The words are divided into two ends. (The following quoted articles are all official history)

On the side of the Taiping Army:

On January 2, 1853 (the third year of Xianfeng), the soldiers of the Taiping Army set out from Wuhan, and after conquering Wuchang with 10,000 warships and sailors, they forced Chang Dachun, the governor of Hubei, to commit suicide with his family. The Taiping army successively captured the three towns of Wuhan and directly threatened Suzhou, Anhui, and Yushu. Between January and March, the Taiping army successively captured Wuhan, Anqing, Nanjing, Anhui, and Henan. When passing through Anhui Province and Henan Province, the Northern Anhui Twist Army responded one after another, and the teams that rose up could be seen everywhere. Since then, the Twist Army has intersected with the Taiping Army and entered the mutual aid mode of mixed resistance to the Qing Dynasty. This caused the Qing court to be greatly alarmed. So the emperor ordered the dismissal of Xu Wenjin, the governor of Huguang, the minister of the Qincha, and Xiang Rong as the minister of the Qincha to manage the military affairs of the two lakes. Two ministers were also set up: one was Qi Shan, the governor of Henan, who led the army to protect Xinyang and Xinye, and the other was Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang, who led the soldiers to guard Jiangwan.

Due to the small number of troops along the Yangtze River, Xiang Rong, the minister of the Qin Mission, followed behind the Taiping army and did not dare to fight with them. In the battle of Chaohu Lake under the Wenji Mouse Gorge, the Taiping army killed the chief soldier of Qingshouchun Town and wiped out about 3,000 Qing troops. After hearing this, Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang, fled back to Nanjing. The Taiping army captured Jiujiang, Anqing, and Wuhu one after another, and reached the city of Nanjing on January 29. The army officers and men were stationed in Yuhuatai, and the sailors were stationed outside the Shuixi Gate. At this time, there were still more than 5,000 Eight Banner soldiers stationed in Nanjing, and more than 10,000 people from the Township Brave Regiment were trained. However, these are all gentlemen who have not participated in the war for a long time or have never participated in the war, and when they heard that the Taiping army was coming, they all smeared oil on the soles of their feet and walked away. And Pi Shi, while preparing to attack the city, preached the teachings and agitated the masses. Later, on February 10, he broke through the Yifeng Gate in the northern city of Nanjing, and Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang, died in the war. The next day, they entered the city from the Jubaomen of Nancheng, Shuiximen, and Hanximen, and killed Jiangning General Xianghou, Deputy Commander Huo Longwu and others. Since then, the city of Nanjing has been occupied by the Taiping army.

When the city of Nanjing was broken, the soldiers of the Taiping Army carried out a brutal and inhumane massacre policy. Men and women, young and old, Manchu monks and nuns. As long as the sergeants are willing, they can have a knife at their fingertips. Of course, there are also those who abuse and kill sexuals, which are too bloody to be expressed here.

On February 20, 1853, the Taiping Army set its capital in Nanjing and changed its name to "Tianjing". According to the history books, at this time there was a big disagreement between the leaders of the Taiping Army, Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing. Hong Xiuquan believed that troops should be divided to defend Jiangnan, and the main force should enter the Central Plains, with Henan as the center, and directly take Beijing. However, Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, did not think so, he thought that the capital should be set in Nanjing, and the foundation should be set from now on, and the world would be determined in the near future. And "the Father of Heaven went down to possess him", and scolded the king of heaven Hong Xiuquan with a rod. Forced Hong Xiuquan to set the capital in Nanjing. Therefore, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom changed the name of Nanjing to "Tianjing" and issued the "Treatise on Building Tianjing in Jinling", officially establishing the capital here. Since then, Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing have formed a major contradiction, laying the groundwork for the future execution of Yang Xiuqing.

On March 20, 1853, the British Governor of Hong Kong and Plenipotentiary Representative to China, John Wen, visited Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Adopt a neutral attitude towards the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, that is, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Qingyan will not help anyone, and no one will fight. Later, Britain, France, and the United States successively declared "neutrality." Just because they saw the strong strength of the Taiping army, they did not dare to openly help Qing Yan, and decided to take a wait-and-see attitude for the time being.

In March and April 1853, Qing Yan sent Xiang Rong, the minister of the Qin Mission, to build the "Jiangnan Camp" in Xiaoling, outside Jinling City. The Qing Qin sent the minister Qi Shan to build the "Jiangbei camp" outside the city of Yangzhou. He ordered the governor of the two lakes, Guan Wen, to be the minister of the Qin Mission, and the former governor of Hubei, Hu Linyi, to clear the upper reaches of the north. He ordered Zeng Guofan to be the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of Qincha, and to conquer Jiangwan in the east.

After the Taiping Emperor established the capital Tianjing, in order to seize Anhui and Jiangxi, he entered Tuxiang and Hubei and controlled Anqing, Jiujiang and other military important places. On April 1, 1853, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang led 20,000 elite soldiers of the Taiping Army to set off from Yangzhou for the Northern Expedition. Subsequently, Ji Wenyuan and Zhu Xikun respectively led the army north from Pukou and Liuhe. Along the way, he experienced hardships and dangers, broke through the encirclement of the Qing army, and conquered Yizheng, Pukou, Chuzhou, Fengyang, Huaiyuan, Mengcheng, Haozhou and other places. On May 6, he defeated Lu Yinggu, the governor of Qingyan Henan, and occupied Guide (Shangqiu) on the 10th. After the attack, the seal could not be opened, and the Yellow River was crossed by boat in the area of Bishui and Gongxian. On July 28, from Jiyuan into Shanxi, attack Yuanqu, Jiangxian, Quwo, Pingyang, Hongdong, through Tunliu, occupy Lucheng, Licheng, and then turn back to Henan, from Shexian County, Wu'an into Zhili, defeated the Qing Qincha Minister Zhili Governor Naer Jinghe more than 10,000 people, take advantage of the victory to occupy the Shahe. On August 21, the army marched to Zhangdengdian, which was 60 miles away from Baoding. The Qing court was terrified, the capital was under martial law, Emperor Xianfeng was ready to flee to Rehe, and more than 30,000 officials and civilians fled from Beijing. However, the Northern Expeditionary Army did not go north, but attacked Xiaxian County, Jiaohe, and Cangzhou in the east, and the forward went straight to Yangliuqing and attacked Tianjin Wei. Due to the tight defense of Tianjin and the approaching winter, the Taiping army was afraid of the cold and was blocked from attacking Tianjin, so they stationed troops in Jinghai, Duliu and other places, preparing to attack after winter. At this time, Seng Lingqin, Shengbao and others stationed troops in the vicinity of Yangcun and formed a confrontation with the Taiping army. In January 1854, the Northern Expeditionary Army took the initiative to abandon Jinghai and Duliu and began to withdraw troops to the south, hoping to join the reinforcements, but this plan was never realized.

On the side of the Qing army of the Northern Expeditionary Army: In November 1853, in order to rescue the defenders of Yangzhou, the Taiping Army fought with the Qing soldiers at the Sanxia River, which is fifteen miles southwest of Yangzhou. First, in February, the Taiping army occupied Yangzhou. In April, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang and others led the army from Yangzhou to the Northern Expedition, leaving Zeng Lichang, Chen Shibao and others to guard the city. The Qing Qin sent the minister Qi Shan and others to set up a camp in the north of the Yangtze River to besiege Yangzhou. In June, the Taiping army went to the aid from Guazhou and lost the capture of the Sanxia River. In September, the Taiping army defeated the Qing general Feng Jingni at Hongqiao and entered the Sanchao River. At the beginning of November, the Taiping army was trapped in Yangzhou and the grain route was cut off, so they sent Lai Hanying and Shi Zhenlun to lead the troops to rescue. The first attack from Yizheng failed, so it was changed to advance along the canal from the Sanchai River, step by step, and attacked in a big way. On the 24th, he defeated Feng Jingni's troops who were guarding the Yangzi Bridge in the Qing Dynasty, and defeated the Qing staff general and division commander Zhang, the governor Zhang Yiguo, and the criminal department servant Lei Yicheng, and reached the city of Yangzhou. On the night of the 26th, Zeng Lichang, Chen Shibao and others led the Taiping army and local people in the city to withdraw safely and retreat south to Guazhou.

When Lin Fengxiang and Yang Kaifang led the Taiping Army to attack Henan, the Twist Army took the opportunity to break through the areas of Guide and Sui County, and entered the provincial capital Kaifeng. Zhang Zhiwan (cousin of Prince Taibao Zhang Zhidong) asked the troops of Zhili, Shandong, Shaanxi, and Anhui provinces to Henan to suppress it, and asked to send a large official to supervise the local regimental exercises, and personally donated military salaries, which caused the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army to be blocked.

On April 12, 1853, Hu Yihuang, Lai Hanying, Zeng Tianyang, Lin Qirong and others Yang Xiuqing ordered more than 1,000 warships to go along the west to prepare for the westward expedition. On the 18th, the Western Expeditionary Army occupied Xiliangshan, Yuxikou, and Yongjia Town in Anhui. On the 1st of May, Chizhou was occupied, and Anqing was captured on the 4th. Lai Hanying, Zeng Tianyang, Lin Qirong and others continued to advance westward, occupying Pengze in Jiangxi on the 7th, Hukou on the 12th, and Nankang on the 16th. 17 occupied the town of Wu, and on the 18th besieged Nanchang. Zhang Fu, the governor of Jiangxi in the Qing Dynasty, and Jiang Zhongyuan, the envoy of Hubei, resisted stubbornly, so Lai Hanying decided to capture the nearby prefectures and counties first, cut off their relief, and then attack the city with all their might. As a result, Fengcheng, Ruizhou, Raozhou, Leping, Jingdezhen, Fuliang, Duchang and other places were conquered successively. On May 27, Shi Xiangzhen (Shi Dakai's brother), Wei Jun and others led the army to aid Jiangxi. On June 10, he occupied Anqing, an important town on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and Lai Hanying led more than 10,000 soldiers to continue westward. On June 18, Zeng Guofan also led 1,200 people from Zhizhou Zhu Sunyi to lead 1,200 people from Changsha to aid Jiangxi, instructed Luo Zenan, and edited Guo Songtao and others to lead thousands of troops to rescue. On July 24, the Western Expeditionary Army attacked the vicinity of Nanchang with Luo Zenan, Zhu Sunyi, and Guo Songtao of the Hunan Army. Later, Yang Xiuqing's westward expeditionary army attacked Nanchang for three months, ordered the army to withdraw from the siege and go north, occupied Jiujiang on August 27, and defeated the Qing troops in Tianjia Town. Later, the Western Expeditionary Army was divided into two routes: one was led by Shi Xiangzhen and Wei Jun, and the first was led by Hu Yihuang and Zeng Tianyang, from Anqing to northern Anhui. Lai Hanying was ineffective in attacking Nanchang, so he was dismissed and transferred back to Tianjing. In September, the Taiping Army's Western Expedition broke the Qing army at Banbi Mountain, Tianjia Town, Hubei. At the end of August, the Taiping Army Shi Xiangzhen, Wei Zhijun and others led their troops from Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province to occupy Wuxue Town, Hubei Province, and attacked Tianjia Town. According to the inspection of the Hubei Bureau, Tang Shuyi, the former Wuchang Mansion Tongzhi Lao Guangtai, and the general soldier Yang Changsi and other overseers defended to the death. The Taiping army then changed its battle plan, preparing to seize Banbi Mountain on the south bank of the Yangtze River with a two-way army, and then control Tianjia Town on the north bank of the river. At the right time, Jiang Zhongyuan, the envoy of the Qing Dynasty, led his troops to reinforce Tianjia Town, increasing the strength of the Qing army to nearly 10,000 people. On September 13, tens of thousands of Taiping troops marched by land and water to launch a fierce attack on the Qing army's position. Jiang Zhongyuan first went to the water camp to supervise the battle, and ordered the artillery to be fired. The water-seeking battalion was defeated, and the warships were almost captured by the Taiping army, and they rushed ashore to lead the land division to resist stubbornly, but they lost again, and had to be defeated and left Guangji. Tang Shuyi, Lao Guangtai, Yang Changsi and others were all defeated and fled, and the Qing army was annihilated. The Taiping army then occupied Tianjia Town and drove into Hubei. In December, it occupied Luzhou, Hanyang, Hankou, and Wuchang. After the army was divided into two routes, the South Route Army successively captured Yuezhou and Xiangyin, entered Xiangtan, and suffered successive defeats after encountering the Hunan army. Shi Dakai led the army to rush to the aid and won a great victory at Hukou, only to turn the tide of the war, and take advantage of the situation to counterattack, successively captured 8 prefectures and 40 counties, and trapped Zeng Guofan in Nanchang, until Shi Dakai was ordered to return to Tianjing, and the western expedition ended. The Taiping Army's westward expedition experienced setbacks and achieved significant results.

On the side of the Qing army of the Western Expeditionary Army: In July 1853, the Taiping army attacked Nanchang, Jiang Zhongyuan asked for reinforcements, Zeng Guofan and Luo Bingzhang discussed sending Luo Zenan to lead 3,000 troops, and the Taiping army faced off for the first time, and the Hunan army suffered heavy losses. This made Zeng Guofan further realize that the Taiping army was far from being comparable to the ordinary peasant army, and in order to defeat the Taiping army, it was necessary to have sufficient troops and sophisticated weapons and equipment. Therefore, Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan discussed a plan to train 10,000 brave people, and the training was more strict, in order to cultivate a division of difficult battles. At the same time, Zeng Guofan felt that it was not enough to have a land division, and it was also necessary to establish a naval division. In the autumn of 1853, the plan to train sailors was approved by Emperor Xianfeng, and the size of the Hunan army was changed to 5,000 people on land and water. After that, Zeng Guofan left Changsha and went to Hengzhou to train the army.

Other aspects of China's ceremonial army:

In April 1853, a small knife meeting broke out in Fujian. As a secret society in the south, the "Little Knife Society" was founded in the Qianlong year. In the twenty-ninth year of Daoguang (1849), returned overseas Chinese Jiang Yuan and Chen Zhengcheng established the Xiaodao Society in Xiamen, and later developed organizations in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Ningbo and other places. When he returned to China, he bought hundreds of foreign knives, gave them all over the same kind, and formed a knife club, and his arm strength was superhuman, with double knives, so it was also known as the double knife club. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom started the ceremony, the small knife society in Haicheng, Fujian Province developed to 2 or 3,000 people, ready to start the ceremony. Later, due to the lack of secrecy, Jiang Yuan, Chen Zhengcheng and others were hunted and killed by the Qing court, and the meeting was presided over by Huang Wei (or Huang Wei). On the seventh day of the fourth month of the third year of Xianfeng, Huang Wei and Huang Demei led the congregation to raise a ceremony in Haicheng. On the 10th day of the first month, he conquered Zhangzhou and killed Cao Sanzhu, the general soldier of the Qing Dynasty, and Wenxiu of Tingzhang Longdao. On the 11th, they occupied Tong'an and Xiamen, and on the 12th, they occupied Zhangpu. Huang Wei issued a proclamation with the famous phrase "Generalissimo of the Han Dynasty and Ming Dynasty", denouncing the dark rule of the Qing Dynasty, calling on the people to carry out revolution, exempting the people from exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the occupied areas, and sending people to Tianjing to contact the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but it did not succeed. The Qing court sent heavy troops to counterattack Xiamen, and Huang Wei and others led the Yi army to resist stubbornly, repelling the attacks of the Qing army and regimental training many times, and finally withdrew from Xiamen on October 11 due to the exhaustion of food. Huang Wei led the crowd into the sea of Fujian and Guangdong, and insisted on fighting until the eighth year of Xianfeng; Huang Demei retreated to Longxi and was captured by the local regimental training, and the ceremony failed.

In April 1853, Lin Jun, a native of Xialing, Yongchun County, Fujian, led the Red Line Society. The red line will be a branch of the Fujian Tiandi Society, using the style of copper coins in the Kangxi period, scraping off the word Kangxi, painted red, thinking that it is the emblem, and the congregation each holds a mark as a mark, hence the name. In April of the third year of Xianfeng, Lin Jun (also known as Lin Wanchun), a talented young man in Yongchun, Tong Sen, Huang You, Su Zhuo and other leaders of the Red Line Congregation jointly launched a ceremony in his hometown of Xialing and Chen Hu, the leader of the Black Money Society. The Qiyi army grew to tens of thousands, and successively conquered Dehua, Yong'an, Datian, Shaxian, Longxi, Xianyou, Anxi and other prefectures and counties, echoing the Xiamen Xiaodao Society led by Huang Wei, and moved to the mountainous areas of northern Fujian for five years. Lin Jun once sent people to get in touch with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Hong Xiuquan named him the Lie King (or Shunyi Marquis). In the eighth year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Army Yang Fuqing entered Fujian, Lin Jun heard the news, and went north from Shunchang County to greet him, passing through the Glossy Renshou Bridge, and was ambushed by the local regiment, and Lin Jun was killed in battle. The remnants continued to persist in the struggle in the Yongchun area, and were suppressed by Zuo Zongtang in the fourth year of Tongzhi (1865).

In August 1853, Liu Lichuan and others led the knife club in Shanghai. The Shanghai Knife Society was founded in the 29th year of Daoguang (1849), and its leaders were Liu Lichuan and Zhou Lichun. Liu Lichuan, a native of Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province, was born as a farmer, worked as an injury doctor, and joined the Tiandihui in 25 years. In the 29th year, Daoguang went to Shanghai and established the Shanghai Knife Club with Chen Alin, a native of Fujian, Zhou Lichun, and Pan Qiliang, together with Li Xianyun, a director of Xing'an Association, Li Shaoqing, a director of Jiaying Office, and Xu Weiren, a director of Shanghai business. Externally known as the "Yixing Company", its main members were peasants, urban laborers, unemployed boatmen, and Chinese guild business capitalists who had been squeezed out by foreign invaders. On July 13, the third year of Xianfeng, more than 1,000 peasants in Jiading held an armed uprising under the leadership of Xu Yao and occupied the county seat for a time. Immediately, he joined forces with Zhou Lichun and others of the Shanghai Knife Association to capture Jiading again on the third day of August. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Liu Lichuan led the Shanghai Knife Club to respond and occupy the county seat of Shanghai. Kill Yuan Zude, the magistrate, and capture Su Song Taidao Wu Jianzhang alive. Liu Lichuan established the "Great Ming Kingdom" in Shanghai, and later renamed it the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", proclaimed himself "the generalissimo of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's overseeing politics and religion", and wrote to Hong Xiuquan, expressing his willingness to accept the leadership of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Xiaodao Society had strict discipline in the ceremonial army, and posted notices all over Shanghai, denouncing the crimes of the Qing Dynasty and foreign invaders, and clarifying that the purpose of the ceremonial ceremony was to "oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty". Soon they occupied Baoshan, Nanhui, Chuansha, and Qingpu successively, and planned to cooperate with the Suzhou Xiaodao Society to seize Suzhou. The Xiaodao Society occupied Shanghai, so that the siege of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Tianjing's main source of revenue Jiang customs revenue came to a standstill, and will inevitably affect the upcoming sea grain, so the Qing court was greatly frightened, urgently transferred the Jiangnan camp army of 20,000 troops to suppress, on August 20, the Qing army invaded Jiading, Zhou Lichun was arrested, died in Suzhou. At the end of September, the Xiaodaohui army withdrew from the surrounding counties and concentrated on holding the county seat of Shanghai. The Qing army divided the water and Han roads, and surrounded Shanghai from the east, south, and west. The British, French, American and other invaders in Shanghai tore off the camouflage of neutrality, openly supported the Qing Zhengfu, and brazenly besieged the Yi army from the north of Shanghai County. In the French Concession in the north of the city, a boundary wall was built along the moat to blockade the food and arms of the Qiyi army, and the Xiaodaohui Yijun was completely surrounded, cutting off the connection with the outside world. Bloody battles, isolated, and depleted. On February 17, 1855, the Qiyi army was forced to abandon the city and break through, Liu Lichuan died, and the Qiyi failed. Shanghai Xiaodaohui Qiyi, persisted in the struggle for 17 months, it strongly supported the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Qiyi, and fought against the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty and foreign invaders.

In 1853, the Heaven and Earth Society led by Zhu Jiutao broke out in Hunan. Zhu Jiutao's real name is Qiu Changdao, a native of Chenzhou, Hunan, the leader of the Heaven and Earth Society, and a descendant of Zhu Ming. In the first year of Xianfeng, he changed his name to Zhu Jiutao, and took "Guangdong Lao Wanshan" as the name of the hall, organized the masses, and prepared for the uprising. In the third year of Xianfeng, Zhu Jiutao, Wang Dacai, Huang Zhonghuan and others led thousands of people to launch an armed uprising in Chenzhou, proclaimed themselves "Taiping King", defeated Qi Tianbao of Zhizhou, killed Yu Dela, the head of the regiment, and was active in Chenzhou and Yongxing, using the oil press market as a base. When Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, heard the report, he sent the fierce general Luo Zenan to lead Xiangyong to suppress it. In the fourth year of Xianfeng, the oil press ruins were lost, Zhu Jiutao led the Yiyi army to break through, and the following year was captured and killed by Qi Tianbao in Zhouyuanshan, Chenzhou, and the Yiyi failed.

On the side of the Twist Army:

In April 1853, when the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition passed through Anhui and Henan, the Twist Army from all over the country responded one after another, and developed into a large-scale uprising, with northern Anhui as the center, covering the southeast of Henan, the northwest of Shandong, the north of Jiangsu, and the north of Hubei. In May, when the Taiping army broke through Yongcheng, Su Tianfu, the leader of the Twist Army, led thousands of people to respond and occupy the county seat. Cooperate with each other to attack Boxian County and kill countless Qing soldiers. Punish corrupt officials in cities and counties. When the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition entered the Yellow River and Huai River Valleys, the Twist Party responded one after another, coordinated operations, and more than 50,000 Twist troops fought in the border areas of Anhui, Henan, Shandong, Suzhou, and Hubei, annihilating the Qing army and the landlords' armed forces, forming more than 10 relatively independent teams, so that the team rapidly developed to more than 100,000 people. Countless soldiers joined the Taiping Army, which rapidly expanded the Northern Expedition from more than 20,000 to more than 40,000.

And our eldest brother Zhang was recruited in 1853 by Zhou Tianjue, a military squire who was responsible for suppressing the Twist Army in northern Anhui. In the spring, he sent his son to the Pheasant River to gather money. But Brother Zhang did not sell his conscience and betray his brothers for the sake of being an official, and firmly embarked on the battle journey of uniting with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to resist the Qing Dynasty. In the face of difficulties, Brother Zhang was not discouraged and led the main force of the Twist Army to Huainan. This is also thanks to Zhang's sister-in-law Du Jinchan's strong opposition to surrender. Of course, during this period, Zhang Lexing's eldest brother was appointed by the Qing Zheng Mansion to attack Dingyuan's twist, one is to paralyze and use the Qing Zheng Mansion, and the other is to use this as an excuse to eliminate Dingyuan's "fake twist" that is in the name of the Twist Army but specifically harms the people.