Discuss the military struggles before and after the Taiping Rebellion

Later War

The Tianjing Incident began in July 1856. On the western front, in November of this year, Wuchang and Hanyang were forced to retreat because they ran out of food and aid. Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army's water and land division immediately marched straight in and reached the gates of Jiujiang City. On the eastern front, the Qing Jiangnan camp made a comeback. In June 1857, it captured Jurong, Jiangsu Province. In November, it captured Zhenjiang. In December, it marched to Tianjing, dug wide into Changhao, built high forts, and camped for more than a hundred miles. , surrounded on all sides. By March 1858, Shi Da opened Jiangxi, which he had abandoned after hundreds of battles. In April, Jiujiang fell, and the Hunan Army on the western front attacked Luzhou and Anqing. In order to get rid of this predicament, the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom organized the hungry people in the Qing Dynasty-controlled areas on the north bank of the Yangtze River who had run out of food due to years of famine into an army to supplement the Taiping Army, which had suffered serious losses in strength. He also actively contacted the Nian Army who revolted in the Huaihe River Basin, and named Zhang Lexing, the leader of the Nian Army, as the general of the expedition to the north, hoping to win over the Nian Army to fight together under the banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The primary task before the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at that time was to rescue Tianjing from the siege. The Taiping Army adopted offensive defense, planning to defeat the Hunan Army in the west, secure Anqing, and control Anhui; and destroy the Jiangnan Camp and Jiangbei Camp on the east line. Under the command of Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng, in August 1858, the Battle of Pukou was launched to break through the Jiangbei camp and open up transportation to the north bank of Tianjing. In October, he sent his troops westward to annihilate the most elite Li Xubin unit of the Hunan Army in Sanhe Town, Luzhou. Thanks to the decisive victory in these two battles, the situation on the verge of collapse after the Tianjing Incident was reversed, the Qing army's attempt to capture Tianjing was shattered, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's war situation in the second half of the period was stabilized. On December 22, 1859, the Pukou Riverside barracks and Aika were captured by the Jiangnan Camp. The next day, the Jiusuzhou Fortress protecting the north bank of Xingxing and water transportation in Tianjing fell again, and Tianjing was once again surrounded. In February 1860, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom planned to attack Hangzhou, the source of wages of the Jiangnan Camp, with light troops, forcing the Jiangnan Camp to mobilize elite troops to rescue them, and then quickly returned to Jianping, Anhui to concentrate their troops. On March 26, the First World War And the Jiangnan camp was crushed, and Tianjing rescued the siege. After the siege of Tianjing was relieved, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom formulated a strategy of advancing east first and then west. So taking advantage of the victory, they marched eastward and captured Changzhou on April 16, 1860. Suzhou was defeated on the 23rd. On the sixth day of May, Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. So Sufu Province was established with Suzhou as the provincial capital, and built into Tianjing's southeastern barrier and material supply base. This was the year of the Taiping Rebellion's glorious victory in the later period. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom established its capital in Tianjing, which was located on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. To defend Tianjing, it was necessary to occupy the three towns of Wuchang, Jiujiang, and Anqing in the upper reaches. After the Tianjing Incident, Wuchang was lost first and Jiujiang fell. The last barrier to Tianjing was Anqing. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can defend Anqing. Militarily, it can prevent the Hunan Army from attacking Tianjing from the east. Politically, it can protect the Anhui area where the grassroots political power is the most consolidated. Economically, it can protect the production of the grain-producing areas south of the Yangtze River and north of the Yangtze River, so that Tianjing can win. Continuous supply of materials. Anhui's strategic position at that time was related to the survival of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, the Eastern Campaign came to an end, and the battle mission to the West was immediately on the agenda. The goal of heading west is to take Hubei. Strategically, we strive to reach the upper reaches and win in order to smash the Hunan Army's siege of Anqing. In the winter of 1860, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led the British King Chen Yucheng to control the Northern Route Army, marched from northern Anhui to Qi and Huang, and led Li Xiucheng to control the South Route Army, marched from Southern Anhui to Jiangxi, joined forces in Wuchang, and jointly captured Hubei. The Northern Route Army captured Huangzhou, Hubei Province in February 1861. At that time, Wuchang was empty. When they heard that the Taiping Army was coming, chaos broke out in the city, and they were at their fingertips. At that time, the British Navy Admiral J. Hope led his fleet to Hankou and intervened. Chen Yucheng had concerns and redirected the troops attacking Wuchang to Macheng and De'an. In March, elite troops were transferred back downstream to rescue Anqing. The Southern Route Army also entered Hubei at the end of April 1861 and conquered Daye, Echeng, Tongcheng, Tongshan, Xingguo, Xianning, Jiayu, Puqi and other prefectures and counties. If they advance further, Wuchang will be shaken and the enemy will be forced to The besiegers retreated from Anqing. However, Li Xiucheng withdrew his troops from Hubei and entered Zhejiang via Jiangxi. Zeng Guofan later said that if the North Route Army captured Wuchang in March, or the South Route Army approached Wuchang in June, his troops besieging Anqing would have to withdraw. However, both Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng fell short of success and did not carry out the project to the end. As a result, their good plans were in vain.

On July 26, 1861, Anqing was captured by the Hunan Army. From then on, the Hunan army took Anqing as its base camp, occupied the upper reaches, built its way down, and attacked Tianjing. The Southern Route Army entered Zhejiang in August. Although it regained Zhejiang, it could not make up for the loss of Anqing. After the fall of Anqing, the Northern Route Army retreated to Luzhou and headed northwest for an expedition. Chen Yucheng stayed alone in Luzhou. In April 1862, he broke through to Shouzhou, where he was lured and captured by Miao Peilin and later killed. North of the Yangtze River, without the support of this large army, it would be difficult to defend Tianjing. When Xia Ke regained control of Zhouzhou and Jiaxing in 1860, the Taiping Army marched to Shanghai and defeated the foreign gun team commanded by Wall. In July, due to the emergency of the war in Jiaxing, they retreated. In 1862, Zeng Guofan began to implement a three-pronged attack on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. On the one hand, he sent Li Hongzhang to lead the newly formed Huai army to Shanghai on the British merchant ship that rushed to Anqing to welcome him. On the other hand, he sent Zeng Guoquan to lead the Hunan army to attack Tianjing from Anqing. At the same time, , and sent Zuo Zongtang to lead the Hunan army to attack Zhejiang from Quzhou. In the spring of 1862, the Taiping Army swept away the British and French troops who were supporting the Qing government in Taicang Prefecture, Jiading, Nanxiang, Fengxian, Qingpu, and Baoshan, and surrounded them in Jiading City. At this time, Zeng Guoquan's Hunan army invaded Tianjing. Hong Xiuquan issued three edicts in one day to withdraw the army that attacked Shanghai and return to Tianjing to save Tianjing. The army returned to Sufu Province and held two military meetings to discuss the overall situation. They reported to the King of Heaven that Chen Xiang's army had a navy to transport ammunition and supplies, and it was difficult to compete with them. He suggested that grain and ammunition from Sufu Province be transported back to Tianjing and stored widely. The strategy of using solid defense to control the enemy is to force the enemy to fortify the city. After two years, when the teacher is exhausted and in a weakened situation, he can then destroy him in one fell swoop. Hong Xiuquan refused to obey, and strictly followed the imperial edict immediately, and also transferred the troops of Prince Li Shixian who were fighting the invasion of Zuo Zongtang's Hunan army on the front line of Tangxi, Zhejiang, back to Tianjing to fight. In September, the Eastern Front Army moved westward to attack the Hunan Army stationed at Yuhuatai. However, due to logistical and transportation difficulties, the army did not bring any soldiers in winter clothes and had no food, the fierce attack continued for forty-six days. As the Soviet and Zhejiang armies were transferred westward to fight in Tianjing, the Qing army, with the help of foreign invaders, took the opportunity to launch a crazy attack on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the eastern front. In Jiangsu, it was first led by Wall, the leader of the American foreign rifle team. After Wall was killed, the Ever Victorious Army led by British officer Gordon assisted Li Hongzhang's Huai Army to attack Suzhou based on Shanghai. On the Zhejiang side, the Chang'an Army and the Dingsheng Army organized by the British Navy Commander-in-Chief Ledecker, the French Naval Admiral Lebreton, and the Chang Jie Army organized by the Ningbo Taxation and Judicial People's Day assisted Zuo Zongtang's Xiang Army. Zhejiang attacks. In this way, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was trapped in a two-sided war. Unable to attack the Hunan army's base, in October, Hong Xiuquan, the king of heaven, adopted the strategy of advancing northward and ordered Li Xiucheng to lead his army across the river and attack upstream, forcing Zeng Guofan to retreat from the Hunan army that invaded Tianjing to save the upper reaches. Li Shixian was also ordered to lead the army to attack Jinzhu Pass and open the Ningguo and Taiping grain roads to help Tianjing. Li Shixian fought hard in southern Anhui but failed to achieve success. Tangxi fell in the first month of 1863, and Jinhua, Shaoxing and other places in eastern Zhejiang were forced to retreat. The army led by Li Xiucheng entered northern Anhui and was trapped by hunger. Tens of thousands of people died and they returned from Lu'an Prefecture in embarrassment. Returning to Tianjing in May, the Huai army had already captured Taicang Prefecture and Kunshan, and was advancing on Suzhou. In August, the Hunan Army under Zuo Zongtang captured Fuyang, Zhejiang, and advanced to Hangzhou. In October, Suzhou fell. At this time, Tianjing could no longer defend it.