In 1867, the Agubai forces that invaded Xinjiang from Central Asia gradually controlled the area south of the Tianshan Mountains, established the so-called "Zhedshar Khanate", and called themselves "Bittilet Khan", that is, "Hongfu Khan", and began its rule in southern Xinjiang for more than a decade. In 1870, Urumqi and Turpan were also occupied. At the same time, Tsarist Russia also took advantage of the fire and robbery and occupied the Ili region.
The Qing army could only retreat to a few areas such as Tacheng, Barikun, and Hami, and the situation was very critical. Previously, the Qing court was busy suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the south and the subsequent Twister Rebellion, and had no time to send troops to Xinjiang. In November 1873, Zuo Zongtang, a famous general from the Xiang Army and the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, with the support of the Qing court, finally freed his hands and began to gather troops to march northwest.
Reorganize the army
Before Zuo Zongtang's troops arrived, the Manchu general Mutushan, acting governor of Shaanxi and Gansu and garrisoning Lanzhou, was weak and unable to fight anymore. When Zuo Zongtang found out, he immediately went to the imperial court to withdraw this unit, and transferred from the south the elite Xiang Army and the Chu Army, which had just completed the disarmament and reorganization training, most of which were Zuo Zongtang's old troops, who had been engaged in battles with the Taiping Army and the Twist Army for many years, and their combat strength was strong.
Improve equipment
In terms of weaponry, Zuo Zongtang himself attaches great importance to Western military technology, believing that "the Westerners' foreign gun team style, neatly arranged in sexual rows, and a degree of progress and stop, are far superior to Middle-earth." Therefore, he sent people to Shanghai to spend a huge amount of money to buy advanced firearms such as the advanced German-made M1871 breech Mauser rifle and various artillery, transported to Wuhan via the Yangtze River, and then transported by horse to Suzhou (present-day Jiuquan City, Gansu Province), and then transported to the front line by camel. Although these modernized weapons and equipment were difficult to transport, they did play a huge role in later battles.
Centralized grain transportation
In sending troops to Xinjiang, the biggest test is not in the strength of troops, but in logistics supplies. Xinjiang is located on the border, sparsely populated, and it is common to walk for a few days without seeing people' homes, and grain and transportation problems have become the primary problems in the use of troops. In order to transport more grain from the interior, Zuo Zongtang changed the previous gratuitous servitude to employment, stipulating that regardless of the merchants, the freight of 100 catties of grain should be 4 to 5 yuan and silver, and the rations and hay were supplied at an affordable price along the way, so that the people in all parts of Gansu joined the grain and grass transfer army and solved the transportation problem.
Financing
On the eve of Zuo Zongtang's invasion of Xinjiang, the wolf-hearted Tsarist Russia had already annexed the Central Asian khanates of Khiva and Buhada, and even Agubai's motherland, the Kokand Khanate, was not spared. In view of the fact that there was never an end and a boundary in russia's expansion in the East, in order to avoid becoming the next dish of Chinese food, the financially embarrassed Qing court issued an edict that "as long as the border areas are peaceful, the imperial court will not hesitate to spend tens of millions of dollars", and did not hesitate to allow Zuo Zongtang to borrow foreign debt on his own.
From 1876 onwards, handled by "red-top businessman" Hu Xueyan, Zuo Zongtang successively made a high-interest loan of 15.95 million taels of silver to Britain. At the same time, Zuo Zongtang, on the condition that the Western Expeditionary Army should organize grain and grass and exchange military salaries, borrowed millions of taels of silver from the Jin merchant bills that were rich in the world at that time. Borrowing usury to fight wars, and even at the expense of "breathing on the nose to outsiders", can not but be said to be a sad, but look at today's map of China, the rooster-like territory on the beautiful tail feathers, no matter how high the interest is also earned.