History of 1853

In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), on the second day of the first month, the Taiping Army set out from Wuhan, and 10,000 navy ships went down the river. The army blocked the navies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and pushed Nanjing. First of all, the Taiping Army joined three towns in Wuhan, threatening Jiangsu and Anhui, shocking Henan and Sichuan, and greatly alarming the Qing court. Emperor Xianfeng dismissed Xu Wenyan, governor of Huguang, as an imperial envoy, and took Xiang Rong as an imperial envoy, who was in charge of military affairs on the same lake. He also made an exception and added two imperial envoys: one was ordered by Qishan, the governor of Henan Province, to lead the army to defend Xinyang and Xinye; One is Lu Jianying, governor of Liangjiang River, and the governor is guarding Anhui River. At that time, there were three opinions on the future strategy within the Taiping Army, and the debate was very fierce: one was to enter Henan in the north and win the Central Plains; The second is to enter Bashu in the west and "try again to disturb four"; The third is to move eastward to the south of the Yangtze River and occupy Nanjing. In the end, Yang's wish was to "send the heavenly emperor down to earth and make him attack Jiangning directly", and determined the strategic policy of going down the river, taking Ning as the foundation and thinking enterprising. At that time, the defense in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the Qing court was weak. Xiang Rong, the imperial envoy, followed the Taiping Army eastward, only knowing how to follow, and did not dare to pursue it. The Taiping Army fought in the lower Chaohu Lake in Wenji Mouse Gorge, killing the commander of Shouchun Town and defeating about 3,000 Qing troops under his command. Lu Jianying, governor of Liangjiang, heard the news and fled back to Nanjing. Taiping Army stationed in Jiujiang, Anqing and Wuhu. On the 29th of the first month, they almost arrived at the gates of Nanjing. The army occupied Yuhuatai and the navy camped outside Shuiximen. Nanjing is in a state of panic. Civil servants are "at a loss" and military commanders "don't know what martial arts are". There are 5,000 soldiers guarding the city, half of whom are stationed in the Eight Banners, plus more than 10,000 rural volunteers. "There is no slang in the city", and he fled for his life before the city was broken. Enemy at the Gates, Taiping Army actively prepared to attack the city, while promoting the revolutionary purpose and mobilizing the support of the masses. With the support of the people, on February 10, Taiping military mines bombed Yifeng Gate in the north of Nanjing, breached the outer city and cut down the land. The next day, from Cheng Nan Jubaomen, Shuiximen and Hanximen, they entered the city, breached the inner city and killed Jiangning General Hou Xiang and Deputy Commander Huo Longwu. Only twelve days before and after, the whole Nanjing was occupied by the Taiping Army.

Tianjin is the capital of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), on February 20th, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom officially made Nanjing its capital and renamed it Tianjing. Where did the Taiping Army go after it occupied Nanjing? There are also differences between Hong Xiuquan and Yang, the two main leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan advocated dividing troops to defend the south of the Yangtze River, and headed straight for the Central Plains, taking Henan as the foundation and heading for Beijing. Dongwangyang can't figure it out. It is believed that the conquest of Nanjing marks the decisive victory of the revolution, and the idea of "building the capital and setting the world" has emerged. Hong Xiuquan agreed to build Nanjing on the pretext of "heavenly father descending to earth". Therefore, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom renamed Nanjing as "Tianjing" and issued "On Building Tianjing in Jinling", officially establishing its capital here.

The Qing government created donations.

In March of the third year of Xianfeng (1853), Ray called on him to promote the donation from Henan and Jiangsu. After the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing government's tax revenue decreased, the military pay increased sharply, and the national treasury storage gradually dried up. At the end of February in the third year of Xianfeng, Assistant Minister Rey of Yangzhou Military and Political Punishment Department adopted Ke Qianjiang's suggestion, and advised Mihang to "donate Li to help pay" in Xianmiao, Yiling and other towns in He Lixia, Yangzhou, and then asked the court to widely implement "pumping Li" in Henan, Jiangsu and other counties. Extraction, also known as "donation", is a 1% tax on daily necessities in the process of transportation and marketing. As a temporary fund-raising measure, it is actually a disguised donation. Donations are divided into "living allowance" (also called "bank allowance", the goods of the drawee pass the tax) and "plate allowance" (also called "sitting allowance", the transaction tax of the drawee), as well as "allowance by quantity" and "allowance by ad valorem". After that, it was popularized in other provinces. In the fifth year of Xianfeng, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, New Zealand, Feng, Kyrgyzstan, Anhui, Fujian and other provinces followed suit. In the seventh year of Xianfeng, all provinces in China demanded the restoration of Shengbao. There are more and more names, such as unified tax, unified tax, production and sales tax, railway goods tax and so on. And the tax rate is extremely inconsistent, not limited to 1%. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was suppressed, the Qing government did not revoke the donation and continued to collect it until the end of the Qing Dynasty. In the 20th year of the Republic of China (193 1), it was officially abolished by the government of the Republic of China.

British special envoy Wen Han visits Tianjin.

In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), from March 20th to 25th, Wen Han, Hong Kong Governor and Plenipotentiary in China, visited Tianjin, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. First, when the Taiping Army went down to the Yangtze River, the British Consul Aliguo suggested to Wen Han that Britain should come forward to help the Qing court suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and take this opportunity to ask the Qing court for more privileges. However, when Wen Han arrived in Shanghai, he was ready to negotiate with Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang. Lu Jianying had passed away and Nanjing had been occupied by Taiping rebels. Therefore, Wen Han changed his plan and sent an interpreter, Mi Le, to the front to learn about the Taiping Army. He concluded that the sovereignty of the Qing Dynasty in South China no longer existed, and if foreign countries intervened, it would only prolong the war disaster and chaos indefinitely. In June, Britain, France and the United States successively declared "neutrality". 15, Wen Han went to Tianjin from Shanghai to inspect the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and discuss the foreign attitude of the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. When Han Wen and his party sailed into the waters of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Army's Zhenjiang and Guazhou forts fired warning shots, and the British ship was forced to stop and explain the reasons before passing. On the 20th, Wen Han and his party arrived in Tianjin, translating Midler, Captain Fairbank of "Harsh" and Wu Dege, the political undersecretary. First, Midler and others were sent to visit Wei Changhui, king of the North, and Shi Dakai, king of the Wing, saying that Britain would be "absolutely conservative and neutral". In this regard, Wei Changhui and others clearly replied: "It is really a big mistake for you to help Manchu, but even if you help, it will be useless." He also said that as long as Britain didn't help Manchu, they could live in peace and even become close friends. The next day, Wen Han wrote a note to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, demanding recognition of the Sino-British treaty of nanking and various privileges of Britain in China. On the 23rd, Yang Fu, the king of the East, said that if his center was obedient and willing to be a vassal, his "leaders" and "brothers" would be allowed to come to Tianjing at will, or play a role or trade. They were happy. On 25th, Wen Han left Tianjin. Before he left, he once again declared Britain's treaty rights and interests in China. He hoped that when the Taiping Army arrived in Shanghai, it would not infringe on the lives and property of the British people. If it is violated, it will surely lead to the same result as the Opium War. 26, arrived in Zhenjiang, and sent miller to meet ShouJiang outline. Luo outline warned the British not to help the Qing soldiers and not to sell opium. On 28th, Wen Han returned to Shanghai. This visit made Wen Han understand the foreign policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although he was disappointed, he also saw with his own eyes the powerful strength of the Taiping Army. He dared not rashly help the Qing government publicly and decided to take a wait-and-see attitude for the time being.

Taiping Army began the Northern Expedition.

In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), on the first day of April, Li, deputy prime minister of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and prime minister of local officials, led 20,000 Taiping soldiers to start the Northern Expedition from Yangzhou. Subsequently, the prime minister Ji and the third Guan Zhu from the left of the temple also went north from Pukou and Liuhe respectively. Under the guidance of the strategic policy of "learning from foreigners and making a direct attack on Yan Dou", the Northern Expedition Army passed through Yizheng, Pukou, Chuzhou, Fengyang, Huaiyuan, Mengcheng and Mizhou. On May 6th, he defeated Lu Yinggu, the governor of Henan Province, and occupied Guide (now Shangqiu) on May 10th. The plan is to cross the river here, because the Qing army blocked all ships and attacked Kaifeng to the west. No way, continue to the west and find a boat to cross the Yellow River in Surabaya and Gongxian. On July 28th, Jiyuan entered Shaanxi, passed through Keke Park, Jiangxian County, Quwo, Pingyang and Hongdong, stayed there, occupied Lucheng and Licheng, returned to Henan, entered Zhili from Shexian County and Wu 'an, defeated more than 10,000 Qing imperial envoys and Zhili Governor Naer, and seized Shahe. On August 11th, Zhang Dengdian, 60 miles away from Baoding, was invaded. During the earthquake in the Qing court, the capital set up a patrol station and declared martial law. Emperor Xianfeng prepared to flee to Jehol, and more than 30,000 officials and people fled Beijing. However, the Northern Expeditionary Army did not go north directly, but went east to xian county, Jiaohe and Cangzhou, and the striker went straight to Yangliuqing to attack Tianjin. Due to the tight security in Tianjin, winter is approaching, and the Taiping Army is not used to the cold, so the attack on Tianjin is blocked. On the contrary, it stationed troops in Jinghai and spent the winter alone. At that time, the king of Horqin County, the king of Qing Dynasty and the imperial envoy Shengbao stationed troops in Yangcun area, and confronted the Taiping Army. In the first month of the fourth year of Xianfeng, the Northern Expeditionary Army voluntarily abandoned the Jinghai and drifted alone, hoping to join reinforcements, but this plan never came true.

The Taiping Army set out for the Western Expedition.

Xianfeng three years (1853), April 12th, Taiping Spring Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers Lai, Xia, Warden Zeng Tianyang, Kai Wing Lam, etc. He said that he was ordered by Yang, the king of the East, to lead more than a thousand warships back to Jiangxi and make a massive expedition to the west. 18, the Western Expedition Army invaded Xiliangshan, yuxikou and Yongjia towns. Chizhou was occupied on the first day of May, and Anqing was conquered on the fourth day. Lai, Zeng Tianyang and Kai Wing Lam continued westward, occupying Pengze, Jiangxi on the seventh day, Hukou on the twelfth day and Nankang House on the sixteenth day. The people bound the magistrate public security and Luo Yunjin, the magistrate of a county, to meet the Taiping Army. Seventeen occupied wucheng town and eighteen besieged Nanchang. Zhang Fu, the governor of Jiangxi Province in Qing Dynasty, and Jiang Zhongyuan, the provincial judge of Hubei Province stubbornly insisted, but Lai decided to capture the nearby counties first, cut off the rear road, and then attack the city with all his strength. So Fengcheng, Ruizhou, Raozhou, Leping, Jingdezhen, Fuliang and Duchang were successively captured by the Western Expedition Army. On May 27th, Shi Xiangzhen and Wei Jun of Taiping Army led troops to help Jiangxi. On June 18, Zeng Guofan sent Zhu, the magistrate, and 1200 people from Changsha to help Jiangxi, and instructed and edited Guo Songtao to lead a thousand troops to help. On July 24th, the Western Expedition Army launched an attack on Xiang, Zhu and Guo Songtao near Nanchang. Three months after Yang followed the western expedition to attack Nanchang, he was ordered to withdraw from the north and occupied Jiujiang on August 27. After the Western Expedition, the soldiers were divided into two ways: one led by Shi Xiangzhen and Wei Jun, and attacked Hubei along Jiangxi; One was led by Hu Yihuang and Zeng Tianyang, from Anqing to northern Anhui. Lai failed to attack Nanchang and was dismissed and transferred back to Tianjin.

The Qing government issued pawn money.

In May of the third year of Xianfeng (1853), the Qing government began to issue pawn money to solve the urgent financial difficulties. Since the Opium War, especially after the outbreak of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising, internal troubles and foreign invasion have continued, which has made the finance of the Qing Dynasty increasingly embarrassed. In order to solve the urgent need, the inflation policy was implemented. The first is the emergence of small money to lose weight. Customized according to Yongzheng period: each piece weighs one yuan and two cents, and every thousand pieces weigh seven pounds and eight liang. During the Daoguang period, underweight copper coins began to appear, weighing only four or five kilograms per thousand pieces. The coins minted by Baoyuan Bureau of Ministry of Industry and Baoquan Bureau of Ministry of Industry are different in size and contain too much lead. In May of the third year of Xianfeng, the Qing court approved the casting and issuance of ten coins, each weighing only four yuan and forty cents. Later, at 50, 100, 500 and 1000 yuan appeared one after another. They are far less than the specified weight, and each one weighs only two when it costs thousands of dollars. In the seventh year of Xianfeng, cast iron lead money reappeared. After that, these new money had to stop casting because of insufficient currency and difficult circulation. However, the problems of currency corruption, financial chaos and financial shortage have not been solved, but have become more and more serious.

The Qing government issued official tickets and precious paper money.

At the same time, the Qing government began to issue paper money in parallel with making money. In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), the Qing government began to issue official notes, and in November of the same year, it issued treasure notes, all of which were in the charge of the household department. Official tickets are equivalent to real silver, divided into one or two, five or two, twelve or fifty-two; Treasure money is equivalent to making money, divided into five hundred, one thousand, one thousand five hundred and two thousand. At the same time, it is stipulated that one or two official tickets are worth two thousand Wen, and two thousand banknotes are worth one or two pieces of silver. Later, due to the large number of issues and the lack of necessary preparations, official tickets could not be exchanged for silver, even precious paper money was difficult to cash, and it was refused to be used in the market, making it difficult to circulate. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, official tickets and precious banknotes finally stopped issuing. In addition to the issuance of paper money by the household department, the official banks in the capital and provinces established in Xianfeng period were also authorized to issue paper money, which was even more unrestricted and had poor credit. The official money bureau in Beijing was abolished in a few years, but the local official money bank kept issuing paper money, which caused the whole financial market to fall into chaos.

Taiping Heavenly Kingdom minted money.

In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), in June, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom officially opened a furnace in Tianjing Chaotian Palace to cast money, and set up a special lawsuit, with four people sharing the same life. The trial production was not long completed, and it was not successful until May of the following year. The coins of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are divided into gold coins, silver coins (both of which are not ordinary materials), large coins, medium coins and small coins. If gold is a copper coin, and the middle square hole does not penetrate, there are two kinds of silver coins. As small as a small copper coin. A lot of money, like stove money or town money, is also like auspicious money, weighing 8. 125 cents. There are hundreds, fifties and tens of China coins. The outline is similar to that of foreign silver coins, each weighing five to one or two. A penny is the most important currency in circulation. All kinds of coins are generally round square holes (with a round hole in the middle), with the words "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" on the front (also called "Taiping" in the early days), and the words "Shengbao" on the back, some called "Bao Tong", some engraved, and various. In the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, jintian uprising coins were made of tin, with the words "Taiping Bao Tong" engraved on the front and "Yunlong and Hu Feng" engraved on the back. Later, it was also voted in Suzhou, Jiangsu, Hangzhou, Zhejiang and other places, so it was not as neat as the previous work. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cast money regardless of the cost, emphasizing quality and good workmanship. A lot of money is heavy and exquisite. Because its quality is far superior to that of "Xianfeng Bao Tong" and "Tongzhi Bao Tong" in Qing Dynasty, no matter how the Qing court banned it, many people still flowed to Qing Dynasty.

France asked Brun to visit Tianjin.

In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), on November 6th, French Ambassador to China Jean-Claude Braun visited Tianjin. During his visit, Bull Brown accused the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of "persecuting" Catholics in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, and asked the Taiping Army to protect Catholicism. Qin Rigang, leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, met with Bull Brown, stating that the Taiping Army had never oppressed Catholics, and warned Bull Brown not to interfere in China's internal affairs and not to help the Qing court fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. During his stay in Tianjin, Bulun witnessed the strict discipline of Taiping Army and the stability of Tianjin. So after leaving Tianjing, he suggested that the French government adopt a "neutral" policy and dare not openly oppose the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Promulgation of "Tianmu system in China"

In the winter of the third year of Xianfeng (1853), the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom promulgated the Tencel System. Xianfeng ten-year reprint The basic contents are as follows: 1. Abolish feudal land ownership, and all land belongs to the kingdom of heaven. According to the yield, it is divided into nine grades: the yield per mu 1200 kg is the first grade, and then the yield per mu 100 kg is reduced to 400 kg for the ninth grade. Regardless of gender, all fields are divided into two categories:/kloc-over 0/6 years old,/kloc-under 0/5 years old, grade 9. 2. Incorporate the soldiers into agriculture, and all the personnel will be organized according to the Taiping Army: five families with five mouths and five captains; Wu Wu is two, and two Sima; Four or two are pawns, and there are pawns; Five soldiers are a brigade, with a brigade commander; These five brigades are all teachers and established the Shi Shuai; The five divisions are the army, and the army is handsome. From the second Sima to the strategist, they are all called township officials, and they all choose local people to hold positions. Above the military commanders, the county has a military supervisor, and the county has a general system, called Enceladus, which is appointed by superiors to form local management institutions at all levels. With "II" as the basic administrative unit, there are a "sacred library" and a chapel, and the second Sima is in charge of the production, distribution, administration, justice, education, customs, religion and military training of 25 families respectively. Every farmer is a production unit. Besides farming, he also engages in family sideline businesses such as planting mulberry and raising silkworms, spinning chickens and raising pigs. Except for enough food and clothing for the whole family to meet the needs of the new valley, the rest should be handed over to the state treasury of the Holy Family. In case of wedding, funeral and marriage, it will be paid by the holy treasury, and all widowed and sick people will be supported by the holy treasury. Third, officials at all levels are required to abide by the "Ten Canon Rules" and the orders of their superiors, to promote those who are loyal to the country, to demote those who take bribes and cheat, to examine their affiliation in detail, to list good and evil, to report them step by step, and to raise and lower them. Ordinary people abide by the rules and regulations, and those who help farmers are either dismissed or rewarded, while those who violate the rules and regulations and lazy farmers will be punished or punished. This system is based on the spirit of "the tiller has land, the eater has rice, the wearer has clothes, the earner has money, everywhere is uneven, and no one is not full of warmth" and "the world is not private, and everything belongs to the owner", which denies the feudal private ownership of land and embodies the inscription of farmers' urgent demand for land, and has a distinct anti-feudal nature. However, it requires the abolition of all private property on the basis of small production and the equalization of all social wealth, which can only be an illusion and cannot be put into practice.