After the fall of Tianjing, Fuwang Chen Decai's 200,000-strong army continued to fight in Hubei, but the morale of the troops was low, and they were soon defeated at Heishidu, and Fuwang committed suicide by taking poison. Lai Wenguang, the king of Zun, Fan Ruzeng, the first king, and more than 4,000 soldiers and horses broke through and went to northern Anhui to join the "twist army" led by Zhang Zongyu and Ren Huabang to carry out the anti-Qing struggle together. After the cooperation between the two sides, the army was reorganized, the number of cavalry was expanded, the mobility of the troops was enhanced, and it continued to fight under the banner of the Taiping Heavenly Flag, so this army was called the "New Taiping Army" and also known as the "New Twist Army". After the reorganization, the first general of the Eight Banners, Sang Gelinqin, led a team of 20,000 horses to encircle and suppress, from northern Anhui all the way to Hubei, Henan, Hebei, and Shandong, the horse team was tired, but failed to fight the main force of the Taiping Army, and the morale of the Qing army was very low. The monk Greenqin pursued and killed all the way, showing great contempt for the Taiping Army, and finally suffered bad luck. In May 1865, the monk Greenqin was ambushed in Heze High-rise Village in Shandong Province, killing more than 7,000 people in the Eight Banners, and he himself was slashed and killed by small soldiers.
After the death of the first general of the Eight Banners, the Manchu Qing court could no longer find candidates for soldiers from the Manchu and Mongolian nobles, and could only let Zeng Guofan and other Han landlord groups command the three armies; the political and military tentacles of the Han landlords extended to the Central Plains, which greatly changed the pattern of military power in the late Qing Dynasty. After Zeng Guofan oversaw his division, he adopted "river defense tactics" in an attempt to use the Natural Graben of the Yellow River, canals, and Haihe River to blockade the Taiping Army in the Central Plains, and then gather heavy troops to annihilate them. In order to avoid being encircled, Zhang Zongyu and Lai Wenguang adopted a strategy of dividing troops: Zhang Zongyu led his troops to Shaanxi and Gansu; Lai Wenguang, Ren Huabang, and Fan Ruzeng led their troops to Hubei and looked for opportunities to enter Sichuan, and then established Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu base areas. In December, Lai Wenguang preemptively launched an offensive, gathered heavy troops to besiege Zeng Guofan, and when the main force of the Xiang army gathered, he turned around and attacked Luhuagang north of Kaifeng, breaking through the Jialu River-Shahe defense line set up by Zeng Guofan. In this way, the Manchu Qing's costly "river defense plan" went bankrupt, Zeng Guofan left the front line amid a round of insults from the government and the opposition, and Li Hongzhang's Huai army stepped forward and took on the heavy responsibility of pursuing and killing the Taiping Army.
Fighting externally was not Li Hongzhang's forte, but he was fierce in pursuing and killing the rebel army internally, and he had a fight with Zeng Guofan. After Li Hongzhang oversaw his division, he continued to adopt Zeng Guofan's "river defense tactics" and perfected them, proposing the strategy of "strangling and suppressing the ground": "Trapped in the depths of the mountains and rivers, abandon the land to lure them in, and then the armies of the provinces join forces to besiege them on three sides and four sides", and the means were quite vicious. For this reason, Lai Wenguang could only maneuver quickly, entering Hubei from Shandong via Henan, and after a bloody battle, he entered Luojiaji in Jingshan County. What about Li Hongzhang? Mobilize the main force of the Qing army to pursue: Li Qingzhao, Bao Chao, Liu Mingchuan, Guo Songlin, Zhang Shushan, Zhou Shengbo, Song Qing, Peng Yutang, Wu Weishou, Xiong Dengwu and other troops all went to battle to create the most luxurious camp. In December 1866, Lai Wenguang engaged the pursuing Huai army in Jingshan County, where the Taiping Army defended the position with infantry and the cavalry encircled the Huai army's flank and defeated Guo Songlin. In this battle, Zhang Fengming, the commander-in-chief of the Huai Army, Zhong Guangdou, and the guerrilla Yang Juefa, were beheaded, and Guo Songlin was encircled, but rescued by the Xiang army general Peng Yutang.
After the Xiang army arrived at the battlefield, Lai Wenguang led the army to withdraw, and the Huai general Guo Songlin believed that this was a manifestation of the Taiping Army's fear of battle, so he continued to lead the army in pursuit. In January 1867, Guo Songlin led more than 4,000 soldiers and horses to pursue and kill in three ways and enter Luojiaji. To Guo Songlin's disappointment, the Taiping Army was not afraid of fighting, but wanted to fight an ambush battle. When Guo Bu arrived at Luojiaji, King Ren Huabang of Lu led the main cavalry to meet the battle head-on, and Li Yuntai, the King of Wei, led a horse team to encircle from both flanks, "the horse was wrapped in steps, and the thicker it became", pressing the Huai army forward to hang. After a fierce battle of half a day, the Left Road Qing army first collapsed, the generals Cao Renmei and Xie Liansheng were killed one after another, and the Huai army's forwards were in danger of being destroyed, and Guo Songlin could only personally lead the Chinese army to come to the rescue. After Guo Songlin left the camp, Lai Wenguang led an army to raid, burning dozens of fortifications and cutting off the rear road of the Huai army. In this way, Guo Songlin could only fight to the end, but the horse team of Ren Huabang and Li Yuntai was really fierce, and the Huai army, which was mainly infantry, wanted to break through, and the probability was very small.
Guo Songlin led the Chinese army to the rescue, and was intercepted by the Taiping Army horse team halfway through and was trapped in the formation. Guo Songlin was the second most powerful general in the Huai army after Liu Mingchuan, and although he was under siege, he still dared to personally charge and kill and fight against Ren Huabang, the king of Lu, who was praised by Li Hongzhang as the reincarnation of "Xiang Yu". The two sides killed from noon to sunset, Guo Songlin suffered 7 knife wounds, gunshot wounds, and his left foot was broken, becoming a prisoner of the creeps. Fortunately, the little soldier did not know Guo Songlin, and it was late, so he abandoned him on the side of the road. However, the battle continued, Guo Songlin's younger brother Guo Fangjun led the remnants of the battle to the death; Ren Huabang and Li Yuntaima repeatedly attacked, tearing apart the other side's defense line again and again, the Huai army was killed more than 4,000 people, and Guo Fanghong was killed on the battlefield. Then, Ren Huabang and Li Yuntai besieged Shen Hongbin and prepared to destroy this last fresh force. Shen Hongbin retreated into the village in advance, and built a fortress, stubbornly resisted, and after repeated attacks by the Taiping Army, broke through the defensive line outside the village and was about to enter the village. At this time, the Xiang army general Peng Yutang led 3,000 soldiers and horses to reinforcements, and the Taiping army withdrew from the battlefield.
Guo Songlin's troops were beheaded by more than 4,000 people, his younger brother Guo Fangjun (deputy general) was killed, and the Huai army suffered heavy losses. After the Huai army suffered a major setback, it naturally did not swallow the bitter fruit, and Li Hongzhang decided to continue to pursue and kill to avenge the fallen soldiers. I have to say that when Li Hongzhang destroyed the Taiping Army, he was considered domineering and exposed, and he did not give up until he reached his goal. Subsequently, Zhang Shushan, Jiang Yushun, Peng Yutang, Xiong Dengwu, Tan Renfang, Zhou Shengbo, Liu Bingzhang, and other troops threw themselves into the battlefield, and dispatched new weapons such as split mountain cannons and flowering cannons to continue fighting the Taiping Army. Ren Huabang and Li Yuntaima had a strong impact, but they had no advantage in the face of the new artillery; after a fierce battle, the Taiping Army lost more than 3,000 people, so they had to withdraw their troops, but also killed Yan Guangjie, Zuo Desheng, Deng Zhiao and other Qing generals. At this time, Zhang Shushan believed that the Taiping Army was already at the end of the strong crossbow, and as long as it added a little more strength, it would inevitably be able to annihilate it completely. In this way, Zhang Shushan led 200 soldiers and horses to pursue lightly and break away from the large army operation. As a result, Lai Wenguang killed a horse gun and directly destroyed Zhang Shushan, and all 200 soldiers and horses he brought were also killed.
Zhang Shushan was a fierce general in the Huai Army, and Li Hongzhang said that he was "bloody and loyal, strong in governing the army, fierce in combat, and often a military front", at this time he was beheaded by the Taiping Army, and the generals of the Huai Army were all afraid. In this way, the Huai army could only suspend the pursuit and re-formulate the battle plan. The Taiping Army killed more than 4,000 elite Huai troops in the Luojiaji area, and killed 10 Qing generals such as Zhang Fengming, Zhong Guangdou, Yang Juefa, Cao Renmei, Xie Liansheng, Guo Fangjun, Yan Guangjie, Zuo Desheng, Deng Zhiao, and Zhang Shushan in succession, which was also a huge victory. As Zeng Guoquan said: "Zimei (Guo Songlin) was frustrated in the front, and HaiKe (Zhang Shushan) was killed in the rear, and both of them were strong generals and learned of the tricks of the thieves." In the midst of bravery, the armies still have the meaning of stability and prudence, and they can be full of wisdom. "Admit that the Huai army was beaten to the ground.
Bibliography: The Complete History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War