• Commander - in - Chief of the Taiping Rebellion Yang Xiuqing, 1821
• Leader of the Taiping Rebellion Xiao Chaogui, 1820

In April 1848, while Feng Yunshan and Hong Xiuquan were in a neighboring province, Yang assumed a leadership role in the God-Worshiping Society. Yang claimed to have been stricken deaf and mute only to have regained his hearing and speech at a meeting of the God Worshipers. He began to claim that he could enter trances in which he would be possessed by the Holy Spirit, allowing God the Father to speak through him. It does not appear that Yang truly believed that this was occurring, but that he instead acted as such in service of his own ambitions, as while speaking as God Feng necessarily possessed greater authority than even Hong Xiuquan. Upon Hong and Feng's return in the summer of 1849, they investigated Yang's claims and recognized them as genuine. From May to November 1850, Yang once again claimed to be deaf and mute. Once he recovered, Yang alleged that God was angered that Hong Xiuquan was not being allowed to establish the kingdom of God on Earth and sought to punish mankind with disease. According to this tale, only by suffering his illness was Yang able to redeem others. In 1850, perhaps in service of his political ambitions, he began to claim that he could miraculously heal true believers.

He was an early participant in the rebellion and rose quickly to prominence; in 1851, when Hong Xiuquan took the title of Heavenly King for himself, he made Yang, in spite of having no military knowledge or experience, commander-in-chief of the army. Yang was further named "East King", in keeping with three other leaders of the rebellion who were given titles as "kings" of the four quarters of the Heavenly Kingdom. In 1851, Yang announced a vision in which it was revealed that there were traitors in the highest levels of the movement, and two years later that words of the Eastern King, that is, Yang himself, were divine. He devised an extensive network of spies to root out the intrigues of loyalists in the kingdom. Shrewd, ruthless, and ambitious, Yang ultimately proved himself to be a brilliant strategist and organizer, as well as the administrative mastermind of the Taiping Movement. By the 1850's, Yang had become the most powerful leader of the Taiping Rebellion.

With this presumed divine guidance, Taiping troops captured the city of Nanjing (Nanking), which became the capital of the Heavenly Kingdom in 1853. Yang took control of the city. He disciplined the troops after an initial period of violence and slaughter by declaring that he would execute any officer who entered a private home. City residents were ordered to return to work. Men and women were required to live separately, and were prohibited from walking together or even speaking to each other (there continued to be male and female military units). As Hong, the Heavenly King, became less interested in politics and more interested in his harem, he named Yang as prime minister of the Heavenly Kingdom. Many of the basic laws and regulations were issued during this period of Yang's control.

In August 1856, Yang defeated the government troops besieging Nanking. He first led them to divide their forces by forcing them to send relief forces to other cities, then sent all his own troops against them in a massed attack. Arrogance over victory, however, led to his downfall. Yang clashed with Hong over the rebellion's policies and views toward Confucianism and iconoclasm; Yang believed that Confucian morality was essentially positive and that its basic tenets were compatible with the rebellion's interpretation of Christianity and that images of dragons were not sacrilegious. Hong, however, rejected this notion and believed that Confucianism ought to be eradicated, as it was the work of the devil.

Yang plotted to take the throne. Shortly before seeking a title commiserate with Hong Xiuquan's, Yang dispatched Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai, and Qin Rigang to separate provinces. Hong, viewing Yang's request as treasonous, alerted the three generals to return at once. Meanwhile, Yang demanded to be called Wansui (Ten Thousand Years), a title reserved for the emperor (Hong had assumed it in 1852). Wei returned to Nanjing with three thousand troops on September 1, 1856 and found that Qin Rigang had already arrived. In consultation with Hong Xiuquan and his allies, the two generals decided not to wait for Shi Dakai's arrival. Instead, they and their troops immediately stormed Yang's palace and slew him before he could escape. They then slaughtered his family and followers within the palace, despite having agreed with Hong that only Yang was to die. At this point, six thousand of Yang's followers remained in Nanjing. Yang's remaining followers in the capital were all systemically slaughtered over the next three months. Within a few years, the fortunes of the Taiping Rebellion declined as the rebellion's leaders became involved in the ensuing conspiracies and intrigues.

Xiao Chaogui was a poor peasant farmer from Wuxuan, now part of Guiping, in the Thistle Mountain region of Guangxi. Despite his modest means, he became an influential leader in the region. He was probably a member of the Hakka people, but it has also been suggested that he was Yao. He may have been a relative of Yang Xiuqing. He, along with his wife, father, and brothers, joined Hong Xiuquan's Society of God Worshipers. He possessed a "legendary reputation for valor and physical strength."

He was married to Yang Yunjiao, a zealous God Worshiper. Yang claimed to have visited Heaven in 1837 during a serious illness and to have been informed of the coming of a religious instructor, who was later presumed to be Hong Xiuquan.

Some sources have stated that, following the death of his first wife, Xiao married Hong Xuanjiao, a younger sister of Hong Xiuquan. This Hong Xuanjiao has left an imprint on Chinese culture as a valiant female warrior. However, Hong Xiuquan had no younger sister. Instead, it appears that wives of Taiping Kings like Xiao Chaogu were referred to as "younger sisters" of Hong Xiuquan. The most likely explanation appears to be that Yang Yunjiao and Hong Xuanjiao were the same person; Yang Yunjiao changed her given name from Yunjiao to Xuanjiao (possibly due to issues related to pronunciation), and folk historians provided her with the surname Hong to honor Hong Xiaquan.

In the autumn of 1848, while Feng Yunshan and Hong Xiuquan were in a neighboring province, Xiao Chaogui assumed a leadership role in the God-Worshiping Society. At this time, Xiao began to claim that Jesus Christ had descended to earth and that Jesus spoke through him while he himself was in a trance. This claim was ratified by Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan when the two returned to Thistle Mountain the following summer. Xiao, speaking as Jesus, provided doctrine, advice, and leadership to the God Worshipers. When speaking as Jesus, Xiao was able to reprimand even Hong Xiuquan, as Jesus necessarily possessed greater authority than even Hong. During that summer of 1848, Xiao entered into a sworn brotherhood with Hong Xiuquan, Feng Yunshan, Yang Xiuqing, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai, and Jesus Christ.

Xiao acted as one of the principal military commanders of the Taiping forces in the early days of the Taiping Rebellion and was named commander in chief of the Taiping's Front Army Corps on January 11, 1851. Shortly after their capture of Yongan, Hong Xiuquan named Xiao Co-Marshal, the ceremonial rank of marshal being the "ultimate mark of distinction in the Taiping organization." On December 4, 1851, Hong bestowed further honors on Xiao, declaring him to be the West King, Lord of 8,000 Years. Six days later, during a Qing counterattack on a supply depot near Yongan, Xiao was wounded. With one minor exception, Xiao ceased to speak with the voice of Jesus soon thereafter.

In the summer of 1852 while the Taiping were encamped in Daozhou, three proclamations were issued by Xiao and Yang Xiuqing (by then the East King of the Taipings) in an attempt to gain the sympathy of the locals and to drum up new recruits. These proclamations demonstrated the triune religious - nationalist - political nature of the Taiping Rebellion by calling for the conversion of the people to Christianity, for the ruling ethnic minority Manchus to be overthrown, and for the destruction of a government the Taipings considered to be thoroughly corrupt. The proclamations hardened the opposition of the gentry and scholars but helped convince over 20,000 locals to join the rebellion.

In late August 1852, Xiao lead a small force from Chenzhou, the current base of the Taiping, in attempt to capture the city of Changsha. They arrived at Changsha in September and began besieging the city. Seeing little progress being made, Xiao chose to don robes indicating his noble rank, hoisted a large banner above his head, and headed to the front lines to direct his troops. He was quickly hit in the left shoulder by a cannonball fired from the walls of the city and succumbed to his wounds near the end of September. The siege was ultimately abandoned in November. Xiao's actions leading up to his death have been harshly condemned by Chinese historians, who characterize them as "not an act of heroism but another example of 'stupid loyalty and stupid valor.'"

Despite his death, Hong Xiuquan continued to regularly issue decrees in his name. He was also posthumously awarded the title "Rain Master." One of his sons inherited his noble title and was addressed as Junior West King, until his death in the aftermath of the fall of Nanjing. Both sons were considered to be nephews to Jesus and grandchildren to God.