In April 1854, the "iron rooster" Shi Xiangzhen, The General Zeng Tianyang led the Western Expeditionary Army to defeat the Xiang Army's land and water divisions at Jinggang, zeng Guofan twice threw himself into the water and attempted suicide, fled back to Changsha, and suffered a cold eye. Unfortunately, the "engineering man" Lin Shaozhang was unable to command well, and the main force of the 20,000 Western Expeditionary Army was defeated in Xiangtan for seven consecutive years, and was killed and only 4 cavalry fled back to the Yuezhou camp. Shi Xiangzhen and Zeng Tianyang won at Jinggang, but failed to offset Lin Shaozhang's subsequent defeat at Xiangtan, and the Xiang army took advantage of the victory and launched a counterattack. At this time, Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, had not yet realized the strength of the Xiang army, and Wei Jun, Shi Xiangzhen, and other fierce men would be transferred back from the battlefield of the Western Expedition to participate in the defense of Tianjing and deal with the Qing army of Xiang Rong and Zhang Guoliang's "Jiangnan Battalion". After Shi Xiangzhen returned to Nanjing, he directly sought out the first fierce general of the "Jiangnan Camp", Zhang Guoliang, who was born in the Heaven and Earth Society, and was "secretly attacked" on the upper bridge, and unfortunately died. After that, the Western Expedition was temporarily presided over by the 64-year-old veteran general Zeng Tianyang to resist the attack of the Xiang Army.
After Xiangtan's victory, Zeng Guofan's confidence soared, and after a short rest, he immediately dispatched the main force to launch a comprehensive counterattack, and the generals of the Lu Division, Luo Zenan, Taqibu, Zhou Fengshan, and Li Xubin, and the generals of the Marine Division, Chu Ruhang, Chen Huilong, Sha Zhenbang, Xia Luan, Peng Yulin, and Yang Zaifu, all followed the march, and the lineup was quite luxurious. The first battle of the Xiang army's counterattack was Yuezhou. Why attack Yuezhou? The answer is very simple, Yuezhou is a strategic place in northern Hunan Province, and you can enter the Yangtze River from Dongting Lake, directly approaching Wuchang, the capital of Hubei Province. Taking Yuezhou had two major benefits for the Xiang Army. First, we can drive all the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Western Expeditionary Army out of Hunan and never let the "hometown" suffer from war and chaos again. Second, by occupying Yuezhou, we can rely on the advantages of the water division to directly attack Wuchang, sweep through Hubei, and seize the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Yuezhou's status was important, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom naturally knew about it. However, Yang Xiuqing did not realize the strength of the Xiang army, so the tens of thousands of troops who remained in Wuchang did not go south to participate in the battle, and Wei Jun was not in Hubei, which was very unfavorable to the Taiping Army.
The Eastern King Yang Xiuqing did not pay attention, and the Wuchang Taiping Army failed to go south to reinforce, and the veteran general Zeng Tianyang could only defend Yue Prefecture by himself. At that time, Zeng Tianyang only had 4,000 elites in his hands, more than a hundred warships, and the enemy was strong and weak, and the situation was very bad. If the 4,000 elites were to engage in land warfare with the Xiang army, it was estimated that there would be no pressure, after all, Zeng Tian had never been defeated by his opponents on land since Zeng Tian raised his troops, and even Jiang Zhongyuan, the founder of the Xiang army, was forced to a dead end by him in Luzhou, and he committed suicide by throwing himself into the water. Zeng Tianyang's main pressure came from the water surface, because he could not get the Xiang Army's water division. Why? The reason is very simple, the Warships of the Xiang Army are all built according to military standards, equipped with naval guns purchased from Britain and France, and are a highly professional surface combat force. The "water camp" of the Taiping Army is different, although the scale is large, but the ships are almost all civilian ships, merchant ships, and fishing boats; it is okay to bully the Qing Army's Green Camp Water Division, but it is not okay to encounter the Xiang Army Water Division, and it is not possible to fight head-on, otherwise it can only be abused. Therefore, when Zeng Tianyang fortified Yuezhou, he focused on the water surface, avoiding a frontal battle with the Xiang Army's water division as much as possible, and preserving his living forces.
In July 1854, the admirals Chu Ruhang, Chen Huilong, Sha Zhenbang, Xia Luan and others took the lead in arriving at the Yuezhou front, while Yang Zaifu and Peng Yulin set out in the second batch and had not yet reached Yuezhou; the Xiang Army Division had only recently set out, and was still leisurely wandering in the middle of the road. At this time, if it could take the lead in eliminating the vanguard of the Xiang Army's marine division, it would undoubtedly be quite beneficial to the defense of Yuezhou. To this end, Zeng Tianyang sent a small detachment of the "water camp" to harass him for several days, and from time to time threw fireballs at the large camp of the Xiang Army's marine division, causing Chu Ruhang, Chen Huilong, Sha Zhenbang, and Xia Luan to stay awake at night and become furious. The Xiang Army knew the fighting strength of the Taiping Army's "water camp"; it was really reasonable that a bunch of tattered "civilian ships" did not even have basic defensive equipment, and dared to come to challenge it. Zeng Tianyang took the initiative to challenge, and Chu Ruhang decided to teach him a lesson, so he decided not to wait for the arrival of the Lu Division and take the lead in attacking. Of course, Chu Ruhang's initiative to attack also had deeper considerations, he wanted to sit firmly in the position of the boss of the Xiang Army's marine division, not to let Yang Zaifu and Peng Yulin have the opportunity to surpass themselves, who let them perform too conspicuously in the Battle of Xiangtan and steal their own limelight.
The Xiang Army's marine division took the initiative to launch a battle, and Zeng Tianyang personally led his troops to meet the attack. There was no suspense, the Taiping Army's "water camp" was hardly an opponent of the Xiang Army's water division, Chen Huilong and Sha Zhenbang saw that the Taiping Army was being brutalized, and suddenly they were energized, and they directly ordered the water divisions under their command to attack with all their might and annihilate the Taiping Army in one fell swoop. Self-confidence often causes great disasters, and the "water camp" of the Taiping Army dares to take the initiative to challenge, naturally it has a hand; if it cannot be fought head-on, it will play "ambush", and Zeng Tianyang arranged the battle deployment in this way. Chen Huilong and Sha Zhenbang attacked fiercely, while the Taiping Army pretended to be defeated and retreated all the way north, luring the opponent to a preset ambush circle. At this time, the south wind suddenly broke out, and the Xiang Army's water division was upstream, and the speed of the march was quite rapid and out of control. Not long after, Chen Huilong and Sha Zhenbang's warships ran aground, and Zeng Tianyang took the opportunity to take the opportunity to attack with a light warship, beheading Chen and Sha, and the Xiang Army's marine division was suddenly in chaos. When his teammates encountered danger, Chu Ruhang and Xia Luan rushed to reinforcements, but it was too late and they were under siege; Chu Ruhang was also killed, Xia Luan was wounded and fell into the water and died, and the Xiang Army's marine division was defeated. In this battle, Chu Ruhang, Chen Huilong, Sha Zhenbang, Xia Luan and other 4 Qing army sailors were killed, and the morale of the Taiping Army soared.
Zeng Tianyang was very happy to behead 4 admirals of the water division, but he also knew very well that this victory was caused by the light enemy of the Xiang Army's water division, not how fierce the Taiping Army's "water camp" was. At this time, the main forces of the Xiang Army's water division and land division arrived one after another, and Zeng Tianyang decided to abandon the city of Yuezhou and retreat to the city of Lingji to camp to prevent the Xiang army from invading Hubei. When Zeng Tianyang was encamped, the Xiang Army's army commander Taqibu led 3,000 elites to challenge and prepare to destroy the Taiping army barracks. Seeing Taqibu, Zeng Tianyang immediately remembered the scene of his old friend Lin Shaozhang's fiasco in Xiangtan; Taqibu hung Lin Shaozhang in Xiangtan and annihilated more than 20,000 people in the main force of the Western Expeditionary Army. To this end, Zeng Tianyang was furious, armed with a spear, straddled a war horse, and rushed directly toward Taqib, ready to "single-handedly" with him. Zeng Tianyang's speed was quite fast, taqibu had no time to react, zeng tianyang killed him, stabbed the war horse with one shot, and taqibu panicked. Unable to stab Taqib, Zeng Tianyang was annoyed and pulled out his spear with force. Maybe he was old, maybe he was too nervous, and the moment Zeng Tianyang pulled out his spear, he accidentally fell off his horse. At this time, the Qing soldiers took the opportunity to kill and cut off their heads, and a generation of Xiao generals died due to "single challenge", which was a pity.
The Taiping Army fought in Yuezhou, and beheaded 4 water division generals of the Qing Army, of which Chu Ruhang was the chief general of the Xiang Army's water division at that time; it won the first victory in the Hunan War since the xiangtan fiasco. Unfortunately, Zeng Tianyang was angry and had to find Taqib to "single out", and as a result, he was unfortunately killed. The Taiping Army's western expeditionary forces had no main generals, and could only withdraw from Hunan and retreat to Wuchang, and the situation in the western expedition was even more severe. If Zeng Tianyang did not die, even if the city could not be defended, but as long as Zeng Tianyang was there in Wuchang, there was not much of a problem in blocking the Xiang army, and the later western conquest situation might be a different scene.
References: History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Chronicle of the Heavenly Kingdom, Complete History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War