There is a saying in modern times, "Baoqing is beaten with iron, Changsha is smashed with paper", which can not be used in the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War. In September 1852, the Taiping Army attacked Changsha. There were not many soldiers and horses in the city, and there were no warriors available. The city wall was in disrepair for a long time, and the defenders did not expect Xiao Chaogui's surprise attack, so they were not prepared. At this time, Changsha was like "paper-paste" and could be easily captured, but the Taiping Army still missed the opportunity.
In May 1859, Yi Wang Shida opened an army of 100,000, known as 300,000, and besieged Baoqing (Shaoyang City, Hunan) on three sides. Baoqing, located in central Hunan, is a small city, but Luo Bingzhang and Zuo Zongtang have been prepared for a long time, and the city's defense construction is very solid. At this time, Baoqing was as strong as an "iron strike." Shi Da opened the attack without success in March, and was counter-slaughtered by the Hunan Army. He chased him to Guangxi, looking very embarrassed.
It’s a pity that the Taiping Army failed to break through the city in Changsha. Here, the author talks about the second stage of the Battle of Changsha: Xiao Chaogui was beaten to death by a shot, dressed in gorgeous clothes, and Lin Fengxiang continued to attack the city.
On September 11, 1852, the Western King Xiao Chaogui carried out tactics and deceit to annihilate more than 700 Shaanxi soldiers. The Eight Banners Titans Fucheng and Yin Peili were killed, and the deputy Zhu Han fled into the city. In this way, the Taiping Army cleared out the Qing army outside the city and began to attack Changsha head-on for a tough battle.
At this time, the composition of the city's military strength is: 1,400 soldiers in Sichuan, 1,000 soldiers in Jiangxi, 3,000 brave soldiers, more than 1,000 soldiers in Zhu Han, and hundreds of remnants in Shaanxi, totaling more than 7,000. The strength is very weak. However, Xiao Chaogui was rushing to fight, only bringing 3,000 soldiers and horses, and could not fully siege. The Qing army was barely able to cope.
To clear the Qing army outside the city, Xiao Chaogui directly attacked Changsha, trying to take the city in one fell swoop. At this time, the South Gate of Changsha has not yet closed, which is a great opportunity for a thousand years. Unfortunately, the Taiping Army was not familiar with the geography of Changsha. When they saw tall buildings in the southeast, they thought they were towers, so they killed them. When they returned, the south gate was closed. Wang Kaiyun’s "Xiang Junzhi" contained: "Return, the south gate is blocked, and the city is separated by the situation." The Taiping Army lost the opportunity to enter the city.
There is no gate in the southeast of the city, so Xiao Chaogui returned to the south gate to fight and ordered the Taiping Army to attack the fortification. Luo Raodian asked the Qing army to fight back with guns and did not leave the city for a field battle. After a brief confrontation, the Taiping army withdrew. On the 12th, Xiao Chaogui continued to attack the fortifications, with Miao Gaofeng as his main position, deploying artillery to bombard the city wall and cover the troops to attack the city.
Xiao Chaogui let Zeng Shuiyuan, Lin Fengxiang, and Li Kaifang lead the elite to "attack each gate"; the rest of the soldiers were stationed in Miaofeng Peak to build a fort and bombard the opposite Qing army. Due to the lack of troops, after Lin Fengxiang and others led the attack on the city, Miao Gaofeng had no one to take command, so Xiao Chaogui personally went into battle and commanded the battle on the front line.
In order to boost morale, Xiao Chaogui dressed gorgeously. The Taiping Army saw the commander in person on the battlefield. The morale of the Taiping Army was so high that they shouted for murder. Gorgeous clothes boost morale, but they are also easy targets. A cannonball flew over, piercing Xiao Chaogui's chest, and King Xi was killed on the battlefield. "The Collection of Documents and Historical Materials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" said, "The King of the West dressed abnormally upstairs, watching the inner city, and was suddenly wounded by a meteor shell and ascended to heaven." This is a pity.
The death of the Western King Xiao Chaogui was undoubtedly a fatal blow to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Judging from the attack on Changsha, without the command of the King of the West, the Taiping Army's ability to attack fortifications was greatly reduced, and the hope of capturing Changsha was very slim. This gave the Hunan Army the soil for development and growth. From the perspective of the development of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Xiao Chaogui is the brother-in-law of Hong Xiuquan, or the representative of Jesus in the world, and has the qualifications of "Tianxiong endorsement", which is an important force against Yang Xiuqing.
In June 1852, the Southern King Feng Yunshan was killed in the battle at Yinyidu. At this time, the King of the West was killed again at Miao Gaofeng. No one in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could control Yang Xiuqing, and the King of the East was dominated by his family ever since. If Xiao Chaogui did not die, Yang Xiuqing might not dare to be too arrogant and would blame the princes at every turn by relying on his relationship with Hong Xiuquan, thus causing the Tianjing Incident.
It can be said that Xiao Chaogui's death in battle changed the military and political pattern of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and had a profound impact. At this time, Lin Fengxiang, the actual commander of the frontline military, did not think so. He had two things to do next: send people to Chenzhou Camp to inform the death of Xiwang, and let Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing send troops for reinforcements; continue to attack Changsha and wait for reinforcements. .
Lin Fengxiang, everyone is familiar with him. He was the later commander of the Northern Expedition. He could kill the city of Tianjin with 20,000 soldiers and horses, frightening Emperor Xianfeng. At this time, Zeng Shuiyuan’s official position was above Lin Fengxiang, but Zeng Shuiyuan was good at
in handling government affairs, and his military level was average. Lin Fengxiang could only take care of frontline military affairs.
To say that Lin Fengxiang was ruthless enough, after the death of the Western King Xiao Chaogui, instead of suspending his troops to wait and see, he continued to attack Changsha to make false appearances to prevent the Qing army from knowing the news. So, how did Lin Fengxiang attack the city? The answer is to use the "earth camp" to dig tunnels, to ambush explosives at the roots of the city, and to blow up the city walls, which is the "burrow siege" tactic.
Due to the opposition from the Changsha gentleman, Luo Raodian failed to burn down the houses outside the city. The Taiping Army used the houses as cover, excavated tunnels, and planted explosives at the roots of the city. However, Luo Raodian was more serious in defense and was good at spying on the enemy. The Taiping Army tunnel was damaged many times, and Lin Fengxiang failed to blast.
dug a tunnel for the cover troops, Lin Fengxiang bombarded the city again with artillery, "bombarded the city and knocked the south gate a few feet away," and the Qing army panicked into a ball. At this time, Hunan Admiral Bao Qibao, who later led the green camp soldiers into Zeng Guofan's mansion, threatened to kill the man of Zeng Guofan, and fled directly, not daring to confront the Taiping Army.
bombed the city wall, Lin Fengxiang commanded the troops to break into the gap, Luo Raodian asked the Qing army to fight back with guns, but the Taiping army's offensive was so fierce that the Qing army could not stand it. Not surprisingly, the Taiping Army will enter the city and seize Changsha, and the Hunan Army will no longer rise. However, the accident still happened.
The Taiping Army focused on siege of the city, and its strength was limited, so it lacked defense against Qing army reinforcements. At this time, Deng Shaoliang led 1,000 soldiers and horses to arrive in time, came from the rear, and Luo Raodian fought against the Taiping Army. Lin Fengxiang could only withdraw his troops and look for opportunities to fight again. Who is Deng Shaoliang? Let Lin Fengxiang withdraw his troops. The answer is that the Titans among the Titans are brave and invincible.
Deng Shaoliang, a native of Jishou, Hunan, was invincible under his command. Tian Xingshu, the governor of Guizhou who later killed the French missionaries, was his subordinate. Lin Fengxiang withdrew his troops and returned to the camp. Deng Shaoliang was undoubtedly one of the reasons, but the main reason was Xiang Rong, Hechun, Zhang Guoliang, Jiang Zhongyuan, etc., who led the troops one after another. The number of troops inside and outside the Qing Army was close to 20,000. Obviously, it is difficult to "encircle the spot to fight aid", and can only save strength first.
Qing army reinforcements arrived, Lin Fengxiang temporarily stopped, the two sides entered a short stalemate, and the second phase of the Changsha War ended. Next, Lin Fengxiang stood firm on the camp, waiting for the main army to go north and continue to besiege Changsha.
Bibliography: "The Complete History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War"
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