In the middle of the second year of Xianfeng (1852), the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army led by Hong Xiuquan entered Hunan from Guangxi, and then conquered Daozhou and Chenzhou, and the Western King Xiao Chaogui asked himself to take Changsha with light troops, he led his troops not to take the right road of Leiyang and Hengyang, but to detour the mountain path, from Yongxing, Youxian, Anren, Chaling, and Liling, and soon the troops approached Changsha City, occupying The High Peak on the high ground outside the south gate of Changsha City and storming Changsha, but unfortunately in this fierce battle, Xiao Chaogui, the Western King, was unfortunately shot and killed, and the attack on Changsha ran aground.
The Taiping army was blocked by the attack on Changsha, and instead of attacking Yiyang in Ningxiang, it occupied more than 30 civilian ships here, and then gathered more than 3,000 ships to train sailors, and besieged Yuezhou (present-day Yueyang) and occupied it in one fell swoop.
Yueyang is located in the northeast of Hunan, across the Yangtze River in the north, and Hubei, is the throat of the two Chu water and land traffic, is the gateway of Hubei Province, occupies an important strategic position, has always been a place of contention between soldiers, in the early Qing Dynasty kangxi thirteen years, Wu Sangui and the Qing army in Yueyang battle, the result of failure, so that Wu Sangui regime in vain.
This time the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied Yueyang, and then the number of ships increased, and a powerful marine division was established, and from then on on both sides of the Yangtze River, they came from ru to Ru, the water and land drove for a long time, and the momentum was like a broken bamboo, and the previous one was mainly supported by the spirit of daring to sacrifice and fighting for themselves, they used large ships to transport the army, far better than the previous two feet, and since then they have set off from Yueyang, thousands of strong generals, male soldiers on both sides of the strait, breaking gold and ascending, triumphant songs along the road, smooth water flow, counting days stationed in Wuchang Parrot Island.
During the Spring Festival of this year, the shotguns were replaced by cannons of the Taiping Army, and the water camp "a thousand boats and strong soldiers on both sides of the strait, in a moment, they all moored on parrot island on the other side, and the masts were lined up, and the Taiping Army, under the guidance of the boat owner Tang Zhengcai, "joined the boat as a second floating bridge", that is, "used a large ship to squeeze out the heart of the river, take the wooden strips of Parrot Island, the plates in Hanyang City, and build a pontoon bridge on the surface"; the Taiping Army attacked Hankou, carried "tens of millions of property obtained, carried them into ships, and built pontoon bridges through iron cables one by one, and went straight to Wuchang." "From Parrot Island to Baisha Chau, down from the South Bank Mouth to the Mouth of the Great Embankment", knocking on the gate of Wuchang City with lightning speed.
In the evening, the Taiping Army dug the Wenchang Gate Tunnel to the city of Wuchang, the wall was full of large wooden stakes to stand extremely strong, with a huge axe to cut it down, Inspector Chang Dachun led his subordinate officials to gather on the city, with four hundred people to dig the inner hao, divert water to fill, later, the Taiping Army dug tunnels with a cabinet filled with gunpowder to burst the city wall, the city wall fell, the Taiping Army eight people raised the flag first, saw the battlements were sparse, the four surrounding ladders attacked, the soldiers bravely walked and avoided, Wuhan City fell, at this time the killing noise was noisy, the city was boiling, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied Wuhan.
In just twenty days, the Taiping Army occupied the important town of Wuhan in central China, and during the Spring Festival, Hong Xiuquan ordered that "officers and soldiers should not stay, and the people should not be injured." At this time, the crowds of people burned incense for the table to greet each other, and the word "Shun" was posted on the door of every household. The Taiping Army entered the city amid cheers, released the prisoners after entering the city, and at night, the Taiping Army patrolled the streets with open flames.
This was the first provincial capital city conquered since the Jintian Uprising of the Taiping Army, so it was paid special attention to, and Hong Xiuquan held a grand entrance to the city. Chinese New Year's Eve this year, Hong Xiuquan ordered the Taiping Army to allocate a pig and a sheep, with several sums of money, and a Chinese New Year's Eve of joy, and for a time the whole people celebrated, the firecrackers in Wuhan were thunderous, and the firecracker paper holes in the streets and alleys were more than an inch thick, which could be described as the happiest Spring Festival.
Then, the Taiping Army launched a vigorous crackdown on local tycoons, in groups of three or five, into large households to loot property, since the ancient kings and thieves are not separated. The taiping generals who entered the city first searched for the recalcitrant and hidden Qing dynasty civil and military officials, and their family wealth was confiscated and sent to the Holy Treasury.
After the occupation of Wuhan, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom carried out a comprehensive mobilization to expand the army, and stipulated many creative measures for the people: for the first time, they were sent to each museum according to the grades of gender, age and physical health status: men aged 16 to 50 years old entered the main pai hall to fight in the military; the old editor outside this age entered the paiwei hall, the women were included in the women's hall, the sick were included in the hall of able people, and the deaf, dumb, blind and disabled people were included in the old sick hall. There is a museum for every 25 people, which is completely in accordance with the army's establishment, and each museum has two simas, above which are divided into officers at all levels such as pawn commanders and brigade commanders, which are convenient for management.
At the same time, the rationed supply of the team is given to everyone. Each person is given 1 small cup of oil and 3 boxes of grain per day, and the ration is provided. All are militarized.
Subsequently, the team was organized, the uniform clothing, the image was unified, and the Taiping Army ordered those who had entered the camp outside the city to wear short clothes and registered cloths, and the men in the museum all cut their braids and keep their hair, and they could only wear short shirts. Those Wuchang hanzi who wore long robes had to be cut off and cut off, and a yellow cloth was sewn on the back of the chest, and the words "Heavenly Army", "Charging Soldier" or in a certain museum were written on it.
This Spring Festival of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Wuhan, through mobilization, development, expansion, formation, training, from the time of conquering Wuhan, all the troops that occupied the jurisdiction of tens of thousands of troops, to the time of leaving Wuhan, soared to 500,000 troops, water and land, marching east along the Yangtze River, successively conquering Anqing, Jiujiang and other cities, the Battle of Hukou made the leader of the Xiang Army Zeng Guofan almost jump into the river to commit suicide, a month later occupied the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties Nanjing, renamed "Tianjing" and fixed the capital here, and then launched the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition. At the height of its territory, it occupied half of China, its power grew to 18 provinces, and the area actually controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom grew to 23 prefectures, with a total area of more than 1.5 million square kilometers.
After the Taiping Army spent the New Year in Wuhan, it voluntarily abandoned Wuhan on the second day of the first lunar month of the third year of Xianfeng (1853), and the Taiping army battalions outside the city crossed Hankou from the pontoon bridge, and more than a thousand Taiping troops outside the East Gate crossed the river at dusk. The ships of the water camp carried soldiers, heavy loads, and went down the river. Although the commander of the Qing army, Xiang Rong, personally supervised the army and blocked the water camp, he also had to lament that the Taiping Army "pressed down the river, especially swiftly, our soldiers walked, forced to run, it was difficult to catch up." ”
After the Battle of Wuhan, this Taiping Army led by Hong Xiuquan can be said to be wrapped in the momentum of wind, rain, thunder and lightning, all the way like a bamboo, beating the so-called Eight Banner Soldiers, Green Battalion Soldiers and other regular units of the Qing Army to the head, the Qing court felt that the end was coming, Xianfeng was ill and rushed to the hospital, and urgently promoted Hubei Viceroy Xiang Rong as "Qincha Minister" and was responsible for military affairs in the two lakes; Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang, was promoted to "Minister of Qincha" and defended Anhui and Jiangsu; Inspector Fu Qishan of Shenghenan was made a "Minister of Qincha" and stationed in Hubei and Henan; Luo Huodian, the governor of Shengyungui, was stationed in Hubei and Henan. Chincha Minister", dedicated to guarding the land of Jingxiang. The four "Chincha Ministers" jointly defended the Taiping Army, which can be described as unprecedented, but the troops were divided into four guards, and the result is self-evident. Just 20 days later, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom established its capital in Nanjing. At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom entered a period of military strength.