Speaking of the tough generals in the late Qing Dynasty, the most impressive estimate of the majority of friends is Jiang Zhongyuan, Li Xubin, and Bao Chao. Jiang Zhongyuan, a native of Xinning, Hunan, one of the founders of the Xiang Army, under his command "Chu Yong" Xiao Yong was good at war, and once led 800 brave soldiers to ambush the Taiping Army at Ziyidu, killed the Southern King Feng Yunshan, and later died in Luzhou. Li Xubin, a native of Xiangxiang, Hunan, was the second largest "firefighting captain" of the Qing army after Jiang Zhongyuan, who conquered Wuchang and Jiujiang, and was later killed by The Ying King Chen Yucheng in Sanhe Town. Bao Chao, a native of Fengjie, Chongqing, has experienced more than 500 major wars in his life and suffered 108 scars. However, in addition to these three fierce generals, there was also a very brave general in the Qing army, that is, cheng Xueqi, a fierce general of the Huai Army, who killed nine generals of the Taiping Army Li Xiucheng in one battle, and was later killed by a headshot during the attack on Jiaxing.
Cheng Xueqi (1829-1864), a native of Tongcheng, Anhui, was a famous general in the late Qing Dynasty and made many military achievements. In his early years, Cheng Xueqi's family was poor, his parents died early, and he was raised by the mother of Cheng Weidong, a clan member, who was very filial to his adoptive mother. In June 1853, the Taiping Army marched west to open up the Anhui River base area, and the poor people in the vicinity joined the army, and Cheng Xueqi was also one of the members of this army. After joining the Taiping Army, because of his bravery in battle, his official position soared all the way, and he was given the title of "Bow Tianyu" and could be recruited alone. In addition, An Qingshou admired Ye Yunlai very much, and also married his sister-in-law to him as a wife to show grace and affection. In May 1860, on the occasion of Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng's eastern expedition against Su Chang, the brothers Zeng Guofan and Zeng Guoquan besieged Anqing, and Cheng Xueqi was ordered to guard the north gate camp and block the Xiang army.
Anqing, located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, has Ling Lake in the east and northeast, the Anhui River in the west and northwest, the Yangtze River in the south, and only the north through Jixian Pass is a land route. Cheng Xueqi was able to guard this place, in addition to the courage of combat, Ye Yun's trust was the key. It should be known that the Taiping Army's marine division is weak and has no right to control the river, and the safer passage for Anqing's supply is land, and the importance of Cheng Xueqi can be imagined. Facts have proved that Cheng Xueqi is very powerful, and no matter how strong the Xiangjun Jizi battalion is, it will not be able to break through the north gate camp, and the Anqing Grain Road is unimpeded. However, out of self-interest, Cheng Xueqi surrendered Zeng Guoquan at a critical moment in the Battle of Anqing and served the Xiang army. In August 1861, Cheng Xueqi offered the North Gate a "cave siege" strategy, detonated the mines at the foot of the city wall, collapsed the city wall dozens of zhang, and then personally braved the rain of bullets and bullets to kill through the cannon hole, and Anqing fell.
After taking Anqing, under the protection of the Zeng brothers, Cheng Xueqi was awarded the post of guerrilla from Sanpin, gave Hua Ling, and became an official of the Great Qing Dynasty. Subsequently, Cheng Xueqi followed Zeng Guoquan in attacking and occupying Wuwei Prefecture, Yuncao Town, and Dongguan Town, and made many military achievements, and was promoted to the rank of Sanpin Counselor General, and was ordered to establish his own camp head and expand his army into kaizi battalion. In 1862, Li Hongzhang set up the Huai Army and extended an olive branch to Cheng Xueqi, a fellow villager in Anhui, hoping that he could turn to his subordinates and jointly conquer Shanghai and Jiangsu together to make meritorious achievements. At first, Cheng Xueqi did not agree, thinking that going to Shanghai to fight Li Xiucheng would undoubtedly find death, after all, Li Hongzhang had never brought soldiers and had no experience. Later, Cheng Xueqi, under the persuasion of Sun Yunjin, realized that he was from Anhui, and that the Xiang army, which was dominated by the two Lake people, was inseparable, "My generation of Anhui people, Yu Xiangjun will eventually find it difficult to stand on its own." When the eldest husband is not in a team, how can he bow down to the people? To this end, Cheng Xueqi joined the Huai Army and became the first general under Li Hongzhang, galloping in the southeast battlefield and killing countless enemies.
In May 1862, Cheng Xueqi led the generals of the Kaizi battalion to follow Li Hongzhang on the Eastern Crusade and arrived in Shanghai first, but unexpectedly they were ridiculed by the Shanghai gentry, saying that they were "servants", had no combat effectiveness, and were just a bunch of people called Hanako. Li Hongzhang is also quite helpless about this, and urgently needs to fight a victorious battle to prove himself. To this end, Cheng Xueqi personally led troops to fight fiercely with the Taiping Army in Qingpu, Jiading, Nanhui and other places, and successive battles were won, which instantly enhanced the prestige of Li Hongzhang and the Huai Army. In November 1863, Cheng Xue took Suzhou, first pretending to appease Gao Yongkuan and the other eight generals, asking them to kill tan Shaoguang, the lord of the city, and then treacherously killing Gao Yongkuan and the other eight generals. It can be said that in the Battle of Suzhou, Tan Shaoguang, Gao Yongkuan, Wu Guiwen, Wang Anjun, Zhou Wenjia, Fan Qiqi, Zhang Dazhou, Wang Huaiwu, Wang Youwei and other nine Taiping Army generals died directly or indirectly at his hands. From this, it can be seen that Cheng Xueqi is really cruel enough, killing people like hemp.
After taking Suzhou, Cheng Xueqi took advantage of the victory to attack Jiaxing, and the Taiping army was defeated. On December 21, 1863, Cheng Xueqi finally cleared the outer defense line of Jiaxing and arrived at the city pool. However, due to the fierce fighting of the Huai army for several months, the soldiers were very tired, and although they destroyed the camps outside the city, they still could not break the city. For this reason, Cheng Xueqi was very angry, and directly ordered the slaughter of Jiang Baosheng, who was retreating from the front and was unwilling to continue the garrison of the heroes, in order to show that he would not give up until he took Jiaxing. In January 1864, Cheng Xueqi personally went out on horseback and led his subordinates to attack the city, but was repelled by the Taiping Army's foreign gun team, which was a bit embarrassing. In February, Cheng Xueqi expressed serious dissatisfaction, so he formed a death squad again, and personally led the rush to the gap in the city. Helplessly, this time he was not so lucky, the Taiping Army foreign gun team directly headshot him, hitting the left temple of the head. In March, Cheng Xueqi died of brain plasma collapse.
Throughout Cheng Xueqi's conquest career, he fought bravely and invinciblely, and was deeply appreciated by the three armed forces of the Taiping Army, the Xiang Army, and the Huai Army. However, Cheng Xueqi was too cruel, not only raising a butcher's knife to his former comrades-in-arms, but also acting more excessively than the Huai army, especially Suzhou. For this reason, Li Hongzhang said to him: "Jun also surrendered people, so why bother with this!" Interestingly, when Jia Wu was defeated, Li Hongzhang thought of Cheng Xueqi again and said: "If cheng fang is in the equation, why worry about the enemy." It can be said that although Cheng Xueqi's character is not good, he is still very brave in battle.