Throughout the eight years from Yang's participation in offering sacrifices to the gods to Tianjing, Yang's ability is still relatively strong, but his overall strategic planning ability is not at the same level as that of Xiao He, Zhuge Liang, Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen. Yang made many mistakes in decision-making, lost many battles, and lost a large number of elite soldiers. Interestingly, Yang, the king of the East, made mistakes in decision-making and suffered repeated defeats, but he was able to turn the situation around and restore the offensive posture every time. Why?
1In May of 853, Yang Jean and Li led 20,000 veterans to the Northern Expedition, with the goal of "Don't attack the city and plunder the land, and go straight to Yanjing". Facts have proved that this is a very serious strategic mistake. If twenty thousand veterans dare to take yanjing, wouldn't they die? No matter how bad the Eight Banners are, green camp will be weak, but it is no problem to hold Yanjing. Twenty thousand veterans went into battle lightly, without siege equipment. The battle was poor, and the defeat of Liuhe was typical.
The Northern Expedition of 20,000 veterans is progressing smoothly, but the logistics can't keep up, and it is far from the rear base. The situation is very bad. So, Yang abandoned Yangzhou and sent 7000 soldiers from various war zones to reinforce the north, and he was once the commander in chief. And the result? 7000 Northern Expedition reinforcements were defeated in advance, and the whole army was wiped out in Linqing. Soon, and Li, the twenty thousand veterans, also lost their lives. A dozen experts were escorted to Yanjing and executed that year.
The Northern Expedition and the Northern Expedition reinforcements were defeated, and tens of thousands of eight banners cavalry were eyeing up and preparing to go south. However, Yang adjusted his deployment in time, and Qin Rigang and other soldiers stationed in Luzhou area in the name of reinforcing the Northern Expedition, preventing the Eight Banners from going south, and achieved the expected results, and the Western Expedition went smoothly.
The decision-making mistakes in the Northern Expedition were as bad as those in the Western Expedition, mainly due to improper employment, which led to the deterioration of the war situation. The first mistake was to let Hong Xiuquan's brother-in-law Lai lead an army to attack Nanchang. As a result, after playing for 93 days, I couldn't even touch the door, and the Western Expedition was blocked. However, Yang adjusted his deployment again, transferred back to Lai, and asked the coach to March northward into Luzhou, eliminate Jiang Zhongyuan, the originator of Xiang Army, and establish a base area in northern Anhui.
For the second time, Yang asked Lin, who had never been independent, to take charge of the Western Expedition, and Wei Jun, Zeng Tianyang and other experts accustomed to war acted as supporting roles. As a result, Zeng Guofan's Xiang army counterattacked successfully, the Taiping Army was defeated in Xiangtan, and 20,000 soldiers were wiped out. The Western Expedition was forced to take the defensive. For the third time, he refused to send Shi Dakai to the war, so that 65,438+10,000 Taiping troops were defeated and 4,000 warships were burned.
After the war in Tianjiazhen, Zeng Guofan and Xiang army directly besieged Jiujiang, and the achievements of the first stage of the Western Expedition were completely lost. However, Yang adjusted his deployment again, sent Shi Dakai to Hukou in time, and let experts such as Luo Gang, Wei Jun, Kai Wing Lam and Huang cooperate closely to win the "Hukou victory". Xiang army was defeated, Taiping army counterattacked Hubei, and three grams of Wuchang.
Regardless of the Northern Expedition, the Western Expedition, or the previous battle of Du Yi, Yang made many mistakes in decision-making, and the Taiping Army suffered repeated battles and defeats. The situation is very bad. However, Yang can turn the tide every time and continue to take the offensive. 1856 in may, the "Jiangnan camp" was destroyed, and the Taiping heavenly kingdom reached its military peak. So, why did Yang Can Xiu Qing turn the tables? Closely related to its real power.