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Taiping Rebellion.com 1850-71 |
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Taiping Rebellion.com 1850-71 |
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Taiping advance into the Yangtze Valley 1851-53
For two years, the Taiping Wang confined his actions to Guangxi, now he felt strong enough to advance into the empire and marched on to Hunan .The Manchus, concentrating forces against England and France, had few troops to spare for the interior .In June, 1852, they reduced the towns of the southern part of the province .In Sept they laid siege to Chang-sha, by this time their ranks had grown to an estimated 120,000 . Despite mining the city walls, they were unable to take the city, and moved on .
Taoist and Buddhist priests were warned to leave their temples or face beheading, Moslem mosques are allowed to remain, out of support for the ongoing Muslim revolts against the Qing . The Taipings at this time did not try to hold the cities they captured, but moved on. The goal was to take the Yangtze river and then strike at the capital .The Taipings arrived on the Yangtze at Yoh-chau, close to the great lake of Tung-Ting and placed tolls upon the commerce raising a great deal of funds .By the winter of 1852-3, they were masters of the rich cities of Hanyang and Wu-chang .In Wu-chang they seize over 1,000,000 ounces of silver.
The Taipings banned footbinding and unbound the feet of those in their territory, which was quite painful On Feb 10, 1853, they depart Wu-Chang, the army sailing in a armada of some 2,000 ships and soldiers marching columns on the shore .They also take Yochow and it arsenal, which provided them with an abundance of weapons . Daoist and Buddhist monks are threatened with beheading if found in their temples. The property of the temples are confiscated and given to the poor.The booty of the Taipings was immense, and it was not unusual to see common soldiers dressed in fine silks .Wu-chang, gave resistance to the Taipings, and there was a great slaughter of the people of the city when it was taken .The imperialists under Siu, lagged behind the Taipings and did even greater pillage .Emperor Hein fung ordered Siu to Peking in the autumn, where he was beheaded .The Taipings advanced onward to Jiu jiang, Woo-poo and Tai-ping .thirty days after leaving Wuchang, the Taiping advance force reach Nanjing. The Taking of the old Ming Capital Nanjing 1853
The city walls of Nanjing were 25 miles in circumference and over 40 feet high. On March 19, 1853 the walls were breached All the time the Taiping forces were increasing .The viceroy, Lu-keen-ying had been sent with a fleet of war junks to stop the Taipings, but returned to Nanjing on Feb 25, reporting that his force was too weak to taken on the Taipings. The population of Nanking began to panic and flee the city, and afterwards so did the imperialist forces. No more is heard of viceroy Lu .On March 8, the banners of the Taipings were seen from the walls of Nanjing .The Taipings, with a force of 60,000, summoned the city to surrender .On March 19, the Tapings made a breach in the city walls and took the city .The Manchus in the city, totaling about 20,000 were put to the sword. The native population was spared .On March 29, Xiuquan is carried into Nanjing on a golden palanquin wearing a yellow robe . Taiping civil service exams began soon after taking Nanking, with a format similar to the Qing, but consisting of Christian themes .The Taiping official system was mad up of hereditary nobility (the kings) and 11 grades of officials who had military and civil duties . The Tian wang did not feel his force strong enough to take Beijing, and determined to build up his force in the old capital of the Ming and cut of the supplies of the capital from the south via the Grand Canal .To do this, it was necessary take Chin-Kiang-fu 40 miles away, which was taken without a shot after the imperial commander fled .Now, no supplies could reach Beijing via the canal . The city is divided in men's and womens quarters, there is a prohibition on sexual love till the demons in Beijing have been defeated .The ban on married couples meeting is lifted in 1855 .
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