Frederick Townsend Ward Killed in a Bar Fight, 1852

For those of you who are not familiar with him, here is a link about him. He was a central figure in the defeat of the Taiping Rebellion. Some thoughts...

1) Assuming he is not around, does the mercenary force which played such a crucial role in the suppression of the rebellion still get formed? If so, by who?

2) Assuming the mercenary force does not get formed, or proves to be much less effective without Ward, do the Taiping rebels hold out longer against the Qing? Or possibly defeat them? If they do defeat the Qing, is that a good thing or bad thing for China and the rest of the world?

Any other thoughts?
 
Honestly, I don't think this idea is very interesting if the Ever Victorious Army ends up getting formed without Ward and beating the Taiping, a few name changes and the rest is butterflies..

IT does get really interesting if say the Taiping forces are able to take Shanghai in 1860 despite the best attempts of the Qing and their European backers. Couple this with an alliance with the ongoing Nien Rebellion, and the Muslim Rebellions ongoing during the time and the Taiping have a very real chance of taking out the Qing.

Overall I'd say the Chinese Warlord Period starts almost a half century earlier leaving the Middle Kingdom even more open to being carved up by European powers.
 
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