Nien Rebellion - The Conflict

The Conflict

In 1855, Zhang Lexing took direct action by launching attacks against government troops in central China. By the summer, the fast-moving Nien cavalry, well-trained and fully equipped with modern firearms, had cut the lines of communication between Beijing and the Qing armies fighting the Taiping rebels in the south. Qing forces were badly overstretched as rebellions broke out across China, allowing the Nien armies to conquer large tracts of land and gain control over economically vital areas. The Nien fortified their captured cities and used them as bases to launch cavalry attacks against Qing troops in the countryside, prompting local towns to fortify themselves against Nien raiding parties. This resulted in constant fighting which devastated the previously rich provinces of Jiangsu and Hunan.

In early 1856, the Qing government sent the Mongol General Senggelinqin, who had recently crushed a large Taiping army, to defeat the Nien. Senggelinquin's army captured several fortified cities and destroyed most of the Nien infantry, and killed Zhang Lexing himself in an ambush. However in late 1864, the Nien movement survived as Taiping commanders Lai Wenguang (賴文光) (1827–1868) and Fan Ruzeng (1840-1867) arrived to take control of the Nien forces, and the bulk of the Nien cavalry remained intact. Senggelinquin's infantry-based army could not stop the fast moving cavalry from devastating the countryside and launching surprise attacks on Imperial troops. In 1864, to battle the Nien, 7,000 soldiers were transported to Tianjin via Shanghai. In late 1865, Senggelinquin and his bodyguards were ambushed by Nien troops and killed, in the Battle of Goulawjai, depriving the government of its best military commander. The Qing regime sent General Zeng Guofan rapidly (in two days) to take command of Imperial forces protecting the capital Beijing, and provided him with modern artillery and weapons, purchased from the Europeans at exorbitant prices. Zeng's army set about building canals and trenches to hem in the Nien cavalry, an effective but slow and expensive method. General Zeng was relieved of command after Nien infantry broke through one of his defence fronts, and he was replaced by Generals Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, equipped with more crushingly expensive European artillery and firearms. In late 1866, the remaining Nien forces split into two, with the Eastern Army, under command of Lai Wenguang, stationed in central China whilst the Western Army advanced on Beijing. The Western Army, commanded by Zhang Zongyu, Zhang Lexing's brother's son, was defeated southwest of Beijing by Qing troops, leaving large swathes of Nien territory exposed to a Qing counter-attack. By late 1867, Li Hongzhang's and Zuo Zongtang's troops had recaptured most Nien territory, and in early 1868, the remnants were crushed by the combined forces of the government's troops and the Ever Victorious Army.