In October 1854, a battle report came from the front, Qin Rigang was defeated in Tianjia Town, and the 100,000-strong army was crushed for thousands of miles. Yang Xiuqing was anxious, and if the Hunan army took Tianjia Town, Jiujiang was in danger.
Qin Rigang couldn't do it, Yang Xiuqing decided to remove the front-line commander, let the winged king Shi Dakai supervise Hukou and Jiujiang, control Luo Gang, Lin Qirong and other fierce generals, and fight a decisive battle with the Hunan army.
Jiujiang and Hukou held a duel, and the Taiping Army and the Hunan Army were the main forces, and the elite gathered. As a result, Shi Dakai won a great victory at Hukou, the Hunan army suffered heavy losses, and the Taiping army's westward expedition turned to a counteroffensive.
The Hunan army has strong combat effectiveness and many famous generals, Zeng Guofan, Hu Linyi, and Luo Zenan are all rare handsome talents. Why was Shi Dakai able to turn things around with a group of defeated generals? Because Shi Dakai found a way to defeat the Hunan army.
Only by fully understanding the balance of forces between the enemy and the enemy can we achieve victory. Shi Dakai knew that the battle between the Hunan army and the Taiping army played a decisive role.
Only by fighting in the south of the Yangtze River and gaining control of the rivers can you be invincible and hold the opponent's life.
After the Taiping army entered Hunan, why was it invincible, and even Wuchang could be successfully taken. You must know that half a year before the Battle of Wuchang, the Taiping army suffered heavy losses at Lingyidu. Two months ago, they were still frustrated under Changsha City, and no one expected them to conquer Wuchang.
After conquering Wuchang, the Taiping army only had one month to invade Nanjing, and by the way, they went east to Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, and confronted the Qing Dynasty across the river.
Wuchang, Nanjing, Zhenjiang and Yangzhou are all strategic locations. It stands to reason that it should take a lot of time for the Taiping army to conquer these cities, but it is not.
Behind the smooth progress of the Taiping army is because of the control of the Yangtze River. The Taiping Army received the support of a group of fishermen in Hunan and Hubei, and formed a fleet of nearly 10,000 "civilian boats," greatly enhancing the mobility of the troops.
The Qing army could not stop the Taiping army, and it had a lot to do with the weakness of the Yangtze River Naval Division. Even if the Taiping army only had "civilian boats", it could crush the patrol boats from the Green Battalion troops, the Hunan Army Naval Division, and the arrival of the "Red Single Boat" in Guangdong, the Yangtze River was in the hands of the Taiping Army.
When Zeng Guofan formed the Hunan Army, he specially formed the Hunan Army's naval fleet to compete with the Taiping Army for control of the Yangtze River.
In March 1854, the Hunan army marched north from Hengyang, and the army and navy divisions were dispatched together. In the Battle of Xiangtan, the Hunan army almost wiped out 20,000 Lin Shaozhang's troops, and more than 1,000 warships of the Taiping army were burned.
In the battle of Yuezhou, Zeng Tianyang set up an ambush on the water surface and killed 4 generals of the Hunan army. However, Zeng Tianyang knew that the Taiping Army's naval division was inferior to the Hunan Army, and after the victory, he still had to abandon the ship and land the whole army.
In the battle of Tianjia Town, the Hunan army and the Taiping army fought in Tianjia Town and Banbi Mountain, and the victory was not scored. However, the Hunan army's naval division broke through the Lianjiang iron cable and burned more than 4,000 ships downstream, and Qin Rigang could only retreat.
In the battle between Hunan and Hubei, Shi Dakai realized the gap between the two sides in the water division. In land battles, the Hunan army had little superiority and was not as good as the Taiping army, and in the water battle, it was one-sided, and the Taiping army had no power to resist.
Why is this so? Yang Xiuqing's liking for civilian boats and "big wooden cards" is the key. The construction of Yang Xiuqing's naval division was to use civilian ships as warships, and while transporting materials, they also undertook combat missions, and the types and specifications of the ships were very chaotic.
To put it simply, the Taiping Navy Division is a group of "civilian ships" and an amateur fleet. The Hunan army is different, it specially customizes warships, builds them according to the standards of warships, and trains them according to the tactics of the fleet, and is a professional sailor.
Amateur and professional battles, the results can be imagined. Shi Dakai had a long-term vision, he knew that the Taiping army's "civilian ships" were not powerful, so he sent people to infiltrate the Hunan army to obtain information on the construction of warships, and then imitated them in Anqing and upgraded them.
Obtaining the information of the Hunan Army's naval division, Shi Dakai's battleships were tall and strong, and the tactics were also changed in a targeted manner, so the combat effectiveness of the Taiping Army's naval division made a qualitative leap.
After Zeng Guofan was frustrated, he also recognized Shi Dakai's merits: "In the past, he fought with civilian ships and water, and was repeatedly defeated. Today, in Anqing, there are 30 ships in imitation of our ship, and they are protected by small strokes, close to the shore camp. Pondering repeatedly, there is no way to break it. ”
The large ships of the Hunan army are responsible for transportation and logistics, and the combat force is light warships. In times of engagement, light warships take on defensive and offensive tasks, and escort transport ships to ensure the safety of supplies.
With a naval division of the same specifications as the Hunan army, would Shi Dakai dare to directly fight a decisive battle with the fleet? The answer is no, Shi Dakai still has to line up in the middle of the river, and the naval division will have its back against the river bank and let the shore-based artillery cover it.
Under the cover of shore-based artillery, the Hunan naval division did not dare to attack the Taiping fleet easily, thus ensuring the safety of materials. The Taiping fleet took advantage of the home advantage to find an opportunity to sneak attack the Hunan army's transport fleet, not only depleting the opponent's strength, but also waiting for the fighters to appear.
In the battles of Hukou and Jiujiang, the Hunan army successively attacked Jiujiang, Xiaochikou, Meijiazhou, Hukou and other fortresses, but they were all defeated by the Taiping army. The level of defense of the Taiping Army's fortress is only stable in material supply, and the Hunan army has no way at all.
After more than 2 months of fighting, the grain and grass of the Hunan army began to encounter a crisis, and Zeng Guofan did not have the power of local governors at this time, so it was very difficult to raise food and wages. In the long-term war of attrition, the Hunan army did not make much progress, and Xianfeng also issued many orders to reprimand, and Zeng Guofan was anxious.
Shi Dakai guarded Jiujiang and Hukou, and there was no problem at all. However, if you want to annihilate the Hunan army, it is still very difficult. Because, the Taiping Army's naval division has more than enough defense and insufficient attack ability, as long as Zeng Guofan takes the initiative to withdraw his troops, the Hunan army will hardly have losses.
However, the series of victories in Xiangtan, Yuezhou, Wuchang, Tianjiazhen, and Banbishan gave the officers and men of the Hunan army the heart to underestimate the enemy. Xiao Jiesan, the commander of the Hunan Army's naval division, led 200 light warships to blow up the fortifications at the mouth of the lake and rush into Poyang Lake.
Xiao Jiesan wanted to annihilate the Taiping Army's Inner Lake Water Division and threaten the grain routes of Jiujiang and Hukou. Shi Dakai took this opportunity to re-block the mouth of the lake, strengthen the fortifications, and build a large number of forts on both sides of the bank and on the opposite side of Shizhong Mountain to prevent Xiao Jiesan from returning to the Yangtze River.
The light warships were in Poyang Lake, the large transport ships were in the Yangtze River, and the Hunan army and naval divisions were divided and could not echo each other. Without the cover of light warships, the Hunan army sailors became lambs to be slaughtered, allowing Luo Xuan to attack, without the power to parry.
Luo Xuan attacked at night twice, set fire to the Hunan army's sailors, and even Zeng Guofan's boat was captured. If it weren't for the cover of the staff, Zeng Guofan might have been captured by Luo Xuan. In this way, Zeng Guofan was very impressed by Luo Outline, and after capturing Li Xiucheng, he asked him: Luo Outline is so capable of fighting, why is he not crowned king?
In the battles of Hukou and Jiujiang, Shi Dakai became famous in the first battle because he found a way to defeat the Hunan army. However, Shi Dakai could not change the situation, nor could he eliminate the Hunan army and naval division in Poyang Lake. On the contrary, the Taiping Army's Poyang Lake Water Division was completely wiped out after 3 years of fighting with Xiao Jiesan.
Why was the Hunan Army's naval division, which was trapped at Poyang Lake, able to completely annihilate Shi Dakai's newly formed Taiping Army Naval Division? During the three years of fighting at Poyang Lake, the Taiping Army was almost always on the defensive, while Xiao Jiesan attacked the Taiping Army bases everywhere, and then rushed out of the lake mouth and returned to the Yangtze River.
Shi Dakai has vision and ability, but he can't turn the situation around and fundamentally change the gap between the two sailors. Because, Shi Dakai lacks one of the most important things, that is, naval artillery.
The warships built in Anqing are comparable in scale, style, and model to the Hunan army, or even a little stronger. However, the Western firearms equipped by the Hunan army could not be obtained by Shi Dakai.
When Zeng Guofan was in charge of the Hunan army, he played Xianfeng many times, and asked him to quickly hand over the 600 artillery pieces purchased from Guangzhou to his own sailors. The artillery of the Taiping Army, mainly earthen artillery, was not on the same level as Western artillery.
The Hunan army opened artillery from a long distance, and the Taiping army's sailors did not fight back. Therefore, in the battle of Tianjiazhen, the 4,000 ships of the Taiping army, not only did not participate in the battle, but also "waited" to be burned by the Hunan army.
In the Battle of Hukou, Shi Dakai never dared to fight between fleets, because there were too many gaps in artillery. The gap between firepower, Shi Dakai is very clear, but he can't change it. Because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had no access to the sea, it could not directly connect with the Western Ocean, and it was impossible to obtain these weapons.
If the Taiping army wanted to obtain the West, it could only conquer Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east and seize the sea. However, Yang Xiuqing's strategic goals were very chaotic, and the Western Expedition, the Northern Expedition, and the Eastern Expedition were carried out at the same time.
In 1856, after destroying the camp in Jiangnan, if Yang Xiuqing went all out to the east and pursued the victory, it would not be a big problem to take Jiangsu and Zhejiang. As long as Jiangsu and Zhejiang are captured, contacts with the West, and advanced equipment are purchased, the combat effectiveness of the Taiping Army will increase geometrically, and the Hunan Army will not be able to withstand it.
However, Yang Xiuqing's western and eastern expeditions were carried out at the same time, and the Taiping army was insufficient. On the battlefield of the Eastern Expedition, Qin Rigang was blocked in Danyang, and Zhang Guoliang guarded the gate of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. On the battlefield of the Western Expedition, Shi Dakai had no water division and could not provide supplies to the Wuchang Taiping Army, and was also burned by the Hunan Army's water division in the Lugang camp.