Battle of Jiaxing: 8,000 Taiping troops were killed

In December 1863, Li Hongzhang was in high spirits and happily left the camp to greet his most important "guest", and His gift. The "guests" were naturally the four princes Gao Yongkuan, Wang Anjun, Zhou Wenjia, and Wu Guiwen, and the four generals Zhang Dazhou, Wang Youwei, Fan Qifa, and Wang Huaiwu; the gift was the head of Mu Wang Tan Shaoguang and the city of Suzhou.

While he was happy, Li Hongzhang did not forget his "promise". He invited eight rebel generals to have dinner together to celebrate their submission to the Qing Dynasty and to kill the "thieves and bandits" together. However, Li Hongzhang did not really welcome these eight people, because he could not fulfill his promise at all: granting actual positions such as commander-in-chief and deputy general instead of "registering" and "alternative". Therefore, Li Hongzhang planned to get rid of these 8 people and make them disappear.

At the banquet, Li Hongzhang killed eight rebel generals and massacred 40,000 Taiping troops in Suzhou City, which was very cruel. In this way, the Taiping Army generals in Jiangsu and Zhejiang had no retreat and could only fight to the end and fight to the death with the Huai Army.

Jiaxing, also known as Jiahe and Hecheng, got its name because rice grows well here and the yield is high. After the fall of Suzhou, Li Hongzhang targeted Jiaxing and wanted to seize this treasure land. At this time, Jiaxing's garrison commanders were Liao Fashou, King of Rong, and Liu Degong, King of Ting. There were more than 8,000 soldiers and horses in the city, more than 1,000 of whom were Guangxi veterans, and their combat effectiveness was very strong.

As early as during the Suzhou Defense War, Li Hongzhang divided his forces to attack Jiaxing, but with a small number of troops, he was repulsed by King Rong. At this time, Suzhou had been captured, and Li Hongzhang decided to attack Jiaxing with all his strength, and then seize the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's base in northern Zhejiang.

In attacking Jiaxing, Li Hongzhang definitely spent a lot of money: Cheng Xueqi, Liu Mingchuan, Pan Dingxin, Zhang Shusheng, Li Chaobin, Guo Songlin, Yang Dingxun and other powerful generals were all dispatched to participate in the battle, with a total strength of more than 30,000 troops.

In January 1864, the rebel general Cheng Xueqi led 4,000 troops as the vanguard to attack the counties outside Jiaxing; Li Chaobin led more than a hundred naval warships to assist in the battle, attacking the Taiping Army by land and water. Soon, Jiashan, Haining, Pinghu, Haiyan, Tongxiang, etc. fell, and the Huai army reached the city of Jiaxing.

The Huai army was approaching fiercely. Zuo Zongtang was extremely annoyed, but he could do nothing. At this time, Zuo Zongtang was the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Zhejiang's military affairs should be handled by him. How could it be Li Hongzhang's turn to intervene? It turned out that Li Hongzhang was afraid of offending Zeng Guofan and refused to send troops to participate in the Battle of Tianjing. Instead, he went south to Zhejiang to snatch the fruits of victory with Zuo Zongtang.

Zuo Zongtang is not a vegetarian, so how can he give up the prey he has obtained? For this reason, Zuo Zongtang also took action to compete with Li Hongzhang. First, Zuo Zongtang recruited Li Xiucheng's son-in-law to surrender. Cai Yuanlong (later renamed Cai Yuanji), who had played a "false surrender" and injured Li Hongzhang's younger brother, asked him to assist the Huai army in fighting and humiliate Li Hongzhang.

Moreover, Jiang Yili, the first general under his command, was sent with 10,000 elite troops to assist in the battle and capture the south gate. Originally, Zuo Zongtang wanted to send more troops, but Chen Bingwen and Wang Haiyang contained the main force of the Zuo Hunan Army in Hangzhou and Yuhang, so he could only serve as a substitute and play the leading role for Li Hongzhang. From then on, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang became enemies of each other. They often competed with each other and had no contact with each other.

On February 25, the rebel general Cai Yuanji led 8,000 troops to storm the west camp of Jiaxing. King Rong lured the enemy deep into the area and attracted the rebels into the ambush circle. Then the ambush was spread everywhere and guns were fired. Cai Yuanji was injured in his left hand and fled. Then, Jiang Yili sent 1,000 soldiers and horses for reinforcements, and attacked Ximen together with Cai Yuanji, but was defeated again.

Jiaxing has been cut off from foreign aid and is now an isolated city, but its resistance is so tenacious. Jiang Yili and Cai Yuanji really can’t understand it, but they are not willing to fail. On the 26th, Jiang Yili personally led troops to attack Ximen, but he never thought that King Rong had already led 1,000 troops to bypass the rear of the Hunan army and sneak attack the camp. In this way, Jiang Yili had to return halfway, but the Taiping Army had already returned to the camp.

The west gate is difficult to attack for a simple reason. 1,000 Guangxi veterans are guarding the camp outside the city. Their combat effectiveness and fighting will are superb. The Hunan Army wants to take advantage, and the probability is zero. Later battles proved that these 1,000 veterans cost the Hunan and Huai armies a heavy price.

On the 27th, Zuo Zongtang purchased the flowering cannon from foreigners and transported it to the front line. 30 artillery pieces fired a salvo, and all the Ximen barracks were blown up. King Rong had to withdraw into the inner city and rely on the fortifications to continue to resist. . At the same time, the most powerful general of the Huai Army, Cheng Xueqi, built an artillery position at the north gate, built a pontoon bridge, and prepared to directly capture the city.

On the 28th, King Rong, King Ting and others led 4,000 soldiers and horses to suddenly rush out and swoop at the Huai Army barracks at the north gate; the Taiping Navy naval warships also fired artillery to assist, destroying 4 Huai Army barracks. At this time, Cheng Xueqi led his army back to support, and the two sides fought together. When the fierce battle was in full swing, the Taiping Army suddenly rushed out from the west gate and tried to attack the Huai Army's rear. However, Jiang Yili refused to retreat and held the defensive line.

The attack on the west gate was blocked, and there was a fierce fighting outside the north gate. When night fell, both sides withdrew their troops and fought another day. On the 28th, Pan Dingxin led the elite Huai army to Jiaxing, marched into Chaoyang Temple, Qilidian, and Huilong Bridge, cut off the land grain road, and cooperated with Cheng Xueqi's actions.

On March 1, Cheng Xueqi personally supervised the formation, advanced by land and water, and stormed the north gate. King Rong and King Ting stopped their troops and waited until the Huai army came within shooting range, then used guns and artillery to fight back. However, the Huai army was very fierce. They crawled forward under artillery fire and set up ladders to climb the city wall.

In response, the Taiping army beat the Huai army with rocks and rolling logs, and poured boiling hot oil down on them.

The Taiping Army resisted tenaciously, and the fierce general Cheng Xueqi did not give up. He personally killed more than ten Huai Army soldiers who ran back before the battle, and continued to storm the North Gate. The Huai army soldiers had no choice but to charge desperately and climb the city wall desperately. The bloody battle lasted until the afternoon, when the Huai army scaled the city wall. King Ting personally fired with a foreign gun and killed all the Huai army who climbed the city wall.

The Huai army attacked fiercely. King Rong and King Ting also came to the front line to command. They fought to the death and defeated the Huai army's offensive again and again, killing more than 1,000 people. In this way, Cheng Xueqi had no choice but to order his troops to retreat and return to camp to rest; the Taiping Army took the opportunity to repair the city wall and prepare for the next battle.

On March 5, Cheng Xueqi changed his siege tactics and used cannons to bombard the city wall, which exploded more than 10 feet, and then personally led his troops to rush in through the gap. At this time, King Rong commanded his troops to repair the gap, while King Ting led 1,000 suicide squads with foreign guns to shoot at the gap with the Huai army; on the city wall, the Taiping troops threw cupping jars, fireballs, and explosive packets.

After a fight, the Huai army suffered more than 800 casualties, and the commander-in-chief He Antai was killed. The Taiping Army's firepower was fierce, and his deputy He Antai was killed on the spot. Cheng Xueqi had no choice but to retreat and return to the camp. King Rong and King Ting took the opportunity to repair the gap, blocked it with stones, and built a moon city as the second line of defense.

On the 24th, Cheng Xueqi invited the "Foreign Gun Team" to attack the city with the help of its flowering cannon. Then, Cheng Xueqi personally led his troops and fought on the front line, but was still defeated. On the 25th, Cheng Xueqi beheaded several soldiers who escaped from the battle and charged into the battle again. As a result, he was hit in the temple by a gun while climbing a ladder, fainted to the ground, and died.

Cheng Xueqi was seriously injured and later died, but the "Foreign Gun Team"'s cannons did not stop bombing. On the 26th, the Huai army once again blew up the city wall for more than 10 battles, and then swarmed in. King Rong and King Ting came to the gap to fight in person, blocking the Huai army from the outside. Unfortunately, the artillery of the "Foreign Gun Team" hit the ammunition depot in the city, and the Taiping Army was completely defeated.

A fire broke out inside the city, and the Huai army attacked fiercely outside the city. The Taiping army finally failed. King Rong and King Ting led their troops to retreat to the streets of the city and engaged in street fighting with the Huai army. As a result, they were all killed. At this point, Jiaxing fell, 8,000 soldiers were killed, and two princes died in street fighting.

In this battle, the veterans of the Taiping Army, the Hunan Army, and the Huai Army were all very brave and bloody. Cheng Xueqi, in particular, can be called a desperado. Li Hongzhang commented: During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, if Cheng Xueqi had been there, the Huai army would not have failed. It is a pity that the Huai army performed very poorly during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, and its combat effectiveness and fighting will were worrying.