The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, which aimed at overthrowing the Qing Dynasty, lasted 14 years, swept through 18 provinces and cities, and dealt a heavy blow to the late Qing Dynasty. Just because of the limitations of the peasant class itself, it is bound to fail. But it had a great influence on politics in the late Qing Dynasty. This paper aims to explore the influence of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on politics in the late Qing Dynasty. Due to limited information and shallow knowledge, there must be many shortcomings and mistakes in the article. Please criticize and correct me.
First, the decline of centralization and the expansion of the power of local governors.
The main power is heavy, the power is concentrated in the central government, and the local government has almost no independent power, which is a remarkable feature of Xianfeng's politics before the Qing Dynasty. With the rise and continuous development of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in order to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing Dynasty sent a large number of Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers, but to no avail. To this end, the Qing government appointed dozens of officials to hold group training in various provinces. In this way, Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army came into being and became the main force to suppress the peasant revolution. The Qing government had to gradually delegate more and more power to Xiang and Huai generals. For example, Zeng Guofan was appointed Governor of Liangjiang, in charge of military affairs in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. In this way, from Xianfeng, the situation of "emphasizing sovereignty" and centralization was broken, and gradually formed a situation of emphasizing the inside and the outside, and the governor was dictatorial. The specific performance is as follows:
1, the military power moved down, and the governor mastered the semi-localized and semi-private army. Before Xianfeng, the military power of the Qing Dynasty was monopolized by the emperor. The central government recruited soldiers, and the governor did not dare to neglect them. Xiang Huai Army since Xianfeng, Zhang Zhidong's "Self-improvement Army" and Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army have all become semi-localized and semi-private, and they are not absolutely subordinate to the central government. "Ministry of War, in addition to green camp, all provinces are brave, must know. If they go to the police, all provinces must take care of themselves and cannot be merciful. " (Kang Youwei: On the Official System, Tang Zhijun's Collection of Kang Youwei's Political Essays (Volume I), Zhonghua Book Company, 198 1 Edition, p. 553. )
2. The financial power moves down, and the governor gradually grasps the local financial power.
The emperor's mastery of military power and centralized financial power are both external and internal, and the governor's mastery of military power is also closely related to their mastery of financial power. In the early and middle Qing Dynasty, all financial power was unified in the inpatient department, and all financial revenues and expenditures were guaranteed as national revenues and expenditures by formulating revenue and expenditure subjects and revenue and expenditure standards, thus realizing the central government's control over financial power. Provincial deployment department, salt transportation channel and grain storage channel are the agencies of the Ministry of Housing and are in charge of the finance of a province. However, in 1852, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom took control of the rich provinces in the Yangtze River valley, the central government's revenue dropped sharply and there was no money to allocate, so the provinces withheld taxes and raised their salaries to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, and the financial power gradually moved down. 1853, the Qing court issued an order to "designate the appropriation department according to the number of years". (The Westernization Movement, Volume III, page 542). This law gives local governors the legal power to control financial power. In this way, the centralized financial system is limited to collapse. With the decline of central financial power, local rulers gradually mastered local financial power.
3. The power of appointment and removal of personnel has been moved down, and the governor has expanded his control over officials.
Before the middle of Qing Dynasty, the power of administration and personnel was concentrated in the central government. However, due to the rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement and the expansion of the governor's military power and financial power, they often take military affairs as an excuse to play the role of recommenders. The Draft of the History of Qing Dynasty said that Zeng and Hu "recommended the sages of the world and played the role of rejuvenation". Due to Zeng Guofan's growing power, the Qing court even ordered him to sponsor the governor several times. In this way, the situation of "emphasizing the outside and neglecting the inside" has gradually formed.
In short, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom disrupted the highly centralized ruling order of the Qing Dynasty and provided an opportunity for the rise of the Hunan-Huai Army. The Qing government relied on Xiang army and Huai army to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and had to give them great power, thus creating a historical premise for the governor's dictatorship. In this way, the centralization of power in the Qing dynasty was seriously weakened, while the power of local governors was expanded.
The second is the change that leads to the power contrast between Manchu and Han.
The Qing Dynasty was a feudal dynasty established after Manchu nobles entered the Central Plains, and it was a regime in which Manchu and Han landlords jointly oppressed all ethnic groups. However, the privilege of Manchu and the ethnic discrimination and oppression of Han nationality by Manchu nobles are also the harsh reality of Qing dynasty, and the contradiction between Manchu and Han nationality has always been an important contradiction in Qing dynasty. Manchu nobles enjoyed hereditary privileges and pretended to be conquerors. Manchu accounts for only one-eightieth of the Han nationality, but administrative positions account for half. This situation changed during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, which made the power balance between Manchu and Han develop in favor of Han nationality. The rise of Zeng Guofan, Hu Linyi, Zuo and Li Hongzhang led to the decline of centralization in Qing Dynasty, and the balance of power between Manchu and Han in the ruling class changed. Especially in Daoguang and Xianfeng years, the governor of Han people accounted for more than 70%, which also proved that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement provided opportunities for Han people to gain power. The political status of Manchu is declining, and the political power of Han nationality is growing. In this redistribution of political power, the position of Han people was obviously enhanced, which led to the expansion of centrifugal force and made the ruling foundation of Manchu nobles increasingly shaken. After the Revolution of 1911, the provinces responded to independence one after another, which made the Qing Dynasty fall apart in an instant. Can't say that the conditions are ready.
The third is to urge the Qing Dynasty to open to the outside world and the Westernization Movement.
After the Opium War, western learning spread to the east and gradually became a development direction. However, the long-term closed-door policy of the Qing government made the Qing dynasty ignorant and arrogant about the world, which became the main obstacle to China's modernization. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom dealt a heavy blow to the decadent Qing Dynasty and established a regime against it, which became a major "hidden worry" of the Qing Dynasty. At the same time, the British and French allied forces took the opportunity to launch the Second Opium War, stepped up their aggression in politics, economy and culture, and gradually involved China in the world capitalist system, becoming a "foreign invasion" of the Qing Dynasty. Facing the "once-in-a-thousand-year-old change" and "once-in-a-thousand-year-old enemy", (ready to discuss the folding of coastal defense, Complete Works of Li Wenzhong, Volume 24. People of insight in the ruling class began to seek a more realistic and effective way to relieve internal and external troubles. In this way, the enlightened and pragmatic Westernization School came into being. They persisted in opening to the outside world, successively established a number of military enterprises, civilian enterprises and modern navy, established new schools and sent overseas students, which promoted the modernization of China and made it take a difficult and dignified step. Although unwilling, it conforms to the historical development trend of China. At least, the rise of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement provided an opportunity for the rise of Westernization School and took the first step for China's modernization.
In short, it was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement that provided an opportunity for Zeng, Zuo, Hu and Li to step onto the historical stage. They are all local forces, Han bureaucrats and westernizers. Their activities promoted social changes and had a great influence on politics in the late Qing Dynasty. This shows the historical role of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.