Everyone in the world knows that Zuo Zongtang carried the coffin to the west, a proper national hero, this sentence is actually true, Zuo Gong is not only a top military expert! Diplomat! Hero! I also know that people make good use of it and discover a military genius, this person is Liu Jintang, personally I think this person is better than Lin, Peng has more than all, the war to recover Xinjiang is Liu Jintang's military teaching materials all the way to outnumbering the enemy and defeating the strong with weakness!
One day in January 1850, on the banks of the Xiang River in Changsha, Hunan Province. An official ship from afar stopped at Zhuzhang Ferry. On board was the famous national hero Lin Zexu. He was waiting for someone to arrive. More than two months ago. Lin Zexu, the 65-year-old governor of Yungui. Resigned due to illness. On his way home by boat, he deliberately passed through Changsha. After arriving in Changsha, he did not disembark. Officials large and small in Changsha came to the ferry port. When he wanted to ask to see Lin Zexu, Lin Zexu refused to meet all the officials in Hunan and sent someone to invite a 37-year-old young man, Zuo Zongtang. At this time, Zuo Zongtang was just a person and did not have any official position. Zuo Zongtang went immediately after he found out. Lin Zexu is the senior he admires the most.
Zuo Zongtang saw Lin Zexu and said: The younger generation has admired adults for a long time! See you today, the junior is really lucky to have three lives! Lin Zexu said: Hu Runzhi has praised you to his old husband many times. When I see you today, I really am a wizard! One is a young Huajia who is famous all over the world. One is a down-and-out person who is not confused in his youth. The two talked about wine and sailed in the cave court. Astronomy and geography are ancient and modern, and the more we talk about it, the more speculative it becomes. Speaking of Xinjiang, where Lin Zexu was belittled. Lin Zexu said: Many people think that Xinjiang is a barren land, but in fact, they are very wrong. There is abundant water and grass there. Especially the nine cities of Ili are even more stuffed into the south of the Jiangnan. However, Xinjiang still does not have enough government. So that the land of fertile is not rich and strong. If you can build new water conservancy in the southern eight cities, you can plant rice widely. Xinjiang's richness will not be inferior to that of the southeast. Zuo Zongtang, who also has studied Xinjiang, said: "The younger generation thinks that the biggest problem in Xinjiang is the incompatibility of the system." Since the Qianlong Dynasty, Xinjiang has always practiced a military government system. There are many officials who govern the army, but few officials who govern the people. So much so that the civil administration is not repaired. I wonder why the imperial court did not establish a province there, wouldn't this be more conducive to development? Lin Zexu nodded his head again and again after listening: It's really amazing that you have such a high opinion, and the old man has been thinking about the establishment of the province in the past few years in Xinjiang. I really can't imagine that there is such a confidant thousands of miles away! The two chatted more and more, and before they knew it, the sky had lit up, and the two actually talked freely for a night.
Lin Zexu took out a treasured box and handed it to Zuo Zongtang's hand and said: This is the information that the old man has accumulated in Xinjiang for many years, including geography, border defense, public opinion maps, and Russian dynamics. Russia is insatiable and has annexed a number of small countries. Now Chen Bing has seen me on the border, and the old man is old. There is no ambition to protect Russia, but it is no longer enough. These old men are always looking for someone to entrust to great things. Talking with Ji Gao last night, I am convinced that you are a peerless wizard. In the future, the Xiding frontier will fight against the Russians, and this information may be of some use to you. Zuo Zongtang took the box, his eyes a little moist. Respectfully said: The words of the adults, the younger ones should remember in their hearts. It's just that the junior is just a cold ru, and it may be difficult to use it if you have big ambitions. Lin Zexu held Zuo Zongtang's hand and said: Ji Gao, judging from the old man's many years of experience, the people's livelihood is difficult now, I am afraid that there will be chaos soon, then the imperial court will need people like you to come out to serve, the country rises and falls, and it is the responsibility of the husband, I hope you can also remember it. Zuo Zongtang said: The younger generation should remember the teachings of adults! This meeting between Zuo Zongtang and Lin Zexu was the first time Zuo Zongtang had a relationship with Xinjiang, and he also took over the burden of Lin Wenzhong's bus trust. Lin Zexu died a few months later.
Sure enough, as Lin Zexu predicted. In the near future, there will be chaos in the whole country. The Taiping Army and the Northwest Hui Army were in turmoil. Moreover, in addition to internal forces in Xinjiang, there are chaos. There is also the competition of forces such as the Kokand Khanate, Britain and Tsarist Russia. Zuo Zongtang's fate was also told by Lin Zexu. In troubled times, it was reused by the imperial court. Zuo Zongtang was appointed governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. It has just gone through 5 years of pacifying Shaanxi and Gansu. The road to reconquest of Xinjiang began. The recovery of Xinjiang is destined to be a difficult process!
Speaking of how Zuo Gong recovered Xinjiang step by step, we must first introduce the history of Xinjiang and the internal and external forces
Since Emperor Wudi of Han incorporated Xinjiang into China's territory. China's control over Xinjiang is intermittent. When China is strong, it can control it effectively. When China's power weakens, it loses control. The time lost can be long and short. Sometimes decades. Sometimes even hundreds of years. So why can't there be strong control over Xinjiang? The reason is that it is too far away. Let's take a look at the geographical location of Xinjiang. In the Qing Dynasty, the distance from Suzhou, the last military town in the Hexi Corridor, to Urumqi, Xinjiang, was more than 1,200 kilometers, and the distance from Urumqi to Ili was more than 1,200 kilometers. That's almost 700 km. Distance from Urumqi to Kashgar. It is more than 1300 km. So it is very far from Gansu to Xinjiang. And Xinjiang is big. The distance from northern Xinjiang to southern Xinjiang is also very long, if compared to the interior, it is a distance across several provinces.
Moreover, Xinjiang has a large part of the desert Gobi. It was very difficult to resupply along the way during the march. So it is necessary to do sufficient logistics to march.
And what I just said is the distance from Suzhou to Xinjiang. Suzhou is already the westernmost point of the Hexi corridor. During the Qing Dynasty, there was no surplus grain on the Hexi corridor. It would be nice if the people on the Hexi corridor could be self-sufficient. If the year is not good, you have to rely on the mainland to provide relief.
So if troops are used in Xinjiang. The grain and grass needed have recently been transferred in Lanzhou. From Lanzhou to Suzhou is another distance of more than 700 kilometers. In those times there were no railways. It was all transported by human mules, camels and horses. It is necessary to ensure that a serviceman on the front line eats. The logistics required a dozen people to carry the grain. The people who carry the grain also have to eat, and so do the mules, horses and camels. To transport a stone of grain to the front. It is basically necessary to prepare 30 stone grain. So the army expeditionary to Xinjiang is not destined to be of great size. When the Qing army and the Taiping army fought in the interior, hundreds of thousands of people often went to battle. But in Xinjiang, an army of 20,000 people must be maintained. The number of logisticians required is 200,000 people. The military expenditure required is even more astronomical. So in ancient times, all emperors who launched expeditions. If you don't get it right, you will bring the country down.
So the Han Dynasty has been resting and recuperating. It was not until the time of Emperor Wudi of Han that the expedition began. And because of the huge cost, in the later years of Emperor Wudi of Han, the country's economy faced collapse. The Qing Dynasty was also at the height of national strength during the Qianlong period when Xinjiang could be completely pacified. Moreover, Qianlong pacified Xinjiang and spent a lot of money. From the late Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty had begun to decline. It has to be said here that the decline of the Qing Dynasty was also partly due to the perennial use of troops in Xinjiang, and it took a lot of money to send an expeditionary force during wars. Take it down. Garrisons also cost a lot of money every year. But Xinjiang still has to ask for it. If you lose the interior of Xinjiang, you will be directly threatened by nomads. Once the nomads become strong, they will continue to invade the interior. At that time, it was not only costly. And there are greater risks.
Kangxi and Yongzheng also defeated Dzungar. But defeat does not mean that you can occupy Xinjiang. Because although you beat the nomads. As long as you don't slaughter him. When you're gone, he's back. You can't always send a large army to garrison, you send more troops, you can't stand it financially, and you can't hold it if you send less. Therefore, from Kangxi to Yongzheng, they always wanted to occupy Xinjiang in its entirety, but settled the score. The limit of ability is Jiayuguan.
By the Qianlong period. Qianlong met a good opportunity, and the Great Khan of the Dzungar Khanate, Gardan, died. The internal struggle of the Dzungar Khanate for the right of succession is between you and me. The Dzungar nobles, who failed in the struggle for power, said that they would surrender to the Qing dynasty and asked Qianlong to borrow troops, but the ministers said that they could not go, and the previous two dynasties had already proved that it would cost money and could not occupy Qianlong if they went to Xinjiang, and they carefully calculated the account. If you can fight quickly, you can still fight. If this time can completely eliminate the Dzungars. was able to occupy Xinjiang, so Qianlong decided to send troops.
It was also the national transport of the Qing Dynasty that came, and a great plague occurred in Dzungar. Due to the great plague, the Qing army completely eliminated the Dzungar (no information of the plague found, it may be plague). Qianlong completely recovered Xinjiang, and the Qianlong Emperor also reached the peak of Qing territory. He ruled not only the Central Plains, but also the steppe completely. But Qianlong made a very big mistake that laid an important foundation for the subsequent disaster in Xinjiang.
The Qing army in quelling the Dzungar rebellion. The two Hezhuo who were arrested by Dzungar were released. During the Mongol period, Xinjiang belonged to the Chagatai Khanate. By the Ming Dynasty, several large khanates divided by Genghis Khan had long been divided. The descendants of Chagatai in southern Xinjiang established a new khanate called the Yarkand Khanate, which was an Islamized khanate that was controlled by a powerful religious force at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Hezhuo family.
This family has a special meaning in Islam, and he represents the founder of Islam. Muhammad's descendants. This Hezhuo family in Xinjiang is descended from Mahatum's Azum. This Mahatum Azumu mission was very successful. He had many believers, and he said his grandfather was from Medina. is a descendant of Muhammad. But it was later confirmed by scholars. He is not a descendant of Muhammad. After Mahatum's death, his son fought for clerical power. One of his sons arrived in Kashgar, Xinjiang, to preach and found the Montenegrin sect. Later, another of his sons also arrived in Kashgar, Xinjiang. Founded the White Mountain School. His descendants are known as Hezhuo in southern Xinjiang. They are adored feverishly by the locals. The Black Mountain faction and the White Mountain faction both went to southern Xinjiang, and they clashed over the issue of clerical power. It was the Montenegrin faction that came to Kashgar first. The Montenegrin faction was more trusted by the local Mongol kings. The White Mountain faction was ostracized. At this time, the leader of the White Mountain faction was called Apakhoga. After being ostracized, Apakhoga went to northern Xinjiang to find Dzungar Gardan and asked Gardan to help him seize power. Gardan also wanted to annex southern Xinjiang, so he agreed to help the Baishan faction. They combined inside and outside to overthrow the Chahetai descendants of the Yarkand Khanate.
From then on, the Hezhuo family of the Baishan faction became the rulers of southern Xinjiang. Southern Xinjiang became a vassal of the Dzungars. Later, Gardan was defeated by Kangxi and committed suicide, and Gardan's nephew took control of Dzungar. Later, the Montenegrin faction also found Dzungar, hoping that Dzungar could help them defeat the White Mountain faction. The Dzungar troops sent troops again and captured the southern Xinjiang region. This time, the Dzungar Ministry did not hand over southern Xinjiang to the descendants of the Black Mountain faction or the White Mountain faction, but directly in Xinjiang itself. They chose a leader they trusted to manage, and the descendants of Hezhuo from both the Black Mountain and White Mountain factions were locked up.
Decades have passed. Hezhuo's descendants have been imprisoned, and the descendants of the White Mountain faction who are being imprisoned at this time are the two grandsons of Apak Hoga. One is called Polonidu and the other is called Huo Jizhan. This is what people later called Yamato Takashi and Small and Cho.
After Qianlong defeated the Dzungars. Knowing that this size and Zhuo have some influence in southern Xinjiang, he gave them grace. They were arrested by the Dzungars, and now the Great Qing has released them. It was a favor to them, and Qianlong let them go back to manage southern Xinjiang. Qianlong knew that southern Xinjiang was poor, so he only collected them a small amount of taxes. Qianlong thought that this was a special favor to them, and they should know about the Entu. Good to govern southern Xinjiang, who knows the size and Zhuo is grateful in person. After returning to southern Xinjiang, it immediately reversed. There was no way for the Qing court to send troops to recover southern Xinjiang again, fortunately, the national fortune of the Great Qing at this time was relatively good. There was a very powerful general named General Zhaohui. In a short time, General Zhaohui defeated Dao and Zhuo.
But for this expedition, Qianlong spent a lot of money. He eventually fled to a Muslim kingdom in Afghanistan. The Qing army then arrived to send messengers to inform the king of the kingdom. Telling them to hand over the size and zhuo at once, the king was shocked by the momentum of the Qing army. Killed Dai and Zhuo, and sacrificed their first rank to the Qing army. Once again, the Qing Dynasty was a threat to other countries around Xinjiang. But this was also the last time that the Qing Dynasty rose to prominence internationally.
Xinjiang has since returned to calm, but only for a few decades. Decades later, Xinjiang began to be in turmoil again, and the source of the turmoil was still the descendants of this Hezhuo family. Although the Qing army killed both Xiao and Zhuo, they also took away Xiao and Zhuo's families. But they missed a person, this person is called Samsak. He was the child of Yamato Taku's younger wife, and the woman later left Yamato Taku. So this person was leaked by the Qing army, and Yamato Zhuo's bloodline was left. This bloodline has brought endless troubles to Xinjiang.
After Qianlong regained Xinjiang, he found that Hezhuo's governance in Xinjiang was very backward. Xinjiang has no established political system at all. Religious leaders and imams nominally use the Qur'an to maintain social order. But because most of the people are illiterate. How the scriptures are interpreted depends entirely on the noble imam. Therefore, the aristocracy exploited the people at the bottom as they pleased. Taxes are also exaggerated and outrageous, the common people must first give 10% of their income to the imam, called "zakat", and the rest of the nobles can take as much as they want, there is no fixed statement. At first, Qianlong also wanted the aristocracy to continue the original management. Later, when I saw that this was the case, I directly decided to manage it myself.
Qianlong's governance in Xinjiang is mainly divided into two aspects. First, direct rule in northern Xinjiang. Establish the Agricultural Reclamation Corps. The Qing government sent troops from the interior. Wartime war. Farm the land and then take this as the core. Attract mainland residents to immigrate to form a settlement city. Second, maintain the original social structure in southern Xinjiang. Exercise indirect rule. At the same time, mainlanders were prohibited from migrating to southern Xinjiang. It is the fear that the mainlanders will form a conflict with the locals. Due to differences from language and customs, the Qing government could not send officials directly from the interior. Continue to choose local nobles as officials. But this official must be appointed by the central government and cannot be hereditary. The noble ruler could not manage the people as he pleased, as before. It must be managed according to the laws of the Qing court, and at the same time subject to the supervision of the Qing court. The Qing government respected the local religious system. However, religious aristocratic imams were forbidden to intervene in political management. All judicial power is in the hands of the government. After the Qing court intervened in the administration of southern Xinjiang, the common people benefited from the Qing court. Taxes were lowered and the legal system was sound, but the aristocratic power at the top was taken away, and it was originally a theocratic system. Now they are left with only the religious part, and the political part. This caused dissatisfaction among the upper imams. But the imam can also control the spiritual beliefs of the common people. This was the internal cause of the subsequent turmoil in Xinjiang.
After the Qing court began to administer Xinjiang, in order to maintain the unity of Xinjiang. Garrison and administrative management, 3 million taels of silver are needed every year. This money cannot be satisfied within Xinjiang itself, and can only be transferred from inland provinces. It is because of this that there was always a large number of opposition in the imperial court. Oppose ruling Xinjiang, believing that it is a place to lose money. After 3 million taels of silver are transported to Xinjiang every year, they must be exchanged for things to survive. However, due to the limited local productivity in Xinjiang. What is needed cannot be solved locally. It is also impossible to transport it from as far away as the mainland. So most of them are purchased from Central Asian countries. This silver also flowed to the Central Asian countries, and the money fattened several important small countries. Especially the Kokand Khanate next to Xinjiang. The vast khanate made a lot of money from trade with China. He sold things from India, Iran, Afghanistan and other places to Xinjiang, China. And they sold things from Xinjiang, China, to these places. With money, he developed rapidly. It soon became a military power in Central Asia.
After the Kokand Khanate became stronger, it began to become insatiable. He wanted the Qing court's caravan to reduce taxes on them, and the Qing court of course ignored him. The Kokand Khanate found Samsak, the son of the Great Yamato, who financed him. Let him contact the imams in southern Xinjiang and plot to start a riot in southern Xinjiang. Through such turmoil, the Kokand Khanate brought great trouble to the Qing government's governance in southern Xinjiang. At first, it was just a small move, and then after Samsak died. His son Zhanger did not want to be just a pawn in the Kokand Khanate. He really wanted to regain the prestige of the Hezhuo family in southern Xinjiang. This brought another big turmoil to southern Xinjiang, which is the "Zhanger Rebellion".
The imams of southern Xinjiang brought their followers, plus funding from the Central Asian countries. And the help of the British. He quickly gathered an army of 100,000 and began to revolt, he wanted to restore the rule of the Hezhuo family. The Qing Dynasty was already the period of the Daoguang Emperor at this time. With the increase in population and the outflow of silver. The Qing Dynasty's finances at this time were already becoming more and more difficult. The national strength is no longer comparable to that of the Qianlong period.
The Daoguang Emperor calculated an account, based on the experience of the Qianlong period. To fight a war in Xinjiang, the small ones will get seven or eight million, two silver. Larger ones also need 120 million taels of silver. That's just a year's expense. But he had to fight if he wanted to grit his teeth. After all, the land of the ancestors cannot be lost in their own hands. Fortunately, there were still famous generals in the Qing court at that time. Daoguang sent two fierce generals, Yang Yuchun and Yang Fang. With an army of 30,000, it was assessed in less than a year that Zhang Ge had recovered southern Xinjiang.
Then there are external forces. In the second Opium War in 1860, Russia took advantage of the Qing court to be defeated by the Anglo-French army. Pretend that the mediator seeks his own interests in the course of the peace between the two parties. Through coercion and inducement, Russia forced the Qing court to sign the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing. Cut out the alien Anling, Sakhalin, and Vladivostok. Consuls were also established in three cities in Xinjiang and extraterritoriality. And they have to step in and redraw the western border. But how to draw it specifically, they said very generally. Without a definite plan, Russia had wanted to take advantage of China's internal turmoil. Grab a piece of land in the west and then negotiate. The Qing Dynasty's garrison in northern Xinjiang was originally very strong, but some of them were transferred to the interior to fight the Taiping Army, and the rest were originally enough to garrison Xinjiang.
But unexpectedly, in 1862, Muslims in the northwest began to revolt. The Shaanxi-Gansu rebellion began, and Ma Hualong and Tudlin colluded with Russia. Russia provided them with a large number of weapons, and in order to occupy Xinjiang, Tudlin also promised Russia to respond internally. After having internal response, Tsarist Russia immediately sent troops to invade northern Xinjiang. With the combination of inside and outside, Russia quickly took many border posts. Because many of the soldiers in the green camp in Xinjiang at that time were Muslims. At the call of Tudrin, these Muslim soldiers defected en masse. They temporarily turned their guns on their own people, or sometimes they simply opened the city gates to let the Russians in. After discovering this, the Qing army increased its vigilance. Muslim soldiers could no longer succeed.
The Qing army in Xinjiang is not the same as in the hinterland. At this time, the Eight Flags Army and the Green Battalion in the interior were already corrupt and their combat effectiveness was very poor. However, because Xinjiang is far from the hinterland, it is stationed on the frontier and is always ready for war, so the combat effectiveness of the soldiers has been preserved. Without the help of internal traitors, the Russian army could not advance. Although the Russian army is stronger in strength and weapons than the Qing army. But the weapons are not much stronger either. At this time, Russia was still a level behind Britain and France. The combat effectiveness is also not so powerful. And the Qing army could rely on the fortifications built over many years. So there is a stalemate between the two sides. It has been a stalemate for more than half a year, and if it cannot be fought again, Russia will have to withdraw its troops. Because Russia is interested in sending troops to Xinjiang, China. It is also controversial. Because sending troops to Xinjiang is also an expedition for them. A lot of military spending is needed, and they will soon be unable to hold on.
Why is Russia holding on? Because they know their traitorous friends. It's about to start happening. At this time, Tudlin and Suo Zhanghuan first instigated the rebellion of Kucha. Then it occupied Urumqi. The Qing army was defending against foreign enemies at this time. This internal accident is equivalent to a knife directly inserted into the heart. There is no way to save the situation.
Russia was also at the end of the crossbow at this time. There is also no ability to go any further. But they had already waited until they could ask for some chips from the Qing court. The Russian minister in Beijing immediately began negotiations with Prince Gong. Although Russia is already at the end of the crossbow, they have shown a very tough performance, demanding that the Qing court cede land and pay reparations, otherwise they will never retreat.
The Russian minister knew more about the Muslim occupation of Urumqi than the Qing court. The Qing court firmly said that it was not the Qing army defeated by Russia, so it did not accept reparations. The Russian minister also lacks confidence, after all, this is not a military victory, it is an act of blackmail. A concession was made and the demand for reparations was waived. But the land Russia did not budge. The Qing court also had no way. There was really no way to fight on two fronts, so an agreement was signed. 440,000 square kilometers of land left China. The Urumqi rebellion became the last straw that crushed the Qing dynasty. The Qing army did not lose on the battlefield. It turned out to be because of internal rebellion. Let Russia take advantage of the opportunity to achieve its goal: it has cut off 440,000 square kilometers of China's land. And at the same time because of this battle. Let Zuo Zongtang know the true strength of the Russian army. Zuo Zongtang knew that the Russian army was not as strong as they boasted. So he has the confidence to fight the Russians on the battlefield of Xinjiang in the future.
In the war situation in Xinjiang. After a dogfight with Aguper Recidin, Agubai won
Both Hotsidine and Todexuan failed. Now the central part of Xinjiang and the southern part of Xinjiang are almost all Aqubai's sphere of influence. And the situation in northern Xinjiang now is after Aquber's victory over Tuo Dexuan. Threatened by Russia, he was forced to withdraw to southern Xinjiang. Aquber gave the Ma people administration of Urumqi. He also recruited Bai Yanhu as his son-in-law. Let Bai Yanhu be his agent to conquer northern Xinjiang. Russia refused to withdraw after occupying Ili. With a fierce eye on the entire territory of Xinjiang, the Qing army only had a few cities such as Hami and Balikun in their hands. The situation of the Qing army was very critical.
In Kannai. Zuo Zongtang finally calmed the chaos in Shaanxi and Gansu. The road to Xinjiang in the customs has been opened. He was able to plan the layout for the recovery of Xinjiang, and at this time a major event occurred on the southeast coast of China that caused the imperial court to start a fierce debate about whether to continue to recover Xinjiang, which was the Peony Society incident in 1874. In Japan, it is known as the "Battle of Taiwan".
This incident is Japan's first foreign military dispatch since the Meiji Restoration, Japan after the Meiji Restoration a large number of samurai unemployed, caused a lot of social turmoil, in order to alleviate the soldiers' dissatisfaction with the government, Saigo Takamori and others put forward the theory of conquest of Korea, advocating the use of overseas expansion methods to solve internal political problems, but for the conquest of the Korean Peninsula encountered great diplomatic difficulties, did not obtain the support of the cabinet, and finally caused Saigo Takamori and other officials to send Taiwan officials to the field, Japanese Nagating in order to appease the mood of the world. It was proposed to send troops to Taiwan.
Japan made representations to the Qing government on the grounds that Taiwanese aborigines killed Ryukyu people in 1871, and the Qing government said: Ryukyu and Taiwan are both dependent territories of the mainland, and how I deal with it is my own family matter. Japan also said unsparingly: If Taiwan kills people alive, if your country ignores them, it is necessary for the mainland to investigate the crime.
Japan took advantage of the diplomatic loopholes of the Qing government, saying that the aborigines of Taiwan were ownerless, Japan sent troops to the ownerless fanjie, and in May 1874, Japan landed in Taiwan, and the Qing government found a serious problem at this time, not because of how serious the Japanese invasion of Taiwan was, but because the Qing government found that it actually did not have a navy!
Although Zuo Zongtang built China's first shipyard, the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, when he was in Fujian, the ships built by the Fuzhou Shipping Administration Bureau were small-tonnage gunboats suitable for Hanoi and coastal warfare, and were not suitable for ocean navigation. The Qing government can only send these small gunboats to Taiwan, transport troops can only rely on renting foreign ships, this is the first invasion of Taiwan by the Japanese army, due to insufficient preparation and insufficient understanding of Taiwan, a large number of soldiers in the army have suffered from tropical diseases such as malaria, the Japanese army is basically paralyzed, the Japanese saw this situation, knew that this adventure to send troops to Taiwan must not continue, so he asked the British minister to come forward to negotiate with the Qing government while Chinese did not know the actual situation of the Japanese army.
At this time, the Qing government has sent a foreign rifle team of more than 10,000 people to Taiwan to deter Japan, but the Qing government is also afraid of a real fight, because the Qing government does not have a navy, once the Japanese army blocks the strait, the Qing army has no way to provide logistical assistance to Taiwan, although the Qing army does not know the true purpose of Japan's peace talks, but the Qing government also readily agreed to Japan's peace talks, but the Qing government fell for the Japanese in the negotiations, and the Japanese insisted that the Qing government recognize that Japan's sending troops to Taiwan was a "righteous act to protect the people", At that time, the negotiators of the Qing government did not carefully consider the meaning behind this sentence, thinking that Japan just wanted to regain a little face, so they simply agreed, which was equivalent to recognizing that the Ryukyuan people were under the protection of the Japanese, which was equivalent to recognizing that Ryukyu belonged to Japan, so later Japan used this as an excuse to annex Ryukyu with reasonable grounds.
Li Hongzhang pointed out, first, he has long felt that Japan will be the biggest threat to China, and Japan has not done anything before, it can only be said that it is a hunch, this time Japan has hit Taiwan, and it has also confirmed Japan's ambitions. Second, China is actually completely helpless at sea, when Japan attacked Taiwan, they also reserved a fleet in Nagasaki, ready to harass China's coast in the event of a full-scale war, to contain China's support for Taiwan, because there is no navy, Li Hongzhang is completely unable to know the movement of this fleet, China's coastline is long, it is impossible to fortify everywhere, in case Japan lands and runs after landing in a weak place in China, then China's coast will fall into total chaos, So as soon as the contract with the Japanese was signed, Li Hongzhang decided to build the navy as quickly as possible.
But he found that there was no money, where did the money go? In order to quell the rebellion in the northwest of Shaanxi and Gansu, the annual direct military expenditure is more than 6 million taels of silver, and the indirect expenditure is two or three million taels of silver. The coastal defense in the southeast is a fatal matter, but he thought about it and felt that Daqing was really unable to take care of the two directions and had to make a trade-off, so Li Hongzhang submitted "Planning for the Coastal Defense Fold", which provoked the debate between coastal defense and cypriot defense.
Li Hongzhang's twist and turn proposed that since Xinjiang was included in the territory of the Great Qing Dynasty during the Qianlong period, the cost of garrisons in peacetime also needs more than 2 million vehicles, but although Xinjiang's land is very extensive, but it is very barren, and it is very worthless to put money into it every year, and Xinjiang's geographical location borders Russia in the north, Turkey, Tianfang, Persia and other Muslim countries in the west, and British India in the south, according to the current situation, even if it is barely recovered back, it will definitely not be able to hold in the future, I look at foreign newsprint, Kashgar has accepted the canonization of Turkey, Moreover, they have signed trade treaties with Britain and Russia, they have colluded together, looking at this situation, Russia will definitely continue to encroach on Xinjiang, Britain will definitely share the benefits in it, they are not willing to China to reclaim Xinjiang, and now China's strength really can not take care of Xinjiang, really no money, can you let the generals in the west strictly guard the current border and stop forging ahead, and then appease the Hui chiefs of Ili, Urumqi, and Kashgar. It was agreed that they would become a vassal state like Vietnam and Korea, Xinjiang would not be recovered, the Qing was like a limb wound, and the vitality was not injured, but if the sea border could not be prevented, but the henchmen were in great trouble, it was suggested that the imperial court let the army that had already been out of Cyprus and the army that had not yet been out of Cyprus withdraw if it could withdraw, stop what could be stopped, and use the money saved by the suspension of the army to build coastal defense.
The mainstream opinion in the imperial court was originally determined to take back Xinjiang, but now it was so troubled by Japan, everyone found that the coastal defense of the Great Qing was actually so weak, by Li Hongzhang's words, many officials sided with Li Hongzhang, the ministers in the imperial court were divided into two factions and quarreled, and the remarks of gradually abandoning Xinjiang prevailed, no one could forcefully reject Li Hongzhang's arguments, even Cixi who supported Zuo Zongtang the most was shaken.
Cixi couldn't make up his mind, so he sent all the tricks of the ministers in the imperial court to Zuo Zongtang, asking Zuo Zongtang's opinion, and Cixi mainly asked Zuo Zongtang three questions. First, is there any value in Xinjiang's recovery? Second, how much will it cost to recover Xinjiang? Will it delay coastal defense? Third, if it is fought, how long will it take to recover Xinjiang, and will it be a protracted war?
Zuo Zongtang was very angry after receiving the news of the capital, he was angry that Li Hongzhang was actually completely used by the British, Xinjiang is now the largest sphere of influence of Aqubai, and Aqubo is a puppet of the British, so in fact, Britain manipulated Xinjiang, of course Britain does not want the Qing government to take back Xinjiang. Britain began to use means, hoping to achieve its own goals, Britain's goal is to get the Qing government to recognize Agubai's regime, all the south of the Tianshan Mountains to Agubai, and then let the Qing become the suzerainty of Agubai, so that Agubai will become a buffer between Britain and Russia, Britain seized the biggest obstacle to the Qing government's recovery of Xinjiang is the financial problem, Britain began a series of high-level operations, Britain's level of operation is really not the Qing government at that time can resist.
Britain's first move, send the minister Wituma to Li Hongzhang to coerce and lure, exaggerate Japan's threat to China, exaggerate the Japanese threat theory, exaggerate the terrifying nature of no coastal defense, to build coastal defense must increase investment, so that there is no money to recover Xinjiang, Li Hongzhang was really frightened by these statements of Wituma, Britain's second move, by manipulating public opinion to influence the Qing government's judgment of the actual situation, the level of British manipulation of public opinion is so high, it can be said that Li Hongzhang was directly brainwashed, not only Li Hongzhang, At that time, many ministers who advocated abandoning Xinjiang were influenced by public opinion, and Li Hongzhang directly mentioned foreign newsprint in the performance, which shows that many of his views are from foreign newsprint.
In 1872, the British businessman Annas Messa founded the "Declaration" in Shanghai, which was the most influential newspaper in China at that time, and there were also foreign-run newspapers in the past, such as "Zilinxi News", but it did not attract the attention of Chinese, because it was written in English, generally Chinese could not understand, and these newspapers were mainly aimed at foreigners, and Chinese did not care.
And the declaration is different, the declaration is issued with Chinese, and the writing is all about the things that Chinese care about, and there is a very important factor, the declaration is done by the British, printed and distributed in the concession, so the Qing government cannot control him, so the declaration has enjoyed press freedom from the beginning, with this advantage the declaration dares to report a lot of sensitive content, so this newspaper quickly received a lot of attention, the declaration sent a lot of reporters to the field everywhere, especially about the news about the actual situation of the war, The declaration was sometimes more accurate than what the military aircraft department obtained, so at that time, from the officials of the imperial court down to the ordinary people of the dawn, they became fans of this newspaper. The declaration has always adhered to the position of reporting facts, so there are many people who follow him.
But after all, the declaration is a newspaper run by the British, and when the British state is in need, he plays the role of the British government service and begins to guide Chinese public opinion. Britain knew that the Qing government wanted to recover Xinjiang, the biggest problem was the financial problem, the Qing government's financial shortage needed to borrow foreign debt, so the declaration cooperated with Witomar's diplomacy, published a large number of articles, such as "On Loans", "Translation of China's Loans", "On the Return of Borrowing and Levying" and so on. The main point of these articles is basically that borrowing foreign debt will endanger national security and harm the people.
These articles are ingenious, such as his revelation of how Western powers made their fortunes by lending to foreign countries, and how Turkey was overwhelmed by foreign debt and thus bullied by the great powers. And come to the point of view, how is China's national power compared to Ottoman Turkey? Given the national strength of Ottoman Turkey and being bullied because of borrowing, what would happen if the Qing government relied on foreign debts to march west? He looks worried about the country and the people, worried that quelling the Xinjiang rebellion will bring down China's finances.
At that time, not only Li Hongzhang, Shanxi Governor Bao Yuanshen, Shangshu Chongshi and other high-ranking officials of the Qing government, these people advocated abandoning Xinjiang and copied the declaration's remarks in large quantities.
The hype of the declaration is not only in terms of borrowing, he also made a big fuss in the process of recovering Xinjiang, for example, in the war situation in Xinjiang, the Western Expeditionary Army led by Liu Jintang began to spread rumors that the Qing army was unable to recover Xinjiang after a slight delay in declaring it. Of course, the declaration was far more than that, the famous Yang Naiwu and the little cabbage case at that time had the declaration behind the promotion, and the special feature of Yang Naiwu's small cabbage case was the judicial process in which the news media intervened. The declaration played a crucial role in clearing Yang Naiwu's grievances, people praised the declaration for exposing corruption in Zhejiang officialdom, and people said that the new media promoted the progress of China's judiciary, but what was the fundamental purpose of the declaration? The Yang Naiwu and Little Cabbage case hit Zhejiang officialdom. And Zhejiang officialdom has a very close relationship with Zuo Zongtang. Zhejiang Governor Yang Changjun is Zuo Zongtang's most effective supporter of the Western Expedition, declaring that with the help of Yang Naiwu's small cabbage case case this case hit Zuo Zongtang's backup group, Zuo Zongtang was very dissatisfied with this matter, he scolded in his letter to Yang Changjun that declaration is not a thing, those ministers who follow the direction of the declaration are not things, Zuo Zongtang said in the letter that foreign affairs are bad because the people who preside over the big plan think that they have insight into the affairs of foreigners. And where does his opinion come from? Zuo Zongtang said that these people who presided over the big plan were people like Li Hongzhang who were misled by the newspaper, and Zuo Zongtang also reminded Shen Baozhen not to be deceived by the British newsprint, which also shows the sadness of China at that time, such a large country, the understanding of the outside world actually has no independent channels, completely dependent on foreign media. In diplomacy, foreign countries are already invincible.
Zuo Zongtang is also very concerned about the situation in the world. But his access to information is not limited to media such as declarations. Zuo Zongtang hired a French army when he fought the Taiping Rebellion in Zhejiang, Zuo Zongtang obtained a lot of information in the world through the French, Zuo Zongtang also hired a lot of French people when he founded the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, these are his channels for obtaining information, and every time he meets someone who returns from abroad, Zuo Zongtang will always talk to him to get the latest information, so Zuo Zongtang can be said to be one of the few people in China who has an understanding of the world situation.
And since he has been fighting in the Northwest for a long time, he also knows the situation in the Northwest very well. It can be said that at that time in the imperial court, he was the only one who figured out what happened on the battlefield in Xinjiang in the context of the Anglo-Russian game, so Zuo Zongtang could accurately judge that he could buy grain with the Russians, and Russia would absolutely support him in attacking Aqubai, Zuo Zongtang expressed his views in his reply to Cixi.
First, Zuo Zongtang is not opposed to coastal defense, he believes that coastal defense and Sai defense are equally important, because China's first shipyard Fuzhou Shipping Administration Bureau was established by Zuo Zongtang, which shows how much he attaches importance to coastal defense, but everyone must understand what is the purpose of foreigners who invade from the sea, these foreigners from the sea are aimed at making money, all military operations are to do business with you, not to rob your land, only when you don't want to do business with him, he will start a war with you, And China has just signed treaties with Western countries, and it has just signed treaties with Japan, so there will be no problems at sea in a short period of time, and even small contradictions can be resolved through diplomacy. So coastal defense, although important, the problem is not imminent. But the defense of the defense cannot wait, once this opportunity is missed, Xinjiang really cannot take it back.
Second, Zuo Zongtang pointed out that there is a misunderstanding in the theory of coastal defense that if you give up Xinjiang, you can save money and take the money saved to coastal defense, but the fact is that you can't save money by giving up Xinjiang, because no matter what, you still have to guard a border line, you are not defending the border of Xinjiang, you have to retreat to the Mongolian steppe and retreat to Gansu to deploy the defense line, so it still costs money, and the money spent will not be less at all, so why not push the border line forward? Moreover, if you do not go to the west now, you have to disarm, and now the imperial court owes the western expeditionary army a large amount of military salaries, and disarmament must make up for this part of the salary, which will increase the cost even more.
Third, on the question of whether it will be a protracted war, Zuo Zongtang pointed out that Aqubo is not terrible. Because he is not popular with the people of Xinjiang. As an outsider, Aquber's foundation is not strong, now is the time to recover Xinjiang, if not immediately recover Xinjiang now, once the time has passed, Aquber stands firm, I am afraid that Xinjiang will really not be able to take back.
Fourth, if Xinjiang is not taken back, there is a more serious consequence, that is, it will set a very bad example for ethnic minorities in Outer Mongolia, Tibet and southwest China, so that they can find that the Qing dynasty can make concessions on the major issue of principle of national unification, and then more people will jump out to fight for independence in the future, and then there will be no more peace and security.
When Cixi received Zuo Zongtang's reply, he no longer hesitated, and tried to openly support Zuo Zongtang, firmly supporting Zuo Zongtang's recovery of Xinjiang, and Zuo Zongtang also began a formal journey to recover Xinjiang. (Here's a muffle for Cixi)
In fact, the clerical power and political infighting in Xinjiang's interior are extremely complicated, because Russia's purpose of opening up the Mediterranean route from the west is blocked, and it can only think of a way from South Asia, and India at this time belongs to British territory, so Russia's expansion inevitably touches British interests, and the only place to open up South Asia's access to the sea is Xinjiang, so Britain's best way is to block Russia out of Xinjiang, and Xinjiang was the territory of the Qing at that time, and Russia and the Qing court were signing the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing After that, it is not convenient to personally intervene in Xinjiang, similarly, at this time, Britain also has a strong internal voice against intervening in the Xinjiang rebellion, so both sides can only support agents, so at this time Xinjiang has Britain and Russia outside, inside there are Agubai in northern Xinjiang, Tude scale in southern Xinjiang, and the remnants of Shaanxi and Gansu rebellion are lighting fire everywhere, Xinjiang at this time can be described as a mixture of fish and dragons, chaotic into a pot of porridge, only a great talent can turn the tide in such a complex situation, this person is Zuo Zongtang!
After the debate between coastal defense and cypriot defense. Cixi began to fully support Zuo Zongtang's reconquest of Xinjiang. After careful planning, Zuo Zongtang calculated the required troops, military expenses, and the route to transport grain. With regard to the strength of troops, due to the problem of supplies, there should not be too many people who went out of the customs, Zuo Zongtang first carried out disarmament, leaving only elite troops, and after disarmament, only more than 60,000 people remained, but only more than 20,000 people actually left the customs, and the main forces that went out were Liu Jintang's 25 battalions of the Xiang Army, Zhang Yao's 14 battalions, Xu Zhanbiao's 5 battalions of the Sichuan Army, and Jin Shun and other troops already in Xinjiang.
First, it is preferred to supply outside customs, which can save transportation costs. Let naturalization, Baotou area for procurement and transportation, and then transport grain from the customs, the transportation cost in the customs will be relatively high. Second, let the Qing army accumulate grain and increase production by reclaiming its own land in the Hami area. Third, buying grain with Russia, Russia's grain price is 1/3 of the past shipped from the mainland, and Zuo Zongtang judged that buying grain with Russia during the war with Aquber was basically risk-free. Regarding military spending, Zuo Zongtang calculated that he needed 10 million taels, and the imperial court could only take out 5 million taels, and there was still a gap of 5 million taels.
At this time, the time to embody Zuo Zongtang's wisdom came, Zuo Zongtang decided to borrow from HSBC in the UK, didn't Britain do everything possible to prevent Zuo Zongtang from recovering Xinjiang? Why are you willing to borrow again? This is related to the internal politics of the United Kingdom, there are different interest groups within the United Kingdom, such as the interest groups of the East India Company, such as the interest groups of the British local financial companies, etc., different interest groups in order to achieve their own interests, are at different levels to influence the government's decision-making, and at the same time they also guide diplomacy in their own favorable direction, in the obstruction of the Qing court's recovery of Xinjiang is the Indian interest group, in lending to the Qing court is the British domestic financial company interest group.
Zuo Zongtang because he saw this, so he firmly wanted to borrow from the British bank, even if the interest rate of the British bank is higher than that of other countries, he also has to borrow from the British bank, Zuo Zongtang's trick is really powerful, after the British bank gave the Qing court a loan, the British local financial group is obstructing the diplomacy of Wituma, they want to ensure the interests of their lending.
After completing the logistical preparations, Zuo Zongtang began to make strategic arrangements, Zuo Zongtang's strategic policy is to first advance in the north and then the south to advance and fight urgently, the so-called first north and then south refers to first recovering northern Xinjiang and then recovering southern Xinjiang, because Aqubai's main forces are in southern Xinjiang, and the Bai Yanhu and Ma Rende stationed in northern Xinjiang are relatively weak, and the northern Xinjiang is rich in products and the Qing army can stock grain. The so-called slow advance and rapid war is because Xinjiang has a vast territory and great pressure on logistics supplies, so it is necessary to prepare sufficient food and materials before marching to the next station. Therefore, slow advance means to make sufficient logistical preparations before starting the march, and urgent war means that every battle must be fought quickly and quickly, and a protracted war cannot be fought, and if it is a protracted war, it is easy for logistics to keep up, which is dangerous.
In 1876, after making full preparations, Zuo Zongtang appointed Liu Jintang as the commander-in-chief of the front, with full authority to command all Qing troops entering Xinjiang, and Zuo Zongtang held an oath meeting in Suzhou, vowing to regain Xinjiang, and then a cannon sounded, and the army started. Liu Jintang embarked on the journey to Xinjiang, and Zuo Zongtang sat in Suzhou as the general dispatcher of logistics!
Although the army went on a campaign, there were really not many people optimistic about Zuo Zongtang at that time, and they all pinched a sweat for Liu Jintang and his army, why? Because it is really too difficult, first of all, the road is very far away, the conditions are also very difficult, Liu Jintang from Suzhou to Balikun took a full 4 months, why did it take so long? Water shortage is the first problem, from Suzhou to Hami to cross the continuous Gobi and desert, many places in the middle have only one spring, the water in it is only enough for 1,000 people at most. After one army leaves, it takes several days for the spring water to seep out again, and the next army can drink it. Most of Liu Jintang's army was infantry, carrying a large number of heavy artillery and moving slowly, and they had to strictly control the speed of the march according to the distribution of water sources, so they could only enter Xinjiang in batches.
The second problem is the bitter cold, howling north wind, minus ten degrees temperature, marching in the wilderness for more than a month, if you don't get it, you will encounter the Siberian cold current, which is simply painful. So why do you have to march in such weather? This is the third difficult problem faced by the Qing army, time is urgent!
Zuo Zongtang asked Li Jintang to start the war in July at the latest, and to achieve a decisive victory in August, and it was necessary to recapture Urumqi no later than September, because Liu Jintang had to win before the autumn harvest, so that he could seize the enemy's grain and feed the war with war, otherwise, the supply of the Qing army would be in danger of being cut off, which was almost an incomplete task, because just marching hundreds of miles in northern Xinjiang would take at least half a month, leaving only about 10 days. In these ten days, it was necessary to conquer all the heavily guarded cities of the enemy from the ancient city to Urumqi, so not many people believed that Zuo Zongtang could succeed, and Agubai's army had been reborn in these years, from 1873, after Saeed's visit to Istanbul, he brought several officers from Turkey, these officers took over the training of Agubai's army, Aquba's army suddenly went up a level, and now they are completely in the way of European armies.
In terms of weapons and equipment, Agubai's main army was all equipped with the latest breech rifles, and the guns were replaced with new Western breech field guns, so by 1876, Agubai's army was at the same level as Liu Jintang's Qing army in terms of quality and weapons, and once the war broke out, they would quickly go north to support Baiyanhu and Ma Rende in northern Xinjiang. So from this point of view, Liu Jintang must also completely defeat Bai Yanhu within a month, otherwise Aqubai's reinforcements will rush to northern Xinjiang, and Liu Jintang will face a two-sided attack, and the key to everything is whether Liu Jintang can fly like speed, which will be the decisive factor in this battle.
In June 1876, Liu Jintang met with Xu Zhanbiao in the ancient city, and then at Jimusa and Jinshun, and they began to march in the direction of Urumqi.
However, Liu Jintang's opponent is Bai Yanhu, Bai Yanhu is the most cunning figure, he also judged that time is the key, he must do his best to persevere, wait until the arrival of Aqubai's army.
Bai Yanhu's first move, to destroy Russia's grain delivery route to the Qing army, Russia's grain transportation route is from Ili through Mongolia and then to the ancient city, Bai Yanhu sent cavalry to harass this route, which was really a fatal blow to Liu Jintang, although Liu Jintang did not completely rely on the grain provided by Russia, Jin Shun in Balikun Zhang Yao in Hami last year by relying on the tuntian has accumulated a lot of grain, but these grains can only last until early September, coupled with the start of the war, the speed of food consumption is much faster than usual, Therefore, Russian grain is indispensable, and Bai Yanhu's harassment of Russian grain routes caused the Qing army a headache. Because the transportation route was too long, the army sent by Bai Yanhu appeared out of nowhere. The Qing army had fewer grain deliveries and could not fight the cavalry that attacked. There are too many people and they can't afford the cost, so they are in a dilemma.
Bai Yanhu's second move is to strengthen the wall Qingye shrink defense line, Liu Jintang set off from the ancient city on June 21, in early July in Jimusa and Jinshun convergence, from Jimusa to Urumqi there are more than 300 miles, on the way to pass through Fukang and then through the ancient pastureland northeast of Urumqi to reach, due to years of war, Fukang has long been in ruins, there is no danger to defend, so Bai Yanhu simply abandoned this line, gathered heavy troops to guard the ancient pasture to prepare for a decisive battle with Liu Jintang.
Why did Bai Yanhu choose ancient pasture? Because of the special terrain here, there is a distance of more than 100 miles from Fukang to the ancient pastureland, and there are two roads to go.
One is a small road, the other is a big road, the path has to pass through Huangtian, this road has the advantage that there is a small stream flowing here, along the way there is water to drink, this is the best route to enter the ancient pastureland, but the terrain here is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, not conducive to the deployment of large troops, Bai Yanhu in the sending people to build a large number of fortifications in Huangtian to defend strictly. It was very difficult to break through, and Bai Yanhu forced Liu Jintang to take another path.
The other road is the main road, the road has to pass through Heigouyi, all the way are grassless Gobi, the whole process is only two springs, if Liu Jintang goes from this road, there are only two choices, one choice is to march with large troops, so that the spring water on the road is not enough to drink, when rushing to the ancient pastureland, it must be a lack of people and horses, Bai Yanhu can defeat it in one fell swoop, the other option is to march in batches, so that the spring water is enough to drink, but the number of people in each batch is small, Bai Yanhu can be broken individually, In the face of Bai Yanhu's careful layout, how would Liu Jintang choose?
The difficulties faced by Liu Jintang are not only this, just when Liu Jintang led troops into Xinjiang in batches, Aquber immediately began a comprehensive mobilization, he sent troops to support Bai Yanhu and Ma Rende in northern Xinjiang, Aquber let his eldest son stay in Kashgar, and then he personally led an army of 20,000 people to northern Xinjiang day and night.
At the same time that Liu Jintang went to the ancient cemetery, 3,000 of Aqubai's vanguard had also arrived in Urumqi and joined the combat troops of Bai Yanhu and Ma Rende. Agubai's main army has also approached central Xinjiang and is rushing to Turpan, so for Liu Jintang, this is a battle against time, he must defeat Bai Yanhu before Aqubai arrives, otherwise he will lose all games, how will Liu Jintang fight the first battle?
Liu Jintang arrived in Fukang in early August, and he immediately arranged for the whole army to walk the Gobi. Then marched to the ancient pastureland, Bai Yanhu saw that Liu Jintang really hit the plan, he quickly transferred a part of the Huangtian army to support the direction of the Gobi, the remaining defenders of Huangtian also relaxed their vigilance, on August 10, a Qing army commando suddenly attacked Huangtian at night, hit the defenders of Huangtian by surprise, overnight all the fortifications were breached, without waiting for Bai Yanhu to react, the main force of the Qing army had already circled back from the Gobi, day and night rushed, on August 12, two days later, The main force of the Qing army has already appeared under the ancient pasture city, and it is really flying at a speed of general!
But at this time, another vanguard of Aqubai's main force had approached Dabancheng in the south of Urumqi. After Bai Yanhu reacted, he immediately mobilized all the troops with the horse people to support the ancient pasture, as long as they can hold out for 10 days, Aqubai's reinforcements will arrive, leaving less and less time for Liu Jintang, Liu Jintang's army just arrived in the ancient pasture, he ordered the whole army not to rest, immediately surrounded the ancient pasture, set up the cannon and began to attack the city on the same day, dense shells like raindrops to the head of the city, although soon collapsed several city walls.
But the resistance of the defenders was also unusually tenacious. There are more than 6,000 of them, all of them are the main force of the horse people, these are all survivors of more than 10 years of fighting in Xinjiang, the combat experience is very rich, the Qing army broke through and was beaten out, and then broke through and was beaten out again, the battle entered a state of stalemate, and there is a greater crisis lurking next to the Qing army.
Bai Yanhu was not in the city, he led thousands of cavalry to ambush nearby, Bai Yanhu was secretly observing and preparing to give the Qing army a fatal blow at the right time, and at the moment when the Qing army moved its formation, Bai Yanhu struck.
This is a very appropriate time, Bai Yanhu led thousands of cavalry from the hiding place rushed out to kill the Qing army, and the defenders in the city also cooperated tacitly, crossed the collapsed city wall, launched a charge outward, the Qing army was instantly caught between two sides, the situation was very critical, Liu Jintang did not panic, he ordered all moving troops to immediately stop and defend on the spot, concentrated all artillery fire to storm out the other side of the enemy army outside the city, he ordered Dong Fuxiang to lead a horse team to intercept the enemy's cavalry, the Qing army's artillery fire played a huge role, They concentrated their firepower to bombard the enemy forces in the city, preventing them from rushing out, so that the enemy who had rushed out was weak, and the enemy troops who had rushed out were quickly crushed by the dense bullets of the Qing army, at the same time, Dong Fuxiang led thousands of cavalry to quickly spread out the formation and the enemy's cavalry to hedge, countless sabers were waving, countless spears were stabbing out, horse hooves shouting, guns and cannons were all mixed together, this was a struggle of courage, this was a contest of wills, and finally Bai Yanhu was timid, and he fled again.
After Bai Yanhu fled, the enemy defending the city was still resisting, and Liu Jintang was angry, and he ordered the cavalry to form a skirmish line around the city wall, preventing anyone from escaping. On August 17, the Qing army concentrated all artillery fire and bombarded the south gate, and the whole army broke into the city and killed all the 6,000 rebels defending the city, leaving no one behind, Liu Jintang only took 5 days to capture the ancient pasture land and won the first big victory into Xinjiang. This victory allowed the Qing army to open the door to Urumqi, and the Qing army found an important piece of information when cleaning up the battlefield, they found a letter written by the Ma people to the rebels in Shoucheng, which said that he had sent all the troops that could be mobilized, and there was no one in Urumqi now!
Liu Jintang immediately made a decision, he ordered the whole army to rush to Urumqi as quickly as possible, after a night of rapid marching, on the morning of August 18, Liu Jintang had already arrived at Urumqi City, he only fired one shot, White Flame Tiger and Ma Rende fled, Urumqi, which had been lost for 12 years, was finally recovered by the Qing army, from August 10th to August 18th to recapture Urumqi, Liu Jintang only took 8 days, this is really flying speed, it is precisely because of the speed of fighting in Xinjiang, Liu Jintang is also called"Fly General"!
A few days later the news reached Agubai, who had already marched to Toxon, and when he heard the news, he was shocked, so he quickly sent a message to the British, asking them to mediate.
After recovering Urumqi, Liu Jintang did not stop, he led his troops to chase Bai Yanhu, Bai Yanhu's escape ability is super strong, what is his most powerful? It is he who can not only run by himself, but also run with his main force. Liu Jintang captured the ancient pastureland within 8 days, recovered Urumqi, eliminated more than 6,000 Ma Rende's army, eliminated more than 3,000 people in Aqubai's army, Bai Yanhu ran before and after actively preparing for battle, what was the final result? Almost none of Bai Yanhu's own men died, he ran away with him, and while fleeing, Bai Yanhu also sent other Muslim rebels to Manas to assemble.
Waiting for him and Aquber to converge and then fight on both sides, and then take the opportunity to retake Urumqi, Bai Yanhu led his team to join Aqubai's main force. Bai Yanhu's practice was that he was afraid that Liu Jintang would chase him closely, and he asked the remaining troops to go to Manas to assemble, so that if Liu Jintang chased him, these troops who went to Manas would definitely attack Liu Jintang's back road and cut off the supply line of the Qing army. In this way, maybe he and Aqubai's main forces would really have a chance to turn defeat into victory, and if Liu Jintang saw through Bai Yanhu's plan and sent troops to attack Manas, then Bai Yanhu would have no losses, but was sacrificed by the Muslim troops he sent to Manas.
Bai Yanhu really calculated both the enemy and his teammates, so after 14 years of fighting, those Hui army leaders of that year died, and only he was left alive and well, which is definitely no accident. Now that this situation has interrupted Liu Jintang's attack plan, what will Liu Jintang choose?
Zuo Zongtang's original plan was that once he took Urumqi, the enemy army would definitely flee south to join the main force of Aqubai, and then Liu Jintang could take Dabancheng with the trend, while Zhang Yao and Xu Zhanbiao set out from Hami to the west to capture Turpan, so that the 30,000 troops on the east and west sides could meet under the city of Toxun and strive to capture Toxun by the end of October
It's a pity that the plan can't keep up with the changes. Bai Yanhu ran south. But he sent the others north to Manas. Manas's original rebels originally wanted to support Urumqi. However, because Liu Jintang fought too fast, they did not catch up with the war in Urumqi and directly retreated, so that Manas's original defenders and the rebels who fled in the past could not be underestimated.
Manas is in the northwest of Urumqi, and Dabancheng is in the southeast of Urumqi, the Qing army can not take Manas must not dare to go south, now in front of Liu Jintang there are two choices, the first choice is to go north to capture Manas at the fastest speed, and then wave the division south to continue the previous battle plan, the second choice is to divide the army into two roads, one way to continue to pursue Baiyanhu, the other way north to attack Manas, and then join forces to continue south.
Originally, Liu Jintang wanted to choose the first option, which was safer, although it would delay time, but it would not delay too much time, but Jin Shun jumped out at this time, patting his chest and assuring Liu Jintang that he could take his troops to recover Manas, there was no need for the whole army to go north, and Liu Jintang was not good to refuse Jin Shun's proposal, because although he was the commander-in-chief of the front. But his prestige at this time was not very high, and at this time, Jin Shun made great battle merits, he had fought the Taiping Army with Duolun'a, and also fought Muslim rebels in the northwest, fought a lot of battles, and even many people thought that whether it was a battle merit or a qualification, it should be Jin Shunlai's front-line commander.
Zuo Zongtang strongly opposed, Zuo Zongtang said that although Jin Shun was more qualified, but his victories were fought with others, in terms of his own command ability, Jin Shun was not as good as Liu Jintang, who had just debuted, so Zuo Zongtang appointed Liu Jintang as the commander-in-chief of the front, from here it can be seen that Jin Shun's status in the Qing army at that time was higher than Liu Jintang, so he took the initiative to fight, whether it was for interpersonal relations or from the consideration of army morale, Liu Jintang had no way to reject Jin Shun's proposal, What's more, there was nothing unreasonable about Jin Shun's proposal, so Liu Jintang agreed to divide the army, and he took Dong Fuxiang to continue to pursue the White Flame Tiger. Jin Shun led most of the men to Manas.
On September 6, Jin Shun rushed to the city of Manas. He quickly lined up the cannons like Liu Jintang, and just after dawn on September 7, the Qing army's cannons bombarded the Manas city wall, and soon blasted a gap, so the Qing army began to storm the city along the collapsed city wall, and the Qing army that broke into the city was met with an extremely fierce counterattack by the rebels, from morning to night, the Qing army did not take advantage of the first day and lost these three general soldiers, and the casualties of the soldiers were even worse, which made Jin Shun feel very faceless.
The quality of the rebel army stationed in Manas and the rebel army stationed in the ancient pasture land are the same, and the weapons used are the same, but Liu Jintang can easily defeat the opponent, but Jin Shun can't figure it out, Jin Shun feels that Liu Jintang fights very easily, and Liu Jintang uses those tricks he himself knows, but Jin Shun himself can't get it right, and after fighting for several days, the Qing army has made no progress. Jin Shun was embarrassed, he really couldn't hang his face, launched several rounds of strong attacks, and as a result, 5 more officers were killed, and the casualties of the soldiers were countless, but they still could not be captured, and a small manas caused heavy losses to the Qing army.
Liu Jintang conquered the fortified city in a row for 8 days. Destroyed more than 10,000 enemies, did not lose a single general, and the soldiers only suffered less than 300 casualties, which shows that the same army behaves very differently under the command of different generals!
Since the start of the war, Zuo Zongtang, who was stationed in Suzhou, received the good news from the front every day, and he was smiling and immediately showed the letter to his staff, and the laughter and laughter in the war celebrated each other, but on this day, when Zuo Zongtang received the report of Jin Shun and Liu Jintang's division of troops, he frowned and wanted something bad.
Zuo Zongtang told his staff that he was afraid that he would not be able to win Turpan this year, and that he would have to spend part of his military expenses. Zuo Zongtang said helplessly, Jin Shun is a kind person, a general, but unfortunately he is not suitable to be the main general, Manas is afraid that it will be a protracted war, he sighed and continued, if Jin Shun could not attack for a long time, he would definitely ask Liu Jintang for help, Liu Jintang would inevitably help, but he would definitely not go in person, so as not to hurt the harmony between the two sides. In this way, Liu Jintang will fall into a lonely situation, and I am afraid that he will be in danger if there is an accident, so I must send troops to reinforce him.
Zuo Zongtang asked his subordinates to quickly start raising and increasing military salaries, and Zuo Zongtang's staff would be suspicious of his judgment, thinking that it was not just dividing the troops? Is it that serious? It turned out that the development of the battle situation was exactly the same as Zuo Zongtang expected, and Jin Shun lost troops under Manas City, and there was nothing to do. Liu Jintang could only ask for help, Liu Jintang divided 6,000 troops from his men to reinforce Jinshun, Liu Jintang did not have the strength to continue to advance south, he could only deploy a defensive line between Dabancheng and Urumqi to face Aqubai's army. After the reinforcements sent by Liu Jintang arrived at Manas, Jin Shun commanded the Qing army to bombard Manas City day and night, but he could not attack it.
At this time, the British Minister Wituma took this opportunity to put pressure on the Qing government again, demanding that the Qing immediately stop attacking Agubai, otherwise it will threaten the relationship between China and Britain, and hint that Turkey may directly send troops, and the "Declaration" also opened up full power, putting pressure on the Qing government in public opinion, at the same time, Zuo Zongtang continued to ask the imperial court for money one after another, and officials of various departments of the imperial court complained, and the wind direction of the imperial court began to turn again, and the voice advocating receiving it when it was good became louder and louder, and the situation was very unfavorable to Zuo Zongtang. It can be said that it is under great pressure!
At this moment, Cixi also wavered. He sent Zuo Zongtang the latest proposal of the British for peace talks, hoping to hear Zuo Zongtang's opinion, and Zuo Zongtang's answer was a categorical refusal, and Zuo Zongtang wrote from Suzhou to constantly tell the imperial court the reason why he must continue, and also asked the imperial court to allow him to continue to borrow from foreigners. Zhu Zongtang's persistence also made it difficult for the imperial court to decide, at this time porcelain's ability to control the country is completely different from the early Qing Dynasty, when the Qianlong period recovered Xinjiang, it was the will of the centralized emperor is the will of the state, although there were ministers who advised Qianlong not to send troops when making decisions, but after Qianlong made the decision to send troops to Xinjiang, the whole country was a chess game, and the dispatch of troops should be sent to travel, but in the late Qing Dynasty, continuous control over the country required political balance, He could not be arbitrary, it needed to win over the Manchu forces represented by Yi Xi, and it needed to balance the power of the Han warlords, at this time, Li Hongzhang's Huai Xiang army, and Zuo Zongtang's power, were able to influence the decision-making of the imperial court. Although Cixi said nothing on the surface, without the support of the Han ministers who held military power, he would not have carried it out if he said it below. This is why Zuo Zongtang's military expenses for the Western Expedition. The reason why the Xiangxiang of some provinces could not be added was that most of these provinces were Li Hongzhang's sphere of influence, and Cixi could only balance and could not be forced, Zuo Zongtang at this time pointed out that he insisted on continuing to recover southern Xinjiang, and he had to borrow money from foreigners again, and Li Hongzhang's Huai opera advocated building and receiving it. At this time, Shen Baozhen, the governor of Liangjiang, also refused to borrow money for the ancestral hall, Shen Baozhen was cultivated by the ancestral hall, and at this time, he actually did not stand on the side of the ancestral hall, so there is, many times the ancestral hall is fighting alone, and in the face of such a difficult situation, only a person as persistent as the ancestral hall can persevere, and when the stalemate is over, the beneficial to Zuo Zongtang is eliminated.
Russia and Turkey went to war again over the Caucasus. This means that Turkey has no energy to help Aqubai, and Russia has not experienced more intervention to protect Xinjiang, which is a major benefit for Zuo Zongtang, and under Zuo Zongtang's unfortunate efforts, his request for additional loans was finally approved by the imperial court, and the borrowed money solved the urgent needs of the ancestors, and as the number of loans increased, the voice of British financial groups opposed to meddling in China's Xinjiang affairs for their own interests also became louder. They found all kinds of reasons why there was no need to support Aquber and threw them in the Times, and also appeared in the mouth of the British Parliament, Britain's foreign policy began to waver, Witoma was not so tough on the Qing Dynasty, and Zuo Zongtang seized this period to fully recover Xinjiang.
The leader of Manas's rebels was Han Pu, who was determined to fight the Qing army to the death. He made Jin Shun's loss of troops never able to break Manas, after nearly two months of siege, Jin Shun finally got God's favor, in a artillery project, Han Xinglong was hit by the fire, directly killed his death, for the entire war situation brought a major turnaround, the new rebel leader called Hai Yan, facing the situation of internal and external difficulties, Hai Yan did not want to die, he found someone to contact Jin Shun. Want to discuss surrender Jin Shun heard the news but hesitated, until now he has been under great pressure, others have compared him with Liu Jingtang and accused him of not being able to do it, if in the end he did not rely on force, but on the other party's initiative to surrender and achieve victory, others will be more irrelevant, not to mention that now in the war, Manas's effective Qing army has reached thousands, and there are more than a dozen generals killed, all of them are red-eyed, they are shouting for revenge, if so easily let the enemy go, How did he explain to his soldiers? So the surrender condition he gave was to hand over all the horses and ordnance to bind the various leaders of the rebels, and then compile a roster of all the rebels, wait for the name inspection, and handle them separately, the rebels looked at the conditions given by Jin Shun, and then looked at the Qing corpses piled up under the city, all worried that the Qing army would retaliate afterwards, so they decided to break through the siege by fraud.
The rebels sent someone to inform Jin Sheng that they were willing to surrender Jin Sheng, and after hearing the news, he was a little surprised, he originally thought that the other party would not accept such harsh conditions, but now the other party suddenly accepted, and he was also worried about fraud. So Jin Shun's ambush on the edge of the city to prevent accidents, after the rebels went out of the city in the early morning of the 2nd day, they suddenly picked up guns and fired fiercely at the Qing army, wanting to catch the Qing army by surprise, and then break through Jin Sheng was already prepared, and he couldn't ask for this move, because the ancestral hall stipulated that it was not allowed to kill the strong, and it was necessary to surrender completely and honestly, he was really difficult to do, so that he had a good reason to do it, and the Qing army, who was bent on getting rich, returned fire with the most fierce artillery and guns, killing almost all the rebels, This brutal siege finally came to an end, and the Qing army recovered all northern Xinjiang except Ili.
This news also made Zuo Zongtang temporarily relieved, during this period of the declaration in the continuous rumors that the Qing army in northern Xinjiang suffered defeats one after another, and even was forced to retreat to Guanxi, intending to incite public opinion to oppose again, Zhou Zhongtang marched west, now Jin Shun finally broke the Manas rumor, self-defeating, Zuo Zongtang can be tough when he speaks, but Zuo Zongtang is very sober at this time, he knows that Jin Shun can no longer be used, not because Jin Sheng's ability to fight is not good, but because if Jingsheng is still there, Liu Jintang will not be able to command the front line in a unified manner, all command power must be concentrated in the hands of Liu Jintang, but it is not an easy task to do without Jin Shun, although Jin Shun spent more than two months and lost thousands of people to capture Manas, but this is still good in the eyes of ordinary people, after all, this is a strong city with heavy troops, and this is not enough for Zuo Zongtang, Zuo Zongtang wants a quick battle, absolutely cannot be a protracted war. But this request of his. It is too harsh for the general generals, so the ancestral hall cannot remove Jin Shun from his post for this reason, so what should the ancestral hall do? The master hall took a seat, and the imperial court requested that the Ili general Rongquan be transferred and that the cautious man, who was also a Manchu, take over the administrative affairs of northern Xinjiang, and then hand over the army in Jin Shun's hands to Liu Jingtang to take over Zhou. This one in the middle hall is really clever, not only achieved his own goal, but also made these three people grateful to him, Long Quan has long felt that he is very powerless in Xinjiang, although he is the nominal Ili general, but Xinjiang is full of Zuzongtang's subordinates, he can't intervene in anything, and he has long wanted to return to Beijing. Zu Zongtang asked the imperial court to transfer him back to Beijing, he was naturally grateful for his kindness, Jin Shun was originally just a military general, and now he suddenly became a feudal official, and he was even more grateful to Zongzhongtang, and Liu Jintang could finally command the army of the whole Xinjiang in a unified manner, and no one could make his decisions anymore.
Zuo Zongtang's plan to regain Xinjiang was to first go north and then south, first flatten Tianshan North Road, and then Tianshan South Road, and there was a transition in between, this transition is Turpan, and Turpan is the gateway to Tianshan South Road in the south of Tianshan
It was originally planned to attack Turpan immediately after recovering Urumqi, but because the pacification of Manas was delayed for more than two months, Xinjiang has entered winter, the snow is very deep, the Qing army has no way to march again, so it can only pause for a while, and wait until March next year to start the march, which gives Aquber enough time to adjust the strategic deployment, Aquber asked his chief manager Aiyidhuri to lead heavy troops to guard Dabanbancheng, "Daban" means the Mongolian mountain top pass, indicating that Dabancheng is very dangerous, After Aiyidhuri came, he felt that the location of the old city was not good enough, so he took advantage of the fact that the Qing army could not march, and rebuilt a new city of Daban between the two mountains, and after the high wall of Daban, he completely strangled the dangerous pass from Urumqi south over the Tianshan Mountain, at the same time Aquber ordered his second son Haigula to garrison Toxun, and Aqubo ordered Bai Yanhu and the horse people to garrison Turpan, and Aqubo himself personally led 20,000 people to garrison Karasar, and he could respond to the battle situation ahead at any time. Agubai knew that the Qing army's march route did not have too many options for the Qing army, and the first road was south from Urumqi, on which he deployed Dabancheng as the first line of defense and Toxun as the second line of defense. The second route of the Qing army was to advance from Hamisi. On this road, he deployed heavy troops to guard Turpan, no matter which direction the Qing army came from, Aqubo was waiting for work, and there was an absolute advantage in troops, he planned to hold on to these steadfastness and gradually consume the Qing army's strength, and when the two sides reached a stalemate, he personally led 20,000 people into the battlefield to completely annihilate the Qing army, how would Zuo Zongtang deal with such a delicate arrangement by Aqubai?
After Zuo Zongtang helped Liu Jintang concentrate his rule over the army, what he did was not to control it remotely, and he completely trusted Liu Jintang and let Liu Jintang play by himself. So what good way does Liu Jintang have to deal with it?
He also has no good way to go up in the marching army, because there are really only these two roads to take, Liu Jintang arranged three routes to attack Turpan, the three routes of the army are the Western Road Army, the East Road Army and the Northern Army, the West Road Army is the old Xiang Army led by Liu Jintang, starting from Urumqi, from Urumqi to Turpan is more than 400 miles, the Eastern Road Army is the Songwu Army led by Zhang Yao, starting from Hami, from Hami to Turpan there is a distance of more than 1,000 miles, the North Road Army is the Sichuan Army led by Xu Zhanbiao, starting from Balikun, There is a distance of more than 700 miles from Balikun to Turpan, although the distance of the three-way army is different, but Liu Jintang asked the three-way army to set out on the first day of the third lunar month in 1877 and rush to Turpan before mid-March. Although the distance is farther than Liu Jintang. But half a month is just enough time for them to rush to Turpan's march, but how can Liu Jintang get it, although Liu Jintang is a little closer than them, but they have to pass through Dabancheng and Toxun, Dabancheng and Toxun are known to be indestructible, Aqubo arranged nearly 60,000 people on this route, and Liu Jintang's army is even less than Zhang Yao and Xu Zhanbiao, only less than 20,000 people, if according to Liu Jintang's arrangement, Liu Jintang will be captured in 10 days, There are heavy guards of Dabancheng and Toxun, and then rush to Turpan, this is simply impossible to accomplish, Zhang Yao and Xu Zhanbiao are full of question marks, but Zuo Zongtang said, let them listen to Liu Jintang's arrangement in everything, they can only set off with questions, so what does Liu Jintao think?
Liu Jintang's marching plan was reported to Zuo Zongtang in advance, although Zuo Zongtang believed him, but the speed of attack on the plan he proposed was also far beyond Zuo Zongtang's imagination, he also pinched a sweat for Liu Jintang, to fight from Urumqi to Turpan in 13 days, this road is 400 kilometers long, and it takes seven or eight days to walk normally, and the remaining four or five days to capture the Daban City layer at the Tianshan Pass and the fortified Toxun County.
This difficulty was too high, on the first day of the third lunar month in 1877, on April 14 of the solar calendar, Liu Jintang set out with 16,000 men, and the first target he had to face was Dabancheng, the defenders of Dabancheng were the most elite troops of Aguba, and they were guarded by Agupan's chief governor, Ayidhuri, which not only had a dangerous terrain, high walls and thick walls, but also British weapons and fierce firepower. Dabancheng is much more difficult to attack than Manas, Manas is an isolated city without reinforcements, and Dabancheng is only two days away from Toksun, where there are heavy garrisons of Aquber who can come to support at any time. It took more than two months for the Qing army to reach Manas, so neither Aqubai nor the generals of the Grand Governor Ayidhuri or even Liu Jintang thought it was a battle that could be ended in a short period of time. Liu Jintang issued an order that he ordered the cavalry to rush to Dabancheng as quickly as possible and surround Dabancheng before dawn on April 18 in the solar calendar. Before the siege, the enemy forces defending the city must not be alarmed. After the siege, you can't let a person run away, to prevent the enemy from asking for help, once you surround Dabancheng, you must quickly build the battery, and the fort must be built before dark on the 18th, and the infantry must also travel day and night without resting, really can't walk, at most can only take a nap on the side of the road, before dark on the 18th must transport all the artillery to Saka Castle, on the 19th to launch a general attack, after listening to Liu Jintang's arrangement, all the generals were puzzled, the march was arranged in such a hurry, in addition to making the soldiers exhausted, I really don't see any benefit.
But these old Xiang troops all followed Liu Jintang all the way from Jinji Fort, they had absolute trust in Liu Jintang, Liu Jintang's cavalry and infantry moved at the same time, Dong Fuxiang led the cavalry to advance at full speed, according to the plan, before dawn on the 18th, he surrounded Dabancheng, and then Dong Fuxiang ordered the army to immediately start digging trenches and repairing forts.
After dawn, the Grand Governor Ayidhuri couldn't help but be surprised to see the Qing army, but he was not panicked, because he believed that the Qing army could not break through his strong city, because the new city he built was technically a military fortress, not as easy to collapse as the traditional city wall, and he also stocked up on ammunition for three months and enough food for half a year, and the reinforcements were in Toxun, who was only two days away, even if he couldn't send someone to contact him temporarily, but he would find it after a few more days, he didn't have to worry at all.
On the evening of April 18, Liu Jintang led the main force to continue to build the fort, preparing to start the war at dawn on the 19th. Aiyidhuri saw that the lights were bright everywhere outside the city, and the Qing army was constantly busy, and he was also a little puzzled, he didn't know what the Qing army was in a hurry, did they want to take the city tomorrow? It's impossible.
So does Liu Jintang know that this is impossible, of course, he knows that under normal circumstances, this fortress may not be able to be captured for several months, but when he sent people to scout before, he found that this fortress had a big loophole, and he could not tell anyone about this loophole, lest the enemy find out, as soon as the nineteenth day dawned, Liu Jintang began to fire artillery in the city, Liu Jintang neither attacked the city wall nor the city gate, but concentrated all the artillery fire to attack a building in the southeast corner of the city, The Grand Governor Ayider Huri was dumbfounded when he saw clearly the location of the Qing army's attack. He immediately ordered his men to abandon the defense of the city and prepare to break through the siege, and before he could run, he only heard an earth-shattering loud noise, and then began to explode one after another, and the entire Dabancheng people were in chaos.
It turned out that Liu Jintang had previously sent a secret agent to draw a detailed map of the city's defense, marking the granaries, gun positions, and ammunition depots in the city clearly, Liu Jintang found that the enemy suddenly stored all the ammunition in the same place, this is a godsend, he wants to seize this loophole, do not give the enemy any chance, he wants to capture the city in a day, before the siege he can not tell anyone, to prevent the enemy from correcting this mistake, so he ordered his men to desperately rush.
Then the enemy forces in the city could only break through. As a result, they were surrounded by the Qing army, except for the more than 1,000 people who were killed, all the others were captured, and none of them escaped. Including the Grand Governor Ayidhuri was also captured, the Qing army, who thought that he would fight an unprecedented cruel battle, did not expect that only a few casualties were paid, and it took only half a day to take the solid Dabancheng, and all the soldiers were excited and thunderous!
Liu Jintang did not stop. He then used a psychological tactic, he divided the captured rebels into two teams, one was Andijans from the Kokand Khanate and the other was a local entanglement from Xinjiang, he released all the Xinjiang natives, gave them 7 days' worth of food, gave them a chance to rehabilitate and let them go home, and then Liu Jintang killed all the Andijans in front of Aiyidhuri. The Grand Governor was so frightened that he thought he was going to be killed too.
Unexpectedly, Liu Jintang released the chief manager, Liu Jintang said to Aiyidhuri, on the way back, tell all the Andijan people what you have seen, tell them that they are willing to go home, I will pay for them to go back, those who are unwilling to surrender can retreat to the south, as long as they do not fight with me, I will not pursue anything, and I will kill all those who are enemies of me, understand?
Aiyidhuri quickly nodded repeatedly, and Liu Jintang asked him to go first. He sent a message to the defenders along the way, and told Aiyidhuri that the Qing army would move in two hours. When the defenders along the line saw a tired chief suddenly appear in front of them, and then heard him say that the Qing army took only half a day to capture the solid Dabancheng, they looked at the fortress they defended, it was much worse than Dabancheng, and they suddenly lost their self-confidence, and they heard that as long as they returned to southern Xinjiang, they could not be pursued, and they were even more reluctant to die.
Because most of the fiefdoms that led them along the way were in southern Xinjiang, I heard that the Qing army was so fierce, why fight with them here, coupled with the urgency of time, the Qing army was coming in less than two hours, and everyone did not have time to think more, and they all abandoned their fortresses and quickly retreated south.
When Aquber saw what the chief manager heard what he said, he was so angry that Aquber said that Liu Jintang asked you to retreat south, so you will not pursue it, and you will believe it? It's really stupid, the British peace talks for us have been rejected, even if the Qing army withdrew south, how could it be possible to let us go, but Aquber had no choice, and the retreat of troops along the way had already played an avalanche effect.
Because Liu Jintang hardly gave the front-line enemy commanders enough time to think, when these commanders saw that the army in front began to retreat, and heard that Liu Jintang was about to arrive, they were at a loss for a while, one after another retreated, Aquber understood that his army was out of control, for his own safety he had to retreat, he decided to retreat to Korla to reorganize the army, but before he left, he must send someone to guard Toxun, otherwise Liu Jintang took advantage of the situation to stop him, it is likely that the army will be defeated, so who will he rely on to hold here?
One of the most suitable candidates was Bai Yanhu, who had not performed well in the Battle of Urumqi , and Aquber's attitude towards him changed, and when Bai Yanhu retreated to Toxon Aquber not only sternly reprimanded him, he also forced Bai Yanhu and his men to shave off their braids and change to the costume of the vast Khanate, which made Bai Yanhu feel deeply humiliated. At the same time, he was terrified, he was afraid that Aquber would abandon him. When Ogubaibai retreats, Ogubai asks the White Flame Tiger to prove his worth and show his loyalty. He asked Bai Yanhu to hold Toxon no matter what, and in the face of Aqubai's order, Bai Yanhu knew that he could no longer escape, and if he didn't do something again, Aquber would most likely really abandon him!
Just as Bai Yanhu was pondering how to defend the city, he suddenly heard that several local villages in Xinjiang had responded to Liu Jintang's call and started to revolt. The locals wanted to rebel against Agubai's rule, and when Aguba first arrived in Xinjiang, the local Muslims in Xinjiang thought that Aguba was a fellow Islamic like them, and they still welcomed Aguba.
Who knew that Aqubai's rule was extremely violent, and he did not treat the local Muslims of Xinjiang as people at all, the local people in Xinjiang were miserable, now the Qing army came, and Liu Jintang's policy of treating the locals well also had an effect, the people near Toxun began to revolt, Bai Yanhu took the opportunity to come up with a strategy, he pretended to besiege these rebels, these people could not defeat Bai Yanhu would definitely ask the Qing army for help, the Qing army in order to arrive as soon as possible. He could only send cavalry to arrive first, but the cavalry of the Qing army could not stop his tens of thousands of troops with heavy artillery, and then he could catch the Qing army by surprise.
Sure enough, the Qing army's cavalry arrived first, and Liu Jintang's handsome banner was also among them, Bai Yanhu was excited, and he issued an order to let all the tens of thousands of troops who had been ambushed around rush out, surrounding the Qing army.
Who knew that this was Liu Jintang deliberately jumping into the Bai Yanhu trap, Liu Jintang in order to hurry, he deliberately took this risk. Liu Jintang led the cavalry to quickly seize a village, and then all dismounted to arrange a defensive line, the enemy army quickly rushed over, Liu Jintang ordered the Qing army hidden behind various shelters dense bullets flew towards the enemy army, and hundreds of enemies were killed in an instant!
Bai Yanhu also organized an offensive with an iron heart this time, and then pushed the cannon up, ready to blow the village to the ground, just at this moment. Dense gunfire suddenly sounded behind Bai Yanhu, and it turned out that the infantry of the Qing army arrived in time! Bai Yanhu understood that it was not Liu Jintang who had been calculated, but he had been calculated, and he quickly organized an escape. Liu Jintang chased out 30 miles and beheaded more than 2,000 people, and it took less than half a day to break Bai Yanhu's elaborate trap, and took Toxun, achieving the same speed as flying again.
Then Liu Jintang let the troops rest for a while, and began to rush to Turpan non-stop, and finally arrived at the battlefield of Turpan at the appointed time, and Liu Jintang arrived in Turpan just in time to lure the horse people out of the field. Ma Rende did not expect Liu Jintang to come so quickly, he wanted to use his superior forces to first annihilate Zhang Yaohe and Xu Zhanbiao's army, and then wait for Liu Jintang's arrival.
Unexpectedly, just outside the city, when the fierce war horse people were about to win, Liu Jintang came, Zhang Yao and Xu Zhanbiao saw that reinforcements were coming, and their morale soared, they and Liu Jintang fought back and forth to eliminate the troops of the horse people, and the strong city of Turpan was occupied by the Qing army in less than a day, the Qing army captured countless guns and cannons, as well as more than 300,000 jin of arms, and the grain was also piled up, if it were not for Liu Jintang's ingenious calculation, I really don't know how many casualties would have to pay to take this strong city.
Liu Jintang set out from Urumqi and broke through the defense line of Aqubai's 60,000-strong army in only 12 days. also successively captured Dabancheng Toxun and Turpan forced Agubo to push Korla, which is simply a miracle in the history of human warfare, at this time the enemy army had another shocking event, Aquber died, how could Aquber suddenly die?
According to the "Qing History Manuscript", Dabanzhike made no one ride back, and Aqubo was particularly bold. Biaiyidhuri and others persuaded him to bind Bai Yanhu. In peacetime, he abused his deceitful power, abused and haunted him, seized his wealth, plundered his men and women, did not act evil, and resented him deeply, and thought of revenge. Aguba wept day and night, went south to Kurd, and in April, he killed himself by taking medicine.
At this time, in addition to Ili, there are still six cities in Xinjiang in local hands, and tomorrow we will talk about how Liu Jintang broke them one by one...