The Wing King, Shi Dakai, was a famous general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. On the battlefield, Shi Dakai was once a god-like being, he was invincible and invincible, defeated the Xiang army at the mouth of the lake, and almost beat Zeng Guofan to commit suicide by jumping into the lake. After the Tianjing Incident, Shi Dakai was suspected by Hong Xiuquan and was forced to flee with 200,000 elite soldiers. After that, Shi Dakai led an army to conquer many southern provinces and finally entered Sichuan.
However, what is strange is that Shi Dakai seems to have lost his military magic, not only in repeated battles on the battlefield, but also in his army to fight less and less. In Sichuan, Shi Dakai's 200,000 troops were only 40,000 people left. At the Dadu River, Shi Dakai was heavily besieged by the Qing army, and eventually the entire army was destroyed. Why did Shi Dakai, who was once invincible, become repeatedly defeated after fleeing Tianjing; why did the Wing King, who had once won the trust of the generals, eventually rebel and leave.
For a long time, Shi Dakai was regarded as a loyal vassal and pillar of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, a poem found in Guangxi may have subverted the public's historical perception. In 1905, Zhang Yushu, one of the pioneers of the Xinhai Revolution, was touring the Bailong Cave in Beishan, Qingyuan Town, Guangxi Province, and inadvertently saw some smoked black characters on the wall. Afterwards, he washed the walls with water and found a poem inscribed on it:
"Stand up and climb the mountain, and look up at the sky." Destroy the Buddha, worship the Emperor, immigrate retro style. Linjun called the general Yong and played Dong Xian Shixiong. The sword qi rushed to the stars, and the wenguang shot the sun rainbow. ”
After reading it, I looked at the person who dropped the money, and it was the famous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Wing King- the five-thousand-year-old Shi Dakai. The inscription is 108 cm high and 145 cm wide. The carved stone is smooth, the poems are written in letters, the qingxiu is neat and neat, and the carving is exquisite. After the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, almost all written materials were destroyed by the Manchu Qing. The inscription wall of Shida Kaibai Dragon Cave is the only Taiping Heavenly Kingdom poetry stone carving found in the country so far.
In the ninth year of Xianfeng (1859), Shi Dakai was defeated by the Qing army at Baoqing, Hunan, and was forced to enter Qingyuan, Guangxi to rest. In his spare time, Shi Dakai led his subordinates up to the north and visited the famous White Dragon Cave. In the midst of green mountains and green waters, Shi Wang's poems flourished, so he gave a poem and carved it on the mountain wall. After Shi Dakai's leader left, a local temple Zhu deliberately burned a fire under the mountain wall to cook in order to avoid the destruction of Yi Wang's poems by the Qing army, which saved Shi Dakai's inscription poems to this day.
In the eyes of many scholars, this poem may narrate Shi Dakai's mental journey from the side, and also solve the historical mystery of why he died in defeat at the Dadu River.
In the view of the scholar Lin Yaolin, judging from the format of this poem, Shi Dakai has obviously not taken hong xiuquan of the heavenly king seriously. As we all know, Hong Xiuquan's sense of hierarchy is very strong, and the punishment is very severe for those who dare to trespass him. In the official documents of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a specific format must be followed, and the majesty and power of the Heavenly King must be displayed.
However, in Shi Dakai's inscription wall, he obviously transgressed. First of all, the practice of raising the "two grids" of the three characters of "wing king inscription" in the inscription wall poem is incorrect. In the system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, such as the title, family album and baptism, only the "Heavenly King" Hong Xiuquan raised the "two grids", and the others were empty and one. As the elder of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and An old comrade-in-arms of Hong Xiuquan, Shi Dakai would never make such a low-level mistake, which was obviously deliberate.
Secondly, the key three words of "Wing King Question" missed the title of "Five Thousand Years Old". At the time of the Yong'an system, Hong Xiuquan called himself Long Live, Yang Xiuqing was nine thousand years old, Xiao Chaogui was eight thousand years old, Feng Yunshan was seven thousand years old, Wei Changhui was Liu Chitose, and Shi Dakai was five thousand years old. Since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom awarded knighthoods to each general, each general who was knighted attached the title of "several thousand years old" to his subsequent edicts or edicts, which was equivalent to the legal binding force of the supremacy of power. And Shi Dakai, in such an important poem, not only lifted himself two blocks, but even did not write "five thousand years old", which must not have been inadvertently omitted.
Therefore, some scholars speculate that after entering Guangxi, Shi Dakai has completely embarked on the road of separatism and already has the psychology of establishing another central committee. After the Tianjing Incident, Hong Xiuquan was suspicious of Shi Dakai, and also appointed two talentless and unscrupulous brothers as kings, dividing Shi Dakai's power. Therefore, the contradiction between Shi Dakai and Hong Xiuquan is the most important reason for his negative departure.
After Shi Dakai left Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan saw that the opportunity was not good, and zeng tried to welcome him back, while Shi Dakai ignored Hong Xiuquan's retention. Obviously, Shi Dakai's relationship with Hong Xiuquan has broken down to the point of no return. According to the historical data of the Qing Army:
"However, Shi Xiangsu is called Xiao Fierce, and he is also deceitful, and if he flees to Jiangbei at this time, he will not be attached to Hong Rebellion, and he intends to form a team of his own."
Even the hostile Qing army could see that Shi Dakai had clearly begun to change his mind and become king alone. According to a manuscript by the Qing General Fuxing of Xi'an, Shi Dakai once inscribed the words "Tai Ping An Guo" at the end of his own notice. Although there is only a one-word difference from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there is a difference between the heavens and the abyss, and Shi Dakai's embarkation on the road of changing course, setting up another banner, and splitting the road can be ironcladed. And Shi Dakai's inscription poem in the White Dragon Cave is a concentrated embodiment of this psychological trend.
The reason why Shi Dakai left Tianjing, the reason why 200,000 soldiers were willing to follow him was because they believed that Shi Dakai was still the god of war and still the pillar of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, after Shi Dakai left Tianjing, he not only refused to be summoned to return to protect Tianjing, but also did not even expand his territory and power in Qingyuan, did not want to forge ahead, and had a kind of attitude of living in seclusion in the mountains and forests, occupying a corner, and sealing the king and dominating the throne. This kind of emotion will naturally cause dissatisfaction and suspicion among the soldiers under his command.
According to the "Wu Xu Archives" material, after entering Qingyuan, Shi Dakai's staff and soldiers mutinied one after another, inducing several bloody conflicts. The reason why Shi Dakai was able to win every battle at that time was because he "won the heart of a soldier" and could make "the three armies use their lives" to do so. However, in Qingyuan, a rift appeared between Shi Dakai and his subordinates, leading to the mutiny and escape of his soldiers.
Therefore, Luo Ergang's predecessors would say: Shi Dakai insisted on his mistakes, embarked on the road of division, and most fell into the abyss of destruction.