Why didn’t Chen Yucheng, the British king of the Taiping Rebellion, withdraw to Tianjing after his defeat in Anqing?

In the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, only two pillars were left: Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng. However, these two people had never been at odds with each other.

The two teamed up to defeat the Trophy Camp besieging Tianjing for the second time in September 1858, changing the military decline since the Tianjing Incident. However, after this victory, Hong Xiuquan's arrangement for the two was obviously unfair.

He put Chen Yucheng in charge of the entire northern Anhui war effort, giving him the opportunity to bring the defenders of the cities in northern Anhui into his own sphere of influence, while Li Xiucheng was responsible for ensuring the security between northern Anhui and Tianjing. The transportation, that is, the north gate that guards Jiangpu and Tianjing, is small in area and has relatively few troops. There are only a few thousand of his own soldiers and the unreliable Nian army he recruited.

This was the beginning of the conflict between Chen and Li.

During the subsequent march, Li Xiucheng advocated a steady attack, while Chen Yucheng advocated taking advantage of the situation to counterattack Hubei and capture Wuchang. The two divided their forces due to conflicts, and Li Xiucheng was passive and idle in the battle, which ultimately led to the defeat of the Erlanghe Battle. .

When Hong Rengan came to Tianjing in 1859, he promised to never be crowned king. Not long after, he was crowned King Qian by Hong Xiuquan. In order to quell the dissatisfaction within Tianjing at that time, Hong Xiuquan also made him king. Chen Yu became the King of England and said, "If you don't decide on internal affairs, ask the King of Qian; if you don't decide on foreign affairs, ask the King of England; if you don't decide on the two matters, ask the King of Heaven."

As for Li Xiucheng, he was forgotten in the corner.

This disparity in treatment makes the conflict between the two more and more intense, and the two people are more and more interested in competing with each other.

Li Xiucheng, who only occupied the three Jiangbei cities of Chuzhou, Lai'an, and Tianchang, was completely untrusted by Hong Xiuquan. What was even more fatal was that the Nian Army leader Li Zhaoshou he recruited surrendered to the Qing Dynasty again. .

After Li Zhaoshou surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he deliberately sent Li Xiucheng a letter persuading him to surrender in front of the guards sent by Tianjing to monitor Li Xiucheng. According to Li Xiucheng's own statement, after serving him for 20 days, Hong Xiuquan became very suspicious of him and not only detained his family but also blocked all Zhongguan ships. In this difficult situation, Li Xiucheng stood alone at Pukou without surrendering. In order to appease people's hearts, Hong Xiuquan named him "Loyal King" at this time.

After becoming the king, Li Xiucheng invested in the plan to relieve the siege of Tianjing. Li Xiucheng summoned the Taiping Army from all over southern Anhui. According to the plan, he could complete the battle to relieve the siege of Tianjing alone, but Hong Rengan But at this time, Chen Yucheng from Anqing joined Li Xiucheng's plan to pretend to attack Hangzhou to besiege Wei and rescue Zhao.

This was obviously an act of coming over to carve up territory with Li Xiucheng, and it was also this time that allowed the Hunan Army to gain a foothold in northern Anhui and start a strategic counterattack, which directly led to the fall of Anqing.

After the war, their subordinates carried out massacres on the border of Hezhou. Thousands of people were killed in this armed battle, and the conflict between Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng became intense. The two fought over the territory in Jiangnan, and finally Chen Yucheng was assigned to Danyang in Jiangnan before returning to Anqing.

The incompatible conflict between the two people was also the reason why Chen Yucheng had no reinforcements when he faced the Hunan Army alone in northern Anhui. Li Xiucheng fought vigorously in Jiangnan, making the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom own the prosperous Jiangnan area for the first time.

Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng were the two largest local powerful factions in the late Taiping Rebellion, and Hong Xiuquan was very suspicious of them. Moreover, there are still many conflicts between these two powerful factions, and they do not obey Tianjing's orders very much. Although the other Taiping armies are small in power, they are actually in a state of seeking development.

In this way, we can clearly understand Chen Yucheng's situation. His base is in the northern Anhui region headed by Anqing. If he occupies this area, he is the hero of the Kingdom of Heaven with appeal and influence. Wang, however, if Anqing is lost, he will be a weakling who can be bullied in Tianjing City.

What’s the point of escaping back to Tianjing?

From now on, under the "protection" of Hong Xiuquan with ulterior motives, will you look up to Li Xiucheng?

What's more, Li Xiucheng has made it clear that he is unwilling to send troops to northern Anhui to aid Anqing. His attitude has been very clear. Chen Yucheng can almost see the difficult end after returning to Tianjing. For this reason, Chen Yucheng wanted to make a comeback. He listened to the bad idea of ??his general Lai Wenguang and stayed in Luzhou. He contacted Zhang Luoxing of the Nian Army who was active at the border of Henan and Anhui and Miao Peilin, the leader of the regiment who had been knighted by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and divided his forces to attack Jingxiangyang. The war was brought to the Hunan Army's backyard, and eventually the Luzhou and Jingxiang armies met to suppress the Hunan Army in Anqing.

The ideal is very full, but the reality is very skinny.

Luzhou failed to defend, and after breaking out of the siege, he ran to Shouzhou, where he was eventually trapped by the villain Miao Peilin and sacrificed to the Qing army.

Chen Yucheng was too arrogant. When his subordinates suggested that he return to Tianjing, he said:

"Since I started using the army, I will win every battle and win every attack." , Although I listen to good words with an open mind, what the second class said this time is very offensive to me. "How can he face the useless King of Heaven and the powerful old enemy Li Xiucheng?