As the saying goes, "the chaotic world creates heroes", which is very suitable for the late Qing Dynasty Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement period. The Taiping Rebellion was the largest peasant uprising in history, lasting 14 years, sweeping through more than ten provinces and raiding more than 500 cities, once pushing the Qing Empire to the brink of extinction. Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement had many shortcomings, it could not be denied that the Heavenly Kingdom camp was full of heroes and talents; in order to change their own destiny, they rose up against feudal autocracy and pursued the ideal of "everyone is equal, everywhere is uneven" in the mortal kingdom of heaven. Although they eventually failed and fell under the butcher's knife of their opponents, their spirit was still very admirable; while resisting the authoritarian rule of the Qing Dynasty, they resolutely fought back against the European and American powers and defended national sovereignty and national dignity. Such a person can be called a hero, a tough guy.
Liu Guanfang, a native of Wuxuan, Guangxi, the King of Xiang of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, is also a member of the invincible general, known as the "Three Pillars of Southern Anhui", which is naturally a bit of material. In the early years, Liu Guanfang's family was poor and had a difficult life, so in order to mix food, he joined the Heaven and Earth Society and became one of the main leaders. In 1850, the Qing Dynasty sent heavy troops into Guangxi to encircle and suppress the rebellious Tiandihui armed forces, and Liu Guanfang had no choice but to join the Worship of God cult and participate in the Jintian Uprising, under the command of wei Jun, the general of the Northern Temple. Following Wei Junchao, the early stage was very good, Wei Jun attacked Jiujiang, Hukou, Wuchang and other battles liu Guanfang alone led an army, made a lot of achievements. In March 1856, Hu Linyi, Luo Zenan, and others led the Xiang army to attack Wuchang, and Wei Jun sent Liu Guanfang to fight and pursue Luo Zenan. At this time, the Xiang army sent the main reinforcements from the Hongshan area and fought a fierce battle with Liu Guanfang. The Xiang army attacked fiercely, Liu Guanfang retreated while fighting, and Luo Zenan was in hot pursuit, and was hit on the left forehead by a shell and died. After Luo Zenan's death, the Xiang army did not dare to attack Wuchang again, but adopted the "long trench tactic" to try to prolong the siege.
The Battle of Wuchang killed Luo Zenan, and Liu Guanfang's merits could not be ignored, which was considered to be the first merit. However, for the next two years or so, Liu Guanfang became a "wanderer", scurrying around and being attacked by friendly forces. Why? Because his boss Wei Jun was in trouble. Wei Jun, the younger brother of Wei Changhui, the King of the North, is good at war, but because of his brother's indiscriminate killing, he innocently lay down with a gun. After the "Tianjing Incident," Wei Jun was isolated, and Hong Xiuquan not only did not rescue Wuchang, but also punished him to death; Shi Dakai also did not rescue Wuchang; Yang Fuqing (Yang Xiuqing's younger brother) openly sent troops to provoke and fight with Wei Jun, making a lot of trouble; Chen Yucheng sided with Yang Fuqing, openly opposed the old boss Wei Jun, and sent troops to block the Yangtze River to prevent Wei Jun from crossing the river to join Li Xiucheng. In early 1859, Chen Yucheng and Yang Fuqing provoked the "Chizhou Mutiny", and the Taiping Army once again killed each other. At this time, Liu Guanfang was helpless, but he could only continue to follow Wei Jun, hoping that one day the Heavenly King would understand.
Chen Yucheng and Yang Fuqing were aggressive, Li Xiucheng was still weak, Wei Jun really had no other way out, he could only accept the persuasion of Hu Linyi and Yang Zaifu, and led 40,000 troops to join the Qing army and stand against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. When Wei Jun surrendered, he planned to take Wuhu and Chizhou as a "meeting gift", so he sent four generals under his command, Huang Wenjin, Liu Guanfang, Gu Longxian, lai Wenhong, and other fierce generals to attack Wuhu and seize the city. However, Liu Guanfang and others "woke up halfway" and felt that things were very strange, and at this time Yang Fuqing took the opportunity to win over. To this end, Liu Guanfang and others led a large army back to Chizhou, fought against Wei Jun, and successfully recaptured Chizhou. His superior Wei Jun surrendered, and Liu Guanfang not only did not follow the main general, but also recaptured Chizhou, which was a great achievement. For this reason, the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan was very happy and granted him the post of commander of the Right Army. After Hong Xiuquan re-established the "five armed forces general" system, Wei Jun was the main general of the right army, but at this time, liu Guanfang could get this position, and naturally the Heavenly King intended to win him over.
After breaking away from Wei Jun, Liu Guanfang did not have many soldiers and horses at hand, and could only assist Chen Yucheng, Li Xiucheng, Yang Fuqing, Li Shixian and other princes in battle. In November 1860, Liu Guanfang led his 4,000 elites to follow Li Xiucheng on a western expedition to Wuchang, passing through Qimen in southern Anhui, to fight against the Xiang army. At that time, Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, was in the Qimen camp and remotely commanded the Battle of Anqing, but Li Xiucheng did not know it, otherwise Zeng Guofan would be in big trouble. Li Xiucheng's mind was not in Qimen, but wanted to go to Jiangxi to recruit troops, expand his strength, and compete with Chen Yucheng's forces. However, Liu Guangfang was different, he believed that the Xiang army was gathered in southern Anhui at this time, and there must be big people here. To this end, Liu Guangfang stormed Qimen, and the forwards once advanced to Yangzhanling, Dachiling, and Yangenling, only 10 miles away from the Qimen camp of the Xiang Army. Zeng Guofan was afraid that he would die, and wrote a suicide note, saying: "Support in all difficulties, military danger, and unexpected events." Unfortunately, Li Xiucheng did not attach importance to Qimen, And Li Shixian, Huang Wenjin, and others withdrew from the battlefield one after another, and Liu Guanfang could only fight alone. Soon, Bao Chao led 6,000 elite soldiers from Jingdezhen to Qimen, Liu Guanfang suffered from the enemy in his belly, and had to withdraw his troops, and Zeng Guofan escaped the disaster.
Unable to capture Zeng Guofan alive, Liu Guanfang also lost a lot of soldiers and horses, so he had to return to Zhenshou Chizhou to prevent the Xiang army from going down the river to attack Tianjing. In March 1864, Tianjing City was in danger, the grain route was basically cut off, and the situation was very bad. To this end, Liu Guangfang went to Jintan Town to guard, leaving a back road for the Tianjing defenders to respond to the breakthrough. Liu Guanfang attached importance to the Golden Temple, and Li Hongzhang, the commander of the Huai Army, naturally also attached importance to it, and he also wanted to cut off the houjing hou road. However, Li Hongzhang's Huai army did not dare to kill from Jiangsu, lest Zeng Guofan and Zeng Guofan think that he was robbing the credit and finding trouble for himself in the future. Li Hongzhang did not dare to come, and Gordon, the first LinkedIn of the "foreign gun team", did not think so, and where to fight is not to fight, anyway, you can take the money. The "Yankees" are mercenaries with complex compositions, and their leader, Gordon, is an avid militant and adventurous spirit. Li Hongzhang played "Suzhou Kill", Gordon felt that his credibility was damaged, so he personally went to Li Hongzhang to single out, but after getting 70,000 taels of silver, he would no longer make trouble.
In Gordon's view, Jintan is a small county town, as long as the blossom cannon is bombarded, and the soldiers of the "foreign gun team" fire with guns in unison, Liu Guanfang can only run; most of the cities and pools such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been taken down in this way. Gordon was confident, but the result was miserable. Liu Guanfang did not have many troops at hand, nor did he have any decent heavy weapons and equipment, and a hard fight with the "foreign gun team" could only be a dead end. To this end, Liu Guanfang ordered the soldiers to dig trenches in the city, build bunker fortifications, and block the artillery fire of the "foreign gun brigade"; all the battlements on the city were empty, and all the flags were put away. In this way, Gordon mistakenly thought that the Golden Altar was not guarded, and the Taiping Army had long been scared away, but in fact, he did not know that this was the time when Liu Guanfang lured the enemy deeper. Liu Guanfang's idea was simple, without heavy weapons to fight with Gordon, he could only attract the "foreign gun team" to the city wall, smash it to death with bricks and stones, and at the same time engage his short soldiers and engage in hand-to-hand combat. I have to say that Liu Guanfang is indeed brave enough, an iron-blooded man, and a great hero who dares to fight hard with the great powers.
Liu Guanfang lured the enemy deeper, Gordon was really deceived, and the "foreign gun team" pounced on the Golden Temple, and there was no movement in the city, just like an "empty city". To this end, Gordon ordered the "foreign gun team" soldiers to enter the city and personally lead the team, which was quite dazzling. At this time, Liu officially ordered the soldiers to rush out of the trenches, climb to the head of the city, and use gunpowder bags, manure cans, stones, bricks and other objects to smash into the "foreign gun team", wounding more than a hundred people, and Gordon had to order a retreat. The next day, Gordon used artillery bombardment to open the gap, the "foreign gun team" took the opportunity to pounce, and the Taiping Army rushed out of the trench to fight back, and the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat. In this battle, Gordon was shot in the left forehead by a gun, seriously wounded and unconscious, and was carried back to the camp by his men to avoid a disaster. The attack on Jintan was frustrated, and Gordon was very annoyed, and he continued to order the "foreign gun team" to shell and fight with the Taiping Army, but to no avail. What about Liu Guanfang? Not only did they block the attack, but they also took the initiative to play night raids, and the "foreign gun team" was terrified. There was no way, Gordon had to run back to Liyang overnight, and the Taiping Army won a complete victory. In this battle, the Taiping Army killed 15 officers of the "Foreign Gun Brigade" such as Tate and Banin, and 260 soldiers, because the main weapons of the Taiping Army were bricks and stones, so it was called the "Battle of Bricks and Stones".
Guarding the Golden Altar proved that Liu Guanfang's military level was very good and his combat was brave enough. Unfortunately, Liu Guanfang's courage was too strong, and when the Huai army destroyed the Changxing City Wall by Guo Songlin's troops, Liu Guanfang rushed directly to the enemy army with a lit explosive package, and finally died in battle. What do you think about this?
References: Military History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Chronicle of the Heavenly Kingdom