In 1844, Feng Yunshan went to Bauhinia Mountain alone to carry out missionary activities, temporarily lived in Zeng Yuzhen's home, and at the same time served as a tutor to promote the worship of God. He skillfully guided Zeng Yuzhen and his people to contribute to the construction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In the early stages, the Zeng and Huang families performed well and had high expectations for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, the addition of Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui upset this balance. They played the roles of "Heavenly Father" and "Heavenly Brother" respectively, and their influence gradually surpassed that of the Zeng family.
Although the Zeng clan struggled to be among the centers of power, their influence was still not negligible. The Zeng family was rich and talented, and many of the clansmen gave their lives for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, or died in internal struggles, which is heart-wrenching.
It is particularly worth mentioning that Zeng Tian, the old general (alias Huang Zhong) in the "Zeng Family General", although he is more than sixty years old, he is still active on the battlefield. He fought bravely and bravely, and was known as the "flying general". He first served as Hong Xiuquan's bodyguard, and later participated in the war. In June 1853, he followed the Taiping army west to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, with Hu Yihuang as the main commander, Lai Hanying as the deputy commander, and Zeng Tianyang as the forward.
In this battle, Zeng Tianyang raided Anqing, successfully captured the enemy's position, and killed thousands of enemies. Since then, Anqing has become an important line of defense for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In the same year, Zeng Tianyang assisted Hu Yihuang in defending Luzhou, and followed Lai Hanying and Zeng Tianyang to seize Nankang, Pengze and other places, and successfully besieged Nanchang. They also fought a decisive battle with the Hunan army, and repeatedly frustrated the spirit of the Hunan army.
Unfortunately, Zeng Tianyang lost the battle against Yangjiazui, Jiangxi, and finally died at the age of 65. Zeng Lichang was also a talented man, who had both outstanding writing and outstanding military talents. After setting the capital Tianjing, he was stationed in Yangzhou to resist the "Jiangbei camp".
In the process of defending Yangzhou, he successfully resisted the attack of the Qing army with a small force. Xu Shuanglai was a famous general of the Qing Dynasty, who had gone to the Western Regions to achieve brilliant achievements, and was the pioneer in the "Jiangbei camp". He was adept at using artillery attacks, fought valiantly, and never flinched. In the end, Xu Shuanglai broke through Zeng Lichang's defense line and captured Yangzhou.