Battle of Taizi Temple Zuo Zongtang was defeated, and the Ma family army rose
In the first month of 1871, Zuo Zongtang commanded Liu Jintang, a fierce general of the Hunan army, to successfully capture Jinjibao, the core stronghold of the Ganshan rebels, and captured the rebel leader Ma Hualong and thousands of rebel leaders.
In order to avoid the resurgence of the rebels, Liu Jintang completely destroyed Jinji Fort and found more than 1,000 foreign guns inside the city wall. Obviously, although Ma Hualong has been captured, his heart is still rebelling, and he hid his gun inside the city wall just to wait for an opportunity to rebel.
In response to this situation, Zuo Zongtang and the imperial court decided that they could no longer tolerate adultery. So, Liu Jintang escorted Ma Hualong's father and son and a group of rebel leaders to the Qing army camp and collectively sentenced Ling Chi to death.
In the midst of heart-rending screams, these butchers who killed the people of Shaanxi and Gansu finally received the punishment they deserved.
In May of the tenth year of Tongzhi, Zuo Zongtang commanded the three-way Qing army and launched an attack on the important town of Hezhou in the Hexi Corridor. Among them, Fu Xianzong led the Middle Route Army to occupy both sides of the Tao River; Yang Shijun, Zhang Zhongchun, and Zong Yuebu formed the Left Route Army, which attacked Xiacheng from Nanguanping and cut off the rebels' connection with Hezhou; Xu Wenxiu led the Right Route Army to attack Huining from Jingning Prefecture.
The Qing army of the Three Routes agreed to meet at Kangjiaya, cross the river to capture Taizi Temple, and then capture Hezhou. This war is bound to be tragic and abnormal, but in order to quell the rebellion and recover Xinjiang, Zuo Zongtang must take the Hexi Corridor, no matter what.
Prince Temple, the gateway to Hezhou City, is located on the commanding heights of Prince Mountain, overlooking the whole city. If you control this place, you will be able to bombard Hezhou City from a high position, putting the entire city in danger.
The rebels knew this very well, so Ma Zhanao, a fierce general with both civil and military skills and strict military discipline, led the most elite troops to guard the gate of Sanjiaji. Although his troops were strong in combat, the Qing army was superior and equipped with advanced foreign guns and artillery.
Ma Zhanao lost his Sanjiaji position and retreated to Taizi Temple, but the supply was cut off, and everyone suggested retreating to preserve his strength. However, Ma Zhanao resolutely did not back down and decided to take a desperate gamble.
On the night of the fourth day of the first month of the 11th year of Tongzhi (1872), Ma Zhanao took advantage of the night to raid the Qing army camp that was attacking head-on. For a long time, the Qing army had been suppressing the rebels, but this time the rebels took the initiative to attack, which made Ma Zhanao's surprise attack achieve unexpected results, and the Qing army suffered heavy losses.
As a result of the successful raid, the morale of the rebels was greatly boosted. After that, Ma Zhanao led the army in a decisive battle with the Qing army. It is worth mentioning that Ma Zhanao's luck is indeed very good.
At the height of the battle, a sandstorm suddenly blew up, and in an instant the sky was dark and the visibility was extremely low. However, because Ma Zhanao has been active in this area for a long time, he knows the terrain very well, and he used the shelter of the sandstorm to successfully enter the Qing army and defeat the Qing army.
In this battle, a large number of high-ranking generals such as Xu Wenxiu, the commander of the Qing army, Zheng Shounan, Li Qixiang, Yang Wenlin, Liu Du, and the deputy generals Lu Cai, Wang Fuchang, Wu Mingsheng, and the guerrilla Chen Donghai were killed, which is the famous battle of Taizi Temple.
In the battle of Taizi Temple, the Qing army was heavy, and it was the biggest defeat since Zuo Zongtang entered Ganxi to quell the rebellion. At this time, Zuo Zongtang had little mobile force left, and if Ma Zhanao took advantage of the situation, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Just when Zuo Zongtang was very anxious, Ma Zhanao announced that he would return to the imperial court, and the bodies of the dead Qing army generals were buried in coffins and sent back to Zuo Zongtang's camp to show his sincerity.
At the same time, he also sent dozens of his sons and nephews to Zuo Zongtang's camp to express his determination to submit. Zuo Zongtang did not hesitate to accept Ma Zhanao's surrender and reorganized his troops into the Three Banners Horse Team, with Ma Zhanao's brother and nephew as officers.
After Ma Zhanao surrendered, he showed no mercy to his former comrades-in-arms, defeated the rebels in succession, and dyed his own flower feathers red with the blood of his comrades. Later, his sons and nephews developed the Ma Jiajun on the basis of the Three Banners Horse Team, which had been powerful in the northwest for decades, and realized the counterattack from the rural village husband to the king of one side.