As the saying goes, "one general is incompetent and exhausts the three armies", and whether a soldier can win a battle is closely related to the tactical quality and command level of the commander of the whole army. Excellent commanders, although there are not many generals, are still invincible, chasing after opponents and hanging down, such as Wei Qing, Huo Fuyi, Li Jing, Xu Da, Lan Yu, and so on. Incompetent commanders, even if their generals were brave and invincible, and they were not afraid of death, the result was still a complete defeat, and even the entire army was destroyed, such as Li Jinglong, Qiu Fu, Yang Hao, Shi Dakai, and so on. In order to support Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang's Northern Expedition, Yang Xiuqing requisitioned more than 7,000 elites from Tianjing, Xizheng and other stations to form the Northern Aid Corps and slaughtered the Central Plains. The northern expedition reinforcements were very strong in combat, and they entered Henan and Shandong in less than a month, and the Qing army collapsed along the way. However, zeng Lichang, the commander of the Northern Aid, made a mistake in command, coveted to attack the stronghold at a critical moment, and wasted a precious 12 days, resulting in the total annihilation of 7,000 elite soldiers, and the Northern Expedition was doomed to a crushing defeat.
In May 1853, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang led 20,000 veterans on the Northern Expedition, entering Henan in less than a month, and arriving at Tianjin in less than half a year, threatening the safety of Beijing and scaring the Xianfeng Emperor into moving back to the northeast. However, the Northern Expeditionary Army was isolated and helpless, and the grain, gunpowder, medicine, and soldiers were exhausted, and the pressure to attack Beijing was very high. To this end, Yang Xiuqing, the eastern king, decided to send reinforcements north, join forces with Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, and then attack Beijing, realizing in one fell swoop the long-cherished wish of "expelling the Tartars and restoring China". In February 1854, Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army was preparing to make its debut, and the major battlefields were in a hurry, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was overstretched and difficult to take care of. So, how to reinforce the Northern Expedition troops? The Eastern King made a bloody decision, that is, to withdraw the Yangzhou defenders, and then draw elite fighters from the Western Expedition, Tianjing and other theaters, with Zeng Lichang as commander and Xu Zongyang and Chen Shibao to assist. The total strength of the troops this time is more than 7,000 people, all of whom are elite in hundreds of battles. It can be said that Yang Xiuqing still attached great importance to the Northern Expedition, not as later generations said, the Northern Expedition, "meat buns beat dogs", but a major strategic responsibility.
Zeng Lichang was also a fierce general in hundred battles, and during the period of defending Yangzhou, he repeatedly defeated the Qing army of the "Jiangbei Camp", and later he was able to lead his soldiers to withdraw unscathed, and his command level should be quite good. In this northern aid, most of the soldiers and horses were withdrawn from Yangzhou, and they were all zeng Lichang's old subordinates, and their command was relatively flexible. In March, Zeng Lichang, Xu Zongyang, Chen Shibao, and others swore an oath in Anqing, and led 7,000 elites all the way through Tongcheng, Shucheng, Luzhou, and shouzhou, from Zhengyang Pass into Henan. At this time, the two Huai "twist troops" launched an uprising to cooperate with the reinforcements; Zeng Lichang made smooth progress and recruited more than 30,000 soldiers and horses, with a total strength of 40,000 troops, and the momentum was very huge. Then, Zeng Lichang took Xuzhou, from here crossed the Yellow River and entered the territory of Shandong. In this way, Zeng Lichang's Northern Reinforcement Corps and Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang's garrison of Fucheng were only 200 miles away, and as long as they added more strength, the two armies could win the division and the situation of the Northern Expedition would change. It should be known that at this time, the main force of the Northern Qing Army focused on besieging Fucheng, and had no energy to manage the reinforcements, Zhang Liangji and Yuan Jiasan (Yuan Shikai's uncle) only had 4,000 soldiers in their hands, and they deliberately kept a distance and did not dare to face the battle.
Along the way, with another 30,000 troops recruited, Zeng Lichang wanted to capture a city, rest his subordinates, and replenish grain and grass. To this end, Zeng Lichang chose to attack Linqing and began a 12-day offensive battle, which resulted in the total annihilation of the army. Why choose Linqing? The reason is very simple, this is the hub of the canal, and the supply of food, grass, ammunition, weapons, etc. is abundant. On April 1, Zeng Lichang began to attack the city, sending 4,000 elite troops to attack in parts, advancing towards the southwest city gate, continuously breaking through more than 20 Qing military fortifications, and the Qing army was forced to retreat to the city. The next day, Zeng Lichang personally came to the front line to direct the battle, Xu Zongyang, Chen Shibao and other tough generals led an elite assault on the east gate, and cooperated with the "cave siege" tactic, blowing up the gap, but was blocked by the Qing army. On the 3rd, Shengbao led 13,000 soldiers and horses from Fucheng to the outskirts of Linqing to garrison and engage the Taiping Army. In this way, Zeng Lichang was forced to fight on both the offensive and the two fronts of reinforcements, besieging Linqing and blocking the reinforcements of Shengbao. However, Katsuho was more shrewd and did not want to fight a bloody battle with the Taiping Army, but adopted siege tactics, digging trenches and building strong bases, and sat back and watched Zeng Lichang attack the city.
Shengbao, Chong'en, Shanlu and other Qing generals waited and watched, and Zhang Jigong, the prefect of Linqing, could only resist alone, and it was impossible to defend Linqing. On the 12th, Zeng Lichang adopted the tactic of "attacking the city in the cave", two layers of explosions, the Qing army could not defend, the Taiping Army successfully entered the city, killing more than 3,000 Qing soldiers defending the city. However, this was definitely one of Zeng Lichang's major failures, which eventually led to the total annihilation of the army and his own suicide by throwing himself into the Yellow River. First of all, the offensive wasted a lot of grain, grass, ammunition, and time, which was fatal to reinforcements who lacked logistical supplies. Moreover, Zhang Jigong, at the behest of Katsuho, had already destroyed all the grain, grass, ammunition, weapons, etc. in the city, and all he had gotten was an empty city, useless. Finally, Shengbao, Shanlu, Chong'en, and others took advantage of the Taiping Army to attack the city, dug two long trenches outside the city, built fortifications, and counter-encircled Zeng Lichang. In addition, Katsuho brought in five heavy artillery pieces of 5,000 kilograms and continued to shell the city, causing panic. In this way, Zeng Lichang was doomed to bad luck.
On April 18, only 6 days after the destruction of the castle, the Taiping Army began to break through, but unfortunately could not cross the trench, and was blocked by artillery fire from the Qing army of Katsuhobu, with many casualties. On the 19th and 20th, Zeng Lichang organized a breakthrough again, but was ambushed by the Qing army, with hundreds of casualties. Several consecutive breakthroughs failed, the city was short of grain and grass, and the new recruits of the Taiping Army began to stir up emotions, and even fled. On the 22nd, Zeng Lichang gathered all the soldiers and horses, used the fire can to raid the Qing army camp, burned the camp, and then fought a bloody battle, killed from the south gate, and Linqing was lost. After the breakthrough, Katsuho, Chong'en, and Zenroku led their troops in pursuit. On May 5, Zeng Lichang took advantage of the Qing army's lax defenses and attacked the camp at night, stepping on dozens of camps, and the Qing army was in chaos. At this time, the Taiping Army took advantage of the situation to cover up and killed more than a thousand people. The situation was very good, and Zeng Lichang said: "Taking advantage of this to pursue and kill, it is not difficult to sweep away all the officers and men." From then on, there was no obstacle to retreating to the north, and there was no obstacle to reaching Fucheng, which was an opportunity to turn defeat into victory. It can be seen that Zeng Lichang did not want to continue to retreat, but decided to take this opportunity to counterattack, go north again, and join the reinforcements.
Zeng Lichang decided to counterattack and go north to join the reinforcements, but the new soldiers were unwilling, and at this time they did not listen to the command and fled in groups. What is more crucial is that Xu Zongyang, Chen Shibao, and other tough generals did not listen to the commander's orders and led the team to retreat without authorization at night, resulting in the dispersion of the army. In this way, Zeng Lichang almost became the commander of the light pole, surrounded by 20,000 soldiers and horses led by Shengbao, Chong'en, and Shanlu at the Panlong Jikou on the Yellow River, isolated and helpless, and fell into a desperate situation. In order to avoid being captured, Zeng Lichang was wounded in a bloody battle, jumped into the Yellow River, and died on the battlefield. The remaining fleeing troops, pursued by the Qing army, were completely lost. In this battle, 7,000 elite soldiers were basically all killed, which was considered to be a bloody loss. In the "Self-Statement Book", Li Xiucheng regarded the northern aid as the second of the "ten mistakes", and he was heartbroken.
Bibliography: The Complete History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War