldiers. Feng Yunshan's rear army had 8,000 people, including the troops of Meng Shangsheng, Hu Yihuang, Zhang Suimou, and Ling Shiba.
Wei Changhui's left army had 4,000 people, excluding Wei's family members, the rest were Taiping soldiers selected from the Central Army and vanguard. Li Yuncong's right army had 7,000 people, with some of Luo Dagang's elite bandits transferred to the right army.
The women were organized into one battalion, led by Hong Xuanjiao, with Su Sanniang as deputy commander-in-chief under Li Yuncong's proposal. When retreating from Tongzhou, some refugees who did not want to rebel took the opportunity to escape, reducing Li Yuncong's forces but increasing their cohesion.
Seeing no opposition, Hong Xiuquan looked at Li Yuncong with a hint of apology and said: "Yesterday, Vice General Li Dianyuan occupied Siwang, cutting off our retreat route to Pingnan County. Xiuqing, what do you think we should do?"
Yang Xiuqing said: "The purpose of the government army is very clear, it is to trap us in Guiping County and wait for the arrival of the main force before deciding on a battle. We should jump out of the mountain, divide our troops into several routes, let the government army be exhausted from running around, and then gather in Pingnan County to defeat the government army one by one. This battle will be fought by the Right Army with combat experience, and Zhou Fengqi also led 2,000 Qing soldiers from Xunzhou Prefecture towards Jintian, while the Front Army ambushes at Wangyue Ridge in Jintian. After defeating the government army, there is no need to return to Jintian, we can attack other counties."
Li Yunzhong suddenly remembered that after attacking Song County, Luo Dagang proposed to lead the army in a night raid on Yong'an, saying that there was a 70% chance of taking down Yong'an Prefecture. At the time, Li Yunzhong did not want to make a big noise and be the first to take action, which would prompt the imperial court to send a large army to surround and annihilate them prematurely. Now the timing has matured.
