A Brief Modern Chinese History. Haipeng Zhang

higher profits if Qing survived the rebellion.

      The Qing government grew increasingly dependent on foreign aid during the crackdown on the Taiping Rebellion after the 1861 coup. The Empress Dowager Cixi, who was the de facto supreme leader of Qing, in February, 1862, issued an imperial edict in the name of the Emperor Tongzhi (r. 1861–1875), asking ministers and generals to discuss the feasibility of borrowing troops from the colonial powers. Although leading ministers such as Zeng Guofan disagreed, the local authorities in Shanghai, to take but one example, decided to go ahead with the idea. Consequently, with funding from high local officials, some Western opportunists organized and trained some army personnel equipped with foreign arms. Among them the Foreign Rifles Squad, later renamed the Ever Victorious Corps, were the most notorious. In the meantime, Zeng Guofan attacked Anqing, which played a pivotal role in defending Nanjing. Zeng invested an army of 50,000 men, led by his younger brother, in attacking Anqing. In response to this, the Taiping Army decided to capture Wuchang, hoping that this would relieve the pressure on Anqing. The Anqing campaign would prove crucial to both sides.

Chen Yucheng, one of the leading generals of the Taiping Army, in March, 1861, approached Wuchang. Unfortunately, due to the late arrival of the supporting troops led by Li Xiucheng, and the British diplomats, Chen finally gave up attacking Wuchang and returned to Anqing. Strategically, capturing Wuchang was the best solution to saving Anqing. In the following months, both sides engaged in bloody battles in Anqing, which fell in September, 1861, with 16,000 Taiping warriors slain. The fall of Anqing dealt a heavy blow to the Taiping Army, which grew increasingly weak. While the Taiping Army lacked unity and coordination, Zeng’s Hunan Army proudly displayed its firm strategy, military flexibility, and strong command. Xiangjun was destined to triumph.20 The next summer, Chen Yucheng, a twenty-six-year-old King and brilliant general in the Taiping Army, died a martyr’s death after the betrayal of a rebel leader.21 Chen’s death marked the Taiping Army’s complete failure on the battlefield west of Nanjing.

Li Xiucheng was another excellent military leader in the Taiping government. In December, 1861, he recaptured Hangzhou, placing almost all of Zhejiang under the control of the Taiping Army. One month later, Li launched a second attack on Shanghai. In February, 1862, the joint Anglo-French forces, together with Ward’s Squad, began fighting against the Taiping Army. Two months later, Li led his elite troops and attacked Songjiang, where Ward’s Squad was stationed. One of the senior officers in the French navy was killed in the battle. Later Li recalled that the foreign devils did not dare to confront the Taiping Army,22 which was confirmed by Xuo Zongtang, the commander of the Qing army in Zhejiang.23 At that moment, the Xiangjun led by Zeng Guoquan, Zeng Guofan’s younger brother, captured a strategic city, posing a grave threat to Nanjing. Li had to give Shanghai up and withdraw the army back to Nanjing. After taking Anqing, Zeng Guofan divided the Qing army into three columns. The first column, commanded by Zuo, marched into Zhejiang and started to attack Hangzhou. The second, led by Zeng Guoquan’s Xiangjun headed for Nanjing. The third was led by the newly-founded army Li Hongzhang, who was based in Shanghai, and pointed his guns at Suzhou and Changzhou. Nanjing was therefore placed under great threat. Thus, in spite of their great efforts to fight against the Qing army, the Taiping troops were not able to break the siege.

The Taiping Army failed to rescue Nanjing from the siege not only because of the commander’s excessive steadfastness but also because of the leader’s suspicions and misuse of the right of investiture.24 By June, 1863, despite Li’s painstaking efforts with the Taiping Army’s battle in the east of Nanjing, it inevitably went downhill. In November, Suzhou and Wuxi fell, and, in March, 1864, Hangzhou was abandoned. Then, in April, Changzhou was captured by the Qing army. The Taiping defense in Jiangsu and Zhejiang totally disintegrated and some Taiping troops retreated to Jiangxi, where they preferred to die in a ditch to starving to death in Jiangnan.25 Li suggested Hong Xiuquan leave Nanjing. However, Hong refused. He passed away on June 3, 1864. Zeng’s Xiangjun were determined to capture Nanjing at all costs. One month later, the Xiangjun stormed into Nanjing and committed a massacre. According to Zeng Guofan’s memorial to the throne, more than 100,000 rebels were killed, and their dead bodies clogged the long Qinhuai River.26 When trying to save Hong’s young son,27 Li was arrested and brutally tortured by Zeng’s younger brother. After his imprisonment, Li wrote down his confession in which he detailed the ten worst mistakes made by the Taiping leadership. Li’s written confession is still open to dispute. After the fall of Nanjing, Hong Rengan and Hong Xiuquan’s younger son went to Jiangxi where both were captured; later they were executed in Nanchang.

      The legendary Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace collapsed. Nevertheless, the remaining Taiping troops and their Nian comrades continued to fight for another four years. Based southwest of Fujian and in the east of Guangdong, the southern Taiping troops in the strategic Zhangzhou of Fujian bravely held high the banner of the Heavenly Kingdom. In the north, the Taiping soldiers and the Nian army joined together to attack Qing’s army. Their courage and blood marked the end of the Taiping Rebellion.

1 See: Jiang Tao 姜涛, “Hong Xiuquan ‘dengji’ shishi bianzheng 洪秀全 ‘登极’ 史实辨 正 (Reexamining the date when Hong Xiuquan proclaimed himself the Heavenly King)”, Lishi yanjiu 历史研究 (The historical research), no. 1 (1993), pp. 146–147.

2 Ibid. See also: Zhang Haipeng et al., eds., Zhongguo jindai tongshi 中国近代通史 [General history of modern China] (Nanjing: Jiangsu People’s Publishing House, 2009), vol. 2, pp. 266–271. For the more traditional opinion, see: Luo Ergang 罗尔纲, Taiping Tianguo shi 太平天国史 [History of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace] (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1991), vol. 1, p. 31.

3 For this proclamation, see: Taiping Tianguo lishi bowuguan 太平天国历史博物馆 (The Museum of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace, Taiping Tianguo wenshu huibian 太平天国文书汇编 [A collection of Taiping Tianguo’s official documents] (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1979), pp. 107–108.

4 See: Zhongguo shixuehui 中国史学会 (China Association of Historians), et al., eds., Taiping Tianguo太平天国 [Collected primary sources: Taiping Tianguo] (Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 1957), vol. 4, p. 572.

5 See: Ibid., vol. 3, p. 141.

6 For this decree, See: Taiping Tianguo wenshu huibian, p. 175.

7 For this treatise, see: Taiping Tianguo lishi bowuguan, ed., Taiping Tianguo yinshu 太平天国印书 [Publications of Taiping Tianguo] (Nanjing: Jiangsu People’s Publishing House, 1979), vol. 1, pp. 15–16.

8 See: Taiping Tianguo, p. 164.

9 For the full text of the Law, see: Vol. 1 of Taiping Tianguo yinshu, pp. 409–420.