Lee so-sung confessedThe era was only made public, and Zeng Guofan was afraid of extinction.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Western powers knocked on China's door with guns, and since then China has fallen into the abyss of misery and reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The ruling Empress Dowager Cixi only cared about her own luxury and pleasures, and did not care about the life or death of the people.
The land of China is full of mourning and despair. In this desperate situation, the people could not find a glimmer of hope in the world, so they could only turn to the gods and Buddhas for help. Under the guidance of Hong Xiuquan's "God Worship Religion", China set off a mighty Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, which almost laid down half of the Qing Dynasty.
However, due to the intervention of foreign powers and the limitations of the peasant uprising itself, the Taiping Rebellion ultimately failed to succeed. Zeng Guofan broke the Taiping army and captured many high-ranking people.
But the confession of the loyal king Li Xiucheng was concealed by him and was not made public until the 60s.
Li Xiucheng was born in a poor peasant family in Guangxi, and because of his difficult life, he could only work as a domestic servant for the landlord's family. Fortunately, his uncle, a village teacher, was particularly fond of this nephew, which enabled him to improve his literacy and prevent other poor people from becoming illiterate.
However, the corrupt rule and exploitation of the Qing Dynasty made their lives increasingly hopeless, and in order to seek spiritual sustenance, in 1849, Li Xiucheng and his family joined Hong Xiuquan's "God Worship Sect" and participated in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.
In the battle with the Qing Dynasty, Li Xiucheng went all out in every battle and always stood at the forefront, so he won many military merits and was quickly promoted to a petty officer.
Li Xiucheng rose to prominence in the battle and was appreciated and favored by Hong Xiuquan, and the two formed a deep friendship. After the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Xiuquan did not forget the old feelings, and named the heroic and warlike Li Xiucheng as the "loyal king", and gave him military power, and the relationship between the monarch and the minister was harmonious.
However, as time passed, Hong Xiuquan gradually lost his way, indulged in a life of luxury, and was unable to stand firmly against the Qing Dynasty. Li Xiucheng was deeply distressed and repeatedly advised Hong Xiuquan bluntly, hoping that he could cheer up and lead everyone into the battle again, stop killing each other with his brothers, and let the Qing Dynasty enjoy its success.
I was deeply moved by Li Xiucheng's belief in loyalty to the monarch and the protection of the country, and he would rather sacrifice himself to protect the future of Hong Xiuquan's son, Hong Tianguifu and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Even at the moment when Chengpo was captured, he still chose to exchange his mount for the safety of Hong Tianguifu, showing his bravery and loyalty.
Li Xiucheng's story made me deeply feel that no matter what the circumstances, we should stick to our beliefs and do our best for the interests of the country and the people.
After Li Xiucheng was captured, Zeng Guofan's younger brother Zeng Guoquan got him, and this Zeng Guohua's own brother was defeated and killed in the battle with Li Xiuquan. Zeng Guoquan hated this general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and finally had a chance to take revenge.
Zeng Guoquan ordered people to place eighteen torture instruments in Li Xiucheng's cell, first with a whip, and then stabbed his fingers with a knife and an awl, but Li Xiucheng's face remained as usual, and he was tortured and remained silent.
Zeng Guoquan was so angry that his lungs were about to explode, and in anger, he personally picked up the knife and almost cut off half of the flesh on Li Xiucheng's arm.
Zeng Guoquan avenged his younger brother, but Li Xiucheng did not think so, he believed that Zeng Guohua's death was an unavoidable thing on the battlefield, and they were each their own master from beginning to end, and there was no deep hatred.
Li Xiucheng angrily reprimanded Zeng Guoquan, thinking that he was crazy on the battlefield and did not know how to respect his opponent. In Li Xiucheng's eyes, life and death on the battlefield are just the arrangement of fate, and the eldest husband should be proud of dying on the battlefield, rather than acting like a child.
Zeng Guoquan couldn't refute it, so he could only leave angrily. After all, Li Xiucheng is an important prisoner of the imperial court, although he can interrogate him privately, but if Li Xiucheng dies because of this, it will become a ** annoyance.
Despite his torture in prison, Lee showed no fear. Instead, he asked the guards for a lot of pen and paper, and then splashed ink and wrote an autobiography of tens of thousands of words, which is what we call a confession, at a rate of 7,000 words a day.
This confession is a detailed record of all his experiences since joining the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
When Zeng Guofan interrogated Li Xiucheng, he provided a detailed confession and confessed his past behavior. Zeng Guofan thought that the case would be successfully concluded in this way, but this was not the case.
In his confession, Li Xiucheng ruthlessly satirized and criticized the corruption of the Qing ** and the surrender of the foreigners, and even cursed the Aixin Jueluo family for cutting off their children and grandchildren, which shocked Zeng Guofan.
What frightened Zeng even more was that Li Xiucheng praised him in his confession, saying that he was the only person in the Qing Dynasty who really served the country and the people, and that he was also a rare general, and if he could stand up and resist, he might be able to open up a new path for China.
Zeng Guofan was not ready to rebel, so he decided not to send the confession to the Empress Dowager Cixi, so as not to invite trouble. He tore off the first part of the confession, gave only the irrelevant part to Cixi, and expressed his appreciation for Li Xiucheng and persuaded him to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.
However, Li Xiucheng was unwilling to survive the corrupt Qing Dynasty, and he smiled and expressed his gratitude to Zeng Guofan, saying that he had missed the opportunity and hoped to repay Zeng Guofan's kindness in the next life.
In the end, Li Xiucheng died generously.
Li Xiucheng died heroically, and Zeng Guofan went out with illness, although their positions were different, they both did their best for China's prosperity and rejuvenation. It is this kind of empathy that allowed Zeng Guofan to keep Li Xiucheng's confession and circulate it to this day, regardless of the risk of extinction.
This confession was not made public until 1963 by Zeng Guofan's great-grandson, Zeng Younong, probably for fear that revealing too much truth would bring disaster to himself.