The Grand Canal was used militarily
There are two kinds of strategy and tactics
Transport of military supplies
Basically strategic
And use the river water and terrain
Basically tactical
The Qing army pacified the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Yulian Town, using the tactic of flooding the city with river water.
Lianzhen is located in the south of Dongguang County, was founded in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, because it spans the South Canal and is connected by six villages on both sides of the branch, also known as Lianwo Town. Lianzhen has convenient water and land transportation, developed commerce, prosperous population, abundant accumulation, and is known as "merchants gathered, eight parties through the Qu".
After the Taiping Army occupied the town, it quickly collected grain and grass and built fortifications. In the nearby villages, there were 5 small camps, thinking that the horns were strong. In order to facilitate mutual support, they used boats and wood to build two pontoon bridges to connect the towns of Donglian and Xilian into one, and Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang were stationed in the towns of Xilian and Donglian, hoping to rely on the favorable terrain to hold on to the town for a long time.
Soon, more than 20,000 Qing troops gathered in Lianzhen and surrounded it. Senggelinqin personally commanded the Qing army to attack the towns of Donglian and Xilian at the same time. Lin and Li commanded the Taiping Army to resist the enemy with all its might. After receiving the information that the reinforcements had arrived in Shandong, Lin Fengxiang decided to send Li Kaifang to the south with elite cavalry to meet the reinforcements. Under the cover of Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang broke through.
After Li Kaifang left, the monk Greenqin launched frequent attacks. The Taiping Army relied on strong fortifications to inflict heavy casualties on the Qing army. Later, the monk Greenqin changed his tactics and turned to "attacking with siege", ordering the long trench on the west bank of the canal to be tightened by more than 1,000 zhang, shortening the battle line, and approaching the Taiping army camp. He also dispatched the Inspector of Shandong to send people to dig the Sinu Temple upstream of Lianzhen into the river, drain the canal water, try to divert water to flood Lianzhen, and order the villagers of the neighboring townships of Lianzhen to build an earthen wall in sections. This long fence between the canal, the ring town, surrounded by hugs, the circumference of more than 70 miles, the height of 1 to 2 zhang, the upper width of several people can patrol synchronously, every three miles to build a fort, there are three trenches outside, both as a fortification to prevent the enemy to rush out, but also as a water storage cofferdam. Lin Fengxiang took advantage of the Qing army's adjustment of deployment, dug several long trenches outside the camp, gradually built a "wooden city" about thirty miles long to strengthen the defensive line, and repeatedly took the initiative to attack and constantly harassed the Qing army.
In July, the rain surged and the water in the South Canal soared, and the Qing army took the opportunity to dig up the embankment of the canal and divert water to flood the town. Some small villages around Lianzhen were flooded, and the Taiping army had to gather in Lianzhen, and the Qing army took the opportunity to tighten the encirclement. In August, the long siege built by the Qing army on both sides of the strait was completed, and the Taiping Army lost the last chance to break through. The monk Greenqin ordered that water be diverted to flood the town. The water depth in Donglian Town was 23 to 45 feet, and most of the houses collapsed, but the terrain in the west of the river was higher and was not flooded. The Taiping Army was short of grain and grass supplies. In the winter, the Taiping Army ran out of grain and rice, and even people couldnibalized people, morale was low, and unstable elements in the army defected to the enemy one after another.
In February of the following year, the Senggelinqin overseers attacked the towns of Donglian and Xilian at the same time. Qingqi attacked donglian town, but could not be conquered because of the thick walls and tight defense. Yuanwai Lang Ruixi succeeded in attacking Xilian Town, and Lin Fengxiang and more than 2,000 officers and men turned to Donglian Town to defend it to the death. In March, the Qing army launched a general attack on donglian town from all sides, and Lin Fengxiang's troops were defeated and captured, and sent to Beijing. In May, Li Kaifang was captured at Feng Guantun in Chiping, Shandong. At this point, the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was declared a failure.
The Qing Dynasty pacified the Taiping Army using the tactics of irrigating the city with the water of the Grand Canal, while the Pingding Twister Army took advantage of the terrain to encircle and suppress.
In March 1868, the Western Twister Army led by Zhang Zongyu entered the territory of Shandong to fight, and the Qing court ordered the Minister of Qincha, Li Hongzhang, to president of the Qing army in Shandong to surround the Northern Twister Army. Shi Twist's army attempted to cross from Dongguang to the west without success, and continued to follow the canal north, trapping Nanpi. In April, the Twister army attacked Jinghai and advanced into Tianjin in an attempt to capture it. Under the resistance of the Qing army, the plan to fight north of the West Twist failed, so it had to go south along the coast and enter Yangxin and Haifeng in Shandong from Yanshan.
The Qing court ordered Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Ding Baozhen and other overseers to prevent blockades on the east and west banks of the canal. The Tongzhi Emperor decreed that "the thieves are now in the corner of the sea, and they can take this opportunity to surround themselves on three sides and kill them on the spot." Li Hongzhang quickly supervised the various armies of the former enemy, circled step by step, joined forces with one heart, and conscientiously suppressed them, and within one month, he annihilated all the thieves and bandits."
In order to coordinate the various actions of the Qing army, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang met in Dezhou, and both advocated the use of terrain to besiege the Western Twister Army, and Zuo Zongtang believed that "in the current situation, the thieves entered the east from Tianjin, blocked the sea in the east, blocked the Yellow River in the south, and the canal in the west was full of water and trapped in the foot of the horse." Based on the experience of "blocking first and then intercepting" the Eastern Twister Army in the past, Li Hongzhang held that "when the defense of the canal is the right thing, the war is strange, and the land hundreds of miles along the seashore is donated to bait thieves, our army bears the kelp river, eats the eastern and Yu millets, and monopolizes the side of the canal to control its fate, and the thieves will be destroyed." "With regard to the fortification of the canal line and the east corner of the sea, the terrain is relatively favorable," li hongzhang proposed a plan to eliminate the Zhidong battlefield north of the Yellow River, east of the canal, and south of the Tianjin River.
The specifics are as follows: In the north, with the river reduction as the defensive line, a long wall was built along the north bank, and the Huai army and regiments under the Tianjin Yang Gun Brigade, Pan Dingxin, and Viceroy Yang Dingxun were trained to garrison and prevent the Western Twister Army from going north again to threaten the Beijing-Tianjin region; in the west, the canal was used as a defensive line, and the water of the Yellow River was diverted into the canal in the Zhangqiu area, and a long wall was built on the west bank, and the Qing army of Zhili, Shandong, and Anhui provinces was stationed in sections, and the regiments of nearby prefectures and counties were trained to assist, and the artillery ships of the marine division of the general Ding Changchun were dispatched to Dezhou to patrol the water surface and strengthen the defense; the Yellow River was used as a defense line in the south. Blockade all ferries, transfer all ships to the south bank, and be guarded by local officials in Shandong; to the east is the sea, and fishing boats are strictly forbidden to go to the sea to prevent the twister army from crossing the sea. As for the construction of the long wall, in addition to ordering the army to do so, landlords and gentry were also mobilized to participate by promising titles and tax exemptions. At the same time, the huai and xiang armies, which were stronger in strength, were dispatched as guerrilla divisions to break into the coastal areas and carry out encirclement, pursuit, and blockade attacks in an attempt to eliminate the Western Twister Army in this area.
In May and June, the Qing army attacked and won in succession. Soon, Li Hongzhang sent Liu Mingchuan to the New Force horse army to assist in the battle, and the military momentum was greatly enhanced, and the circle twist army was between Tujiao, Huang, and Yun. Liu Mingchuan mobilized Ma Bu to attack and pursued him for miles; as Guo Songlin came from the east, Ma Bu's whole army covered the way, and the river was chaotic and muddy, and the Twist Army had nothing to eat, the ministry party was dissolved, and tens of thousands of people disappeared. Liu and Guo's two armies of 5,000 or 6,000 men attacked in unison, and countless were killed; Zhang Zongyu went to the water to die (actually fled to Nanang Dagang Kongjiazhuang and died after more than twenty years of hiding his name), and Xi Kuping.
In the process of pacifying the Western Twister Army, local officials, gentry, and civilians in the Cangzhou area made great contributions, and their deeds are recorded in the local chronicle.
The Republic of China's "Chronicle of Jiaohe County", Volume 10, "Miscellaneous Chronicles and Strategies": "In April of the seventh year of Tongzhi, the bandit Zhang Zongyu was on the verge of crossing the border and sneaked to the east of the Royal River, and Zhu Shaogu of Zhixian County ordered the Tuanyi regiment to practice and build a wall on the west bank of the Royal River to defend. The county is in De'an. Volume VII" "Character History• Yixing, Li Guangjin Biography": "Seven years of Tongzhi, twist bandits... South channeling Ning, Wu, Jing, Cang and other places, but also to prevent the west bank of the canal. The thieves forced the sea in the east, the Yellow River in the south, the jiedi in the north, and the yunyun wall in the west, so that the soldiers suppressed it and played the skin gong. "The Chronicle of Cangxian County" of the Republic of China, Volume VIII, "Characters • Xiaoyi Liu Fengzhang's Biography": "In the seven years of Tongzhi, twisting against the north, Fengzhang practiced righteous courage, established township regiments, and interacted with officers and soldiers, and built a long wall on the west bank of the canal, patrolling day and night, twisting bandits did not dare to cross the west bank of the canal one step, and more than a hundred villages in Hexi were spared from being ravaged." ”
Reference books: "Jiaohe County Chronicle" of the Republic of China; "Cangxian Chronicle" of the Republic of China.