Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

Summer of 1856 (the sixth year of the Xianfeng Emperor's reign), Tianjing City.

Tianjing is Jiangning, which is the Nange of later generations.

Three years ago, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's army captured Nanjing and officially established it as their capital. They also renamed Nanjing Tianjing.

At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's military strength had reached its peak.

The Qing army's Jiangbei and Jiangnan camps were successively captured by the Taiping army. The siege of Tianjing had been lifted.

However, this also brought Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, to the pinnacle of his personal prestige, and his ambitions swelled further. He used the pretext of "the Heavenly Father descending to earth" to force the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan to bestow upon him the title of "Long Live the Emperor."

The inability to share hardship but not prosperity is undoubtedly a common problem among rebel armies throughout history.

While undercurrents were swirling within Tianjing City, a completely different scene unfolded in the orphanage in the north of the city.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

A group of seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys, shirtless, practiced bayonet fighting techniques.

Even though they were drenched in sweat, they didn't stop and were full of energy.

At the shooting range not far away, a group of young men of the same age were practicing shooting.

"Raise your guns! Ready, fire!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A crisp gunshot rang out, and the bullet struck the target more than 100 meters away.

On the other side of the training ground, even more young men were engaged in various training exercises, including physical conditioning and drill drills.

If you look closely, these young men either have buzz cuts or are completely bald.

They were completely different from the disheveled Taiping soldiers in Nanjing.

The Taiping Army was also known as the "Long-haired Rebels" because they did not wear pigtails like other people under the rule of the Manchus.

After the Manchus entered the pass, they not only carried out a brutal massacre of Han Chinese, but also burned various Ming Dynasty books. As a result, more than two hundred years later, Han Chinese had no idea what the people wore and dressed during the Ming Dynasty.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's clothing, appearance, and even its official system were all learned from operas.

The Taiping soldiers all had disheveled hair and wore red headscarves. Therefore, the Manchus also referred to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as the "Long-haired Rebellion".

Upstairs in a two-story building in the center of the orphanage, the six-and-a-half-year-old young ruler of the Heavenly Kingdom, or as the official name of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Young Heavenly King Hong Tianguifu, looked at the soldiers who were training with great satisfaction.

"Two and a half years! I've finally laid a foundation. Hopefully, everything will be alright in time for the Tianjing Incident three months from now!" Hong Tian said to himself.

Hong Tian is not a person of this era, but comes from a later era.

Hou Tian, ​​a man from later generations, was originally an expert in mechanics who served the country and was responsible for the research and development of new equipment.

While visiting his hometown, he tried to rescue a child who had fallen into the water, but ended up being swept away by the current.

Upon waking up, he found himself transported to 1853.

At that time, the Taiping Army had just captured Nanjing and officially established its capital there.

The young Heavenly King Hong Tianguifu, who had been in exile, rushed to Tianjing to join Hong Xiuquan.

As a result, he caught a cold on the way and died because he didn't receive timely treatment.

Unexpectedly, Hong Tian traveled through time and replaced the original owner of the body, becoming the young Heavenly King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

This left Hong Tian, ​​who had finally realized what was happening, completely bewildered.

If he could, he certainly wouldn't want to travel back to this era.

In his later years, he had a wife and children, his parents were still alive, and he not only had a government job but also received good benefits.

Having traveled to this era, I have nothing.

Most importantly, Hung Tin was well aware that Hung Tin Kwai Fook's fate would be extremely tragic.

After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was suppressed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Nanjing fell, he fled for several months.

But in the end, he was captured by the Qing army.

Subsequently, he was ordered by Shen Baozhen, the governor of Jiangxi Province, to be executed by slow slicing.

His limbs were tied to the prison cart, and he was brutally mutilated with 1,516 cuts before he finally died.

The thought of such an outcome is chilling.

"No matter what, I absolutely cannot be captured by the Tartars and executed by slow slicing like in another time and space! If possible, I must do everything in my power to overthrow the Tartars' rule and never let this humiliation continue!" Hong Tian told himself secretly.

Hong Tian has always been extremely hostile towards the Manchu Qing dynasty.

It wasn't just the Qing dynasty's internal massacres of Han Chinese and suppression of popular resistance that caused the problem. It was also the Qing rulers' utter subservience and sycophancy towards Western powers.

They could even utter phrases like "I'd rather give to friendly nations than to my own slaves." This shows just how shameless they are.

Even though the Tartars have been in the Central Plains for more than two hundred years, they have never regarded the Han people of the world as their subjects, but only as slaves to whom they can take whatever they want.

Why do Chinese people suffer from chronic calcium deficiency? And why, in another timeline, even though the country is already very powerful, do they still fail to stand tall when facing foreigners, and still unconsciously kneel down?

It's because we knelt before these foreigners for too long during the Qing Dynasty!

In this timeline, Hong Tian absolutely will not allow such a situation to happen again.

Of course, Hong Tian could not guarantee whether the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would ultimately win.

He could only do his utmost to support the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and prevent it from collapsing as quickly as it had in another timeline.

But if he ultimately fails, then he won't just sit and wait to die; he'll have no choice but to go into exile overseas.

The Tianjing Incident, which was set to erupt in three months, was undoubtedly a landmark event marking the decline of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from its initial victory.

Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, was so powerful that he overshadowed his master. He was ambitious, arrogant, and even disregarded Hong Xiuquan, the Heavenly King.

Therefore, Yang Xiuqing's death was absolutely deserved.

Wei Changhui, the King of the North, was also an ambitious fellow.

Even if he killed Yang Xiuqing on Hong Xiuquan's orders, the wanton expansion of the purges was preparation for his eventual autocracy. Even the family and generals of Yi Wang Shi Dakai were slaughtered.

This angered Shi Dakai, who then left, taking with him 100,000 elite troops of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

It's important to understand that before the Tianjing Incident, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had an army of 500,000 to 600,000, but its true elite force numbered only 100,000 to 200,000.

Shi Dakai took away more than half of the elite troops, causing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to immediately lose its offensive capabilities.

The Tartars seized this opportunity to launch a counterattack, rebuilding the Jiangbei and Jiangnan camps and blockading Tianjing.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, after that, could only eke out a living.

Therefore, if Hong Tian wanted to defy fate and change the destiny of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he had to suppress the Tianjing Incident.

To prevent the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from losing a large number of elite troops in the internal strife.

Of course, Hong Tian also wanted to take this opportunity to purge some high-ranking officials who had completely degenerated, lost all ambition, and only knew how to fight for power and indulge in extravagance, so as to prevent the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from becoming further corrupt.

The soldiers undergoing training in the orphanage in front of him are Hong Tian's source of confidence.

Two and a half years ago, I arrived in Tianjing and joined forces with Hong Xiuquan.

Hong Tian was then appointed as the Young Heavenly King, which was tantamount to announcing to the world that he was Hong Xiuquan's successor.

Taking advantage of the situation, Hong Tian proposed establishing an orphanage to gather the orphans whose fathers had sacrificed their lives for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Furthermore, he exchanged all of Hong Xiuquan's rewards for supplies for the orphanage.

Today, the entire orphanage has more than 50,000 people.

Although the vast majority of them were children around ten years old or even younger.

But there are also quite a few who are sixteen or seventeen years old or older.

These people have become the backbone of Hong Tian's forces.

As Hong Tian was envisioning the future, a tall and handsome young man with a buzz cut walked up to him.

"Your Highness, the little ones are almost fully trained. I think the Third Battalion can be formed now!" the visitor said.

"Alright, Yucheng! Let's form the Third Battalion then!" Hong Tian nodded.

That's right, this young man is none other than the famous Chen Yucheng, who was bestowed the title of Prince of Ying in another time and space.

Together with Li Xiucheng, who was granted the title of Loyal King, they were known as the twin stars of the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!

However, after the Taiping Rebellion failed, Chen Yucheng was also executed by slow slicing. It's just that he didn't suffer as many cuts as Hong Tianguifu.

In this respect, the two can be considered brothers in misfortune.

Therefore, in this timeline, just as Chen Yucheng was beginning to distinguish himself in the Battle of Wuchang, Hong Tian requested Hong Xiuquan to bring him over to assist him in managing the orphanage.