Shi Dakai

Quickly distinguished by his brilliant tactics, skilled training of the troops and fair administration of the public funds, Shi was made commander of his own army at the age of nineteen.

[4] In January 1851, Hong Xiuquan and the five key leaders of the rebellion (among whom Shi was the youngest) formally established the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace in Jintian, Guangxi, with about twenty thousand followers.

At Renyi's watergate, Shi used stealth strategy to win a decisive victory with three hundred men against the enemies' five thousand.

[5] In August, after the Taiping conquered the city Yongan, Shi won wide admiration from the populace for his gentle rule and fair administration, people attracted by his reputation coming to join the rebellion in flocks.

[7] Both friend and foe noted his kindness in treating civilians, and folk songs that commemorated his victories became popular in the lands the Taiping moved through.

He restored the badly neglected public security by encouraging civilians to report the misbehaviours of soldiers and handing out fair punishments.

[9] Shi planned the battle meticulously, laying out airtight defenses and using small boats to continuously harass the enemy camps, then trapping the Qing's ships with secretly built dams and chopping the Xiang forces in half.

While the Taiping Kingdom's custom required leaders to have multiple wives, Shi was content with his wife Huang and repeatedly declined the beauties offered to him.

[12] In his youth, Shi's original wife Xiong left him when he decided to join the rebellion, carrying their unborn son with her.

Hearing of the massacre, Shi returned to Tianjing attempting to mediate, but instead was forced to flee the city, and his entire family including his son Dingji were murdered by Wei Changhui.

In November, Hong Xiuquan ordered Wei Changhui's execution and requested that Shi return to Tianjing and take over the administration, whereupon he obeyed.

He restored order to the city and rebuilt Taiping's broken morale, and the public support for Shi caused Hong Xiuquan to harbor deeper suspicion against him.

After his death, many romantic poems of the heroism style were written in his name, borrowing his prestige to encourage more and more Chinese people to overthrow the Qing dynasty, something that eventually led to the creation of the Republic of China in 1912.