Sending troops to the Northern Expedition: the wrong strategy of the Taiping Rebellion? After the Taiping Rebellion was established as the capital of Nanjing, the question of whether to send troops to the Northern Expedition has always been controversial in historians. In his self-statement, the loyal king Li Xiucheng listed the Northern Expedition as the first of the "Ten Mistakes of the Kingdom of Heaven". Many people believe that if the Taiping Rebellion had not sent Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang to the Northern Expedition, but had used this force to capture the rich and important areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, or concentrated its forces on attacking the Jiangbei and Jiangnan camps, the situation in the Taiping Rebellion would have been completely different. However, in the eyes of Yang Xiuqing and others, who was in charge at the time, it was a natural thing to send troops to the Northern Expedition. In the two-year confrontation with the Qing army, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has clearly figured out the background of the Qing army, and this army is really too rotten and incompetent. In the face of such a rotten army, if you don't take advantage of the victory to pursue and directly attack the yellow dragon, then you are really a little sorry for God Jehovah. The Taiping Army was killed from Guangxi with less than 20,000 troops, and along the way it was like entering no man's land, and the Qing army was overwhelmed and defeated. Yang Xiuqing and others naturally thought: If the Taiping Army killed Beijing in the same way, it would obviously achieve the same effect. It is precisely because of this that Yang Xiuqing decided to send Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang to lead the Northern Expedition.
However, what Yang Xiuqing and others did not expect was that although the regular army of the Qing Dynasty was as rotten as ever, and the senior generals were generally wine bags and rice bags, the Qing Dynasty produced a group of capable generals with the rank of prefect and county, and the unstoppable Northern Expedition Army was eventually defeated under the hands of such grassroots cadres. The Taiping Rebellion was established as its capital in Nanjing in March 1853, and on May 8, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang began the process of the Northern Expedition, and it can be said that the decision at that time was already very fast. This also shows that at least Yang Xiuqing is not immersed in the comfort zone and does not want to forge ahead, he is planning the next combat operation all the time. The Northern Expedition Army was led by Lin Fengxiang, deputy prime minister of Tianguan, Li Kaifang, prime minister of prefecture officials, and Ji Wenyuan, deputy prime minister of Chunguan, as deputy marshals, with a total strength of more than 20,000 troops. The composition of the soldiers is naturally all elite soldiers, but not all of them are veterans of Guangxi. Because when the Taiping Army was killed from Guangxi, there were only more than 10,000 troops who could really fight, and it was not enough to take all of them to the Northern Expedition. We can only say that some of the Northern Expedition Army were Guangxi people, and there were many soldiers from Hunan, Hubei and Anhui. On May 8, the Northern Expedition set out from Yangzhou. On May 13, they arrived at Pukou by boat and launched an attack on the Qing army in Pukou.
The Eight Flags Horse Team, which defended Pukou, fled without a fight and fled to Chuzhou, Anhui. The Northern Expedition easily crossed the river and continued to advance. At this time, Lin Fengxiang wanted to beat the rabbit with grass and take down Liuhe County near Pukou. However, what he didn't expect was that here the Taiping Army met a difficult Zhixian, his name was Wen Shaoyuan. Wen Shaoyuan imitated the plan of burning Xinye in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and evacuated the people outside the city to the city in advance. At the same time, the houses outside the city were piled with firewood and grass, poured with fire oil, and when the Taiping Army swaggered to stay in the houses under the city, Wen Shaoyuan took advantage of the dark night to lead the vigilante group to suddenly attack and set fire everywhere. The Taiping Army was in chaos when it landed, and was killed countless times by the vigilante group. Zhu Xikun was defeated and fled. Because Lin Fengxiang shouldered the heavy responsibility of the Northern Expedition, he did not continue to attack Liuhe, so he had to lead his troops to continue north. After that, Wen Shaoyuan was firmly rooted in Liuhe like a nail. The small liuhe became a thorn on the back of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Taiping army could not succeed in many attacks. It was not until 1858 that Chen Yucheng conquered Liuhe, and Wen Shaoyuan was forced to commit suicide. The Northern Expedition army crossed Liuhe and advanced straight towards northern Anhui. The reason why they went to northern Anhui was because they had heard that there were twisters here and could get their support.
After the Taiping army entered the territory of Anhui, the governor of Anhui, Li Jiaduan, was at a loss and helpless. All the soldiers will either flee east and west, or they will not advance, and no one dares to stop the Taiping Army's troops. The Taiping Army conquered Chuzhou, Fengyang and other places all the way, and arrived in Mengcheng County in early June, where they once again encountered a Zhixian who was not afraid of death. Song Weiping of Mengchengzhi County originally called for help to Shangfeng many times and pleaded for troops to be sent to support, but all Qing soldiers ignored it. Song Weiping had no choice, so he had to organize a regiment to practice defending the city. On June 6, the Taiping Army reached Mengcheng. Song Weiping led the regiment to practice a desperate confrontation with the Taiping army with the help of the city wall. After a day of fierce fighting, the Taiping Army finally entered the city. Song Weiping saw that the general trend had passed, so he returned to the county office, put on his official uniform, and sat on the main hall to wait for death. Eventually he was killed by the Taiping Army. After the Taiping army conquered Mengcheng, it easily captured Bozhou on June 10, and from here it entered Henan. After the Taiping Army entered Henan, it took Shangqiu without firing a shot on June 12. On June 14, the Taiping Army conquered Guide. The next day, Lu Yinggu, the governor of Henan, was forced by the Xianfeng Emperor to come to Shangqiu with 5,000 green battalion soldiers. The Taiping army took advantage of the situation to attack, and the Qing army was defeated.
Lu Yinggu's shoes were lost, and he picked up a life. After the victory of the Taiping army at Shangqiu, they had planned to cross the Yellow River here and go north, but the ships along the coast were stolen by the Qing army. Therefore, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang decided to attack Kaifeng instead. The Taiping army successively captured Keningling, Suizhou, and Qixian, and on June 20, it captured the city of Kaifeng. As the capital of Henan Province, Kaifeng has a strong natural defense. The Taiping Army tried to attack for two days, but found that it could not attack for a while. Lin Fengxiang did not want to waste time here, so he led his army to bypass Kaifeng and conquered Xingyang, Xianshui, and Gong counties one after another. They found some coal boats in Gong County and forced their way across the Yellow River on July 2. Although the Qing general Tuo Ming'a, the blue-flagged commander Xiling'a, and the Zhejiang governor Shanlu arrived with troops, no one dared to fight, and could only watch the Northern Expedition army cross the Yellow River in a mighty way. Due to the lack of boats, one-third of the Northern Expedition's strength was not able to cross the river. This part of the Northern Expedition turned south, broke through the siege of the Qing army, and returned to the Jiangnan area. The news that the Northern Expedition had crossed the Yellow River infuriated the Xianfeng Emperor.
He hurriedly ordered the appointment of the directly subordinate governor Nair Jingji as the minister of Chincha, to control all kinds of soldiers and horses, and Shang Shu Enhua of the Li Fanyuan, Shengbao of the Cabinet, and Toming'a to help in military affairs, and mobilize all kinds of "elite soldiers" to ensure that the Taiping army was gathered and annihilated in Henan. At this time, the Taiping Army finally encountered a hard bone. After crossing the river, Lin Fengxiang planned to conquer Huaiqing Prefecture (present-day Qinyang, Henan), but he did not expect to run into big trouble here. Huaiqing Mansion only has three hundred green battalion soldiers stationed here, which can be described as vulnerable. However, Yu Bingtao, the prefect of Huaiqing, and Qiu Baoyong of Hanoi Zhixian organized a group training of tens of thousands of people in a very short period of time, and persevered. Lin Fengxiang planned to conquer Huaiqing Mansion, because the supplies of the Northern Expedition Army had basically been exhausted and had to be raised on the spot. Therefore, the Taiping Army launched a fierce attack on Huaiqing from July 8. Yu Bingtao and Qiu Baoyong led the regiment to fight to the death. The Taiping army planted explosives by digging tunnels and bombarded the wall of the east gate. However, Yu Bingtao led the regiment to fight bloody battles at the gap, and resisted the attack of the Taiping Army and did not let them rush into the city. The Northern Expedition army was under Jiancheng, and all Qing troops soon surrounded it. Tuominga, Shengbao, Shanlu, Xilinga and other troops gathered in Huaiqing.
The strength of the Qing army soon reached nearly 20,000. The Taiping Army was in a situation of being under the enemy's back, and it should be quite passive. However, because all Qing armies feared and avoided the battle, they did not pose much threat to the Taiping army at all. While Lin Fengxiang continued to attack Huaiqing, he divided his troops to defend against the reinforcements of the Qing Dynasty, and on the other hand, he could send many people to collect food and grass, and he really didn't delay anything. The attack of Qing reinforcements on the Northern Expedition was like a child's play. Katsuho wrote in his compromise to the Xianfeng Emperor: "... The officers and men of all walks of life were called strong soldiers, but they were not bombarded with guns and cannons two hundred paces away from the thieves. When the thief's cannon was fired, the thief's flag moved, so he did not dare to rush forward... Although the officers and soldiers of all walks of life have been thick in recent days, there are not many people who have fought with thieves... When entering the war, guns were fired across the river, and the thieves did not mind much...". The "strong brigade" of the Qing army only had the courage to shoot and fire at the Taiping army from a few hundred meters away, and fought for more than 50 days, but never managed to conquer any position of the Taiping army. Lin Fengxiang led the Northern Expedition army to fight fiercely under Huaiqing City for fifty-eight days, but he never managed to conquer the city. Because they had collected some grain and grass in the area of Jiyuan and Meng County, on September 1, Lin Fengxiang decided to abandon the attack on Huaiqing and go north to Shanxi. Thus, the Battle of Huaiqing ended.
This battle had a decisive impact on the fate of the Northern Expedition. If the Northern Expedition had not delayed fifty-eight days here, they would have entered the direct territory earlier in the summer instead of being forced to fight in the winter as they had done later. If so, the ending is really not easy to say. It can be said that the first meritorious ministers of the Battle of Huaiqing were the prefect Yu Bingtao and the prefect Qiu Baoyong, and it was their desperate perseverance that won a respite for the Manchu Qing court. After the Northern Expedition entered Shanxi, it fought for a month and conquered many cities one after another. So angry that the Xianfeng Emperor removed Hafen, the governor of Shanxi, but this did not help. The Northern Expedition army flickered around, threw off the encirclement and blockade of the Qing army, and suddenly appeared in Linpu Pass, north of Handan in the south of Zhizhi. Here, the Taiping Army annihilated the troops of the Qing Dynasty's minister and directly subordinate governor Nair Jingjie. Nar Jingjie lost his official seal and arrows and fled in a hurry. The Xianfeng Emperor ordered the removal of Nar Jingji from his post, and then promoted the big one in the Qizi, and selected the relatively brave Shengbao as the minister of Qincha, fully responsible for the Qing army's operations in direct subordination. After Shengbao took office, he mobilized several times the strength of the Taiping Army in an attempt to encircle and annihilate the Northern Expedition.
However, the Taiping army marched rapidly, while the Qing army moved slowly and was mostly afraid of battle. Therefore, the Taiping Army still rushed all the way to Beijing. The Taiping Army conquered Zhao County on October 4, crossed the Tuotuo River at Yancheng on October 7, captured Jinzhou on October 8, and captured Shenzhou on October 9, getting closer and closer to Beijing. When Emperor Xianfeng learned the news, he was shocked. He had to play his last trump card and order the monk Grinqin of Horqin County to lead the Mongol cavalry into battle. The cavalry under Senggrin Qin was not composed of the Eight Banners, but the real Mongol herders he recruited from the Horqin steppe. Therefore, the combat effectiveness is stronger. However, judging from the actual combat in the future, the Mongol cavalry did not have any outstanding performance in the engagement with the Northern Expedition. Moreover, Sengling Qin was used as the last line of defense for Beijing for a long time, and he stationed his troops on the front lines of Zhuozhou and Langfang, and did not kill the front line. It is Katsuho who commands the battle at the front. Lin Fengxiang led the Northern Expedition Army to rest in Shenzhou for a while. This was, of course, a mistake on his part. Under the circumstances, he should have pushed forward desperately. On October 22, Lin Fengxiang led his army to break through the encirclement of the Qing army and successfully conquered Xian County.
On October 25, the Northern Expedition captured Jiaohe County; On October 27, the Northern Expedition captured Cangzhou; On the 28th, it conquered Qingxian and entered the territory of Tianjin. At this time, the defense of Tianjin was empty, and there were almost no regular troops. But at a critical moment, Xie Zicheng of Tianjin Zhixian stood up. Xie Zicheng is not simple. When the Northern Expedition Army was still in Henan, he sensed that there would be a big battle near Beijing and Tianjin in the future, so he recruited regiments to train and prepare to ward off the enemy. There are many rogues on the ground in Tianjin who are called "gangsters". Xie Zicheng gathered the gangsters together, learned righteousness, and formed a vigilante group. The vigilante group's money was not enough, and Xie Zicheng's wife offered all the gold and silver jewelry. There are also a number of "geese households" near Tianjin. They are some hunters who specialize in shooting wild ducks and geese with muskets in the swamp, and their marksmanship is very good. Xie Zicheng organized these people as well. After the Northern Expedition entered Tianjin, Xie Zicheng led the militia and Yanhu to participate in the battle against the Qing army. They were familiar with the terrain and combat techniques, and gave great help to the Northern Expedition. During the battle, Xie Zicheng showed excellent command skills in every move. He fought side by side with the Northern Expedition, personally commanded, and effectively repelled the Qing army's attack.
In this battle, Xie Zicheng became the hero of the Northern Expedition Army and was known as the "Lion of Tianjin". However, despite a series of successes by the Northern Expedition, they were ultimately unable to capture Beijing. The Northern Expedition plan of the Taiping Rebellion ended in failure. The Northern Expedition lost a large number of soldiers in the battle, and the food and grass began to run out, facing the problem of too long a front and the inability of follow-up troops to provide timely support. In addition, the resistance of the Qing dynasty gradually intensified, and there were divisions and strife within the Taiping Army. In the end, the Northern Expedition Army could only withdraw to the Jiangnan region, and the Northern Expedition plan of the Taiping Rebellion ended in failure. To sum up, the decision of the Taiping Rebellion to send troops to the Northern Expedition seemed reasonable at the time, because the corruption and incompetence of the Qing army had been exposed, and the Taiping army had the opportunity to pursue it with victory and further weaken the strength of the Qing dynasty. However, the Northern Expedition encountered unexpected difficulties in the battle, and some grassroots cadres of the Qing Dynasty showed excellent combat ability. Coupled with some mistakes and logistical problems of the Northern Expedition Army in the war, it eventually led to the failure of the Northern Expedition plan. For the Taiping Rebellion, the failure of the Northern Expedition was a major setback. This defeat not only deprived the Taiping Rebellion of the opportunity to capture Beijing, but also weakened their influence in the Jiangnan region.
At the same time, the Qing Dynasty also took the opportunity to restore control of the north, laying the foundation for its later counterattacks. From a historical perspective, the decision of the Taiping Rebellion to send troops to the Northern Expedition was a wrong strategic choice. However, we cannot deny that there is a certain rationality and inevitability behind the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion. The Taiping Rebellion was the largest national peasant revolutionary movement in Chinese history at the time, and they tried to overthrow the corrupt Qing regime through the Northern Expedition and achieve the unification and prosperity of China. Although the Northern Expedition ultimately failed, the significance of the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion far exceeded the outcome of the war. The failure of the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion also provides us with important historical lessons. When developing a strategic plan, it is necessary to comprehensively consider various factors, including the enemy's strength and tactics, own resources and capabilities, etc. At the same time, internal unity and management are essential. The failure of the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion was partly due to internal divisions and strife that hampered the implementation of the strategy. Looking back at the history of the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion, we can think about some questions: Should the Taiping Rebellion choose other strategies, such as concentrating on the Jiangnan camp? Is it possible for the Taiping Rebellion to win the war and achieve its goals?
What are the implications of the defeat of the Taiping Rebellion for Chinese history and reality? Please leave a message to share your views and ideas, thank you! The Dilemma of the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army: The outstanding performance of the prefectural commander of the Qing Dynasty and the consumption of the Qing army, the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion encountered serious difficulties in the battles against Tianjin and Linqing. Although the Northern Expedition successfully defended Tianjin by stubborn resistance under the city, their combat effectiveness gradually weakened in subsequent battles. The prefectural commanders of the Qing Dynasty showed outstanding military ability and courage, they stopped the Northern Expedition army's attack, and finally achieved victory through siege and long-term depletion of the Northern Expedition's strength. However, this also exposed the problems of the Qing Dynasty's employment system, and the incompetence and cringe of high-ranking officials contrasted sharply with the daring and fighting at the grassroots level, and the Qing officialdom became a backwater and decadent environment. The Northern Expedition initially fought fiercely under the city of Tianjin, using newly built embankments and artillery batteries to successfully repel the Taiping Army's attack. However, after the regimental training of Tianjin City Xie Zicheng was seriously injured, he lost his fighting spirit and was no longer willing to fight. After holding out near Tianjin for three months, Lin Fengxiang ran out of food and was forced to move.
The Northern Expedition was divided into two parts, Jinghai and Duliu Town, while the Qing army surrounded them on all sides in an attempt to wipe out the Taiping army in one fell swoop. However, the combat effectiveness of the Qing army was still commonplace, and the Taiping army, which faced numerical disadvantages, could not conquer it. It was Xie Zicheng and his gangsters who really bravely attacked, but in a battle, Xie Zicheng was seriously wounded and committed suicide by throwing himself into the water. With his death, the regimental trainers of Tianjin City lost their will to fight. In the end, the Northern Expedition moved to Hebei after holding out in Fucheng County for several months, while the Qing army besieged the Taiping Army from all sides. The reinforcements led by Zeng Lichang went north and achieved good results along the way. However, Zeng Lichang did not know that Lin Fengxiang had moved, thinking that he was still near Tianjin. His troops were intercepted and killed by the Qing army and regimental training on the way south, and it was difficult for the Taiping Army to get supplies on the way south, and its combat effectiveness dropped sharply. In the end, Zeng Lichang was killed in Feng County, and the Northern Expedition suffered heavy losses. Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang moved to Lianzhen and Dongguang County, Hebei, and after learning that reinforcements had retreated, the Taiping Army was in trouble. In the battle of Linqing, Zhang Jigong fought to the death to resist the attack of the Taiping army, and eventually committed suicide. The Taiping army stormed the city of Linqing, but the food in the city had been burned. The Taiping Army was not supplied and was in trouble.
Lin Fengxiang persisted until March 1855, and Li Kaifang until the end of May 1855. The defeat of the Northern Expedition was mainly caused by a number of factors. The decision-makers of the Taiping Rebellion ignored the impact of the cold weather in the north, and some front-line commanders chose to hold on because of the order. In addition, the prefectural commanders of the Qing Dynasty showed excellent combat ability, which consumed the strength of the Northern Expedition Army and laid the foundation for the victory of the Qing army. The employment of Qing officialdom was also one of the reasons for the defeat of the Northern Expedition. The incompetence and cringe of high-ranking officials contrasted sharply with the daring of the grassroots level, and the rules of Qing officialdom hindered the promotion of truly talented and sentimental officials. As a result, those who can rise to high positions tend to be those who are good at sneaking around and have deep backgrounds, while truly capable officials are buried at the grassroots level. Under this mechanism of reverse elimination, the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty became a lifeless and decaying environment. If it weren't for Zeng Guofan's organization of talents scattered at the grassroots level, the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion would probably have succeeded in destroying the Qing Dynasty. To sum up, the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion encountered serious difficulties in the battles against Tianjin and Linqing.
The prefectural commanders of the Qing Dynasty showed outstanding military ability and courage, they stopped the Northern Expedition army's attack, and finally achieved victory through siege and long-term depletion of the Northern Expedition's strength. However, this also exposed the problems of the Qing Dynasty's employment system, and the incompetence and cringe of high-ranking officials contrasted sharply with the daring and fighting at the grassroots level, and the Qing officialdom became a backwater and decadent environment. The defeat of the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion was also the result of a combination of factors. In this regard, we should reflect on the Qing Dynasty's employment system and encourage truly talented and sentimental officials to play a role in improving the country's military strength and management level. What is your opinion on the problem of Qing officialdom?