In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Jiaxing's urban development was basically restorative, not to mention after a short period of development in the Kangxi and Qianlong years, from the Jiaqing and Daoguang years, with the gradual decline of the Qing Dynasty, the continuous corruption and rigidity of feudal rule, the city went into decline. Since the 20th year of Daoguang's reign (1840), Jiaxing has been plagued by wars, especially during the years of Xianfeng and Tongzhi, the Taiping Army and the Qing Army had many fierce battles, and urban and rural destruction and population deaths reached an unprecedented level.
In the first year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1851), the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom revolted. In March of the third year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied Nanjing (renamed Tianjing), spreading its influence to 18 provinces, sweeping most of China, and establishing a regime that faced off with the Qing court, which had a strong impact on Jiaxing. In January of the 10th year of Xianfeng (1860), Li Xiucheng, the loyal king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, rushed to Hangzhou with the strategy of "encircling Zhao and saving Wei" to seek a solution to the siege of Tianjing. On March 19, the Taiping Army invaded Hangzhou, and Li Yantai, the garrison of the Hangzhou Qing Army, retreated to Jiaxing. They stationed outside the west gate of the city, demanded payment, looted, burned, and killed. From Jiaxing to Doumen, the houses outside the west and north gates of the city were in ruins. On June 15, Li Shixian, the general of the Taiping Army, defeated Jiang Changgui, the Qing governor, in Wangjiangjing, and occupied Jiaxing. Zhang Yuzao, the governor of Jiaxing in the Qing Dynasty, abandoned the city and fled. Li Shixian ordered Tianyi Chen Kunshu and Lang Tianan Chen Bingwen to guard Jiaxing. In late June, Zhang Yuliang, the commander of the Qing Dynasty, gathered 12000 people in Hangzhou, reorganized equipment, and attacked Jiaxing step by step. In the middle of July, the vanguard entered the Three Towers White Clothes Nunnery. By 28, the Qing army had accumulated tens of thousands of troops, camped in Longbran Bang opposite the Three Towers, and spread the battle line from Zhayan in the north to the south of Wulong Bridge in the south. On the same day, Zhang Yuliang's supervisor attacked the city and was repulsed by the Taiping Army. On August 24, Li Xiucheng withdrew his troops from Songjiang to reinforce Jiaxing. From September 3, the main force of Li Xiucheng's troops and Zhang Yuliang's troops fought fiercely in Jiaxing for five days and nights. Only on August 8 did they defeat the Qing troops, and Zhang Yuliang fled to Hangzhou in disorder. In December, Li Xiucheng captured Hangzhou, and the situation in Jiaxing gradually consolidated.
After the Taiping Army occupied Jiaxing, Jiaxing Prefecture was changed into Jiaxing Prefecture. At first, the military generals were in charge of the administration at the county level. Jiaxing was under the management of Wang and Chen Bingwen, and under the specific management of officials from the various ministries and departments of the royal government. Later, Jiaxing established a general system as the chief executive. At the grass-roots level, there are military commanders, division commanders and brigade commanders, called township officials. Organizations at the county and town levels are called libraries, and township offices are called bureaus.
After the Taiping Army occupied Jiaxing, it repeatedly issued notices to reassure the people and stabilize social order. In the August of the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), the general of the Taiping Army posted a notice asking the people to recommend village officials, "The top should be officials, the bottom should be civilians, there is no crime in the four regions, and the people have the hope of spring". Then a notice was issued to announce: "If there is any disturbance, it will be sent to the shaft, and it will be a crime under the rule of law.". At the same time, a placard was posted in Puyuan saying, "The cold people have no clothes, and the hungry people have no food, which is really pathetic. We ordered the Chinese government to punish the people and sweep away the demons..."? Our army came here to set up cards to pacify the people, gather the refugees, return to their homeland, live and work in peace, and enjoy peace forever ". In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, "brothers... shall not seek residential houses, and those who occupy and seize civilian houses and forcibly buy goods shall be beheaded and shown to the public after being inspected by the military commander". At the end of the year, the loyal king ordered all restaurants not to keep women privately, and anyone who violated the order would be killed.
The discipline of the Taiping Army was very strict, and there were few disturbances on the way from Guangxi to Nanjing. However, when Jiaxing was occupied, it was in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The composition of the team was complex, and the discipline was increasingly abandoned. Although the military discipline in Jiaxing is relatively good, and the disciplinary violations will be severely dealt with once found, it is difficult to stop the deterioration of military discipline in general, and burning, killing and looting are quite common. In October of the first year of Tongzhi (1862), the Taiping Army "harassed the people privately" in Jiaxing and "captured them all". The local people were so angry that they arrested six people and sent them to the city, where they were handed over to the military and political chief of Jiaxing, Rongwang Liao Fashou. Liao Fashou put all six people in the public, but still could not stop the army from disturbing the people. On the same day that six people showed up in the public, the Taiping Army also held 13 township officials in Jiaxing North Township, forcing them to pay 30000 taels of silver, otherwise half of the people's fields would be cut. In this regard, Liao Fashou and others cannot cure it.
Of course, the Taiping Army also did a lot of things in Jiaxing. For example, it strengthened management by compiling household registration and issuing doorplates, and social security improved significantly. Shen Zi wrote in his diary: "The Taiping Army compiled and checked the household registration and issued the doorplate. Some doorplates were for the people of the Chinese dynasty." People who went out should lead the way. Shen Zi's diary said: "It is only necessary for people to lead the way in the (to) bureau." In the second year of Tongzhi's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1863), the British Yan Li went to Jiaxing. He recorded that the organization work in the city was extremely perfect, and everything was carried out as accurately as the clock, and no household was locked, because thieves, beggars and bandits were all extinct in the city.
In Jiaxing, the Taiping Army banned opium and gambling, and announced that "foreign smoke (opium smoke) is not allowed to be blown, and offenders will not be beheaded". According to Shen Zi's records, Jiaxing was "the end of gambling bandits' escape and hiding". He exclaimed: "For the rest of his life, more than 30 years, it is unique to not see gambling. Stealing long hair trumpets was not caught by local officials in the Qing Dynasty."
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom restored hair and beard, and "restored the nature of the Central Plains". Men were not allowed to shave their heads and braids, but they also took care of the operators who went to the areas occupied by the Qing army and allowed them to shave their heads. Although, the Taiping Army has restored schools, established chapels, and advertised talents to recruit talents. The talents on the list include "scholars who are familiar with astrology and astrology", "those who are familiar with Sun Wu's books and know the art of war array", "those who are familiar with the gains and losses of ancient and modern historical events and political affairs", "medical personnel who are capable of both internal and external sciences", and "those who are good at one thing and one skill are all recruited"; However, the Taiping Army "demolished demon temples and demonic images", demolished temples and demonized gods, and some "private demonic temples" were severely punished according to the law. Traditional culture was severely damaged, especially after the war, Jiaxing culture suffered unprecedented devastation.
In the second year of Tongzhi (1863), the Taiping Army was in a worse situation in Zhejiang. Li Hongzhang's Huai Army, with the cooperation of the "ever victorious army" (formerly known as the "foreign gun team") originally set up by Wall, came to Jiaxing from Jiangsu and Shanghai after the capture of Wujiang at the end of July. In September, Zuo Zongtang and the French "Chang Jie Army" jointly attacked Hangzhou. By December, the Taiping Army in Pinghu, Zhapu, Haiyan, Ganpu and other places had surrendered, and the situation of the Taiping Army in Jiaxing was getting worse.
On January 5 of the third year of Tongzhi (1864), Qing troops captured Xinfeng Town. At this time, Jiaxing was surrounded on the east, north and south, and only the west road still reached Huzhou. Liao Fashou, the garrison general of Jiaxing, insisted on fighting. At this time, the watchmen of Haining and Tongxiang will surrender one after another, and Jiaxing is hard to defend for a long time. From the first ten days of March to the middle ten days of March, the Qing army organized several fierce attacks. The Taiping army in the city, under the command of Liao Fashou, the Rong king, and Liu Degong, the Ting king, resisted with all strength. The Taiping army barracks outside the east, north, and west gates of Jiaxing city were occupied and burned by the Huai army. On March 24, the head of the artillery regiment of the Qing army and the Englishman of the Foreign Guns Brigade, Colonel Belle, bombarded the city wall with foreign guns. On March 25, the Qing army pretended to attack the north gate first, then gathered strength to attack the southeast main gate, and fired artillery from the Yanyu Tower of the South Lake to bombard the city wall. Under the heavy gunfire, the gunpowder magazine in the city was hit and exploded, and more than 20 gun emplacements were destroyed. The city wall was also blown open more than a hundred zhang, and Liu Degong, the king supporter, was killed in battle. The Taiping Army braved gunfire to "fight against the earth wall" and quickly repaired the gap. However, it was sunk by foreign artillery. The Qing soldiers went to the city separately. After the war, Jiaxing City fell through the fierce alleys. After the Rong King Liao Fashou was captured, he died. In addition to some of the city's officers and soldiers broke through to Huzhou, more than 5000 people died in battle.
After the Qing army and the foreign spears invaded Jiaxing, they looted, burned and killed, turning the remaining cities into killing grounds and ruins. "After the Qing soldiers entered the city of Jiaxing, they indiscriminately killed the unfortunate non combatants who had not escaped. Innocent residents, regardless of men, women and children, were slaughtered", "7000 innocent people were killed" [1], and rural working farmers and people who worked for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were persecuted and counterattacked. On March 31, the Shanghai Chronicle, an English newspaper that had always supported the Qing Dynasty, reported that "as we expected, after the surrender of Jiaxing Prefecture, Cheng's army committed heinous atrocities, and the unfortunate residents in the city were ordered to carry looted goods to the Qing army's defense line outside the city, and when they arrived, they were beheaded immediately". The 13 battalions of the Huai Army of the Qing Dynasty occupied Jiaxing. After they ran out of property, they demolished their houses and sold wood. The Yanyu Building in the South Lake and the doors and windows of the royal residence were all sold. Xu Yaoguang, who was appointed magistrate of Jiaxing shortly later, wrote a poem called "Covering Nests and Swallows". He said: "When the Chinese house was burned in a hurry to restore the city, it was known that the army had a sharp axe, and it was not for the owner's sake. The long rope dragged the title, and the east wind smashed it.", That is to say, to reprimand the Qing army for burning houses and demolishing houses.
After the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; Jiaxing's urban and rural areas are dilapidated. The population dropped from 2.93 million in the 18th year of Daoguang (1838) to 940000 in the 12th year of Tongzhi (1873); Rural land is deserted, and more than half of the land is left uncultivated; The city was in ruins and all facilities were destroyed. The magistrate Xu Yaoguang described the desolation of Jiaxing as follows: "I came to Hejun from Hangzhou, and there was no family for 200 miles along the way, but I saw that E'e was in the pass of Shilei, and white bones were invading the water and lying on the sand"; In the city, "houses are broken and people are few, grass is burned and there is a long way to go", "the ruins of the old famous city today, green grass and poles help loneliness", and "Chinese houses pay by burning"; In rural areas, "Yuanhu soldiers are in a bleak fire, and thousands of villages suffer from famine"; When the seawall bursts, "more sympathy for the lack of seawall, and the bittersweet stream fish"; Cultural relics were destroyed. "This year, there was no paper in Xiuzhou", and Jiaxing was in a depression.
During the restoration work, the Qing Dynasty Government, in addition to summoning the displaced businessmen to return to their hometown for production, mainly solicited foreigners to Jiaxing to reclaim land, "listen to the people's self cultivation and broaden their land tax", and made some construction and repair of urban and rural facilities, but the recovery of urban and rural areas was slow. In the third year of Tongzhi (1864), the north gate wall destroyed in the war was repaired, and the east, west and south gates were repaired, and the Jiaxu Baby Care Hall was built. In the fourth year of Tongzhi (1865), the south gate tower was rebuilt. The next year, the big west gate, the small west gate and the south gate moon city were built. In the ninth year of Tongzhi era (1871), the buildings in the South Lake were renovated and the Eight Chants Pavilion was built; In the first year of Guangxu's reign (1875), Tanglu from Jiaxing to Suzhou and Hangzhou was fully restored, and 52 urban and rural bridges were built and rebuilt. Around the 15th year of Guangxu period, the Lengyan Temple and Jingyan Temple were rebuilt. After the essence area of Jiaxing Fucheng, which focuses on Luli Street in the east and southeast, was burned in the flames of war, the first line of commerce in Tangwan Street (now Beijing Road) and Zhongjie Street (now Zhongji Road) in the north outside the city rose, and residential buildings in Yuehe and Tanlong increased, gradually becoming a prosperous business district.
