In April 1851, Jiang Zhongyuan led Chu Yong into Guangxi, and the first fierce battle between the Hunan army and the Taiping army began. The two strong enemies of the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom were Jiang Zhongyuan and Zhang Guoliang.
According to historical records, Jiang Zhongyuan died heroically in the Battle of Luzhou, and the Hunan army of Zeng Guofan emerged, with the help of Hu Linyi and other famous people, and became the most powerful enemy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in one fell swoop. The main forces against the Hunan army, such as Shi Dakai and Chen Yucheng, performed well, but their styles were different.
Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi were deeply unconvinced: "Shi Wei (referring to Shi Dakai) is far inferior to the four-eyed thief (that is, Chen Yucheng). This is how they commented on Shi Dakai and Chen Yucheng's combat against the Hunan army:
First of all, Shi Dakai made a lot of contributions to the Hunan army during the Yang Xiuqing period. But since he led the army alone, he has not fought against the two top opponents Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi, and almost all of them were defeated by third-rate generals, and the situation was miserable. However, he still has several commendable battles, such as the Battle of Hukou, the Battle of Zhangshu, the Battle of Wuchang, the Battle of Baoqing, the Battle of Dadu River, etc.
Secondly, for the Battle of Hukou, according to the available information, we can know that this war was mostly a defeat war rather than a war of annihilation. Although Shi Dakai killed more than 1,500 Hunan troops in the Battle of Zhangshu, Zeng Guofan was even deeply hit, and Zhou Fengshan also lost morale, but these did not make Zeng Guofan look so embarrassed. Moreover, Taqib's team of only more than 4,000 people can still continue to surround Jiujiang, which shows that its strength has not been damaged too much.
Again, even if Chen Yucheng and the Hunan army had fewer confrontations, his classic battles included the Battle of Guangji, the Battle of Huangmei, the Battle of Xiaochikou, the Battle of Sanhe, the Battle of Shucheng, the Battle of Erlanghe, the Battle of Taihu, the Battle of Anqing, etc., all of which brought a lot of pressure to the opponent. It is particularly worth mentioning that in September 1854, when the Hunan army was crusading eastward, Chen Yucheng took the initiative to evacuate Guangji under the attack of Li Mengqun.
On the whole, both Shi Dakai and Chen Yucheng have counterattacked the Hunan army, but the effect is not ideal, and it is difficult to completely defeat the Hunan army. Only by uniting other forces can the dominant position of the Hunan army be weakened.