Written by Zhao Mengde
The confrontation between the two armies has always been life and death, but in the process, it will also produce a certain sense of admiration due to the deep understanding of each other's capabilities. The biggest enemy is often the best confidant, because this kind of duel makes each other know each other a little.
Among the generals of the Taiping Army, Zeng Guofan scorned most of them, but he was obsessed with Lin Qirong and Luo Gang, and hid many doubts in his heart, and after many years of capturing Li Xiucheng, the mystery gradually surfaced. Zeng Guofan was greatly frustrated in the duel with Lin Qirong, but sincerely admired him, because Lin Qirong's super perseverance in sticking to Jiujiang deeply shocked Zeng Guofan.
Lee so-sung said to himself
Lin Qirong started as a major soldier in the Taiping Army, and was promoted to pawn commander due to his outstanding performance, and was quickly promoted to non-commissioned officer general under the attention of Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, and belonged to the middle and upper levels. After that, he followed Hong Xiu's wife's uncle Lai Hanying on a campaign in Anhui and Jiangxi, and was once again promoted to the rank of Eighth Right Commander for his merits. Soon after, he accompanied Shi Dakai's brother Shi Xiangzhen to capture Jiujiang. In the following year, he was promoted to the twelfth checkpoint on the right and became the chief of the jiujiang town.
In 1855, Shi Dakai, the fourth figure of the Taiping Army, marched to the west, and Lin Qirong directly participated in the Battle of the Xiang Army's Water Division under Shi Dakai's command of Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan was so defeated that he attempted suicide by diving. However, although the battle was under the command of Shi Dakai, Zeng Guofan was too impressed with Lin Qirong. In the autumn of that year, Zeng Guofan ai attacked the Jiujiang River for a long time by the Hunan admiral Taqibu, and eventually vomited blood and died.
At the time of the Tianjing Incident, Lin Qirong was not affected in Jiujiang. Zeng Guofan sent a letter to him to persuade him to "yang's party", so it must be Wei Changhui and his henchmen who must be cut off, and advised him to surrender, "to kill the Wei party, in order to quickly take revenge." He also affirmed that "he has a strong will and is not guilty of harming the people." "The implication is that as long as you surrender, the ending will be much better than it is now." However, Lin Qirong died in front of the messenger, so Zeng Guofan intensified his attack on Wuchang, allowing Li Xubin and Yang Zaifu to lead a large army to besiege Jiujiang.
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In 1857, fierce fighting began for six days and six nights, but he could not take Jiujiang, and finally had to retreat. Lin Qirong's defense of Jiujiang played a major role in stabilizing the overall situation of Tianjing, so he was given the title of Marquis of Zhongzhen by Hong Xiuquan.
Ten months later, xiaochikou and Hukou on the outskirts of Jiujiang were occupied by Qing forces one after another, and Jiujiang became an isolated city. With the Qing army encircled on three sides on land and patrolled by water divisions on the river, Lin Qirong's defenders completely cut off foreign aid. With the cut-off of foreign aid, military food was increasingly scarce. Lin Qirong ordered wheat to be planted in the city's arable land. But this method, in the end, can not solve the problem. The half-starved and half-full defenders, of course, had a great reduction in physical strength. However, this measure has strengthened the determination of officers and men to stick to their own hands. On 30 August 1858, the Qing army began to attack day and night. Lin Qirong led his men to hold on with the deep trenches of Gaocheng, and the Qing army could not succeed. But Lee is not a fuel-efficient lamp. Seeing that the ground back attack was ineffective, he changed his approach. Three tunnels were dug in Mopanzhou outside the East Gate and the city was blown up with gunpowder. On May, the east gate wall collapsed several times, but it was still unable to attack. On May, the south gate wall collapsed more than ten times, and the situation was very grim. Lin Rong commanded the place, threw powder kegs at the gap, killed and injured the besieging Qing troops, and blocked the gap. Of course, Li Xubin refused to stop there. The next day, the digging continued, the explosives were fired in many places, the city wall was collapsed more than 100 meters, and finally more than 170,000 people were killed, and Lin Qirong did not fall until his death.
Xiang Army
Earlier, when Li Xubin and Yang Zaifu could not attack fiercely, Zeng Guofan gave the imperial court a fold, saying that Lin Qirong was "stubborn and stubborn, and his toughness and fierceness were unexpected. In May 1858, when it was finally captured, Zeng Guofan again wrote to his brother's family letter, and sincerely sighed: Lin Qirong's stoicism was really unattainable. "
In 1863, when Hong Xiuquan was posthumously awarded the title of Meritorious Servant, Lin Qirong was made the King of Qin. After Li Xiucheng was captured, he called Lin Qirong a founding hero in a respectful tone.
What is dead-endedness? Lin Qirong's deeds in Jiujiang are a clear and sufficient answer. From the time he entered and occupied Jiujiang to the time when the whole army was finally out, it was nearly six years. The last defensive battle, also in June and July, had little possibility of reinforcements. For more than a month after the fall of Xiaochikou and Hukou, not even a single grain of grain could be transported into Jiujiang City, and at the same time, even birds could not fly out of this isolated city where the attacking and defending sides had dug two deep trenches. This made Zeng Guofan deeply impressed by this person, and from a certain point of view, he really admired this opponent who had made him anxious.
Second, Luo Gang, why was the Taiping Army's greatest achievement in the early period but not crowned king? Who did he really die at?
In 1864, after capturing Li Xiucheng, the King of Zhong, Zeng Guofan interrogated him with confusion and mentioned a figure named Luo Gang, who had been dead for ten years. Ask li Xiucheng Luo outline: "Why didn't you chase the king?" And Li Xiucheng prevaricated with "his affairs are very chaotic and there is no place to say".
Luo outline
So what kind of characters did the real Luo Gang look like in the early Taiping Army? So much so that after ten years of death, Zeng Guofan was still confused, because in Zeng Guofan's view, Luo Gang's opponent was too terrible, and why he had not been knighted after such great military merit had always become his lingering doubt.
At that time, an intelligence book "Thief's Intelligence Collection" described Luo Outline's personal information: "Luo Outline is fierce and alert, and the thief is a capable person." He also ranked Luo Gang in the Taiping Army with Yang Xiuqing and Feng Yunshan, believing that he was "quite proficient in the situation in the mountains and rivers." ”
Even a "Wuchang Chronicle" at that time said that Luo Gang's combat strength far exceeded that of Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang. At the same time, there are also testimonial materials describing Luo's outline as "extremely desperate, the most rampant, and whenever the war is poor, the outline is used." ”
Many years later, Hong Renjie said in the "Kai Dynasty Jingzhongjun Division Gan Wang Baozhi": "How about the Eastern King, the Western, the Southern, the Wing King, and the Luo Outline so the winners of many battles" are how. Juxtaposing Luo Outline, whose status was far lower than that of Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Feng Yunshan, and Shi Dakai, with several other kings, it can be seen that Luo Outline's early achievements were quite prominent.
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Luo Gang, a native of Guangdong, also participated in the "Heaven and Earth Society" in his early years, and was "known as a thief in the sea and a robber of merchants". He has also trafficked in opium, which can be described as a rich experience. When the Taiping Army openly rebelled, he and his cousin Luo Qiong led the crowd to participate and served as the commander of the Second Left Army. Because he can attack strong points, he is good at fighting quickly and making quick decisions, and he has been a pioneer many times. Attack Yong'an, break through from Yong'an, break through Jeonju, Kewuchang, occupy Jiujiang, break Anqing, and then first attack Nanjing from Shuiximen. Therefore, it was well-known in the Daping Army, and it was also like a plague god in the eyes of the Qing Dynasty army and government officials.
Subsequently, they captured Zhenjiang and fortified it. In Zhenjiang, he also dealt with some foreigners, and can be regarded as one of the very few people in the Taiping Army who handled "foreign-related" affairs. In the spring of 1854, he was ordered to follow Hu Yihuang to the war and try his best to raise grain and grass to return to Nanjing.
In the winter of the same year, he led his troops to be stationed at Meihuazhou between Hukou and Jiujiang. In February 1855, he participated in the defeat of the Xiang Army's water division, thus helping Lin Qirong to hold the Jiujiang. However, he was immediately transferred to Anqing and died in battle shortly after.
For the Taiping Army, Luo Gang's credit was far above Qin Rigang and Hu Yihuang. However, at the time of his death, his official position was only that of a winter official. Qin Rigang was promoted from Marquis of Dingtian to King of Yan in 1854, and Hu Yihuang was also promoted from Marquis of Hutian to King of Yu in the same year. "Thief Qianhui Compilation", he "because he is not an old thief in western Guangdong, he did not make a prince on the Qin Rigang, and his heart was very fast". He was suppressed, and it was obvious that he had done great deeds without being knighted.
So much so that he had been dead for nearly ten years, and Zeng Guofan still had doubts about it.
Portrait of Zeng Guofan
The fundamental reason why Luo Gang was not sealed was that he was a "non-Guangdong old thief", that is, he was not the first person to join guangxi, in addition, he came from the Heaven and Earth Society, so he could only be regarded as a fellow traveler that Hong Xiu could use.
In addition to not being Hong Xiuquan's own person, Luo often expressed some different opinions. When Hong Xiuquan entered Nanjing, he immediately built a large number of civil engineering and built the Heavenly King's Palace, "more than ten miles around the city, the wall is several inches high, and the inside and outside are double", the outside is called "Sun City", the inside is called "Golden Dragon City", and the main hall is called "Golden Dragon Hall". The yellow silk hanging more than ten feet high outside the gate is written in scarlet with a diameter of five feet, which can be seen for miles near and far, and it is written on it: The ministers of all sizes have stopped their whereabouts here; there is a commandment to allow the advance, otherwise in the snow clouds. Snow in the clouds is snow in the clouds, which means "knife".
However, Luo Gang said: "The world is undecided, but I want to live in this capital, can it last long?" I am of no kind.
In addition, when Hong Xiuquan issued the order for the Northern Expedition, Luo Outline went so far as to openly resist the order and directly stated that the Northern Expedition could not succeed, and the later prediction completely proved that Luo Outline was correct: "If you want to go north, you must first settle Yu, the car is stationed in Bei, and the army is crossing the river." Otherwise, first set the southern nine provinces, no worries, and then go out three ways... Will hunt swallows all. If the hanging army is deep, there is no backup for committing danger, and the subjects do not dare to obey the commandment. ”
In the end, the Northern Expedition was indeed wiped out by the monk Green in one fell swoop because the lone army went deep and the grain and grass were cut off.
For Luo Gang's "thorn head", Hong Xiuquan saw that he was very capable and could not help but be patient, but when he came back, regardless of his merits and deeds, he also had to toss him around, unable to adjust steadily, and finally died of exhaustion. Essentially, he died in Hong Xiuquan. Interestingly, by 1862, Hong Xiuquan had sealed more than 2,700 kings, which was called the Great Sale of Kings, and those who sent horses were also crowned kings.