The Battle of Anqing (安慶之戰) was a prolonged siege of the prefecture-level city of
Anqing
Anqing (, also Nganking, formerly Hwaining, now the name of Huaining County) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Anhui province, People's Republic of China. Its population was 4,165,284 as of the 2020 census, with 804,493 living in the ...
in
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
, China, initiated by
Hunan Army forces loyal to the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
against the
armies
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
of the
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, later shortened to the Heavenly Kingdom or Heavenly Dynasty, was an unrecognised rebel kingdom in China and a Chinese Christian theocratic absolute monarchy from 1851 to 1864, supporting the overthrow of the Qi ...
. The siege began in September 1860 and ended on September 5, 1861, when imperial forces under the command of
Zeng Guoquan
Zeng Guoquan (12 October 1824 – 13 November 1890), courtesy name Yuanfu, art name Shuchun, was a Chinese official and military leader of the late Qing dynasty. He was the ninth brother of Zeng Guofan, a prominent statesman and general, and a d ...
breached the walls of the city and occupied it.
Anqing was strategically important as it allowed access to the lower reaches of the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
, including the
Taiping
__NOTOC__
Taiping, Tai-p’ing, or Tai Ping most often refers to:
Chinese history
* Princess Taiping (died 713), Tang dynasty princess
* Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), civil war in southern China
** Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), the re ...
capital of
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
downriver. It served as the base of Taiping activities in
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
,
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
and
Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
.
It had been held by the Taiping since the early stages of the Rebellion in June 1853.
Zeng Guofan
Zeng Guofan, Marquis Yiyong (; 26 November 1811 – 12 March 1872), birth name Zeng Zicheng, courtesy name Bohan, was a Chinese statesman and military general of the late Qing dynasty. He is best known for raising and organizing the Xiang A ...
, commander of the provincial Hunan Army and ''de facto'' leader of the dynasty's war against the Taiping, saw a need to reclaim the walled city to further his campaign against the rebellion along the Yangtze. A siege of Anqing was initiated in late-1860 involving up to 10,000 Hunan Army troops.
In October 1860, the "Brave King",
Chen Yucheng
Chen Yucheng (), born Chen Picheng (; 1837May 1862), was a Chinese general during the Taiping Rebellion and later served as the Heroic (Ying) Prince (or Brave King) of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the later stages of the rebellion, nicknamed " ...
was dispatched by the Taiping leadership with an army of over 100,000 to test imperial forces at Anqing, with the ultimate aim of seizing
Wuchang
Wuchang forms part of the urban core of and is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the ri ...
upriver. However, while en route to Anqing, they were intercepted by 20,000 elite
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
cavalry at
Tongcheng and forced to retreat.
Foreign intervention also strengthened the Qing position at Anqing. In a family letter dated June 13, 1861, Zeng Guofan ordered his own ships to monitor
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
commercial vessels after noticing foreign merchants unloading rice to the rebels at Anqing. Zeng successfully obtained the support of British Consul
Frederick Bruce in enforcing a naval blockade at Anqing to prevent the rebels from trading with foreign merchants.
As the protracted siege continued into the summer of 1861, the population of Anqing was increasingly starved and cannibalism was reported.
In late August, Chen Yucheng made a final desperate attempt to break the siege of Anqing, but was repelled at the Jixian Pass after vigorous fighting with Zeng Guofan's land and naval forces.
With his troops exhausted, Chen retreated on September 3, and two days later the city's walls were breached.
With Anqing in imperial hands, the Taiping lost their stronghold in central China. Zeng would establish Anqing as his new headquarters and use it to coordinate the imperial assault on the Taiping capital at Nanjing.
References
Bibliography
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{{coord missing, China
Anqing
Anqing (, also Nganking, formerly Hwaining, now the name of Huaining County) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Anhui province, People's Republic of China. Its population was 4,165,284 as of the 2020 census, with 804,493 living in the ...
Anqing
Anqing (, also Nganking, formerly Hwaining, now the name of Huaining County) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Anhui province, People's Republic of China. Its population was 4,165,284 as of the 2020 census, with 804,493 living in the ...
1861 in China
1860 in China