On January 8, 1857, the Xiang Army attacked the city, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Jiujiang Defense Battle began.
Comic strip "Blood Battle Jiujiang" Jiangsu People's Publishing House Source: Confucius Old Book Network
In the autumn of 1856, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was infighting in Tianjing, and the war situation in the western battlefield took a sharp turn for the worse. After the Xiang army occupied Wuchang, Yang Yuebin, the viceroy of Hubei, and Li Xubin, the commander of the Hubei Province, led the land and water division to force Jiujiang. On January 8, 1857, the siege began, Lin Qirong led his troops to defend according to the danger, calmly responded to the battle, fiercely fought for 6 days and nights, repelled the attack of the Xiang Army, and inflicted a large number of casualties on the enemy. Li Xubin and others knew that it was difficult to succeed in a strong attack, so they adopted the strategy of long siege and siege, and spent 5 months digging 6 deep trenches between the official (Guan) card in the west of the city and the white water port in the east of the city, and encircling the three sides of the Jiujiang River.
Source: Baidu Encyclopedia
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Jiujiang Defense War was an extremely fierce urban defense battle.
Jiujiang is the water and land transportation hub of Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui, and is known as the "Gateway of Jiangxi". Holding jiujiang could not only consolidate another important military town, Anqing Province, as a barrier to the city of Nanjing, but also go up the river to capture Wuhan in Hubei, and also advance south into Nanchang. In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Jiujiang, which was located at the intersection of power, became a strategic point of contention between the two sides, and many famous battles were fought in Jiujiang City and the surrounding Lakes, Huangmei and other places, and Jiujiang City also changed hands several times, and finally it was smashed.
In early 1853, the Taiping Army went down the river to occupy Jiujiang Province, and then abandoned it. In the same year, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which had already established its capital in Nanjing, organized the first western expedition and occupied Jiujiang for the second time in the autumn of that year, and was garrisoned by the inspection point Lin Qirong and his troops.
Comic strip "Tragedy of Heaven" Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House
After the outbreak of the "Tianjing Incident" in 1856, Shi Da, the wing king who controlled the heavy troops in Jiangxi, Anhui and other places, fled, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom turned from prosperity to decline, the defense line in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was tightened again, and Jiujiang became the first military fortress to guard the western gate of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As can be seen from the picture below, after the Xiang army went down the river and surrounded the Jiujiang regiment, if this isolated city could not wait for foreign aid, its fate could be imagined. However, the more than 20,000 Taiping Soldiers guarding Jiujiang did not wait for foreign aid after repelling the Xiang army's attacks several times and winning several counterattacks. In the end, the encirclement circle became tighter and tighter, and from the waterway to the land road was cut off on all sides, how long did the isolated city of Jiujiang persist? What will be its ultimate fate?
Military Situation in the Later Period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Source: Luo Ergang "Outline of the History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom"
One of the relevant characters in this chapter: Li Xubin (1818 – November 16, 1858), also known as Di'an, also spelled Kehui, a native of Xiangxiang, Hunan, a famous general of the Qing Dynasty, and the backbone of the Xiang Army.
Zhejiang Cloth Political Envoy plus Inspector Li Xubin Source: Today's headlines
The Jiujiang Defense War gave birth to two famous generals who were praised by later generations: Lin Qirong, who was the best at defending the city, and Li Xubin, who was the most capable of attacking strong points. The story of the former will be introduced in a future chapter.
Li Xubin was known as the first fierce general of the Xiang Army, and was known for being a pioneer in fighting hard battles. During the first siege of Jiujiang by the Xiang army, Li Xubin followed Zeng Guofan into battle and retreated in defeat. After Li Xubin broke through Wuhan, besieged Jiujiang again, and finally conquered, and then turned to Anhui, all the way invincible, but because of the light army, he was surrounded by the Taiping Army, and all of his troops were killed.
Li Xubin is bold and resolute, and is also known for his calmness and calmness in the face of war, and for lifting heavy weights. Conquering Jiujiang was one of the greatest achievements of his life, but it also fully demonstrated his cruel and ruthless side. When there was insufficient food in the city and the war was fierce, the Taiping Army released the women and children from the city, and Li Xubin did not accept any of them, and then drove these women and children back to the city. ultimately......
The offensive and defensive battle between the Taiping Army and the Xiang Army in Jiujiang was very classic and extremely tragic, and it was the biggest disaster in the history of Jiujiang City. This difficult story to tell, or later.
"Jiujiang Video Chronicle: Today in History" is a series of short articles recording the history of Jiujiang in Jiangxi, each capturing the more influential events that occurred in the history of Jiujiang City and the ten counties and cities under its jurisdiction, accompanied by relevant historical photos, news photos, documents and videos taken by the author, and making appropriate comments on the causes and impacts of the events.
Each article in this series selects an event that occurred on the day of the day with clear historical records, and if there is no suitable event on the day, it is selected in the current month (there are no dates for the month in the historical records). Due to the limited level of the author and the mutilation of the information, there will be errors and improper trade-offs, please criticize and correct.