The Taiping Rebellion and the March on Nanjing

The year 1862 found the Qing dynasty locked in a brutal civil war against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a rebel state that had controlled much of southern China since 1851. By summer, Qing commander Zeng Guoquan, younger brother of the famed statesman Zeng Guofan, had achieved what seemed like an unstoppable military advance. His Xiang Army pushed relentlessly toward Nanjing (then called Tianjing by the Taiping rebels), the rebel capital where Taiping leader Hong Xiuquan ruled his “Heavenly Kingdom.”

Zeng Guoquan’s early campaign progressed with remarkable speed. By mid-1862, his forces reached Yuhuatai (Rain Flower Terrace), a strategic elevation just outside Nanjing’s walls. The proximity to the rebel capital filled Zeng with confidence – he could almost hear Hong Xiuquan’s despair from his command post. The aging Taiping king, whose religious visions had launched the devastating rebellion, now appeared to be crumbling under the pressure of the approaching siege.

The Unseen Enemy Arrives

As summer progressed, Zeng’s military fortunes took a dramatic turn. The ancient adage “after great armies pass, plague years follow” proved tragically accurate. By July 1862, disease began spreading through Zeng’s camp. What started as isolated cases soon became an epidemic, with half his soldiers falling ill to high fevers, vomiting, and dysentery. Traditional medicines proved useless against the mysterious malady.

The situation grew desperate. Isolated deep in enemy territory with dwindling healthy troops, Zeng faced potential annihilation if the Taiping forces counterattacked. His urgent requests for medical assistance to his brother brought grim news – the plague had struck all Xiang Army units across the theater of war, including Zuo Zongtang’s forces in distant Zhejiang. Medical supplies were critically short everywhere.

Paralysis in the Heavenly Capital

Ironically, the Taiping leadership failed to capitalize on Zeng’s vulnerability. Hong Xiuquan, increasingly erratic in his behavior, demanded immediate reinforcements from his most capable general, Li Xiucheng, who was engaged against Li Hongzhang’s Huai Army near Shanghai. Li Xiucheng underestimated the threat, recalling previous unsuccessful sieges of Nanjing. He proposed a cautious strategy of maintaining supply lines while waiting for the Xiang Army’s morale to decline over one or two years.

Hong’s furious response revealed his growing instability. Accusing Li of treasonous neglect, he forced the general to send his family to Nanjing as hostages. This pressure led Li Xiucheng to develop an unusually meticulous three-pronged strategy to relieve the siege, planning to cut Zeng’s supply lines while launching a direct assault on Yuhuatai.

The Psychological Toll of Pestilence

The plague’s impact extended beyond physical illness to psychological warfare. When Hong learned of the epidemic ravaging Zeng’s camp, he intensified nighttime harassment tactics, further demoralizing the besiegers. The disease claimed prominent Xiang officers, including the talented Zhang Yungui and his brother Zhang Yunlan, who died while transporting his sibling’s coffin.

These losses struck deeply at Zeng Guofan, who began questioning whether divine favor had abandoned their cause. His correspondence with his brother became increasingly pessimistic, creating a feedback loop of despair. One particularly vivid nightmare haunted Zeng Guoquan – trapped atop a mountain with no path forward or back, a perfect metaphor for their military predicament.

The Turning Point: Philosophy and Fortune

The Zeng brothers’ resilience emerged through philosophical reflection. Drawing on their Confucian upbringing and personal experiences with adversity, Zeng Guofan counseled his younger brother to transform despair into determination. His message combined practical advice with moral encouragement: treat the sick, strengthen defenses, and abandon reliance on reinforcements that might never come.

This “ancient motivational speech,” as the text describes it, initially provided only temporary relief. But as conditions worsened, Zeng Guoquan experienced a psychological breakthrough – embracing their desperate situation as an opportunity for heroic resistance. This shift from passive suffering to active defiance reinvigorated the campaign.

Military Resurgence Against the Odds

Revitalized by his new mindset, Zeng Guoquan launched daring attacks despite his depleted forces. His most remarkable success came against the Taiping artillery positions across the Yangtze River. Through three days of favorable winds and precisely coordinated naval maneuvers, his forces systematically destroyed the supposedly impregnable batteries that protected Nanjing’s river approaches.

The victory’s timing held special significance for Zeng Guofan. As news arrived of his brother’s offensive, the elder Zeng experienced what seemed like divine intervention during a chess game. A seemingly lost match suddenly turned when a piece fell accidentally into the perfect position – an omen his staff eagerly interpreted as signaling impending victory.

The Cost of Triumph

Zeng Guoquan’s success came at terrible moral cost. After capturing the Taiping artillery positions, he ordered the massacre of surrendered rebels, staining the Yangtze’s waters red with blood. This brutality coincided with Li Xiucheng’s belated arrival with relief forces, setting the stage for further conflict beneath the symbolic crimson tide.

Legacy of the 1862 Siege

The plague year at Nanjing represents a microcosm of the Taiping Rebellion’s broader dynamics. The epidemic demonstrated how disease could shape military campaigns as powerfully as strategy or weaponry. The psychological dimensions – from Hong Xiuquan’s paranoia to the Zeng brothers’ philosophical resilience – highlight warfare’s mental toll.

Historically, these events marked a turning point. While the rebellion would continue until 1864, the Xiang Army’s persistence through disease and despair demonstrated the Qing dynasty’s growing military effectiveness. The siege also revealed the Taiping leadership’s fatal weaknesses – Hong’s irrationality and Li Xiucheng’s initial complacency.

Modern readers might see parallels in how societies face compounded crises today. The interplay between biological threats, psychological stress, and leadership challenges during the 1862 siege offers timeless insights into human resilience when facing existential threats. The Zeng brothers’ story particularly illustrates how philosophical traditions can provide frameworks for overcoming seemingly hopeless situations.

The blood in the Yangtze serves as a sobering reminder of war’s brutality, while the accidental chess move symbolizes history’s unpredictable turning points – where fortune favors those prepared to persevere through their darkest hours.