Unlike the Eight Banners and green camp, Xiang was not a regular army, but a private armed force, which broke out with amazing fighting capacity under the stimulation of generous reimbursement. You know, the monthly salary of the Eight Banners Horse is only 2.5 Liang, while the average soldier of the Xiang Army is as high as 6 Liang. They are rewarded for their meritorious service in killing the enemy and can plunder at will. Compared with Taiping Army, the most obvious advantage of Xiang Army is that it has a professional navy and is equipped with foreign guns, thus firmly controlling the Yangtze River transportation line and ensuring that Xiang Army is in an invincible position.
1In May of 862, the main force of Xiang Army arrived in Tianjing, camped in Yuhuatai and began to besiege Tianjing. On June+10, 5438, Li Xiucheng and other 13 governors led 200,000 troops to a decisive battle, but they were forced to retreat after 44 days of fighting because the logistics supply could not keep up. Subsequently, Li Xiucheng carried out Hong Xiuquan's terrible battle plan of "attacking the south from the north", and 65,438+10,000 elite soldiers challenged the "survival limit in the wild" in Jiangbei. When crossing the river, it coincided with a rainstorm and was intercepted by Xiang Shuishi, causing all losses.
Li Xiucheng's main corps suffered heavy losses. Xiangnan captured Yuhuatai and Jiuzhou in the north, and the main route for providing foodstuff in Tianjing was cut off. In the southern battlefield of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Li Hongzhang and Zuo colluded with the armies of foreign powers, attacked the city slightly and were invincible. Surrounded by divisions, the Taiping Army was in a bad situation. In this way, Tianjing is doomed to be unable to clear, because there is no mobile force. In this regard, Li Xiucheng made a suggestion to Hong Xiuquan: "If there is less food and grass inside and it can't be saved outside, let the city stay." .
Li Xiucheng suggested a breakthrough, but Hong Xiuquan refused. He would rather eat weeds than leave. Li Xiucheng said in the "readme": "All cities eat manna, which can preserve their health", and took the lead in eating it.
So, what is "manna"? Weeds, weeds, "two or three years ago, each family was ordered to prepare more manna, and each family paid ten loads and collected it in the warehouse." It can be said that Hong Xiuquan had already anticipated the danger of besieged city and prepared a large number of "weeds" to eat in advance to cope with the situation. Weeds are naturally inedible, let alone healthy. Being trapped in the city was a huge mistake, but that's what Hong Xiuquan did.
Judging from the internal and external situation, the probability of holding Tianjing is almost zero. Regardless of other factors, the Taiping Army was short of navy and was doomed to lack food in the city. Even if the Xiang army doesn't attack, it will starve to death. What about the breakthrough? At the end of 1863, Li Xiucheng proposed "Don't let the city go". At this time, the Xiang army almost surrounded Tianjing, but Tianbao City, Dibao City and Toilet Gate were still controlled by Taiping Army, so it was not difficult to break through.
In the southern battlefield of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Li Shixian, Yang Fuqing, Huang and other experts withdrew their troops in succession, and the main force gathered in the border areas of Jiangxi and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with more than 300,000 troops. When Hong Xiuquan breaks through, there will naturally be troops to meet him, and he will not become a rogue. Therefore, if Hong Xiuquan wants to break through, it is not difficult, just unwilling.
War is to save one's own strength to the maximum extent and destroy the effective strength of the opponent, so as to win. There is no point in sticking to Tianjing because of internal troubles and foreign invasion, but Hong Xiuquan wants to do the opposite, and the price is naturally very heavy. So, why is Hong Xiuquan unwilling to break through? Mainly willing to two points. First of all, Hong Xiuquan pinned his hopes on various reinforcements, hoping to reproduce the glory of destroying the "Jiangnan Camp" twice.
Chen Yucheng's general, Chen Decai, is active in the northwest, gathering more than 200,000 military forces. He has gone south in three ways, ready to rescue Tianjing. Li Shixian, Huang, Yang Fuqing, and other main forces are still there. Hong Xiuquan has already sent Hong Rengan out to "rush the troops" and let the C army rush to Beijing to fight against Xiang. Rely on "foreign soldiers" to lift the siege of the capital is the traditional tactic of Taiping Army, but it is doomed to be unworkable at this time.
Chen Decai went south and was stopped by the Eight Banners. Even Hubei can't get out. Needless to say, Li Shixian, Huang, etc. , besieged by a, where troops can be deployed to reinforce Tianjin. In addition, Tianjing doesn't have enough food, and the "diligent teacher" doesn't have enough to eat and wear, and no one wants to fight. Hong Rengan went out to "borrow soldiers" and no one responded.
Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan sticks to the "traditional experience" and thinks that it is absolutely wrong to save the world with the help of the vassal army. After Hong Xiuquan made his capital in Tianjing, he stayed in the palace, never stepped out of the city gate, didn't know the military situation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and didn't know that today was different, which doomed his failure. Of course, the heavenly king Hong Xiuquan didn't want to break through, but stayed in the city to eat weeds. The main reason is that he lost his fighting spirit and initiative.
Friends who are familiar with the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom know that Hong Xiuquan has a bad temper and a bad temper, but he has no tenacious willpower. At the beginning of the establishment of Chongshen, Hong Xiuquan was frustrated by preaching to Gu Cun and returned to Guangdong directly, unwilling to insist. At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was doomed to fight if Feng Yunshan refused the letters of the "leader" and went into Zijing Mountain to preach alone. After Suoyidu's fiasco, Hong Xiuquan planned to go back to Guangdong and Guangxi to fight guerrilla warfare. If Yang hadn't carried out the "God sent down to earth" and forced the "Daozhou decision", the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would have ended long ago.
After the capital arrived in Beijing, Hong Xiuquan lived a life of ecstasy, and his gentle hometown in the south of the Yangtze River made him lose his unshakable fighting spirit. After enjoying a happy life, if Hong Xiuquan breaks out and leads a wandering life, he can't stand it.
To sum up, the Xiang army besieged Tianjing, the traffic channels inside and outside the city were cut off, and Tianjing ran out of ammunition and food. At this time, Hong Xiuquan, who is enjoying a good life, has lost his old fighting spirit, and hopes that "foreign soldiers" will come to the rescue and reproduce the glory of destroying "Jiangnan Camp" twice. Therefore, Hong Xiuquan would rather eat weeds than make a comeback.
And the result? Weeds can't solve the problem of food and clothing, and governors from all walks of life are reluctant to lead troops to fight because Beijing has no food. From June 65438 to June 0864, Hong Xiuquan ate too much "weeds", refused to take medicine and died. In July, the Xiang army broke Beijing and destroyed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Bibliography: the whole history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War