Thirty years after Daoguang, the Taiping Army developed rapidly from Guangxi to Hunan and Hubei and went down the river to Nanjing. The Qing army chased after the suburbs of Nanjing from Guangxi for three years, and the Taiping army did not suffer any damage. At that time, Xiang Yong organized by Jiang Zhongyuan and Luo Zenan was stronger than the regular army-especially in the battle of defending Changsha in Xianfeng for two years. After the Taiping Army liberated the siege of Changsha, Zeng Guofan was ordered to form Xiang Yong, Hunan. After repeated persuasion, Zeng Guofan Xianfeng decided to undertake this mission on 1 29, and took "one is not greedy for money, and the other is not afraid of death" as the slogan of the army.
The Southern Hunan Army formed by Zeng Guofan, that is, Xiang Army, also known as Xiang Army, is composed of Chu Yong of Jiang Zhongyuan and other departments. Zeng Guofan made a strict foot soldier training plan, set out to rectify discipline and complete the organization. These measures have much to do with his final victory. He set up centralized training camps to further train those Xiang Yong training camps with combat experience, and set up recruitment stations in various parts of Hunan to conduct preliminary training for Qin Bing. Before going out to fight the Taiping Army, he decided to send this army to wipe out bandits in the province, which was also a pre-war exercise to gain combat experience. But because of this, he was criticized by those who had fought against the Taiping Army but always lost. Even when making a battle plan, he was reprimanded by the emperor. However, Zeng Guofan insisted on his original intention and never wavered. Regardless of all kinds of obstacles and criticisms, no matter how the field urged for help, he continued to organize and train those rural brave people who were lax in discipline and lacked combat experience. Whether the Xiang army's training plan can be realized depends on the military expenditure provided by Hunan officials and gentry. However, in the early days of the establishment of Xiang Army, the local government did not give financial support. It was not until Jiang Zhongyuan and Luo Zenan won the battle in Hengshan County and the ruling and opposition parties shook that the local authorities realized that Zeng Guofan should be provided with certain military expenses.
Zeng Guofan's lack of support from local officials made him feel very difficult in many initial battles. This situation was not improved until he became the governor of several provinces and had the right to take charge of finance. Within a few months, Zeng Guofan accepted the urgent suggestions of Jiang Zhongyuan and Guo Songtao, built gunboats, trained the water army, and was led by generals such as Yang to drive the Taiping Army out of the Yangtze River.
After the Taiping Army Xianfeng captured Nanjing for three years, it attacked the Qing court in two ways: all the way to North China; All the way west into Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei. At that time, although the parties repeatedly asked Zeng Guofan for help, they were really unable to send troops to save Hubei. At that time, most of the Xiang army had gone to Jiangxi, and the rest stayed in Hunan to deal with local uprisings. At this time, the "water army" is still under construction. A few months later, the Taiping Army launched an attack on Hunan Xiang Army from Hubei. On February 25th, the second year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan used 240 new navy ships and 5,000 water troops. However, due to the storm, the ships could not move, and the army lacked experience in water operations, which led to Zeng Guofan's two defeats in Hunan: one in Yuezhou and one in Jinggang. Zeng Guofan was ashamed to commit suicide. Fortunately, in May this year 1 day, Taqibu and Peng Yulin were defeated in Xiangtan, forcing Taiping troops to retreat to Yuezhou, and the Qing army conquered Yuezhou on July 25 of that year, which encouraged Zeng Guofan. The Taiping Army captured Wuchang on January 12, the second year of Xianfeng, which was the first time that the Taiping Army captured Wuchang three times. However, in February of the same year, the Qing army recovered. On June 26th, four years in Xianfeng, the Taiping Army captured Wuchang again. 10 14, Zeng Guofan Xiang led by Luo Zenan and Jiang Zhongyuan recaptured Wuchang again. This is the Qing army's conquest of Wuchang and a heavy blow to the Taiping Army's campaign plan. On February 2, this year/KLOC-0, Zeng Guofan repelled the stubborn resistance of Taiping Army in Tianjia Town and won a complete victory. At the same time, in February of the fifth year of Xianfeng, Shanghai was recovered by the uprising knife meeting. By the end of May in the fifth year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Army in the Northern Expedition had basically failed.
Just as Zeng Guofan came down the river and reached Jiujiang, he was stubbornly blocked by Kai Wing Lam, the general of Taiping Army. When the Taiping Army was founded, Kai Wing Lam took part in the uprising. He was a brave general in the Taiping Army, and some of Zeng Guofan's water army was trapped in Poyang Lake by the Taiping Army. Another Xiang water army on the Yangtze River was also defeated, and even Zeng Guofan's ship was captured by Taiping rebels. Most of the remaining ships were destroyed in a storm. Zeng Guofan's morale was low because of repeated wars and defeats. Zeng Guofan is much older for this. He once drowned himself again, but was rescued. After some rectification, on April 3, the fifth year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Army launched an offensive to weaken the Qing army's attack on Jiujiang and captured Wuchang for the third time. At this time, regardless of the fall of Wuchang, Zeng Guofan just ordered Taqibu to continue to attack Jiujiang. At the same time, Luo Zenan and Hu Linyi were sent to recapture Wuchang, and he himself attracted the main force of Taiping rebels in Nanchang. But before long, both Taqibu and Luo Zenan died, and Zeng Guofan himself was restrained by Shi Dakai, the Taiping Rebel. Zeng Guofan is facing a total collapse at this time. Fortunately, Zeng Guofan was calm and good at dealing with accidents. In addition, Hu Linyi and Li finally recovered Wuchang for the last time on December 19th, the sixth year of Xianfeng. Thanks to Peng Yu's cooperation, his brother Ceng Guoquan came to help from Hunan, and Zeng Guofan's predicament in Nanchang was alleviated.
Although the Taiping Army was defeated by Jiangxi and Hubei, it was defeated by the thriving army in Nanjing at this time. Later, there was a bitter internal struggle within the Taiping Army, which weakened its own strength and finally lost most of the areas it had achieved. At this time, Zeng Guofan's father died on February 27, Xianfeng, and Zeng Guofan had to leave his post temporarily to attend the funeral. However, his wise generals, according to his plan, recovered Jiujiang on May 19, the eighth year of Xianfeng. Then attack Anqing in order to finally recover Nanjing. In order to recover Anqing, although many cities surrounded by Taiping rebels begged him for help, he ignored them. In order to capture Anqing, Zeng Guofan led troops to Qimen in southern Anhui. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan served as governor of the two rivers, and an imperial minister led the troops to the south of the Yangtze River. At this point, he has full authority to deal with military affairs, including raising military pay and other financial rights.
During the ten to eleven years of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan's situation became more and more difficult. Xianfeng Ten years ago, the Taiping Army defeated the reorganized Qing Army near Nanjing. Under the command of Li Xiucheng, Taiping Army was rejuvenated again and took the initiative to attack the Qing army. Most of Jiangsu and Zhejiang fell into the hands of Taiping rebels, and only Shanghai was not completely occupied by Taiping rebels. However, the Taiping Army attacked Shanghai many times and was repelled by Li Hongzhang and others. This year, the British and French allied forces hit Beijing, and the Qing emperor and his ministers fled to Jehol for refuge. All over the country have written to Zeng Guofan to send troops to support. However, from September of the tenth year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan was also besieged by Taiping rebels in Qimen. He is a clay idol, and he can't help it. In April of the eleventh year of Xianfeng, he was in trouble to the extreme, but he made up his mind to die. It was not until Zuo and other troops reinforced Qimen that the situation began to improve. Later, Zeng Guofan's younger brother Ceng Guoquan finally captured Anqing on September 5th, 11th year of Xianfeng. Since then, Zeng Guofan was based in Anqing and prepared to recover Nanjing. In order to avoid gathering too many troops in Nanjing and prevent Taiping Army from seizing the territory behind the Qing army, Zeng Guofan opened up three war zones: one in Jiangsu, under the jurisdiction of Li Hongzhang; The other is Zhejiang, which is under the jurisdiction of Zuo; Third, in Anhui, he ruled by himself. The Qing army frequently attacked the Taiping rebels in these three areas, and the Taiping rebels were gradually surrounded. At this time, Ceng Guoquan invited himself to capture Nanking. Since Nanjing became the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on March 19, Xianfeng three years, the Qing army suffered many defeats, especially in August of Xianfeng six years, November of Xianfeng nine years and August of Xianfeng ten years. At that time, although foreign troops intended to come to help, they were rejected by Ceng Guoquan. After a long siege and desperate fighting, Ceng Guoquan finally conquered Nanking in July 16, the third year of Tongzhi (1864). However, it was not until two years later that the remnants of the Taiping Army were completely eliminated. Zeng Guofan, who was the first to finally destroy the Taiping Army, was named "Volunteer Army" by the Qing court, and he was the first civilian to win this title.
After the Taiping Rebellion was pacified, Zeng Guofan continued to serve as Governor of Liangjiang and stayed in Nanjing for several months. During this period, he devoted himself to restoring production in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and academic activities in Jiangnan region, which suffered from fifteen years of war. At the beginning of the third year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan set up an official bookstore in Anqing Daying to print classics. After the war was settled, he hired a famous scholar to run the bookstore. After that, he sent most of the Xiang army back to his hometown, and some civil servants in the army were hired as proofreaders in bookstores. At that time, he issued regulations to build bookstores in Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Hangzhou and Wuhan. This is the "five sense organs". 1On February 20th, Nanjing resumed having obtained the provincial examinations. During the occupation of Taiping Army, the provincial examinations in this area were interrupted for many years.
In June of the fourth year of Tongzhi, the Qing government issued an order urging Zeng Guofan to go to Shandong to suppress the Nian Army. Zeng Guofan was ordered to command the military in Shandong, Zhili and Henan. However, Zeng Guofan suppressed the Nian Army in the north for more than a year, which not only failed to achieve results, but the Nian Army became stronger and stronger. On December 12, the fourth year of Tongzhi, Li Hongzhang succeeded to the throne, and Zeng Guofan returned to Nanjing.
As early as two years of Tongzhi, Hong Rong suggested to Zeng Guofan to build an iron works in Shanghai, which was later Jiangnan Shipyard. Hong Rong obtained Zeng Guofan's consent to buy machines from abroad. In the fifth year of Tongzhi, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was established, and in the seventh year of Tongzhi, the bureau built the first ship in China and sailed to Nanjing for Zeng Guofan's inspection.
Tongzhi for six years, Zeng Guofan worshipped the university students. In September of the seventh year of Tongzhi, he served as governor of Zhili. During his tenure, Zeng Guofan began to deal with a large number of long-standing unresolved cases, improve work efficiency, and made a plan to establish a standing army. Tongzhi nine years, was ordered to investigate and deal with "Tianjin religious plan". The case is almost over. Zeng Guofan was transferred back to Nanjing in Tongzhi for ten years because of his old age and illness. Soon the governor of Zhili was succeeded by Li Hongzhang. On August 18, he and Li jointly wrote a letter suggesting that young students should be sent to study abroad. This proposal has been implemented for eleven years. However, just a few days before the students set out to go abroad, Zeng Guofan died.