After the Hunan Army won a great victory in Tianjia Town, they took advantage of the victory and gathered heavy troops to besiege Jiujiang, Hukou
After the Hunan Army achieved a great victory in Tianjia Town, they counted their battle losses and found that they had also suffered heavy casualties. Zeng Guoquan's general Zhu Hongzhang recalled the scene afterwards and said: "our army also suffered many casualties, especially the navy.". When Zeng Guofan paid tribute to the fallen soldiers, he said: Since the rise of the army, there has never been a "person who lost his troops in such a tragic manner. After finishing his words, he burst into tears."
After the news of Tianjiazhen's fiasco was transmitted back to Tianjing, Yang Xiuqing, the East King who was in charge of the military and political affairs of the Heavenly Kingdom, immediately sent famous Taiping generals Shi Dakai and Luo Outline to rush to the western front to command operations.
At the same time, the Hunan Army broke through Huangmei, and a large number of defeated Taiping troops were retreating. Subsequently, the Hunan Army took advantage of the momentum to defeat the 20,000 Taiping Army ambush commanded by Luo Gangyou personally in the Konglongyi area, and won another small victory. The Taiping Army was defeated again, so they had no choice but to cross the Yangtze River south and defend the cities of Jiujiang and Hukou to resist the Hunan Army.
According to the records in the memoirs "Congrong Jilue" by Jiziying General Zhu Hongzhang: On January 3, 1855, the Hunan Army infantry took advantage of the victory to launch an attack and captured Xiaochiyi in one fell swoop. On the 21st, they crossed the Yangtze River and camped four miles away from the east gate of Jiujiang. At the same time, the Hunan Army's navy also pursued them along the river from Hubei. A large number of warships were anchored on the river near Jiujiang, forming a favorable situation for attacking Jiujiang by land and water.
Huguang Governor Yang Pei sent his deputy general Wang Guocai to lead 4,000 green battalion troops to Huangmei in order to assist the Hunan army. Hubei inspector Hu Linyi led 2,000 Hubei troops from Xianning to Ruichang, Jiangxi Province, preparing to attack the Jiujiang rear. He himself sat in charge of the Guangji military governor. All armies in Hubei were under the control and command of Zeng Guofan. In this way, the total strength of the Qing army's land and water forces besieging Jiujiang reached about 27,000. Coupled with successive victories, morale was high and momentum was strong. Dark clouds were overwhelming the city and they were determined to win.
Lin Qirong defended Jiujiang as solid as a rock. Even Hunan Army General Luo Zenan praised him as "the most talented general" in the Taiping Army!
At that time, the Taiping Army's commander in charge of garrisoning Jiujiang was Lin Qirong, a brave and skilled tiger general. He had experienced hundreds of battles, was able to attack and defend, and effectively withstood the Hunan Army's round-the-clock attacks day and night, making all the tactics of the Zeng brothers ineffective.
Backbone of the Hunan Army Luo Zenan privately had to admit that the Taiping Army defended the city quite well. On weekdays, " was as quiet as if there was no one, and there was no watchman at night." It seemed that they were not prepared. Lin Qirong is tenacious and good at defense, and he is truly "the most talented general in the Taiping Army"!
Zeng Guofan was worried when he saw that the siege of the city for days had no effect and had lost troops and generals, so he rushed outside Jiujiang City in person, discussed with Luo Zenan and Taqibu, and decided to divide the army into two groups, with one group led by the warrior tower. Governor Qibu continued to attack the city, and a force led by Luo Zenan marched to Guishan on the outskirts of Hukou. Together with the Hubei army of Hubei Inspector Hu Linyi, they attacked Meijiazhou in order to contain the Taiping Army stationed in Hukou and cut off the connection between Hukou and Jiujiang.
Wing King Shi Dakai, who was originally in charge of the overall dispatch and command of Jiujiang, saw the Hunan Army's changes and learned that he had divided his troops to attack Meijiazhou in Hukou. He also changed his deployment. Lin Qirong guarded Jiujiang, and he went to Hukou to defend it.
Shi Dakai used a trick to lure the enemy deep into the water, introduced and blocked more than 120 warships of the Hunan Army in the Poyang Lake, and divided its powerful navy into two parts: the outer river and the inner lake, making it unable to concentrate its strength. Shi Dakai believes that the reason why the Hunan Army has repeatedly won is mainly because the navy has strong ships and powerful artillery, and has a crushing advantage in water combat. If you want to defeat the Hunan Army, you must first destroy its navy. The Hunan Navy is divided into two parts: large ships and small boats. The large ships are called "Changlong" and "Kuai Crab", while the small boats are called "Diao Diaozi". The large ships are heavy and heavy, while the small boats are flexible. The sizes cooperate with each other, learn from each other's strengths and offset weaknesses, and often win in water battles.If they could be separated, they would be overwhelmed, lose the ability to coordinate operations, and eventually lose their combat effectiveness.
At that time, most of the large ships of the Taiping Navy were burned by the Hunan Army in the Battle of Wuchang. The few remaining ships were small in tonnage and insufficiently equipped with firepower. It was difficult to compete with the Hunan Navy. If you wanted to defeat a powerful enemy, you could only outsmart them, not the enemy. Shi Dakai racked his brains and finally found a way to defeat the enemy.
Shi Da ordered the Taiping Army to use small boats to continuously attack the Hunan Navy at night, making it unable to rest day and night. The Hunan Army has won many battles, and its officers and men have long been arrogant. Now that they are repeatedly attacked by Taiping Army boats and unable to fight, they will become anxious. As long as the Hunan Army is impatient, there will be opportunities to take advantage of it. On December 12, Shi Dakai took advantage of the Hunan Navy's impatience to seek battle and ordered the Taiping Navy to use dozens of small sampans to actively invite battle and lure more than 120 light warships of the Hunan Army into Poyang Lake. , and then quickly blocked the lake's mouth, built fortifications, set up artillery , sent troops to defend, and blocked more than 100 light speedboats of the Hunan Navy in Poyang Lake.
From then on, the powerful Hunan Navy was dismembered into two parts: the Inner Lake and the Outer River (Yangtze River). The naval fleet stationed in the Outer River was left with large ships such as Changlong and Kuaixi with strong hulls but poor operation. Without the cooperation and cover of small boats, they almost lost most of their combat capabilities and fell into a dangerous situation of being passively beaten. The initiative in the war also transferred to the hands of the Taiping Army.
Shi Dakai immediately ordered the Taiping Army to launch a counterattack and launched a planned attack on the Hunan Navy that was divided into two. The first wave of attacks took place on December 12, the night when the Hunan Navy was about to be dismembered. Dozens of small rowing boats of the Taiping Army rushed into the Hunan Army's outer river fleet at night. They cooperated with the Taiping Army infantry on the shore and continuously threw torches, gunpowder cans, fireballs and other flammable and explosive materials wrapped in oilcloth at the Hunan Army ships. A total of 9 large ships and more than 30 medium-sized ships of the Hunan Army were burned. After the remaining ships of the Hunan Navy were attacked by Taiping weapons, they panicked, raised their sails and anchors, and fled upriver, refusing to listen to the command of Navy General Peng Yulin .
Zeng Guofan was angry and anxious, but he had no choice but to rush to Hukou Yang Zaifu (ie Yang Yuebin), another naval general who was being treated in Wuxue, to control and gather the naval officers and soldiers who did not listen to orders and were eager to escape.
Subsequently, Zeng Guofan readjusted the deployment of the land division. Seeing that Xiaochiyi on the north bank of the Yangtze River had been recaptured by the Taiping Army, and that the Zhou Fengshan Battalion that went to fight for it was defeated by the Taiping Army and returned in disgrace, he simply gave up the attack on Hukou and transferred the Hu Linyi and Luo Zenan armies stationed in Guoshan back to Jiujiang to concentrate their efforts on attacking the more strategically important Jiujiang City.
Shi Dakai destroyed the Hunan Navy twice and burned countless ships. Zeng Guofan could not face such tragic losses. He was so ashamed and angry that he tried to commit suicide twice, but was fortunately rescued by his subordinates...
On the night when Hu and Luo were ordered to return to Jiujiang City, that is, on the night of December 25, Shi Dakai ordered the Taiping Army to launch another larger-scale attack on the Hunan Navy. According to historical records, that night, when the moon was dark and the wind was high, there was still mist on the river, and the smoke was hazy and indiscernible. The Taiping Army took advantage of this rare opportunity to lift more than 30 small boats from Jiujiang and Xiaochikou and put them into the Yangtze River. Hundreds of elite soldiers carrying various firearms quietly sneaked into the Hunan Army fleet and set fire to the ships. The fire took advantage of the wind and burned more and more fiercely. The Hunan Navy was suddenly in chaos and fled. Numerous ships, large and small, were burned. Even Zeng Guofan's command ship was captured by the Taiping Army.
Zeng Guofan was rescued by Wei Bian and his staff on a small boat. Looking at the countless warships on the river, Zeng Guofan was heartbroken. The navy he had worked so hard for so many years was almost completely wiped out. How could he still have the dignity to survive in the world? He took advantage of the situation and committed suicide by drowning. Upon seeing this, his staff Zhang Shoulin , Li Rong and several guards immediately jumped into the river to rescue General Zeng. Everyone hurriedly dragged him into a boat and sent him to Luo Zenan's camp on the shore.
Zeng Guofan looked at the surviving naval ships in the river and fled one after another. Only a few ships were parked on the dock next to Luo Zenan Military Camp. The scene was very miserable.He recalled that the Hunan Navy, which he had spent many years of hard work and poor management, had been so severely damaged and was almost wiped out by Shi Da. He felt deeply that the situation was over, and felt ashamed and angry again. So he wanted to imitate the ancient heroic feat of a defeated general who rode his horse into the enemy's formation to die, and prepared to ride to the enemy's death. Luo Zenan, Liu Rong, Li Rong and others saw that their coach wanted to die generously, so they hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed the reins tightly. The crowd rushed up and lifted him off the horse, and they refused to leave. After some pulling and persuasion, Zeng Guofan gave up.
After the Taiping Army won the victory at Hukou, they took advantage of the momentum to advance westward, re-captured Wuchang, and controlled a large area of Hubei
After the Taiping Army defeated the Hunan Navy in Hukou and Jiujiang, they divided their forces into three groups and launched a strategic counterattack. The East Route Army marched north from Xiaochiyi, defeated Huangmei and Guangji, defeated the Green Battalion of Yang Pei, Governor of Huguang, and pursued it all the way to Hankou, China; the Middle Route Army went upstream from Jiujiang, defeated Qizhou and Huangzhou along the way, and went straight to Wuhan; the West Route Army crossed the Yangtze River after leaving Fuchikou, and attacked the back of Wuchang via Xingguo, Jiangxi. On February 23, 1855, the Taiping Army reoccupied Hanyang, Hanyang, and began to besiege Wuchang. On February 27, the Taiping Army captured Wuchang for the third time and regained control of most of Hubei, laying a solid foundation for the heyday of the Taiping Rebellion.
[Illustrations from the Internet]
