In May 1875, the Qing Dynasty court appointed Zuo Zongtang as the minister of Chincha to supervise the affairs of Xinjiang, and from this moment on, Zuo Dashuai's famous western expedition began. Zuo Dashuai immediately showed his strategy and heroic nature, and unlike Li Hongzhang's tactical tactics and tactics, Zuo Dashuai immediately announced as soon as he took office that "the military rules have restored the old frontier, and it is a division of hanging and cutting, which is different from ordinary thieves." These words pointed directly to the Agubai forces that invaded and occupied Xinjiang and the imperialist British and Russian forces behind them, which resolutely safeguarded China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Western Expedition army commanded by Zuo Dashuai this time came from all over the world of China, with a total of 121 battalions and a total of 87,000 people. When selecting generals, Zuo Dashuai also followed the tradition of the Chu army: using martial arts without literature, repeating the experience without re-learning, and as long as those who have real skills can be entrusted with heavy responsibilities. Looking at the two commanders selected by the Western Expeditionary Army, we can see the way of using the left marshal. One is Liu Jintang, 32, and the other is Zhang Yao, 43. Liu Jintang was the fourth generation commander in the Lao Xiang battalion, and he led the army at the age of 16, and Zhang Yao was a strong and fierce general who had made great achievements in suppressing the twists. After summoning the soldiers to set up generals, Zuo Dashuai began to temper the physical qualities of the soldiers, first training their hearts, then practicing their guts, and finally practicing their swords and guns. What I want to talk to you about today is a few shocking moments when Zuo Dashuai marched to the west, and after watching it, you can feel Zuo Dashuai's Wen Tao martial strategy.
The first moment is the opening of the chamber to strengthen the military rules, which is very bloody, and a similar plot has appeared in a movie. Because the Qing Dynasty was very weak at that time, the Western Expeditionary Army often did not have enough to eat during the march. However, General Zuo was very strict with the soldiers, and absolutely could not tolerate anyone encroaching on the people's grain, not a single grain of rice or a drop. However, because the army had not been able to eat enough, so the army was scattered, and Zuo Dashuai could only find a way to kill the chickens and scare the monkeys, and such a thing appeared. When the army marched to Jiuquan, a small colonel snatched a woman's sweet beige to eat because of excessive hunger, and the woman's crying attracted Colonel Zuo. After asking the reason, Zuo Dashuai immediately ordered the whole battalion to assemble and let the woman find out the predator. The food-snatching colonel was quickly identified, and Zuo Dashuai immediately found the knife and axe hand and tied up the little colonel. The colonel saw that he was about to land on the ground, and he was afraid and began to desperately argue that he did not grab food. At this time, Zuo Dashuai said: "Grab the food, you will know when you look at it" When everyone was wondering how to look at it, Zuo Dashuai made a gesture, the knife and axe hand went over, and the little colonel was immediately opened, and the "sweet beige" followed. Seeing the bloody ironclad evidence, the colonel passed out in an instant, and then Marshal Zuo executed the punishment of beheading him. Since then, the Western Expeditionary Army has not robbed the people along the way.
The second moment is to summon the soul before the battle, as long as it is an army that can fight a good battle, it must have a military soul, and without a military soul, an army will lose its momentum. The Western Expeditionary Army marched all the way to Xinjiang, and it was inevitable that the water and soil would not be satisfied on the way away from home, and when the whole army was about to start facing foreign enemies, Zuo Dashuai was facing a fatal problem. The soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army had long been exhausted and had no momentum to speak of, so what did Zuo Da Marshal do in the face of such a difficult problem?
In order to revive the momentum in the army, Zuo Zongtang directed himself to perform a big drama, which, although absurd, spread a shocking power in the army. One day, the army was preparing to pull out, but a soldier suddenly rushed out, saying that he had something important to report. He said that he had been sent by General Liu Lao, and that he had something important to tell Marshal Zuo. Upon hearing the name of Old General Liu, the army immediately became agitated, because this Old General Liu had long been killed. At this time, Zuo Dashuai asked him to come and speak, and the soldier knelt in front of Zuo Dashuai's eyes and shouted in his mouth: "I was sent by General Liu Lao, and Old General Liu is going to go out to fight the vanguard and capture the traitor Bai Yanhu alive." Listening to these words, Zuo Dashuai asked which old general Liu was. The soldier replied, "It's Liu Songshan, The Old Commander of Liu Songshan!" The old commander asked me to ask, his old Xiang camp has not been paid for three months, when will it be paid? ”
Marshal Zuo suddenly realized to this soldier that you can rest assured, you should go and tell Old Commander Liu that I will now pay his old Xiang battalion. At this time, the people in the army were all shocked, whether this soldier was a human or a ghost, just at this moment, under the order of The Commander Zuo, he laid down in front of the army, and the whole army paid tribute to the commander of the old Xiang camp, Liu Songshan. For a moment, the smoke suddenly rose, and Zuo Dashuai began to kowtow to the long sky with the Western Expeditionary Army brushing together. Liu Songshan's nephew, Liu Jintang, the current chief of the Old Xiang Camp, also took the stage and shouted, Liu Lao general! The soul is in! The momentum in the military was suddenly high.
The last one is to carry the coffin to march in person, in the glorious conquest of the left marshal, the coffin of the western expedition to face Ili to lay down the decisive battle of death is the most widely spread and the most moved by future generations. Commander Zuo's shocking move was, first, to boost the morale of the army, and the other was to deter all internal and external enemies. It is said that the coffin that began with the Zuo Grand Marshal's Western Expedition was black, symbolizing the determination to die, but as the Western Expedition progressed, the color of the coffin changed to red, which meant a strong belief in victory. Looking at the late Qing Dynasty, who can have this scene, vowing to die and win.