The year 1855 was the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty and the fifth year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In this eventful era of the 19th century, the global village of this year has not stopped.
In addition to the Crimean War between Britain and France in the west, many important events also took place in the Qing Dynasty in the east.
Let's talk about 2 of them.
The mother river, the Yellow River, has been diverted many times in history, and this year it was diverted again, but this is the last time it was actively diverted.
In 1855, the Yellow River broke in the north bank of Lanyang (now Lankao) in Henan, and the flood water flowed into the Daqing River through the canal in Shandong, and entered the sea from Lijin.
The diversion of the Yellow River has had a profound impact on Chinese history.
First of all, the diversion of the Yellow River led to the inundation and desolation of large areas of land, bringing great disasters to the local people. However, it is difficult to break the road and change the route, and there is no shortage of water in the original Jianghuai area, and it can slowly ease up.
Second, the diversion of the Yellow River has also changed China's geography and affected China's political, economic, and cultural development. Especially in Hebei and Shandong, because of the inflow of the Yellow River, these areas that were originally short of water have also been greatly irrigated, and the economy along the Yellow River has developed rapidly.
Although the Qing Dynasty was overwhelmed by foreign powers and the Taiping Army, it still had to send more manpower and resources to relieve disasters and deal with river disasters.
In the process of harnessing the Yellow River, the Qing Dynasty adopted a series of measures, including strengthening the Yellow River embankment, dredging the river, and building reservoirs, which alleviated the problem of flooding in the Yellow River to a certain extent.
In 1855, the Taiping Rebellion entered its fifth year.
The Taiping Rebellion was a major peasant uprising in Chinese history, led by Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, and others.
Starting from Jintian Village in Guangxi, the rebel army quickly swept through the entire southern region and established its own regime and army.
In 1853, the development situation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was very good, coupled with internal strife, so there was the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army.
Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, the generals of the Taiping Army, led the 20,000 descendants of Xiao Chaogui, the king of the west, and Feng Yunshan, the king of the south, to start the Northern Expedition.
Although there are not many of them, their main goal is relatively grand - to conquer the Jingshi and capture the Qing demon Xianfeng Emperor alive.
The Northern Expedition was such a big event, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom didn't even send a prince to lead it, but the Western Expeditionary Army sent a lot, so if there was no miracle on the Northern Expedition, it was destined that no miracle would happen.
Sure enough, after 20,000 years of tossing and turning in the Northern Expeditionary Army, they still failed to reach the Beijing Division in the end, and were basically wiped out by the Qing army.
I have to say that it is a huge pity, because if the main force of the Taiping army goes north, it should be no problem to fight under the city of Beijing.
Of course, history has no ifs.
The failure of the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition was also one of the symbolic events of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's downward trend.
From the above point of view, 1855, this year is still very important, which basically determines whether the life of the late Qing Dynasty can live longer-
The Yellow River can be regarded as passively governed (at least survived), the Taiping Northern Expeditionary Army has also been dealt with, the Gyeonggi area is not so dangerous, and the Xianfeng Emperor, who is in his 20s, finally breathed a sigh of relief.