Yang Xiuqing pretended to be "Heavenly Father descended to earth" to appease the believers. Feng Yunshan was released afterwards, and after Hong Xiuquan returned to Guangxi, he admitted that Yang Xiuqing could "speak on behalf of the Heavenly Father", and Yang entered the leadership of the God Worship Society.
Yang Xiuqing's first appearance:
In the spring of the twenty-eighth year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty (1848), when Feng Yunshan was imprisoned in Guiping County Prison, Hong Xiuquan went to Guangzhou to rescue. At the time of the congregation's gathering on the third day of the third month of the third month, Yang Xiuqing pretended to faint and fell by virtue of the local prevalent child-descending witchcraft, and later stood up with a serious face, he preached the omnipresent and omnipotent power of the Heavenly Father, and ordered the congregation to unite and kill demons, thus stabilizing people's hearts.
After Feng Yunshan was released from prison and Hong Xiuquan returned, they recognized Yang Xiuqing's power to pass on the message, even though they knew that it was only witchcraft. In May 1850, Yang Xiuqing conspired with Xiao Chaogui, pretending to be deaf, dumb and seriously ill, living in seclusion behind the scenes, and letting Xiao Chaogui pretend to be his brother in charge of affairs. On the first day of October, when the local landlords attacked with armed forces, Yang Xiuqing immediately recovered, commanded Jintian's troops to fight against it and won. In the ensuing battle, they defeated the Qing army and declared an uprising at Jintian on the 10th day of December.
In 1851, Hong Xiuquan named Yang Xiuqing as the main army division and established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In the early days, the looseness and selfishness of the peasants often affected the battle, so Yang Xiuqing frequently used the method of "Heavenly Father descends to earth" to teach officers and soldiers, which strengthened the belief in the uprising and integrated the strength of the whole army. They eventually broke through the blockade of the Qing army, broke out of the Bauhinia Mountains, defeated the Qing army, and occupied Yong'an Prefecture in Guangxi.
Changes after the Kaneda Uprising:
In 1851, Hong Xiuquan named Yang Xiuqing as the king of the east, and the other four kings were all under his control. With the successive deaths of Feng Yunshan, the king of the south, and Xiao Chaogui, the king of the west, power was further concentrated in the hands of Yang Xiuqing. Yang Xiuqing was the actual commander of the Taiping army's march from Guangxi to Nanjing, and his military exploits were remarkable. When the Taiping army captured Nanjing, Yang Xiuqing's opinion on the location of the capital was adopted. After conquering Wuchang in early 1853, he built the capital of Nanjing and formulated the next strategy of the Taiping army.
In the early period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, although Hong Xiuquan's status was above the kings, he was actually the virtual head of state, and the real power was in the hands of Yang Xiuqing, the king of the Eastern Division. All military and political orders were formally ordered by the military advisor to ask the king to issue a decree, but in fact they were decided by Yang Xiuqing. In addition, Yang Xiuqing repeatedly used the method of "Heavenly Father descending to earth" to force the Heavenly King to obey his orders. With the accumulation of merit and the growth of power, Yang Xiuqing became proud, and the contradictions with the Heavenly King and other kings became deeper and deeper.
The fall of Yang Xiuqing:
In August 1856, Yang Xiuqing's ambitions escalated, and he asked Hong Xiuquan to crown him "Long live". Hong Xiuquan pretended to agree and planned to celebrate, but secretly ordered Wei Changhui, the king of the north, and Shi Dakai, the winged king, who were leading the troops outside, to kill Yang Xiuqing. On September 1, Wei Changhui arrived in Tianjing and entered the city at night with Qin Rigang, the king of Yan. In the early morning of the next day, they raided the Dongwang Mansion and killed Yang Xiuqing, his family, and a large number of subordinates. Subsequently, when dealing with the remnants of the Eastern King, a trap was set up to trap and kill a large number of Eastern Wang's subordinates, and the death toll was as high as more than 20,000, which was called the "Tianjing Change". In the same year, the king of North and the king of Yan were killed, Hong Xiuquan rehabilitated Yang Xiuqing for the charge of "plotting to usurp the throne", and set up the "East King ** Festival" to commemorate, and he also passed on his fifth son Hong Tianyou to Yang Xiuqing, called the young king of the east.