Text Editor: Dragon Gate Array.
Among the senior generals of the Hunan army, there are two very significant characteristics, first, Hunanese, and second, intellectuals. For example, the coach Zeng Guofan, a native of Xiangxiang, Hunan, a Jinshi in the eighteenth year of Daoguang, and the other three commanders, Jiang Zhongyuan, a native of Xinning, Hunan, are raised people; Hu Linyi, a native of Yiyang, Hunan, lifts people; Zuo Zongtang, a native of Xiangyin, Hunan, lifts people.
The Hunan army is like a dragon traveling all over the world, shaking the thunderbolt and shaking the rivers and mountains.
Among the thirteen commanders below, most of them are scholars, and nearly eight of them have become Hunanese. There are only three who are not Hunanese, among which Taqibu and Duolonga are Manchurians, and there are naturally special reasons for becoming the commanders of the Hunan army. Then there is only one alternative left, he is neither a native of Hunan nor a scholar.
This man, known as the first fierce general of the Hunan army, fought extremely fiercely, starting from an ordinary soldier, participated in more than 500 battles in 16 years, and suffered more than 100 physical injuries. The unit to which he was located, known as the "Thunder Army", was the absolute main force of the Hunan Army at that time, and it was also a unit with very bad military discipline, which also attracted criticism from the Chinese people.
Because of his outstanding military achievements, he was first given the title of "Zhuang Yong Baturu", and after his death, he was given the title of "Loyal and Strong", posthumously presented the prince Shaobao, established a special ancestral hall, and established a biography of the national embassy.
This fierce general is the famous general of the Hunan Army, who is called "Duolong Super Tiger" along with the famous general of the Qing Army, Duolonga-Bao Chao.
Bao Chao, the word Chunting, and the later word of Chunting, was taken by Hu Linyi, hoping that it would be as powerful as Chunlei.
In the eighth year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty (1828), Bao Chao was born in a poor peasant family in Fengjie County, Kuizhou Prefecture, Sichuan Province (now Fengjie, Chongqing), and his father Bao Changfeng died of illness when Bao Chao was 5 years old, and the family life was poor.
Liu worked as a wet nurse in Fengjie County, while 10-year-old Bao Chao began working as a handyman in a tofu factory and in the winter by picking coal flowers in the Moba salt factory.
Soon after, his mother Liu remarried Bao Changyuan, Bao Changyuan had some kung fu and was well-known in the local area, and Bao Chao began to practice martial arts with his stepfather. Bao Chao is obsessed with martial arts, practice every day, Bao Chao's favorite weapon is the spear, in order to increase the strength of the arm, he imitates the method of others practicing ** sandbags in the legs to increase the strength of the legs, hanging two stones on his elbows during training, and gradually adding the stones to more than a dozen catties, and then wielding the spear, handy, pointing where to fight.
In the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang (1845), Bao Chao was seventeen years old, and the local garrison of Kuifu recruited defense soldiers. went to apply for the examination and successfully entered the barracks with his excellent martial arts.
Four years later, Li Yuan's uprising broke out on the border of Hunan and Guizhou, and Bao Chao felt that he could not achieve a great deal as a soldier in Kuifu, so he resolutely resigned from his military post and went to Hunan. Who knew that when he arrived in Hunan, he found that Li Yuanfa's uprising had been suppressed.
At this time, Hunan Governor Xiang Rong recruited troops in Yichang to suppress the Taiping Army and set up the "Sichuan Yong Battalion", so Bao Chao was recruited into the army and followed Xiang Rong to Guangxi to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Taiping Army, and fought with the Taiping Army many times in Guiping, Yong'an and other places in Guangxi.
Bao Chao was extremely brave in battle, who knew that too brave, it was not a good thing, he was seriously wounded in the battle of Guilin and had to return to Changsha to recuperate.
Soon after, the Taiping army broke through the encirclement and waved its division into Hunan, the Qing army was in chaos, and Cheng Cai, the governor of Huguang, retreated from Hengzhou to Changsha; Yu Wanqing lost Daozhou, Guiyang, Chenzhou and other places, and the Taiping army led by Xiao Chaogui, the western king of the Taiping army, approached the city of Changsha.
Bao Chao, who had recovered from his injuries, entered the Hunan Association and was transferred to the subordinates of Changsha Green Camp Taqibu, and in this siege of Changsha, he showed great heroism. After the success of defending the city in this battle, Bao Chao was awarded the six-grade top for his merits.
In May of the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854), due to the tight war, Bao Chao was transferred to the Hunan Army Water Division as a sentry officer of the water camp, under the command of Yang Zaifu (Yang Yuebin) of the right battalion.
Soon after, Zeng Guofan ordered Chu Ruhang, Xia Luan, Peng Yulin, and Yang Zaifu to lead 2,000 people from the four battalions of the Hunan Army to attack Yuezhou. The Hunan army sailors set up ambushes in the area of Junshan and Leigong Lake, and Bao Chao relied on his consistent and stable courage to let everyone realize a rising star.
Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan was extremely happy when he learned about it and personally met with Bao Chao. And told him, "You don't need to show credit, everyone has already told me your credit!" ”
Bao Chao, who was appreciated by Zeng Guofan, was promoted in Xianfeng for four consecutive years**, and was promoted to the rank of commander in leap July, garrison in August, and Jiadu in October.
The following year, the Taiping army conquered Wuchang for the third time, Bao Chao fought bravely, promoted the commander of the naval division, took charge of the middle battalion warship, and changed his subordinate to Hu Linyi, who had the grace of knowing Bao Chao's life.
Because the Taiping army was offensive, Hu Linyi hurriedly asked for help from Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, and Luo Bingzhang ordered Bao Chao to raise water to save Hubei. Bao Chao led Shui Yong to fight fiercely with the Taiping army in Jinkou and Caidian for more than two months
Bao Chao's style is very unique, his warship is a big book Bao Zi flag, and on the mast hung on the red silk more than a zhang long, others asked him what kind of performance art he was doing, he vibrated with words, so easy to identify, if I win, the back of the warship can take advantage of the situation, if I defeat, I can't shirk the responsibility, the results of each battle are clear at a glance, everyone naturally fights bravely to kill the enemy.
This has to be said to be a clear stream of the prevailing atmosphere of fighting for merit in the war that prevailed in the Qing army at that time.
Moreover, his combat style is extremely fierce, and he often smashes into the Taiping army fleet with a single ship, going in and out vertically and horizontally, as if entering a no-man's land. The Taiping Army has never seen this kind of stunned young man who does not play according to the routine, and he is also very uncomfortable with his style of play.
When fighting with the sentry posts of the battalions, Bao Chao must have been in front of the battle, and when he returned to the camp, he often stopped behind the palace. Its strong combat style won the appreciation of Peng Yulin, the founder of the Xiangxi Naval Division.
In August of the fifth year of Xianfeng, thousands of people of the Taiping army besieged the land camp of Hu Linyi in Hanyang Gaomiao, shelled the Hu camp tent, the army was in chaos, the position was unstable, and Hu Linyi thought that he was going to die in the high temple. At this moment, I suddenly saw the drums beating in the river, and the cry was loud, and I saw a red silk on the mast hunting and dancing in the wind.
It turned out that after Bao Chao heard that Hu Linyi was besieged, he rushed to help, and all the cannons on the ship fired in unison, the morale of the Qing army was greatly boosted, and the Taiping army was in chaos, and had to withdraw from the battlefield.
After experiencing this incident, Hu Linyi respected Bao Chao even more, did not regard him as his subordinate, and did not look down on Bao Chao because he was uneducated, but commensurate him as a brother. And the change of Bao Chao's word Chunting also happened during this period.
Hu Lin Wing. Soon, Hu Linyi told Bao Chao, brother, I won't tell you, these green battalion soldiers under me now, don't look at the number of people, they are all rabble, they can't be used in the war at all, they know that they eat military salaries if they have nothing to do, if something happens, they will not go to war if they don't pay, and if they are paid, they can't fight, they can't use it. Don't look at the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers now, they are all rice buckets, and a battalion claims to be more than 1,000 people, and more than a dozen long hairs can drive them away.
I see that you already have the ability to take charge on your own, you can go back to Hunan, recruit some men and horses yourself, and we will set up an army for you.
So, Bao Chao returned to Hunan, recruited 3,000 recruits, divided into five battalions, center, front, left and right, and after returning, Hu Linyi awarded Bao Chao's army the "thunder" word battle flag, so far it became an army of its own. After that, the navy division was changed to a land division, and most of the troops in the early army were Hunanese, and there were more Sichuanese in the later period, and the fierce and controversial Thunder Army began to appear on the stage of history. Bao Chao led his own Bao family army and participated in many major military operations of the Qing court, and made great contributions to the Qing court.
The strongest period of the Thunder Army was in the fourth year of Tongzhi, when the whole army reached 32 battalions of about 20,000 people, including 20 infantry battalions and 12 horse battalions.
Moreover, from the beginning of its formation, his soldiers attached great importance to the use of firearms, and their firearms equipment rate and quality were far higher than those of the traditional Eight Banners Green Battalion.
The battle of Thunder's fame was the Battle of Huangmei, which took place shortly after its formation. At that time, the Taiping army of Chen Yucheng attacked Huangmei, a strategic place at the junction of Anhui and Hubei.
At this time, the elite of the Hunan army was led by Li Xubin to attack Jiujiang in Jiangxi, and the Huangmei garrison was only 4,000, of which 3,000 were the Thunder Army that Bao Chao had just formed.
As soon as he heard that the Taiping army was 50,000 people, he was frightened on the spot, and asked everyone to take advantage of the fact that the main force of the Taiping army had not yet arrived, and immediately withdrew from Huangmei and stationed on the Yangtze River, so as to have the support of the Qing army's warships.
However, Bao Chao immediately refuted Du Xing'a's claim, claiming that abandoning the city before the battle was tantamount to tearing down the fence by himself. Duxing Ah was suspicious, he also knew that Bao Chao was strong, but he couldn't be sure of his specific ability, but as long as he didn't go to war, even if something went wrong, the responsibility was also his Bao Chao's, so he reluctantly agreed.
On the opposite side, Chen Yucheng, a famous general of the Taiping Army, was bound to Huang Mei, and he went to the front line in person and dispatched the army to surround the 3,000 Thunder Legion, preparing to annihilate one by one.
Chen Yu became convenient for command and dispatch, and set up five high bases in the battalion, Bao Chao did not panic, and after a calm analysis, he decided to concentrate all his forces, attack a little, and give the Taiping army a head-on blow, and the five high bases responsible for scheduling are the key to defeating the enemy.
So, Bao Chao selected the elite as the vanguard, pointed to the highest and largest number of high bases, and said: "I will personally attack this place, and you can pick the rest!" ”
When the battle began, Bao Chaoren took the lead and charged towards the high base.
When the Taiping army was still thinking about how to besiege to minimize losses, they saw a group of men and horses suddenly killed in the Qing army camp opposite, led by a spear and shouting towards the high base.
Before the Taiping army could understand what was happening, in an instant, this group of men and horses was almost under the high base, and the other four teams in the Qing army camp also shouted towards the other four high bases.
Bao Chao rushed to the high base, bravely drove the stationed Taiping army off the high base, and killed countless enemies. In fact, the Taiping army is not all capable of fighting well, many are still rabble, seeing that this kind of high base with heavy troops has been broken through in minutes, the remaining four defenders have also wavered.
Bao Chao asked people to erect a military flag with his surname written on the high base, and asked the sergeant to wave the flag and shout.
The morale of the Thunder Army was greatly boosted, and they were even more courageous, and the military heart was like this, one person could sweep away ten people, and ten people could sweep away a hundred people. So the Taiping army was completely defeated, and they all ran to the rear.
Chen Yucheng was shocked, but he was also powerless, and later when he analyzed the cause of the failure, he specifically mentioned Bao Chao. said that he didn't expect such a character to appear in the Hubei Army, so be careful of him in the future.
In the eighth year of Xianfeng, the Jiangxi battlefield, because the contradiction between Lin Qirong and Shi Dakai became public, Shi Dakai did not rescue Lin Qirong, resulting in Lin Qirong's department being besieged in Jiujiang for 17 months, on May 19, the Hunan army land division launched a general attack from the east, south and west, and the water division launched a general attack from the north, bombarding the east and southeast city walls for more than 100 zhang, and swarming into the city, 170,000 Taiping troops were killed, and Jiujiang, which had been held for nearly 5 years, fell into the hands of the Hunan army, which basically laid the situation on the battlefield in Jiangxi, and the Hunan army approached Anqing, an important town on the western front of Tianjing.
On September 22, the Taiping army Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng attacked the Jiangbei camp, while the Hunan army entered Anhui from Hubei, and after conquering Taihu Lake, they divided their troops into two routes, Bao Chao and Duolong A entered Anqing, and Li Xubin attacked Luzhou.
But at this moment, in Sanhe Town, Shucheng, Li Xubin encountered Chen Yucheng, who was returning to defense, and the two sides fought a battle to the death here. The Taiping army concentrated the most superior forces, annihilated more than 6,000 Qing troops, and Li Xubin hanged himself.
Urgently, Bao Chao's department was also beaten by the imposing Chen Yucheng to find teeth, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng took advantage of the victory to advance south, and successively recovered Shucheng, Tongcheng, and Qianshan. Duxing Abe, who was besieging Anqing, was also forced to withdraw to Taihu Lake.
In December, the Qing army, which had recovered a little, regrouped, and Bao Chao led his Ting army to station at Xiaochiyi, preparing to attack Qianshan.
Chen Yucheng led another 50,000 troops to help, and Bao Chao was once again made dumplings by Chen Yucheng.
Faced with such a familiar scene, Bao Chao actually ordered the whole army to set up a wine and sing a play, after everyone drank bitterly. Bao Chao suddenly jumped on the wine table and asked loudly: "How are we now?" ”
The crowd shouted, "Die! ”
Bao Chao said: "Death, it's too easy!" Poisoned or hanged?! Let's choose a way to die and see how neat! ”
Bao Chao asked, and the soldiers instantly sobered up. Chanting: ".Lao Tzu wants to **!
So, when the sky was just showing the white of the fish's belly, the three thousand thunder troops were ready to go, and Bao Chao once again took the lead, leading the army to charge towards the most dense place of the Taiping army.
The Taiping Army was stunned again, and was so violently impacted by the Thunder Army that it broke through from the siege of tens of thousands of people again. As a result, not long after rushing out, Qing reinforcements arrived again.
Bao Chao immediately turned the horse's head and led the Thunder Army to fight back. Chen Yucheng was defeated in this battle, and the Qing army occupied Taihu Lake again.
In the later official book, Bao Chao's bravery was also praised, saying that if it were not for the tenacious confrontation of the Ting Army against Chen Yucheng's main force with 3,000 men and bought time for the reinforcements, our army would have been defeated.
At that time, the Thunder Army was known for its good warfare, so after discussion between Zeng and Hu, it was decided to use the Thunder Army as a guerrilla division, that is, as an elite mobile force, to destroy the enemy in sports warfare.
But the Thunder Army is not defenseless, and every time it goes into battle, it has to leave two to three percent of its troops to defend the battalion. It is said that once, Bao Chao's army was besieged again, so he asked people to write a letter to Zeng Guofan for help, but Bao couldn't finish writing the copy in half a day because he was illiterate. Bao Chao grabbed the pen impatiently and scolded: "I can't do this thing well!" ”
He wrote the word "Bao" on the letterhead, then drew a circle outside the word, and drew some arrows in all directions outside the circle, aimed at the word Bao, and then handed it to the herald to deliver it quickly. Zeng Guofan opened the letter and looked at it, laughed, and said, "Chun Ting came to move the rescue soldiers...
In the tenth year of Xianfeng, the Qing army concentrated its military strength and began to attack Anqing, and the Taiping army also came to the rescue in several ways. Zeng Guofan urgently dispatched 6,000 of Bao Chao's Ting Army from Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province to reinforcements. Without the support of the naval division and the inability to cut off the supply lines of the Hunan army, the Taiping army was in a difficult situation.
On June 9, Bao Chao led his army to capture Chigangling and annihilated more than 4,000 defenders.
At this time, the Taiping Army's Huang Wenjin Department entered Jiangxi from Zhejiang, and Li Xiucheng also took advantage of the situation to attack southern Anhui, and captured Xuancheng, besieging Qimen, where Zeng Guofan's camp was located.
Zeng Guofan's troops left behind in the camp were not many, and the situation was very critical.
After Bao Chao heard the news, he hurriedly marched to the rescue, walked more than 100 miles in a day, and rushed to Qimen to defeat the Taiping army. Because of his excellent performance, after this battle, he was awarded the title of "Botong Eba Batulu".
The first year of Tongzhi. Bao Chao entered southern Anhui. Cooperate with Zeng Guoquan's troops to attack Tianjing. At this time, the Thunder Army was already experienced in a hundred battles, and the Taiping Army began to be "frightened and scattered" when they saw the Bao Ziqi.
It is said that some generals in the Qing army at that time began to secretly imitate a big banner with the word "Bao" in the barracks in case of emergency. Even when Zuo Zongtang was attacked by the Taiping army in Zhangshu Town, Jiangxi Province to collapse, he had to sacrifice the "Bao" flag, which really scared off the enemy army, and the strength of Bao Chao and his Ting army can indeed be seen.
Although Bao Chao is a very brave general on the battlefield, he still lacks a certain strategy. As the exploits of the Thunder Army became more and more prominent, Bao Chao began to become arrogant and formed a grudge with some generals within the Hunan Army, laying the groundwork for the tragic ending later.
Liu Mingchuan. In the sixth year of Tongzhi, Bao Chao led his troops to meet Liu Mingchuan, the general of the Huai Army, in Hubei, and prepared to attack the Twist Army at the Yinlong River, but Liu Mingchuan, who was eager for utilitarianism, did not attack the Twist Army first according to the plan, and the general soldier Tang Dian was killed on the spot.
In desperation, Liu Mingchuan had to sit and wait for death. At this time, Bao Chao led the generals to storm the rear of the Twist Army, and after the Twist Army lost tens of thousands of people in the desperate struggle, Liu Mingchuan had this opportunity to escape.
Li. Unexpectedly, Li Hongzhang blindly favored the Huai Army afterwards and accused Bao Chao of influencing the war. And Zeng Guokui, who lived together in the Hunan army, also fell into the trap at this time, and Zuo Zongtang also added fuel and vinegar, causing the newly arrived Minister of Military Aircraft to invite the emperor when he didn't know the truth of the matter.
Severely criticized by the emperor and exempted from the discussion, Bao Chao did not expect that he thought that this victory over the main force of the Twist Army and saved Liu Mingchuan's life at a critical moment, who knew that the emperor's decree was to punish himself. Bao Chao was furious and resigned and went home to enjoy his old age.
In fact, as early as the third year of Tongzhi (1864), after the conquest of Tianjing, in order to avoid the suspicion of the Qing court and show that there was no second heart, the Hunan military group had begun to reduce on a large scale, and nearly 50,000 people were laid off at one time, and nearly 50,000 people were laid off at one time, and 40,000 were also laid off from 60,000 troops of Zuo Zongtang, and all Cheng Daji, Xi Baotian, Wang Kailin and other departments were abolished. The entire Hunan army group increased from nearly 500,000 at its peak, to less than 100,000 remaining. The only ones that remained with a certain scale were the Yangtze River Water Division, Bao Chao's Thunder Army and Liu Songshan's Division.
The Thunder Army was the strong force of the Hunan Army, and it was not cut in the Great Reduction, and Zeng Guofan regarded it as his important political capital and kept it intact. The combat strength of the Thunder Army was recognized by all parties at that time, so when Bao Chao resigned on the grounds of serious illness, his army became the focus of various factions, Zuo Zongtang wanted to take the Thunder Army to the northwest, Li Hongzhang wanted to incorporate the Thunder Army into the Huai system, and Zeng Guofan wanted to take it into his own hands as much as possible. The initial dismantling of the Thunder Army was not the original intention of all parties, and the Thunder Army, as a strong force developed in the process of suppressing the peasant uprising, was finally dismantled and dismantled.
In the sixth year of Guangxu (1880), the 52-year-old Bao Chao was reappointed by the imperial court to appoint the governor of Hunan, because the Russian soldiers had been looking for nourishment at that time, Bao Chao was ordered to recruit 14,500 troops in October 1880 to rush to Leting to garrison.
Unexpectedly, at this time, the Qing Dynasty and Russia signed a humiliating treaty, and the relationship between the two countries was temporarily eased. Bao Chao had no choice but to obey the order, and successively withdrew one of his battalions.
Three years later, the Qing Dynasty and France broke out again because of the sovereignty of Vietnam, and the corrupt Qing ** again chose to compromise and retreat, but France pressed the war all the way to the southeast coast of China.
At this time, the Qing court felt that its own interests were under great threat, so it ordered all troops to attack, especially in the coastal areas, to prevent the invasion of the French army.
Bao Chao was also ordered to rush to Yunnan to participate in the war. At this time, although Bao Chao was old and sick, he was still desperate in the battle, mobilized his old troops in the starry night, recruited more than 14,000 troops overnight, and rushed to Yunnan overnight to garrison outside Mabai Pass of the Yunnan Second Team.
It's just that at this time, the weak and incompetent Qing ** signed an unequal treaty with France again at this time. After Bao Chao heard the news, he sighed repeatedly, "The saint is dizzy, and there is a negative **."
He then led his troops back to his hometown.
Portrait of Bao Chao. In the twelfth year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1886), Bao Chao, the first fierce general of the Hunan Army, who was famous all over the country and had great achievements, finally died of depression after experiencing the ups and downs of life.
A generation of fierce generals Bao Chao, from the battle of Huangmei to fame, and under the vigorous training of the commander of the Hunan army, became the main general of the Hunan army, and the thunder army under his command made the Taiping army frightened, all said that character determines fate, and its fierce character gradually turned into arrogance, which seemed a little out of place in the officialdom of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and it can only be said that his departure is a matter of time.
In addition, the Thunder Army formed by Bao Chao, most of the soldiers recruited by it are outlaws, and the main motivation for joining the army is the pursuit of "profit", which is a double-edged sword on the one hand to create this tiger and wolf division. On the other hand, there are also many problems.
The lack of pay and salary led to the disunity of the officers and soldiers; After each battle, the soldiers were allowed to plunder, resulting in a very bad reputation of the Thunder Army; A large number of rebels were recruited and the soldiers in the surrender army were incorporated into the Thunder Army; There are also problems such as the large-scale infiltration of the elders' association in the army, and Bao Chao's own youthful ambition and unruliness are intertwined, which even led to the occurrence of large-scale mutinies.
Although the Thunder Army became a strong fighting force, it had a very poor reputation, and although it was relied on by the Qing court, it was considered to be really difficult to control. After the campaign to exterminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Thunder Army continued to participate in the battle to exterminate the Twist Army. In the battle of Yinlonghe, it was even more in the limelight, but at this time the ruling order of the Qing Dynasty had re-stabilized, and the Qing court no longer tolerated Bao Chao's unruliness so much, and intended to beat him, so when Li Hongzhang reversed the reasons for victory and defeat with Liu Ming's untrue words and attacked Bao Chao, the highest ruling class of the Qing Dynasty adopted a laissez-faire attitude.
But Bao Chao didn't see through the deep meaning, but Zeng Guofan kept reminding Bao Chao to calm his mind, and Bao Chao thought that he had wronged and didn't listen to anyone's advice, so he was sick and returned home, so that he was in the prime of life but could not be used by the court for more than ten years. And the final fate of its unruly Thunder Army is to be divided by the major factions.
However, historical activities are complex and diverse, showing the characteristics of phases and diversity in different periods, as is the case with Bao Chao and his troops. In the sixth year of Guangxu (1880), Sino-Russian relations were tense due to the Ili issue, and the Qing court summoned Bao Chao to lead the army to garrison Zhili, and during the Sino-French War, he was ordered to recruit troops to go to Yunnan.
References:Yang Fei and Qiao Haidong: Bao Chao, the first fierce general of the Hunan Army.
Yin Guangming: Bao Chao and Ting Jun.
Chen Baohui, Ma Xu: Bao Chao and Ting Jun.