Who exterminated the Taiping Army? The Hunan Army, the Huai Army, or the Eight Banners are not comprehensive. The Taiping army had too many opponents, and it was very stressful to confront the entire Qing Dynasty with its own strength, and to face the Anglo-French coalition army.
The strength is limited, there are many strong enemies, and the Qing Dynasty has been confronted for 14 years in the southeast corner of the country, and the Qing Dynasty has been pushed to the brink of extinction, and the combat effectiveness of the Taiping army can be imagined.
So, how capable of fighting the Taiping army was? Let's take a look at the evaluation of the famous generals of the Qing Dynasty: There were very few elite soldiers, but their combat effectiveness was very strong, and whether it was the Hunan army, the Eight Banners, the Green Battalion, or the foreigners, they were all very afraid of them.
Ulantai, a famous general of the Eight Banners, the deputy capital of Guangzhou, is good at using firearms. During the Taiping War, Ulantai was the first famous general of the Eight Banners to fight. When Ulantai went into battle, Taqib, Seng Grinqin, Shengbao, and Dolonga were not very famous.
Ulantai came to Guangxi and followed the minister Saishan'a to exterminate the Taiping army. There are more than 500 "firearms battalions" under the command of Ulantai, all of whom are fighting with Western weapons purchased from Guangzhou, and their firepower is very powerful.
However, the scene that Ulantai saw made him grief-stricken: "The slave sees very well at the bottom of the mountain, and there are only seven thieves. With a thousand soldiers, it is not as good as seven thieves. Highlight beyond reason. ”
7 Taiping troops can chase more than 1,000 Qing troops to hang and fight, and also attack the camp on the top of the mountain, and use the Qing army artillery to bombard Ulantai, which is also a rare anecdocy.
This classic battle is a masterpiece of the Taiping Army during its transfer to Guangxi, and at this time they are the "old brothers" of Guangxi and Guangzhou, and their combat effectiveness is particularly strong. The Green Battalion is not an opponent at all.
In 1852, Luo Xuan led his troops to attack Guilin and engaged the Eight Banners of Ulantai at the General Bridge. Ulantai was seriously injured by a gun in the melee and died, the first of the Eight Banners to be killed, but not the last.
Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang were both famous ministers of Zhongxing, and when they led the army to the east to conquer Zhejiang and Jiangsu, the Taiping army had already gone downhill. The Tianjing Incident in 1856 caused heavy losses to the Taiping army, and the "old brothers" of Liangguang were killed and wounded.
The Taiping army faced by Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang was Li Xiucheng and Li Shixian's army. The Taiping army of the Li brothers was overwhelmingly recruited by Hubei and Jiangxi, as well as more than 200,000 "miscellaneous troops" who broke away from Shi Dakai and went north.
From Li Xiucheng's own report, it can be seen that after the Tianjing Incident, only a few elite soldiers were taken away by Shi Dakai, Chen Yucheng also got thousands of people, and he only had 7,000 old and weak soldiers.
Later, Li Xiucheng's strength continued to increase through his own efforts, and some veterans defected to him, but their combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the Taiping Army before the Tianjing Incident. Li Xiucheng's only advantage is that his weapons are advanced, but he is much behind foreigners.
Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang were assisted by the Changsheng Army, the Dingsheng Army, the Chang'an Army, and the Changjie Army. In addition, the Anglo-French forces directly participated in the war, and the British and French Far East fleets supported the Qing army.
There are many strong enemies, how is the Taiping army performing? Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang told the answer.
Zuo Zongtang: "Qingpu and Jiading are two places, and the reversal is sudden. The fear of long hair is also with me. Entrusted to it, the true feelings are revealed. ”
Li Hongzhang: "The officials and people in Shanghai and the people are in danger of the safety of foreigners. It was the first time to help the thieves in the future, and the foreigners divided their troops everywhere; after the aid thieves arrived, the foreigners gathered troops and did not move. ”
Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang seem to be afraid of the Taiping Army, whether it is the Huai Army, the Hunan Army (the Left Xiang Army), or the foreigners. The Shanghai bureaucrats and gentry pinned their hopes on the foreigners, and before the Taiping army arrived, the foreigners divided their troops; once the Taiping army was reinforced, it could not hold out and could only rely on the superiority of firearms to counterattack.
Wall, the leader of the foreign guns, was killed by the Taipings. The commander of the British Far East Fleet, Hober, who returned home as a field marshal, was wounded; the commander of the French fleet, Brod, was killed, the famous generals Leborough East and Dardiefer were killed, and the rest of the general generals were killed and wounded. From the perspective of foreign wars, the Taiping army performed much better than the Qing army.
Zeng Guofan, the head of the four "Zhongxing Famous Ministers", is known as half a "saint". From the book of Zeng Guofan's family, it can be seen that the Taiping army is very capable of fighting, but the number is too small, otherwise it will be difficult for the Hunan army to win.
Shi Zai: "This time to kill more than 1,000 real thieves in the third base, so that the dog rebellion for a great decline, weekdays or a big city, won a big victory, can not kill many real thieves." ”
Zeng Guofan's words are an evaluation of the Battle of Chigangling, which is worthy of the name.
In 1861, Bao Chao and Cheng Daji led more than 10,000 Hunan troops to attack Chigangling. At this time, Liu Xuanlin's soldiers and horses were only in their early 1,000s, and these "old brothers" fought bravely and fought with the Hunan army for more than a month, and the Hunan army suffered heavy casualties.
Bao Chao, known as the first fierce general of the Hunan Army, was intimidated by Liu Xuanlin's bravery. Bao Chao and Cheng Daji saw that the Hunan army had too many casualties and that it was not a way to storm the barracks, so they "lured and surrendered" the third base behind and pitted Liu Xuanlin.
In the battle of Chigangling, due to the surrender of Li Sifu and other rear third bases, Liu Xuanlin was alone, and the Hunan army was overwhelming, so he could only break through. Bao Chao, Duolonga, Cheng Daji, and Zeng Guoquan besieged with absolutely superior forces, and also received the assistance of the Yangtze River Naval Division, and after paying thousands of casualties, they completely annihilated Liu Xuanlin's army.
Liu Xuanlin did not have many soldiers, but Chen Yucheng's most elite troops, all of them were the "old brothers" of Liangguang, that is, the "real thieves" that Zeng Guofan said.
Zeng Guofan himself admitted that the so-called great victory in the past and the capture of the city were not to kill the "real thief". In other words, the Hunan army's record was seriously injected, and although it achieved many victories, Chen Yucheng did not hurt his vitality.
Only to eliminate a thousand "real thieves" can make Chen Yucheng, a famous general, "decline in the trend of dog rebellion" from now on, it can only be said that Chen Yucheng's basic plate is too weak, and there are too few real elite soldiers to withstand consumption.
Chen Yucheng has more elite soldiers than Li Xiucheng, and Li Xiucheng can crisscross Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so that Zuo Zongtang can say the words "Yi people are afraid of long hair, and they are also with me", it can be seen that the Taiping army is really capable of fighting, but the number of elite soldiers is limited.
So, why was the Taiping Army so able to fight, and why did it fail? The Taiping Army was able to fight for two reasons. The old brothers of Liangguang have accumulated rich experience in the "Tuke Weapon Fight", and they have the blessing of worshipping God, and their beliefs are firm and tenacious.
An army with faith and pursuit will naturally have strong combat effectiveness. Therefore, during the 14 years of fighting, it was rare to see the "old brothers" surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Wei Jun's surrender to Hu Linyi was a last resort, but if Hong Xiuquan was given a way to live, Wei Jun would not take this road if he could survive.
The second reason is that Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng are masterpieces of a generation, but they lack a platform. Liang Qichao commented: Li Xiucheng's comprehensive ability is one grade stronger than Li Hongzhang, the first person in foreign affairs. Gordon said: The ministers of the Qing Dynasty today, whether they are Prince Gong or Li Hongzhang, are not as good as Li Xiucheng.
Chen Yucheng is "since the Han and Tang Dynasties, I have never seen such a strong thief", Zeng Guofan was terrified. Hu Linyi said, "Today's official and military rivals are only four-eyed dogs, and the rest are not to be feared." ”
There are many reasons why the Taiping army failed, but one key point is that the foreigners helped the Qing Dynasty, and the Taiping army needed to face too many opponents. The Qing Dynasty's regular army, the Eight Banners, the Green Battalion, the Hunan Army, the Huai Army, the Chu Army, as well as the regimental training armies in various places, as well as the Anglo-French coalition army and the Sino-foreign mixed army, were all strong enemies of the Taiping Army.
The Taiping army was either fighting or on the way to war, and there was no time to recuperate. Even so, the Taiping army was able to hold out for 14 years, and after the fall of Tianjing, it lasted for another 4 years, and Lai Wenguang also destroyed the monk Grinqin, so that the Qing Dynasty lost the last directly subordinate army, which was also extraordinary.