The Taiping shift their base in September,…

The Taiping shift their base in September, to the city of Yung-an, in central Fukien, where the Imperial army besieges them.

Hong Xiuquan makes Yang Xiuqing commander in chief of the armed forces with the title of Tung-wang, or Eastern King.

Yang organizes the Taiping army and also develops a massive system to spy on the Taiping followers.

Yang proceeds to buttress his own position by imitating Hong.

He enters a series of trances, in which he claims to speak as the mouthpiece of the Lord, an accomplishment confirmed by his seeming ability to reveal traitors to the Taiping cause and confront them with the details of their treason.