During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Zeng Guofan and Shi Dakai were sworn enemies, and they made many moves, each time Shi Dakai won, and Zeng Guofan was a loser. In April 1854, Shi Dakai was stationed in Anqing to control the military affairs of the Western Expedition, and Zeng Guofan failed in the Jinggang Campaign, he twice performed suicide by throwing himself into the water, and as a result, he was fished by his subordinates. In this battle, Shi Dakai was the commander, Shi Xiangzhen defeated the Xiang army at Jinggang, and Zeng Guofan lost face.
At the beginning of 1855, Shi Dakai personally went to Hukou to supervise the division and once again made a move with Zeng Guofan. This time, Zeng Guofan was defeated again, and he continued to perform the performance of throwing himself into the water, but was pulled back by his subordinates and did not dive. In early 1856, Shi Dakai defeated the main force of the Xiang army at Zhangshu Town, and Zeng Guofan was besieged in the isolated city of Nanchang, where he could be captured alive at any time. Interestingly, after Shi Da went it alone, they never had the opportunity to make a move again, and they passed by twice, why is this?
In May 1857, Shi Dakai went out alone without a word, pulled away 100,000 elite soldiers, and began his entrepreneurial journey. In July, Shi Dakai set out from Anqing and began to rescue Jiangxi, at this time his opponent was the Inspector of Jiangxi, Qi Ling, born in the Eight Banners of Manchuria. Without the assistance of the marine division, Shi Dakai failed in the battle in Jiangxi.
In April 1858, Shi Da's army divided into two routes, attacked Zhejiang from Jiangxi, captured Jiangshan, and then besieged Quzhou in an attempt to establish a base in Zhejiang. At this time, Shi Dakai's opponent was Inspector Yan Duanshu of Zhejiang, and the commander of the Quzhou front of the Qing army was Zhou Tianshou. At this time, Shi Dakai adopted the tactic of "encircling points to fight for reinforcements", and due to the lack of logistical supplies, the siege was lifted after three months of the war.
The Zhejiang operation failed, Shi Dakai entered Fujian, and Zhou Tianshou and Ming Antai continued to pursue. At this time, the ally Yang Fuqing had returned to Jiangxi to continue to support Hong Xiuquan, and Shi Dakai was like a lonely man, losing consecutive battles. In the Fujian campaign, Shi Dakai not only failed to open up a new situation, but even lost the base laid by Yang Fuqing.
After the defeat in the Fujian campaign, Shi Dakai returned to Jiangxi, rested in Nan'an, and prepared to march into Sichuan, following the example of Liu Bang and Liu Bei, and establishing hegemony. In May 1859, Shi Dakai's troops entered Hunan in three ways and commanded an army of 300,000 (known as) to besiege Baoqing. At this time, Shi Dakai's opponents were Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, and Zuo Zongtang, the master of the Qing army; the qing army's front-line generals were Liu Changyou, Li Xuyi, Zhou Kuanshi, and Zhao Huanlian.
In the Battle of Baoqing, Shi Dakai made a mistake again, fighting a war of attrition with the Xiang Army without a fixed base, and the result was a mess. After the defeat of Baoqing, Shi Dakai fled back to his hometown in Guangxi for refuge, while Liu Changyou entered Guangxi to pursue and incidentally destroyed the two Guangdong Tiandihui armed forces. Then, Shi Dakai continued to flee, ran to Sichuan, and met Luo Bingzhang again, resulting in the total annihilation of the army.
Shi Dakai went out alone until the army defeated the Dadu River, fought with the Qing army for 6 years, and turned around in Jiangnan. In the past 6 years, Shi Dakai and Zeng Guofan have never met, and they have not had the opportunity to recruit, which is really a bit regrettable. So why didn't they get a chance to recruit? The answer is that Shi Dakai's performance is too poor, he and Zeng Guofan passed by twice, but failed to break his wrist.
At the beginning of Shi Da's single work, Zeng Guofan's life was not good, because the Xianfeng Emperor only wanted him to be cannon fodder, but did not grant real power. At the beginning of 1857, Zeng Guofan was discouraged about the future, so he left the front line in the name of "Ding Worry". Originally, Zeng Guofan planned to retreat and advance, hoping that the Xianfeng Emperor would keep him. Who knows, the Xianfeng Emperor focused on cultivating Hu Linyi, directly approved Zeng Guofan's "Ding Worry", and asked him not to rush back.
In April 1858, Shi Dakai attacked Zhejiang and threatened the Qing Dynasty's fiscal and tax bases, and the Xianfeng Emperor was afraid. At this time, the quzhou front-line generals were not subordinate to each other and could not cooperate with each other, and the city was in danger. In order to unify the command of the front, Xianfeng planned to let Zhang Guoliang go to the superintendent, but was refused. Next, Xianfeng also wanted Li Xubin, the envoy of Zhejiang Province, to be the superintendent, and the governor of Huguang, Wen Wen, refused the imperial court on the grounds that Hubei's military affairs were urgent.
Zhang Guoliang and Li Xubin were not willing to go, and Hu Linyi took the opportunity to play the emperor, hoping to send Zeng Guofan to supervise the division. Xianfeng had no one to use, so he asked Zeng Guofan to go out of the mountains and go to Zhejiang to meet his old rivals for a while. Who knows, Shi Dakai's performance was too poor, Zeng Guofan had not yet arrived in Zhejiang, Shi Dakai withdrew his troops, and then ran to Fujian to fight, and they passed by for the first time.
In May 1859, Shi Dakai entered Hunan, and his purpose in setting up a base area in Sichuan was obvious. Shi Dakai planned to attack Baoqing first, raise the necessary military supplies, and then go to Sichuan. At this time, peasant uprisings broke out in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places, and the Qing army's defensive strength was very weak, and if Shi Dakai entered Sichuan, the Qing Dynasty would lose control of the southwest.
In order to prevent Shi Dakai from entering Sichuan, the Xianfeng Emperor sent Zeng Guofan to Sichuan to supervise the division, just in case. Once he went to Sichuan, it meant that he had no chance to conquer Jinling in the east, and he could not seize the "first merit" of the taiping heavenly kingdom, which was something that Zeng Guofan was not happy about. To this end, Zeng Guofan stayed in Hubei and planned the Eastern Expedition with Hu Linyi to delay time.
Zeng Guofan delayed time, and the Xianfeng Emperor was dissatisfied, so he quickly beat up the burden and left, otherwise he would be severely punished. The emperor was furious, and Zeng Guofan did not dare to disobey, so he prepared to leave for Sichuan. Who knows, Shi Dakai was defeated at Baoqing, his elite troops were lost, and they were forced to flee to Guangxi, and the Taiping Army was no longer able to invade Sichuan. In this way, Zeng Guofan once again rubbed shoulders with Shi Dakai.
In 1861, Shi Dakai once again gathered heavy troops in his hometown in Guangxi, and then entered Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and finally entered Sichuan as he wished. At this time, Zeng Guofan had already served as the governor of Liangjiang, and had gained the power to control the military and political affairs of jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and other four provinces, so naturally there was no need to go to Sichuan.
In the 6 years of going it alone, Shi Dakai had two opportunities to fight zeng guofan, but they both passed by, once when he attacked Quzhou and once when he was preparing to march into Sichuan. Unfortunately, Shi Dakai's performance was too poor after he went it alone, and before Zeng Guofan arrived, Shi Dakai was defeated by the Qing army.
So, if the two have a chance to pass, what will happen? You must know that Zeng Guofan personally went to the front line to command the army to fight, and almost all of them lost battles. In this way, perhaps Shi Dakai could successfully counterattack and defeat Zeng Guofan again.
Bibliography: History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom