In March 1853, the Taiping Army conquered Nanjing, renamed Tianjing, as the capital. Subsequently, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom carried out two major military operations: the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition. Here, the author will talk about the Western Expedition: Yang Xiuqing adopted the tactic of adding oil, did not once put into the main army, swept the Qing army to seize the upstream, what is the reason?
01. The Western Expedition added fuel tactics, missed the fighter, and cultivated the Xiang Army
The western expedition adopted the tactic of adding fuel, which was undoubtedly a major failure. At first, Hu Yihuang and Lai Hanying led 20,000 soldiers and horses to the west, and after taking Anqing, Lai Hanying led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to attack Nanchang, which cost 93 days and gained nothing. Lai Hanying did not progress smoothly, Yang Xiuqing sent Wei Jun and Shi Xiangzhen to lead 7,000 soldiers and horses to reinforce hubei; after Wei and Shi entered Hubei, they divided their troops to support Hu Yihuang's conquest of Luzhou, and the front line was insufficient and failed to attack Wuchang.
The situation in northern Anhui was slightly stable, and Yang Xiuqing sent Lin Shaozhang and Zeng Tianyang to reinforce the two lakes, and the front-line troops were about 30,000. As a result, Lin Shaozhang's Xiangtan was defeated, 20,000 troops were destroyed, and the Xiang army entered a counter-offensive. Yang Xiuqing sent Hubei soldiers and horses south, but was defeated again, and lost the important town of Wuchang. Subsequently, the increase in troops in Tianjia Town and Banbi Mountain was still defeated by the Xiang army, and in the end, Shi Da could only drive out of his horse and supervise the mouth of the lake to reverse the situation.
From the above, it can be seen that until Shi Dakai oversaw the Jiujiang and Hukou, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom never once threw in the main army corps to engage in a strategic decisive battle with the Qing army, and then seize power upstream. The Taiping Army adopted the tactic of adding fuel and invested a small number of troops in the battlefield of the western expedition again and again, which not only made little progress, but also gave the Xiang Army a chance to rise, and it was a pity that it could not be eliminated in the bud.
02. The original purpose of the Western Expedition was to raise grain and it was not necessary to send a large army
The strategic purpose of the Taiping Army's western expedition had a great impact on its tactics of refueling. So, what was the purpose of the Western Expedition? It is necessary to look at it from front to back: in the early days, the western expedition was to solve the grain problem in the three cities of Tianjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou; after some progress, it became a competition for the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, controlling strategic places along the river, and acting as a barrier for Tianjing. Such a strategic deployment naturally affects the dispatch of troops.
Why do Tianjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou have no grain? There were two reasons: the "Jiangnan Camp" and the "Jiangbei Camp" blockade and encirclement, and often dispatched water divisions to harass the grain routes, resulting in a shortage of grain in the city. In addition, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom extended the "sub-camp system" and the "Sacred Treasury system" to the occupied areas. Under this system, the inhabitants of the city were organized into battalions, agriculture, commerce, and handicrafts no longer existed, and the city was like a military fortress, which was a consumption type, not a production type, and where the materials came from.
Zhang Dejian's "Compilation of Thieves' Feelings" said: "1.7 million quintals of rice grain coexisted, and the rice grain was fully supported in April", "the women of the two Cantons in the city ate rice, and the women of the two lakes ate porridge". Soon, in order to alleviate the grain shortage in the city, Yang Xiuqing also let the people go out and let them find a way out. In this way, it is urgent to raise food. To raise food, rather than occupy the land, it is naturally unnecessary to send the main army.
03. The initial strength of the troops was insufficient, and it was difficult to dispatch the large army
In the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the Qing army's defensive strength was weak, and after the Taiping Army took Anqing, it entered Jiangxi, seized the grain storage near Poyang Lake, and transported it back to Beijing, temporarily alleviating the grain shortage. The purpose of grain collection was achieved, followed by the capture of strategic places along the river, the establishment of a buffer zone for the capital Tianjing, and the security of the base camp. Then, why did Yang Xiuqing not dispatch the main force, but increased the number of troops again and again, and engaged in oil-adding tactics? It is related to insufficient troop strength.
After entering Nanjing, the elite troops of the Taiping Army were estimated at 60,000, which was recruited from Shonan to recruit the Tiandihui, miners, and some of the old brothers of Liangguang. Yang Xiuqing liked the "elite route" and attached importance to the quality of soldiers, and new recruits had to be trained in the rear and could not be immediately sent to the battlefield. 60,000 people, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang Northern Expedition dispatched 20,000, Tianjing, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou three cities need to stay behind, the Western Expedition can also be about 20,000.
At the beginning of the Western Expedition, the coach Hu Yihuang, the deputy commander Lai Hanying, and the forward Zeng Tianyang. Among them, Hu Yihuang and Zeng Tianyang have military experience, and Lai Hanying is Hong Xiuquan's brother-in-law, just to gild it. It can be said that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was very "short of personnel", and it was difficult to send a large army to fight in the short term, especially when the Northern Expedition was still in progress.
04, despise the opponent, do not realize the difficulty of the battle
After the defeat of the Northern Expedition, the Western Expedition became the highlight of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the recruits were baptized in battle and had strong combat effectiveness. At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could send out large armies to fight and fight for the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River to achieve the expected strategic purpose. Unfortunately, Yang Xiuqing despised his opponent and did not realize the difficulty of the battle, so he did not concentrate his absolute superiority and crushed the Qing army in one fell swoop.
In March 1854, Zeng Guofan moved north from Hengyang and led 17,000 soldiers and horses to Changsha, and began to fight with the Taiping Army. With the rise of the Xiang Army, Yang Xiuqing did not pay attention to it, believing that the "Zeng Demon" was just like this, similar to the Eight Banners and the Green Camp. In April, Lin Shaozhang suffered a crushing defeat at Xiangtan, killing more than 20,000 people, and the Xiang army became famous. What about Yang Xiuqing? Still not taken seriously.
After the defeat of Xiangtan, Yang Xiuqing transferred Wei Jun and Shi Xiangzhen, who were brave and good at war, back to Tianjing. In the Two Lakes region, only Zeng Tianyang could fight, Shi Fengkui and Huang Zaixing did not understand the military, and they were still timid and afraid of things, and before the Xiang army could fight, they directly abandoned Wuchang and the whole army retreated to Tianjia Town. Shi and Huang were defeated, but Yang Xiuqing still miscalculated the Xiang army, and let Qin Rigang supervise Tian Jiazhen and adopt a passive defensive strategy; Shi Dakai stayed in the rear and failed to participate in the battle, and the consequences were very serious.
05. In the two-front operation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the dispatch of large corps can only be short-term
After the disastrous defeat at the Battles of Tianjiazhen and BanbiShan, Yang Xiuqing finally realized the fierceness of the Xiang army, so he sent Shi Dakai, the wing king, to supervise Jiujiang and Hukou, and mobilized all kinds of elite generals, Hu Yihuang, Wei Jun, Luo Gang, Lin Qirong, Huang Wenjin, Chen Yucheng, hu Dingwen, and others to the battlefield to carry out a strategic decisive battle with the Xiang army. At this time, the Taiping Army was full of elites and many fierce generals, defeating the Xiang army in one fell swoop, counterattacking Hubei and Wuchang.
With the great victories at Jiujiang and Hukou, Yang Xiuqing tasted the advantages of concentrating superior forces. However, the battle of the large corps was only temporary, not long-term, because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fought on both sides, and the army was exhausted and exhausted on the east and west fronts. On the western front, Zeng Guofan's Xiang army was the absolute main force and very fierce; on the eastern front, "two battalions" besieged Tianjing, and the Hongdan Boat Marine Division once cut off the river surface, causing a grain shortage in the city.
In March 1856, The Wing King Shi Dakai concentrated his superior forces to defeat the main force of the Xiang Army, and the fifty-seven counties of the Eight Provinces of Jiangxi entered the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Zeng Guofan was besieged in the isolated city of Nanchang. At this time, if Shi Dakai besieged Nanchang and launched a large-scale offensive again, the Xiang army would not be able to escape the doom. Unfortunately, Xiang Rong's "Jiangnan camp" raided Tianjing, Qin Rigang could not fight, Yang Xiuqing could only transfer Shi Dakai back to participate in the war, and Zeng Guofan escaped the disaster.
To sum up, the Taiping Army's western expedition adopted the tactic of adding fuel, rather than sending out a large army to sweep through the Qing army, and the first battle was decided, for complex subjective and objective reasons. At first, the number of troops was understandable; the battle between the east and the west was also very helpless. However, at the beginning of the rise of the Xiang Army, Yang Xiuqing was overconfident, despised his opponents, and did not concentrate his forces to destroy the fierce enemies, and as a result, he cultivated gravediggers.
Bibliography: The Complete History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War