Investigation on the Tomb of Huang Penghou, General of Taiping Army

Historical and Cultural Studies of Xuancheng, No.079.

I accidentally heard that the tomb of Huang Penghou, who had an important position at the end of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was in the mountains on the outskirts of Xuancheng, Anhui Province, and there were tombstones describing his life. For a long time, scholars visited Xuancheng in 1980. They found the tomb of Wei Zhijun, the younger brother of Wei Changhui, the former commander of the right army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and a brief history of Wei's family, and visited the reputation of many survivors of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which confirmed that Xuancheng did have the largest settlement of survivors of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom except Guangxi, but there was no record of the tomb of Huang Penghou in his works. In order to dispel doubts and doubts, after contacting the descendants of Huang Penghou, I went to Xuancheng to make relevant investigations, and visited Huang Penghou's unknown old age, so that Huang Penghou, a figure regarded as "unknown" by historians, knew his fate.

/kloc-in June of 0/6, I took a bus from Beijing at 17: 30 and arrived in Xuancheng on 10 the next day. Because of the rainstorm, I waited until the rain stopped on 19. 17: 00, accompanied by Huang Cunqing and Huang Zhonghua, descendants of Huang Penghou, drove to the outskirts of Xuancheng for investigation. After the car entered the jurisdiction of Sunbu Town through the national highway, it turned on the village-level highway until it was a dirt road in the country, and it was bumpy all the way. On both sides of the road are fertile plains, and rivers and canals crisscross. Due to the continuous rainstorm, the ditch overflowed and the water flowed rapidly. Dense bamboo forests and bushes are widely planted in rice fields, which are lush, fresh and pleasing to the eye.

It takes about an hour to drive to Yuji Village. There is a hill and a pillow beside the village. After getting off the bus, walk along the mountain road for about 10 minutes to the mountainside. There are two monuments standing shoulder to shoulder in the jungle, followed by a brick tomb, which is the tomb of Huang Penghou and his wife Chen. The direction of the tomb is south, with Huang Penghou's tombstone on the left and Chen's tombstone on the right, a few steps apart. There is a small stone incense burner in front of the tombstone. The tombstone is about120cm high and 60cm wide. The surface of the tombstone is dripping with water, covered with moss and stone flowers, and the handwriting is mottled. Full of ancient meaning, it is by no means fake. On the left side of the tombstone, Huang Penghou's life experiences are listed. The middle is engraved with the Chinese characters of "Tomb of Huang Gong, a military commander in Xian Di in Qing Dynasty". On the right, the date and year of the monument are listed. The writing format is exactly the same as Wei Zhijun's tombstone.

Wandering in front of the tomb for about an hour, copying inscriptions and taking pictures, and going down the mountain around 20 o'clock. I went back to Xuancheng for dinner at 2 1 o'clock, during which I listened to Huang Cunqing's anecdote about Huang Penghou and didn't return to the hotel until 23: 00. From 8: 00 to 9: 00 on the 20th, I talked with Huang Zhonghua about Huang Penghou. At about 14, he left Xuancheng by bus and arrived in Beijing at 8 o'clock the next day, ending the investigation.

Huang Penghou, also known as Huang Minghou, Huang and Lang, is a native of Bobai, Guangxi. He and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom star Huang Tongzong. Their ancestor is Huang, assistant minister of industry. Huang is the sixteenth grandson of Huang, and Huang Penghou is the nineteenth grandson. Huang Penghou joined the Jintian regiment camp with Huang and fought side by side with Huang from then on. At first, he was not famous because of his young age. As he grew older, he took the lead in every battle because he dared to fight, and his fame gradually increased. Together with Huang, he was feared by the Qing army, calling Huang a yellow tiger and Huang Penghou a little tiger.

Ten years of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1860)122, nine imperial forests in China were awarded the title of Yan Tianan in Wang Zong (besides the royal title, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was awarded six titles of righteousness, security, happiness, strictness, Yu and Hou). Later, he was promoted to king. In the 13th year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1863), on September 28th, Hong Xiuquan was made King of the Ancient Dragon. Soon, Hong Xiuquan was made king, renamed Huang Penghou, and stayed in Huzhou with Huang, who was made king. In the 14th year of Jiazi of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1864), the Qing army attacked Jiaxing. In February, Yang Fuqing, the king of Feng and the assistant king, made great efforts to help Jia, with Huang Penghou as the pioneer. 14 fought with Cheng Xueqi, the general commander of the Qing army, in Xiani and Wuzhen, but failed to win. On the same day, Jiaxing fell and Huang Penghou returned to Huzhou.

After Tianjing was captured by the Qing army, the young king Tianguifu Hong broke through to Guangde (now Guangde, Anhui). At this time, Huang and Huang Peng Hou's uncles and nephews supported tens of thousands of troops and held their positions in Huzhou, Guangde and other places, becoming the most reliable force of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom regime in the process of broadcasting and moving, and their status rose to an unprecedented height. On the way to escort the young heavenly king and others to Jiangxi, Huang died of serious injuries, and the rest were led by Huang Penghou. At the suggestion of Hong Rengan, the dry king, the young king named Huang Penghou as commander-in-chief of the Confederate army, only lower than the highest official strategist, and above the kings, he was the most valued general of the whole army. Huang Penghou and others broke through the siege of the Qing army and escorted the young king to Shicheng, Jiangxi. After defeating the following Qing army, Huang Penghou led the former army to open the way to meet the troops of Wang Haiyang and Kang Wang, but the latter army was annihilated by the Qing army, and the young king, the dry king and the Zhao king were all captured and killed.

Later, Li Shixian, the squire of Huang Penghou, and Kang Wang moved to Fujian and Guangdong. Because King Kang and Wang Haiyang were "unpredictable and ruthless", they falsely killed Ji Wang Ai Jin and Wang Shi Li Shixian. Huang Penghou lost confidence in the future and had the idea of surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. At the end of the fourth year of Tongzhi (1865), the Qing army was secretly sent to Longnan, Jiangxi Province to surrender.

Liu Dian, the general of the Qing army, accepted his surrender and asked him to continue to be an undercover in the Taiping Army to keep abreast of the Taiping Army's movements. In the first 12 preliminary battle of Jiaying prefecture (now Meixian county) in Guangdong province, Huang Penghou informed the Qing general Xiao of the operational secrets in advance, so that the Qing army was prepared, and the Taiping army was defeated and died. After the Taiping Army attacked Jiaying House, Huang Penghou ordered his men to lay down their weapons and crawl in the cave. Two days later, they surrendered to the Qing army camp. The generals of the Qing army wanted to kill Huang Penghou, who held an important position in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and killed many soldiers of the Qing army. Zuo, who was not keen on surrender, cherished his military courage and submitted "Please give sincere Huang Penghou a garrison title from punishment" to the court, suggesting that "he should be rewarded with a garrison title from punishment" and was approved by the court. Huang Penghou became the leader of the Qing Dynasty from the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The description of Huang Penghou in previous historical works lasted until he fell to the Qing Dynasty in Jiaying House, but there was little mention of his later experience. Although Huang Penghou's name occasionally appears in public and private documents, it cannot be said that he is a fallen general, and his final destination is unknown. In a word, he is a historical figure who knows nothing. The discovery of Epitaph of Mr. and Mrs. Huang Peng Hou has solved this historical mystery.

The full text of Huang Penghou's epitaph is now published as follows:

The direction of the mountain (these four words are engraved on the stone tablet, according to the author's speculation, it should be the direction and direction of the cemetery)

The mourner is a public figure who is afraid of his friend. He is from Zhulang Nading, Dongxiang Mountain, Bobai County, Yulin District, Guangxi. Gong was loyal and upright all his life, with a dignified temperament. He hunched his horse and bravely jumped over others. When Tongzhi was strong and weak in the early years, he joined the camp and arrested Guangdong gangsters with Zuo Hou (1). When he went into battle, Sakura Hook Spear was fearless and took the stone, and was awarded the title of garrison by Zuo Hou. Later, Zuo Houxiang searched for bandits in Fujian Province, crossed Taiwan with Luo Junmen, took the pro-barracks, and suppressed Su 'ao and South Australia. Repeated battles and defeats, black and blue. Overlapping with the meritorious military service, the Munro military gate promised to play the title of Guerrilla in Duciga and reward wearing Blue Ridge. In the summer of the eighth year of Guangxu, appointed by Chen ③ of Fuxian County, Zhejiang Province, he took the Chu army to Zhenghouying and stationed in Si 'an Town ④. In July, he was transferred to Taiwan Province, and was also stationed in Taizhou by the Vietnamese army. He caught hundreds of bandits, and Chen Meng helped Taiwan fight guerrilla warfare. In nine years, he was transferred to Wenzhou to supervise soldiers and build hundreds of castles. In summer, due to the rampant bandits in Taiwan Province, he was transferred back to Taiwan Province and stationed on the north shore. Sleeping with the stars, I took pains to suppress them repeatedly, and killed more than 100 bandits one after another before the bandits stopped. Serve the country well and rest at ease. Liu Zhongcheng (5) was awarded the Excellence Award, and he played the assistant commander. Tragically, on March 24th, 11th year of Guangxu, he was determined to wipe out bandits, so he was so desperate that he was seriously injured in the abdomen and began to put on makeup. Jude said bravely at the end of his life, "I hope I can't wipe out bandits and kill people." It is an ambition not to forget the country until the end, and to be great in kindness and virtue. Gong was born on the fourth day of the first month of Daoguang and died on March 25th of the first year of Guangxu.

Qing imperial examination sealed the tomb of military commander ⑥.

Peng faguang

Respect for brothers and sons

Pengshansun Wang You

In March of the 12th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty, the ecliptic was auspicious, and Gu Dan.

The full text of the epitaph of Mrs. Huang Penghou Chen is published as follows:

Xu shan Chen Xiang

He was born in Jinwanli, Xixiang, Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, and was buried in Chongling, Dongxiang, Xuanyi.

Born on the eighth day of August in Daoguang Ding's third year.

On the ninth day of June in Guangxu thirty-three years, he died.

Tomb of Mrs. Chen, the mother of Qing Dynasty.

Huang Penghou's epitaph provides us with a lot of important information about himself and his family. Through the inscription, we know that he is Xiangyun, a native of Langting Mountain Bamboo in Bobai Dongxiang, Guangxi, who died at the age of 50 (1836- 1885), as well as his life, family background and burial place. This historical fact is lacking in various historical works at present. The inscription avoids talking about Huang Penghou's participation in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, only saying that he worked in the camp when he was weak, "catching Guangdong bandits with Zuo Hou, and he was fearless and desperate when he got cold feet." The so-called "Guangdong bandits" refers to the surplus of Taiping Army transferred to Guangdong. The reason why we avoid talking about the inscription is that Huang Penghou was buried shortly after the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and it is still in a sensitive period, so it is inconvenient to mention it.

It is clearly mentioned in the inscription that Huang Penghou and Luo crossed Taiwan together to participate in military operations in Taiwan Province Province, which proves that Huang Penghou and Xuancheng Huang Penghou mentioned in local documents of Taiwan Province Province are the same person. At that time, Shen Baozhen, who was in charge of Fujian Shipping Administration, formulated the policy of developing the aboriginal areas in Taiwan Province Province. The reason is that in the 13th year of Tongzhi (1874), the Japanese used military force against Taiwan Province Province on the pretext that "Fan Min" on the east coast was not controlled by the Qing government, and the eastern part of Taiwan Province Province was "landless". Most of the aborigines in Taiwan Province Province live in the eastern mountainous areas, where the land is small and the population is large, the traffic is blocked and the economy is backward. Han people who migrated from the mainland to Taiwan Province Province live in the western coastal plain. In order to prevent the conflict between immigrants and aborigines, the Qing dynasty issued a decree prohibiting immigrants from entering the mountains. Shen Baozhen believes that in order to develop Taiwan Province Province, it is necessary to build mountains and roads to appease the aborigines. He wrote to the imperial court, demanding the abolition of the ban on Han people entering the mountains and supporting people to enter Taiwan for farming. With the permission of the imperial court, the policy of opening mountains to help Tibet began for 20 years. Shen Baozhen assembled 19 battalions of officers and men, and went up the mountain in three ways.

Huang Penghou commanded the pro-barracks in this campaign and was responsible for opening mountains in Su 'ao and Nan 'ao on the North Road. North Road starts from Suao, goes south along the east coast, and passes through Xincheng to Hualien, with a total length of more than 300 miles. The predecessor of this road is today's famous Suhua Highway. The cliffs in Taitung area are deep. "The cliffs are filled with clouds, and the steep toes are immersed in the sea. The raging waves are dazzling and shocking; Army line beam horse ammonites wall, stumble over "(Shen Baozhen" north road middle mountain fold "). The officers and men climbed mountains, crossed valleys and pushed hard into the mountains.

In addition to the difficult construction conditions, the greater resistance comes from the fact that some indigenous people can't understand the significance of opening mountains and building roads for a while, think that their own interests are damaged, and hold a strong opposition to opening mountains. They lurked in Lin Mang, often attacking officers and soldiers who built roads, causing many casualties. On August 13 of that year, "The two rivers in Da 'nan 'ao made it to the fourth, and the brave Fang Ding crossed the river with a raft, and the reed made a sniper, and the defender Huang Penghou was injured by darts." ("Tongzhi JOE Japanese soldiers invaded Taiwan")

Fan Jietu of Taiwan Province Province in the Twenty-five Years of Qianlong

Later, he led his troops to build roadside fortifications, took many risks, and defeated the resistance aborigines in Da 'nan 'ao and other places. "North Road cleared the way on the 11th and 13th (November 13th year of Tongzhi), and there were more than a thousand brave men, who ambushed in sections and fired shots; Our army tried its best to reach the enemy, and the defender Huang Penghou killed four people before retreating. On that day, four people were killed and eight were injured in our army. 15, at the foot of a mountain, all the people were digging a canyon, and suddenly gunshots came together. The more you resist for two hours, the more. Huang Penghou and Feng Anguo expected that there would be many people coming out of the club and there would be no one in the middle. The team raided its nest, where there were hundreds of huts, but no one was there. It is disgusting to see that there are more than a hundred skeletons, old and new, in every hut, at least dozens. Set fire to the wind and burned more than ten branches; The array began to disperse "(Shen Baozhen's" North-South Road was cut off, and after Wang Lang and Qiao Qi planned to arrange, the situation overlapped). 28, and "with Huang Penghou temporarily led the people in front of the camp" (Luo "diary of coastal defense and mountain opening in Taiwan Province Province").

Huang Penghou, as the epitaph said, was "repeatedly defeated and bruised all over", and finally completed the task of opening a mountain on the North Road. He was awarded the title of guerrilla warfare in Dusijia and the title of Lanling for his exploits. Up to now, there are still two inscriptions along the Suhua Highway to commemorate this mountain-breaking action for future generations to mourn. This period of history, Taiwan Province local documents and epitaphs can confirm and supplement each other.

In addition to military strikes, the Qing army also focused on appeasing the indigenous people, and implemented a series of policies to help them, such as "compiling household registration, forbidding vendettas, setting up your legend, reclaiming land and running schools". These measures are gradually welcomed by indigenous people. The revival of mountains has promoted the development of Taiwan Province Province, consolidated coastal defense and made Taiwan Province Province look brand-new.

According to the epitaph, Huang Penghou was transferred to Taizhou, Zhejiang Province in July of the eighth year of Guangxu (1882), and "captured hundreds of bandits". Looking up the local documents in Zhejiang, the Governor of Zhejiang ordered Luo, the old chief of Huang Penghou, to command various battalions in Taizhou in this year, which began in the fifth year of Guangxu (1879). At this time, as a participant, Huang Penghou should have participated in the Taizhou War with Luo.

In the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), Huang Penghou was transferred to Wenzhou. At that time, Jin Man was seduced by Peng Yulin, was removed in May, and was awarded an official post. According to Chen's "Linhai County Records Draft", after the Qing Dynasty, Taiwan Province people followed suit and the war expanded. Huang Penghou was transferred to Taizhou again to take charge of the war. He "slept on a star meal, spared no effort to suppress bandits, killing more than 100 people in succession, and the bandits stopped." Linhai County Records also claimed that the anti-Qing armed forces were "suppressed several times" by him, but all public and private documents in Zhejiang mistook Huang Penghou for Wang Penghou and even named him Wang Xiangyun. Huang Penghou was awarded the rank of lieutenant for his achievements.

According to He's "Five Kings"? According to Wang Xiangyun's record of joining the army, in the eleventh year of Guangxu, "Dong Zhengchang, a bandit, gathered in a copper pit (offshore). On March 24th, Wang Penghou, a participant, went to suppress it, and more than ten people went into the mountains, ambushed and died." The description of the inscription is more specific: "On March 24th of the 11th year of Guangxu (1885), I was determined to wipe out bandits, so I was so desperate that I was seriously injured in the abdomen and began to put on makeup. Jude said bravely at the end of his life, "I hope I can't destroy bandits and kill people." "On March 25th, Huang Penghou died in the army because of his injuries.

According to the word of mouth provided by Huang Cunqing, Huang Penghou is closely related to Wei Zhijun, the former commander of the right army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Wei Zhijun was the direct commander of Huang and Huang Penghou. Wei Zhijun returned to Guangxi after the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Being left out by the elders in his hometown, he was ridiculed as "Anti-Bone Guard Twelve". As a result, he was disheartened and gave up the idea of returning to China. Huang Penghou, who was in the same situation as him, heard about it and broke off contact with his hometown. They led their families and subordinates and chose to settle in the mountains near Xuancheng. The reason why I chose to settle here is because after the war and epidemic, the village has become a market, and there are Jing towns everywhere, and no one has ever been there. When settled Guangxi people entered the abandoned village, they saw that the houses were all empty, the bones were everywhere in the village, the curtains in the house were intact, but they were powdered when touched, and the human remains were lying on the bed. At night, ghosts flashed and wild animals roared. It was under such conditions that they began to reclaim land and settle down.

After Huang Penghou died in battle, he was buried in Chongling Zen Mountain in Dongxiang, Xuancheng in March of the following year (1886). His wife Chen is from Changxing, Zhejiang, younger than Huang Penghou 12 years old. She died in June, the thirty-third year of Guangxu, and was buried next to the tomb of Huang Penghou in Zen Mountain.

Huang Cunqing said that Huang Penghou's participation in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was recorded in Huang's genealogy. When I was a child, I heard from my elders that the Huang family was descended from Huang XIV of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He knows that several generations of people since Huang Penghou are: friends, students, pioneers, shoes, salvation, loyalty and generosity. Unfortunately, the genealogy was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Huang Jia wrote a letter of commendation to Guangxi in the 1970s, but there was no reply. After the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, many people came to Xuancheng, including Xiao, Lin, Pan, Wei, Lin, Lai and Huang. Huang Cunqing's grandmother is a descendant of Wei Changhui. Guangxi people living in Xuancheng spoke Hakka until Grandpa Huang Cunqing's generation, and their friendship has continued to this day. Later people got married and took care of each other. The tomb of Mr. and Mrs. Huang Peng Hou is in a secluded place in the mountains. It has been safe for many years, but it is said that he was buried with a golden head. The saying "General Golden Head" was circulated among the people, which attracted the attention of grave robbers and was finally stolen in the early 1990s.

The profound feeling of this trip is that the ancient inscriptions are historical books and archives other than handed down documents, which contain a lot of historical information, supplement and revise the documents, and are historical materials that cannot be ignored.

(The author is the director of the special project team of the science and education channel of CCTV)

Production: Tong Daqing