The tragic rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu is recorded in the county and county annals of Shaanxi and Gansu. Here I will list the records in three of the county annals. "Lintong County Annals" records: "From 1862 to 1869, more than 300,000 people were killed, and Weihe No village in the north and south of the country was spared." "Weiyuan County Annals" records: "There are tens of thousands of animals slaughtering poison, and all the officials and civilians in the city died. Kill one person in the city. On the day, tens of thousands of people died, blood flowed into a canal, corpses piled up like mountains, and sad eyes were sad. " "Pingliang County Chronicles" records: "More than a hundred generals and officials died, and hundreds of thousands of scholars and civilians died."
Next I will start to talk about the importance of Zuo Zongtang quelling the Shaanxi-Gansu Hui Rebellion. The first important significance of Zuo Zongtang's suppression of the Shaanxi-Gansu Hui Rebellion was to preserve a large area of land in the northwest for our country.
The purpose of the rebels in Shaanxi and Gansu Hui rebels is completely different from that of the Taiping Army and Nian Army. The purpose of the Taiping Army and the Nian Army is to overthrow the corrupt Qing government and restore the Chinese dynasty. The purpose of the rebels in Shaanxi and Gansu Hui rebels is to massacre the people in the northwest (mainly the two provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu), establish Islamic countries in Shaanxi and Gansu, and extend their power to Qinghai and Xinjiang, and separatist the entire northwest.
When the rebel leaders of the rebels in Shaanxi and Gansu rebellion Renwu , Hemingtang , Hongxing, Bai Yanhu , Ma Hualong, Ma Zhanao , Ma Wenlu and others led rebels to massacre innocent people in the two provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, rebels also appeared in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, but the rebels in southern Xinjiang did something to lead wolves into the house. The rebels in southern Xinjiang went to the Khanate of Central Asia to invite the "Central Asian Butcher" Agubai to the southern Xinjiang. Agubai led a part of the army of Kokhan into southern Xinjiang, and the rebels in southern Xinjiang were slaughtered by Agubai. Later, Agubai gradually controlled the entire southern Xinjiang and some areas of the northern Xinjiang.
Zuo Zongtang led Liu Songshan , Liu Jintang and other Hunan Army soldiers to start the significant Shaanxi-Gansu quelling rebellion in the third year of the rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu.
Zuo Zongtang statue
Zuo Zongtang led the Hunan Army to first eliminate the rebels in Shaanxi. During this period, Liu Songshan conquered Dong Fuxiang's army in northern Shaanxi. Dong Fuxiang's army made many contributions when they suppressed the rebellion with the Hunan Army. In addition, before surrendering to the Hunan Army, Dong Fuxiang's army repelled Bai Yanhu's rebels who attempted to excavate the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum. After successfully pacifying the rebels in Shaanxi, Zuo Zongtang led his army into Gansu. Zuo Zongtang defeated the rebel leaders Ma Zhenghe and Bai Yanhu with less than 100,000 troops in Gansu. Ma Zhenghe died in battle, and Bai Yanhu led the remaining rebels to escape.
Zuo Zongtang later put down the rebels in Jinji Fort, Hezhou , and Xining. During this period, Liu Songshan was killed in Jinji Fort due to Ma Hualong's deceptive surrender plan; when Zuo Zongtang led his army to pacify the rebels in Hezhou, he paid the price of 21 Hunan generals' death in battle. Zuo Zongtang finally quelled the rebels in Suzhou. After failing to resist stubbornly, Zuo Zongtang asked for surrender. In order to prevent Ma Wenlu's rebels from rebelling again in the future, Zuo Zongtang ordered all the rebels of Ma Wenlu.
At this point, Zuo Zongtang successfully completed the feat of suppressing the rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu, and preserved a large area of land in the two provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu and even the entire northwest, because Zuo Zongtang's next step after quelling the rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu was to recover the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.
Zuo Zongtang's second most important significance in quelling the Hui rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu was to avoid the Hui rebellion in the northwest. When the Qing dynasty , there were more and more Muslims in the northwest. In the late Qing dynasty, there were many Han people among the disciples of the rebel leader of Xining Ma Guiyuan . When Zuo Zongtang suppressed the Hui rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu, most of the rebels in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces were eliminated. Only the rebels in Hezhou preserved almost complete power because Ma Zhan'ao took the initiative to surrender to Zuo Zongtang. However, the Hui rebels in the northwest were still avoided. After surrendering to Zuo Zongtang, the rebels in Hezhou did not rebel again, but later gradually developed into the Ma family army force that had been separatist in Gansu Qing for decades.
Finally, I will list the changes in the population data of the three counties in Shaanxi Province before and after the rebellion of the three counties were put down in the Shaanxi-Gansu Rebellion, so that everyone can have a deeper understanding of the cruelty of the rebels of the Shaanxi-Gansu Rebellion.
"Fuping County Chronicles" records: In 1855, there were 46,579 households in the entire county town, and the number of people was about 250,000. However, in 1876, the result of the statistics again was that there were only 28,543 households, and the number of people also became about 120,000.
"Sanyuan County Chronicles" records: Before the rebellion of Shaanxi and Gansu, the population of Sanyuan County was about 160,000, and only about 40,000 remained after the rebellion of Shaanxi and Gansu was put down.
"Gaoling County Chronicles" records: Gaoling County's population before the Shaanxi-Gansu Hui Rebellion was nearly 70,000. After the Shaanxi-Gansu Hui Rebellion was put down, the population of Gaoling County has been lost by half.
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