·太平军北伐

        清咸丰三年 (1853)三月五日,太平天国北伐军到达扬州。咸丰皇帝令山东巡抚李德“添兵防剿”,令纳尔经额于天津水陆交通处严密布置,随时查缉奸细; 但是仍然阻挡不了太平军北伐的锋芒。七月,太平军逼近直隶,令少数人先行,到天津以南地区秘密扎下小营盘,进行攻打天津的准备活动。
        九月二十七日,太平军攻克静海县城。知县江安澜逃走,后被人砍伤,投水而死。太平天国天官副丞相林凤祥坐镇县城,太平军兵力已达4万多人。二十八日,地官正丞相李开芳率部分人马继续北上,攻克独流、杨柳青及附近20余村,前锋抵达天津城西稍直口。
        太平军不断用 “仇官而不害民” 的主张宣传百姓: “只杀文武兵勇,不害百姓,照旧生理,平买平卖”。天津一带流传着这样的歌谣: “争天下,打天下,穷爷们儿天不怕来地不怕。杀到杨柳青,天子吓得发了昏。杀到天津卫,朝廷快让位” 。
        天津是京都的门户,太平军一旦攻破天津,清朝廷就会岌岌可危。于是清廷调集了大批人马,由钦差大臣胜保率领,与天津的清军团练一起,同太平军进行激战。从九月二十九日至十月二日,大战5日,太平军失利,先锋将领 “开山王”颜三秃子及士兵500余人战死,余众败回杨柳青和津南梁王庄一带。
        十月三日,咸丰皇帝又令文谦督率天津镇道文武员弁,严密防守大沽海口,以防太平军由水路入海南撤; 并令重兵防守津门潞河 (北运河),暂缓支搭浮桥。十月六日,清廷参赞大臣僧格林沁也率大军赶到,将大营扎在王庆坨,由北向南堵截太平军,与胜保军共14万人。
        十月七日,胜保会同天津兵勇进攻杨柳青。李开芳主动撤出,专守独流镇与静海县城一带。一方面派人去天京 (南京)求援; 一方面在独流镇,运取木石,构筑坚固城池,挖掘了深宽各7尺的护城河。并在独流与静海县城之间的村庄,建立联络小营10余座,互为依托。从十月初到十一月中旬,清军同太平军进行了多次交战,却久攻不下,咸丰皇帝十分恼怒,严令胜保、僧格林沁务须 “剿戮净尽” 。
        十一月二十三日,胜保坐拖床到独流西北的子牙河查看地势,太平军侦知,三路出击,清军3万人,急忙迎战。双方混战至黄昏,太平军佯败,清军副都统佟鉴追击,被太平军用枪刺死; 天津知县谢子澄带衙役、团练来救,也被太平军刺死。清军大败退走。此战,是太平军北伐天津以来的最大胜利。咸丰皇帝大为震怒,将胜保等人降4级留用,有的将领被查封家产,革职留用。
        太平军孤军奋战,长期消耗,人员大减,粮草弹药困难,战士没有冬装,在冰天雪地多被冻伤。从十一月下旬,开始准备突围。至咸丰四年(1854)正月初八,静海县城和独流的太平军终于突围成功,会合一起,驰向文安、大城一带。随后,又突破清军多次包围,四月九日,由阜城突围至东光县之连镇。
        咸丰五年(1855)正月二十一日,连镇被清军攻破,太平军首领林凤祥被捕,在北京就义。至此,太平军北伐失败。
        On March 5th,1853 (The third year of EmperorXianfeng),Taiping rebels (army) reached Yang Zhou.Emperor Xianfeng ordered Li De,governor of ShanDong province,to suppress. Na Erjinge was orderedto organize defenses at water-land converge in Tianjinand to arrest spies. Both of them failed to block Taipingarmy. In July,the rebels (Taiping army) pressed ontowards Beijing,with few ahead to encamp secretly inthe south Tianjin,preparing to attack Tianjin city. OnSeptember 6th,the emperor ordered Wen Qian to trainsoldiers and to block the rebellion.
        On September 27th,Taiping army occupied JingHai County. The magistrate,Jiang Anlan,ran away andwas later wounded and drowned himself in a river. LinFengxiang,the vice prime minister of Tianguan positionTaiping rebels (army),stationed over 40,000 soldiersin the county. On 28th,Li Kaifang,prime minister ofDiguan,led his army northwards to attack 20 villagesincluding Du Liu and Yang Liuqing. His vanguardarrived at Shao Zhikou in west Tianjin.
        Taiping rebels (army) always publicized that theyonly fought against the government,not the commonpeople,which was to kill the government soldiers,toprotect the people,and to maintain normal life and fairbusiness. Such sayings in Tianjin went,"to strugglefor land,to fight for land,Taiping army fear nothing toexpel the emperor and the government".
        The imperial government would be in imminentdanger if Tianjin,the gateway to Beijing,was occupiedby the rebels. Under such circumstances,the governmentassembled an army. Leading by Sheng Bao,the imperialenvoy,this army,together with the civil corps in Tianjn,fought against the rebellion army. The war went on for5 days since September 29th and the rebellion lost. 500soldiers led by vanguard Yan were killed and the restfled to Yang Liuqing and Liang Wang village in thesouth area.
        On October 3rd,the emperor ordered Wen Qian toguard Da Gu seaport in case Taiping rebellion withdrawsouthwards by sea; heavy troops were assembled atthe North Canal and bridge building was postponed .On October 6th,Zeng Gelinqin,the imperial counselorencamped his army at Wang Qingtuo. Together withSheng Bao`s men,the totaled of 140,000 soldiers armywent to intercept the rebellious army.
        On October 7th,Sheng Bao,jointly with Tianjinlocal troops,attacked Yang Liuqing. Li Kaifangwithdrew to defend Du Liu County and Jinghai County,while asking Nanjing for help. He ordered woods andstones to be fetched to build solid walls and a city moatof 7 chi deep and 7 chi wide was dug. Li built 10 campsto contact between Du Liu and other counties. The twobelligerent parties were at deadlock. The emperor was soangry that he ordered Sheng Bao and Zeng Gelinqin toexterminate the rebels.
        On November 23rd,Sheng Bao inspected Zi YaRiver to the northwest of Du Liu. It was detected byTaiping rebels (army) who in three directions attackedthe government army of 30,000. The battle lasted tillthe dusk that the rebellion pretended to flee. TongJian,vice commander of the government army,led hismen to go after the fleeing army and was killed. XieZicheng,Tianjin magistrate,with his yamen runners andsoldiers,came to their rescue and were also killed. Thatthe government army was utterly defeated marked thegreatest victory ever achieved by Taiping rebellious armysince its northern expedition in Tianjin. The emperor gotfurious that the 4 servants including Sheng Bao weredemoted; other generals were either confiscated property or dismissed.
        Taiping rebels (army) fought in isolation for a longtime with energy consumed depleted,and food as wellas weapons reduced. Lacking of winter clothing,most ofthe soldiers were frostbitten. They started to break out ofencirclement since the last period of November. In 1854(the 4th year of Emperor Xianfeng),the Taiping armyin Jinghai County and Duliu successfully joined andmarched toward Wen`an and Dacheng. Soon after,theymore than once broke out Qing army`s encirclement.In April 9th,they broke out from Fu City and reachedDongguang County.
        On the lunar January 21st,1855 (the 5th year ofEmperor Xianfeng),the government army occupied Lianvillage. Lin Fengxiang was captured and was executedin Beijing. Thus the northern expedition of Taiping Revolution failed.

        

·太平军北伐激战天津