In 1853, Zeng Guofan founded the Xiang Army in Hunan.
Subsequently, Zeng Guofan spent 11 years commanding this "temporary worker" force and invading Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although the Xiang army was soon dismantled to 7788, the Huai army, which was born out of the Xiang army, still "could not be lost" and became an armed force that the imperial court relied on and was vigilant.
Many people are thinking: Before and after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, two standing armed forces were formed successively, namely the Eight Banner Army and the Green Battalion. Both the Eight Banner Army and the Green Battalion have made great contributions to the Qing Dynasty. When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement swept across the country, both the Eight Banners Army and the Green Battalion maintained a size of hundreds of thousands of people. Why didn't the imperial court use the Eight Banner Army and the Green Battalion to attack the Taiping Army? After all, if the Eight Banner Army and the Green Battalion could come in handy, Zeng Guofan would not have the opportunity to create the Xiang Army.
The reason is very simple, the Eight Banner Army and the Green Battalion have long been decayed, and they cannot go out to fight at all.
Let's take a look at how decayed the Eight Flags Army and the Green Battalion were at that time.
In 1849, russian diplomat Kovalevsky escorted a russian missionary corps to China and lived in Beijing for a long time. During this period, Kovalevsky made a meticulous observation of Chinese society after the First Opium War with the vision of a foreigner, and made a wonderful depiction of life in Beijing. Later, Kovalevsky wrote a book of observations and records of his trip to China into a book, Peeking into the Forbidden City.
In the autumn of that year, Kovalevsky was invited to the Lugou Bridge to observe a artillery firing training of the Eight Flags Army. This was a very important activity, and in Kovalevsky's view, "even if the emperor could not come in person, he would send his close associates to observe", so he believed that the officers and soldiers participating in the training would be energetic, radiant and at their best level.
However, Kovalevsky was surprised to find that "some of the sergeants sat casually in their tents, smoking small cigarette bags." Some of them are chatting with snack sellers while eating breakfast, and some are sewing their pants. No one seems to care about the upcoming drill. It was easy to wait until the training began, and one by one the officers and men of the Eight Banners had a cold expression and perfunctory expressions: "One of the staff leaders posed in a strange posture, waved the flag in his hand, and the shooting began." But this cannon was so inaccurate that it landed next to the cannon. The gun armor didn't seem to care, just wiped his eyes and walked over to the other cannon. ”
After the training, Kovalevsky came to his own conclusion: "Naturally, the Chinese artillery cannot be compared with the European artillery, and the only thing that is the same is the sound of the guns." ”
Seriously, this training of the Eight Flags Army still gave face, after all, it was personally on the battlefield. In many cases, the officers and men of the Eight Banners who are well-respected and well-treated even hire idle people outside to perform exercises for themselves.
Once, Prince Yi of Alcohol was ordered to inspect the most elite firearms unit in the Eight Banners Army, the Divine Machine Battalion. Although Prince Alcohol already knew something about the lazy style of the Eight Flags Lords, he was still stunned.
During this period, a soldier fell from his horse while riding a horse and broke his leg bone. Prince Alcohol sent someone to inquire about what was going on, and found that the man was not a person from the Divine Machine Battalion, but a dealer selling tofu outside, who was invited from outside by the Eight Banners Lord to act as a "stand-in" for him.
The Eight Flags Army is like this, and the Green Camp is not much better.
In 1850, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement broke out, and Zhou Tianjue, the governor of Guangxi, together with Li Xingyuan, the minister of Qincha, attacked the Taiping Army. Zhou Tianjue set out with 100 soldiers, but he did not expect those soldiers to grind and rub and did not want to go out. Zhou Tianjue recruited 100 soldiers on the road, and they were even more scared to death, and they even cried and cried.
When it came time to fight, the soldiers were like sparrows seeing eagles, and sheep seeing tigers, and they could not move. Zhou Tianjue was very angry, killed 2 people, everyone did not have any reaction, still stopped, let Zhou Tianjue have no way at all.
[References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Peeping into the Forbidden City, etc.]