In 1867, Bao Chao led 16,000 people of the "Thunder Army" from the rear to kill, directly into battle, and fought with the main force of the "Twist Army" led by Lai Wenguang, Ren Huabang, Fan Ruzeng, and Li Yuntai. After a bloody battle, the "Thunder Army" killed 14 people and suffered heavy losses, but finally defeated the "Twist Army", rescued Liu Mingchuan, the number one general of the Huai Army trapped in the battle, and preserved Li Hongzhang's political capital. The result? Liu Mingchuan was not satisfied, believing that Bao Chao was deliberately "late" and wanted to put HuaiJun to death, and complained to Li Hongzhang.
The Xiang Army and the Huai Army fought openly and secretly, and Li Hongzhang did not consider what the truth of the matter was. At this time, in order to enhance the status of the Huai army, Li Hongzhang directly impeached Bao Chao to the imperial court, saying that Bao Chao deliberately delayed, resulting in heavy losses for the Huai army. The Qing Dynasty also ignored the truth and wanted to take this opportunity to attack the forces of the Xiang Army, so it adopted the policy of "supporting Huaihuai and suppressing Xiang" and ordered the dismissal of the "Thunder Army", either returning home to "retire" or merging into the Huai Army. Bao Chao was not satisfied, directly resigned, and returned to his hometown in Chongqing to show protest, but the protest was ineffective.
Bao Chao, a native of Fengjie, Sichuan (Chongqing), was a medium-sized man with a dark face but invincible, known as the "nemesis" of King Chen Yucheng and had never been defeated. Later generations commented that "more than 500 large and small battles, 108 injuries, but never lost", is definitely a super fierce general. Bao Chao's classic battles: the Battle of Xiaochikou, the Battle of Yisheng Temple, the Battle of Xiaochiyi, the Battle of Taihu Lake, the Battle of Erlang River, and the Battle of Yinlong River, all of which were personally involved in the battle, were seriously injured many times, and fell asleep for a few days before waking up.
In 1850, Bao Chao followed his compatriot Xiang Rong into Guangxi to suppress the Taiping Army, was wounded by Luo Gang in the Battle of Guilin, and returned to Changsha to recuperate. In 1852, Zeng Guofan organized the Xiang Army, and Bao Chao directly joined the army, subordinate to the Yang Zaifu Department of the Marine Division, and served as a sentinel officer. In the water division camp, Li Mengqun, Yang Zaifu, and Peng Yulin had the final say, and it was difficult for Bao Chao to have a day to emerge. Fortunately, Hubei Governor Hu Linyi appreciated him and asked him to recruit an army and form a "Thunder Army".
From the perspective of qualifications, Bao Chao is much older than Li Hongzhang. In 1862, Bao Chao was already a chief military officer, and he was in a prominent position as a viceroy. At this time, Li Hongzhang was still one of Zeng Guofan's staff, that is, secretaries, and did not have an official and a half-job. However, Li Hongzhang later came to the top and went to Jiangsu to fight and take the lead alone. So, why can't Bao Chao, who is more qualified, be alone?
There was a tough general in the Huai Army group, Yang Dingxun, a native of Sichuan, who was discriminated against by the generals of the Huai Army. The "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" records as follows: "Dingxun and the Shu people will be brave, afraid of the generals to despise themselves, every battle is the first, day and night ring attack, destroy the thief fortress outside the city, bloody battle for three days." The "regional dispute" within the Qing army can be seen from this. Bao Chao, a native of Fengjie, Sichuan, naturally had a hard time getting ahead within the Xiangjun clique, which was dominated by hunan, Hubei, and Anhui people.
The Xiang Army and the Huai Army were formed on the basis of the "regimental training" of the province, and then expanded, and almost all the battalion officers were the leaders of the "regiment training" of the province. For example, when the Xiang Army was established, Luo Zenan, Wang Zhen, Li Xubin, Li Xuyi, Liu Tenghong, Jiang Yili, and so on joined the company, and the Xiang Army rose overnight. The Huai Army was formed, and Zhang Shusheng, Zhang Shushan, Liu Mingchuan, Zhou Shengbo, Zhou Shengchuan, Pan Dingxin, Wu Changqing and so on joined.
Hubei, Hunan, and Anhui have many "regimental trainings," and it is easy to form an army, but Sichuan is not. The reason is very simple, Sichuan is far away from the main battlefield of the Taiping Army, and it is not the object of the imperial court's key "care", and the local area naturally does not have the environment for "regiment training". In this way, in the Xiang Army group, Sichuan generals are very rare, and it is difficult to compete with the Sanjiang and Lianghu people, Bao Chao has the opportunity to be alone, and the two Lakers are the first to disagree.
The Sichuan general, serving as the commander of the Xiang Army, let the two Lakers serve with a dead heart, which is almost unrealistic. It should be known that in China under the background of small-scale peasant economy, the "regional concept" is very strong, and there is exclusivity between regions, which is an important reason why Bao Chao is difficult to stand alone. There is no advantage in the place of origin, and the birth is even more inferior, and the fierce general Bao Chao is from the ranks and does not have the meritorious name of the imperial examination, which is doomed to be undesirable in the Qing Dynasty, which "uses literature to control martial arts".
How important is the name? Zuo Zongtang was born as a person, not a jinshi. When he was overseering Shaanxi and Gansu, Zuo Zongtang made a request to Cixi to grant himself a "jinshi", otherwise he would be ridiculed by his peers in the official arena and said that he had "come from the wrong way". What about Bao Chao? It is not a jinshi, nor is it a person, because Bao Chao does not even know the words, and his name cannot be written.
If Bao Chao is alone, it means that he must serve as a governor, inspector and other feudal officials, and be in charge of provincial military and political affairs, civil affairs, and diplomacy. In the era of civilian politics, the illiterate Bao Chaoruo served as the governor and inspector, which was definitely a joke, and the Qing Dynasty was the first to disagree. Without culture, Bao Chao was doomed to have no chance of sealing the frontier official. Later, Liu Ming was appointed as an inspector, which was forced by the situation and special treatment under special circumstances.
As mentioned above, Liu Mingchuan, a fierce general of the Huai Army, has been a poor peasant for generations, has not read a book, has no meritorious name, but serves as an inspector, in charge of the military and political affairs, civil affairs, and diplomacy of a province, and is absolutely a feudal official. Internal and external troubles, French aggression, and provoking war were important reasons for Liu Mingchuan's appointment as inspector of Taiwan, but not the root cause. You know, there is no shortage of talents in the Qing Dynasty, so why must Liu Ming pass it on? Quite simply, Liu Mingchuan was a close confidant of Li Hongzhang, and the key battle for the rise of the Huai Army, the "Twisting" War, was liu Mingchuan, the former enemy commander. It can be said that the rise of Li Hongzhang, Liu Mingchuan's contribution is indispensable.
Liu Mingchuan was promoted by Li Hongzhang, who was known as the "Bismarck of the East", but Bao Chao did not have a chance. Because Bao Chao's "BoLe", Hu Linyi, who was known as the head of the Famous Ministers of the Qing Dynasty, died prematurely, Bao Chao had no political backing, and it was naturally difficult to enter the important position. For example, the "Thunder Army" has the strongest field combat ability, and in the Hu Linyi era, Li Xubin, Bao Chao, and Duo Long'a performed very eye-catching. After hu linyi's death, Bao Chao and Duo Long'a became substitutes, and Zeng Guoquan's "Jizi Camp" became the main force, and the reasons for this can be imagined.
In summary, Bao Chao is brave and invincible, and his qualifications are older than Li Hongzhang, but he cannot be alone. The reason for this is that "Bo le" Hu Linyi died prematurely, Bao Chao had no culture, and he was a Sichuan general, which doomed him to have no chance of being the governor and inspector of xinjiang, and there was no opportunity to be alone. If Bao Chao had some culture, "Bole" Hu Linyi had not died early, and he had the heavy responsibility of presiding over the overall situation of the Eastern Expedition to Jiangsu, there would have been nothing for Li Hongzhang.
Bibliography: Xiang Junzhi