Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

Most of the time, the Taiping army acted like bandits, roaming around everywhere.

Each time they captured a city, they would plunder its food and silver to recruit soldiers and then move on to the next place.

As a result, although the Taiping army swept through many places, it was unable to establish a stable and effective rule in these places.

Just like a monkey picking corn, it breaks off one ear and drops the other.

This is also why the Taiping army was unable to inflict a truly fatal blow on the Tartars.

Even if the Tartars suffer heavy losses on the battlefield, they can quickly recover their vast territory and manpower, and restore their strength.

If this continued, the Taiping Army's advantage would naturally not be able to be maintained for long.

If Hong Tian wanted to reverse the fate of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he had to make changes in these areas.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's actual control area should be continuously expanded.

At the same time, this also further weakened the Tartars.

As one side gains and the other loses, the balance of power between the two sides will continue to narrow, and may even be completely reversed.

Southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province were not only important granaries but also economically developed regions, and had always been the source of wealth for the Manchus.

Once the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom controlled these two regions, it would not only further strengthen its own power, but also greatly weaken the strength of the Manchus.

This will play a very important role in the upcoming war between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Manchus.

After the Taiping Army captured these areas, in addition to the various propaganda plans and policies that Hong Tian had meticulously prepared for the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture, the Taiping Army continued to expand its influence.

Hong Tian believed that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would soon be able to win over the hearts and minds of the people in these regions.

This would enable the people in these regions to truly side with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and become its supporters.

This will greatly enhance the overall strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will also completely shed the label of "bandits" and establish a stable territory.

Li Xiucheng greatly agreed with Hong Tian's plan.

He realized that although the new Heavenly King was young, his ability to govern the country far surpassed that of the old Heavenly King.

Under the leadership of the new Heavenly King, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will surely grow even stronger.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will surely achieve final victory in the war between itself and the Manchus.

When Zhang Guoliang, the General Commander of Xiaolingwei and the Southern Jiangsu Army, saw He Chun and Zhang Yuliang and their men fleeing in disarray, he was greatly shocked.

"Your Excellency, how could things have turned out like this? Chunhua Town has fallen in just one day?" Zhang Guoliang looked completely incredulous at what he was seeing.

"Alas, Deng Shaoliang has ruined me!" He Chun sighed heavily.

It's fair to say that the higher the expectations were before, the more disastrous the situation is now.

"Lord Deng led the main force of the Zhejiang army to fight against the Taiping rebels, but suffered a great defeat. The 30,000 Zhejiang soldiers were almost completely wiped out."

The Taiping Rebellion's cannons and muskets were extremely powerful, even surpassing those of the Westerners.

After the Zhejiang army was defeated, the Taiping rebels broke through the defenses and launched an attack on Chunhua Town.

We have no choice but to abandon Chunhua Town and move to Xiaolingwei.

Zhang Yuliang explained.

Zhang Guoliang then realized what was going on.

It turns out that He Chun and Zhang Yuliang had voluntarily given up Chunhua Town.

Or rather, they were terrified by the Taiping Army.

However, the Taiping army was able to annihilate 30,000 Zhejiang troops in less than a day. They were also able to capture Chunhua Town. This demonstrates just how formidable their strength was.

This has made Zhang Guoliang even more worried about the situation ahead.

The Taiping army was able to easily defeat the Zhejiang army and capture Chunhua Town. So, could Xiaolingwei really withstand the Taiping army's attack?

"How's the situation at Xiaolingwei?" He Chun couldn't help but ask.

If the Xiaoling Guard cannot hold out, then the entire Jiangnan Camp will likely fall as well.

This will be a heavy blow to the entire plan to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

If the imperial court investigates and holds them accountable, these people will likely face dire consequences.

"Your Excellency, the situation at Xiaolingwei is relatively good. The attackers at Xiaolingwei are the Taiping rebels led by Li Shixian. They only have a little over 10,000 men, so they are outnumbered."

They launched several probing attacks, but after finding they couldn't break through our defenses, they retreated.

Zhang Guoliang answered.

He Chun nodded, feeling a sense of relief.

If Xiaolingwei can hold out, they may be able to continue the siege of Tianjing City by relying on the two strategic locations of Xiaolingwei and Dashengguan.

"Your Excellency, if the Taiping rebels who have breached Chunhua Town were to launch an attack on Xiaolingwei, would we still be able to hold out? Your Excellency must make preparations as soon as possible!" Zhang Yuliang reminded him.

He Chun's heart tightened immediately.

Although they now have more than 30,000 troops after joining forces with Zhang Guoliang.

But He Chun had no idea whether he could withstand the Taiping army's attack!

"Alright then, the Taiping rebels are too powerful. I will immediately return to Suzhou to mobilize more troops to reinforce the front lines. Lord Zhang will be in charge of Xiaolingwei. No matter what, we must hold off the Taiping rebels' attack!" Realizing the danger, He Chun immediately tried to slip away from the front lines.

Zhang Guoliang was also taken aback, not expecting He Chun to desert his post and still want him to stay on the front line.

But a higher rank can have an absolute advantage, especially since He Chun was a Manchu. Even if Zhang Guoliang was dissatisfied, he had no other recourse.

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency, I will defend Xiaolingwei to the death. I will absolutely not allow the Taiping rebels to occupy this place. I urge you to return quickly and bring reinforcements to my aid as soon as possible!" Zhang Guoliang said.

He Chun readily assured him that he would bring reinforcements as soon as possible.

Immediately afterwards, He Chun, along with Zhang Yuliang, fled Xiaolingwei under the protection of his trusted guards, and escaped to Suzhou.

1857年1月20日上午，太平天国近卫军第1步兵师和东征军团第2军，对清军重兵驻防的孝陵卫发起了进攻。

Zhang Guoliang, who was stationed here with his troops, had experienced firsthand just how formidable the firepower of the Imperial Guards was.

The artillery battalion of the 1st Infantry Division of the Imperial Guards unleashed a furious barrage of fire from its 24 75mm field guns, destroying not only the Qing army's few remaining old-fashioned artillery pieces but also inflicting heavy losses on the Qing forces.

The 75mm mountain guns of the artillery batteries of each infantry regiment were also deployed in the attack.

Subsequently, three infantry regiments launched an attack on the Qing troops stationed at Xiaolingwei from three directions.

Even though the Qing army was aware of the strength of the Imperial Guard, they had no intention of engaging in open battle and instead focused on defense.

But they still couldn't stop the Imperial Guard's attack.

Relying on powerful machine gun fire, the Imperial Guard infantry quickly approached the trenches dug by the Qing army.

The Qing soldiers in the trenches were blown up by mortars and grenades, suffering heavy losses.

Then they quickly filled in the trenches and launched an attack on the camps built by the Qing army behind the trenches.

These fortified camps could have played a significant role in defending against attacks from enemies equipped with cold weapons.

However, when faced with the heavily armed Imperial Guards, they were utterly helpless.

One after another, the camps were blown up, and the Qing troops stationed inside were wiped out by the Taiping army, suffering heavy casualties.

Furthermore, a large number of Qing soldiers surrendered to the Taiping army when they had no other options.

In terms of surrendering, these Qing soldiers were practically born with the skills.

Especially after seeing that the Taiping army did not kill the surrendered Qing soldiers, more Qing soldiers did the same.

Seeing this situation, Zhang Guoliang, the Qing army commander, was naturally filled with despair.

Even if he tried his best, he couldn't stop the Taiping army's attack!

The idea that they could hold out until Hechun led reinforcements to their rescue was nothing short of wishful thinking.

Therefore, after holding out for only a day and a half, Zhang Guoliang broke through and escaped.

The Taiping army was outnumbered and unable to completely surround the Xiaolingwei, which allowed Zhang Guoliang to escape successfully.

But with their commander fleeing, the already low morale of the remaining Qing soldiers collapsed completely.

A large number of Qing soldiers surrendered directly to the Taiping Army.

The fact that the Taiping army did not kill prisoners undoubtedly emboldened these Qing soldiers to surrender.

In just two days, the Taiping army captured Xiaolingwei.

Of the more than 30,000 Qing troops stationed here, most surrendered.

Very few actually escaped.

With the successive capture of Chunhua Town and Xiaolingwei by the Taiping Army, the Qing army's newly rebuilt Jiangnan Camp can be considered to have been completely conquered by the Taiping Army.