When Wang Minyun wrote the XiangJun Chronicle, he regarded Li Xubin, who was born from a hunter, as "the first fierce general of the Xiang Army" and was one of the early leaders of the Xiang Army. Purely from the perspective of founding the Xiang Army, Li Xubin was an elder, older than Zeng Guofan, second only to Jiang Zhongyuan and Luo Zenan. Judging from the actual battle process, Li Xubin did not talk about much "fierceness", during the Battle of the Three Rivers, Li Xubin committed suicide after only one day of persistence, but other generals were able to break through.
From the perspective of combat bravery, Jiang Yilan, Liu Tenghong, Bao Chao, and Duo Long'a are the tough generals, of which Bao Chao is the most famous. It is said that Bao Chao fought more than 500 battles in his lifetime, and suffered 108 injuries in his body, but he never suffered defeat, which can be described as brave. Some people also said that as soon as King Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng, the King of Zhong, saw Bao Chao's banner, they immediately turned around and left, without even having the courage to fight. Bao Chao is brave and fierce, but there are many bragging ingredients. In 1860, the Taiping Army fought Xiaochiyi, and Chen Yucheng could defeat Bao Chao, but he was unlucky.
In November 1858, Zeng Guofan was drinking tea in his hometown in Hunan, talking with his staff about the general situation in the world and expressing his dissatisfaction with the Xianfeng Emperor. In the five years since the founding of the Xiang Army, the Xianfeng Emperor only wanted to use Zeng Guofan as a gun and let the Xiang Army act as "cannon fodder". At this time, the servant walked in, his face was extremely heavy, and told Zeng Guofan that the Xiang army had been defeated miserably, 6,000 elite soldiers had been completely annihilated by Chen Yucheng in Sanhe Town, and Zeng Guohua was unfortunately martyred.
Desperately rushing to kill for the Qing Dynasty, did not get an official and a half-job, and now has a younger brother dead, Zeng Guofan is very uncomfortable, and he can't eat for a few days. Wanting to avenge his brother, Zeng Guofan was not yet qualified, because the Xianfeng Emperor had no intention of letting him out of the mountains, and Zeng Guofan could mobilize very few troops. At this time, Zeng Guofan thought of a person, that is, Hu Linyi, who was known as the first person of Zhongxing's famous ministers, and hoped that he could revitalize the Xiang Army.
Originally, Li Xubin obeyed the command of Hu Linyi, won every battle, and was very arrogant. During the Battle of the Three Rivers, Hu Linyi returned home to "Ding You", and Li Xubin was alone, and as a result, he was crippled by Chen Yucheng. The town of Three Rivers was defeated, and Hu Linyi was also very uncomfortable, because it was his elite that was lost. However, Hu Linyi soon ushered in an opportunity to revitalize the Xiang Army.
Li Zhaoshou, a notorious warlord, "surrendered" back and forth between the Qing Dynasty, the Twist Army, and the Taiping Army, and could be called a family slave with three surnames, Lü Bu of the late Qing Dynasty. After the Battle of the Three Rivers, Chen Yucheng's fame soared, and he was dissatisfied with Li Zhaoshou, who had always been unruly and liked to indulge soldiers to rob him, and prepared to clean him up. Li Zhaoshou was also not troubled, he directly surrendered to the Chincha minister Shengbao, and sacrificed three cities in Jiangbei, such as Quanjiao, Chuzhou, and Lai'an, and also directly led troops to capture Pukou and Jiangpu, resulting in the fifth siege of Tianjing.
The Tianjing battlefield was in a hurry, and Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng could only concentrate their forces to guard Tianjing and eliminate the enemy around them. At this time, Hubei Inspector Hu Linyi commanded all kinds of soldiers and horses to directly attack Anhui, conquer Qianshan and Paradise Town, and besiege Taihu Lake, threatening the fortress of Anqing. During this crusade, Duolong'a, Bao Chao, Jiang Ningxue, Jin Guochen, Tang Xunfang, etc. all participated in the battle, of which Duolong'a was the commander of the front line, and the Xiang army camp was very luxurious.
The Xiang army besieged Taihu Lake, and Chen Yucheng had to lead reinforcements to fight with the Hu Lin Wing Army. At this time, Li Xiucheng remained in the Tianjing battlefield, and there were not many troops, and Chen Yucheng could not count on the help of King Zhong. Fortunately, Zhang Lexing, Gong Deshu and other twister generals were righteous enough, and they led their troops south to cooperate with the Taiping Army, and Chen Yucheng had about 40,000 soldiers available.
The Taiping army was so powerful and fierce that it directly attacked Taihu Lake, and Hu Linyi ordered Duolong'a and Bao Chao to withdraw from Taihu City and camp at Xiaochiyi, 20 miles east of Taihu Lake, to stop Chen Yucheng's army. Xiaochiyi, located in the east of Taihu Lake, is an important passage to enter Anqing, and its strategic position is very important. In order to curb the throat of the Taiping Army, Bao Chao led the "Thunder Army" to set up a large camp here, and the front was hard chen Yucheng.
Chen Yucheng once said that the Xiang army could fight three, Li Xubin, Li Mengqun, and Bao Chao, and the rest were all defeated generals, which was not enough to be troubled. Among them, Li Xubin and Li Mengqun have been killed by him, and there is only one Bao Chao left, if they can destroy the "Thunder Army" and kill Bao Chao, Chen Yucheng will not be able to live. The result? Chen Yucheng could almost get Bao Chao, but he was unlucky and was counterattacked by the Xiang Army.
Hearing that Bao Chao was encamped, Chen Yucheng immediately led his troops to attack, first using artillery to bombard, and then sending infantry to charge. For several days in a row, the "Thunder Army" could not eat, the troops were exhausted, and the casualties were also very heavy. Shi Zai: "More and more advances, day and night ring attack." The tents of the Thunder Character Camp were all cracked by cannons, the soldiers were injured, and the trees were broken several times, and the danger was imminent. Bao Chao whipped the soldiers and stubbornly defended the camp. ”
At the same time as besieging Bao Chao, Chen Yucheng also attached importance to the fortification of the rear road to prevent the Xiang army from reinforcing Bao Chao. After half a month of the battle, Bao Chao could not hold on, and the camp was in danger of being captured. At this time, Duolong'a sent cavalry to sneak attack from behind, Chen Yucheng had already taken precautions, and the Qing army lost more than 1300 people, including two Manchurian Eight Banner generals who were killed. The reinforcements were defeated, the Taiping Army was full of morale, and once again launched an attack on Bao Chao's camp, and at night it also continued to harass, and the "Thunder Army" was on the verge of collapse.
The situation was full of crises, and Hu Linyi ordered Bao Chao to break through and preserve his living forces, but was refused. Bao Chao did not want to break through, but Hu Linyi could not help but rescue him, because Bao Chao was cultivated by him and was one of the three major Kongs of hu linyi's legion, second only to Li Xubin and Duolong'a. In order to rescue Bao Chao, Hu Linyi sent Duolong'a and Tang Xunfang to fight, and let the two of them find a fighter to break into the siege and rescue Bao Chao.
Duo Long'a and Tang Xunfang joined forces, but did not confront Chen Yu head-on. At this time, the Taiping Army won consecutive victories, and the "Thunder Army" was exhausted, so they relaxed their guard. The Taiping army's defenses were lax, and Duolong'a and Tang Xunfang took the opportunity to enter Xiaochiyi from the weak defensive point and join Bao Chao. However, Duolonga and Tang Xunfang did not leave with Bao Chao, but changed their defenses with the "Thunder Army" and let the "Thunder Army" go to rest.
When the Xiang army changed defenses, Chen Yucheng suddenly launched an attack, concentrating his forces on Attacking Tang Xunfang. As a result, tang xunfang's headquarters killed more than 1,000 people, and Tang Xunfang himself could not support it, and directly broke out and returned to Taihu Lake, looking very embarrassed. Duolong'a and Bao Chao continued to be besieged at Xiaochiyi, and although more than 7,000 Xiang troops desperately held out, Chen Yucheng brought in artillery and continued to shell the Xiang army camp, and the Twist army cavalry intercepted the Reinforcements of the Xiang Army on the periphery, and DuoLong'a and Bao Chao once fell into despair.
Unfortunately, Chen Yucheng's luck was really bad, the Qing Dynasty had strong national strength, the Xiang Army was a group operation, there were many mobile troops that could be mobilized, and the Taiping Army could not survive after all. Although Chen Yucheng's offensive was rapid, the grain supply could not keep up, the Taiping Army's water division was not strong, and the material supply could only be taken by land, but not the Yangtze River, and the transportation volume was limited. Hu Linyi seized the weakness of the Taiping Army, mobilized soldiers and horses from all over the country, and asked Jin Guochen to lead more than 10,000 elite soldiers to sneak into the Taiping Army's grain road.
The Taiping Army had logistical problems and its morale was shaken, so Chen Yucheng could only withdraw his troops from Xiaochiyi, and as a result, he was attacked by the Xiang army on both sides and suffered heavy losses. Chen Yucheng withdrew his troops, and the Taihu defenders could not hold on, and could only break through. Then, the Xiang army rested for three months, and then directly killed Anqing.
From the Battle of Xiaochiyi, it can be seen that if he fights alone and does not rely on group combat, Chen Yucheng can defeat Bao Chao and Duo Long'a. In the group combat mode, Bao Chao was only part of the Xiang Army's camp, and Chen Yucheng's unit was the essence of the Taiping Army. If Chen Yucheng is determined to win at any cost, Bao Chao and Duo Long'a are not his opponents. Unfortunately, Chen Yucheng's capital was too small to withstand the toss, even if he could defeat Bao Chao and Duo Long'a, he would also be seriously injured. On the other hand, even without Bao Chao and Duolong'a, Hu Linyi could find a replacement, and the Xiang army would soon be able to recover.
Bibliography: History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom