Wen | reversed the north
In his self-description written after his capture, Li Xiucheng, the loyal king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, once summarized the ten reasons for the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, namely the so-called "Ten Mistakes of the Heavenly Kingdom", of which the defeat of the Taiping Army's western expedition to Hunan, which has never attracted much attention, was also listed as one of them.
In 1854, during the First Western Expedition of the Taiping Army, the three towns of Wuhan were regained and lost. It is reasonable to say that the loss of large cities should be given special emphasis and attention as a defeat, but when Li Xiucheng talked about this western expedition, he insisted that the Taiping Army's attack on Hunan was a major defeat, and skipped the battle for Wuhan. What kind of hidden feeling is behind this?
01 The rise of the Xiang Army
Originally, the main military purpose of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's first western expedition was to eliminate the Xiang Yong (later developed into the Xiang Army), which had been established for less than a year.
Since the Jintian Uprising, regular armies such as the Eight Banners and the Green Camp of the Qing court have been repeatedly defeated and are not enough. Therefore, in order to change the military decline, the Qing court turned to supporting local regimental training and armed forces, trying to use these local forces to oppose the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the ascendant period. Zeng Guofan, who had previously served in the Ceremonial Department of the Beijing Division, was sent back to Hunan to assist in the local regimental training affairs.
(Zeng Guofan)
However, Zeng Guofan's trip was not smooth, and the yongding he trained was ostracized by the old army of the Green Camp, and local officials such as Luo Bingzhang also wanted to install their own private forces into the regimental bravery team under Zeng Guofan's responsibility, so as to control this new army. Therefore, when he realized that staying in Changsha would only exacerbate the contradiction with the "various immortals", he decided to move his troops to Hengzhou, where he continued to recruit troops and horses, and by the way monitored the movements of the Taiping Army.
Zeng Guofan also knew that his Xiangyong had just been formed, and most of the officers and soldiers had previously worked as farmers and knew nothing about fighting. The cannons purchased to equip the naval vessels were not all in place. Therefore, he must try to contain the Taiping Army as much as possible by contacting more allies, so that he can also accumulate valuable time for himself.
Who are Zeng Guofan's allies? For example, Jiang Zhongyuan, the commander of Chu Yong, who had previously fought against the Taiping Army at Yidu, and Wu Wenrong, the governor of Huguang. Jiang Zhongyuan led his troops to the battlefield of Jiangxi to help the local Qing army, while Wu Wenrong gathered troops in Hubei to intercept the Taiping army that was advancing west to seize grain. Zeng Guofan in Hunan formed a corner with them, and from the surface, Zeng's plan can be said to be seamless.
However, for the Qing court, the situation suddenly deteriorated sharply in the spring of 1854, first Jiang Zhongyuan died in Luzhou, and then Wu Wenrong was defeated in the battle of blocking the city, and Wu's subordinates were angry because of the corrupt military discipline and the random demolition of private houses, resulting in the dispersion of the people's hearts. When the main force of the Taiping Army came to defeat Jiang Zhongyuan Yu Wei, Wu Wenrong could not resist, the soldiers were defeated and killed, and the three towns of Wuhan were also surrounded by people and horses commanded by Emperor Guozong Weijun. The rest of the Taiping Army's western expedition continued to pursue westward and occupied Yuezhou.
Seeing that the Taiping Army had killed the "Triangle Alliance" that he had carefully arranged at the doorstep of his home, Zeng Guofan decided to pro-unify the army to attack Yuezhou and prevent the Taiping Army from attacking Changsha. However, when he found that the Taiping Army was only dealing with itself with partial divisions and the main force was approaching the outskirts of Changsha, in order to avoid the rear road being cut off, Zeng Guofan had to divide his troops into two routes and rush to Changsha for emergency reinforcements.
02 Zeng Guofan lost first and then won
Where did Zeng Guofan know that this was a plan of the Taiping Army, and the main purpose of the other side was to lead his nose back and forth, and finally completely defeat Xiang Yong in the field battle. The attack on Changsha was only a cover in a short period of time.
In the process of Zeng Guofan's reinforcements, a part of the Taiping Army, commanded by Shi Xiangzhen, the brother of Shi Dakai, the King of Yi, occupied Jinggang north of Changsha and cut off the communication line north of Changsha, at the same time, the other Taiping Army, commanded by The Spring Official and Deputy Minister Lin Shaozhang, killed Liu Jiande of Zhixian County in the Qing Dynasty and captured the important town of Xiangtan south of Changsha. Now, the main traffic routes connecting the north and south of Changsha City were firmly blocked by the Taiping Army, and Zeng Guofan and his Xiang Yong were about to become turtles in an urn.
Of course, Zeng Guofan refused to give in easily, and his political enemies saw that great trouble was approaching and urged him to lead an army to fight back. Therefore, Zeng Guofan decided to divide his troops to retake Jinggang and Xiangtan. After a simple arrangement and planning, he personally led an army to retake Jinggang on the north road, while Xiangtan on the south road was handed over to the deputy generals Taqibu and Zhou Fengshan to recover. In addition, taking into account the characteristics of Xiangtan and Jinggang, both of which were near the river, he was assisted in the battle by sending officers Peng Yulin and Yang Zaifu, officers of the Jiashui Army.
Objectively speaking, the troops sent by Zeng Guofan to Xiangtan to fight were much more elite than the troops he left behind. Taqibu originally belonged to the regular army system of the Qing Dynasty, proficient in tactics, and his pro-army also had combat experience. In the past, Peng Yulin and others also fought with the water army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and won a certain victory. As for the troops that Zeng Guofan himself brought to Jinggang, they were mostly new soldiers and their combat strength was uneven, which laid hidden dangers for Zeng Guofan's failure in Jinggang.
First of all, the situation in Xiangtan, the commander of the Taiping Army stationed in Xiangtan, The Chunguan and Deputy Minister Lin Shaozhang, was originally a soy sauce fighter, with mediocre military ability, and the peacetime operation mainly depended on zeng Tianyang, who was in charge of the main post, to plan from it, and Shi Xiangzhen and Wei Jun and other Guozong went to charge the battlefield. As for the main value of his existence, it was to monitor the "Wing King Faction" and "Northern King Faction" such as Shi Xiangzhen and Wei Jun for his master Yang Xiuqing, and to consolidate the Eastern King's control over the military power by balancing them.
Unfortunately, the supervision army should have stayed in the second line to maintain the hearts and minds of the army, but now it has rushed to the first line and directly led the troops. I don't know whether Lin Shaozhang felt that the Qing army was vulnerable and wanted to make a big splash himself and give the Eastern King a long face, or because the Generals of the Taiping Army were limited, they couldn't draw more capable people to lead the troops to fight. All in all, Lin Shaozhang was placed in a "business" operation that he was not familiar with.
Not long after Lin Shaozhang occupied Xiangtan, Xiangyong, who had been sent to rescue Ningxiang, was commanded by Taqibu, and he preemptively occupied the commanding heights outside Xiangtan City, Gaoling. Judging from the previous tactics of the Taiping Army, they all defended the city with a small number of troops, and large troops relied on mobile defense outside the city. Now Lin Shaozhang "did the opposite" and allowed the Qing army to isolate himself, which already showed his lack of proficiency in the military.
Immediately afterward, Xiang Yong, under the leadership of Taqibu, launched an attack on the Taiping Army. Lin Shaozhang, not willing to show weakness, wanted to crush the enemy in the field with a large number of people, but before the position was set, he was rushed by Taqib's cavalry, and even the vanguard officers were killed by the other side. In desperation, Lin Shaozhang had to reluctantly shrink the defensive line and prepare for a counterattack the next day.
The next day, Lin Shaozhang was even more unlucky, in Mapo outside the city, the main force of the Taiping Army that swarmed out of the city was shelled by the Qing army, killing and wounding hundreds of people, Lin saw that the attack of his subordinates was not smooth, vainly tried to shrink the front, and was pursued and killed by Taqibu's ambush troops. Under Xiang Yong's enveloping attack, the remnants of the Taiping Army trampled on each other and had no fighting spirit.
Lin Shaozhang could not restrain the troops and wanted to return to the city to make plans again, but unexpectedly, Peng Yulin, an officer of the Xiangyong Water Army Battalion, and others took advantage of the opportunity of the battle with Taqibu to take advantage of the false fire to attack the supply fleet of the Taiping Army moored in the river, and won a huge victory.
Up to now, Lin Shaozhang has lost his wife and folded his troops, not only did not show his skills, but also lost tens of thousands of troops in the Western Expedition. Such a defeat was unprecedented since the Taiping Army's Jintian Uprising.
Seeing that the general situation was gone, Lin Shaozhang had to lead a few of his henchmen to Jinggang, and then fled to Yuezhou, waiting for the next instructions of Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King.
03 The offensive and defensive situation was transposed, and Zeng Guofan made a comeback
The victory at Xiangtan made the Taiping Army's western expeditionary forces, which were already stretched too weak, and just at this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's sweeping army also suffered a defeat on the North China Plain, and the situation that had been favorable to Hong Xiuquan and others took a sharp turn for the worse.
What annoyed the top brass of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was far more than Lin Shaozhang's defeat at Xiangtan itself, but what made them feel even more sorry was that Zeng Guofan's pro-unification Xiangyong department had already suffered a devastating blow from Shi Xiangzhen's troops in the Battle of Jinggang.
If Lin Shaozhang could hold Xiangtan, Shi Xiangzhen was likely to form a new situation with him to attack Taqibu. In that case, the newly formed Xiangyong will undoubtedly face the disaster of extinction.
According to historical records, in the battle between the two sides of Jinggang, Zeng Guofan originally wanted to wield a sharp blade to prevent the defeat of the troops, but no one listened, and in anger, Zeng Guofan fell into the river and almost confessed his life early.
However, history did not have if, the first defeat and then the victory of Zeng Guofan can be regarded as the first time in the military career of great joy and great sorrow, after calming down, he seriously learned the lesson, immediately began to drastically lay off those brave ding who could not withstand the First World War, save money to promote Taqib and other rising stars, and increase investment in water artillery.
As a result of this rectification, soon after the fiasco in Jinggang, Xiang Yong became more refined and more effective than before.
As for Shi Xiangzhen, the emperor of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, although they won the victory, due to the drag of Lin Shaozhang, they had to abandon Jinggang and Yuezhou and other places, and shrunk the defensive line to the three towns of Wuhan, and from then on until Shi Da left Beijing for the western expedition, the Taiping Army was never able to regain control of Hunan.
At the Battle of Xiangtan, the Taiping Army missed the best opportunity to strangle the Xiang Army in its cradle, and after that, the new army trained by Zeng Guofan gradually replaced the Eight Banners Green Camp in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, allowing the Qing Dynasty to continue to survive.
bibliography:
Yang Yiqing et al., eds., Historical Materials of the Taiping Army in Hunan Local Chronicles, Yuelu Book Club
Luo Ergang, "Notes on the Original Manuscript of Li Xiucheng's Self-Description", Zhonghua Bookstore
Wang Rongsheng et al., History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, People's Publishing House
Zhao Erxun et al., Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Zhonghua Bookstore
(Qing) Zhu Kongzhang, "Biography of the Zhongxing General Shuai Bei", Yuelu Book Club
Long Shengyun, Draft History of the Xiang Army, Sichuan People's Publishing House