In the Yang Xiuqing era, the Taiping army was like a rainbow and swept the Qing army. However, Yang Xiuqing has a regret, that is, he failed to win Jiangsu and Zhejiang. At the beginning, the Taiping army captured Wuchang and had disagreements about the direction of the march: Sichuan, Henan, and Jiangnan, and Yang Xiuqing chose Nanjing.
The capital of Nanjing is nothing more than wanting to use the economic strength of Jiangnan to strengthen the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The taxation of Jiangnan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are fundamental, and the finance and taxation here account for almost half of the Qing Dynasty, and the wealth is rivaled by the country.
Yang Xiuqing couldn't handle Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Li Xiucheng took it, and established Sufu Province and Tianzhejiang Province. Occupying the rich land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Li Xiucheng not only got a lot of finance and taxes, but also opened up access to the sea, contacted the great powers, purchased advanced **, and enhanced his own strength.
Before the Eastern Expedition to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Li Xiucheng could only give Chen Yucheng a hand. After seizing Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Li Xiucheng's troops surpassed Chen Yucheng's, and with the addition of the army that broke away from Shi Dakai and went north, Li Xiucheng had hundreds of thousands of troops.
However, Li Xiucheng could only control Jiangsu and Zhejiang for more than 2 years before he was recaptured by the Qing Dynasty. In May 1864, hundreds of thousands of troops of Li Shixian and Wang Yanghai left Yuhang and Hangzhou, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang bases of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were completely lost.
So, why can't the Taiping army hold Jiangsu and Zhejiang?At this time, the Taiping army had a large number of troops, sufficient grain and grass, and was also advanced, and its strength should not be underestimated. There are three main reasons for the loss of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and it is difficult to solve.
1. Chen Yucheng was defeated, and Li Xiucheng fought on two fronts
At the beginning of 1860, Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng joined forces to destroy the "Jiangnan Camp" for the second time, and took advantage of the victory to destroy He Chun and Zhang Guoliang. From then on, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom temporarily got rid of the two-front combat situation, and the Beijing division was able to break the siege, leaving the Hunan army upstream as a strong enemy.
Li Xiucheng took Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in addition to the addition of Shi Dakai's army, Chen Yucheng's death in the upper reaches of the Hunan army, which is the key to the problem. Chen Yucheng fought in Anhui and Hubei, and confronted the main forces of the Hunan army of Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi, and Li Xiucheng was able to calmly march eastward.
During the Battle of Anqing, Li Xiucheng was stationed in Suzhou and did not rescue Chen Yucheng. After the fall of Anqing, Chen Yucheng retreated to Luzhou in northern Anhui, and the Hunan army also threw the main force into the battlefield in northern Anhui. Moreover, the Hunan army suffered considerable losses in the Battle of Anqing and failed to support Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Chen Yucheng was in Anhui, dragging the upstream Hunan army, even if he was defeated and retreated to Luzhou, Zeng Guofan did not dare to underestimate him. Li Xiucheng launched the Second Eastern Crusade, which was also the most successful, which was achieved by Chen Yucheng during his defense of Luzhou.
In June 1862, Chen Yucheng was ensnared and died in Yanjin, Henan. In this way, Zeng Guofan almost wiped out the Taiping army in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and he could free up his energy to deal with Jiangsu and Zhejiang. At this time, Zeng Guofan asked Li Hongzhang to form a Huai army, conquer Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east, and fight a decisive battle with Li Xiucheng.
At the beginning of the formation of the Huai Army, the strength was less than 6,000 people, and famous generals such as Liu Mingchuan, Pan Dingxin, Zhang Shusheng, and Wu Changqing had not yet grown up. Why did he enhance the strength of the Huai army, Zeng Guofan "sent" many Hunan troops to Li Hongzhang, including Cheng Xueqi and Guo Songlin, who later shocked Jiangsu and Zhejiang, all of whom were fierce generals of the Hunan army.
Fighting on two fronts, Li Xiucheng was powerless, and it was difficult to deal with the Hunan army, the Huai army, and the Chu army at the same time. For example, in the Battle of Yuhuatai, Li Xiucheng He set a plan to end the battle in 40 days, because Jiangsu and Zhejiang were unstable and he could not leave for a long time.
Later, Qian Guiren, Luo Guozhong, Xu Shaoyu, Li Wenbing and other generals stabbed in the back. Li Xiucheng entered the north to attack the south, and the Changshu defenders rebelled, so Li Xiucheng had to suspend crossing the river and go north, and first returned to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to fight the fire.
2. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will not govern the localities, and its foundation is unstable
As the saying goes, "you can win the world immediately, but you can't rule the world immediately", Li Xiucheng seized Jiangsu and Zhejiang, almost pressing the local Qing army. Suzhou, Hangzhou, Changzhou, Huzhou, Wuxi, Changshu, Jiaxing, Jiangyin, Kunshan and other economically developed cities fell into the hands of the Taiping army.
However, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was powerless for the vast countryside and had to rely on the local gentry to govern it. Unfortunately, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could not handle its relationship with them well, and its own lack of talents, coupled with the constant taxation of gentry and merchants because of the war, the showdown, the contradiction became more acute.
When the Taiping army was strong, they would pretend to surrender, and once Li Xiucheng encountered a setback, they would immediately turn to the Qing army camp and deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Li Xiucheng is very aware of these problems, so he treats the gentry well, even if they sometimes choose to calm things down.
Li Wenbing and Qian Guiren were rampant and domineering in Suzhou, and Chen Kunshu was very angry. Chen Kunshu did not have such a good temper as Li Xiucheng, so he was immediately arrested and beaten. The gentry complained to Li Xiucheng, and Chen Kunshu fled to Changzhou for fear of being blamed.
In 1862, Li Xiucheng prepared grain and grass, led an army of 200,000 to the west, and fought a decisive battle with the Hunan army. When the army is dispatched, it is natural to collect taxes. Perhaps it was Li Shixian's ruthless methods that provoked the armed confrontation of the gentry in Bao Village. In order to take the place of Baocun, Lu Shunde invested 300,000 soldiers and horses before and after, and the gains outweighed the losses.
At the time of the Battle of Baocun, the Chu army and the Huai army had already begun to besiege Hangzhou, Yuhang, Suzhou and other cities, while Lu Shunde and other generals were still busy quelling the rebellion and maintaining order.
The gentry in Jiangnan did not support it, the place was unstable, and it was very difficult for the brothers Li Xiucheng and Li Shixian to gain a firm foothold in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. If there was no siege by the Qing army and foreign powers, perhaps Li Xiucheng could slowly "digest" this newly laid base.
The Qing army and foreign powers joined forces to besiege Jiangsu and Zhejiang on all sides, and the Li Xiucheng brothers not only failed to "digest" the countryside, but also exacerbated the conflict with the gentry due to excessive taxation. In this way, the loss of the base in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is not difficult to understand.
3. The great powers supported the Qing Dynasty, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom suffered from the enemy
Li Xiucheng said in his autobiography: "If it weren't for the help of foreigners, Li Hongzhang wouldn't be able to help me." The fall of the land and the loss of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are all because of foreigners. Li Xiucheng's words pointed out the main factor for the loss of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom lost the support of the great powers and was difficult to develop and grow.
The military strength of the great powers is not comparable to that of the Qing army and the Taiping army. In the battle of Bali Bridge, the British and French only had more than 7,000 people, and they were all infantry, and the 30,000 troops of Seng Lingqin were defeated.
In this battle, the Qing army dropped the Mongolian horse team that could fight the most and the eight banners of the three eastern provinces, but to no avail. The British and French suffered very little losses, while the main forces of the Qing army were greatly damaged, and this was the advantage of the industrialized army over the agricultural army.
As for the Hunan army and the Huai army, they are not opponents of the great powers. Hu Linyi was training in the Wuchang Hongshan ** Naval Division, and a British civilian ship came galloping, and the waves set off could overturn the Hunan warship. Just imagine, if it was a fleet battle, wouldn't it be a one-sided slaughter.
In 1862, the Huai Army had just been formed, how did it come to Shanghai and Jiangsu?Is it fighting all the way and being invincible?The answer was: the British sent ships to transport the Huai army from Anqing to Shanghai, and also passed through the Tianjing channel. At this time, the Taiping army had no water division, and did not want to provoke the foreign powers, so they did not stop it.
Li Xiucheng attacked Shanghai, and the Qing army was terrified, and it was not difficult to break the city. However, when the Taiping army reached the outskirts of Shanghai, the British and French troops stationed in Shanghai openly supported the Qing army and shelled the Taiping army, and Li Xiucheng was wounded.
In the battles of Suzhou, Jiaxing, Wuxi, and Changzhou, Li Hongzhang was able to break the city, not by adopting the "fortress" tactics similar to Zeng Guofan, but by the blessing of the Western "flowering cannon". In addition, Gordon's "victorious army" assisted in destroying the fortified city walls, so that the Huai army had a chance.
In the battle of Ningbo, Huang Chengzhong and Fan Ruzeng also beat the Qing army and soon captured the city. The British and French powers demanded that the Taiping retreat, or disarm, but they refused. In this way, the British and French forces shelled Ningbo directly, and sent a fleet to participate in the battle to help the Qing army recapture Ningbo.
So, why did the Great Powers support the Qing Dynasty?This is for the sake of profit. Many of the treaty ports promised to be opened by the Qing Dynasty were in the jurisdiction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which wanted equality**. In this way, if the great powers want to turn the interests on paper into reality, they must help the Qing army and take these places.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom lacked the ability to govern the local area, Li Xiucheng fought on two fronts, and the foreign powers supported the Qing Dynasty. In this way, it is not easy for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to hold Jiangsu and Zhejiang for more than 2 years.