In November 1863, Chen Kunshu, the protector of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, drank tea at the palace and planned his life path after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. Chen Kunshu seems to be a prince with many soldiers and horses under his command, and if he can submit to the Qing Dynasty, he should be able to obtain an official and a half-post, and there will be no problems in his future life. A news came that broke Chen Kunshu's "illusion", because Li Hongzhang did not talk about Martial Virtue, Gao Yongkuan and other 8 generals, as well as 40,000 Taiping troops were killed, which was the "Suzhou Killing and Surrender" incident.
From the "Li Xiucheng Self-Statement", it can be seen that Chen Kunshu, the protector king who guarded the southern Jiangsu region, Huang Zilong, the king of Chao, and others planned to surrender to the Qing Dynasty and obtain an official and a half-post. However, because Inspector Li Hongzhang "killed and surrendered in Suzhou" and cut off their way out, Chen Kunshu and other talents had to fight back, preferring to stick to the city rather than surrender. Because surrender is also death, fighting is also death, why not die fast.
In July 1863, Li Xiucheng returned to Tianjing from Jiangbei and looked very depressed and miserable. Because Hong Xiuquan's poor "attacking the north and attacking the south" battle plan, Li Xiucheng commanded 100,000 soldiers and horses to challenge the limits of "wild survival". After returning from Jiangbei, it encountered flooding and was intercepted by the Xiang Army's marine division, and almost the entire army was destroyed.
Of the 100,000 troops, only more than 10,000 returned to Tianjing, and even more tragic ones were still to come. Li Xiucheng left Suzhou, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang bases were attacked by the Huai and Chu armies, and the cities fell one after another. At this time, Suzhou, Li Xiucheng's stronghold, had fallen under siege and had become an isolated city. Suzhou, Li Xiucheng's base, naturally can not be lost, he decided to Hong Xiuquan "leave" for 40 days, go back to the rescue.
After Li Xiucheng returned to Suzhou, he immediately organized troops to counterattack and fought a major battle with the Huai army in the northwest of the city, and the battle was very fierce. At this time, the Huai army had Gordon's "foreign gun team" to assist in the battle, and also received reinforcements from the weapons of the great powers, and the Taiping Army could not break the encirclement. To this end, Li Xiucheng decided to ask Chen Kunshu and Huang Zilong for help, but unfortunately did not get a response.
Chen Kunshu and Huang Zilong were people who understood, the Xiang Army, the Chu Army, the Huai Army besieged, and with the assistance of foreigners, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was gone, the qi number had been exhausted, and it was impossible to reverse the situation. At this time, if you go to rescue Li Xiucheng, the probability of success is very low, and you also annoy the Qing Dynasty and cut off your own surrender road. Chen Kunshu and Huang Zilong calculated that as long as the city of Suzhou fell and Li Xiucheng was defeated, they would surrender.
The ideal is beautiful, the reality is cruel, and Chen Kunshu has no chance to surrender. At the "Yangcheng Lake Conference", Gordon guaranteed the lives of gao Yongkuan and other 8 generals to ensure the safety of their lives and the Taiping army in the city, and obtained corresponding official positions in the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, Li Hongzhang did not talk about martial arts, and he did not give Gordon face.
Gao Yongkuan and 8 other people came to surrender with the head of Mu Wang Tan Shaoguang, Li Hongzhang set up a banquet to entertain them, and then executed them all, and none of the 40,000 Taiping Army soldiers who laid down their weapons in Suzhou were spared. Li Hongzhang killed and surrendered, Chen Kunshu had no way to retreat, and the Taiping Army could only fight to the end.
After the Huai army captured Suzhou, the soldiers attacked Changzhou in three ways, and Liu Mingchuan, Zhou Shengbo, Zhou Shengchuan, Zhang Shusheng, Pan Dingxin and other fierce generals were all dispatched, and the lineup was very strong. At this time, Liu Mingchuan attacked the northwest of the city, the Zhou brothers attacked the southeast of the city, and Zhang Shusheng and Pan Dingxin mainly fought on the periphery to prevent the Taiping Army from reinforcing Changzhou.
Chen Kunshu was originally the chief general under Li Xiucheng. In 1862, due to the problem of appeasing the gentry, a contradiction arose between Li Xiucheng and Chen Kunshu, and Chen Kunshu was afraid of Li Xiucheng's scolding, so he ran from Suzhou to guard Changzhou. Hong Xiuquan wanted to divide Li Xiucheng's power and crown Chen Kunshu as the protector of Chitose, with Changzhou as a fief.
Guarding Changzhou for more than two years, Chen Kunshu built a solid city defense system to deal with the Huai army, and there was little problem in holding Changzhou in the short term. Liu Mingchuan, Zhou Shengbo and others stormed the city for a month, making no progress, only destroying a few fortifications outside the city, but the Taiping army quickly snatched it back, rebuilt it, and continued to fight with the Huai army.
The offensive was blocked, but the Huai army still adopted a conservative strategy, digging trenches, building fences, and building fortresses under the city, and engaged in protracted battles in an attempt to deplete the defenders inside the city. It has to be said that this move is indeed effective, the Taiping Army is independent, and there is no water division to assist, the logistics of the defenders in Changzhou City have problems, and people's hearts have been shaken.
In addition to the long siege, Li Hongzhang continued to "surrender" and promised not to kill them. At this time, several generals in Changzhou City were shaken in their will, and they secretly contacted the Huai army to discuss surrender. When Chen Kunshu discovered the situation, he directly executed them, then beheaded them and threw them down from the city of Changzhou, saying that he would fight to the death and would not believe the lies of the Huai army.
Once Chen Kunshu was killed, Li Hongzhang could not take the city in a short period of time, and the imperial court continued to urge troops. In this way, Li Hongzhang could only continue to launch an attack and did not dare to continue to spend so much. In the battle, the Taiping Army was the defensive side, and although the Huai Army was brave, it was also heavily wounded, and even Liu Mingchuan was wounded.
The Changzhou offensive was blocked, and Li Hongzhang thought of his "old friend" Gordon, hoping that he could lead the "Changsheng Army" to help and destroy the city with the flowering cannon. After the "Suzhou Killing" incident, Gordon was not satisfied with Li Hongzhang, but after taking the silver of the white flowers, he did not have the chivalry, or chose to cooperate with the Huai Army, after all, the "Changsheng Army" also had to eat.
Gordon assisted in the battle, using the blossoming cannon to destroy the city, and the Huai army entered the city. At this time, Chen Kunshu led his own soldiers to fight with the Huai army in a bloody battle, and every street and alley was fighting; every step forward of the Huai army had to pay a heavy price. Chen Kunshu fought and retreated, retreating all the way to the mansion, still fighting, and was seriously wounded and captured, and executed by The Qing Dynasty LingChi.
Bibliography: History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom