According to the Chronicle of Bandits in Guangdong, Volume 4 records:? When young and old go to town, women pay to join the army, and they wait. ? The officers and men of the Eight Banners guarding the city are even more desperate to resist and kill? More than 1000 Guangdong bandits? . However, the Taiping Army was in full swing. Even though the standard-bearer's desperate resistance caused a lot of casualties to the Taiping Army, the Taiping Army finally captured Jiangning. In the battle of Jiangning City, Hou Xiang, the general of Jiangning guarding the city, committed suicide, and all the troops of Huo Longwu, the deputy commander-in-chief, were destroyed. On the day of breaking the city, the city officials and their families committed suicide one after another, which was terrible. After the Taiping Army entered Jiangning City, it surrounded Manchuria City? Kill everyone, leave nothing behind. ? At that time, there were 60,000 to 70,000 people in Jiangning City, and only 400 people fled the city after the Taiping Army massacre.
In order to kill these fleeing flag-bearers, the Taiping Army ordered anyone who caught a Manchu to be rewarded with five taels of silver. During the war, the purchasing power of five taels of silver was still very strong, so the villagers raised hoes and sickles and arrested many Manchu people. Few people can escape in the end. After the attack on Jiangning, the Taiping Army conducted a large-scale search? Demon? Action, Taiping soldiers carrying broadswords went door to door and asked if they were hiding. Demon? If anyone is found hiding anything related to the official government, official seals and the Qing court, they will be immediately pushed out and beheaded.
After the Taiping Army killed the flag bearer, women and children were not spared. These flag bearers, children and women are all on the same side? Demon? , must be cut off. Some Manchu women put on Han Chinese clothes and fled to avoid being chased. But Han women bind their feet, and flag-bearer women bind their feet, so see? Bigfoot blade, full hand blade. ? After the Taiping army captured Nanjing, it continued to March to various places, and every time it hit a place, the massacre followed. In the 18 province controlled by Taiping Army, almost every province has to be combed back and forth several times like being combed by Taiping Army, and any Eight Banners and Manchu people hidden in urban and rural areas will be slaughtered.
14 years, the Taiping Army's policy of killing Manchus led to the slaughter of a large number of Manchus, and the Eight Banners garrison system deployed by the Qing court in the southeast for hundreds of years was completely disrupted. Taiping rebels retaliated and killed a large number of Manchu generals, such as Hou Xiang, He Chun, Ruichang, Wulantai and others.
During the reign of 14, how many Manchu people were slaughtered by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? According to Hunter, an American who lived in China for nearly 40 years and witnessed the massacre of Taiping Army, Taiping Army entered Nanjing and carried out a cold-blooded massacre of Manchu defenders and their families there, killing 25,000 people, old and young. ? This is just the data of Nanjing. During the Northern Expedition of Taiping Army, the Eight Banners mobilized by the Qing court also suffered heavy losses. In all previous battles with the Taiping Army, the Eight Banners soldiers deployed by the Qing court from all over the country were over 100,000. This is not counting the number of Eight Banners that were gradually slaughtered in Jiangnan 18 province during the period of 14 ruled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If we have to estimate the data of Taiping massacre, this number should not be less than 30, right? 500 thousand people.
This really fulfilled a famous saying: when you come out to mix, you always have to pay it back. The Eight Banners slaughtered the Han people all over the country when they entered the customs, and now retribution has come to them again. Of course, some people will ask, how did the Taiping Army distinguish Manchu from Han Chinese? At that time, there was still a big difference between Manchu and Han. Manchu people generally live in cities and generally do not associate with Han people, especially in southern areas, with different accents. In addition, Manchu women don't bind their feet and dress differently. Like men, women's dresses of flag-bearers are all cut robes. The tops and skirts of Han women are all cut down.
But most of the Han people's clothes are worn out, as can be seen from the photos in the late Qing Dynasty. Moreover, the braids of Han civilians are mostly tied on their heads, and there is a habit of wearing headscarves in the south. It's easy to distinguish Han people from Manchu people. The foundation of the Manchu dynasty was unstable, and only this kind of strategy similar to colonial stronghold could effectively control the local government. It should be said that this strategy was more effective in the early and middle period of imperial rule. There are also shortcomings. Once a large-scale uprising breaks out, it will be unbearable. The most dangerous thing before was the chaos in San Francisco, but at least it persisted; What will happen in heaven and earth, what will happen in poor areas, Xian Yi, young and old, are all small scenes that can hold up. However, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement was too big, and the whole city in the south was harvested cleanly, which destroyed the basic plate of Manchu rule. ?
The Eight Banners of the Taiping Army almost lost a generation, which is why there is that sentence in the textbook. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement dealt a heavy blow to the feudal ruling class and strongly impacted the ruling foundation of the Qing government? . In other words, the southern flags were almost killed, and the Qing Dynasty gradually lost control of the southern provinces and even the whole country. It shook the rule of the profound Manchu dynasty. After that, the Qing government ruled the south indirectly through the Han landlords. Without the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the modern revolution would not be vigorous in the south, which was a victory based on the bloodshed and sacrifice of predecessors.