In 1860, the power of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was as great as the sun. Relying on the play of young generals such as Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng, he attacked the Qing army's Jiangnan camp on the outskirts of Tianjing in one fell swoop. Subsequently, it was connected to important prefectures and counties such as Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, and Jiaxing. But their ultimate goal was Shanghai, the Qing Dynasty's largest source of tax revenue in Jiangnan.
New economic center
Old-fashioned Shanghai County City Wall
With the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing and the Five Ports Treaty of Commerce, Shanghai, which was originally smaller, quickly replaced Suzhou as the absolute economic center of the Qing Dynasty. Here not only are there powerful foreign merchants, but also many wealthy merchants who have rushed to take refuge from all over the world. Therefore, Zeng Guofan once mentioned in a letter to Li Hongzhang: In Shanghai, the people are tens of millions, and the wealth is tens of millions!
Faced with the looming threat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, both foreign merchants and wealthy local households in Shanghai had no confidence in the Qing dynasty's defenses. A few years before the Taiping Army approached, the officers and men stationed there were paralyzed and careless, and the weak knife would seize the county town in one fell swoop. In the course of the counter-offensive in an attempt to retake, it was repeatedly thwarted by the poorly armed Hui party. There was even a clash with the Lend-Lease forces, making a big joke that 20,000 elites were defeated by 300 British and American sailors.
Before the arrival of the Taiping Army, Shanghai was mainly held by the remnants of the Jiangnan
By 1860, the Qing army stationed in Shanghai was not even as good as the Green Battalion soldiers who had besieged the Knife Society. At that time, Wu Xi's men, who were in charge of the Daotai, only had more than 20,000 soldiers from all walks of life. Most of them were defeated soldiers who had escaped from the counties of Jiangnan, and were evaluated by Li Hongzhang as inferior and unbeatable, and even the newly recruited recruits could not be compared. The north of the Yangtze River estuary is also gathered by a group of water thieves, although there are more than 10,000 gunboats gathered, which alone have little value for defending the city. On the contrary, it may defect at any time and become the vanguard of the Taiping Army's attack on Shanghai. In the panic, Wu Xi thought of recruiting a foreign army and using Western-style guns to defend Shanghai. His wealthy businessman Yang Fang recommended the previously unknown American, Wahl.
This Wahl served as the captain of Yang Fang's steamship Kong Fuzi. He was also a very typical 19th century adventurer. Since dropping out of college, I have traveled the world looking for opportunities to make a fortune. He served as a merchant sailor, an armed bodyguard for a private expedition, and a speculative merchant, and also participated in the French Army and experienced the Crimean War. Until the Mexican Nationalist leader Juárez rebelled against the invasion of Napoleon III, he also served as a commander in the rebel army. Finally, he went to Shanghai to develop, and commanded Yang Fang's armed steamships to suppress the Yangtze River pirates. The Qing dynasty government decided to hire him and form the first modern armed force in its history, the foreign gun brigade.
Wahl left behind a small number of personal photographs
After several twists and turns
The early Yankees were the backbone of European and American adventurers
In order to be able to form an army and enter the battle as soon as possible, Wahl had to lower the standard of recruitment. First of all, a small number of European and American sailors who can use guns are found as the backbone, and then more Filipinos with slightly inferior strength are used as the main force. However, there are still too few people with military experience in Shanghai. It was not until June 1860 that more than 100 people were recruited in total. Moreover, they all came for salaries, and they were not willing to fight at all. The above 2 chronic diseases are major defects that cannot be compensated by any skilled marksmanship and excellent tactical literacy.
Despite this, the Yankees were successful in the early days of their success. During the counter-offensive against Songjiang County, which was occupied by the Taiping Army, about 80 members of the foreign gun brigade fought, and hundreds of Qing troops recaptured this important stronghold on the outskirts of Shanghai. This also allowed the Qing army to win a long-lost victory in Jiangnan, making Wahl famous among the merchants and local gentry of various countries. Soon, more people came to sign up, and the size of the Yankees expanded to more than 250 people.
A foreign gun team that cooperated with the Qing army
But Matsue's victory also brought disaster to Wahl. Li Xiucheng, the loyal king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led a group of elites to the front line to support. He was also the most favorite general in the Taiping Army to use foreign guns and cannons, and he formed a guard with a large selection of sharpshooters, all equipped with the best quality firearms. Western adventurers were even recruited to provide technical guidance in their own armies. Therefore, when the foreign gun team began to counterattack Qingpu County north of the Songjiang River, it encountered fierce fire resistance. Li Xiucheng also did not forget to send troops to instigate a flanking attack, successfully killing 62 people on the other side and wounding more than 100 people. Wahl himself was shot 5 times and fell off his horse. The remnants of the army were driven back to Shanghai by Li Xiucheng, and the newly occupied Songjiang was also returned to the other side.
Despite the fiasco in Qingpu, the performance of the Yankees was recognized by all walks of life in Shanghai. Because compared with those twilight Qing troops, their use of new weapons and their active and bold will to fight can be called a clear stream in the Jiangnan region. Hua Er, who was recuperating at Yang Fang's house due to serious injuries, also reflected on the failure. Subsequently, according to the suggestions of his subordinate Bai Qiwen, the rout troops were quickly reorganized. This time, they decided to use local soldiers near Shanghai as the main force, and foreign mercenaries to serve only as command instructors.
The rebuilt Yankees began recruiting Shanghai natives
As a result, a large number of farmers from the suburbs of Shanghai began to enter the foreign gun team. After a period of training, Wahl found that as long as they were treated better, they would surpass the Green Camp of the Qing Army in terms of combat effectiveness and loyalty. At that time, each soldier of the foreign gun brigade could get a monthly salary of 6 taels of silver, which was not only better than the elite 4 taels of the Huai Army, but also far exceeded the 2 taels of subsidies for the green battalion soldiers. They are also very keen to learn advanced weapons from the West and try as hard as possible to complete the training targets. Wahl not only let them wear Western-style military uniforms, but also let them directly practice various tactics, rules and slogans.
By January 1862, the number of Yankees had exceeded 1,000. Thanks to the financial support of Shanghai Customs, this small armed force was able to equip the european and American front-line equipment at that time. Wahl's younger brother Henry was responsible for purchasing arms in the United States, supplemented by local firms in Shanghai. This allowed the Yankees to use the Colt revolver, the breech-loaded Enfield rifle, and the infantry support gun that could be equipped with two artillery companies. In addition, Wahl acquired six steamboats to maneuver in complex water systems such as the Yangtze, Huangpu and Suzhou Rivers. By the way, the heavy artillery used for the siege was also quickly delivered to the front.
The Yankees soon also had artillery and river fleets
Step into the top
Flag of the Late Qing Army The first left is Wahl's personal standard-bearer
In early 1862, Li Xiucheng formally mobilized a large army to launch a fierce attack on Shanghai. At this time, the Shanghai garrison already had 2,000-3,000 British and French soldiers. However, neither government decided to turn to the Qing Dynasty altogether, so it could only be passively defended in individual areas. The 13,000 armed forces left in Shanghai by the Qing army also had no combat strength to speak of. As for Li Hongzhang's newly organized Huai Army, there was simply no time to rush to support it. Therefore, the real main force guarding Shanghai is still the thousand-man foreign gun team under Wahl's command.
In late January of that year, 500 members of the Yankee team encountered thousands of Taiping troops in Guangfulin. In a hurry to meet the enemy, they quickly unfolded a defensive circular array with 5 rows of depth. The innermost row of soldiers stood on standby, the middle 3 rows remained staggered kneeling, and the front row of men simply fell to the ground. Due to the very fierce firepower of the shooting, the opponent feels extremely uncomfortable. In addition to the defeat of the Taiping Army, they did not forget to scold these Shanghainese people in foreign military uniforms as "Qing demons". However, mouth cannons could not replace real guns, and the foreign gun team soon joined forces with the Qing army to counterattack, occupying the Stronghold of Wusong in Baoshan near the mouth of the Yangtze River, and then successfully captured Songjiang.
The expanded foreign gun team has greatly improved its combat effectiveness
When Li Xiucheng heard the news, he immediately sent troops of up to 20,000 people to counterattack. The Yankee team also gathered its forces and defended Songjiang with 1500 men. In the end, relying on the infantry artillery to attack, more than 2,000 enemy troops were killed. He then pursued and killed Guangfulin, taking advantage of the panic of the Taiping Army and capturing hundreds of people, and by the way seized a large number of ships carrying heavy loads. The Taiping Army was forced to retreat from near Shanghai and was unable to threaten the Qing Dynasty's new economic center in a short period of time.
A month later, the British and French troops began to cooperate with the Qing army to a limited extent on the pretext of protecting the safety of the Overseas Chinese in Shanghai. However, the operation was mainly limited to 30 miles near Shanghai County, which earned it the name "30 Mile Sweep operation". Wahl's foreign gun brigade cooperated with it, still serving as the main force of the attack, and recently let the British and French troops provide logistical and heavy artillery support. It was also after this battle that Wahl and his yankewarm team were finally officially recognized, promoted from private mercenaries to regular qing troops. Wahl was awarded the rank of Sipin, and his people also had a new name given by the imperial court, Changshengjun.
Group photo of the soldiers of the Changsheng Army
In May 1863, Li Xiucheng came from Tianjing to personally deploy and launched a fierce attack on positions near Shanghai. Relying on the forced conscription of more than 100,000 soldiers, they annihilated 5,000 Qing troops led by the prefect Li Qingchen in Taicang in southern Jiangsu, thus forcing the nearby British and remnants of the Qing army to abandon Jiading Nanxiang. The Taiping Army moved south from the north and successfully encircled the two county towns of Songjiang and Qingpu, which were held by the Changsheng Army.
Wahl also defended Songjiang from the town and successfully blocked the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom offensive. This extremely unsuccessful operation also caused great losses to the elite Taiping Army based in Suzhou. With the Repeated Victories of the Huai Army under Li Hongzhang's command in Pudong and west of Shanghai, victory was out of reach for Li Xiucheng. They made their final attempt in August, but they were also repelled by the joint efforts of the Changsheng Army and the Huai Army. At this point, the Taiping Army was no longer able to pose a real threat to the Shanghai area.
A standing army unit under the guidance of European and American instructors
The success of defending Shanghai brought Wahl's reputation in the Far East to its peak. In addition to rewarding him with the title of deputy general, the Qing government also allowed him to expand the Changsheng Army to 5,000 people and add an additional battalion of artillery. When the British also intended to join in, the size of the Changsheng Army quickly soared to more than 10,000 people. Hua Er was even more confident and proposed that if he led his troops to Tianjing, he could attack the old lair of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom within 10 days. However, this plan was not yet formed, and he was killed in the battle to capture Cixi, thus ending his short but wonderful career as a Qing mercenary.
Of course, the victorious army as mercenaries is by no means perfect. In addition to chaotic financial management, it is an internal personnel conflict. When the Qing Dynasty defaulted on its silver rewards, soldiers also plundered shops in the area under their jurisdiction in order to seize large amounts of silver and rice grain. But without this improvised army, much of Shanghai would have fallen into the hands of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Then, the funds to support the Qing court to train and maintain the Huai army will be rapidly lost due to the chaos of the war. No matter how Much Li Hongzhang engages in apportionment and looting, he cannot get a huge military salary of 600,000 taels of silver per month from other places.
Portrait of Wahl in Western Pictorial
It was also by relying on Wahl's personal struggle that the later Great Qing Zhongtang realized that only the popularization of Western weapons could strengthen the combat effectiveness of the troops. Nor did he abandon the victorious army that had already formed, and instead asked the more powerful British to take over the force. The latter sent a professional commander far more famous than Wahl, Charles Gordon.