In early 1864, when the "two-year period" agreement with Li Xiucheng expired, Chen Decai led an army of 200,000 men from Guanzhong to the south in three ways, trying to attack the rear of the Xiang army and lift the siege of Tianjing. In July, Chen Decai's army arrived in Hubei to prepare for the Eastern Expedition, but Tianjing fell and the soldiers lost their goal. In December, Chen Decai's army was defeated at Heishidu in Huoshan Mountain, more than 100,000 people surrendered, Chen Decai committed suicide by taking poison, and the "Guanzhong Army" was lost.
Chen Decai committed suicide, and Lai Wenguang, the King of Zun, led 4,000 soldiers and horses to break through and became a fighting force of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the north. For the sake of the Zhongxing Heavenly Kingdom, Lai Wenguang decided to join hands with Zhang Zongyu, Ren Huabang, Li Yuntai and other leaders of the "Twist Army" to form the "New Taiping Army", or "New Twist Army", and continue to persist in the anti-Qing struggle. The reorganized army has a large number of cavalry and is very mobile, which is incomparable to the Eight Banners, the Xiang Army, and the Huai Army.
Fighting under the banner of the Taiping Heavenly Flag, Zhang Zongyu sealed the King of Liang, the King of Renhua State, and li Yuntai the King of Wei, and the main battlefield was placed in the Central Plains, directly threatening the core area of the Qing Dynasty. In May 1865, with a strong cavalry force, Lai Wenguang, Zhang Zongyu and Ren Huabang successfully surrounded and annihilated the elite of the Eight Banners in Heze Gaolouzhai, Shandong, and the Mongolian horse team killed more than 7,000 people, and the first Mongolian general, The Monk Greenqin, was killed by small soldiers.
After the great victory of the high-rise buildings, Lai Wenguang and others moved to Henan, Hebei, Hubei, and Shandong, repeatedly breaking through the "canal defense line" of Zeng Guofan, once advancing into Sichuan, and the Qing Dynasty was shaken. At the beginning of 1867, the two sides dueled on the banks of the Yinlong River, the Huai army lost more than 4,000 people, Liu Mingchuan almost became a prisoner, if it were not for Bao Chao rushing to the rescue, the main force of the Huai army would be completely annihilated, and Li Hongzhang would have no political capital.
Although Bao Chao's "Thunder Army" was brave and good at fighting, Lai Wenguang's army was not bad, and 14 senior generals of the "Thunder Army" were killed, countless soldiers were killed and wounded, and Bao Chao himself was seriously injured. The Chronicle of heaven records: "And Bao Chao's injured person is also cool and does not dare to force it." In this way, the Qing army did not dare to pursue, and Lai Wenguang was able to regroup.
After the Battle of Yinlong River, Bao Chao was impeached and removed from his post by Li Hongzhang, unable to continue to lead the army to fight, and the "Thunder Army" was completely disbanded. Lai Wenguang's wife and Ren Huabang's fiancée were also captured by the Qing army, and both sides suffered heavy losses. Liu Mingchuan's army was seriously injured, and it was impossible to pursue the "New Taiping Army" at all, and could only rest first. In this way, Zeng Guofan's cousin, the "Jizi Battalion" fierce general Peng Yutang became a forward general, leading 6,000 elite soldiers to pursue, the result was very tragic.
His wife and fiancée were captured, but Lai Wenguang and Ren Huabang did not lose their fighting spirit. After retreating to Xinyang, Lai Wenguang ordered his soldiers to cut down bamboo, sharpen it, roast it with fire, and make it into weapons. Shi Zai: "The uniforms were lost, and even as far as Xinyang was concerned, the pursuing troops were drifting away, but they were fighting to cut green bamboo as spears, and the crowd was slightly slashed, to more than 30,000, all of them were elite in hundreds of battles, and the momentum was revived." ”
Although the weapons were rudimentary, the soldiers were all "veterans" and very experienced, and Lai Wenguang's army soon recovered. Using bamboo as a weapon to temporarily solve the weapon problem, Lai Wenguang once again led his troops south into Hubei territory, trying to enter Sichuan again, and as a result, a battle broke out with Peng Yu's orange army.
Peng Yutang, the cousin of Zeng Guofan, a famous minister of Zhongxing, Xiao Yong is good at war, is one of the top ten famous generals of the "Jizi Camp", second only to Li Chendian, Zhu Hongzhang, and Xiao Fusi, and has strong military ability. After the dissolution of the "Jizi Battalion", Peng Yutang returned home with a huge fortune to retire, and later Zeng Guoquan served as the inspector of Hubei, leading troops to resist the "New Taiping Army", and invited his cousin Peng Yutang to go out of the mountains to assist and make meritorious achievements. Unexpectedly, Zeng Guoquan's move killed his cousin.
Out of the mountains again, Peng Yutang is more as a "fire captain" than a forward general, without Liu Mingchuan, Bao Chao, Guo Songlin, Zhang Shushan and other eye-catching. At this time, Bao Chao was relieved of his duties, Liu Mingchuan was seriously injured, Guo Songlin was seriously injured, Zhang Shushan had long been killed, and Peng Yutang became a pioneer general. At this time, Peng Yutang became the hope of the Xiangjun clique, and if the battle merits could be established, the "Ping twisting merit" would no longer be the patent of the Huai Army.
The commander of Lai Wenguang's army drove straight in, successively conquered Huangmei and Huanggang, and the soldiers were in full swing. Peng Yutang left a small number of soldiers and horses to guard the camp, so he personally led the main reinforcements and prepared for a decisive battle with Lai Wenguang and Ren Huabang. As a result, Peng Yutang was once again ambushed and was surrounded and beaten by Lai Wenguang's army.
The infantry and cavalry of the Xiang Army cooperated in combat, and were equipped with many foreign guns and cannons, and the firepower advantage was obvious. Lai Wenguang's army, which used bamboo as a weapon, could not resist the Xiang army head-on, and could only win with a plan. The Xiang army chased after it, and Ren Huabang led the cavalry to engage it, and at the slightest contact, it "routed" and ran wildly. Peng Yu was overjoyed, believing that Lai Wenguang's legion was already vulnerable and that the great achievement was about to be completed. Shi Zai: "Hua Bang and others are still the same as the old wisdom, and they have repeatedly circled to get old. ”
The Xiang Army has advantages in equipment, but there are many infantry and mobility is not good. After continuous pursuit, the soldiers of the Xiang Army were exhausted, but they could not fight the main force of Lai Wenguang's army, but were led by the nose. Shi Zai: "Yu Tangerine and other multi-foot pawns, staggering from it, are tired and unable to fight." It can be seen that Peng Yutang has made a plan, and Ren Huabang and Lai Wenguang lured the enemy to go deeper, looking for the best opportunity to annihilate the enemy.
In Huanggang in February, the fog was thick and the soldiers' vision was obstructed. At this time, Ren Huabang and Lai Wenguang led the cavalry to suddenly charge from both sides, and the Xiang army located in the ambush circle was blocked by the line of sight and could not shoot, and fell into passivity. The cavalry fought with bamboo, and with a strong impact, the Xiang army was pierced, and the general Peng Youguang was the first to beheaded, and the Xiang army was suddenly confused.
The general was killed on the battlefield, and the main general Peng Yutang decided to withdraw his army and fight a decisive battle after the smog cleared. However, the fog was so thick that even the road could not be seen clearly, and with the panic during the retreat, Peng Yutang accidentally fell into the quagmire with his horse and could not move. As the saying goes, "the tiger fell in Pingyang and was bullied by the dog", even if Peng Yutang was brave and invincible, he could not fight back, and could only be slaughtered.
At this time, a gang of creeps came over and helped him "harvest the heads". Shi Zai: "Yu Tangerine retreated urgently, blocked the mud, the people and horses fell, ambushed soldiers, layer by layer, Yu Tangerine and his Daoist officer Ge Chenglin were beheaded." Without the main general, the Xiang army was chaotic into a pot of porridge, and more than a dozen senior military generals such as admirals and general soldiers were killed; more than 6,000 soldiers were killed, and almost the entire army was destroyed. Shi Zai: "Fifteen miles after the corpse was ambushed, the new Xiang Yong was six thousand and several times gone, and those who survived were depressed and could not return to battle." ”
In the Huanggang ambush battle, Lai Wenguang's army used bamboo as a weapon to ambush the Xiang army on a foggy day, killing 6,000 elite opponents, and killing more than ten people in the battle, which can be described as a huge victory. Unfortunately, Lai Wenguang did not have a fixed base area, logistics supplies could not be guaranteed, and he was doomed to not be able to fight for a long time, and eventually defeat was inevitable.
Bibliography: History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Chronicle of the Kingdom of Heaven