After the Taiping Army captured Nanjing, the Qing army surrounded Nanjing from all sides. In the west, the Qing Dynasty allowed Zeng Guofan and others to organize a new army in Hunan, forming a powerful Xiang army group. Different from the traditional regimental training, this unit was composed of a battalion system imitating The Illumination of The Emperor Qi Jiguang, with strict organization, relatively advanced weapons, and courageous combat. This force pressed forward along the Yangtze River towards Nanjing, posing a great threat to the kingdom of heaven.
First, instead of fighting the trapped beasts, it is better to fight to the death
The Qing Dynasty established the Jiangbei Camp in the Yangzhou area across the Yangtze River, and the Jiangnan Camp in the southern Jiangsu area. The two battalions of Jiangbei and Jiangnan will have a total of more than 200,000 troops, which is composed of green battalions. However, the fighting power of these armies was very poor, the military discipline was poor, and the missionaries described them as "like a market, eating and drinking, and gambling and gambling." In any case, 200,000 is still not a small number, and Nanjing is surrounded by the Qing Dynasty on all sides, becoming an isolated city, if you do not take the initiative to attack, you can only stand still.
On 31 March, the Taiping Army captured Zhenjiang, followed by Yangzhou on 21 April, leaving Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou in the ascendant. The taiping army was divided into three parts, stationed in three cities. After that, Yang Xiuqing decided to give it a go, and he would order Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang to lead 30,000 Taiping troops in the Northern Expedition, and Zeng Lichang to lead thousands of troops to defend Yangzhou. It was an adventurous military activity.
After the Taiping Army established its capital in Nanjing, it claimed to be a million people, but in fact there were only 100,000 young and strong men, while the strictly trained troops were only 50,000 or 60,000 people. The 30,000 troops sent by Yang Xiuqing were all elites who followed all the way from Guangxi and Guangdong, and their combat effectiveness was quite amazing. 30,000 troops, divided into three routes, of which the main force was led by Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, about 20,000; the second road division was led by Zhu Xikun and Ji Wenyuan, drawn from the defenders of Tianjing or Zhenjiang, and originally planned to meet With Lin and Li at Pukou.
However, the Taiping Army's partial division was unfavorable. After crossing the river, Zhu Xikun's troops mistakenly walked to Liuhe City at Pukou and were attacked by Qing forces, and almost all of them were destroyed. As a result, the three armies eventually achieved a division at Fengyang, but the troops lost thousands of men, leaving only more than 20,000.
The Northern Expedition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was actually modeled after Zhu Yuanzhang in sending Xu Da to the Northern Expedition to the Capital of Yuan, with the aim of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty in one fell swoop. Zhu Yuanzhang carried out the Northern Expedition under the banner of "expelling Hu Yu and restoring China", and Hong Xiuquan did the same. As early as the early days of the uprising, Hong Xiuquan published three texts, namely the Fengtian Curse demon text, the Edict to Save the World, and the Fengtian Hu Tan Wen, with the purpose of publicizing the Manchu-Han contradictions, stimulating the fighting spirit of the Han people, and letting the Han people in the Central Plains unveil the uprising and respond to the crowd.
According to the expected assumption, after the Taiping Army entered the Central Plains, "as pointed out in the righteous banner, it was bound to look at the wind and respond, and the pot pulp was eaten to greet each other." "However, with the passage of time, this banner has not been able to play much role. The 200 years of vigorous efforts of the Qing Dynasty have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the people do not want to make waves again. In addition, the Taiping Army's belief in worship of God was incompatible with traditional Confucianism, and the Central Plains people also regarded the Taiping Army as a thief, which made it difficult for the Taiping Army to achieve the desired results.
Second, go deep into Gyeonggi and shake the government and the opposition
Since the Taiping Army could not use the traditional "expulsion of Hu Yu" to win the hearts and minds of the people, it could only fight a quick battle and quickly invade Beijing, and in one fell swoop, it took the Qing Dynasty's old lair, let the Central Plains completely lose control, and provide space for the development of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, how could the Qing Dynasty army and local regiment training allow the Taiping Army to move north smoothly?
After meeting Fengyang, the Taiping Army continued north, all the way to the wind, conquered many cities in Anhui, directly to the Shangqiu area, ready to enter the canal here, and then drove straight along the canal. However, the Qing Dynasty had already blocked the port, and the Taiping Army could not cross the Yellow River here. So the Taiping army marched west along the Yellow River, accepted some coal miners in Gong County, and crossed the Yellow River to besiege Huaiqing Province (Qinyang).
Former site of the Taiping Army Headquarters (siege of Huaiqing)
However, the Qing army also rushed to Qinyang in large numbers, and the Taiping Army broke through its city three times and could not enter. The Taiping Army and the Qing Army held a stalemate in Qinyang for 2 months. This was a very big attrition for the Taiping Army. More importantly, the Taiping Army wasted 2 months in Qinyang City, giving the Qing army plenty of time to prepare. It was June and July, and it was still summer, but after the summer, the north would cool down, which was also extremely unfavorable to the Taiping Army.
In the face of a stalemate, the Taiping Army eventually abandoned Qinyang and moved to Shanxi. After entering Shanxi, the Taiping Army learned the lesson of besieging Qinyang, no longer besieging the city, but running east and west, leaving the pursuing Qing army exhausted. After a circle in Shanxi, the Taiping army suddenly entered Hebei (Zhili Province) from Wu'an County, and completely annihilated the Wanyu Qing army of the Governor of Zhili at Linhuan Pass. Subsequently, the Qing army advanced rapidly in Hebei, and on September 11 marched into the town of Zhangdeng, only 60 miles from Baoding.
Linhuan Pass
In the face of the Taiping Army's long drive, the Beijing Division was shaken, and as many as 30,000 households fled from Beijing. The Xianfeng Emperor immediately appointed Mianyu the Prince of Hui as a general, and The King of Horqin Commandery, Gelinqin, as a counselor minister, and cooperated with the Chincha minister Shengbao to jointly besiege the Taiping Army. At the same time, Beijing declared martial law and entered a state of war readiness. In order to deal with the Taiping Army, the Qing Dynasty also began to mobilize the Eight Banner Army from the northeast into Guannei, making the defense of the northeast gradually empty, so that Russia could take advantage of the fire and loot.
Third, the lone army went deeper and eventually became the end of the strong crossbow
However, the Taiping Army penetrated deep into the core areas of the Qing Dynasty and had long since become the end of the crossbow. Moreover, it has entered autumn, and the climate is becoming more and more unfavorable to the Taiping Army, and the Taiping Army must find a way to invade Beijing before the cold winter arrives. Since the Qing Dynasty mobilized heavy troops to intercept the Taiping Army's route into Beijing, the Taiping Army could only choose to advance east from Gaocheng, pass through Shenzhou, Cangzhou, etc., and then invade Tianjin.
However, the Taiping Army suffered heavy losses during the attack on Cangzhou, with as many as 4,000 casualties. After the destruction of Cangzhou City, the Taiping Army slaughtered more than 10,000 people in Cangzhou. This was the second time that the Northern Expeditionary Army had made a mistake, and the initial offensive plan given by Yang Xiuqing was "the division and the middle of the road, rush to yandu, do not greedily attack the city, and spend time and time." However, the Northern Expeditionary Army not only attacked the city again, but also created massacres, which made the people's hearts lost.
When the wealthy merchants in Tianjin heard that the Taiping Army had breached Cangzhou, they immediately donated money, organized regimental exercises, and dug canals to release water, making the Area around Tianjin a Zeguo and making it impossible for the Taiping Army to continue to penetrate. Subsequently, the Senggelinqin army arrived and besieged the Northern Expeditionary Army in the Jinghai and Duliu areas for 3 months. At this time, it had entered the winter, the Taiping Army was wearing summer clothes, and the southerners could not tolerate the severe cold of the northern winter. At this time, the Northern Expeditionary Army was in a situation of life and death.
On February 5, 1854, the Northern Expeditionary Army chose to retreat south. The Qing army continued to pursue, encircling the Taiping Army. Yang Xiuqing learned that the Northern Expeditionary Army was in difficulty, and organized 7,500 people to go north to rescue, and the rescue troops crossed the Yellow River in March and invaded shandong, absorbing a large number of displaced people and twist troops. The Qing army adopted a policy of fortifying the wall and clearing the wilderness, which made the rescue team unable to obtain supplies, and also fell into a crisis, and eventually the entire army was destroyed.
In April, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang retreated to Dongguang and Lianzhen to wait for reinforcements, but the reinforcements had collapsed. So Li Kaifang divided his troops and went south. After Li Kaifang went south, he was besieged by Qing forces in Gaotang Prefecture, Shandong. The Taiping Army dug trenches in the positions, making it difficult for the Qing army to break in. Lin Fengxiang held out in Lianzhen for 11 months, and Li Kaifang insisted on staying in Gaotang Prefecture for more than 1 year. Eventually, the Qing army dug the water of the Yellow River to pour into the Taiping Army's positions, making it impossible for the Taiping Army to hold out. In the first month of 1855, Lianzhen fell and Lin Fengxiang was captured; soon after, Li Kaifang surrendered fraudulently, was recognized by the Qing army, and was captured to the Beijing Division, heroically righteous.
The Northern Expedition used half of the elite of the Kingdom of Heaven to fight in six provinces, and finally went deep alone and the whole army was destroyed. This was a major blow to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Yang Xiuqing then sent the Yan king Qin Rigang to carry out the Second Northern Expedition, but the Qing army had strengthened its defenses against the Huai River Valley, so that Qin Rigang could only fall into the Anhui battlefield. The Taiping Army was unable to complete the Northern Expedition, leaving the north of Tianjing exposed to the Qing army and suffering from the enemy on its back, unable to fundamentally change the strategic environment.
However, although the Northern Expedition failed, it also brought opportunities for the development of the Taiping of Heaven. The Northern Expedition penetrated deep into the core areas of the Qing Dynasty and contained the main force of the Qing Dynasty, 200,000 troops. At this time, the Taiping Army took the opportunity to launch a western expedition, seizing a large area of land in Jiangxi, Anhui, and Hubei, defeating the jiangbei and jiangnan camps, and expanding the rear base of the heavenly kingdom. At the same time, the Northern Expeditionary Forces stimulated the peasant movement in the north, and then the Twist Army arose, they nominally obeyed the orders of the Heavenly Kingdom, but in fact fought alone, continuing to contain the northern army of the Qing Dynasty and alleviating the military pressure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
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