The peasant class has its inherent limitations. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom bears the brand of the old peasant war. The dispersion, conservatism and shortsightedness of the peasant class are outstanding in the Taiping Army. Many Taiping soldiers took part in the revolution out of necessity, hoping to change the poor and backward economic situation. In the words of Li Xiucheng, a famous soldier of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, General Taiping called on "those who worship God need not be afraid to flee" and can "eat with their families". This is consistent with the motivation of the old peasant uprising army. When many Taiping soldiers joined the revolutionary ranks, they all came with the purpose of being generals, prime ministers and wives. General Taiping also used these to encourage their soldiers to fight bravely. For example, when Hong Xiuquan broke through in Yong 'an, he called for "men and women will use knives to kill demons with one heart and one mind", because by doing so, we can "get rid of all our feelings, the BRICS family will be radiant, and the high heaven will enjoy great prestige. The smallest and most humble things are silks and satins, men will wear robes and women will arrange flowers". Such a wish also appeared in the notice issued by Yang. In order to achieve these vague goals, they fought bravely and made great sacrifices. They paid a heavy price, but they always failed in the end, which is the law of history and the limitation of history.
Because of this, even the most brilliant peasant leaders in history can only act according to the track of feudal countries. Hong Xiuquan originally wanted to establish a new dynasty and a new country, but when Yong 'an was crowned king, he couldn't even find a suitable name, so he had to "make an example from the mortal world" and made all the departments such as Zuo Fu, Youbi and Lingshou governors, and accordingly formulated the Taiping Etiquette, which stipulated the seniority and privileges of officials at all levels. Hong Xiuquan also publicly preached the three cardinal guides and five permanents in feudal morality in Poems of the Heavenly Father, saying that "only the daughter-in-law has no fault, and only the minister has no fault". Due to the limitations of history and class, once the form of political power goes along the track of feudal political power, its nature changes, its thinking changes, and it loses its support for the revolutionary cause.
Theocracy affects imperial power, leading to the core contradiction. Peasant uprisings in past dynasties often wore the cloak of religion, that is, organized and mobilized the masses with the will and form of God. For example, Zhang Jiao took Taiping Road as a call, and Zhu Yuanzhang believed in Bailian religion. However, when these religious organizations evolved into peasant uprisings, especially after the establishment of peasant political power, or after the leaders of peasant uprisings claimed to be kings and emperors, they generally gave up religious organizations and concentrated on the struggle to seize political power or develop revolutionary forces. For example, after Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, the White Lotus Sect was immediately banned and its activities were banned. After Hong Xiuquan established his capital in Nanjing, he still relied on the worship of God, and religious rights became a tool for power and profit.
Hong Xiuquan is not only a leader who worships God, but also a king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As a leader, although he enjoys supreme status, he has lost the right to speak for his heavenly father and brother. Before jintian uprising, for the needs of the revolutionary struggle situation, Yang came down to earth on behalf of the heavenly father and saved the revolution, which Hong Xiuquan had to admit. As the spokesman of the heavenly father, Yang can restrain Hong Xiuquan at any time. As a heavenly king, Hong Xiuquan has no actual power. This makes Yang's power too large, which leads to the situation that Hong Xiuquan's power cannot be concentrated. In fact, Hong Xiuquan is not without a chance to solve this problem. If the worship of God was abolished when jintian uprising or Yong 'an was crowned king, and all functions were carried out in accordance with the newly established organization, Yang's qualification to make rumors on behalf of the heavenly king would naturally disappear, and Hong Xiuquan's power as a heavenly king would be concentrated. Due to the parallel of kingship and theocracy, theocracy is actually higher than kingship, and theocracy falls into the hands of minister Yang, which will inevitably lead to the contradiction between Hong Xiuquan and Yang, and the contradiction between them will inevitably extend to other ministers.
After the Tianjing Incident, Xiao Chaogui, the former spokesperson of Tian Xiong, died in Changsha, and Yang, the spokesperson of the heavenly father, was killed by Wei Changhui in the incident. The so-called personification of heavenly father and heavenly brother was originally a scam, and Yang's murder was the exposure of the scam. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom experienced an unprecedented crisis of faith. As Engels pointed out: "The first sentence of religion is a lie; When religion tells us something about someone at the beginning, isn't it just a superhuman and sacred thing? " (The Complete Works of Marx and Engels 1 Volume 1 Page 648) Hong Xiuquan instilled in believers that God is "omnipresent and omnipotent". Now, when my father's spokesman was attacked and killed by others that day, he did not show these forces. People naturally don't believe in the so-called emperor god as before. The serious crisis of faith led to the breeding of decentralism, which made the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom step by step to the bottom, making it difficult to turn the tide.
Corruption fundamentally shook the foundation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom regime. Corruption in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occurred at the same time as the capital Tianjing. Although Hong Xiuquan once proposed to build a fair world without bullying and deception, and advocated the idea of equality that everyone is a brother and all women are sisters, what he picked up from western Christian teachings has not been deepened and digested in Hong Xiuquan's thoughts. It is difficult for Hong Xiuquan to put these equality thoughts into practice, and he can only stipulate the treatment and privileges he should enjoy according to the hierarchical system of the feudal dynasty, that is, the hierarchy stipulated by the Taiping ritual system.
After Hong Xiuquan and Yang occupied Nanjing, they thought that they could establish a country and put enjoyment and privilege first. Hong Xiuquan changed the Governor's Office of Liangjiang into the Tiangong, and made every effort to build the Tiangong. There are more than ten miles around Tianwangfu, and the inner and outer walls are dozens of feet high. It is called Sun City outside, Jinlong City inside, Jinlong Hall inside, and Lin Yuan behind. It is beautifully carved. The East Palace is also very clever and pleasing to the eye. Before the success of the revolution, the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom made great efforts to build palaces and choose concubines widely. Hong Xiuquan has as many as 88 concubines. Hong Xiuquan and Yang live in the palace, which is a common problem as farmers' leaders. The problem is that the heavenly palace is not the center of commanding the revolutionary war, but the sacred hall of exercising privileges. Outside the Chaotianmen Gate, there is a big book saying, "All ministers, stop here. Only believers can enter, or there will be clouds in the snow." However, on the wooden archway, there are books such as "Immortality of the Son of Heaven" and "Peaceful Reunification". With a "stop" decree, Hong Xiuquan parted ways with the ministers. Yang, Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai, who shared weal and woe in those days, were not allowed to enter and leave the Palace of Heaven at will. Yesterday's brother, today's prime minister, when facing North Korea, all have to stand in line outside, and can't look up at Hong Xiuquan, otherwise they will be killed. Hong Xiuquan became a feudal emperor who hung above his head and made all the people salty.
Yang is a talented peasant uprising leader. He made many achievements in directing wars and organizing the government, and made immortal contributions to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, after the capital Nanjing was established, Yang's feudal privileges expanded viciously. As soon as he arrived in Nanjing, he built a tall palace. He has never left Nanjing for more than three years, but in this city, he is the only owner of everything. All military affairs are only discussed with one or two people, such as Dongsi Minister Hou and Li Shouchun, who are seriously divorced from the masses. Besides, their style is very gorgeous. Every time I go out, I am flattered by Chen Yi. I don't know how to avoid it. They even punished Hong Xiuquan by replacing the "heavenly father", and in the end, it even developed into "Long live the national seal". In order to show his privilege, Yang also set up various kinds of torture, such as flogging, flail stick, beheading, dismemberment and so on. Even some senior generals such as Wei Changhui, Qin Rigang and Huang Yukun were criticized by him. Yang's arrogance made him make enemies with many courtiers, and also led to Hong Xiuquan's dissatisfaction, which eventually led to a disaster-Tianjing Incident: Yang and his family, subordinates and more than 20,000 soldiers of Taiping Army were indiscriminately killed by Wei Changhui. After the Tianjing Incident, Shi Dakai returned to Tianjing and was warmly welcomed by the soldiers and civilians in Tianjing. Manchu held talks with Shi Dakai to manage government affairs. However, Hong Xiuquan was suspicious of Shi Dakai, and reused his brother Wang Anfu to contain the "Wing King", which means "conspiracy is sinister". In this case, Shi Dakai led 200,000 soldiers to leave Tianjing. After Tianjing Incident and Shi Dakai's departure, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in a very difficult situation. Despite the efforts of Chen Yucheng, Li Xiucheng and other famous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the later period, there was a slight improvement in the military, but after all, they lacked the power to turn the tide and eventually failed step by step.
Of course, there are many reasons for the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, such as the collusion between the Qing government and foreign invaders and the cruel repression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. What needs to be clear is that although the Taiping Revolution failed, it cannot be denied that it played a positive role in modern China. In modern China, it first carried out the historical mission of China people against imperialism and feudalism, which was an important part of China's modern revolutionary history. Together with the Boxer Rebellion and the Revolution of 1911, it constituted several anti-imperialist and anti-feudal climaxes of China people. In addition, advocating opening to the outside world and developing domestic commerce and foreign trade broke through the limitations of the old peasant war to some extent and objectively promoted the modernization process of China.