On December 20, Li Xiucheng returned to Nanking from Danyang and urged Hong Xiuquan to abandon the Taiping capital the next day. However, this suggestion was not accepted by Hong, who took overall command of the operation. He declared that anyone who disobeyed him and God would be immediately executed. This doomed the Taiping army and Nanking by creating widespread discontent and, coupled with other factors, eventually over 200,000 Taiping troops went out of Nanking and surrendered to the Imperial Chinese army during the course of the battle. Those who refused to surrender but were also upset by Hong's decisions chose to break out while they still could, when the siege was still incomplete. Hong, Li and others were unable to stop such acts. On February 28, 1864, Tianbao () Castle at the highest peak of the Purple Mountain fell under the Qing army's control. On March 2, Zeng Guoquan deployed his troops to Shence and Taiping Gates. The siege of Nanking was completed.