In February 1853, the Taiping Army killed all the way from Wuchang to Nanjing, and the Eight Banners and the Green Camp fled all the way, completely overwhelmed. After Luo Gang, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang and other fierce generals conquered Anqing, they continued to move east, targeting Nanjing, the second largest city in the Qing Dynasty, and occupying the southeast fiscal and taxation powerhouse. Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang at the time, heard of the Taiping Army's invasion and hurriedly withdrew 2,000 Green Battalion soldiers from Wuhu to the defense of Liangshan in the east and west, while he himself ran back to Nanjing, took more than 300,000 taels of silver out of the city, and threw the mess to Yang Wending, the governor of Jiangsu, and the general Xianghou of Jiangning. However, Lu Jianying was afraid that after the city fell, Xianfeng asked him to settle the account, so he returned to Nanjing and pretended to deploy defense. Unfortunately, Yang Wending was even more ruthless than he was, and on the grounds that the relationship between the overseers was not harmonious, he ran to Zhenjiang and completely abandoned Lu and Xiang. The split at the crucial moment can be seen in the political corruption of the Qing Dynasty. Of course, officials are not good, and the soldiers guarding the city are not much better. At this time, the regular army guarding Nanjing City was 1,200 green battalions, 4,000 Eight Banners, a total of 5,200 people; more than 15,000 brave men were recruited, and the total number of soldiers in the city was more than 20,000.
On March 7, the General Li Kaifang and his 1,200 forward army arrived at Yuhuatai in the south of the city, and the Qing general Cheng Lisan had already led 3,000 soldiers and horses to retreat into the city and "hand over" the fortifications to the Taiping Army intact. The Qing army was timid and the defense was not strong, but Li Kaifang did not know the truth, so instead of directly attacking the city, he stationed in Yuhuatai and waited for the arrival of the main force of Lin Fengxiang's land division and then attacked the city together. On the 8th, Li Kaifang sent 300 soldiers to a tentative attack, and the Qing army defending the city did not dare to go out of the city to meet the battle, but shot indiscriminately and consumed ammunition in vain. The regular army could not do it, but the rice shop outside the city organized a 1,000-man "porter" but brave and good at fighting, they fought with the Taiping Army with a large number of people and a flat burden. At this time, the "porter" asked the Qing army in the city to shoot for assistance, or to throw down guns and spears for their own use. However, Lu Jianying was afraid of deception, so he ordered artillery bombardment. The Taiping Army was experienced and crawled when it heard the sound of artillery; the "porters" were newborn calves and stood stupidly, and more than 500 people were killed as a result. In this way, these "porters" were very annoyed, and directly threw down their flat burdens, and all of them collapsed.
Without the "porter" battle, there was no more Qing army outside the city, and all of them were controlled by the Taiping Army. On the 9th, Lin Fengxiang led the main force of the army to Yuhuatai and discussed a grand plan with Li Kaifang. It was decided that Li Kaifang, Huang Yiyun, and other troops would continue to attack Jubaomen from Yuhuatai, and Lin Fengxiang and Zhu Xikun would lead the main force to Yifengmen and serve as the main attacker. The method of attacking the city uses "cave siege", that is, digging tunnels, burying explosives under the city roots for blasting, and then killing into the city, the battle is decided. The excavation of the tunnel was selected at the Jinghai Temple outside the city, which was carried out by the Taiping Army's "earthen camp", that is, the sappers, and Lin Fengxiang led the troops to cover up to ensure the smooth excavation of the tunnel. In addition to digging tunnels, the Taiping Army also launched a powerful political propaganda, Lin Fengxiang asked soldiers to shoot the written "notice" into the city with bows and arrows, calling on the soldiers and civilians in Nanjing to rise up against the Qing demons and take revenge. In addition, Lin Fengxiang clearly announced that the army would not disturb the people, and as long as the words "King", "Heaven", "Lord", "Shang" and so on were written on the doorstep of the house on the day of the city's destruction, the army would not enter the house, and everyone could continue to live a small life.
After launching political propaganda, Lin Fengxiang also clearly announced that a general offensive would be launched on the 19th, but the Qing army did not believe it, believing that the Taiping Army was just bluffing. At the end of the 18th, the Taiping Army did indeed explode at Yifeng Gate, blowing up a gap of more than 10 zhang wide, and then Lin Fengxiang let 300 soldiers and horses enter the inner city to pursue and kill the Qing army. Why only 300 soldiers and horses were allowed to enter the city? It turned out that Lin Fengxiang was afraid that there were ambush troops inside, and the other gates of Nanjing were still in the hands of the Qing army, and the risk of a lone army taking the risk was too great. After 300 soldiers and horses entered the city, they immediately pursued the army in three ways, and as a result, except for a few who fled to the mountains and forests in the city, the rest were either killed or ran out, and the Qing army once again sealed the Yifeng Gate. The failure of 300 soldiers and horses to enter the city this time also brought "good news", that is, the defense of the city was very weak, the Qing army was not strong in combat, and there was not much problem in capturing the city. To this end, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, and others agreed to launch a general offensive from Yifengmen and Jubaomen at the same time in the afternoon to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army. Sure enough, when the general offensive was launched again in the afternoon, the Qing army fled in anticipation of the wind, and the outer city of Nanjing fell, and Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang made great contributions.
After the invasion of Nanjing, the Taiping Army continued to pursue and kill the Qing army, lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang, Zou Heming, the former governor of Guangxi, Zhu Fuhong'a, the viceroy of Jiangnan, and Qi Suzao, the envoy of Jiangsu Province, and other 4 senior officials were killed, and the remaining high-ranking civil and military officials either committed suicide and martyred the Qing, or fled southern Jiangsu and Shanghai. What about Xiang Hou? This guy is not authentic, when in danger, he let 4,000 Eight Banners and 4,000 soldiers bravely retreat to Mancheng (inner city, Manchu residence, no Han), and also refused Lu Jianying to take refuge in the city. It has to be said that Lu Jianying was very unlucky, and was abandoned by the Manchu Qing bannermen at a critical moment, and as a result, he was hacked to death on the spot by the small soldiers of the Taiping Army. With Mancheng in hand, the General Xiang Hou of Jiangning and the governor Huo Longwu decided to continue to resist, and also mobilized all the banner women and children in the city to enter the city to assist in the defense, and fought a bloody battle with the Taiping Army to the end and never surrendered. The Eight Banners disciples are like this, not because they are fierce and capable of fighting, but because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom once ordered: All Manchus will be killed, and no living mouth will be left, who let them steal Chinese artifacts? In this way, the Taiping Army will inevitably face a bloody battle, otherwise the city will not be able to take it.
On the afternoon of the 19th, Yang Xiuqing personally commanded the front, and Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, Ji Wenyuan, Zhu Xikun and other fierce generals all went out to attack Mancheng from the west and south. The Taiping Army attacked fiercely, and Xiang Hou let the Manchu soldiers shoot with artillery and guns, and the flag women and children also entered the city and smashed them at the Taiping Army with bricks. In this way, the Taiping Army attacked 6 times in a row, paying the price of more than 3,000 people, but it could not get close to the city, and the losses were quite large. You know, the Taiping Army only killed and wounded more than a thousand people in conquering the outer city, and the small full city actually killed 3,000 soldiers and horses. To this end, Yang Xiuqing decided to change his strategy, no longer attacking, but launching psychological warfare, he issued an order: those who surrender the flag people, do not kill, live as usual. In this way, some Manchus suggested that Xianghou surrender to save the lives of the people, but they were rejected. Xiang hou was unwilling to surrender, Yang Xiuqing was angry, launched another onslaught, and brought in 8,000 pounds of heavy artillery in the city, blowing up the city, and the army immediately rushed into the city and seized the last stronghold of the Qing army. After the fall of the city, Xiang Hou had no choice but to draw his sword and kill himself, and Huo Longwu was hit by a gun in the melee and died on the spot. What about the other eight flags? Yang Xiuqing ordered the military and civilians to kill one flag bearer and reward 5 taels of silver. In this way, the flag people continued to resist, except for a few who later changed the government order because of Yang Xiuqing, all of them were killed, and the 4,000 strong brigades were reimbursed.
From March 7 to 20, the Taiping Army carried out its 14-day offensive battle of Nanjing, Lu Jianying, Xianghou, Zou Heming, Zhu Fuhong'a, Huo Longwu, Qi Suzao and other 6 high-ranking Qing dynasty officials were killed, more than 4,000 Eight Banners were completely destroyed, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom completely occupied Nanjing. Nanjing, known as the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties and the land of dragons and tigers, took only 14 days for the Taiping Army to take, which is enough to show that the Qing Dynasty at this time is on the verge of extinction and vulnerable, if there is no Han bureaucrat Zeng Guofan out of the horse, the Qing Dynasty will perish in advance. What do you think about that?
Bibliography: The Complete History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War, Chronicle of Difficulties in Jinling Province