Jiang Zhongyuan had limited men and horses, and before the war he had asked the officers and troops to coordinate their actions and carry out an ambush on the east bank of the Xiang River. On the east bank, there were heavy mountains and obstacles, only the Yanggu Trail could be passed, and if the officers and troops also established positions there like Chu Yong, it was almost certain that the Taiping Army would be unable to escape by inserting its wings, and eventually the entire army would be destroyed at Yidu. Obviously, however, the officers and troops did not take Jiang Zhongyuan's request seriously, and Chu Yong fought in The Two-Day Battle of Guiyidu, and none of the officers and troops were reinforced, and there was no one on the east bank.
After Feng Yunshan's death, the Taiping Army had no choice but to land from the east bank, and the undefended east bank gave them the opportunity to escape. Hong Xiuquan led his troops through the densely forested hills on the east bank and entered Hunan on foot, they had intended to capture the commercial town of Yongzhou on the river to obtain new ships and supplies, but because the officers and troops had cut off the bridge and the ships had been dragged to the opposite bank, they abandoned Yongzhou and turned south to Daozhou. For the sudden turn of the Taiping Army, the Daozhou defenders were completely unprepared, and the defense was useless, and as a result, they were easily captured by the Taiping Army.
The main purpose of Jiang Zhongyuan's ambush at Ziyidu was to cut off the land and water passage of the Taiping Army into Hunan from the north, and after the ambush was successful, he once believed that the Taiping Army would return to the south, Hunan might have been defended, and the Taiping Army had captured Daozhou, dashing his hopes.
Although it ultimately failed to stop the Taiping Army from advancing north into Hunan, the Battle of Yidu had substantially preserved Changsha and its Hunan.
The original intention of the Taiping Army was to launch a rapid attack directly on Changsha through the Xiang River, and at that time Changsha was empty of defenses and had few troops, and once the Taiping Army launched a timely attack, the probability of being captured was extremely high. However, due to the defeat of Yidu, the Taiping Army was forced to change its mode and route of travel, and the plan to attack Changsha quickly was delayed. In addition, they not only had to rehabilitate their morale, but also recruited soldiers and replenished supplies to compensate for the heavy losses at the Battle of Guidu, which cost them a lot of valuable time in Daozhou and other parts of Shonan.
Without the Battle of Yidu, Changsha may have been conquered by the Taiping Army long ago, and Hunan would naturally be in its hands, so this battle "to save Hunan's first merit". At that time, many people believed that "the world cannot be without Hunan for a day", and judging from the strategic position of Hunan later, it is indeed the case: if Hunan is in the hands of the Taiping Army, then the Taiping Army can collect all the elite troops of Hunan, go down the river, and occupy Nanjing, and the Northern Expedition may therefore be advanced, and the entire war situation will inevitably change drastically under the circumstance that the Taiping Army is still lacking vigilance everywhere.
After the Battle of Ziyidu, Jiang Zhongyuan's reputation grew day by day, and his reputation as a soldier was unmatched in Xiang Province, and he himself was promoted to prefect because of his merits.
Everyone knew that Jiang Zhongyuan could fight, but no one listened to his words. When the Taiping Army had just occupied Daozhou, the soldiers were still dissatisfied with the tens of thousands, and Jiang Zhongyuan proposed that "it is better to divide the defense than to suppress it, and it is better to block it from a distance than to attack closely", that is to say, it should be combined with the troops and directly rush to Daozhou to fight. This was the best strategy to eliminate the Taiping Army, but no one paid attention to it, and the shonan cities were also broken by the Taiping Army one after another.
Jiang Zhongyuan (5) serial, to be continued.......