- Battle of Sanhe
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Sanhe
partof=theTaiping Rebellion
caption=
date=November 7 ,1858 –November 18 ,1858
place=Sanhe Town,Anhui ,China
casus=
territory=
result= Taiping rebels victory becauseGreen Standard Army delay
combatant1=
combatant2=Taiping Rebels
commander1=Li Xubin
commander2=Chen Yucheng Li Xiucheng Zhang Lexing
Wu Dinggui (吴定规)Chen Kunshu
strength1=6,000
strength2=100,000+(includedNien Rebellion 40,000 troops)
casualties1=6,000
casualties2=several thousands
notes=The Battle of Sanhe (三河, literally meaning Three Rivers) was a major engagement of the
Taiping Rebellion , occurring in 1858. During this battle, the crack troops ofZeng Guofan ’sHunan Army (Xiangjun, 湘军) was lost, along with one of its most capable commanders,Li Xubin .Prelude
In August, 1858, Taiping Army took Luzhou (庐州), and Imperial governor of
Hunan -Guangdong Guam Wing (官文) orderedLi Xubin to counter attack by taking cities / towns ofTongcheng , Shucheng, and Taihu (太湖). Imperial Jiangning (江宁) General Du Xing’a (都兴阿) andLi Xubin consequently led over ten thousands troops consequently attackedAnhui fromHubei . OnSeptember 22 ,1858 , imperial troops took Taihu (太湖). Afterward,Li Xubin led eight thousand troops to continue the attack northward. OnSeptember 27 ,1858 ,Li Xubin ’s imperial army took Qianshan, onOctober 13 ,1858 , imperial force tookTongcheng , and onOctober 24 ,1858 , imperial army took Shucheng. After leaving behind two thousand troops to guard the newly conquered towns, onNovember 3 ,1858 ,Li Xubin led the remaining six thousand imperial troops to the outskirt of Sanhe Town (San He Zheng, 三河镇, literally meant Three Rivers Town), around 25km southeast of Shucheng.Sanhe (Three Rivers) Town was located on the western shore of
Lake Chao , and an important barrier of Luzhou (庐州) and also an important transportation hub to supply provisions for both and Luzhou (庐州) andNanjing . Originally lacked any city wall, the Taiping Army constructed a new wall and in addition, built a total of nine forts outside the newly built city wall. The Taiping commander in charge of defending Sanhe Town was Wu Dinggui (吴定规). OnOctober 24 ,1858 ,Chen Yucheng had just succeeded in taking Liuhe (六合) and received the news that Sanhe Town was besieged by the imperial troops. Realizing the importance of the town,Chen Yucheng decided to reinforce Sanhe and askedHong Xiuquan to sendLi Xiucheng to strengthen the Taiping reinforcement force. Chen’s request was granted. Nearby regions‘sNien Rebellion to send 40,000 troops to strengthen the Taiping reinforcement force,too.Battle
On
November 7 ,1858 , imperial troops attacked Taiping army’s forts in three fronts:
*6 battalions attacked Taiping forts in the regions ofHenan Boulevard (Henandajie, 河南大街) and Mouse Trap (Laoshujia, 老鼠夹)
*3 battalions attacked Taiping forts in the region of Water Buddhist nunnery (Shui’an, 水庵) and Crystal Buddhist nunnery (Shuijing’an, 水晶庵)
*2 battalions attacked Taiping forts in the region of Zhujiayue (储家越)
*2 battalions personally led byLi Xubin acted as reserve of the attacking forces.After heavy casualties on both sides, Taiping army abandoned all nine forts and retreated to the safety behind the city wall. OnNovember 7 ,1858 ,Chen Yucheng ’s force reached Sanhe and camped in Golden Ox (Jinniu, 金牛) Town, just south of Sanhe Town. A week later,Li Xiucheng ’s force also reached Sanhe Town, and camped in the region of White Stone Mountain (Baishishan, 白石山). The Taiping army in Sanhe region totaled more than 100,000 andLi Xubin ’s staff officers suggest that the imperial force must withdraw toTongcheng temporarily since there were only six thousand of them.Li Xubin refused and subsequently moved all of his forces into the newly taken forts to take defensive positions.Realizing the enemy had numerical superiority and he could not hold out for long,
Li Xubin decided to launch a preemptive strike againstChen Yucheng ’s force. At the night ofNovember 15 ,1858 , seven battalions of imperial force were sent to attack Taiping army at Golden Ox Town under the cover of darkness, but unbeknown to the imperial troops, Taiping army had already laid an ambush for them. On the dawn onNovember 16 ,1858 , the imperial army clashed head on with the vanguard ofChen Yucheng ’s Taiping army, which lured the entire seven battalions of imperial army into the pre-laid ambush.Chen Yucheng ’s force ambushed and killed half of the seven battalions of the imperial force, and surrounded the remainders.Li Xubin sent out another four battalion for the rescue and personally led several dozen charges against the Taiping army positions, but all were beaten back with heavy loss.Taiping army under
Li Xiucheng ’s command went out to supportChen Yucheng and Wu Dinggui (吴定规)’s Taiping army behind the city wall also went out of the town to attack imperial army.Li Xubin had to retreat back to the forts with surviving imperial troops and attempted to hold their position and wait for reinforcement but 15,000Green Standard Army delay never show. However, the imperial army was severely weakened and seven out of nine forts fell in short time, with the fort whereLi Xubin ’s headquarter was located also besieged. AsLi Xubin attempted to breakout, he was killed in the fierce battle( another saying Li hang suicide on dry tree),Zeng Guofan ’s first younger brother Zeng Guofar(曾國華) was also killed, both Li and Zeng missed their bodys, and byNovember 18 ,1858 , the battle ended when the last resistance stopped.Aftermath
After their victory at Sanhe,
Chen Yucheng andLi Xiucheng continued their offensive southward, and imperial army had to abandon Shucheng and withdrew toTongcheng , but onNovember 24 ,1858 , Li’s and Chen’s Taiping troops tookTongcheng . Imperial force under the command of Jiangning (江宁) General Du Xing’a (都兴阿) besiegingAnqing was risking being cutting off from behind, and the siege had to be abandoned onNovember 27 ,1858 and the imperial army withdrew to Xiusong (宿松) via Shipai (石牌). Taiping army subsequently retook Qianshan and Taihu (太湖).Outcome
The imperial defeat at Sanhe was a major setback, not only the newly conquered towns were lost again, the siege of
Anqing was also crushed. In addition, the Taiping army also expanded their territory as the result of its victory. The six thousand strong imperial force was the crack troop, whose loss would take long time to recover and thus would have severe impact on future operations against Taiping army.References
[http://tptg.longhoo.net/ Taiping Rebellion Museum]
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