<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > see each other and hate late, Jiang and Zeng first met Yu Jingshi</h1>
In August of the 24th year of Daoguang, Jiang Zhongyuan, a Hunan Xinning man who was taking part in the examination in the Beijing Division, went to the residence of Zeng Guofan, a scholar of Hanlin, hoping to pay homage to this Hunan fellow who was already quite famous at that time.
Jiang Zhongyuan Character Chang Ru, number Min Qiao, after becoming famous, was revered as "Min Shuai"
Who knew that Zeng Guofan, who had read the book of The Sages of Kong Meng and refrained from self-denial, had long heard of this fellow villager who lingered in the Qinglou tiles and was obsessed with gambling on the archway, and that if he did not surrender, he would not conspire, and Zeng Guofan would send people to send away uninvited guests.
At this time, Jiang Zhongyuan, who was outside the Panhuan Gate, seemed to have already guessed the reaction of Lord Zeng, and said to the family members who came to refuse the guest: I have indeed done absurd things before, but how can Lord Zeng refuse to let people reform themselves?
There is truth to it. Although, how could the world refuse to let anyone change the evil of Zeng Guofan?
Jiang Zhongyuan was reasonable, and Zeng Guofan was not good enough to continue to insist, and reluctantly invited the visitors to the palace.
But in the next conversation, Zeng Guofan quickly found that this imposing and extraordinary-looking move in front of him really had something impressive.
Whether it is trivial matters in the city or the way to govern the country and the people, they can talk about it, and they are worried about the future of the country, asserting that there will be a big upheaval in the near future.
Moreover, Jiang Zhongyuan, a scholar, did not have the slightest twisting attitude because of the first meeting in his conversation with Zeng Guofan, who was in a high position.
Talk loudly, the sound shocks the roof tiles, talk to the happy place, dance with your hands, accidentally throw the tea cup to the ground and still become unfazed, talk and laugh freely.
Zeng Guofan's impression of Jiang Zhongyuan was greatly improved, and he said to others: "Ordinary people's words and deeds, such as the blue sky and the white sun, and those who have no literary ornaments, will become great instruments."
Zeng Guofan
Zeng and Jiang were of similar age and had the friendship of their hometowns, and they not only felt the same fate of the country, but also had the same sincere heart to serve the country, and the guests and hosts talked very happily, and they did not feel the passage of time.
The two heroes who are about to shine on the changing stage of the late Qing Dynasty, in the first meeting, they inexplicably have a feeling of pity for each other, see each other and hate each other.
In a short period of time, this affectionate, informal, young man left a deep impression on Zeng Guofan, and after Jiang Zhongyuan got up to say goodbye, looking at his departing back, Zeng Guofan couldn't help but sigh:
I have never seen such a person in my life, and when I became famous in the world, I finally died of martyrdom.
I have to say that Zeng Wenzhenggong did have the wisdom of people, and this Jiang Zhongyuan, who "laughed at the sky and went out", really shined in the next ten years, and really achieved fame in the world, and finally Ma Ge was wrapped up and died on the battlefield.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > shusheng led the troops, and the yellow back ridge first appeared</h1> sharp
Shortly after zeng and Jiang first met in 1844, they repeatedly failed to try, and Jiang Zhongyuan, who had lived in the capital for eight years, was elected as a county-level teacher through the "Big Pick (Qing Dynasty Election System)" and returned to his hometown.
It was also during this period that fate handed an olive branch to Jiang Zhongyuan, who had been in trouble for half a lifetime.
In the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang (1847), Lei Zaihao, the head of the Qinglian Sect of Xinning Huangbei, gathered a crowd and joined the rebel army of Li Shide in Quanzhou, Guangxi, and then fought in the border areas of Guangxi and Hunan, with great momentum.
For the purpose of protecting the people and protecting the township, and also out of the belief in serving the country in chaos, Jiang Zhongyuan raised funds, organized the villagers, and formed a group to practice, gaining hundreds of people.
It has to be said that Jiang Zhongyuan, who had never participated in any military training, was born as a material for marching and fighting, and after detecting the enemy's situation, he first held the fortress to the ground, and when the Qinglian Sect approached, he led a brave raid, won a battle, broke the rebel army, and captured Lei Zaihao.
As for the battle of Huangbeizhi to counterinsurgency commanded by Jiang Zhongyuan, the history book commentary said: "The Xiang people killed thieves with books, starting from Zhongyuan"
We do not delve deeply into the justice of the war or the class positions of the two sides participating in the war, but only talk about Jiang Zhongyuan's pioneering deed, which has important exemplary and guiding significance for the later Huxiang literati to lead the troops into battle.
Huang Beizhi won a great victory, Jiang Zhongyuan was promoted to ZhiXian for his merits, went to Zhejiang to be vacant, and then was replaced as Zhixian of Lishui County, and truly embarked on the dream "career path".
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Chu Yong out of the province, opening a generation of Xiang Army</h1>
In 1851, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom revolted in Guiping Jintian, Guangxi, after which, the Taiping Army cut through thorns and thorns all the way from the lofty mountains and mountains of southern Xinjiang, and gradually became a spark of fire.
Jintian Uprising
In the face of the increasingly fierce "bandit plague" in Guangxi, the Xianfeng Emperor appointed Sai Shang'a, a scholar of the Wenhuadian University and a foreman of military aircraft, as a Chincha to go to Guangxi to supervise the suppression of the Taiping Army.
Jiang Zhongyuan was also conscripted into the army and was heavily respected by the deputy governor Ulantai. Later, Jiang Zhongyuan returned to his hometown to gather 500 township soldiers, formed Chu Yong, and was led by his younger brother Jiang Zhongjun and rushed to Guangxi.
The township army raised by Jiang Zhongyuan was the first time that the local armed forces in Hunan officially stepped onto the stage of history, and in this sense, Chu Yong can also be seen as the initial beginning of the Xiang Army, which later shook the world.
Later, in 1852, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom entered Hunan from Guangxi, the Qing court felt that the Green Battalion and the Eight Banner Soldiers were no longer enough, so they ordered the provinces to hold regimental training to help "attack and suppress".
Against this background, a large number of local armed forces have emerged from all over Hunan, in order to distinguish them from the regular national troops such as the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion, which are named "Yong", including Liuyong from Liuyang and Chenyong from Chenzhou.
Of course, there was also the Xiang army of Zeng Guofan, which was later famous for destroying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the "Xiang" of the Xiang Army, not the meaning of Hunan, but because the source of the soldiers came from Xiangxiang, Hunan, so this unit was originally also called "Xiangyong".
At the beginning of the establishment of Zeng Guofan's "Xiang Yong", the relevant camp system, structure, and training methods were also borrowed from the earlier "Chu Yong".
In addition, Zhao Erxun, editor-in-chief of the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", once commented that "Hunan recruited courage to go out to suppress thieves, starting from Jiang Zhongyuan" -- Chu Yong's departure from Hunan was of epoch-making significance for the civilian armed forces in the land of Sanxiang to fight in the province.
And with Chu Yong rushing to Guangxi to fight against the Taiping Army, the era that belonged to Jiang Zhongyuan finally arrived.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > turned to the north and south, the fatal nemesis of the Taiping Army</h1>
In the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there was a rather intriguing phenomenon - in most of the battles that Jiang Zhongyuan participated in or directly commanded, the Taiping Army could hardly take advantage.
In June 1851, Jiang Zhongyuan led 500 Chu Yong to defeat Shi Dakai at Zhongping in Xiangzhou, and pursued him all the way, making the Taiping Army invincible God of War Wing King embarrassed, and the morale of the Qing army in Guangxi was greatly boosted.
In 1852 (the second year of Xianfeng), the Taiping Army broke through to the north and besieged Guilin. Jiang Zhongyuan recruited a thousand soldiers, and the starry night and Cheng rushed to the aid of Guangxi.
Later, he joined forces with Liu Changyou to defend Cormorant Island, defeated the Taiping Army three times, relieved the siege of Guilin, and was promoted to prefect for his merits.
In May 1852, the Taiping Army conquered Jeonju, wanting to enter Xiang from Gui, and jiang Zhongyuan, with 800 Chu Yong, set up an ambush in advance at the Taiyidu of the Taiping Army's inevitable road, cut down trees and logging to block the river, and set up artillery positions on the west bank.
The Taiping army went up the river and went straight to The Yidu, but unexpectedly there was an ambush, and it was caught off guard, and the two sides fought for two days, the Taiping Army was defeated and lost, and the Southern King Feng Yunshan was also killed by artillery.
Reluctantly, he had no choice but to change the original marching route, and gave up a large number of heavy weights, boats, and family members of the army, and retreated from the dense forest on the east bank of the Xiang River.
Wang Anding later commented in the "Records of the Xiang Army" that "the Battle of Yidu was the first merit of preserving Hunan".
From September to November 1852, Jiang Zhongyuan continued to work hard, leading his troops to assist in the defense of Changsha, helping Zhang Liangji, the governor of Hunan, to withstand the three-month offensive of the Taiping Army, not only defending the city of Changsha, but also killing the third person in the Taiping Army, Xiao Chaogui, the King of the West.
In 1853, the Taiping Army marched west and besieged Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi, when there were only more than a thousand Qing troops in Nanchang City, and jiang Zhongyuan, the "firefighting captain", once again led 1300 troops to aid Nanchang.
Regarding Jiang Zhongyuan's arrival, the Inspector of Jiangxi was overjoyed and immediately announced that "all matters of war and defense should be subject to the restraint of Min Shuai."
Immediately Jiang Zhongyuan took over the city of Nanchang, formulated various defensive measures, in order to make the Taiping Army outside the city have nothing to hide, "the outer city is three miles away, the houses are incinerated", and killed the deserters, and personally stationed at Zhangjiang gate, day and night to supervise the battle, the Taiping Army besieged the city for 93 days, and returned without success.
Beginning with Jiang Zhongyuan's entry into Guangxi in 1851, the Taiping Army, which had fought with the Green Battalion and had been smooth sailing all the way, encountered the most difficult and terrible opponent.
And this series of victories, for Jiang Zhongyuan, who was born in the literati, I am afraid that it cannot be simply explained by luck.
Perhaps, the innate command ability is the biggest reason why this teacher from the grassroots has grown into the deadly nemesis of the Taiping Army.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the city of Luzhou was broken, and Zeng Wenzheng became a proverb</h1>
The so-called "crock pot does not break away from the wellhead, the general will inevitably die before the battle", in the Siege of Luzhou in 1854, bad luck finally fell on Jiang Zhongyuan.
In 1853, after the Taiping Army withdrew from Nanchang, the troops divided into two routes, one way continuing to march west to Hubei, and the other way preparing to attack northern Anhui by Anqing.
In December, the Taiping army Hu Yihuang and Zeng Tianyang led tens of thousands of Taiping troops to attack luzhou (Hefei), the temporary capital of Anhui.
Jiang Zhongyuan, the new anhui governor who followed the Taiping Army from Nanchang to Hubei, heard that Luzhou was in a hurry, and starry night led 2,000 soldiers and horses back to help.
At that time, Jiang Zhongyuan marched in the rain, and the generals were exhausted, and they could not afford to get sick. By the time they reached Lu'an, the Taiping Army had captured Tongcheng and Shucheng.
At that time, all the reinforcements of the Qing army did not dare to approach the city, but Jiang Zhongyuan risked death and led a thousand people into the dangerous city, and two days later, the Taiping Army approached the city and besieged Luzhou Tuantuan.
In the city of Luzhou, there were only three hundred soldiers, less than five thousand brave, grain and grass were in short supply, and ammunition was scarce, and Jiang Zhongyuan knew that the city pool was difficult to preserve, but he still refused to abandon the city and retreat, and personally stationed himself at the waterproof west gate.
At the moment of the great enemy, Hu Yuanwei, the prefect of Luzhou, secretly communicated with the Taiping Army in order to survive, and the Taiping Army learned of the false reality of the city and attacked the city more fiercely.
The Taiping army blew up the Shuixi Gate and invaded the city of Luzhou. Jiang Zhongyuan drew his sword and tried to kill himself, but was stopped by the soldiers on the left and right. Sima Liangxun fled with him on his back. Jiang Zhongyuan bit Ma Liangxun's ear and struggled to break free and continue to engage the Taiping Army.
When he arrived at the sluice bridge, Jiang Zhongyuan had been wounded in seven places, so he had to throw himself into the ancient pond and commit suicide by diving into the water, at the age of forty-two.
Jiang Zhongyuan ordered Luzhou to be killed, the Qing court was greatly shaken, and Xianfeng, while grieving, posthumously gave the post of governor, knight lieutenant and yun riding lieutenant, gave him the title of loyal martyr, and placed his spiritual seat in the Zhaozhong Ancestral Hall.
Thousands of miles away in Hunan, Zeng Guofan, who was raising the water division of the Xiang Army, was shocked to hear that Jiang Zhongyuan had died in battle, and was deeply saddened, and personally controlled the alliance:
Defending the three cities in a hundred battles, Zhang Gongyou should be a thousand worldly ancestors
In two years, jiang tian overheard that the big star had sunk
The Three Wars refer to the three important cities that Jiang Zhongyuan has stubbornly defended, namely Changsha, Nanchang, and Luzhou. Eight seats refer to the official titles that Jiang Zhongyuan obtained according to military merit, and the order from Zhixian to Inspector is eight grades.
Jiang Zhongyuan, the true founder of the Xiang Army, was also the first senior general to die in the Xiang Army system, and with the fall of Jiang Zhongyuan, the Chu Army was also difficult to regain its courage and gradually withdrew from the stage of history.