"Warriors of God" on the warpath
Young Emperor Xianfeng
In China, the defeat in the First Opium War led to the growth of nationalism (though what more could it possibly need?). Secret societies emerged calling for the expulsion of Europeans and, at the same time, the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. Various influential groups pushed for the adoption of laws restricting Europeans, who had achieved virtual extraterritoriality in the Celestial Empire. Soon, in 1850, the Daoguang Emperor died and his son Xianfeng ascended the throne, compared to whom Dad was a liberal and a supporter of enlightenment.
Yes indeed! These stylish young bandits are the heirs of secret societies created to fight the Manchus...
All this could not but lead to a reaction: secret societies, combining religion with politics, brought the people to rebellion. Since the main target of repression along with secret societies were Christians, a strange symbiosis between Christianity and the fight against the Manchu invaders occurred, which resulted in the Taiping Rebellion. The story of the Second Opium War would be incomplete without touching on this colossal event (the number of victims of the rebellion is estimated at 20 to 70 million people!), from which, like ripples on water, consequences began to flow, which are felt to this day, including on the territory of our country.
To say that the Chinese were not receptive to Christianity, citing modern statistics, according to which Christians in the Celestial Empire are only 5,1 percent of the country's population... is not quite right. It happened: China almost became a Christian country. True, the version of what was considered Christianity among the locals was too exotic! But let's start from the beginning.
Keju is a traditional state examination
Since the shaggy sixth century AD, since the Sui Dynasty, there have been “Keju” in the Celestial Empire — state examinations for official positions. It is impossible to tell about them in detail. stories — is not the topic of this article, but it is worth saying right away: in a bureaucratic empire, which China has been since ancient times, the position of an official was not only honorable, but also profitable. Very profitable! Accordingly, the family in which the smart boy grew up lived in hunger for many years, worked like daddy Carlo, and spent all the money on teaching the offspring hieroglyphic writing and the Confucian canon, which were necessary for passing the keju. Since both are far from the simplest things, it took many years to study, and teachers set very high prices for their services. In especially neglected cases, when the family could not afford to educate a smart boy, the entire village joined in the process, hoping that having become an official, the young man would not ignore the needs of his fellow villagers.
All this is wonderful! But there is only one question: what if?.. I don’t even want to say it out loud. But what if a smart guy fails the keju? After all, only 10-20 percent of candidates passed the state exam... It turns out that serious money was invested by a crowd of people absolutely in vain! Of course, the situation of such a person became very difficult: being in everyone’s debt without the ability to pay back is not much fun...
Hun Huoxiu at the peak of his career
In general, I hope that I have described the situation of the “smart boy” named Hun Huoxiu, who failed his state exams, quite clearly. Not only was he from a poor family, but he was also not a Manchu, and not even a Han, but a Hakka, an “outsider” — a representative of a small (by Chinese standards, of course) nationality living in the south of the Celestial Empire. The boy was born in 1814, in the village of Fuyuanshui (other spellings are also found), Huadu County, Guangzhou Administration, Guangdong Province. Since Hun Huoxiu was that same “smart boy,” he was the only one of several sons who was given the opportunity to attend school. But it was no use: he regularly failed his keju, after which, instead of a fat official post, he had to be content with a much less lucrative position as a village teacher.
A European missionary in Canton is a common occurrence...
However, there was a certain benefit from the failed exams: Hun Huoxiu visited Guangzhou, or as the Europeans called it, Canton. One of the few cities in the Celestial Empire where one could see a real laowai. Moreover, some laowai were extremely strange: instead of selling opium like all normal people, they tried to hand over to the locals clumsily translated books with the strange name "Bible" into Chinese. Moreover, some Chinese began to digest the teachings received from the missionaries themselves and wrote their own brochures in which they expounded them. Well, to the extent that they themselves understood them.
Robert Morrison, a missionary and part-time founder of English siology
Anyway, during another visit to Guangzhou, Hun Huoxiu found a brochure in his bag called “Kind Words for Guiding the Age” by a certain Lian Fa, a student of the British missionary Robert Morrison, dedicated to Christianity (to the extent that the author understood it). He did not bother to read it: he was very busy preparing for his third keju. But in 1837, he failed the exam once again with a crushing score: having scored less than one percent of the required passing score...
The blow was terrible! Hun Huoxiu fell seriously ill (suffered a severe nervous breakdown), spent several days delirious, and then recovered. And he began telling everyone about his visions, in which everyone worshiped him as a great spirit, and some old man in black robes and with a golden beard even gave him a sword to fight the demons that had flooded the heavens, and a golden seal. In addition, the golden-bearded old man advised him to change his name to Hun Xiuquan. It seems like nothing unusual - a purely Chinese, Taoist plot, but...
Sorry, Hun! I said something stupid...
The visions continued for about a month and a half. In one of them, Confucius even appeared to Hun Xiuquan, confessing that he had led the Chinese astray with his fables. A strange vision, but one should not forget that it was the exams on the Confucian canon that the “smart young man” failed three times... Three times? No. After the British captured Guangzhou during the First Opium War, he went there again to take the exam. And again he failed it! He returned, of course, angry at the whole world, unsociable, and then, like a jack-in-the-box, that same brochure written by Lan Fa and lying in Hun Xiuquan’s bag for several years jumped out. It was discovered by one of the brothers of the hapless candidate for official, and the two of them began to study it.
In general, Hun Xiuquan understood that his visions during his illness were not visions. They were a Revelation! That the man in black clothes was God the Father himself (he identified him with the Chinese Shandi - the Heavenly Emperor), his brother was Jesus Christ... And Hun himself was the second son of God, and the sword was given to him to eradicate the demons of Confucianism in the Celestial Empire...
The idea was so-so, and in more prosperous times it would not have worked. But the times were far from prosperous! The lost First Opium War, thousands of tons of poison pouring into the Celestial Empire through Guangzhou, the dominance of the Manchu dynasty, which seriously oppressed all the other peoples of China, but was unable to protect the Celestial Empire from the deadly ships of the Laowai... In this situation, doubts about Confucianism were a natural phenomenon.
The Chinese have a very peculiar understanding of Christianity...
First, Hun Xiuquan converts his brothers and his best friend Feng Yunshan. The latter turns out to be an excellent preacher, whose words also fall on fertile ground for general discontent with the Qing dynasty. Officials do not ignore the growing popularity of the movement: all those involved are deprived of the right to work as teachers - that is, a piece of bread. But the snowball rolling down the mountain can no longer be stopped! The "prophet" himself, his brothers and Feng Yunshan create the "Society of Worship of God" and go on a journey through southern China, telling about God and his sons - brothers Jesus Christ and Hun Xiuquan. But by that time, the interpretation of the visions of the future leader of the most powerful uprising in the history of the Celestial Empire has changed. Those demons, the sword to fight which was given to him by God the Father, became from who knows who ... Manchus!
Taiping leader with a big sword
A small army, the "Warriors of God", was gathering around Hun Xiuquan. But they weren't the only ones dissatisfied with the Manchus. Soon the detachment was joined by members of the Triads, a secret society created to fight the Qing Dynasty. And then the peasants joined in! In 1850, a decision was made to start an uprising: by that time, the forces of Hun's followers in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi exceeded 10 thousand people. Feng Yunshan played the role of "John the Baptist" under "Christ", converting people to a new faith. And the faith really was new. At least, it had a very distant relation to Christianity - it widely used dreams and visions, traditional for Taoism. Hun Xiuquan read the Bible (in a bad translation) and decided that in addition to the Old and New Testaments, another one was needed. Which he wrote. Along the way, he significantly edited the first two (for example, he removed from the New Testament all references to Jesus being the only son of God). The "iconoclastic" began: Hun Xiuquan ordered that a pair of huge (weighting about 4,5 kg) swords be forged for him and his cousin Hun Rengan - for killing demons. Sometimes Confucian statues acted as demons.
Heavenly State of Great Welfare
In 1851, the "Heavenly State of Great Welfare" - "Taiping Tian Guo" - was created on the recaptured territories of Southern China, in which he himself became the "Heavenly Prince", to whom four princes were subordinate: Northern (Wei Chaihui), Southern (Feng Yongshan), Western (Xiao Chaogui) and Eastern (Yang Xiuqing). The Taipings had a unique state practice, but it changed quite often: at first, the "Heavenly Prince" ordered all subjects to live separately - men in their dormitories, women in theirs. This is often written about, but much less often, that such a system lasted only a year and a half. Taiping Tian Guo's subjects refused to wear the long braided hairstyles and Manchu clothing introduced by the Manchus. Strict laws were introduced, including the socialization of all private property, the creation of public food warehouses, and so on.
The most interesting point is the Taiping army. It should be said that despite the purchase of firearms from the Europeans, only half of the Taipings, as well as the Manchus, were armed with firearms. All the rest were armed with pikes and swords (however, all soldiers, including riflemen, had swords). The tactics were also no different from the modern Manchu (and European 17th century) - a square of pikemen and wings of riflemen, with the first ranks of riflemen standing with matchlock arquebuses and gingals, and behind them - soldiers with flintlock guns. But there was a significant "but".
Namely, discipline! The Taipings had it (especially at first) - iron. For the slightest offense, the guilty party was given blows with a stick. English missionaries claimed that their discipline was much stricter than that of the Puritans. The death penalty was imposed for lagging behind the column, avoiding battle or feigning illness, retreating without orders, robberies and violence against civilians. Cowards and traitors were burned alive or torn apart by horses. For bravery and distinction in service, they were rewarded with promotion. At the same time, there was an element of democracy in the army: any soldier had the right to nominate, in his opinion, the most worthy comrade for any position. However, the one who nominated a worthy candidate was rewarded, but the one who nominated an unworthy one was punished. Robberies, as I already wrote, were punished, but if necessary, the Taipings resorted to requisitions - for everything confiscated, they issued a receipt with a promise to return it after the victory.
Taiping detachment in battle
Gradually, a uniform appeared in the army: soldiers wore a jacket and pants in the colors of their army (black, blue, green, etc.), on their heads each had a regular Chinese conical hat woven from straw. Hieroglyphs were embroidered on the jackets, denoting the division, regiment, and company. Officers wore a uniform in the color of their rank: junior officers wore a red jacket and pants, middle officers wore a yellow jacket and red pants, senior officers wore yellow pants and a jacket. It is worth noting right away: in the Qing Empire, everyone except the emperor was forbidden to wear yellow, so a yellow uniform was a serious challenge - if captured, one could be executed for it (however, Taiping officers, in principle, were not recommended to be captured).
Taiping officers
Those who served in the army for at least 6 years were called "old friends". They were the first to receive firearms, and in terms of discipline they were entitled to certain concessions. In battle, "old friends" constituted the last reserve, or barrier detachment. The Taipings also had a real guard - "shiwei", bodyguards of the Heavenly Prince himself. Those who served for at least 3 years were called "brothers", but the bulk were those who served less than 3 years, they received only cold arms and bore all the hardships of garrison and guard duty.
Officers' Wives
The command staff was divided into "weishi" - "formidable", generals not lower than the corps commander. To obtain a position, it was necessary to pass the capital exam, but not on Confucian texts, but on the Bible (as interpreted by the Heavenly Prince). The division commander was called "menshi" - "brave". To obtain it, provincial exams were passed. "Yinshi" - "hero" commanded a regiment, "xianshi" - "smart" and "nenshi" - "capable" - a company, "xingshi" - "faithful" and "yishi" - "master" were junior commanders. Each category of commanders was entitled to its own privileges: princes could have 11 wives, army generals - 3 wives, mid-ranking officers - 2 wives, junior officers, privates and civilians - only one each!
The Taiping army was impressive: at the peak of the rebellion, it reached a million people. Incidentally, foreigners were often found among the Taipings – deserters, volunteers, instructors. And women! All observers noted the high level of women's emancipation in Taiping tan guo: they were on par with men, and it didn't matter whether they were Chinese or European. The Heavenly Prince's sister, Hun Xuanjiao, personally commanded the women's battalion.
The Manchus had nothing good to expect from the Taipings
At first, the discipline and “ideological charge” of the army brought the Taipings victory after victory over the Eight Banners of the Manchus and the Chinese Army of the Green Banner. When the Qing generals tried to block the Taipings in Yong’an in 1852, they managed to break through and went north. In Hunan, 50 new fighters joined them. Having reached the Yangtze in the area of Yuezhou, which was taken without a fight, they created a river fleet, on which they moved to Hubei Province. Each step increased the army by tens of thousands of new fighters. At the end of 1852, they captured two rich cities - Hanyang and Hankou, at the beginning of 1853, after a siege, they took Wuchang, thus taking possession of all of Wuhan (at that time it was not one city). Then the cities continued to fall at their feet like overripe plums: Anqing, Nanjing, Zhenjiang... In the captured cities, the Taipings treated the Chinese population favorably, but the Manchus were slaughtered en masse, with their wives and children.
The capture of Anqing by the Taipings
Soon Nanjing was declared the capital of Taiping Tian Guo. The rebels could have gone north and captured Beijing, but... The rebellion was a purely southern movement! In the north, they were not afraid of the Qing Dynasty armies, but of the cold, snow, and icy wind. In general, it was decided to stay in the south and build a state of heavenly prosperity where it was warmer. Was this a mistake? Definitely!
Frederick Townsend Ward - Taiping Death
The fact is that the Manchu armies were falling apart under the blows of the Taipings like houses of cards, but when the Taipings approached Shanghai, local oligarchs turned to the American adventurer Frederick Townsend Ward for help. He recruited a detachment of 200 Europeans for Chinese silver: sailors, deserters, adventurers. The detachment, armed with modern weapons, defended Shanghai, acting as a fire brigade: Ward and his men hurried to where the Qing troops could falter and retreat. He defended Shanghai, after which he recaptured Ningbo from the Taipings. But the worst thing for the rebels was that the American was able to scale up his success. In 1861, he made officers out of the Europeans in his detachment. And he recruited 1200 Chinese from Songjiang as soldiers. They were trained according to all the rules of European military science, after which the recruitment was repeated. In May 1862, Ward already had 3000 well-armed, trained and motivated (the American and his army were paid by Chinese bankers, and they did not spare the money!) fighters (including a detachment of 300 Filipino bodyguards). Ward was awarded the rank of Mandarin 3rd rank, and his detachment was named the "Ever-Victorious Army".
Soldiers of the "Eternally Victorious Army" according to a modern artist
To begin with, the new military unit routed the 25-strong Taiping detachment. Ward himself died in September 1862 at the Battle of Cixi; his successor, Charles George Gordon, lacked the charisma and talents of an American adventurer, but he had the money and the template to act on. Soon, he had 5 men under his command, six batteries of heavy and light artillery and a flotilla of 12 armed steamships. The Ever Victorious Army became the first part of the Qing troops capable of beating the Taipings. Gordon did not have the talents of his predecessor, and the soldiers from his army began to run away, and the Ever Victorious Army itself was soon disbanded, but... But the most important thing is that regional armies began to form according to its model: small, but well armed and trained according to European regulations. They eventually defeated the Taipings, putting an end to communist experiments in the Celestial Empire. Well, not for long, but - putting...
They are the same in life
P.S. Stop! But I said at the beginning that the Taiping Rebellion continues to influence our country today. And that's true. The fact is that the North Korean Juche ideology is largely (not entirely, but largely!) built on the ideas and practice of Taiping state building. Much less remains in the PRC today from the ideological legacy of Hun Xiuquan. And the DPRK — keeps up its brand...
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