Thirty-Six Stratagems Story - Children's Classic Reading

Author: Wang Yangguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a regime established by a peasant uprising army. To suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, the Qing government sent General He Chun to lead hundreds of thousands of troops to attack the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom—Tianjing. Relying on their overwhelming numbers, the Qing army encircled Tianjing city layer by layer, turning it into an isolated fortress. The leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement—Emperor Hong Xiuquan—gathered the kings and generals to discuss countermeasures. The young Zhong Wang Li Xiucong proposed a plan. He said, "Now, the Qing army has a large number of troops, and a direct confrontation would only lead to disaster. Please allow me two hundred thousand troops, and I will break out of the city at night to raid the enemy's grain storage—Hangzhou. This way, the enemy will surely divide their forces to rescue Hangzhou. Then, Emperor Hong can take advantage of this opportunity to break out, and I will return to Tianjing, forming a pincer attack. This can lift the siege of Tianjing." Wang Daikai, the Yi Wang, quickly responded and expressed his willingness to cooperate with Zhong Wang. Hong Xiuquan agreed to carry out the plan as scheduled. At midnight that night, Li Xiucong and Wang Daikai each led their troops, sneaking out from the weakly guarded southeastern corner of the enemy's encirclement in the dark. After breaking out, the two forces divided into two: Li Xiucong headed for Hangzhou, and Wang Daikai headed for Huzhou. Li Xiucong arrived at the foot of Hangzhou city and, during a rainy night, sent one thousand brave warriors to secretly scale the walls using cloud ladders. By the time the guards awoke, the city gates were already wide open, and Li Xiucong led his troops into the city, capturing Hangzhou in one sweep. To distract the Qing army surrounding Tianjing, Li Xiucong ordered the burning of the Qing army's granaries. Upon hearing the news, the Qing army commander He Chun urgently ordered Vice General Zhang Yuliang to lead one hundred thousand troops to swiftly return to rescue Hangzhou. Seeing that the Qing army had divided its forces to rescue Hangzhou, Hong Xiuquan ordered a full-scale attack. After Li Xiucong burned the enemy's provisions, he also swiftly returned to Tianjing; Wang Daikai also led his troops back to Tianjing. The two forces converged and cleverly took a detour, successfully returning to Tianjing. At this point, the Taiping forces inside and outside the city formed a pincer attack against the Qing army, which was taken completely by surprise. The Qing troops, left and right, were in disarray, suffering heavy casualties and a complete defeat. P21-22