The Strategic Chessboard of 1861

In the summer of 1861, the Taiping Rebellion—a cataclysmic civil war that had ravaged China for over a decade—reached a critical juncture at Anqing, a fortified city along the Yangtze River. The conflict pitted the Qing dynasty’s imperial forces, led by the scholar-general Zeng Guofan, against the millenarian Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Anqing was not just another battleground; it was the gateway to the Taiping capital, Nanjing. Whoever controlled Anqing held the key to dominating central China.

Zeng Guofan, a Confucian scholar turned military strategist, had spent years refining his tactics against the Taiping rebels. His younger brother, Zeng Guoquan, commanded the siege of Anqing, employing a brutal but effective strategy: concentric trenches to starve and isolate the city. Meanwhile, the Taiping’s most formidable general, Chen Yucheng, known as the “Four-Eyed Dog” for his distinctive spectacles, raced to break the siege. What followed was one of the bloodiest and most consequential clashes of the war.

The Clash of Titans: Chen Yucheng vs. the Zeng Brothers

Chen Yucheng’s arrival at Anqing marked the beginning of a ferocious struggle. Initial skirmishes at Jixian Pass ended in stalemate, with both sides sustaining heavy losses. Recognizing the futility of prolonged skirmishing, Chen made a fateful decision: he left 4,000 troops to hold Jixian Pass and led his main force in a desperate assault on Zeng Guoquan’s trenches.

The battle was apocalyptic. Cannon fire echoed across the landscape, audible even in Zeng Guofan’s camp thirty li away. Yet, despite Chen’s brilliance and his troops’ fanatical courage, the Taiping forces could not break through. In a moment of strategic desperation, Chen rode to a nearby Taiping garrison to request reinforcements—a decision that would prove disastrous. His absence left his army leaderless at a critical juncture.

Seizing the opportunity, Zeng Guofan ordered his generals, Duolong’a and Bao Chao, to encircle and annihilate Chen’s forces. The resulting massacre at Jixian Pass was merciless. Over 7,000 Taiping soldiers, abandoned by their commander and starved of supplies, surrendered—only to be executed on Zeng Guofan’s orders. The killings were so horrific that even Zeng Guoquan, a hardened veteran, contemplated retirement. But his brother’s chilling rationale—”In times like these, mercy is a luxury”—steeled his resolve.

The Fall of Anqing and Its Aftermath

With Chen Yucheng’s army shattered, the fate of Anqing was sealed. The city, already starving due to Zeng’s blockade, fell after Qing forces tunneled beneath its walls and detonated explosives. The defending general, Ye Yunlai, and 16,000 Taiping soldiers were slaughtered. Chen, watching the city burn from afar, wept openly before retreating.

Anqing’s fall was more than a military victory; it was a psychological and strategic watershed. The Taiping lost their last major stronghold upstream of Nanjing, and Chen Yucheng’s once-invincible army ceased to exist. For Zeng Guofan, the triumph validated his ruthless methods and cemented his reputation as the Qing dynasty’s savior.

A Dynasty in Crisis: The Death of an Emperor

Yet, even as Zeng celebrated, the political landscape shifted violently. In August 1861, the Xianfeng Emperor—a ruler besieged by rebellion and foreign invasion—died in exile at Chengde. His death left the throne to his five-year-old son, Tongzhi, and triggered a power struggle between the regent, Sushun, and the boy’s mother, the future Empress Dowager Cixi.

Zeng, though publicly mourning, was privately calculating. Xianfeng had tolerated his Han Chinese militia; would the new regime? His fears were allayed when Cixi, in a stunning coup, executed Sushun and granted Zeng unprecedented authority over four provinces. The message was clear: the Qing needed him to crush the Taiping, even at the cost of empowering a Han warlord.

The Human Cost and Historical Reckoning

The Anqing campaign laid bare the war’s brutality. Zeng’s massacres, while tactically effective, alienated potential defectors and deepened Taiping resistance. His justification—that Confucian morality demanded exterminating “heretics”—revealed the ideological fanaticism on both sides.

Historians still debate Zeng’s legacy. Was he a patriot preserving China’s unity, or a butcher enabling a corrupt dynasty’s survival? Anqing’s fall undeniably hastened the Taiping’s collapse, but it also foreshadowed the Qing’s reliance on regional strongmen—a trend that would eventually fracture the empire.

Echoes of Anqing: Modern Perspectives

Today, the Battle of Anqing is studied for its military innovations (Zeng’s trench warfare predated World War I) and its lessons about leadership under pressure. Chen Yucheng’s mistake—abandoning his army—is a textbook example of failed command. Zeng’s cold pragmatism, meanwhile, raises enduring questions about ethics in war.

For China, Anqing symbolizes a pivotal choice between tradition and revolution. The Taiping promised radical change but brought chaos; the Qing restored order but resisted reform. In this light, Zeng’s victory was not just a military milestone—it was a moment that shaped China’s tortured path to modernity.

As the smoke cleared over Anqing in 1861, few could foresee that the bloodiest civil war in history still had years to run. But one truth was already evident: in war, there are no true victors, only survivors.