#337 - Taiping 14: Tears Enough to Swell the River

Three months after the biggest win of his life, Zeng Guofan tries to drown himself. Again. His fleet gets ambushed, split in half, & set ablaze by a 23-year-old nobody bothered to worry about – right up until he became the guy everybody worried about. The reward for surviving all that? A "promotion" in-name only... with no province, no funds, no friends, and a bureaucracy that somehow finds the – time mid-civil-war – to mock him personally. He loses his flagship, his files, his seal of command, and even a friend. And all the while, a much bigger disaster is assembling itself in Nanjing, completely without his input... Time Period Covered: Dec. 1854–Apr. 1856 CE Major Historical Figures: Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Yang Xiuqing, the East King [c. 1821–1856] Qin Rigang, the Yan King [1821–1856] Shi Dakai, the Wing King [1831–1863] Lin Qirong, Taiping commander of Jiujiang Luo Dagang, Taiping commander of Meijiazhou and Hukou Qing Dynasty: The Xianfeng Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Yizhu) [r. 1850–1861] Zeng Guofan, founder of the Xiang Army [1811–1872] Taqibu, Manchu commander of the Xiang Army's land forces [d. 1855] Peng Yulin, co-founder of the Xiang Army's naval forces [1816–1890] Hu Linyi, Xiang Army commander, later Governor of Hubei Chen Qimai, Governor of Jiangxi Tao Enpei, Governor of Hubei [d. 1855] Zuo Zongtang [1812–1885] Major Sources Cited: Michael, Franz, and Chang Chung-li. The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, Vol. I. Platt, Stephen R. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom. Spence, Jonathan D. God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan. Kuhn, Philip A. "The Taiping Rebellion." The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10. Audio Backing Courtesy of: TabletopAudio CLS Productions