The Battle of sanhe town, which took place in June of 1858+0 1, was the biggest defeat in the history of Xiang Army. The 13 battalion led by Li, the first general of Xiang Army, was encircled by Taiping rebels in Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng, with the number of Taiping rebels reaching 1 10,000. Li was alone and struggled for many days. Ceng Guohua, the sixth brother of Zeng Guofan, the eldest brother of Xiang, was also killed in this battle. Zeng Guofan wept bitterly after hearing the news of the defeat and didn't eat for several days.

1853 After the Taiping Army laid Tianjing, Anhui was the core area of the Taiping Army's key defense, and the Taiping Army controlled Anhui for 10 years. Once Anhui falls, Tianjing is in jeopardy. Therefore, Anhui is also the longest and most stable place in the Taiping Army base area. After Li conquered Jiujiang, he was appointed as an envoy to Zhejiang. However, Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi both asked Li to stay in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and do or die with the Taiping Army. Only by conquering Anhui can he take office in Zhejiang. At the strong request of the imperial court, Li led 8000 Xiang troops from Hubei to Anhui on June 1858+00. His operational strategy is to attack northern Anhui first, then southern Anhui, and go deep into Anhui for more than 400 miles a month. Lianke captured four cities in northern Anhui, which was unstoppable.

After Li conquered Shucheng, he targeted sanhe town in the southwest of Luzhou. Although the Xiang army led by him has become a tired teacher, it is expensive to use troops quickly. Li insisted on going deep into southern Anhui. Every time he occupied the ideal city, he had to send someone to defend it. By this time, he had only 13 battalions of 6,000 troops. He can play so well in the north of Anhui, which gives Chen Yucheng and the main Taiping Army led by Li Xiushan the opportunity to attack Yangzhou Jiangbei Camp together. 6,000 men are simply not enough to win Chen Yucheng and sanhe town, which have complete defense facilities. Li asked for immediate court reinforcements.

At this time, Hu Linyi, who is in Hubei, has returned to Ding You and handed over the affairs to the official document. The official document did not deal with the contradiction between Li and Li, which was very deep, so no troops were sent to rescue him. The arrow had to be fired. Li had already lost 1 1,000 casualties before he conquered nine fortresses outside sanhe town. However, its Xiang army immediately fell into the encirclement of Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng with 65,438+10,000 troops. Taiping army gradually narrowed the encirclement, trying to trap Xiang army in Li territory. Li commanded more than half of the troops to attack the barracks in Chen Yucheng, and was ambushed as a result. The army was trapped on a barren hill, and they had seen death. 1858165438+1October 15, Li 4 1 year-old, the first master of Xiang army, was martyred, and 6,000 Xiang troops were killed in sanhe town.