More succesful Taiping

Lately I've become really interested in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Its just such a bizzare event in history. A random Chinese peasant declares himself Jesus' brother and manages to carve out a large kingdom for himself that lasts a decade.

How could it be more succesful? How succesful could we theoretically make it?
If we keep Europeans uninvolved then what?
 

Dorozhand

Banned
A swift northern expedition, rather than settling into defensive positions in the south, could have put all of China proper in Taiping control without any major changes to the movement itself. However, this would be extremely bad for China. In order for a successful Taiping rebellion to establish a lasting and sturdy regime, there would need to be significant changes to the movement in its embryonic stages. A good start would be to make Hong Xiuquan a more conventional rebel that tries to simply establish a new dynasty rather than a crazy religious utopia with him as the brother of Jesus.
 
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