The most important battle in Zeng Guofan's life

The most important turning battle in the history of the Hunan Army: the Anqing-Qimen Battle.

This battle was extremely exciting and was the most important battle among all the battles Zeng Guofan presided over in his life. It was through this battle that the Zeng brothers established their position in human military history.

This battle contains the best part of Zeng Guofan's strategic thinking.

After Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng fully took over the military command of the Taiping Rebellion, they decided to continue to use the invincible strategy of "claiming to the east and attacking to the west".

As for the Qing Dynasty, Xianfeng, as the king of a country, had only two strategies in coordinating the national situation: first, let the ministers check and balance each other; second, treat the head when it hurts and the foot when the foot hurts.

So every time the Taiping Army mobilized its troops to attack the east and attack the west, encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao, Xianfeng would definitely fall into the trap. During the more than ten years of confrontation between Xianfeng and the Taiping Army, he was attacked again and again, and countless Qing generals were killed by him.

According to Zeng Guofan's calculations, not only was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom not weakened by Shi Dakai's departure during this period, but its number increased by nearly ten times. Many captured Qing troops and even captured Hunan troops also joined the rebel camp.

The Kingdom of Heaven's victory was bad news for the Qing Dynasty, but it was good news for Zeng Guofan.

Zeng Guofan has always wanted real power. At that time, the most important minister in the southern half of the Yangtze River was the governor of Liangjiang (who ruled Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi). Zeng Guofan led his troops mainly in these three provinces, and what he dreamed of was the governor of Liangjiang.

After the Tianjing Incident, only Jiangsu and Anhui were still under the control of the Taiping Rebellion. Therefore, whoever Xianfeng gave the governor of Liangjiang was equivalent to recognizing who was the main force against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

At that time, the governor of Liangjiang was vacant, and the Qing Dynasty had lost all its talents. Xianfeng could only ask Zeng Guofan to act as the governor of Liangjiang with the title of Minister of War. Two months later, Xianfeng asked him to supervise the military affairs of the three provinces as an imperial minister, which was equivalent to giving him real power and recognizing Zeng Guofan as the new commander-in-chief against the Taiping Army.

At this time, Zeng Guofan had 500,000 troops, and the Eight Banners and Green Camp were also under his command, which was equivalent to controlling half of the world.

After the Battle of Sanhe, Zeng Guofan greatly improved his mental skills and formulated a general strategy: build a strong stronghold and fight a dull war. This strategy has three key points:

First, when making decisions, we must be comprehensive, look forward and backward, use all means to grasp information, and use our eyes, ears, heart, and mouth;

Second, Once the decision is made, we must resolutely implement it, reject all blind orders, and our officers and soldiers will also avoid idle battles;

Third, be immutable and wait for the enemy to change, wait for the enemy to make mistakes, and seize the opportunity to launch The final total attack.

After more than a year of repairs, Zeng Guofan, who had emerged from the shadow of defeat, decided to lead his troops personally and find the main force of the Taiping Army for a decisive battle after comprehensive consideration.

Zeng Guofan spent a lot of energy and time, integrated many opinions, and finally selected Anqing and Qimen as the venues for the decisive battle.

Anqing is not only an important water supply line on the Yangtze River, but also a hub between Jiangsu and Hubei. If Anqing can be captured, it can also prevent the Taiping Army from joining forces.

In order to help Zeng Guofan, Hu Linyi, who was seriously ill at this time, transferred his most capable generals Duolonga, Li Xuyi, and Bao Chao to Zeng Guofan, basically giving them all his money.

The Taiping Army, under the command of the new general, formulated a dual invasion strategy: Chen Yucheng focused on attacking Zeng Guoquan's siege troops in the north of the Yangtze River; Li Xiucheng led the troops to defeat the Qimen Camp on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

After Zeng Guofan settled on the general strategy of besieging Anqing, no one tried to persuade him, and he was determined not to change it. In the end, he used this mental method to crack Chen Yucheng's plan of seducing the east and attacking the west, encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao.

In order to improve his execution ability, Zeng Guofan decided to implement the mentality of "fighting hard and fighting dull" to the end. Therefore, marching and fighting is like a snail crawling, like a woodchuck, moving forward bit by bit in the dark.

In fact, facing such field masters as King Ying and King Zhong, Zeng Guofan could only have a chance of winning if he chose to lure the enemy deep and then choose the opportunity to take action.

There are two key strategic points in the east of Qimen: Xiuning County and Huizhou City. After the fall of Xiuning County, Zeng Guofan, who had no one available, agreed to Li Yuandu's plan to volunteer to defend Huizhou City.

You must know that once Huizhou is lost, Qimen will be in danger. Zeng Guofan also repeatedly warned Li Yuandu. However, Li Yuandu failed to obey after sending troops and was careless in fighting, resulting in the loss of Huizhou.

The fall of Huizhou caused huge losses to Zeng Guofan, and the strategic situation was instantly reversed. At this time, he could only cling to his illness and wait for change.

Because Liu Xiucheng’s goal was not Qimen, but to lure Zeng Guoquan to send troops to rescue Qimen, Zeng Guofan fought to the end and refused to let anyone else return to Qimen.

What followed was a protracted bloody battle between encirclement and counter-encirclement. Zeng Guofan was determined to die and was waiting for a critical opportunity: "Be invincible to wait for the enemy to be victorious."

In the end, a beautiful landscape formed outside Anqing City, with three concentric circles, and at the most intense stage, five circles surrounded the city.

The innermost circle was the Taiping Army in Anqing City; the second circle was Zeng Guoquan who led troops to build trenches and besieged Zeng Guoquan; the third circle was Chen Yucheng who assembled eighteen battalions to besiege Zeng Guoquan on the outside; later Duolonga, who was 50 miles away, led his troops back to outflank Chen Yucheng; in the fifth circle were Hong Rengan's troops who finally led troops to support.

After many tug-of-wars and the final bloody battle, Zeng Guofan finally won a complete victory in the Battle of Anqing and became famous in history.

Finally, let’s summarize Zeng Guofan’s mentality and fight hard. This is also the fundamental method to cultivate efficient execution.

When making decisions, exhaust all information and consider multiple factors; once the decision is made, implement it unswervingly, reject any blind orders, put an end to wasteful wars, and cut off all luck and opportunistic thoughts.

When you have accomplished these two points, no matter what kind of master you encounter next, you only need to be patient and wait for the opportunity to come, attack with all your strength, and you will eventually win.