The Taiping army had been reorganizing for more than a month, and with the intention of Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, to "focus on Jinling and occupy it as the foundation, he sent generals out in four directions to harass the north and the south" and launched a northern expedition to the west.
Luo Outline, the five checkpoints on the left side of the palace, wrote: "If you want to go north, you must first decide on Henan. If the army goes deep and is in danger without backup, it is a sure way to defeat."
Hong Xiuquan disagreed and said: "I raised an army from Jintian with less than 10,000 soldiers. Today, in less than five years, it has grown to a million. Every time we go on a campaign, is there backup? Which time has our army not gone deep? Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, Ji Wen The third prime minister of the Yuan Dynasty must learn the ways of the world and rush to Yandu, and do not waste time by attacking the city and seizing the land."
Yang Xiuqing said: "All over the world, we are all my brothers and sisters. We have fun and culture together on the shores of the land. The army marched north and west, captured demon heads and dog heads, and unified the kingdom of heaven. Occupied the Yangtze River waterway, attacked Anqing, captured Nanchang, threatened Changsha, and collected food from the two lakes. Capital, stabilize the foundation of the Kingdom of Heaven!"
In the early morning of May 8, 1853, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, and Ji Wenyuan led 25,000 elite troops out of Yangzhou and vowed to march to the north. They attacked Pukou first, defeated the Heilongjiang cavalry of Xilinga, the capital of the capital, and took advantage of the situation to enter Anhui and capture Chuzhou.
Lin Fengxiang marched north, and Emperor Xianfeng issued an urgent message: The bandits in Yangzhou could not escape the siege, and they should use other forces to contain our army by land. He was afraid that Qi Shan would leave the camp suddenly and fall into treacherous plots. Therefore, Tuo Ming'a, the general of Suiyuan City, was sent to lead troops nearby to intercept the thieves fleeing northward with Zhou Tianjue and others. Qi Shan must supervise Xi Ling'a, De Chong'e, Wu Qing and others to lead the troops to cut off the thieves' retreat.
Qi Shan accepted the order and immediately ordered Shengbao and Xiling'a to lead five thousand troops and gallop to follow up. Xiang Rong also sent Qu Tenglong, the commander-in-chief of Yunyang Town, Hubei Province, to lead his troops to the north to pursue and suppress the enemy.
After hearing the news, Li Xu, the governor of Shandong Province, went to Yan, Yi, and Cao prefectures to investigate the situation, and ordered the Yellow River ferries to be returned to Liujiakou in Cao County and Dongjiakou in Shan County, and to block private crossings at other ports. Then the guerrilla Wang Fengxiang was stationed in Honghuabu, Tan County, General Baisheng was stationed at Hanzhuang Gate, Yixian County, and General Sanxingbao was stationed to inspect the Liu and Dong families. He also personally led an army and went south to Suqian, where he and the Bai Sheng tribe were at odds with each other.
Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, thought over and over again and finally realized that Lin Fengxiang was outnumbered. He ordered Zhu Xikun, the third officer on the left of the palace, and Zhu Xikun, the seventh officer on the left, commanded Xu Zongyang, and Huang Yiyun, the sixteenth officer on the right of the palace. Lin Shaozhang, the fourth commander of Yan, led 6,000 troops and joined Lin and Li. , and strive for the Northern Expedition.
Zhu Xikun led his troops to cross the river, but the terrain was unfamiliar, and entered Liuhe County eastward, killing Xu Lin, the commander-in-chief, and hundreds of brave soldiers.
Wen Shaoyuan, the magistrate of Liuhe County, emptied the houses outside the city, piled them with firewood, and concealed medicine under the stoves. That night, Shao Yuan led his troops to make a surprise attack, and then pretended to be defeated and entered the city. Xi Kun pursued to the south of the city, requisitioned civilian houses, lit fires for cooking, and burned explosives. Huang Yiyun, the sixteenth checkpoint on the right side of the palace, was also killed by the explosion. There were numerous casualties among soldiers, and Zhu's army was in chaos.
Liuhe Lianyong took the opportunity to fight out, and the Taiping army was defeated. Zhu Xikun gathered the remaining troops and fled to Chuzhou. Lin Shaozhang and Xu Zongyang gathered their troops and retreated to Tianjing;
"Jinling is made of paper, Liuhe is made of iron. This saying is indeed true." In addition to his sadness, Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, was pleased that Lin Shaozhang had retired, and he promoted Lin to the prime minister for his kindness.
Lin Fengxiang's troops entered Anhui Province. Zhou Tianjue, the Minister of War, was fighting bandits in Suzhou. There were less than a thousand soldiers and it was difficult to spread the force. He reported in panic: Bandits from all over the country have risen and rushed to attack them. They have no time to spare. If you want to gather more troops, you can There is really nothing to be done about it. I have repeatedly observed that Hu Yuanwei, the magistrate of Luzhou, is really a petty speculator. Luzhou is a strategic location, and gains and losses are crucial to the overall situation. Please ask our emperor to send people to investigate. If Hu is really slacking off, he will definitely be dismissed from his post and arrested. Send important personnel to protect it.
Emperor Xianfeng accepted the report and ordered: Recently, it has become a habit among the leaders of the army not to attack thieves when they come and not to pursue thieves when they leave. It is still hateful to use words to blame others after a defeat. Xi Ling'a failed to resist the thieves, so he was dismissed and kept in office to see the consequences; Anhui Governor Li Jiaduan, Minister of War Zhou Tianjue, Jiangbei Daying Assistant Minister of Military Affairs Sheng Bao, and Suiyuan City General Tuo Ming'a must work together to destroy this band of thieves. The bandits were caught in the branches of the Jianghuai River.
Li Jiaduan smiled bitterly after receiving the order, and said: Since the Cantonese bandits have been harassing various provinces, they often think of escaping from time to time after plundering. As for the local flood troops in each province, most of them went away because they were ordered to do so, leaving their camps empty. When the thieves and bandits were about to break out, they began to call for troops to defend, but any delay would not help. Moreover, I, Zhou Tianjue, is eighty years old. Although his energy has not diminished, he can use a group of troops to fight against thieves from all over the place. I am afraid that I will miss this one. The number of soldiers in Anhui Province, apart from being divided into various places for defense, was only more than 4,000. After being deployed and dispersed, the force became increasingly weak. For example, in Luzhou City, there are only about fifty soldiers left. He recruited more than a thousand brave men, but they were untrained and had insufficient equipment, making it difficult to prevent them from being suppressed. Moreover, due to insufficient funds, they were likely to disperse. Hu Yuanwei of Lu Mansion has been stationed in Luzhou for a long time. He is clean on important occasions and is diligent enough to guard Lucheng.
Lin Fengxiang occupied Chuzhou and immediately went north, bypassing Qingliu Pass and driving directly to Linhuaiguan. Fengyang magistrate Yugong and county magistrate Huang Yuanji led a brave resistance. Lin Fengxiang took the lead and killed the leader Bo Zhang Shilin, and the Qingyong scattered in all directions.
Fengxiang seized Linhuaiguan, built a pontoon bridge, and waited for five days. When Zhu Xikun's tribe was nowhere to be seen, he turned back to look for it. After passing Qingliu Pass, they were ambushed to ensure victory and more than a thousand soldiers were killed. Lin Fengxiang withdrew from the battlefield, retreated to Chihe, then returned to Linhuaiguan, built a pontoon bridge, stayed on the south bank overnight, and moved to the north bank by day, staying there and waiting.
On May 28, 1853, Zhu Xikun arrived with the remnants of his troops. Lin and Zhu failed to exchange greetings, so they divided their troops into three groups and attacked Fengyang City. Anhui vassal Si Kuishou fled immediately after the battle, and his soldiers dispersed in a panic.
Lin Fengxiang occupied Fengyang, rested for four days, and headed north to Huaiyuan.
Zhou Tianjue, the minister of the Ministry of War, heard about it and personally led eight hundred soldiers from Suzhou to Huaiyuan.
Li Fan, the governor of Shandong, was stationed in Suqian. He was worried about the lack of soldiers in Xuzhou, so he invited reinforcements from Shanxi, Shaanxi and Suiyuan.
When Zhou and Li blocked the way, Lin Fengxiang turned his troops around, attacked Mengcheng, and killed Song Weiping, the county magistrate. He then attacked Bozhou and killed Sun Chun, the magistrate. Entering Henan from the north, taking Shangqiu and Guide, and arriving near the south bank of the Yellow River.
When Wang Luqian of Zhan Shi heard about the arrival of the Taiping Army, he ordered Li Fu to quickly destroy all the Liujiakou ferries, and placed heavy troops on the north bank of the Yellow River, waiting for Lin Ferry.
Emperor Xianfeng heard this and sighed: Since the banditry in Guangdong, all the provinces have collapsed. The only official in the border area who can prevent the thieves from entering and go out to suppress the thieves is one person. Fu minister Li Fang's Shandong has been shielded by my Jifu.
The Taiping Army was raging in Huainan. Fengtai scholar Miao Peilin was ecstatic and said: This is the autumn when a man succeeds in his ambition. Then he ran around and said: The disciples are not enough to rely on, so they must build strongholds, accumulate grain, and manage troops to protect themselves. However, Peilin is a small person, and even though he speaks loudly, no one cares about him.
Miao Peilin said angrily: These local officials and gentry are all ruffians and thugs, people who work behind the scenes and people in the dark. The poor and famous area of Fudi has become a hell, with landowners being extracted and paying taxes everywhere, and the land has no skin.
Miao Peilin was so angry that he surrendered to the army. After half a year, Xuan withdrew again, sighing again: What kind of Nianzi Catholic dares to call Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother, ruins family relationships, destroys Heavenly principles, and turns the blue sky into darkness?
