China's hundred family name rankings, "Zhao Qiansun Li, Zhou Wu Zheng Wang", although the order of these eight surnames has changed, but generally in the top ten, the influence is very large. Of course, the influence of the "Li" surname is greater, because many ancient emperors were surnamed "Li", such as the Tang Emperor was surnamed "Li". In addition to the emperor, there were also many famous generals with the surname "Li": Li Wenzhong, Li Chengliang, Li Rusong, Li Cunxiao (the first fierce general of the five generations), Li Sheng (Caizhou under the snowy night), Li Guang, Li Ling, and so on. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, the Xiang Army camp was also full of stars, which ones were surnamed "Li"? Five of them are more famous, two were killed by the British king Chen Yucheng, and one of them hanged the wing king Shi Dakai. Let's take a look, welcome to comment.
01. Li Yuandu. To be precise, Li Yuandu was not a tough general, but a Confucian general, and was one of the few capable people among Zeng Guofan's staff, but it was a pity that Zeng Guofan was not accustomed to him, and the two fell out behind. Zeng Guofan repeatedly wrote to Li Yuandu for no reason and demolished his platform, and Li Yuandu was sent to serve as a military platform; Li Yuandu was not accustomed to Zeng Guofan's personality and his style, and also wrote poems to satirize him, saying that he was "ungrateful." In April 1854, Zeng Guofan personally led a large army to the north to fight against the Taiping Army, and was killed by Zeng Tianyang and Shi Xiangzhen in Jinggang, and committed suicide by throwing himself into the water. In fact, Li Yuandu had long expected that Zeng Guofan would be defeated, and would make an impulsive trick of "throwing himself into the water to commit suicide", so he arranged for Zhang Shoulin to board the ship in advance and closely watched Zeng Guofan's every move. Zeng Guofan threw himself into the water twice, but Zhang Shoulin fished him out of the water, otherwise he would "martyr the country with his body and serve the imperial court". Later, Zeng Guofan asked Li Yuandu to lead his troops to Huizhou alone to fight, resulting in heavy losses, and Zeng Guofan participated in the impeachment of Li Yuandu in order to shirk his responsibility. For this reason, Li Yuandu was very dissatisfied, and directly went home to recruit 8,000 soldiers and horses, and ran to mix with Wang Youling, the governor of Zhejiang. Unfortunately, before Li Yuandu arrived, Wang Youling committed suicide. For this reason, Zeng Guofan impeached Li Yuandu again, and later impeached him again in the folds of Chen Youli and Zheng Kuishi, and if it were not for Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, and Shen Baozhen, Li Yuandu would have been very unlucky.
02. Li Xubin. This person was a senior disciple of Luo Zenan, the originator of the Xiang Army, and one of the important founders of the Xiang Army, who took the lead in using the title of "Xiang Army" and was known as the "First General of the Xiang Army" because of his invincibility. In September 1853, Li Xubin led 2,000 elite soldiers from Changsha to rescue Nanchang and fought with the "iron rooster" Shi Xiangzhen, although he could not win the battle, but his spirit of daring to fight was still commendable. In December 1856, Li Xubin took the city of Wuchang and swept through the Hubei Taiping Army. In August 1858, Li Xubin attacked Jiujiang, annihilating 17,000 Taiping troops, and the defender Lin Qirong was disemboweled. In October 1858, Li Xubin withdrew from Anqing and led 8,000 elite veterans to Lianke Taihu, Qianshan, Tongcheng, and Shucheng, and the army reached Sanhe Town. At this time, Li Xubin still had 6,000 soldiers and horses in hand (the rest were stationed in the rear), and he directly pounced on Luzhou and attacked the town of Sanhe. However, he met Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng, two generals, and as a result, he was "wrapped in dumplings", the whole army was destroyed, and he himself was killed on the battlefield. Hu Linyi lamented: "In the aftermath of a hundred battles, if the whole army is cold, these tens of thousands of people will move and not fight again." ”
03. Li Xuyi. As the saying goes: "Fight the tiger brothers, fight the father and son soldiers", as the younger brother of Li Xubin, the first fierce general of the Xiang Army, he also worshiped Luo Zenan as a teacher, and Li Xuyi was also a brave and invincible fierce general, but the light was covered by his brother, and few people paid attention to it. In the summer and autumn of 1857, Li Xuyi led 4,000 soldiers and horses and Chen Yucheng to fight in Huangshan, Hubei Province, for two days and two nights, breaking more than 100 fortifications in a row, and driving the Taiping Army out of Hubei. In August 1859, Li Xuyi led 11,000 elite Xiang troops to reinforce Baoqing from Hubei and fought against The Wing King Shi Dakai, who fought seven battles and seven victories, and Shi Dakai was forced to take a defensive position. In mid-August, Li Xuyi led his troops to smuggle across the Zijiang River successfully, opening a gap in the northeast of the Taiping Army, Shi Dakai's troops collapsed, and the siege of Baoqing was lifted. However, Li Xuyi did not intend to let Shi Dakai go, but took advantage of the victory to pursue him and hang him one after another, and Shi Dakai had to flee to Guangxi for refuge. Thus, the prelude to the defeat of the Wing King was opened. In the winter of 1860, Li Xuyi joined forces with Duolong'a, attacked from north to south, and beat Chen Yucheng at the Trailer River, making the siege of Anqing even more critical. In October 1863, Li Xuyi died of illness and was unable to lead his army into Tianjing, which was a bit regrettable.
04. Li Mengqun. Before his death, King Chen Yucheng made a brief evaluation of the generals in the Xiang army camp, and he believed that there were only three people who could be called opponents, "two Li and one bao". Among them, "Er Li" refers to Li Xubin and Li Mengqun; "Yi Bao" refers to Bao Chao, a fierce man who is famous and has fought more than 500 battles in his life, suffered 108 scars, and has never been defeated. Li Mengqun can become a fierce enemy of the British king Chen Yucheng, naturally there are two sons, mainly because he is good at using the water division to fight, and has repeatedly embarrassed Chen Yucheng. In October 1854, Li Mengqun led the Xiang Army's water division to attack Huangzhou and Guangji from the east of Wuchang, Chen Yucheng fled in defeat; in the Battle of Tianjia town and Banbi Mountain, Li Mengqun's water division killed the Taiping Army's water camp as the main force, burning more than 4,000 ships, and the Yan kings Qin Rigang and Wei Jun fled in defeat. However, the xenophobic sentiment within the Xiang Army was very serious, and Li Mengqun, a native of Henan, was expelled from the bureau, and Yang Zaifu and Peng Yulin of Hunan were replaced. After leaving the water division, Li Mengqun began to recruit troops on his own, leading the army to fight, mainly competing with the Taiping Army for northern Anhui, and was awarded the title of Inspector of Anhui for his merits. Unfortunately, Li Mengqun led the army very generally, and was later beaten up by Chen Yucheng and executed for refusing to surrender.
05. Lee Kwang-ku. As the saying goes: "The father of the tiger has no dog", as the second son of the fierce general Li Xubin, Li Guangjiu is also very brave and good at war, and he is unstoppable. In November 1858, Li Xubin suffered a crushing defeat at Sanhe and 6,000 elites were killed, at this time Li Guangjiu was only 13 years old, but he took the initiative to kill the enemy and surrendered to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Of course, the most praiseworthy thing about Li Guangjiu is that he personally led 1,500 veterans to reinforce Niuzhuang and waged a bloody battle with more than 12,000 Japanese troops, not only freeing Wei Guangtao from the siege, but also taking the initiative to break the rear, so that the Japanese army did not dare to pursue. Although the Battle of Niuzhuang ended with the defeat of the Xiang Army, the Xiang Army attacked the masses with less, "fighting straight ahead, the soldiers have fallen into the land of death, and all of them are worthy of admiration for fighting for sovereignty and dignity.". In 1899, the Italian Far East Fleet threatened to invade Zhejiang and Fujian, and Li Guangjiu led 36 battalions of soldiers and horses to Ningbo to resist the enemy and prepare for battle. In modern history, the combat effectiveness and will to fight of the Italian army were all worrisome, and seeing Li Guangjiu leading the army to come and posing as a fighter, he had to give up the attack and failed to gain half a benefit.
From the above, it can be seen that in the Camp of the Xiang Army, Li Yuandu, Li Xubin, Li Xuyi, Li Mengqun, Li Guangjiu and other 5 generals with the surname of "Li" are relatively famous, and they have also made many military achievements. Of course, the fiercest ones are Li Xubin and Li Xuyi brothers, who are definitely the pillars of the Xiang Army. Unfortunately, Li Xubin and Li Mengqun both died at the hands of Chen Yucheng, and if they could lead the army to resist the great powers, they should also be able to make a lot of merit. What do you think about that?