After the defeat of the Taiping Rebellion, what happened to the 100,000 female soldiers? What kind of tasks do they have?
Introduction. In China, the legends of heroes such as Hua Mulan and Mu Guiying are almost universally known, and even a child can easily talk about them.
However, in ancient times, women were seen as almost unrelated to the battlefield where gunsmoke and iron hooves were rampant.
In ancient society, it was widely believed that a woman's march with the army would bring "bad omen". If a woman ventures into a barracks in disguise, she will be hated and may face the fate of being beheaded with a sword.
However, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, when feudal rule was in jeopardy, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom formed an army of nearly 100,000 female soldiers, which was eye-catching.
These graceful figures of women poured into the battlefield, reflecting the whirlpool of history. Given their physical strength and gender disadvantage on the battlefield, what role can they play?
As latecomers, we know that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ultimately failed. So, what is the fate of these poor female soldiers?
1. The situation in the late Qing Dynasty was chaotic, and the graceful women joined the army.
After the Opium War, a series of unfair "Treaty of Nanjing" and other "Nanjing Treaty" made the Qing ** burden heavy war reparations.
The decay of the Qing regime caused the Qing treasury to fall into financial crises repeatedly, but the poor people became the scapegoats for the financial deficit.
In the face of rising taxes, ordinary people can hardly maintain food and clothing, and life is unspeakably hard.
In addition, the exploitation of the landlord class and the oppression of foreign forces further aggravated the class contradictions in the country.
Class contradictions in China continued to intensify, and anti-Qing uprisings broke out one after another. In Guangxi, a multi-ethnic area, it was already under the "special care" of the Qing Dynasty, and the oppression was even more serious.
*There is oppression, there is resistance. ”
The layers of oppression in the troubled times finally triggered the peasant uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led by Hong Xiuquan.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom issued the "** Tianmu System", trying to break the shackles of feudal landlord land ownership, so that the poor people could own their own land.
In 1851, Hong Xiuquan established the "Women's Army" in the army, establishing the status of women in the army.
Why is there a team of female soldiers? You only have to look at their beliefs to understand.
Their beliefs stem from the simple desire of the early days of the uprising to "all in one family."
There are many brothers and sisters, and men and women are equal, so that women can also participate in the battle just like men, and play the role they can be.
One may wonder if these beautiful women who do not carry knives are forced to participate just to fill the shortage of military supplies?
However, these female soldiers, who are mainly ethnic minorities, are actually not delicate.
They are dexterous and powerful, and there are even many people who can handle affairs barefoot and calmly, without being confined to the details.
These women, who were once reprimanded by Zeng Guofan as "big-footed barbarian women", have the most complete and healthy female bodies precisely because they do not bind their feet.
Over time, in the army, they gradually underwent rigorous training, improved their physical fitness, and were able to contribute to the army without hesitation.
The female soldiers of the Taiping Army actively responded to the call and were eager to try with the hope of building a beautiful society where men and women are equal and everyone is equal.
Second, when going out with the army, women are not allowed to shave their eyebrows.
However, in the late Qing Dynasty, when the ideology was not yet civilized, were there really so many women who were willing to bravely step into the battlefield and actively join the army?
The answer is yes. The reason why the Taiping Army was able to include female soldiers was not only sporadically accepted, but the number of female soldiers gradually increased, and eventually even grew to as many as 100,000.
This number is surprising, especially considering that it was a sad time in feudal society when a woman would choose to hang herself in shame even if she was seen barefoot.
In Mo Yan's "Sandalwood Punishment", Sun Meiniang felt sad when facing her rival because of her big feet. Although she has a touching demeanor, under the shackles of the old feudal concept, she feels inferior.
Although there are some heroic scenes of women on the battlefield in ancient times, such as the record of Qin Liangyu in the "History of the Ming Dynasty": "Raising troops and wrapping food, rugged and fighting, there are enough people who are eager to go to justice." Those who are on the fence and shrink their chests and wait and see, regard this as worthy of it! However, there are very few such female generals, and even fewer women can leave a mark on the history books.
In this thin historical area, the female soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have added a strong touch to the whole picture. Although they cannot face the battlefield like strong men, they play an indispensable logistical supply role in the army.
The male soldiers were responsible for charging into battle, while the female soldiers silently carried food and grass, buried the corpses, etc., all of which were within their means. Like the women of the family, they are responsible for the preparation of the men before they leave the house, as well as the aftermath of their return. It's just that this scene takes place on the battlefield of the corpse mountain and the sea of blood, and the needle and thread in their hands have become knives and axes and dispose of the remains of the battlefield.
At the end of the day, women may feel intimidated even by killing poultry at home, but do they feel fear? Maybe yes.
Perhaps they have lost their husbands and children, and the reason for all this is the wreckage of the enemy in their hands.
Fear is human nature, but hatred can overcome that instinct.
However, these are not the most brutal, because burying the corpses can at least release the "evil spirit", but they are also burdened with a humiliating task - gathering intelligence.
In order to manage the female soldiers more effectively, Hong Xiuquan categorized them in detail, some for manual labor, some for outstanding appearance, and specialized in acting as "spies" to gather intelligence.
Female soldiers can use their natural feminine advantage to make their enemies stand guard through their beauty and gain reliable intelligence.
It is a shame to join the enemy, and these female soldiers need to overcome not only the fear of failure and death, but also the psychological dilemma.
The support of this group of female soldiers to uphold their faith stems from the oath they took when they first stepped into the military: "The world is one, all are one family." ”
Historians point out that the end of the Qing Dynasty marked the beginning of the Chinese people's cultivation of national consciousness.
It is instinct to live, and so is the hatred inspired by external oppression, and these inherent instincts make the female soldiers forget the fear of blood splashing on their faces, and deeply understand the cruelty of life and death.
Everything they and the men fought for was to get rid of this pain and humiliation in the future.
However, that dream may be on the verge of being shattered.
3. Life and death are impermanent, and the hope will eventually become a dream Many ancient Chinese poems have emerged, such as the Tang Dynasty poet Chen Tao's "Journey to the West of Longxi" wrote: "Poor and uncertain riverside bones, like people in a spring boudoir dream."
The wife who stayed alone in the empty house recalled in her dream her husband who had traveled far away to join the army, but she did not know that he had already become a white bone by the river.
The cruelty of war not only contains the uncertainty of life and death, but also the irreparable regrets of countless couples, mothers and children.
The participation of female soldiers of the Taiping Army in the battle alleviated this sorrow to some extent, and it can be regarded as a satisfaction of the basic needs of human nature.
In the chaotic times when life and death are changing rapidly, soldiers at least have the opportunity to meet their families for the last time, and can feel the last warmth on the battlefield where blood is flowing.
They initially stood up to resist oppression, perhaps all they needed was warmth and the safety of their families, but leaders such as Hong Xiuquan ignored this basic need of the soldiers.
Hong Xiuquan ordered that male and female soldiers should be stationed separately, that they should not meet easily, and that parents and children, wives and husbands should not be allowed to see each other.
This is an outrageous move that goes against basic moral principles. Although war is inherently cruel and enduring parting is inevitable, people always want to be able to bear it together in the face of adversity, rather than being outnumbered.
During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the leadership was too extravagant, with many wives and concubines, while ordinary soldiers were deprived of the right to a normal family life, which caused widespread discontent among the military. This ran counter to the original idea of equality and led to turmoil in the hearts of the military.
It was not until 1855 that Hong Xiuquan finally realized the shortcomings of the separate camp policy, announced that men and women were allowed to marry, and lifted a series of unreasonable restrictions. However, by this time, the soldiers had lost confidence due to the corruption of their superiors, and the unstable policy of "slapping and giving sweet dates" also caused the cohesion of the army to gradually disappear.
The female soldiers of the Taiping Army found an opportunity at this opportunity. They are not bound on their feet and move more freely. From a medical point of view, a healthy body is also more conducive to maintaining a positive and healthy mental state.
During this period, the feudal system of rule was in jeopardy, and the success of numerous uprisings instilled confidence in the oppressed people. Although they may not have received formal education and once leaned outside the school window to envy the readers, the songs, stories and legends passed down from the previous dynasties are sung among the children of these poor families.
They believe that those who work for justice will be rewarded with justice, and that both educated and uneducated people have the right to live a free and happy life under the same sky.
And Hong Xiuquan, who aspires to build a society in which "the world is the same and everyone in the world is brothers and sisters", brings hope to these people.
In 1864, Hong Xiuquan, who was burdened with heavy responsibility, died of illness in July, and Tianjing City fell. The Qing army slaughtered the city on a large scale, and the blood flowed like a river, and the Taiping army was almost completely annihilated.
These female soldiers, along with thousands of other men, fell on the eve of their dreams being realized, failing to witness the dawn of human struggle decades later.
Summary: The Taiping Rebellion dealt a serious blow to the decaying Qing Dynasty, but it ended in failure because the ruling group was still feudal and could not overcome its internal ills.
During the Taiping Rebellion, the number of deaths in China even exceeded that of the two world wars, so the historical significance of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom requires dialectical reflection by future generations.
The female soldiers in the Taiping Army who did not bind their feet or even wore shoes and socks did fight their way out in the turbulent times when famine was raging and there were mountains of bones.
At the time, they may not have understood the historical significance and value of their actions to future generations.
For them, if they do not resist, they are doomed to starvation, and if they do not take the initiative, they will become victims.
For the people involved in the uprising, it was already difficult to survive in the chaotic times. They are forced to give it their all and can only fight hard.
And these efforts may have been the catalyst for the awakening of an important nation that later made the people work together to defend against foreign enemies.