Li Xiucheng, a descendant of Zeng Guofan, confessed, and the academic community was shocked
In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Li Xiucheng, the king of Yingjie Zhong, who came to the top, struggled to resist the attack of the Hunan army in distress, but was ultimately unlucky**; He wrote more than 50,000 words while in prison"Readme", but what is presented to the world is only a cut version.
Since then, the academic community has been interested in Li Xiucheng"Readme"In-depth research is conducted, but there are still many unsolved mysteries. Well, the one provided by the descendants of Zeng Guofan in 1963"Li Xiucheng self-reported"Will it shock the academic community?
Are there any secrets in this history that have not yet been known?
The origin of Li Xiucheng's confession: In 1864, after several months of fierce fighting, Tianjing City was conquered. At the time of life and death, Li Xiucheng carried Hong Xiuquan's son Hong Tianguifu to successfully break through.
However, under the siege of the Hunan army, he was unfortunate in the end. Regarding Li Xiucheng's treatment, Zeng Guofan had two options: one was to hand him over to the imperial court, and the other was to execute him on the spot.
And Zeng Guofan wants to understand the inner world of the "loser". If through the interrogation of Li Xiucheng, a central figure in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, some unknown secrets of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are obtained, then this confession will become very valuable.
He could use it to praise his own exploits and slander the historical achievements of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Li Xiucheng would rather die than give in after being captured, and insisted on death. It is recorded that Li Xiucheng began to write his confession under the coercion and inducement of Zeng Guofan, but how did Zeng Guofan do it?
It is speculated that the two once had a confidential conversation. In this conversation, Li Xiucheng analyzed the situation after the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and suggested that Zeng Guofan adapt to the current situation in the world and strive to become emperor.
However, Zeng Guofan took advantage of Li Xiucheng's attitude at this time, and soon after Li Xiucheng began to write a "confession". It can be seen from Zeng Guofan's diary that his description of Li Xiucheng after he was captured was "offering mercy and begging for mercy, nothing more than trying to prolong his life".
said that Li Xiucheng was begging to surrender and had to write a confession in order to survive. So, did Lee so-sung really choose to surrender?
In the last 16 days of his life, Li Xiucheng wrote a 50,000-word "confession", which was so rich that Zeng Guofan reviewed and corrected it night after night. Eventually, Zeng Guofan presented the 30,000-word abridged confession to the Empress Dowager Cixi, and the original manuscript was said to have been hidden in his hometown.
What is even more remarkable is that Zeng Guofan executed Li Xiucheng on the day he got his confession, which makes people wonder if there are any unknown secrets that have been covered up.
A newly discovered document by Tsang's descendants reveals more unknown details of Li Xiucheng's "confession". In 1962, Zeng Younong, the great-grandson of Zeng Guofan, provided a document entitled "Li Xiucheng's Personal Confession" to the World Book Company, which played an important role in the study of Li Xiucheng's "confession".
This information in Zeng Younong's hand is Li Xiucheng's handwritten confession after he was captured, which profoundly exposes all kinds of evil deeds of the Hunan army. After the Hunan army broke through Tianjing City, they inflicted brutal methods on innocent civilians, resulting in the burning of Tianjing City, and countless civilian casualties.
In order to cover up these crimes, Li Xiucheng was certain to die, so of course the confession reflecting the bad deeds of the Hunan army would be deleted by Zeng Guofan. This new discovery of "Li Xiucheng's Confession" reveals more truths about this period of history for us.
Li Xiucheng's Confession not only reveals the truth about the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but also shows that Li Xiucheng did not show a willingness to surrender while objectively analyzing the reasons for the defeat, which is completely different from the description in Zeng Guofan's diary.
Zeng Guofan's diary accused Li Xiucheng of flattering him for survival and taking the initiative to write a confession, which raised doubts about Li Xiucheng's personality and caused a fierce controversy for a while.
Although Li Xiucheng's suggestion that Zeng Guofan "conform to the current situation of the world and strive to become emperor" has not been confirmed in the materials, even if it really existed, Zeng Guofan did not dare to make it public, and it was more likely to delete or destroy it.
From Liang Qichao's praise of Li Xiucheng, "Li Xiucheng, a man in recent times." Xiucheng is loyal to his own clan, a loyal king, and can be deserved", we can see Li Xiucheng's loyalty to his career.
Lee so-sung is a complete individual with strengths and weaknesses, and there are still many unsolved mysteries about his "confession" waiting to be explored.
The Qing Dynasty court highly recognized Zeng Guofan's outstanding achievements in destroying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and specially awarded him the reward of the first-class Yiyong Marquis, which is the most important position awarded to the Han people since the founding of the Qing Dynasty.
Zeng Guofan became the first Manchu prince to be awarded the title of "Marquis of Yiyong" among the Han ministers, which was a very high affirmation of the merits of his civil servants in leading troops. And the nickname "Wenzheng" he received after his death further confirmed his preeminence in the field of culture.
For the courtiers, this is undoubtedly a great honor.