The Battle of Guanzhong () occurred during the Taiping Revolution that took place in October 1861. When Taiping's Western Army was defeated at Wuhan, they lost their connection with their capital of Nanjing. Former Western Army Commander Chen Yucheng then decided to resupply at

Guanzhong Guanzhong (, formerly romanised as Kwanchung) region, also known as the Guanzhong Basin, Wei River Basin, or uncommonly as the Shaanzhong region, is a historical region of China corresponding to the crescentic graben basin within present-day ce ...

. Some of their soldiers were troops who once fought for the Nian Rebellion, so Yucheng decided not to provide them with supplies, as he was uncertain of their loyalty.

Background

On August 22 the Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty died at age 30. Gen. Guan Wen ordered the stationary Green Standard Army, consisting of 500,000 men, to move to Eastern Henan to guard the capital at Beijing. However, the campaign began to look like an ambush to Chen. His uncle Chen Decai did not obey Chen's orders. In November Chen Decai directed an offensive in southern and western Henan that he easily won. The attack created a long front for the Taiping Western Army. At the time Chen Yucheng commanded only the remaining 50,000 of the Taiping Western Army and guarded its tail, but was surrounded by the 150,000-strong

Qing 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-speaki ...

army in

Hefei Hefei (; ) is the capital and largest city of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census and its built-up ( ...

. When Chen Decai discovered it had been a trick he went back to save Chen Yucheng, but was too late. Chen Yucheng and his entire force were destroyed in May 1862.

Battle of Anqing

The Battle of Anqing was intense and ended on September 5. Its loss cost the Western Army 90,000 men and severely affected their morale. Chen Yucheng believed that they could recover Anqing in a short time, but his generals disagreed.

Death of Hu Linyi

News of the death of the Xianfeng Emperor encouraged the Governor of Hubei,

Hu Linyi Hu Linyi (; July 14, 1812 - Sept 30, 1861) was a scholar and official during the late Qing Dynasty in China. He rose to prominence after being awarded the jinshi degree in the Imperial Civil Service Examinations in 1836, and in 1838 became a compi ...

, to attempt the recovery 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 ...

for Qing. However, he died on September 30. This was good news for Chen Yucheng, because Hu Linyi was the most formidable of his enemies.

Fatigue

An important factor in the actions of the Western Army was their own fatigue after so many years of fighting. A series of defeats damaged troop morale, and so an escape from the fighting was desired. However, the supply of soldiers and food could have just been an excuse by Chen Yucheng.

Taiping's third and last western offensive

The Taiping army had been raised three times in large-scale western offensives. The first was in Hunan and Hubei in 1853, led by Qin Rigang, Shi Dakai and Lai Hanying, with an army of over 300,000. The second offensive took place in Wuhan in 1855, led by

Wei Jun Wei Jun (c. 1827–1884) () born in Guangxi, Wei Changhui's brother's son, was a Chinese Colonel General during the Taiping Rebellion and later served as the general of the Taiping monarchy in the early and middle stages of the rebellion. He a ...

, Chen Yucheng and Yang Fuqing; this offensive was the largest, with over 700,000 troops. The final was the Battle of Guanzhong in 1861.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guanzhong, Battle Of (1861)

Shaanxi 1861

Military history of Shaanxi Green Standard Army October 1861 events November 1861 events December 1861 events January 1862 events February 1862 events March 1862 events April 1862 events May 1862 events June 1862 events July 1862 events August 1862 events September 1862 events October 1862 events November 1862 events December 1862 events January 1863 events February 1863 events March 1863 events April 1863 events May 1863 events June 1863 events July 1863 events August 1863 events September 1863 events October 1863 events November 1863 events December 1863 events January 1864 events February 1864 events