In the summer of the fourteenth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1888 AD), in today's dilapidated hut of a villager in Nandagang Farm in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, an old man who made a living by practicing medicine and fortune-telling has entered the time of returning to the light. The old man came to the place alone on a stormy night during the rainy season in the seventh year of Tongzhi (1868 AD). He is tall in a southern accent and has a strong Kong Wu. He was born in Lianjia at first glance.
He lived here for 20 years. The villagers called him "Manzi". Later everyone knew his surname was Zhang, so he changed his name to "Zhang Manzi".
For twenty years, he has only practiced medical divination and never talked deeply with others, but he was righteous, so he also made some close friends in the village. The knowledgeable old people in the village think that this "Zhang Manzi" is an extraordinary piece, and he must have been a figure in the past.
This time he was dyingly ill, and people who had been with him came to visit him. No matter how everyone said he would heal after a few days of illness, he just smiled slightly. Then he asked two young men to help him sit up. After he sat down, his eyes pierced and uttered a shocking sentence, "I am , the leader of the Nianjun, Liang Wang, , and Zhang Zongyu!" fall. The villagers respected him as a hero. After his death, they buried Zhang Zongyu in the south of the village, and offered sacrifices to him every year, praying for the hero to keep the weather smooth.
Zhang Zongyu is the nephew of the Nian Army leader Dahan League who advocates Lexing. His family owns more than 1,000 acres of land and is a well-known local wealthy household. His father built a letter of ethics, and he always hoped that the wise Zhang Zongyu would study hard in order to gain fame and glory in the future. But although Zhang Zongyu, who has a rebellious nature, loves learning, he does not bother to take fame. This made the relationship between him and his father very tense. After that, Zhang Zongyu ran away from home and went to Zhang Lexing, who was rebelling. Zhang Lexing was very happy to see his nephew coming to vote, and immediately appointed him as the "military division" of the rebels.
The Nian Jun brothers are mostly peasants who do not know how to write a word. The addition of the educated Zhang Zongyu is a great help to the leaders. After the Nian Army's tribes gathered in the pheasant river, Zhang Zongyu was appointed as the commander of Zhang Lexing's guard force Zhenghuangqi and .
Because the British King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Chen Yucheng took the initiative to contact the Nian Army and fight against the Qing Army, the leaders of the Nian Army have the title of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the recommendation of the British King. The "Three Rivers Victory" led by Chen Yucheng to annihilate the Li Xubin Division of the Hunan Army was a masterpiece of the joint operations of the Taiping Army and the Nian Army. Zhang Zongyu was awarded the title of "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Yulin Zhenzhong Shi Tianyan" for his merits.
Tianjing After the fall, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the northwest was ordered by the British to expedition to the northwest of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to form a new Nian Army with the Nian Army, and Zhang Zongyu was named by Lai Wenliang in accordance with the Nian Army.
After the formation of the New Nian Army, because they are all easy to walk and ride, and their fighting style is different from the old Nian Army in the past, they not only defeated the Mongolian cavalry led by the Mongolian Prince Seng Gelinqin, but also The brave and skilled Seng Gelinqin was also killed in this battle. Then he defeated the governor-general of Qing Liangjiang who started to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising, and the first class Yiyonghou Zeng Guofan Hunan army. Zeng Guofan was helpless, so he had to write to the court to take the blame and resign. Because of Lai Wenguang and their successive victories, the New Nian Army rapidly grew to hundreds of thousands, which became the biggest confidant of the Qing court since the defeat of the Taiping Rebellion.
When Zeng Guofan resigned, he recommended the first-class student Su Yibo to the court. Li Hongzhang replaced him Huaijun suppressed the Nian Army uprising. At this time, the Huai Army had been completely Western-style, and the entire army had all new weapons and equipment. Not only did they each hold a new rifle, but they also had a cannon. This equipment was great for the New Nian Army who relied on the cavalry to hold old knives and guns. It is undoubtedly a huge nemesis.
According to the situation, Lai Wenguang and Zhang Zongyu decided to divide their forces after research, so the Nian army was divided into the East Nian and the West Nian.Among them, the East Nian was led by Zun Wang Lai Wenguang and Lu Wang Ren Huabang, and the West Nian was led by Liang Wang Zhang Zongyu and Youwo Wang Zhang Yujue.
In October of the fifth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1866), the Nian Army was officially divided in Xuchang City, Henan Province. The West Nian Army entered Shaanxi to fight under the leadership of Zhang Zongyu. They were invincible all the way, and the most brilliant battle was to wipe out the Hunan army of Shaanxi governor Liu Rong at the Dongba Bridge in Xi'an.
Regardless of whether it is West Nian or East Nian, their tactics are mobile operations, and they have never established a stable base area. Therefore, Li Hongzhang of the Huai Army has taken steps to be trapped by the camp.
Li Hongzhang used the long wall fortifications to surround the Nian Army’s cavalry, and gradually besieged the Nian Army’s cavalry. In addition, the Huai Army’s equipment was all new Western-style equipment, so the Huai Army was first destroyed in Yangzhou under the command of Li Hongzhang. Eastern Nian Army.
When Dongnian was besieged by Li Hongzhang, Lai Wenguang once sent a letter to Zhang Zongyu, hoping that he would go north to support Dongnian.
After Zhang Zongyu got the letter, he immediately adopted the strategy of "Encircling Wei and Rescue Zhao", and led his troops straight to Zhili. The soldiers quickly reached the Lugou Bridge in Beijing, and the Qing court imposed martial law in Beijing.
The Queen Mother of the Two Palaces heard about it and urged all roads to help Beijing. At this time, news came that Dongnian was trapped, and Zhang Zongyu immediately returned south to aid Dongnian after hearing Xun. By the time they arrived, Dongnian had already been wiped out in Yangzhou's entire army, and Lai Wenguang was captured and sacrificed.
When the isolated West Nian Army marched to Hebei and Shandong, the whole army was surrounded by Li Hongzhang's Huai Army in the areas east of the Canal, south of the Jian River, north of the Yellow River, and east of the Bohai Sea. In the rainy season, the cavalry of Xi Nian could not give full play to their strengths in the mud. Under the siege of the Huai army's new weapon
, the entire army was completely defeated in the Era Battle of Shandong Province. Only Zhang Zongyu led the guard to break through in the rain.
After Xi Nian was annihilated, Li Hongzhang reported to the court that Xi Nian had been given the head by Zhang Zongyu. But in fact, Zhang Zongyu did break through and lived in a small mountain village for more than 20 years.
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