Zuo Zongtang recovered Xinjiang, and the most difficult thing to overcome was never Agubai, but the actual conditions.
Agupa is indeed very strong, with the support of Turkey, Britain, and Tsarist Russia, but his strength is limited to Central Asia. No matter how bad the Qing Dynasty is, it is also a big country that is directly on an equal footing with Britain and Russia, how can it not be able to get a dog-legged regime that they have supported?
Therefore, the pain point of recovering Xinjiang is not in Agubai. So what are the difficulties that Zuo Zongtang has to overcome? That's too much.
Difficulty one, the imperial court was not very supportive.
Although Zuo Zongtang's recovery of Xinjiang is a great thing for the benefit of China. But the problem is that this matter was not necessarily an urgent matter for the Qing Dynasty at that time.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty was abused by the great powers over and over again, but all the great powers that had a few boats and a few guns in their hands dared to come to the Qing Dynasty to extort a hand. This can make Empress Dowager Cixi sad.
Therefore, in the dispute between Cypriot defense and coastal defense at that time, Cixi was more inclined to coastal defense. The great powers could sail from Tianjin to land and then go straight to Cixi's lair, which Cixi had experienced, so she was even more afraid.
But you said that the great powers can march all the way from Xinjiang to Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, and then to the capital, I think this road is not so easy, right?
Therefore, from the perspective of the Qing Dynasty's own rule, Cixi supported Li Hongzhang's theory of coastal defense even more. She was more willing to invest money in naval construction.
Therefore, Zuo Zongtang's mouth was worn out, and the old lady still loved to answer. In the end, although he also promised to support Sai Fang, when he asked her for money, I'm sorry, no! The money had to be used to repair the garden, and it had to support Old Li's naval construction.
It is easy to say that Empress Dowager Cixi gave Zuo Zongtang 2 million taels of silver, and let the provinces of the country jointly collect 3 million taels for Zuo Zongtang, for a total of 5 million taels of silver. What is this money enough? It was Xinjiang, not Shijiazhuang, and this little money was not enough to pay for tens of thousands of troops.
Second, the funds are stretched thin.
Due to the lack of support in policy, Zuo Zongtang was unable to start the army. At this time, Zuo Zongtang was also a woman who was difficult to cook without rice. Even if you have the idea of recovering the land, it is impossible for tens of thousands of troops to follow you without eating, drinking or paying, right?
People's homes are all car loans, mortgages, child training fees to give, each month's hard indicators have to be met! Therefore, if Zuo Zongtang wanted to send troops, he had to raise money first.
Seeing that the plan was about to fail, zuo Zongtang found the rich businessman Hu Xueyan at this time. Hu Xueyan is a man with great supernatural powers and has business dealings with banks in various countries.
With Hu Xueyan as a matchmaker, Zuo Zongtang used tariffs as collateral, and finally borrowed money from foreign banks three times, totaling 13.75 million taels, in addition to borrowing 8.46 million taels of silver from Chinese businessmen. This has made up enough military spending.
Zuo Zongtang's borrowing object is still more exquisite, he specializes in picking bank loans with high interest rates, such as borrowing from the British HSBC Bank. HSBC is worried that Zuo Zongtang will not be able to pay enough money if he loses, so it will put pressure on the British government, which will make it inconvenient for the British to intervene to help Agubai. After all, HSBC is their own person, and Agubai is just a dog's leg.
Difficulty three, the road is long.
The road is obstructive and long, and the word is used in Zuo Zongtang's recovery of Xinjiang, which is most appropriate. At that time, the traffic was not so developed, let alone the railway, not even four-wheeled vehicles.
To travel to Xinjiang, you can basically only rely on two legs. From Suzhou to Hami, there are more than 1700 miles to go. From Hami to Urumqi, it is more than 1300 miles. Before they could do anything, the army had to walk 3,000 miles first.
After conquering northern Xinjiang, they will go to southern Xinjiang again, or march in units of thousands of miles, which is very demanding on the physical strength of the soldiers of the army, and ordinary people cannot bear it at all.
The soldiers were physically strong and barely survived. The logistics units that can transport military food are really suffering. Their marching speed is far inferior to that of the troops fighting on the front line, but they must quickly catch up with the front line troops, otherwise the people will have no food! Just ask you if it's not difficult!
Difficulty four, difficult to eat and drink water.
I have just mentioned the difficulty of long-distance transportation of logistics troops, which in turn will lead to the possibility that the front-line troops will not be able to eat. In fact, in addition, the food purchase channel is also a major difficulty.
After all, there is not much money in hand, and the transportation cost is of course low or low, so Zuo Zongtang's grain procurement point must consider the problem of transportation routes.
First, Zuo Zongtang bought military food in Hexi, Gansu. This is where the army departed, and it can be transported from Jiayuguan and Yumenguan to Hami.
Second, it is purchased directly in eastern Xinjiang. Food is limited in this place, but the distance is relatively convenient, so it can solve urgent problems.
Third, buy from Tsarist Russia. This is also no way to do things, after all, the Russian soldiers are nearby, and although the price is high, it is extremely convenient to buy from them.
Fourthly, procurement is carried out in Mongolia. It is also relatively convenient to transport directly from the Mongolian steppes to Balikun or the ancient city in eastern Xinjiang.
In order to ensure that grain transportation is guaranteed, Zuo Zongtang set up a large number of grain transport stations in Xinjiang, somewhat similar to those in the Central Plains.
In addition to the difficulty of eating, there is also the difficulty of drinking water. Tens of thousands of troops drink water together, can they drink a river in an instant? To this end, Zuo Zongtang made a plan to divide the troops, and let Liu Jintang and Jin Shun lead an army to send troops one after another. In addition, they were asked to divide the troops into a team of 1,000 people and set off every other day to ensure that the drinking water along the way would not be cut off.
Fighting a war is a technical task, not only depending on the performance of the army on the battlefield, but also the logistics supply is also the top priority. Obviously, Zuo Zongtang was a far-sighted person who took all this into account.
Difficulty five, lack of weapons.
Agubai's army was equipped with the most advanced foreign guns and cannons in Europe at that time. The main reason why Agubai is strong is this.
On the other hand, the Chu army in Zuo Zongtang's hands, the weapons in their hands were really too inconspicuous, basically the old weapons used when attacking the Taiping Army.
To this end, Zuo Zongtang specially set up the Lanzhou Manufacturing Bureau in Lanzhou, which was specifically responsible for building guns and cannons for the Western Expeditionary Army to recover Xinjiang. At the same time, Zuo Zongtang also dispatched many weapons experts from Guangzhou and Zhejiang to carry out weapons manufacturing and research.
During this period, the Lanzhou Manufacturing Bureau imitated the German screw gun and the breech seven-shot gun. As a result, the Western Expeditionary Army did not have much gap with Agubai's army in terms of weapons.
Summary: The key is to have this determination.
At first glance, the work of recovering Xinjiang is complicated and clueless, and most people are probably reluctant to take this job. After all, after recovering Xinjiang, Cixi's side may not give you a good look, confiscate the restoration of Xinjiang, then Zuo Zongtang will be subject to all kinds of criticism.
Therefore, Zuo Zongtang was able to establish his determination to recover Xinjiang, which is rare and valuable! A person, determined to do something, is crucial. Only by setting a good goal and strengthening the faith, the only thing left is to keep working hard.