In July 1860, seeing that the war situation was bad, Cai Cixin and others called on their generals to go north to Tianjing and submit to Hong Xiuquan, but they were executed by Order of Shi Dakai. However, the majority of the generals lost confidence in Shi Dakai, and even if Cai Cixian was killed, it could not stop them from going north. Soon, Peng Dashun, Zhu Yidian, and more than seventy other generals led 200,000 "miscellaneous troops" to declare their separation from Shi Dakai, and they went all the way north, and finally joined Li Xiucheng's army in Jiangxi.
From the north of Guangxi, the most famous generals were Wang Haiyang, Tan Tiyuan, and Ji Yangyuan, who were the pillars of the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and continued to fight after the fall of Tianjing, preferring to die rather than surrender. Li Langu, an important strategist of the Wing King Shi Dakai, was also a fierce general, whose influence was not as great as Wang Haiyang's, but he was also a man worthy of admiration. Li Langu, a fierce general of the Taiping Army, prevented Shi Da from driving to Sichuan, and was sent by traitors to the Qing army to be beheaded.
Li Langu, a native of Luzhai, Liuzhou, Guangxi, was a strategist and general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In Liuzhou, Guangxi, the economy is developed, and not many people participated in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. Li Langu, from a wealthy family, was familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, and struggled all his life to pursue fame and fame, but he repeatedly failed in the imperial examination, which made him discouraged about the future. After ten years of hard study, is it not as good as those bureaucrats' children, who can actually enter the career path by doing nothing?
Disappointed by the imperial examination, Li Langu went home to teach with peace of mind, educated the children in the village, and provided relief to the poor and poor people on weekdays. Who knows, even such a simple life, or broken by the harsh reality. In 1851, when there was a famine in Guangxi, Li Langu took out grain to help the poor, which offended the bureaucracy and gentry, and was ordered by the government to arrest him.
The Qing Dynasty officials ruled corruption and oppressed the people, and Li Langu was very helpless, he was unwilling to tie his hands and capture, and since then he has been exiled to the rivers and lakes. In June 1852, knowing that the Taiping Army was attacking Jeonju, Li Langu went to defect and belonged to the "Iron Rooster" Shi Xiangzhen department and began a legendary life.
Shi Xiangzhen, a native of Guixian County, Guangxi, the elder brother of Shi Dakai, the wing king, fought very bravely, known as the "iron rooster", Li Langu followed Shi Xiangzhen, naturally made countless contributions. In August 1853, Shi Xiangzhen led troops to reinforce the Western Expedition and marched all the way into Hubei, capturing Tianjia Town, Banbi Mountain, Hanyang, and Hankou, threatening the safety of Wuchang. During the western expedition, In addition to plotting and formulating battle plans, Li Langu also personally went into battle to kill the enemy, and his performance was very eye-catching.
In August 1854, Shi Xiangzhen led his troops back to Beijing and engaged Zhang Guoliang, the first general of the "Jiangnan Battalion", and Li Langu followed him around and strongly dissuaded Shi Xiangzhen and asked him not to be angry. Shi Xiangzhen looked down on Zhang Guoliang and denounced him as a traitor to the Heaven and Earth Society, so he invited Zhang Guoliang to make a head-to-head battle on the bridge above Nanjing. Li Langu believes that Zhang Guoliang is scheming and often makes shady moves to make Shi Xiangzhen not to be strong.
Shi Xiangzhen did not listen to the advice, and as a result, he was secretly calculated by Zhang Guoliang on the upper bridge, killed on the battlefield, and the first rank was cut off for the Qing army to watch, which was unbearable to see. Shi Xiangzhen was killed, and Li Langu was in pain, and later followed the wing king Shi Dakai to fight, and was subordinate to Lai Yuxin's department.
In May 1857, Shi Da drove away from Tianjing and called on his subordinates to follow him alone. At this time, Lai Yuxin and Li Langu were guarding Ruizhou and confronting Peng Yulin, Liu Tenghong, and other Xiang generals. In order to follow Shi Dakai, Lai Yuxin repeatedly attacked the Xiang army, trying to break the encirclement. Li Langu suggested that continuous night raids harass the Xiang Army, so that Peng Yulin and Liu Tenghong would tense their nerves at all times, and then look for suitable opportunities to break through.
The Taiping Army attacked continuously at night, and the Xiang Army strengthened its defense, but it was not expected that they would break through. On a heavy rainy night, Lai Yuxin and Li Langu led their troops to break out. The Xiang army did not find the main force of the Taiping Army until dawn, and Liu Tenghong was furious, directly went to the front line to command the battle, and threatened to kill the defenders in the city. Who knows, a cannonball came over, Liu Tenghong was killed on the battlefield, and after the Xiang army broke the city, it slaughtered a lot.
After breaking through from Ruizhou, Lai Yuxin and Li Langu ran to find Shi Dakai and started a business together. Who knows, Li Langu and the wrong person, after Shi Da went it alone, in addition to losing the battle, he still lost the battle. In July 1859, Shi Dakai was defeated at Baoqing, and all his elites were lost, and he could only return to his hometown in Guangxi to take refuge.
After entering Guangxi, Shi Dakai recruited the Armed Forces of the Heaven and Earth Society, displaced people, scattered soldiers, and hooligans, and the strength of the troops was as high as 300,000 at one time, and the momentum was huge, but the combat effectiveness was worrying. At this time, Shi Dakai still did not give up marching into Sichuan, and he believed that he should emulate Liu Bang and Liu Bei and make a comeback. I have to say that Shi Dakai is really too naïve, he has worked alone for so many years, repeatedly lost battles, and now he still wants to go to Sichuan, which is nothing more than a fool's dream.
Li Langu was a man of understanding, and he believed that entering Sichuan could only be a dead end, and no general was willing to continue to run and work, so it was better to return to Tianjing according to the wishes of the people. Back in Tianjing, Shi Dakai naturally refused, and Li Langu continued to advise, trying his best to prevent the Yi King from going to Sichuan, but Shi Dakai just did not accept it. As a result, Li Langu packed up his baggage and followed Peng Dashun and his gang north to submit to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and subordinate to Li Xiucheng, the King of Zhong.
200,000 "miscellaneous troops" went north, and Shi Da was happy and discouraged, and even thought of surrendering. At this time, Lai Yuxin insisted on staying, bringing shi Dakai the last hope. Later, Shi Dakai entered Sichuan as he wished, but he was unable to cross the Dadu River, causing the entire army to be destroyed, and he himself was executed by Ling Chi, and his son was suffocated by limestone.
As an "old brother" in Guangxi, Li Langu was loyal and reliable, and he was quite strategic, and Li Xiucheng appreciated him very much, so he went up to the Heavenly King and named him "Yang Tianyi" and his status was below the "King". In 1861, Li Xiucheng once again led an army to the east to seize a large area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Tan Shaoguang and Li Langu obeyed the orders of King Zhongwang and guarded Suzhou, which was Li Xiucheng's base camp.
In November 1863, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was gone, Li Xiucheng asked his son-in-law Tan Shaoguang to evacuate Suzhou to preserve his living forces, but he was refused. Tan Shaoguang insisted on sticking to Suzhou, and there were many dangers, and Li Langu advised him to act carefully and guard against gao Yongkuan and the other eight traitors, just in case. Who knows, Tan Shaoguang was overconfident, and as a result, he was secretly calculated by Gao Yongkuan, killed at the banquet, and the first rank was given to Li Hongzhang.
Tan Shaoguang was killed, and Li Langu rose up to resist, leading more than a thousand of his own soldiers to fight the rebels, and was captured with all his strength. Gao Yongkuan did not remember the old feelings, and gave Li Langu to the Qing army, beheading him and showing it to the public. Soon, Gao Yongkuan and the other eight rebel generals were secretly calculated by the Huai army at the banquet, and all of them were killed, with nothing to gain.
Bibliography: History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom