We read all the lead to present a different history.
At the last moment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the main troops basically retreated to the Tianjing City. Although there is no accurate figure for the number of troops, there are certainly hundreds of thousands. In addition, at that time, Tianjing City implemented the practice of all people's soldiers, so the actual strength of the army may be even more. At that time, the siege of the city was only 70,000 people. Soon, however, Zeng Guoquan's Xiang army rushed into the city, and the Taiping army basically fell apart without much resistance. So, why was the taiping heavenly kingdom so weak in its last-minute combat effectiveness?
First, Hong Xiu was not prepared defensively.
At the last moment, Hong Xiuquan had some negative taste for fighting the Qing army. Negative performance is mainly reflected in the following two aspects.
The first is not to carry out strategic planning. When the Xiang army besieged Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan hurriedly asked Li Xiucheng to return to Beijing to defend the city. Although Li Xiucheng had suggested that it would be easier for him to contain the Qing army outside the city, Hong Xiuquan disagreed. When Li Xiucheng returned to Beijing, he suggested "let the city not go", but Hong Xiuquan still did not agree. In short, Hong Xiuquan was afraid that Tianjing would be breached and did not carry out strategic planning.
The second is not to carry out defensive deployment. Even if Hong Xiuquan must return with Li Xiucheng's army, he should also actively make defensive preparations. This included holding the city walls, arranging military echelons, preparing grain and grass, and so on. However, Hong Xiuquan did not make military preparations, but prayed every day that God would send people to bless Tianjing. At the same time, he continued to instill this kind of thinking in the people, so that the people also had a feeling of "resigned to fate".
The reason why Hong Xiuquan is like this is that he himself is more superstitious and believes in gods. At the same time, he was already suffering from a very serious illness at that time, and his disappointment in his body was also discouraged and did not want to make progress.
Second, the defeat outside Tianjing City caused panic.
After the Tianjing Incident, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom entered the defensive stage. The Qing army rebuilt the Jiangbei and Jiangnan camps and besieged Tianjing. On the outskirts of Tianjing, Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng, two young generals, led the Taiping Army to challenge the Qing army in many ways on the outskirts of Tianjing. Although many victories have also been achieved, overall, there are more defeats than victories.
Moreover, there were many hostile forces against Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng. There was zeng guofan's Xiang army, Li Hongzhang's Huai army, and Zuo Zongtang's Chu army. In addition, the British and French invading forces, fearing that their own forces would be affected, also repeatedly intimidated and blocked the Taiping Army, causing huge losses to the Taiping Army.
In May 1862, when Chen Yucheng was captured by the Qing army, in fact, the entire western defense line of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had disappeared, and only the eastern defense line still had some resistance.
Subsequently, the strongholds outside Tianjing were uprooted one by one. Later, even Li Xiucheng had to return to Tianjing. In this way, Tianjing basically became an isolated city. The people in the isolated city, in the absence of hope, must be very panicked in their hearts. Therefore, when Zeng Guoquan finally used explosives to blow up the walls of Tianjing City and break into the city, the psychological defense line of the people in the city completely collapsed at once. Although there are many people, it is naturally difficult to resist when everyone is panicking and at the same time there are no defensive measures.
Third, there are no leaders in the Tianjing City.
At the last moment of Tianjing City's defense, Hong Xiuquan died again.
Hong Xiuquan was the spiritual power of the final stage of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Hong Xiuquan told the soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that let everyone not be in a hurry, God will come to save everyone. Because this was said by Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, everyone was convinced.
However, Hong Xiuquan himself fell ill and died. The death of Hong Xiuquan was something that many soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could not understand. Hong Xiuquan couldn't even save his own life, how could he still pray to God to protect everyone? Either God does not exist, or God does not bless Hong Xiuquan, although he exists. Since God did not bless Hong Xiuquan, how could he still bless the soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?
The cruelest thing is to lose faith. When the soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom lost their faith, their spiritual will collapsed and they had no strength to resist.
In addition, Hong Xiuquan's heir, Young Tianwang, was only a child, and li Xiucheng's auxiliary political status was not established at that time. Therefore, the situation at that time was completely leaderless. Under these circumstances, even if there were few Xiang soldiers, the Taiping Army could not resist.