"The emperor is not a hungry soldier." In ancient and modern China and abroad, any army must prepare grain and grass in advance when marching and fighting. However, in the First Opium War, one army was so careless that it rushed to the front line without grain and grass, and as a result, it was cleared by the local people, and the soldiers were starved and dizzy, and they were defeated.
The First Opium War
It happened in 1841.
In August of that year, the British army went north along the coast for the second time and captured Dinghai, Zhenhai, Ningbo and other areas in eastern Zhejiang. In October, the Daoguang Emperor ordered Yi Jing to be the general of Yang Wei and lead more than 13,000 people to Zhejiang to counterattack the British army. In the Yijing camp, there was a young poet Pei Qingqiao. Pei Qingqiao is not small in name, and together with Zeng Guofan, Chen Xun, Zheng Zhen, and He Shaoji, he is known as the Five Tiger Generals of Daoxian Poetry. He threw himself into the counterattack in eastern Zhejiang, personally came to the battle front, and wrote 120 poems based on what he saw and heard, forming a "Aggressive Yin". "Aggressive" records all kinds of strange events in the first Opium War, and it is amazing to read.
According to Pei Qingqiao's records, after Yi Jing led a large army to the south, he did not go straight to the battlefield in eastern Zhejiang, but turned around and went to Suzhou, where he lived for two months. "There is heaven on the top and Suzhou and Hangzhou on the bottom." They came to Suzhou, and it was a vacation. Two months later, Yi Jingcai rushed to the front line in Zhejiang with his army.
Qing army
At this time, should we launch an attack on the British army? inexistent. Yi Jing had a group of literati and inkers under him, and before the battle had even begun, they were first ordered to write a good report, "detailing the battle achievements, and having a good voice." Some literati inkers are good at landscape painting, and they present a painting of "Command as Intended", which makes Yi Jing very happy.
Professional things need to be done by professional people. Yi Jing was a disciple of the Qing Dynasty," and although he was born in a noble and high-ranking official position, he had never had experience in leading soldiers to fight, and he knew nothing about marching and fighting. In this military operation, Yi Jing did not investigate, study, and arrange arrangements for the war situation, battlefield, grain and grass, and so on, so he led a large contingent of people and horses to rush into battle, naturally suffering enough hardships and staged one scene after another of burlesque.
Pei Qingqiao recorded such a thing: "Although the mountain road is rugged, the village is rich and prosperous, but the food in the city, so when the army enters, only silver is issued, and no grain and rice are issued." The townspeople heard about the transit of the officials and moved away, and our soldiers ran out of food and repeatedly wanted to collapse. ”
—— Quoted from toutia encyclopedia
What does this mean?
It turns out that the area around Jiangsu and Zhejiang has been a prosperous and rich place since ancient times. In eastern Zhejiang, although there are many rugged mountain roads, there are many market shops selling food in villages and towns. Therefore, when Yi Jing marched, he only paid the officers and men with silver, but did not distribute grain and rice. They thought that with silver they would be able to buy food in the villages and towns. However, what they never expected was that when the local people heard that the officers and troops were about to pass through the territory, they actually adopted the policy of "clearing the wilderness with strong walls", hiding and fleeing, so that the Qing army could not buy food with money, and was forced to fight the British army with a hungry belly, and naturally it was difficult to escape defeat.
Jiangsu and Zhejiang water towns
When the Qing army fought against the British army, there was also a ridiculous scene, in the words of Bei Qingqiao's poem, that is: "Addicted to the material official Ding Ruo monk, the current Taishan collapse." Lead pills are like rain and smoke like ink, and corpses lie bent to suck a lamp. ”
Yi Jing had a former battalion commander named Zhang Yingyun. During the battle, Zhang Yingyun was ordered to lead an army and meet him in the rear. Zhang Yingyun is an addict who must smoke a big cigarette every day to have energy. When fighting in front of the battlefield, lead bullets were like rain, but Zhang Yingyun was smoking a big cigarette like Mount Tai. When the Qing army retreated after a defeated battle, Zhang Yingyun was still lying on the bed, smoking a big cigarette for more than an hour, and waited for enough to become addicted to smoking before retreating in a palanquin.
Therefore, relying on this group of cowardly and ignorant generals, how could the Qing army win the british army?
Then again, why would the local people in Zhejiang "fortify the walls and clear the wilderness" against the Qing army? It turned out that the Qing army was poorly disciplined, often harassed the people, and had a very bad reputation among the people. The common people were naturally afraid of the Qing army like a tiger and avoided it. "I can't afford to mess with you, can't I hide?"
The "Huaxi Diary" records that after the Taiping Army withdrew from a city, the people went home to see it and found that their belongings had not been looted, and the restoration was sealed and remained unchanged. At this time, the Qing army came, and in the city, regardless of the size of the shops, robbed for more than ten consecutive days, "regardless of the size of the shops, the homes of rich and poor residents, nothing to want." The Qing army also gave a grandiose reason: "If we defeat the bandits, will our lives be saved?" ”
Taiping Army
Without contrast, there is no harm. In the First Opium War, not all the people of Zhejiang feared the British army. In 1842, the British ocean-going steamship "Nemesis" searched for a safe haven near Shipu, Zhejiang Province, and caught a local fisherman to show them the way. When the fisherman trembled and led the British ship to safety, the British released him and gave him 10 silver dollars.
Perhaps because of this, when the British army attacked Shanghai later, the artillery they carried fell into the mud, and the local people actually took the initiative to help them move the artillery out of the mud.