of the
Taiping capital, July 19, 1864
Taiping Rebellion The Taiping rebellion started in December 1850 in
Guangxi Province, growing after a series of small victories over the local Qing forces. The revolt rapidly spread northward. In March 1853, between 700,000 and 800,000 Taiping soldiers directed by commander-in-chief
Yang Xiuqing took Nanjing, killing 30,000 Manchu civilians and
bannermen. The city became the movement's capital and was renamed
Tianjing ("Heavenly Capital"). By this point the
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom encompassed much of prosperous south and central China, centered on the
Yangtze river valley. They continued in their attempts to expand northward, and sent two armies to take the upper Yangtze, while another two attempted to take the new Imperial capital,
Beijing. The western drive met with some success, but the Beijing attack failed.
Creation Zeng Guofan was tasked with limiting the rebel's attempts to take control of Hunan. In 1852, he was appointed by the Qing court as commissioner of militia organization for Central China.
Zeng Guofan expanded the pre-existing
tuanlian militia into an armed force with a total of 17,000 men, including thirteen battalions consisting of 6500 men and a navy of ten battalions consisting of 5000 men. It was given the name of Xiang Army, with
Zeng Guofan as the
Commander-in-chief, accepting orders from Zeng alone. The new rule was termed "Soldiers followed the general, soldiers belonged to the general"(), contrary to the old military rule before the
Northern Song dynasty's "Soldiers had no fixed commander, commander had no fixed soldiers" (). This new military rule was the direct cause of the
Warlord era. These Tuanlian were turned into the Yong Ying Xiang Army. To fund the army, Zeng convinced the Hunan governor to divert funds from the provincial network of commercial good toll collection stations. Eventually the army founds ways of collecting funds from local landholders and merchants.
Campaigns His lieutenants recovered the capital,
Changsha, and then Zeng led the recapture of
Wuchang and
Hanyang, near
Hankow, and was rewarded for his success by being appointed vice-president of the
Board of War. His Army was so successful that the Qing leaders quickly started using it in place of their own troops, turning it into an Imperial force rather than the local force as it had been raised. In 1860 Zeng was called on to use the Xiang Army to clear
Anhui, and was appointed
Viceroy of Liangjiang (两江总督, which consisted of the provinces of Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu). While
Charles George Gordon and his "
Ever-Victorious Army" were clearing the rebel heartland, Zeng took the opportunity to launch a
campaign to retake Nanjing. The entire area around the city had been cleared of rebel forces in a series of battles starting in June 1863. The battle for the city itself started on March 14, 1864, when Zeng's forces attempted to force the city walls using ladders, but were beaten back. A second attempt used tunnels, but counter-digging and a second wall prevented a breakthrough. On July 3 the Xiang forces had their first victory, taking
Dibao Castle. This position allowed them to dig new tunnels and pack them with explosives with the intention of destroying the city walls. A counterattack failed, and on July 19 the explosives were set off, collapsing a large portion of the wall. The city fell after a fierce three-day battle. The Xiang Army pillaged and robbed the city, killing 100,000 Taiping soldiers and civilians according to Zeng Guofan and setting it on fire. The city burned until July 26, 1864. Zeng was promoted to Marquess (of the First Class) Yiyong () (Yiyong: 毅 = Endurance 勇 = Courage) . Almost immediately after the capture of Nanking, Zeng disbanded the 120,000 soldiers under his command, although Zuo kept his forces intact. ==Viceroys==