185 1 1 October, Hong Xiuquan led more than 20,000 Catholics to revolt in Jintian Village, Guangxi. Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? . The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement was the largest peasant uprising in the history of China, which lasted for 13 years and attracted a large number of poor people to join them. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had more than one million troops in its heyday, so why did the huge Taiping Army lose to Ceng Guoquan's 20,000 Xiang Army?
Taiping heavenly kingdom members
(A) the rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
After Hong Xiuquan, the founder of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, failed in the fourth imperial examination, he felt that he couldn't find a way out, blaming others and blaming others. So Hong Xiuquan gave up the imperial examination and founded it on 1843? Worship God? Claiming to be God's second son, the younger brother of Jesus, came to earth to save the world.
After several years of development, the worship of God will become more and more fierce. At this time, the people of Guangdong and Guangxi have heavy taxes, long-term drought and very hard life. Hong Xiuquan thinks it's time for him to rebel.
1In July, 850, Hong Xiuquan called on all local congregations to gather at Wei Changhui's home in Jintian Village, Guangxi, to prepare for the uprising. In January of the following year, Hong Xiuquan gathered 20,000 people to rebel in Jintian Village. Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? The core leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are mainly Yang, Feng Yunshan, Xiao Chaogui, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai and others.
Stills of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom leaders
(B) Tianjin defense background
After the Taiping Army occupied Wuxuan Dongxiang, Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the King of Heaven. When the Qing government heard about it, it led the army south to counter the rebellion. In September of the same year, the Taiping Army occupied Yong 'an, and Hong Xiuquan enfeoffed five kings.
East Wang Yang is nine years old, West Wang Xiao Chaogui is eight thousand years old, South Wang Feng Yunshan is seven thousand years old, North Wang Wei Changhui and Wing Wang Shi Dakai is five thousand years old. All kings are controlled by the kings of the East.
After Yong 'an was surrounded by the Qing army, the Taiping Army broke through and turned to Quanzhou. When attacking Quanzhou and Changsha, Feng Yunshan and Xiao Chaogui were killed.
After the Taiping Army came to Daozhou, it established a soil camp, planned to capture Jiangning (now Nanjing), and prepared to build its capital in Jiangning.
1In February, 853, Hong Xiuquan led 500,000 troops to join forces with Jiujiang, Anqing and Wuhu, all the way to Jiangning. In March of the same year, the Taiping Army occupied Jiangning, and Hong Xiuquan changed Jiangning into Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. At the same time, he sent two troops to the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition respectively.
Shortly after the Taiping Army occupied Tianjing, the Qing government sent Xiang Rong to lead 50,000 people to settle in Xiaolingwei, Zijinshan, north of Tianjing, and set up the Jiangnan camp. The Qing army camped here, which is undoubtedly a breakthrough for attacking the city with Xiaoling Wei.
In addition, the Qing government also sent Qishan to establish Jiangbei camp near Yangzhou. The establishment of the two camps will directly threaten Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the defense of Tianjing will break out.
Hong Xiuquan stills
(3) Why can't Li Xiucheng's 200,000 Taiping Army beat Ceng Guoquan's 20,000 Xiang Army?
When the Qing army camped near Tianjing, the Taiping army claimed to be a million troops, but actually only a few hundred thousand had combat effectiveness.
At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sent three armies to the Northern Expedition, the Western Expedition and the Eastern Expedition respectively, while Hong Xiuquan and Yang adhered to Tianjing. As a result, the Northern Expeditionary Army of about 20,000 people was completely annihilated, and Li was killed.
The Western Expedition Army successfully occupied Anqing, Jiangxi, Hubei and other places. Xiang was defeated several times, and Zeng Guofan jumped into the river several times.
After the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition to the West, Tianjing was surrounded by two camps: Jiangbei and Jiangnan. Yang ordered Shi Dakai to lead the Western Expedition to save Tianjing, and the Western Expedition ended.
1February, 856, Qin Rigang led Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng to break camp in the north of the Yangtze River, and then made camp with Shi Dakai to occupy the camp in the south of the Yangtze River. From then on, the military strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reached its peak, and Hong Xiuquan became the monarch of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Yang is actually the main hero of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He was dissatisfied with his title and asked Hong Xiuquan to let him? Long live? Since then, the contradiction between Yang and Hong Xiuquan has intensified.
Hong Xiuquan ordered Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai to go back immediately and told them that Yang was going to rebel. After Wei Changhui returned to Tianjing, he conspired with Hong Xiuquan to kill Yang and annihilate his family and tens of thousands of people.
Because of the long journey, Shi Dakai didn't return to Tientsin until mid-September. When Shi Dakai learned about Yang's incident, he was very angry and rebuked Wei Changhui for killing innocent people. Shi Dakai angered Wei Changhui and got himself killed. Shi Dakai fled Tianjing for refuge, only to find that all his family members were killed by Wei Changhui.
Shi Dakai stills
Shi Dakai later returned to Hong Xiuquan's side, but failed to gain his trust, so he was forced to lead hundreds of soldiers out of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and break with Hong Xiuquan. After the Yang Wei Uprising, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was weakened and further declined.
1858 At the beginning of the year, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom weakened, and the Qing army re-established camps in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, preparing to besiege Tianjing, but it was destroyed by the famous Li Xiucheng.
After the Taiping Army broke camp in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, it began its second Western Expedition in two ways, one led by Chen Yucheng, the other led by Li Xiucheng, and finally moved to Hubei.
On his way to Hubei, Chen Yucheng fought with the Qing army in Anqing, and the Taiping Army lost more than 10,000 people. At this time, Chen Yucheng did not insist on fighting, but was full of thoughts about joining forces with Li Xiucheng to attack Wuhan, Hubei.
At this time, the main force of Xiang army was besieging Anqing, which was an important base area on the western front of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The fall of Anqing will directly threaten Tianjin. Later, under the bluff of foreigners, Chen Yucheng stopped attacking Wuhan, Hubei, while Li attacked Anqing, and fought against Xiang. Chen Yucheng defeated and retreated to Luzhou, and Anqing fell. The fall of Anqing represented the collapse of the Western Front of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Tianjing was in jeopardy.
Li Xiucheng stills
In the half year after the fall of Anqing, the barrier of Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan, as the leader of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, did nothing, did not take effective measures and was indifferent to the grim situation.
Zeng Guofan took the opportunity to assemble and deploy troops to prepare for a massive invasion of Tianjing. Ceng Guoquan, Zeng Guofan's younger brother, led twenty thousand people to station in Yuhuatai, south of Tianjing, to match Tianjing.
At the time of life and death, Li Xiucheng used hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Shanghai, which could not change the situation. Xiang army in the western front didn't attract his attention, Anqing lost Li Xiucheng and didn't take effective measures, allowing Xiang army to attack one after another.
When Ceng Guoquan led the army to gain a foothold in Yuhuatai, Hong Xiuquan realized the seriousness of the matter. He didn't expect Xiang to be killed so soon. Hong Xiuquan ordered Li Xiucheng, who attacked Shanghai three times a day, to recover quickly, and severely reprimanded Li Xiucheng for his slow defense. At this point, Ceng Guoquan has been stationed in Tianjin for more than five months.
Soon, the kings of the 13th Route of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom came back to save Tianjing? The total strength is as high as 200,000, while the Xiang army has only 20,000.
Allies are the most difficult to command. Thirteen kings have their own fiefs and their own calculations. They did not concentrate on the war of resistance and did not intend to fight a protracted war. As soon as they returned home, they hoped to make a quick decision and storm, while the Xiang army struggled to resist. The two sides fought for more than 40 days, but the Taiping Army failed to defeat the Xiang Army, but the situation in Tianjing was even more critical.
After Li Xiucheng failed to rescue the siege of Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan gave it to Li Xiucheng in a rage? Severely blame the Lord Ge Jue? The punishment, and adopted? Encircle Wei to save Zhao? Li Xiucheng was sent into the north to attack the south, with the purpose of raiding the rear of the Qing army and relieving the siege of Tianjing.
Hong Xiuquan stills
As a result, Tianjing was in an emergency, and Li Xiucheng had to move troops back to Korea. Taiping army rushed back and forth, losing tens of thousands of soldiers. Li Xiucheng's strength has plummeted, and there is little hope of saving Tianjing.
Soon, Tianjing ran out of grain and grass. It turned out that Li Xiucheng had proposed stationing grain in Tianjing, but was opposed by Hong Xiuquan's two brothers. They are afraid of threatening their own interests. Xiang heard that the Taiping Army was short of food and dug a deep ditch, and resolutely refused to fight.
In the end, due to the lack of food in Tianjing City, the internal organization of Taiping Army was chaotic, and Taiping Army ran back and forth, with low combat effectiveness. Four months after the fall of Tianbao City, the bunker city fell. In less than half a month, Tianjing fell and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom perished.