In March 1853, the Taiping Army entered Jinling and occupied the southeast. At this time, the Xianfeng Emperor issued a decree allowing localities to set up "regimental training" armed forces to assist officers and soldiers in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. In this context, Zeng Guofan, a master of the Rigaku Jingshi Sect, formed a new type of armed force in Hengyang, the "Xiang Army", trained the land and water divisions, and attacked and killed in the front line of the suppression of the Taiping Army. The Xiang Army was not a regular army, there was no special funding from the imperial court, and the salary and silver were very rich, three times higher than the Eight Banners and 5 times higher than the Green Battalion. In this way, although Zeng Guofan flaunted that the Xiang army had a Confucian spirit of justice and said that it was fighting to defend traditional culture, in order to let the Xiang army get "money" and thus maintain a high fighting spirit, he acquiesced and even connived at the soldiers to plunder and massacre, so he was called "shaving his head". So, what are the "notorious" troops in the Xiang Army's discipline? Zeng Guofan's concubines occupied two seats, one of which was angry and resentful, and was later dismembered by Li Hongzhang.
01. Xi Baotian "Jingyi Battalion", which is an army that openly raises the banner of "War for Wealth". Xi Baotian, a native of Dong'an, Hunan, studied at Yuelu Academy in his early years, and later formed the "Jingyi Battalion" to encircle and suppress the Taiping Army; he successively produced more than 10 senior military attaches of the rank of admiral and general soldier, such as Su Yuanchun, the hero of the Great Victory in Zhennanguan. Xi Baotian's achievements are not to be said, Shi Dakai was hanged and beaten by him after Baoqing retreated; the young heavenly king Hong Tianguifu and his party of more than 100,000 people were ambushed by Xi Baotian in Jiangxi territory, the whole army collapsed, not to mention, the young lord was captured alive; in the conquest of Guizhou, 8 members of Zhang Xiumei's rebel army and tens of thousands of soldiers were killed. However, the discipline of the "Jingyi Camp" was worrisome, and everywhere it went, it openly plundered and caused the people's resentment to boil. Xi Baotian openly said that "in order to make a fortune in the war", the huge wealth plundered back was hidden in the township. Because the reputation of the "Jingyi Camp" was too poor, the "Qingliu officials" of the imperial court jointly wrote a letter to impeach Xi Baotian, and the folk gentry also attacked it. In this way, Xi Baotian was forced to resign and return home. After his death, his vast wealth became a mystery and has not yet been found.
02. Bao Chao's "Thunder Army", the worst disciplined unit in Zeng Guofan's lineage, the Ninth Marshal Zeng Guoquan was ashamed of himself. Bao Chao, a native of Fengjie, Chongqing, was medium-tall, with a dark face, but very fierce. The battle value of the "Thunder Army" under Bao Chao's command was first-class; Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng had just won a three-river victory of more than 6,000 elite veterans of the Xiang Army on their front feet, and their back feet were hanged by Bao Chao at the Erlang River; when the Taiping Army saw the banner of the "Thunder Army," they would take a detour and did not dare to provoke Mao. However, the discipline of the "Thunder Army" is really worrying, once the war is victorious, after entering the city, it will surely plunder wealth and people's women, and do all kinds of evil; if it is stationed in a certain place, if the grain and salary are not paid in time, the nearby villagers will usher in bad luck. Zuo Zongtang once said: "Thieves come to hope, thieves go to worry about fear", Bao Chao killed thieves, everyone likes; thieves run away, everyone is afraid of the "Thunder Army" robbery. After the Battle of Yinlonghe, Liu Mingchuan and Bao Chao fell out, and Li Hongzhang favored the generals of the Concubine clan and wrote to impeach Bao Chao, saying that he had missed the fighter plane and that the discipline of his troops was corrupt. What about the Qing Dynasty? Adopting the policy of "supporting Huaihuai and suppressing Xiang" and dismembering the "Thunder Army", Bao Chao had no choice but to resign and go home.
03. Zeng Guoquan's "Jizi Battalion", the second worst disciplined unit in Zeng Guofan's lineage, is comparable to the "Thunder Army". The Ninth Marshal Zeng Guoquan openly said: "Killing people is like hemp, spending money is like earth", and the main general is like this, and the discipline of the "Jizi Camp" under his command can be imagined. Fighting a war is definitely a good play for the "Jizi Camp", especially in fighting a protracted war, playing the "iron barrel tactic" is the most powerful; Anqing, Nanjing and other cities are conquered by the Nine Marshals playing this trick. Discipline, corrupt to the extreme. Attacked Anqing, plundered and slaughtered; conquered Nanjing, plundered, slaughtered, lasted for three days and three nights. Li Chendian, the chief general of the "Jizi Battalion", was the first to enter Nanjing, and his bravery was no less than that of Bao Chao and Cheng Xueqi, and he was an absolute fierce man. After invading Nanjing, he robbed dozens of women, sang songs night and night, and finally died violently. Shi Zai: "Those who saw long hair and those who shaved their hair were killed, so they killed more than 100,000 thieves." Li Chendian fell ill and did not rest, and soon died in the army at the age of twenty. The so-called "infection" is the statement of the Zeng brothers to cover people's eyes and ears; Zhao Liewen's "Diary of a Quiet Resident" has many records of the atrocities committed by the "Jizi Camp" in Nanjing, and the historical value is extremely high.
04. Cheng Xueqi "opened the word camp", the discipline was so bad and corrupt that even his superiors could not look at it and could not bear to look at it directly. Cheng Xueqi, a native of Tongcheng, Anhui, joined the Taiping Army in his early years, and later betrayed his brother-in-law Ye Yunlai to defect to the Xiang Army and serve Zeng Guofan. After the formation of the Huai Army, Zeng Guofan allocated the "Kaizi Battalion" to Li Hongzhang to participate in the Eastern Expedition to Shanghai and Jiangsu; Cheng Xueqi fought bravely and experiencedly, and his position in the Huai Army crushed Liu Mingchuan, Zhang Shusheng, Pan Dingxin, Wu Changqing, and Guo Songlin, and was known as the first general of the Huai Army. However, the "Kaizi Camp" fought for wealth and for the robbery of the people's women. After invading Suzhou, Cheng Xueqi believed that the war was about to end, and everyone would never have a chance to earn money in the future, and they would all be dismissed and returned home. To this end, Cheng Xueqi plundered for several days, allowing soldiers to plunder property and women, causing people's resentment to boil. In this way, even Li Hongzhang couldn't look at it anymore and said bluntly: "Jun also surrendered people, so why bother with this." Of course, Cheng Xueqi's fate was also very tragic, when attacking Jiaxing, he was headshot by the Taiping army gun, and his brain plasma collapsed, and he died.
05. Zhou Shengbo's "Shengjun", robbing insiders, civil wars insiders, and foreign wars are laymen, which is the most incisive summary of Zhou Shengbo's "Shengjun". Zhou Shengbo, a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, and Li Hongzhang are fellow countrymen. In the early years, Zhou Shengbo joined the Xiang Army, but was only a young general and did not have many opportunities for performance; after being assigned to the Huai Army, Li Hongzhang reused it, and he gradually grew into an excellent general. Annihilating the Taiping Army, pursuing and killing the "Twist Army", and extinguishing the rebel army, it was invincible and invincible. But everywhere you go, you must plunder. In this way, Li Henian, the governor of Henan, was impeached and asked to be killed, but Li Hongzhang tried his best to protect him from death. During the Sino-Japanese War, the "Sheng Army" was dispatched to fight on the Korean Peninsula. However, the commander-in-chief Wei Rugui did not change his dead nature, robbed while marching, and openly "stored prostitutes"; when he saw the Japanese army, he was discouraged and took the lead in fleeing, and ran with Ye Zhichao for seven hundred miles back to Liaodong. In this way, the imperial court was furious: "This time, the commander led the Sheng army, retreated in the face of the enemy, missed the overall situation, and withheld military salaries, and plundered the situation, and the crime was very serious, if it was not severely punished, why should it be necessary to suppress the military law and follow suit?" Wei Rugui wrote that he relied on the law to cut off, that is, execute. "It's also an outrage for everyone."
To sum up, Xi Baotian's "Jingyi Battalion," Bao Chao's "Thunder Army," Zeng Guoquan's "Jizi Battalion," Cheng Xueqi's "Kaizi Battalion," and Zhou Shengbo's "ShengJun", and other armed forces that had separated from the Xiang Army, fought bravely and fiercely, but their discipline was worrisome, "notorious," and the heavens were angry and resentful. Of course, there were also very disciplined troops in the Xiang Army, and they did not commit any crimes in the autumn, which could be regarded as the real "Wang Shi". For example, Peng Yulin, the "snow marshal" who was said to have painted 99,999 plum blossoms for his girlfriend, was a predecessor of the Beiyang Fleet, but was later damaged by Li Hongzhang.
Bibliography: Xiang Junzhi