On 14 November, the two armies began to clash. Li Xubin first sent the most effective cavalry units to break into the camp, Chen Yucheng had a set of ways to deal with the cavalry, he ordered the soldiers to pre-bury the chaotic iron pot in front of the battle, the pot mouth was facing down, when Li Xubin's cavalry killed, many horseshoes stepped through the iron pot and it was difficult to move, at the same time Chen Yucheng sent several troops to encircle, the Taiping Army attacked back and forth, completely annihilating the elite cavalry of the Xiang Army. Li Xubin's heart ached.
In the early morning of the next day, the fog was thick and it was difficult to distinguish, Li Xubin felt that it was a good opportunity, sent 7 battalions of troops to sneak attack Chen Yucheng's camp, who knew that the troops chased through Jinniu Town but did not see Chen Yucheng's men and horses, Chen Yucheng led his troops to take advantage of the fog and attacked from the left side, and the Xiang army was in chaos, killing and wounding more than a thousand people.
At noon, Li Xubin got the news that the attacking troops would be annihilated in the camp, panicked, and hurriedly led the 6 battalions besieging the town of Sanhe to come to the rescue, and they launched more than ten attacks, but made no progress. The two armies are at loggerheads.
At this time, Li Xiucheng led his army to Baishi Mountain, he heard the incessant sound of artillery in the Golden Bull area, the killing sound was tremendous, he knew that the enemy and we were already at war, there was no second word, directly led the troops to kill and participate in the battle, the defenders of Sanhe Town Wu Ding also led the army to kill, Chen Yucheng saw that there were reinforcements arriving, morale was stronger, Li Xubin rescue was not successful, he was almost destroyed, and at dusk, he had to give up the rescue of the besieged troops, return to the camp with his troops, and wait for help. And the 7 battalions of the Xiang Army that went out to steal the camp in the early morning were all annihilated.
That night, Chen Yucheng sent a small mobile force to secretly dig through the river dam that Li Xubin had painstakingly built, and the gushing river flowed down again, and Li Xubin's return route was completely cut off, and his camp was heavily surrounded by the Taiping Army, and the water could not be drained.
The war of annihilation fought by the Taiping Army, later known as the Five Plum Blossom Array, that is, the concentration of troops, the division of troops in five roads, in addition to the main road, there are four ways of siege before and after, Li Xubin has no way to go, only a dead end, about his death, there are also several theories, one is that he died of exhaustion, one is to say that he committed suicide in the camp, and the other is that he secretly left the camp in the middle of the night and fell into the mud and was killed by the Taiping Army. These are all out of the rumors, and the credibility is not high. The official documents of the Qing Dynasty announced that he led his army to break through the siege, and the angry horse took the lead and was killed in exhaustion.
The remnants of Li Xubin's Chinese army, including Zeng Guohua and other officials, were killed by the Taiping Army during the rebellion.
In this battle, the elite of the Xiang Army lost more than 6,000 people, and the Taiping Army only captured the red-crowned and blue-crowned official hats, which were filled with eight baskets, which is the famous Battle of the Three Rivers in Modern Chinese History, and it is also a successful example of the "Five Plum Blossom Array" annihilation war praised by military scientists.
Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng took advantage of the victory to pursue and retake Shucheng, Tongcheng, Taihu, Qianshan, and other places respectively; Duolong'a and Bao Chao, the other two branches of the Xiang army, heard of Li Xubin's disastrous defeat and retreated without a fight, and the situation of the Taiping Army in Anhui was greatly improved, and the pressure was greatly reduced.
In this battle, Chen Yucheng, who had just turned 21, defeated Li Xubin, a famous general of the Xiang Army who was 20 years older than him, and Chen Yucheng's prestige in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was even higher.
Hu Linyi, who was far away in his hometown to defend his mother Ding, learned of the defeat of the Three Rivers And could not help but sigh: "This time the Great Wall was suddenly lost, and after a hundred battles, it was the whole army that was cold." He was forced to end his dingyou vacation and rush to Susong, Anhui, to discuss with the generals of the Xiang army how to deal with Chen Yucheng.
At that time, Zeng Guofan was in Yongxiu, Jiangxi, because the road was not smooth, half a month later he learned of the war situation, he was so sad and angry that he could not eat a good meal and sleep well for several days, and then sent his family to Sanhe to find the bones of his brother Zeng Guohua to bury.
In Xiangxiang, Hunan, Li Xubin's hometown, this battle was a great loss, and most of the troops were the sons and daughters of relatives, friends, and friends, and almost every village was filial piety, and souls were summoned everywhere, which was quite tragic.
Li Xubin was given the title of Zhiyong Batulu by the Qing court, a second-class baron, and was given the title of "Zhongwu", the highest standard of the military generals, the owner of the Manchu Qing Eight Zhongwu Titles, the Xiang Army accounted for two, and one was taqibu, who appeared earlier and had already died.