In November 1858, the Taiping Army completely annihilated more than 7,000 people in the Battle of The Three Rivers, and before that, Li Xubin's troops were known as the "prestige crown army" and were the ace troops of the Xiang Army.
After this battle, the commander of the Xiang Army, Zeng Guofan, the minister of Chincha, also had to admit that "the Battle of Sanhe was a battle of three rivers, and the vitality was seriously injured." ”
However, with zeng guofan's personality, although he lamented, but he also thought hard, wanting to lead the war situation to the point of his own advantage, at this time, he planned a place, that is, Anqing, if he could really take Anqing, this game of chess still had the possibility of resurrection.
Therefore, under the urgent consultation of Zeng Guofan and his subordinate Hu Linyi and others, and under the supervision of the Qing court, a plan to besiege Anqing with all his strength and finally advance into Tianjing was released.
Despite this, some Generals of the Xiang Army heard that they were going to besiege Anqing, as if they had not yet come out of the cloud of defeat in the Three Rivers, anqing was a base area that Chen Yucheng painstakingly operated.
Zhao Liewen, an aide to Zeng Guofan, expressed different opinions on this, analyzing that "chen Yucheng has been full of vigor since the victory of Sanhe, and it is advisable to avoid his sharp edges and not to act rashly."
However, Zeng Guofan believed that the current situation also had something favorable to himself, because of the "Tianjing Incident" in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the strength was internally depleted, and the wing king Shi Dakai led the troops out, and if he did not step up the attack at this time, it was very likely to miss the opportunity.
Because Chen Yucheng fought several victorious battles in succession, he was crowned king of England and became the main military general in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In November 1859, Zeng Guofan sent his brother Zeng Guoquan to command his army and kill Anqing, an important gateway to Tianjing.
At this moment of crisis, Chen Yucheng also dispatched troops in an intensive manner, sending the former military commander Wu Ruxiao to Anhui to get in touch with the Twist army, and at Qianshan, Chen Yucheng and zhang Luoxing, the leader of the Twist army, and Gong Deshu converged to discuss how to resist the Attack of the Qing Army.
In the end, it was decided to first attack the Qing army forwards, Bao Chao, duolong's troops, these two were "tough generals" who had fought with the Taiping Army countless times, and they were well aware of the Taiping Army's tactics, and the two armies fought one fierce battle after another, whether it was Zeng Guofan or Chen Yucheng personally came to the front line to reinforce and command.
But in the end, the Taiping Army was defeated by the Qing army, and Taihu Lake was lost.
At the same time, the Qing army's Jiangnan battalion outside Tianjing City, under the command of Admiral and Chun, began to dig trenches and build fortresses around Tianjing City, and the situation in Tianjing became extremely tense. Not only was the situation in Tianjing unfavorable, but the Taiping Army was also in a passive situation after losing the outer Taihu Lake and Qianshan Mountain, and at this time it returned to Tianjing and insisted on Anqing, which was in front of it.
Chen Yucheng made a military deployment, he led a part of the men back to Tianjing, ordered the taiping army generals, under the influence of Tian'an Yeyun to guard Anqing.
Chen Yucheng, with his excellent military command skills, quickly broke through the Jiangnan camp and lifted the siege of Tianjing.
At the military conference held in Tianjing, Chen Yucheng proposed that "at this time we must go all out to rescue Anqing", but some generals disagreed, believing that Jiangsu and Zhejiang were rich places and should concentrate on running Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Chen Yucheng stated the stakes, believing that Although Suzhou and Hangzhou were important, Anqing was the gateway to Tianjing, Anqing was lost, the portal was wide open, in a dilemma, the Yangtze River was like a snake, Hubei was a snake's head, Anqing was a snake's body, Jiangsu and Zhejiang were snake's tail, Anqing was lost, just like a snake was divided into two, how could the snake's head and snake's tail last long?
Therefore, at the insistence of Chen Yucheng and others, the high-level officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom decided to transfer the besieging Anqing garrison by li xiucheng the king of zhong and chen yucheng from the north and south, attacking Hubei and meeting Wuchang.
In March 1861, Chen Yucheng marched westward, successively conquering Pushui, Huangzhou, and pressing Hankou, an offensive that surprised The Governor of Huguang, Guan Wen.
However, although the commanders of the Xiang Army, Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi, also recognized that "the two lakes are the fundamental land of the Xiang Army", in this case, it has long been seen that this is the Taiping Army's strategy of moving the tiger away from the mountain and killing two birds with one stone, taking advantage of this opportunity to attack Anqing strongly, and did not take Chen Yucheng's pawn.
At the same time, Li Xiucheng, the loyal king who was supposed to attack Wuchang with the king, did not arrive. Because he only cared about running Suzhou and Hangzhou, he did not have enough understanding of this grand strategy, the march was slow, and the good opportunity was fleeting, so such a good plan of "encircling Wei and saving Zhao" was disrupted.
On the side of Anqing City, the repeated strong attacks of the Xiang Army have made the defenders of the city sleepy and tired, and even face the desperate situation of running out of ammunition and food. Ye Yun, who was influenced by Tian'an, inspected the city wall every day and supervised the defense. He knew that to defend Anqing was to defend Tianjing.
However, some of his subordinates believe that now that the outer camp has been lost, Anqing has become an isolated city, trapped here, is not it a cocoon to bind itself? Advocate all-out breakthrough, preserve strength, stay in the green mountains, and not be afraid of no firewood.
Ye Yunlai believed that this was the king's general's order, which could not be easily disobeyed, and he was ordered to stand firm and wait for help.
Chen Yucheng's side also already knew about Anqing's danger, on the one hand, he ordered his troops to guard Huangzhou and other places, and on the other hand, he personally led a large army to Anqing. In this way, the labor division went on an expedition, and the people were sleepy and lacking, but the good villains rushed to Anqing and set up camp to echo the defenders in the city.
The two armies faced each other, and the fierce fighting continued. Zeng Guofan also personally came to the scene to supervise the battle.
Because of Chen Yucheng's arrival, the situation in Anqing eased to a certain extent, and the defenders and grain and grass ammunition were replenished.
In order to save Anqing, the King of Gan, Hong Rengui, and the King of Zhang, Lin Shaozhang, also sent troops to assist, but He Nai was unstable, and was sniped by the Qing army and forced to withdraw.
At this time, Chen Yucheng's troops stationed at Jixian Pass on the outskirts of Anqing also ushered in a fierce offensive by the Xiang army, and although the barriers of Jixian Pass were strict, they could not withstand the strong attack and lost their defense.
The Qing army also suffered heavy losses, with the deputy generals Su Wenbiao and Dusi He Zongyao dead.
Chen Yucheng dispatched his troops and dispatched his troops, and he also tried his best to regain the lost land, and it was another fight, and Ji xianguan changed hands several times, lost it and regained it, and then built dozens of fortifications day and night to make a firm strategy.
However, the biggest problem faced was grain, grass and ammunition, which were extremely scarce at this time, and several times tried to open up contact with Anqing City, but most of them stopped outside Anqing City and were blocked by crisscrossing trenches.
In order to take Anqing City as soon as possible, the Xiang army finally took the method of digging tunnels and planting explosives in the city wall, just like the later capture of Tianjing.
In this way, on September 5, 1861, after night and day excavation, the winding tunnels penetrated under the city, and with a thunderous roar, the city wall was blown down, and the large Qing army rushed up to launch a fierce street battle with the Taiping Army in the city, which was no less tragic than any major battle, and finally ended the protracted Anqing defense war with the victory of the Qing army.
Within three years, Tianjing fell.
This article refers to some historical materials from the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, especially the process of the Anqing Defense War.