March 19, 1853 was a day of great significance for the Taiping Army. On this day, after six days of fierce fighting, the Taiping army finally conquered Nanjing, the central town of the Qing ruling southern provinces. Immediately afterwards, the Taiping army won two more victories: conquering Zhenjiang and Yangzhou. The former, at the confluence of the Yangtze River and the canal,"It is connected to the stone (Nanjing) in the west, Guangling (Yangzhou) in the north, and the gold (Jinshan) Jiao (Jiaoshan) obstacle is in its upper reaches, which is really dangerous. From the golden mouth to the stone, where two hundred miles, the high post is forced to the shore, like the Great Wall, not easy to commit; From Chrysostom to the east to Mengdu,More than 70 miles, or the peak is horizontal, or the mud is in the mud, the so-called 28 ports, are shallow and short, and it is difficult to travel".Since the Spring and Autumn Period, it has been an important place for soldiers. As for Yangzhou, Zhenjiang's neighbor, it was not only the richest city at that time, but also a necessary place for north-south transportation, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the throat lifeline of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Retrieving historical data, after the outbreak of the First Opium War between China and Britain, one of the major killer moves of the British to force the Qing court to sign a contract was to create a strategic situation of "controlling and containing Zhenjiang and coercing Yangzhou and Nanjing" at the mouth of the Yangtze River. So, what kind of shock did this strategic posture created by the Taiping Army give the Qing rulers?
Li Ruzhao, a native of the Qing Dynasty, recorded in his book "History of Jingshan Ye" such remarks by Yang Chunyi, a man from Anhua County, who fled from the capital"The grain road is blocked, the Beijing division is shaken, the bureaucrats inside and outside the ministry are sent home, most of the idle people and bachelors are scattered, and the capital is empty. There is only a place near Beijing, and there is not much grain transported by the seaway, so the price of rice in the capital is more than 80 wen a catty, and the oil, salt, firewood, and charcoal are expensive. ”All in all, in the face of the severe situation of the grain route being cut off and the prices in the capital skyrocketing, the ruling group of the Qing Dynasty was already at the critical point of disintegration, and it was just a blow from the gravity of the Taiping army. However, the Taiping army did not seize this golden opportunity, and instead devoted most of its military strength to the fortification of the new capital of Tianjing City. In particular, the construction of the Qing army's Jiangnan camp and Jiangbei camp made the Taiping army, which urgently dispatched troops and horses to compete with it, temporarily forget about the northward advance. By the time the Taiping army freed up two months later, the Qing army had already made a certain defense of Jiangbei. Even so, the Taiping Army's blades were still very sharp.
Northern Expedition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
According to historical records, there were many "twist armies" active north of the Huai River at that time. With the support of the manpower, material resources, and intelligence work of these Twist Army, the Northern Expeditionary Force of the Taiping Army, which landed from Pukou on 13 May, only took a little more than a month to reach the important town of Guide in eastern Henan. Judging from the operational intentions of the Taiping army, they intended to cross the Yellow River from the vicinity of Guide to Shandong. In that area, there were many twisted armies and peasant armies that revolted in various forms. By absorbing them, one can supplement the military strength, and the other can take advantage of their innate advantage of being familiar with the customs and customs to strike a more powerful blow at the Qing army. Of course, there is another important reason, that is, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has a large section through Shandong, and there are countless rich places that have been cultivated due to the exchanges, which can provide sufficient supplies for the Taiping army. However, to the surprise of the Taiping army, the large and small ferries at the ferry port near Guide had already been confiscated and burned by the Qing army. Helpless, the Taiping army had no choice but to go west along the river.
The Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army.
According to historical records, after the Taiping army withdrew from Germany on June 15, its marching route was along the Yellow River. In general, it is waiting for the opportunity to cross the river. However, the Qing army had the experience of Liujiakou and never gave the Taiping army a chance. On the 26th, after the Taiping army arrived in Gongxian, they obtained boats from the boatmen to cross the river. However, as the Northern Expeditionary Army continued to fight, the army became increasingly short of supplies. In particular, the shortage of grain and rice has caused the veterans of Liangguang, the core unit of the Northern Expeditionary Army, who are accustomed to eating rice and do not like northern food, to encounter unavoidable life problems. In order to replenish supplies, after the Taiping army crossed the Yellow River, it launched a two-month siege battle against Huaiqing, the general garrison of Hebei Town, an important town north of the Yellow River, where "countless silver reserves and guns and gunpowder are sufficient". Since the Taiping army couldn't defeat Huaiqing in a short period of time, why didn't they decisively give up the siege? In this regard, historians have not found material from the side of the Taiping army that can explain it. However, from the confession of the Qing army to capture the Taiping army sentry, it was found that "Lin Fengxiang is determined to break the city and hold on, waiting for southern aid". Who knows, the reinforcements did not wait, but waited for the main force of the Qing army. The Taiping army, which was unable to conquer the city, felt that it was unable to break through the main force of the Qing army in the Xinxiang area, so it made another detour, and its route was to enter Hebei through Shanxi.
At that time, the armed landlords in the Gyeonggi area gathered, and more than 10,000 villagers gathered in Raoyang County alone. However, due to the weakness of the regular army of the Qing Dynasty, according to the unpredictable tactics of the Taiping army, it was not impossible to break through the obstacles of these regimental training and the Qing army, which was not strong in combat strength. However, after the Taiping army arrived in the area of Gaocheng in present-day Shijiazhuang, they did not go straight north to Baoding, where the Qing army had weak defensive strength, but turned east to Cangzhou, and then went north along the South Canal to the Jinghai and Duliu areas of Tianjin. When the historian studied the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army, he was very puzzled by this. It wasn't until the First Historical Archives of China released the "Li Kaifang's Confession" in the archives of the Beijing Patrol Office in the collection of the Beijing Division that they knew that this was because when they set off from Tianjing, they received an order to "settle down in Tianjin". It took three months to hold on. During this period, the Taiping army also launched several attacks on Tianjin. However, due to the heavy rains in Hebei this year, a large amount of water was hoarded in the low-lying Tianjin. In addition, the Tianjin regiment trained its armed forces and supported the military to build fortresses, so that several attacks by the Taiping army ended in setbacks. This also shows that the Qing army's strength in the area around Tianjin has been continuously strengthened. In fact, during the three months that the Taiping army was stationed in Tianjin and waiting for reinforcements, the Qing army did take out the capital to take care of the house. According to reports, under the unified dispatch of the newly established Beijing Patrol Office of the Qing court, the troops in the hands of the Qing generals Seng Lingqin and Shengbao, who specialized in dealing with the Northern Expeditionary Army, were strengthened to more than 60,000 people. At the same time, in order to prevent the Northern Expeditionary Army from attacking Beijing, the Qing court mobilized heavy troops from various provinces and organized regimental training. According to the Cheng Fang Ji Luo, under the repeated additions of the Qing court, the garrison of Beijing at that time had reached 116,385. Together with the newly transferred more than 10,000 horse teams from Chahar, Mongolia, Ningxia, Rehe, Jilin, Heilongjiang and other places, their number has exceeded 120,000. In addition, in order to prevent the Taiping Army in Nanjing from continuing to send troops to support the Northern Expeditionary Army, the Qing court also deployed heavy troops on the Jianghuai and Luyu lines. As a result, as time passed, the Taiping army, which was devastated by the harsh winter in the north, gradually lost its strength and equipment.
On the day of the year, the Taiping army was forced by the situation and decisively led the army to retreat south. Judging from the combat situation of the Taiping army's retreat to the south, the Northern Expeditionary Army did not really want to retreat south, their real intention was to receive reinforcements from Tianjing in the north, and then work together to continue the Northern Expedition. So, after he withdrew to Lianzhen in the Dongguang area of present-day Cangzhou, Li Kaifang, a famous general of the Northern Expedition who was as famous as Lin Fengxiang, took advantage of the fact that the Qing army was not tightly encircled, and led his troops south to receive reinforcements under the guidance of secret agents. However, Li Kaifang did not know that the reinforcements they were looking forward to had been routed by the Qing army long before the spies arrived in Lianzhen. When he left, the strong soldiers in Lin Fengxiang's hands were sharply reduced. Not only that, when Lin Fengxiang was waiting for Li Kaifang and reinforcements, the Qing army had already completed the encirclement of the Taiping army in Lianzhen. However, in view of the tactical flexibility of the Taiping army, the monk Lingqin who led the troops was not completely sure of the complete elimination of Lin Fengxiang. "Records of Experiences and Experiences" records that when Seng Lingqin was frowning, an old boy in his seventies came from outside the barracks. When he saw Monk Lingqin, he first presented him with a map of Lianzhen, and then told him that the best way to destroy the Taiping army in Lianzhen was to besiege it with a long trench and an earthen wall. In order to avoid the Taiping army from discovering it, Lao Tongsheng also instructed the monk Lingqin to build the wall from far and near when he was leaving.
The Qing Dynasty archives contain a map of the siege of the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
History,"When the work started, the thief found out, and the king of the monk laughed at his lack of resourcefulness, so what good was it to build this? Not ten days of work, the thief saw that there was no way to escape around, he was afraid, repeatedly clashed, and wanted to escape, and the monk king could run the road, with heavy troops to defend it, can not escape. After months of running out of food, killing horses and eating, the thief panicked. ”In the summer, seeing that the Taiping army was still holding on, the Qing army had another plan: taking advantage of the rainy season, the water from the cut canal was poured into the low-lying town. In winter, the Taiping army began to run short of food"The armies first kill the mules and horses, and then boil the trunks and scabbards to satisfy the hunger; or those who dig purslane, angelica, and all wild herbs in the sand; There are also those who peel elms, take the bark and grind the powder, and make pasta. “
In this desperate situation, some soldiers of the Taiping Army were shaken and fled from Lianzhen to surrender, and the Northern Expeditionary Army weakened. On the day of the year, the Qing army saw that the Northern Expeditionary Army was unable to fight again, so it launched a general attack. Lin Fengxiang, who was seriously injured, saw that the general trend was gone, and decisively committed suicide by taking poison. How could Monk Greenqin miss the great achievement of capturing the enemy's leader, so he transferred a skilled doctor**. According to historical records, after Lin Fengxiang was rescued by the Qing army, he was immediately escorted to Beijing. Recently, there was an article saying: "After Lin Fengxiang was escorted into the Beijing Division, Emperor Xianfeng personally climbed the head of the city in the morning, when the monk Greenqin led the troops to escort the prisoner car to the Jinshui Bridge outside the noon gate, Emperor Xianfeng saw clearly, but he was a medium-sized Jiangnan man, neither burly nor majestic, and he was completely a teaching gentleman. "Judging from the content, this does not stand up to scrutiny. Because Monk Greenqin did not personally escort Lin Fengxiang into Beijing. After breaking through Lianzhen, Monk Greenqin rushed to Gaotang to encircle and suppress Li Kaifang.
The escort of Lin Fengxiang into Beijing was the squire Ruilin and the chief soldier ** Dai. To be honest, not only is the authenticity of this article questionable, but even the authenticity of Lin Fengxiang's 402-word "Confession" is also questionable. You must know that when Lin Fengxiang was killed at the entrance of the vegetable market, he was extremely strong. According to the time Li Huan contained,Executioner"Everywhere the knife goes(Lin Fengxiang).I still looked at it, but I didn't taste it. How could such a character call the Taiping Army a "thief" in the "Confession"?