Taiping army vs Nanchang

Wang Tengting, one of the three famous buildings in the south of the Yangtze River, is located on the east bank of the Ganjiang River and was built by Li Yuanying, the 22nd son of Li Yuan. It is a landmark building in Nanchang. Wang Tengting is known to later generations, not because of Li Yuanying, nor because of its grandeur, but because of Wang Bo, a famous poet in the early Tang Dynasty. His famous sentence in Preface to Wang Teng Pavilion: "The sunset is lonely in Qi Fei, and the autumn water is the same as the sky" makes the Wang Teng Pavilion an eternal classic.

Because of Wang Bo, the Wang Teng Pavilion, which was "popular", was destroyed after the war, and it was built many times. The Wang Teng Pavilion we see now is not "original", but was restored after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC).

During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Lai led troops to attack Nanchang, and Jiang Zhongyuan, the originator of Xiang Army, set fire to pavilions and other buildings in order to stop the Taiping Army from attacking, destroying this historic site. Here I will talk about the Battle of Nanchang: Jiang Zhongyuan, the originator of Xiang Army, set fire to the Wang Teng Pavilion, and Taiping Army bombed the city wall three times.

1June, 853, in order to capture the grain-producing areas of Ganjiang Plain and Poyang Lake Plain and enrich Tianjin's grain reserves, Yang decided to focus on Nanchang in the western expedition. On June 3, Lai led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to the Western Expedition, and quickly captured Wuhu, Chizhou, Anqing, Nankang and Pengze, with soldiers pointing at Nanchang. At this time, Nanchang people were in panic, 170 officials fled, and Governor Zhang Fu wanted to cry.

In order to resist the Taiping Army, Jiangxi Governor Zhang Fu stopped Jiang Zhongyuan, who was passing through Jiangxi to work for the "Jiangnan Camp", and asked him to take charge of Nanchang defense. "The Collection of Historical Materials of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" states: "All matters of war and defense are under the control of Min Shuai", that is, Jiang Zhongyuan. Why let Jiang Zhongyuan guard it? Jiang Zhongyuan, a native of Xinning, Hunan Province, was the first expert who led Yong Ying to fight in Hunan Province. He is known as the "originator of Xiang Army", and he trained Xiang Army two years earlier than Zeng Guofan.

1June, 852, Quanzhou Suoyidu World War I killed thousands of Taiping rebels, and Feng Yunshan, the king of the South, was killed. Jiang Zhongyuan became famous in World War I and became the "fire fighting captain" of Emperor Xianfeng. With strong ability and rich experience, Jiang Zhongyuan became the actual commander of Nanchang, confronting Lai.

On June 23rd, Jiang Zhongyuan arrived in Nanchang and began to deploy defense matters. Jiang Zhongyuan has a lot of experience in dealing with Taiping rebels' "siege", that is, burning houses, shops, shops, temples, pavilions and other buildings outside the city to prevent Taiping rebels from digging tunnels. Located on the east bank of Ganjiang River, Wangtengting is a landmark building in Nanchang, which will inevitably be destroyed.

According to the data of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, "the houses in the outer cities were all burnt down, which was very tragic", and the historical sites such as Tengwangge, Huokeji, Tianshou Temple, Tiankong Temple and Yuanjue Temple were "countless, all burnt down".

In order to stop the Taiping Army, it is also a sin for Jiang Zhongyuan to burn historical sites and destroy traditions. Interestingly, Zeng Guofan lambasted Taiping Army for destroying tradition in Begging for Guangdong Bandits. Little imagine, Jiang Zhongyuan, the originator of Xiang Army, went further.

On the 24th, Lai led 7,000 soldiers and horses to Nanchang, and the land went hand in hand, shelling the city wall, landing to put out the fire, and fighting fiercely with the Xiang army in the Central Plains of the Yangtze River. Taiping army landed to put out the fire, but it was too late. Except for the Xiao Wen Temple, everything else was burned down.

There is no building outside the city to cover the tunnel, but the Taiping Army has not given up the tactic of "digging holes to attack the city". Lai Han Ying asked the soldiers to dig a tunnel outside Deshengmen for blasting. 26, Jiang Zhongyuan to destroy the Taiping tunnel, let Li Guangkuan rate 400 military forces attack, besieged the Taiping rebels, was ambushed by Zeng Tianyang's department, Li Guangkuan was beheaded, and the Qing army was almost wiped out.

After repelling the Qing army from the city, the Taiping Army continued to dig tunnels, which were completed and successfully blasted on the 29th. With a loud noise, the wall of Deshengmen was blown up by dozens of feet, but the Taiping Army misremembered the number of mines and thought that there would be a second explosion, so it did not enter the city immediately. By the time the reaction came, Jiang Zhongyuan had sent the Qing army to the rescue site, shooting at the Taiping rebels with a gun, and building a wall to defend Nanchang.

The first blasting of the city wall failed to enter the city, and the Taiping Army continued to dig tunnels. Xiaowen Temple also dug a tunnel to cover the attack of Deshengmen troops. "The cave wall is a three-level cave, surrounded by guns." In this regard, Jiang Zhongyuan sent troops downtown to burn Xiaowen Temple, but the Taiping Army was ready, the Qing army was defeated, and Xiaowen Temple was saved.

On July 9, it rained heavily, and the outer road of Deshengmen of Taiping Army was completed again, which was successfully blasted, destroying the city wall 10 foot and entering the gap. Green camp, the Qing army, was crushed by the violent offensive of Taiping Army. Jiang Zhongyuan led his Xiang army to fight Taiping rebels from Zhangjiang Jiangmen.

At this point, the Qing army reinforcements Luo Yubin arrived in Nanchang, copying the Taiping Army's back road and relying on the soldiers to defend; After a bloody battle in the Central Plains of the Yangtze River, the Xiang army killed more than 200 people and regained Nanchang.

Soon, reinforcements such as Ma Jimei, the company commander of Jiujiang Town, and Lian Changlong 'a of Ganzhou Town arrived in Nanchang, camped at Yonghe Gate and Zhangjiamen, and besieged the rear road of Taiping Army. The morale of the Qing army in Nanchang was greatly boosted. 17, lai took the initiative to attack the Qing reinforcements in five ways, killing more than a thousand people. In the battle outside the city, Jiang Zhongyuan once again sent troops to fly to the gate to burn down Xiaowen Temple, but was ambushed by Taiping rebels and fled back in panic.

The second bombing of the city wall failed to get in. Han Ying decided to bomb it for the third time, and then put the main force into capturing the city. On the 28th, the Taiping Army blew up Deshengmen for the third time, and green camp of the Qing army fled and fled, falling apart in succession.

Green camp was defeated by Taiping rebels, and Jiang Zhongyuan came to the rescue again, commanding the Xiang army to counterattack. However, the Taiping Army was prepared. When the Xiang army assembled at Deshengmen, the second tunnel was successfully blasted and the Xiang army suffered heavy casualties. Then, 60-year-old veteran Zeng Tianyang led the troops into the gap, and the Xiang army suffered too many casualties to resist. If there is no accident, the Taiping Army should be able to win Nanchang this time and successfully achieve the goal of the Western Expedition.

However, the accident came. After the Taiping Army blew up the city wall, the north wind roared and the fire burned from the inside out. The situation is unfavorable to Taiping Army. At this time, Ma Jimei, Dai, Zhang Jinjia and other soldiers came to reinforce and attacked the Taiping Army together with the Qing army in the city. The two sides fought fiercely for a long time, and the fire became more and more serious, and the Qing army reinforcements gathered more and more. Han Ying had to order a retreat and return to the camp, and the third siege failed again.

Three Lai bombed the city wall, but the Taiping rebels failed to enter the city, which was very annoying. To this end, he focused on the fight against reinforcements. On the 29th, Taiping Army lured Ma Jimei into battle, then ambushed and killed him.

After three failed attacks, Lai decided to change his tactics: attacking second, refusing aid first, and sending Zeng Tianyang to attack several counties near Nanchang to clear the periphery of Nanchang. In this way, the first stage of the Nanchang campaign was over. In this campaign, Lai led an army to besiege Nanchang City, and the pavilion was burned down by Jiang Zhongyuan, the originator of Xiang Army, and became a victim. That's a real pity.