The painful choice of the No. 1 traitor
Speaking of the biggest traitor in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, then Wei Jun can't help but mention it, it's a bit funny to look at his name, Wei Jun is homophonic with "puppet army".
From Jintian to Tianjing, Wei Jun was unknown; From the Dingdu Tianjing to the chaos in Tianjing, Wei Jun was high-spirited; After the chaos in Tianjing, Wei Jun was lonely and miserable.
Wei Jun joined the Worship of God with his twin brother Wei Changhui very early. Joining the church with a family is the basic mode of operation of the Worship of God in the Liangguang base area during the founding stage, and it is also one of the secrets of the rapid expansion of the Worship of God and the maintenance of strong and vigorous combat effectiveness.
When Wei Jun joined the Worship Society, he was only in his early twenties, and he was in the best years of his youth, but because of the choice of his brother and family, he embarked on a path that he could not choose.
This road, to put it mildly, is to fight the country, and to put it badly, it is to rebel. Although Wei Jun's family conditions made him feel that he couldn't afford such a toss, since he was a member of the Wei family, he also had the responsibility and obligation to accompany his family and embark on a road full of excitement and thrills.
Twenty-year-old young people are simple and enthusiastic.
From the Jintian Uprising to the Dingdu Tianjing, Wei Jun has been unknown, and the light of the Wei family is focused on Wei Changhui, the 6,000-year-old Northern King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, while Wei Jun has no outstanding performance and major military exploits in historical materials.
After the capital was set in Tianjing, Wei Jun's light began to show. Wei Changhui was basically deprived of the right to lead troops by Yang Xiuqing, but Wei Jun was repeatedly entrusted with important tasks by Yang Xiuqing during the Western Expedition.
Wei Jun's most striking brilliance comes from the "Battle of Wei Guozong's Three Battles in Hubei", which was widely circulated in the Taiping army, during which he twice defeated Wuchang.
At the beginning of 1855, Shi Dakai defeated the Hunan army of Zeng Guo at Jiujiang and Hukou, and Wei Jun was ordered to capture Huangmei in Hubei with Qin Rigang and Chen Yucheng, and then marched west with Qin Rigang to capture Wuchang for the second time. Soon Qin Rigang was transferred back to Tianjing by Yang Xiuqing, and the heavy responsibility of guarding Wuchang fell on Wei Jun alone. Wei Jun's military talent was brought into full play during the defense of Wuchang.
In 1856, the Hunan army made a comeback, and Hu Linyi and Luo Zenan and other Hunan army generals surrounded Wuchang again, determined to capture the city. Zeng Guofan was beaten by Shi Dakai in Jiangxi and couldn't support it, and repeatedly ordered Luo Zenan to come back to help. Luo Zenan, the fierce general of the Hunan army, was anxious to seize Wuchang first and forcibly attacked the city, but was killed by Wei Jun under the city of Wuchang. Wei Jun insisted on Wuchang, which gave the Hunan army a big headache. Wuchang is an important town in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and if Wuchang cannot be defeated, it will not be able to advance eastward to fight a decisive battle with the Taiping army, and it will not be able to completely pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
If it weren't for the Tianjing Rebellion, Wei Jun might have been able to set the best record in the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's defense of the city. However, due to the killing of his brother in the Tianjing Rebellion, Wei Jun's heart was in turmoil, and Tianjing was busy with internal strife and could not send troops to support Wuchang, Wei Jun had no intention or ability to hold Wuchang, so in order to preserve his vitality, he withdrew from Wuchang on December 19, 1856.
It has been one year and nine months since Wei Jun defeated Wuchang for the second time to when he finally abandoned Wuchang. In the absence of reinforcements outside and grain and grass inside, Wei Jun made the generals of the Hunan army admire them so much. Zeng Guofan once exclaimed: "Wei Jun's thief is huge. ”
withdrew from Wuchang, and Wei Jun's high-spirited career as a soldier came to an end.
Although the responsibility for Wuchang's defeat does not mainly lie with him, Wei Jun feels that Wuchang was lost in his own hands after all, and he bears some indisputable responsibility.
This is a burden, Wei Jun has an even bigger burden, this big burden is what his brother Wei Changhui asked him to carry.
Wei Changhui killed Yang Xiuqing and offended Dongwang's subordinates, because most of the generals of the Heavenly Kingdom at that time were promoted by the deputy commander Dongwang.
Wei Changhui was bold and led his troops to attack the palace of the Celestial Empire, and also offended the commander Hong Xiuquan.
Wei Jun, as Wei Changhui's younger brother, will inevitably be looked down upon differently by others. When people see him, they will think of Wei Changhui, and they will be covered with a layer of gray light in front of his eyes, and Wei Jun, who left Wuchang, although he was not implicated in the bloodshed of Tianjing, nor was he punished by the King of Heaven, but he could not find the feeling of home.
After Wei Changhui was killed, Wei Jun could still hold on to Wuchang for half a year, in addition to being able to fight, what supported Wei Jun's defense was the sense of belonging and security that Wuchang gave him. He doesn't want to leave Wuchang, this is where he is in charge, he has the final say, and he can be regarded as having a place to settle down. Now that I'm out of Wuchang, where should I go?
Dare to ask where the road is? No one told him.
Wei Jun seems to have become a dispensable and abandoned general. It seems that you can only watch what to do.
At that moment, Wei Jun finally deeply realized the fear and helplessness of homelessness.
This kind of great pain caused by the lack of a sense of belonging and security can only be felt by those orphans who have no father or mother.
There are not too many opportunities for you to choose the path of life.
Wei Jun, who withdrew from Wuchang, could only come to Jiangxi nearby and move to Fuzhou and Ji'an. Although Wei Jun was depressed, he also caused a lot of trouble to Zeng Guofan, and Zeng Guofan was so angry that he scolded: "Wei rebelled to defend Wuchang for five or six years, and he was extremely fierce, and he was also very hateful in Fuzhou, Ji'an and other places for seven years. ”
Just when Wei Jun was in a dilemma, there was a person who brought comfort and hope to Wei Jun.
Wei Jun's situation aroused Chen Yucheng's sympathy.
Although Chen Yucheng is young, he understands the general situation and takes the overall situation into account. After Wei Changhui was killed, the subordinates of the Eastern King advocated blood debt and blood repayment and killed all the subordinates of the Northern Wang. Chen Yucheng stood up to stop a new round of massacre, and he shouted loudly: Our brothers, either the subordinates of the East King or the subordinates of the North King, if we want to liquidate Zhulian, I am afraid that in the end the brothers will be killed.
At the invitation of Chen Yucheng, Wei Jun left Jiangxi, crossed the river and went north, and together with Chen Yucheng, attacked Gushi and other places in Henan. During this time, Wei Jun somewhat found some sense of home, reliving the warm years of fighting side by side with his brothers.
For Wei Jun, in addition to Chen Yucheng, there is another person who also expressed great sympathy and concern.
This person is Lee so-sung.
In 1858, the political situation in Tianjing was basically stabilized, and Hong Xiuquan also had time to start thinking about and dealing with the problems left over from the previous history. At this time, Li Xiucheng stood up, he tried his best to protect Wei Jun, and recommended it to the Heavenly King to be reused. Wei Jun was named Dingtianfu, and soon he was named the chief general of the right army among the five army commanders.
Hong Xiuquan's generosity and use made Wei Junsheng feel moved for a long time. This feeling didn't last long, and Wei Jun began to become depressed again.
Wei Jun found that among the commanders of the five armies, except for Meng Deen, who was sitting in Tianjing, the other generals had their own combat areas. Chen Yucheng, the former commander-in-chief, and Li Xiucheng, the commander-in-chief of the rear army, were in charge of the Jiangbei Military Region; Li Shixian is in charge of the Southern Anhui Military Region; Only he has no territory, and his troops are not strong, so he can only rely on Chen Yucheng to fight.
Wei Jun thought that this was Hong Xiuquan's distrust of himself, and concluded that Hong Xiuquan's promotion of himself was nothing more than the purpose of buying people's hearts, otherwise he would not only have the name of the chief general of the five armies, but not the fact of the chief general of the five armies.
What happened next irritated Wei Jun even more. In 1859, Wei Jun followed Chen Yucheng from northern Jiangsu to Anhui, and after Tianchang turned to attack Xuyi, he was defeated and won Bao. Chen Yucheng was immediately crowned King of England and called him 9,000 years old. Wei Jun is still the commander of the right army. In Wei Jun's opinion, Chen Yucheng, as a junior, actually climbed on top of him, sat on the throne, and had to bow down when he met, which made him have a huge gap in his heart and couldn't accept this reality.
What made him even more unacceptable was that Chen Yucheng's former army commander would be replaced by Wu Ruxiao. Although Wu Ruxiao has meritorious service in guarding Zhenjiang, he will not be ranked ahead of him, which makes Wei Jun feel even more gloomy and a failure in life.
After Wei Jun retreated to Hezhou with Chen Yucheng, he could no longer suppress the loss and depression in his heart, and crossed the river to the south without authorization and came to Chizhou.
Wei Jun, who originally thought that he could calm down, found that the situation was even worse after arriving in Chizhou.
The city of Chizhou is small, and it is difficult to supply tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. What's even worse is that his enemies Yang Fuqing and Yang Yiqing are in the area of Jiande and Qimen near Chizhou, Yang Fuqing and Yang Yiqing are Yang Xiuqing's sworn brothers, and the death of Wei Changhui made the Yang brothers hate the Wei family very much.
Wei Changhui found that the Yang brothers were eyeing him very unfriendly, and he wanted to eat him in one bite, and Wei Jun realized the difficulty and danger of his situation.
Wei Jun's predicament and distress were inquired about by the Qing army spies. Since the rebellion against Li Zhaoshou and Xue Zhiyuan, the Qing government has increased the pace of dividing and disintegrating the Taiping army, and began to pursue the strategy of surrendering from far to near, from the outside to the inside.
Wei Jun's special situation gave them a glimmer of hope for plotting against the high-ranking generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Zeng Guofan once speculated and summarized Wei Jun's situation at this time, he said: "Chizhou is small and barren, there are many people and no predators, there are thieves in Wuhu in the east, Jiande Yang Party in the west, and Anqing Chen Party in the north. Although Zeng Guofan's words are exaggerated and not all true, they still reflect Wei Jun's difficult situation to a considerable extent.
Wei Jun must make a final choice for the future path of life, either learn from Chen Yucheng to serve the country loyally, or learn from Li Zhaoshou to become a traitor.
Serving the country loyally requires extraordinary endurance, to be indifferent to fame and fortune, to endure humiliation, to remember the loss, to stand up to the sky; Turning into a traitor requires even more extraordinary endurance, abandoning faith, betraying brothers, abandoning feelings, and forgetting shame.
For Wei Jun, who has matured in the kingdom of heaven, this is undoubtedly a painful choice, but it is also a choice that has to be made.
Wei Jun did not have Shi Dakai's appeal to go alone, nor did he have the courage to resist the pressure of many parties to serve the kingdom of heaven, and there was only one path left that would be despised by others - surrender.
The most difficult step for a traitor is the first step - to express the determination to surrender. On October 22, 1859, Wei Jun asked Yang Zaifu, the commander of the Hunan army, to surrender and surrender the official seal, and also said that in addition to sacrificing Chizhou, he would also capture Wuhu and Jiande and other places, and make meritorious atonements.
Seven days after the surrender ceremony, Yang Zaifu sent the general Li Chengmou, the deputy general Li Chaobin, and the thousand general Li Chucai to Chizhou to surrender. Wei Jun's return was not high, and he was only rewarded with the rank of deputy general (honorary title), and only more than 2,000 elite soldiers were left.
Wei Jun knew that this was a sign of distrust in the new master.
After all, Wei Jun was the first high-ranking general to surrender to the Qing army, in other words, he was the No. 1 traitor of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the social impact was naturally huge, and the Qing court had to be cautious.
On the one hand, the Qing government wanted to accept and excavate Wei Jun's intelligence value and demonstration function; On the other hand, you can't make him too strong, so as not to be difficult to control.
Since Wei Jun has openly betrayed Heaven and his brothers, there is no turning back, and there is no regret medicine to take. His main job at present is to find ways to build credit and trust Bo Xianfeng, otherwise both sides will not please him, and his life will be very difficult, and it will be difficult to save his life if he doesn't get it right.
In order to fulfill his promise in the surrender letter, soon after he surrendered to the enemy, Wei Jun sent his generals Gu Longxian, Lai Wenhong, Liu Guanguan and Huang Wenjin to attack Wuhu, and he himself organized hair shaving work in Chizhou City.
Wei Jun's appeal to his subordinates was not as optimistic as he imagined. Gu Longxian and others were unwilling to follow Wei Jun to be a traitor, not only did they not take Wuhu, but they fought back and attacked Chizhou.
It is not good to be too treacherous, and Wei Jun is very annoyed. In order to give the new boss a loyal impression, he no longer showed mercy to his brothers in the past, and hurriedly led dozens of people to climb ropes from under the city wall to go out to fight back against Gu Longxian.
Wei Jun, who was eager to make meritorious contributions, turned into a desperate San Lang, and actually repelled Gu Longxian's short assault in one fell swoop. Gu Longxian turned to attack the Qing army camp on the north gate of the city, and Wei Jun once again led troops to reinforce and beat Gu Longxian away.
Wei Jun's desperate efforts were finally recognized by the new master: "Repentance returned, and tens of thousands of thieves helped fight day after day, winning battles repeatedly, beheading is invincible, and his heart of submission is still credible." ("The Strategy for Suppressing Cantonese Bandits", vol. 224)
A traitor who surrendered because he was desperate had to use his brother's blood to prove his loyalty and talent, which was really helpless.
It is indeed not a very good profession to be a traitor, this is a type of work that has no turning back from the bow, generally speaking, it is easy to get on the ship and difficult to get off the ship, and it is often necessary to go all the way to the dark. Either you don't want to be a traitor, or if you want to do it, you have to be a clean traitor, and you must not have a trace of nostalgia and retrospectiveness for the past, otherwise you will not please both ends, and neither side will treat you as a human being.
Wei Jun's surrender failed to gain the support and support of his subordinates, and to a certain extent, it also hit the Qing government's high hopes for him. Gu Longxian recaptured Chizhou with the assistance of Yang Fuqing, and Wei Jun had no choice but to take the remnants to Qingxi Town, Dongliu County, to accept Yang Zaifu's adaptation.
Wei Jun had a bad start, and since then he has been cautiously following his former enemies, meeting his former brothers with swords and soldiers very desperately, killing each other, and successively capturing Shidai and Taiping. In the later decisive battle of Anqing, Wei Jun, together with another famous traitor Cheng Xueqi, became the most powerful accomplice of the Hunan army, and made great contributions to defeating Chen Yucheng and conquering Anqing.
As a high-ranking general like the chief general of the five armies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Wei Jun's surrender really opened a precedent for the rebellion of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
The wind of surrender that appeared in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a lot to do with Wei Jun's exemplary role. It's just that due to the second upsurge of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the military, it has not happened for the time being.
Wei Jun's surrender also completely broke Hong Xiuquan's heart and evoked his terrifying memories of the Tianjing Incident.
Perhaps it was precisely because the shadow of the Tianjing Incident had been hanging over Hong Xiuquan that Wei Jun finally lost the opportunity to become the king and embarked on another rugged and difficult journey in his life.
Imported version of the founding strategy
Stimulated by Wei Jun's surrender and looking back on the bloody wind of the Tianjing Incident, Hong Xiuquan felt that there were really few people in this world who could be trusted, so he relied even more on Hong Renji, the god-king who had just returned to Tianjing.
Hong Xiuquan has always had an unspeakable regret, that is, he has never had the opportunity to be baptized by a Christian priest and become an authentic Christian.
Hong Renji's return just made up for Hong Xiuquan's hope and yearning for Western learning.
In the treaty port of Shanghai and colonial Hong Kong, Hong Renji had extensive contact with the civilization transplanted by the United Kingdom, including strong ships and guns, including legal and political systems, including customs and habits, and education and people's livelihood.
All this, for Hong Renji, is undoubtedly novel, but it is also intuitive. In this intuition, Hong began to dimly realize that this was a world different from his homeland. In exile, Hong Renji is not a simple Christian, but a loyal patriot who has not forgotten the kingdom of heaven for a moment. He imagined that if he could return to a new motherland in the future and bring back these good things and practices, he couldn't suppress the ecstasy in his heart.
Through the conversation with this clan brother, Hong Xiuquan was surprised to find the gap between the two.
When he founded the Worship of God Religion, Hong Xiuquan occupied the commanding heights of religious theory. Before Hong Renji's arrival, Hong Xiuquan was the leader of the religious theory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, occupying the right to speak ideologically. But now, this brother is not only far more professional in religious theory than himself, but also far beyond the scope of religious theory, and has set foot in some fields that he has never heard of.
His own brother is out of the blue and surpasses himself, which makes Hong Xiuquan very happy, and also makes him see the hope of the state-owned talents.
What's more, Hong Renji, a fan, has met more than 20 authentic foreign missionaries over the years, but he still maintains infinite loyalty and love for the leader.
Although Hong Renji has seen a lot of information and has been away from Heaven for many years, he still does not express the slightest suspicion about the dream of God's mandate that the sect leader had after he failed to make the list in his early years. This made Hong Xiuquan feel great satisfaction and satisfaction, and also further strengthened Hong Xiuquan's belief in revolutionary optimism of "blindly relying on the sky".
Hong Xiuquan's attitude made Hong Renji feel home. Over the years of wandering, Hong Renji has changed a lot. Hong Kong unfolded in front of him is a new world. United Kingdom transplanted its domestic system and civilization to Hong Kong, making Hong Kong prosperous, strong and prosperous. Here he bears witness to the truth of what Marx said: the mission of colonialism is twofold, destruction on the one hand, and construction on the other.
But there is one thing that has not changed, that is, his loyalty to the sect leader and his faith in the kingdom of heaven. Hong In-gil, who returned to Tianjing, ascended to the throne in less than a month, and the prime minister of state affairs is really exciting.
What makes Hong Renji even more excited is that the results of his years of painstaking study and research, and the future blueprint he designed for the kingdom of heaven, finally have a stage to display.
As a military advisor who supported the Heavenly Dynasty, Hong Renji believed that he had the responsibility and obligation to design the most ideal plan for the founding of the Heavenly Kingdom, so that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would once again move towards new glory.
Combined with what he saw and heard in Tianjing, Hong Renji worked hard and went all out to write his idea of founding the country into a "New Chapter of Senior Administration", dedicated to the king of heaven, and asked for the decree to be promulgated.
Hong Renji's outline for the founding of the country can be called the "Book of Ten Thousand Words". In more than 10,000 words, Hong Renji showed Hong Xiuquan a broad vision of a quasi-returnee.
Hong Renji began with a clear meaning, pointing out that he was born and died regardless of his personal safety, and came to Tianjing from Hong Kong, not to covet glory and wealth, but to repay the "grace of knowledge" of the king.
Next, Hong Renji said in a humble tone that the plan he proposed was only for Hong Xiuquan's reference (to widely hear the sage, to prepare for the holy judgment, to invest in the national government, and to make up for it), and hoped that the king of heaven could "act according to the time and judge the situation".
After expressing his loyalty and saying polite words, Hong Renji began to get to the point, expounding his thoughts and plans for the future of the kingdom of heaven from four major perspectives (negligence in employing people, style, law, and punishment).
Hong Renji's planning, exuding a strong modern atmosphere and Western flavor, is two completely different paths from Hong Xiuquan's "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System".
Hong Renji advocated reforming the employment system, opposing mountaineering and gangs (banning friends from the party), and advocated strengthening supervision over the press and public opinion (setting up press officers), setting up ballot boxes, and electing officials by the public, hoping to promote outstanding cadres and strengthen the building of human resources through democratic elections.
Since coming to Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan's authoritarian politics and Hong Renji's understanding of United States democracy have confused Hong Renji. But because of his worship and loyalty to Hong Xiuquan, he was slowly calmed down, and finally he recognized the sole respect of the Heavenly King and accepted the reality in front of him.
What is most striking about Hong Renji's "New Chapter of Senior Administration" is a series of very avant-garde insights and propositions that he learned from the West.
Like Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan and others before him, Hong Renji had a strong yearning for the development of Western science and technology, especially military technology, but he went beyond Lin Wei and others to advocate the development of the transportation industry, the construction of roads, the manufacture of trains and ships, and the establishment of postal services; Encourage private mining and enterprises, and reward technological inventions; Creation of banks and issuance of banknotes. This went beyond the military category and expanded to the scope of industry and commerce, and it was not until the 70s that Li Hongzhang of the Westernization faction and Zheng Guanying of the early reform faction explicitly advocated the implementation of these contents. From this point of view, Hong Renji not only surpassed Hong Xiuquan, but also surpassed all the elites at that time.
What is even more commendable is that on the one hand, Hong Renji has a painful feeling about the differences between China and the West, and on the other hand, he has expressed a strong sense of distress and a spirit of self-improvement for the backwardness and weakness of the country. In the "New Chapter of Senior Administration", he repeatedly emphasized: "Fight with the people" and "Strive for the middle and the ground", revealing his grand and broad international vision beyond the Manchu and Han disputes.
In Hong Xiuquan's eyes, Hong Renji is undoubtedly talented and full of whimsy.
The dream of the cultivator to have his own land advocated by the "Heavenly Dynasty Fields and Mu System" has basically disappeared and become a cake painted on paper, and the future of the heavenly kingdom really needs to find a new way out. After calming down, Hong Xiuquan fell into a depressed deep thought again. After all these years, how did the compatriots become foreign devils? How is it very good to talk about foreigners all day long?
As the commander of the Heavenly Kingdom, he must think about the run-in and integration of the old and new founding programs.
Hong Renji came to Tianjing with great ambition and great ambitions. In his self-report, he once said: "I went to the Hong Kong Foreigners Museum to teach, and learned astronomy, geography, almanacs, and medicine, all of which are well understood." The foreigner knew that he was the brother of the king, and treated him differently. I have lived in Hong Kong for four years, so I know most of the leaders, and I know the hypocrisy of the system in the country. ”
There is often a huge gap between reality and ideals, and Hong Renji's excitement and excitement soon gradually turn into loss and loneliness. This kind of loss and loneliness comes from the loneliness of the high and the low, and from the melancholy of the good dancer who can't find a dance partner.
Although Hong Xiuquan showed strong interest and recognition of the new outline of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and issued an edict to engrave and promulgate; But in the eyes of other front-line generals, Ganwang Hong Renji is just an empty talker, and what he said is really unreliable.
The contempt and injustice of the generals have long been aware of Hong Renji.
As early as when Hong Xiuquan made him a godlord and military advisor, Hong Renji knew that although he was an old member, he had not experienced the hard years after the Jintian Uprising, nor had he made any military merits. It wasn't until Hong Xiuquan comforted him that he "the wind and waves will rest for a long time" that he agreed to take office.
In fact, Hong Renji does not need to be arrogant, although his military talent and military exploits are not as good as those of a group of high-ranking generals like Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng who fought from the front line. But the insight and talent he showed in "The New Chapter of Senior Administration" actually far surpassed that of his Chinese contemporaries.
Whether it is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom or the Qing Empire, no one has such a long-term and profound vision as him, and inadvertently, he has stood at the forefront of the times, answering a big question of the times - where is China going?
Whether it is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom or the Qing Empire, this is a question that needs to be seriously answered, and it is related to the entire nation, not the future direction and future of any one regime.
Hong Xiuquan's comfort did not completely solve Hong Renji's inferiority. The storm of dissatisfaction of the generals did not subside immediately, and even for a long time, there was a great tendency to overturn the river and the sea, and some people provocatively proposed that he go out of Beijing to lead troops to test whether he had real talent and real learning.
In peacetime, whoever has a hot pen has the right to speak. During the war years, whoever had a powerful gun had a high status, and whoever said it counted. Hong Renji knew that he still had to rely on fighting a war to establish his position, and no matter how beautiful he was in theory, although he could represent the direction of the advance of advanced culture, he could not represent the direction of victory.
Neither theory nor direction is a magic weapon that can produce immediate results. Under the conditions at that time, there was no social environment for the implementation of his national founding program, and no one was interested in his program, let alone put his national founding program into practice.
When Hong Renji arrived in Tianjing, it was when Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng were in Jiangbei and fought fiercely with Zhang Guoliang and Li Shizhong for Liangpu. By the end of 1859, although the Chen-Li coalition army had recaptured Pukou, it was still a problem to rely on the supply of Pukou grain and grass in the face of oppression from the Jiangbei camp. There are Zhang Guoliang and others in Jiangbei, who have been sabotaging and interfering with Jiangbei's communication lines and supply lines. Once Pukou falls, Tianjing will fall into a siege again. As soon as Tianjing is lost, the Kingdom of Heaven will also perish. What is more serious is that Hubei and Jiangxi have been completely lost, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is only left with a fragmented base area in Anhui.
The British king Chen Yucheng was pinned down by the Hunan army in northern Anhui, and the squire king Li Shixian and the auxiliary king Yang Fuqing were also pinned down in southern Anhui, and they were unable to draw troops to form a superior mobile corps to aid Tianjing. The Tianjing side also did not have the strength to draw troops to open up new base areas, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had reached an extremely difficult life-and-death juncture.
The Kingdom of Heaven is in danger again, and Hong Renji sees it in his eyes and is anxious in his heart. Hong Renji realized that in the current environment, it was not the time to talk about the ideal and implement the new policy, and the top priority was to break the Jiangnan camp, relieve the siege of Tianjing, and relieve the mood of the king, so that the generals could be happy and convinced.
Hong Renji's brows were like wrinkled pool water. In order to prove that he was a horse, not a mule, Hong Renji knew that he had to go out for a walk. He hopes he can draw inspiration from classic battles in history and plan a large-scale strategic counterattack.