Chapter 84 5. Northern Expedition and Western Expedition

After the Taiping army captured Nanjing, they immediately dispatched prime ministers Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang and other ministries to capture Zhenjiang and Yangzhou eastward, cutting off the canal water transportation, the economic lifeline of the Qing Dynasty.This Taiping army is based in Yangzhou and is preparing to march north into the Central Plains. However, the senior leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Tianjing City started a debate about where to go. As early as when Yong'an broke through and besieged Changsha, Luo Gangang, who was quite military-minded, proposed two sets of plans.The first strategy suggested marching directly to Beijing.Hong Xiuquan personally led the army to the north and stationed in Henan, and then sent a powerful force across the Yellow River to the north to conquer the capital.If the first strategy is too radical, you can also adopt a relatively safe second strategy: first pacify the nine southern provinces, and then divide into three groups after you have no worries.All the way out of Hunan and Chu, to compete in Anhui and Henan; all the way out of Hanzhong, go straight to Xianyang, and slightly take the northwest; the third way out of Xu, Yang, sweeping the land of Shandong.When Xianyang is set, send troops from the northwest out of Shanxi, and join forces with the Shandong army to hunt Yanjing, and great things will happen.This plan is roughly similar to the Northern Expedition plan of Liu Futong and Zhu Yuanzhang at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, which shows that the heroes have the same views.

However, after the capture of Tianjing City, Hong and Yang were greedy for the prosperity and prosperity of Tianjing City, and they were no longer willing to lead an army northward to fight for the world, and they hesitated for a while.And the voice of most people in the Taiping Army is just to separate the south of the Yangtze River and put the world in peace.According to Li Xiucheng's recollection, at that time, an old Hunan sailor who was driving Yang Xiuqing's boat declared everywhere that he opposed marching into Henan, saying: "The river in Henan is small and there is no food, and the enemy cannot be relieved. Now that you have Jiangnan, you are in danger of the Yangtze River." , and there are only thousands of boats, why go to Henan. Nanjing is the home of the emperor. The land of Zhongzhou is only called stable and dangerous, but in fact it is not as good as Jiangnan, please think about it.” Although these opinions were in the majority, they were not wise, Hong, Yang and others decided to make Tianjing their capital, but as a compromise plan , At the same time, a force was sent to the Northern Expedition.

It was originally planned to use Yang Xiuqing as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition Army, but he suffered from eye disease and could not go on the expedition. He planned to be replaced by Luo Dagang.In the end, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had to send Lin Fengxiang, the deputy prime minister of heaven, and Li Kaifang, the prime minister of local officials, to lead 20,000 partial divisions to the northern expedition. This was the deadliest strategic blunder of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Luo Dagang couldn't figure it out, so he couldn't stop complaining, and secretly said to the people around him: "The world is uncertain, but if you want to live in this capital, how long will it last? I belong to no class!" We are busy living and working in peace and contentment when the future is uncertain, so short-sighted, all of us It's over!

In May 1853, Lin and Li led the army out of the army.The Northern Expeditionary Army entered Anhui, took Fengyang, and then invaded Henan, occupying the important town of Guide.The Northern Expeditionary Army planned to cross the Yellow River from Liujiakou, more than 40 miles northwest of Guidefu City, and attack Beijing via Shandong. However, due to the obstruction of the Qing army, they could not find a ferry, so they had to detour to Sishuikou near Gongxian County, Henan Province to sneak across the Yellow River. In July, the Northern Expeditionary Army failed to attack Huaiqing Mansion and turned to Shanxi, but was blocked by the Qing army, so they had to turn back to Henan and break into Zhili from Wu'an. In September, the forward had already approached Baoding.Shocked, the Qing Dynasty mobilized Seng Gelinqin and Shengbao's troops, and also dispatched troops from the southern battlefield to the north. In order to block and destroy this heroic and skilled army, a total of 250,000 troops were mobilized before and after the Qing Dynasty.The Northern Expeditionary Army was hindered from advancing northward, so they crossed the Hebei Plain eastward. In late September 1853, due to the tenacious resistance of the Qing Army when they attacked Cangzhou, Hebei Province, the Northern Expeditionary Army suffered nearly 4,000 casualties. , Returning more than ten thousand men and women as revenge.

In late October, when the Northern Expeditionary Army arrived at Jinghai in the suburbs of Tianjin, the princes and ministers in Beijing "weeping and crying, their eye sockets swollen like cherries", prepared to disperse like birds and beasts, and even the big city of Zhengyangmen was like a deserted suburb.But this brave army, with Guangxi veterans as the main force, has fought thousands of miles all the way, and it has also reached the end of its strength.Due to the cold weather, lack of supplies, and being outnumbered, they were defeated here and were forced to retreat to Fuping to stand by and wait for help.However, they were eager to see through, but the reinforcements were delayed - Hu Yihuang simply refused to help.Although Zeng Lichang and other four generals managed to bring 7,000 troops to Linqing, they had conflicts because of disagreements.The recruits such as Yan Xiao and Kui Yong who expanded along the way hijacked their old brothers and refused to enter. After breaking through the city, they disobeyed the command and fled after wantonly looting.This army was subsequently counterattacked by the Qing army, and Zeng Lichang was defeated and killed.The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sent Qin Rigang to help again. Qin Rigang turned back halfway, saying that there were so many officers and troops on the North Road, "It is difficult to go with a single soldier".Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang saw that there was no hope of reinforcements, so they split up and broke through. They reached Lianzhen in Hebei and Fengguantun in Shandong and were surrounded.

In the spring of the fifth year of Xianfeng, the Northern Expedition army was besieged by the Qing army, and finally the entire army was wiped out in Lianzhen and Fengguantun, which brought a tragic end to the Northern Expedition that fell short. In the Northern Expeditionary Army, there was a native of Xiangtan, Hunan, Peng, who was ordered by the commander to risk his life to break through and go to Tianjing for help.But when he arrived in Tianjing day and night, he found that the place was in a state of desolation and peace, and no one paid any attention to him and his brothers who were struggling on the North Road.He couldn't ask for help, so he had to return to the army with tears in his eyes, full of grief and indignation.But when he returned to the battlefield, the smoke on the battlefield was exhausted... This brave veteran returned to his hometown in Xiangtan with all the hardships and disappointments.Decades have passed in the blink of an eye. When Grandpa Peng touched the little head of his nephew Dehua and told him these heroic stories, he probably couldn't help but sigh to the sky, right?This premature revolution not only affected that era, but also quietly affected the future.

Behind the heroic image of General Peng with a sword on his horse, there are faint tears and green blood of the predecessors. At the same time as the Northern Expedition, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom launched the Western Expedition.Hu Yihuang, king of Yu, and others went out of Anhui, and then conquered Anqing; Prime Minister Lai Hanying and Shi Xiangzhen attacked Jiujiang and Hukou, and entered Nanchang.Jiang Zhongyuan, the old opponent of the Taiping Army, had been promoted to the post of Inspector General of Hubei at this time, and was about to lead his troops to assist Tianjing. On the way, he heard that Nanchang was in danger and rushed to help. The two sides were at a stalemate.In July, the Hunan Army arrived in Nanchang in the south of Luo Ze, and the Taiping Army withdrew from the encirclement.The Qing Dynasty made an exception and promoted Jiang Zhongyuan as the governor of Anhui, and ordered him to rush to help Luzhou from Nanchang.Hu Yihuang's 100,000 troops of the Taiping Army surrounded Luzhou. The two sides fought hard for more than a month, and Luzhou was breached. Jiang Zhongyuan was seriously injured in the battle and committed suicide by throwing himself into the water.

Taking advantage of the victory, the Taiping army invaded Hunan along the river, then conquered Yuezhou, and arrived in Xiangyin, where they encountered Zeng Guofan.At the end of 1852, Zeng Guofan began to supervise regiment training as a registered servant. He organized the backbone of the army through the relationships of fellow villagers, teachers and students, relatives and friends, and established a new type of army "Xiang Army". In this battle, Zeng Guofan led his army to stop the Taiping Army in Jinggang, was defeated, and was about to throw himself into the water, but was picked up by his staff and sulked for several days.Fortunately, Lao Zeng had the courage to fight repeatedly. Soon, Yang Zaifu and Peng Yulin, the sailors of the Hunan Army, won consecutive battles near Xiangtan, burning six or seven hundred ships of the Taiping Army. Yu people.This was the first major victory achieved by the Hunan Army and the Taiping Army.

The Hunan army took advantage of the victory and marched, successively conquered Yueyang, Wuchang, Hankou, and counterattacked Jiangxi. The arrogance was quite arrogant, but the good times did not last long, because they met Shi Dakai. At the end of 1854, in view of the unfavorable situation in the war, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led the army westward with the winged king Shi Dakai for reinforcements, and defeated the Hunan army in Hukou and Jiujiang.Zeng Guofan was defeated so badly this time that he even lost his ship. He felt ashamed and tried to commit suicide by throwing himself into the water again, but it still failed.

After the battles of Hukou and Jiujiang, the Taiping Army captured Wuchang for the third time.The Western Expeditionary Army occupied large areas of Anhui, Jiangxi, and Hubei, and controlled the three major upstream towns of Wuchang, Jiujiang, and Anqing, achieving a favorable strategic situation.In the first half of 1856, the Taiping Army in Tianjing also took the initiative to attack and broke through the Jiangbei and Jiangnan battalions of the Qing army that had besieged Tianjing for a long time. This was the heyday of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's military affairs.