1862, the Qing government issued an imperial edict in the name of Tongzhi emperor, appointing Zuo as the governor of Zhejiang and ordering him to send troops to suppress the Taiping Army in Zhejiang.
Zuo encouraged his subordinates at the military affairs meeting and said, "Conquering Hangzhou is the last wish of the first emperor (Xianfeng). Now Li Hongzhang has won Suzhou and is preparing to attack Hangzhou. We can't let him pick peaches. Do not believe me, 30,000 Xiang troops can't beat Hangzhou. I don't want to win Hangzhou myself, but I must do it for you. " The men were very moved, so their morale was very high.
1On February 20th, 862, Tangxi fell, Li, the garrison commander of Taiping Army, was captured, and the rest of Taiping Army began to retreat. The battle of Jinhua, which should have been World War I, failed, and the Taiping Army in six counties in eastern Jinhua also began to retreat. From mid-March, it began to move to Jiande, ready to attack Fuyang, the gateway of Hangzhou.
1863, 18 in March, the Qing court appointed Zuo as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and left the military affairs of Fujian and Zhejiang to Zuo alone, which made the power of Xiang Army Group reach its peak, and at the same time, the power of Zuo Group began to be formally born. _
After recovering several counties in western Zhejiang and eastern Zhejiang, Zuo proposed to his subordinates to reorganize the Taiping Army captured in Shaoxing, Pinghu, Haiyan, Tongxiang and Fuyang into a part of the Xiang Army, so that it could attack the Taiping Army in Hangzhou as a striker. However, Zuo was worried about Liu Dian and others, and worried that the new Taiping Army was unreliable. Zuo explained that at the time of surrender, those who are willing to leave will pay travel expenses, and those who are willing to stay will work for the court and be rewarded for their meritorious service. I believe that these people will not work hard as long as they have the opportunity. For example, he said: "Cai, the leader of the Taiping Army in Haining, changed his name to Yuanji after surrender to show his mind. Let him attack Tongxiang and kill the Taiping Army without mercy. Now many people see that the general trend of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has gone, and they will not be dead set on cooperating with that heavenly king Hong Xiuquan. "
But there is still one that says to Liu Dian: "Li Hongzhang killed eight generals in Suzhou, but we used it, which is different from his practice." _
Zuo said: "Li Hongzhang did this for the court and wanted to get more rewards. Imagine, hit and die, fall and die. Might as well fight. Isn't this driving the enemy to a dead end, so more people will die. " It's a good idea for everyone to nod and praise after listening to his explanation.
/kloc-in the winter of 0/863, he left for Fuyang to complete the siege of Hangzhou and Yuhang. At this time, the commander of Taiping Army in Hangzhou was listening to Wang's experts. When Zhongjun Li Xiucheng left Hangzhou, he told him: "Zhejiang is the southeast barrier of Tianjing, and it reaches Fujian and Vietnam in the south and Jiangxi and Anhui in the west, which can be entered and defended; Now that the Soviet Union and Changzhou are lost, if Hangzhou is lost again, Tianjing will become an isolated city and be in jeopardy. Therefore, we must keep it, people are in the city, and the city is broken! "
Li Xiucheng, a loyal monarch, left 10,000 chosen men in Hangzhou, and asked Deng Guangming, the returning king, to cooperate in guarding Hangzhou. Zuo was repulsed by Taiping Army many times, but Hangzhou has been besieged for more than a year. Zuo let the fallen soldier Cai Yuanji lead the troops to attack Hangzhou from the front. The French "Chang Shengjun" supported Cai Yuanji's troops with artillery and used Taiping Army to fight Taiping Army. Cai Yuanji attacked Tongxiang and captured Jiaxing, clearing the barrier of Taiping Army in Hangzhou.
As a result, in the winter of 2008, it snowed for several days in Hangzhou, and the Taiping Army encountered a cold food that had never happened in a hundred years. The charcoal salary was so scarce that even the house was demolished. The soldiers and civilians in the city were hungry and cold, and their morale was shaken. Zuo seized the opportunity and ordered the Xiang army to attack the city in three ways. Because the Taiping rebels guarding the city were frozen stiff, the casualties were very heavy. However, several gates in Cheng Nan were opened, which led to the influx of Xiang troops into the city. The Taiping Army listened to Wang's words and fled to Wulinmen in the north city with their own soldiers. After counting the remnants outside the city, it was discovered that Deng Guangming, a military commander, had not arrived yet. Some soldiers bravely said, "The man who opened the south gate is very similar to Deng Guangming, but he didn't see it clearly in his panic."
Because Deng Guangming advised Chen Bingwen to surrender to the Qing army two days earlier, Chen Bing was so angry that he repeatedly cursed and fled to Yuhang.
1February 864 15 in the morning, left to conquer Hangzhou. Hangzhou is an important city that Zuo led the army into Zhejiang two years later. Since then, our left cause has entered a new realm.