#349 - Taiping 24: The Bouncer

Podcast: The History of China Podcast · Chris Stewart

Opublikowano: 2026-10-03

By the autumn of 1860, the Qing Dynasty had run out of armies to lose. What was left of its war was being run out of a mountain valley in southern Anhui by a half-blind scholar-official who was, at that very moment, politely refusing a direct order from his emperor. Downriver, the Taiping had a plan to end the whole thing. In March of 1861 the Brave King sprinted 200 miles in 11 days to pull it off, and arrived holding the strongest hand any Taiping commander ever would. And then… the British showed up and had a little conversation. And everything went completely of...