(i)
Except for Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan, who came from a big city, the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion were basically ordinary peasants who had never stepped out of the ravine, and they had no experience in military struggle at all and did not understand any strategic and tactical issues. Therefore, at the beginning of the uprising, the Taiping Army's combat was actually very clumsy.
After the Jintian Uprising, in the face of the attack of the Qing army, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom actually chose the most wrong tactic - holding the village to death.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom gathered in Dongxiang, Xinwei and other villages in the Zijing Mountains, waiting for the Qing army to attack. In this way, the Qing army could easily find the Taiping Army and surround it.
However, the Green Battalion soldiers of the Qing Dynasty were too corrupt and their combat effectiveness was pitifully low. The officers and men of the Taiping Army had many years of combat experience in "fighting with earth weapons", and at the same time, they had undergone the spiritual baptism of worshiping God, so everyone fought bravely and fought fiercely. Therefore, this led to the Qing army's siege of the Taiping Army and its inability to achieve results, but was often beaten by the Taiping Army.
Faced with this embarrassing situation, the Xianfeng Emperor desperately searched for so-called "elite soldiers" throughout the country, mobilized so-called "famous generals", and cobbled together a large army of encirclement and suppression with a total of more than 40,000 people, which was personally commanded by the chief military minister Sai Shang'a, hoping to achieve victory in one fell swoop and destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as soon as possible.
Faced with a large-scale attack by the Qing army, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom still adopted the method of passive defense to meet the enemy. They still circled around the Bauhinia Mountains, holding out in one place for a while, and moving to another place if they couldn't hold on.
In September 1851, the Taiping Army abandoned the previously fortified Xinxu Town, and on the way to the transfer, it annihilated Chu Yong, who was commanded by Xiang Rong, the number one general of the Qing army. Subsequently, on September 25, the Taiping Army captured the city of Yong'an Prefecture (永安州, in present-day Mengshan County, Guangxi), where a new round of fortification began.
For the vast majority of the officers and soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Yong'an Prefecture City is a "big city" that they have never seen before, so many people regard this place as a "small paradise" that Hong Xiuquan has repeatedly described, and they don't want to leave when they stay here. The Taiping Army stayed here for half a year.
A remote and backward mountain town like Yong'an is obviously not an ideal place to build a country and open a state, and the soldiers and civilians of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom linger here, which can only show that they have never seen the world and do not know how wonderful the outside world really is.
The Qing army immediately surrounded Yong'an City, but, as before, the subsequent attack of the Qing army was difficult to move forward, the progress was slow, and the Xianfeng Emperor was so anxious that the Xianfeng Emperor burned the fire, and there was no way to do anything.
By March 1852, the siege of the Qing army was finally beginning to bear fruit. Under the siege of the Qing army, the gunpowder and lead of the Taiping Army were gradually exhausted, and the salt was basically used up, and then whether it was combat or life, it would be a big problem.
The Qing army, on the other hand, transported more and more cannons around Yong'an City. Yong'an City was surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the Qing army built a fort to directly bombard the city, posing a serious threat to the Taiping Army.
Under such circumstances, the heads of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had to consider transferring again.
(ii)
On April 4, 1852, Hong Xiuquan issued the "Edict of the Heavenly King" in the form of a mountain song. The edict says (in fact, it should be sung): "... The male and female generals will hold knives and appear to dress only to replace. With the same heart and courage to kill demons, the burden of Jimbo is slowing down. After all the emotions are lifted to the sky, the golden brick house is rejuvenated. Gao Tian enjoyed great blessings and majesty, the smallest and most humble wore satin, men wore dragon robes and women arranged flowers, and each of them was a hero Ofoma Khan. ”
There is no way that the edict can be written in such a form, in the face of a team of ninety-nine percent illiterate people, even God must be able to sing two mountain songs to make the believers understand.
On the night of April 5, all the soldiers and their families of the Taiping Army, in accordance with the requirements of the Heavenly King's edict, went into battle lightly, abandoned the altar jars and jars, and brought only their clothes, and their hearts were filled with the desire for a happy life in heaven, abandoning Yong'an City and starting another transfer.
That night, torrential rain poured down and thunder and lightning combined. The Qing army never fought in such weather, hiding in the camp to rest, and even the scouts sent out were sloppy and perfunctory, going out and turning around casually and returning to make errands. Therefore, the Qing army was unaware of the transfer of the Taiping Army.
The Taiping army braved the heavy rain and left the city from the East Gate of Yong'an and swung all the way to the east. Li Xiucheng recalled: "... A small road from Gusu Chong crosses Zhaoping. Gu Suchong was guarded here by the Shouchun soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, and through the Luo Outline led the men and horses to break it, and the road had to be out of the pass. ”
Luo Gang led an army to attack the camp of Wang Menglin of the Qing army in Gusuchong. The Taiping Army then passed through here and continued to advance, marching along the route of Yulongguan, Longliaoling, Jingpingchong, and Dadong, with the goal of Zhaoping County, more than a hundred miles east of Yong'an Prefecture.
In the early hours of April 6, Sai Shang'a learned of the transfer of the Taiping Army, and he fell into the ice cave when he boarded. The siege of Yong'an, which cost tens of millions of taels of silver, was easily escaped by the Taiping Army, and Sai Shang'a could not account to the Xianfeng Emperor under any circumstances. Therefore, he hurriedly ordered that the Qing army of Ulantai, Xiang Rong and other troops should pursue with all their might and annihilate the Taiping Army.
Ulantai and Xiang Rong were the two main generals of the Qing army. Originally, Xiang Rong had always been recognized as the number one famous general in Tianzi, but since he was beaten by the Taiping Army in Guancun, Pingnan County, his reputation was greatly damaged. Ulantai, who had always been unconvinced by Xiang Rong, took advantage of the situation and became the number one military commander in charge of the Qing army (deputy capital commander-in-chief).
After Ulantai took office, he was full of energy. His record is so-so that it is still reasonable, and at the same time, he is full of people and is highly favored, so he has been praised one after another, and has been rewarded with one eye, yellow coat and so on. However, facing Yong'an City, he was also helpless. At the same time, Xiang Rong and him still had serious strategic differences, so the attack on Yong'an was also fruitless. Now that the Taiping Army had run away, Ulantai naturally knew that if he really let the Taiping Army go, he would also be affected, so he immediately gathered his men and horses and desperately chased after the Taiping Army in the direction of retreat.
(iii)
At this time, the Taiping Army had more than 20,000 people, but in fact, there were tens of thousands of people with combat effectiveness, and the rest were the family members of the army. During the breakout, Wei Changhui and Luo Gang led more than 2,000 people to open the way in front; Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, and Feng Yunshan led more than 5,000 people to the Chinese army, in addition to a large number of family members; Xiao Chaogui and Qin Rigang led more than 2,000 people to take charge of the rear.
The Taiping army withdrew from the pass of Gusuchong, and Qin Rigang was ordered to lead more than a thousand people to hold out at the pass and cover the retreat of the brigade.
On April 6, Ulantai led the Qing army to pursue Gusuchong, and immediately launched a fierce battle with Qin Rigang's men and horses. Qin Rigang took advantage of the dangerous terrain to stubbornly block the Qing army, causing a lot of casualties to the Qing army.
Seeing that the frontal assault was unsuccessful, Ulantai ordered the Qing army to climb up from the peaks on both sides and then attack downwards. This move was very clever, the Taiping Army was attacked by the Qing army rushing down the peaks on both sides, and could no longer hold on, so it had to retreat. Ulantai successfully rushed through the Gusu Chong Pass.
At this time, there were about 10,000 Qing soldiers under Ulantai, all of whom were so-called "elite". He commanded these "elites" to continue their pursuit. It rained heavily again at night, but fortunately there was an old barracks of the Qing army nearby, and Ulantai and others took temporary shelter here. After the rain stopped, they continued to pursue, and at dawn on April 7, they finally found a large group of Taiping Army men and horses in Longliao Ridge.
In addition to Qin Rigang's cover troops, this group of Taiping troops was mainly a large number of family members, women and children, and their march was slow due to heavy rain, and they did not march overnight under the pursuit of strong enemies, and even rested overnight in Longliao Ridge. As a result, he was caught up by the Qing army.
After Ulantai discovered the traces of the Taiping Army, he immediately ordered the Qing army to first seize the high ground of Longliao Ridge, and then rush down from the high ground to kill. Taking advantage of the thick fog in the early morning, the Qing army secretly climbed the peak of Longliao Ridge, and then launched a fierce attack on the Taiping Army that was still resting in the valley.
The Qing army had an absolute numerical superiority, and at least half of the Taiping army was a family member of the army, and at the same time it was beaten by the enemy, so the Taiping army was defeated.
Ulantai said in an afterthought: "... Our army attacked from a high position, killing two or three thousand thieves, of whom countless leaders of all sizes were counted. More than 30 pieces of bronze and iron cannons were seized, 400 or 500 pieces of guns and sub-mother cannons were raised, and about 2,000 pieces of swords and spears and flags were not taken. The corpses of thieves are pressed against the valley, the road is blocked, and the water is red..."
In the "Li Xiucheng Self-Description", it is said that the Taiping Army lost more than 2,000 people in this battle, accounting for one-tenth of the total number of the Taiping Army. It was the worst defeat of the Heavenly Kingdom since the uprising.
After the victory at the Battle of Longliao Ridge, Ulantai's arrogance soared, and he even stopped taking the Taiping Army in his eyes and tried to gain full merit with one blow. However, at this time, various objective conditions are not conducive to continuous combat. First, it rained heavily for several days, and the roads were slippery and difficult to navigate; second, the Qing army pursued them too quickly, and the logistics could not keep up. The Qing soldiers could only rely on the dry food they carried with them to fill their hunger, and most of them were hungry. In addition, what the Qing army did not know was that because the relatives of the Taiping Army were mainly killed in LongliaoLing, the taiping army officers were full of grief and indignation from top to bottom, and everyone was looking forward to fighting with the Qing army to the death and avenging their relatives. The Taiping Army has become a mourning army.
(iv)
Just when Ulantai was eager to try and wanted to take advantage of the victory to march, the veteran general Xiang Rong led his men and horses to catch up. When he learned that Ulantai was going to continue to advance, he hurriedly dissuaded him, and the rest of the generals also said that they were unable to fight any more in this situation. Therefore, Ulantai had to accept everyone's opinion, rest for a while, wait for the arrival of logistical supplies, and then continue to search and move forward after everyone had eaten.
It rained heavily again that night. At dawn, the rain stopped. At this time, the scouts sent out returned to report to Ulantai; traces of the Taiping Army were found in the Valley of Da tong, not far ahead. They were cooking on a fire and claiming to be moving in the direction of Xianhuiling.
Upon hearing this, Ulantai suddenly became excited, and regardless of the fact that the officers and men of the whole army had not yet come to breakfast, he immediately ordered a gathering to attack. Xiang Rong was resting in a grass hut on the hillside, and when he saw that Ulantai was about to attack, he hurried forward to stop him, suggesting that he send someone to reconnoiter clearly. Ulantai felt that Xiang Rong was jealous of himself and wanted to prevent him from making a new contribution. Therefore, he simply ignored Xiang Rong, patted his horse forward, and led the headquarters men and horses straight to the direction of Da Tong to kill.
Xiang Rong saw the situation and had to lead the men and horses to keep up, and more than 10,000 Qing troops, led by the deputy military affairs Ulantai, The Viceroy Xiang Rong, and six general soldiers, killed together into the Dadong Valley.
The Daeka area is a valley surrounded by mountains, with the village of Dazhi in the middle of the valley. At this time, the valley was foggy and the visibility was not good. Wulantai and Qin Ding, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou Zhenyuan Town, led the troops into the valley first, and the general soldiers of Tianjin Town, Rui, the chief soldier of Liangzhou Town, Gansu, Changshou, the chief soldier of Liangzhou Town, Gansu, and the general soldier of Suijing Town, Hunan, and the Spring Leader followed suit. Dong Guangjia, the commander-in-chief of Hebei Town, and Shao Heling, the commander-in-chief of Yunyang Town, Hubei Province, also followed him.
At this time, the cannons in the valley were everywhere, shouting to kill Zhentian, and the Taiping Army that was ambushed everywhere rushed out bravely. One by one, they wore straw shoes and held steel knives in their hands, and bravely and fearlessly engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Qing army. In front of the Taiping Army, which was inferior in numbers, the Qing army did not dare to fight hand-to-hand, and retreated backwards, resulting in a chaotic formation of the entire team and collapsing into an army.
The Qing generals Chang Rui, Changshou, Dong Guangjia, and Shao Heling were all killed by the Taiping Army in a fierce battle. The rest of the officers who were killed, such as adjutants, staff generals, guerrillas, and thousand generals, were innumerable.
In the fierce battle, Ulantai rolled down the mountain stream with his horse. Inside the mountain stream, he met Qin Dingsan, the commander-in-chief of the Qian Army, who had also fallen. This pair of brothers and sisters supported each other and fled out of the Valley of The Great Valley in a panic.
Among the generals, only Hechun rushed out of the siege and met Xiang Rong at the entrance of the valley. Xiang Rong's combat experience was relatively rich, and he had already ordered his soldiers to prepare their guns, and when he saw the Taiping Army attacking, he immediately took turns to shoot and block the impact of the Taiping Army. In this way, Xiang Rong escaped from the valley in response to the defeated army in the valley, including Ulantai, and everyone fled back to Gu Suchong in one breath, which made them firmly established.
The Battle of Da tong was the most brilliant victory since the Taiping Rebellion. Li Xiucheng recalled that the battle killed 4,000 to 5,000 Qing troops and captured countless people. Only a few dozen men remained in Ulantai's army, and eight hundred of Xiang Rong's men were killed. The death of the four town generals was an unprecedented loss. The general is a senior officer in the Green Battalion, which is basically equivalent to the current commander. The death of four general soldiers in one battle was unprecedented in the history of the Qing Dynasty.
(5)
The significance of the victory in the Dazhi ambush is very important. This battle annihilated the so-called "elite" four or five thousand people of the Qing army, and dealt a heavy blow to the Qing army, and the Qing army was afraid of the Taiping Army from then on. After this battle, in addition to passively defending the city, no other unit dared to take the initiative to attack the Taiping Army. In the ensuing battles, the Qing army, including Xiang Rong, only dared to follow the Taiping Army from a distance, and no one dared to intercept it head-on. This situation was not changed until the emergence of the Xiang Army in 1854.
For the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, this battle boosted the morale of the whole army, and everyone realized that the so-called elite of the Green Camp was nothing more than that, so the Taiping Army became more proactive in its operations. After the breakthrough of Yong'an, the Taiping Army's goal was originally to occupy Zhaoping County, but after the victory of Dazhi, Yang Xiuqing immediately issued an order to attack guilin, the provincial capital of Guangxi. After that, it was more than a month-long battle for the Taiping Army to besiege Guilin.
It can be said that the Ambush Battle of Da Tong was the real battle of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This battle laid the foundation for the Taiping Army's superiority over the Qing Army, and the Taiping Army could fight as it wanted from then on. It was by virtue of this advantage that the Taiping Army conquered Nanjing a year later and has since fought against the Qing Dynasty.