Summary of Zeng Guofan's Biography (2)

In the process of attacking Anqing, Zeng Guofan was appointed as the coveted governor of Liangjiang. The Governor of Liangjiang was the only governor in charge of Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces during Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty.

Located at the junction of north and south, it is very important militarily and economically, accounting for more than half of the country's total grain. Therefore, it affects the national financial lifeline.

Today, Zeng Guofan, as the governor of the two rivers, holds the military power of the Xiang army and undoubtedly became one of the most powerful figures in the Qing Empire at that time.

Before Xianfeng's death, he arranged eight ministers with Su Shun as the core to assist Zai Chun, but none of them actually had the younger brother of Emperor Xianfeng and Prince Gong who held diplomatic power. . Su Shun was harsh and overbearing, offended many people, and was quite isolated in North Korea. So Hu Linyi's prediction center is bound to have an extraordinary change.

Just over two months after Xianfeng's death, Empress Dowager Cixi played with Prince Gong? They jointly staged a palace coup. Hey? Obviously, Zeng Guofan must be reused to destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although he is an enemy of Su Shun, he has no prejudice against Su Shun's policies and lines. If he is a good man, he will stay; if he is a bad man, he will leave. And when Cixi came to power, could she still play games? Take advice from others. Zeng Guofan therefore entered the most prosperous period of officialdom, and he also began to calmly lay out the personnel of the two rivers and Zhejiang.

Personnel from four provinces

Before the recovery of Anqing, Zeng Guofan had replaced the governors of Jiangxi and Anhui with Hunanese, and the governors of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were still in the hands of He Guiqing.

Wang Youling, Governor of Zhejiang Province, is He Guiqing's best friend. At the mention of him, Zeng Guofan felt a lot of new and old hatred.

Zhejiang has always been a fertile ground and an important financing place. Under the activities of Su Shun and Hu Linyi, Xianfeng took Hunan Luo Zundian as the governor of Zhejiang. He Guiqing will want to impeach him at Luo Zuntang every chance he gets. Even when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sent troops to rescue Zhao in Hangzhou, it also instructed Suzhou to wait for the instructions of Jiangsu's dispatch envoys. Wang Youling asked Zhang Yuliang to inspect the wall of Suzhou for two days and told him to save Huzhou instead of Hangzhou. The Taiping Army successfully captured Hangzhou, and Luo Zundian committed suicide.

On April 2nd, the tenth year of Xianfeng, the Qing government took Wang Youling as the acting governor of Zhejiang. That's not to mention, Wang Youling instigated suggestion Gao Yanshou to play, participated in improper guarding city of Luo Zundian, and revoked the T-shirt code of Luo Zundian. Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi hated each other, and the two sides forged a great hatred.

But Wang Can did not expect that Youling soon suffered the same fate herself. Zhejiang has never had its own army, so it can't be independent in defense. After invading the Jiangnan camp, the Taiping Army marched into Zhejiang again, and the Hunan Department stood by and refused to help.

Wang Youling turned to the imperial court for help many times, and the Qing government ordered Zeng Guofan to try to clear Hangzhou. Zeng Guofan arranged for left assistance to Zhejiang. A few days later, he secretly played the Qing court, thinking that Wang Youling was not qualified to be impressed. At the same time, he let the left block the rescue and deal with a man as he deals with you. In the 11th year of Xianfeng (186 1), at the end of November, Li Xiucheng army invaded Hangzhou. Like Luo Zundian, Wang Youling committed suicide in poverty. The Qing government accepted Zeng Guofan's recommendation and appointed Zuo as the governor of Zhejiang.

At the beginning, Wang Youling suggested that the court cancel the T-shirt code of Luo Zundian. Now Zeng Guofan is tolerant and generous, suggesting that the court "give him a shirt" as usual. Zeng Guofan did this mainly to avenge Luo Zundian and asked the Qing government to "give preferential treatment to Luo Zundian". When talking about Wang Youling's T-shirt, Zeng Guofan said that Wang Youling had many stains, but he stuck to Hang Cheng and didn't dare to hide his loyalty. Writing with a pen, contrary to the usual frankness, shows that he has a deep grudge with He Guiqing Group.

Wang Youling led to the death of Luo Zundian, but he was heartless, but he also had a solar term. It's time for revenge

Next is Xue Huan, Governor of Jiangsu Province.

Xue Huan, a native of Youling, Rainbow, is a wise man. The author's words about Wang Xue show that he is partial to Zeng Guofan. Hu Linyi is honest and straightforward, but he also has skills, but the author has never described him like this. There is nothing wrong with skills, such as whether the knife is used to cut vegetables or kill people, and what is the most important purpose.

In the eleventh year of Xianfeng (186 1), the Taiping Army suddenly attacked Shanghai, and Zeng Guofan sent Li Hongzhang to establish the Huai Army in Shanghai. Zeng Guofan quickly played, accusing Xue Huan of not calling him the governor of Jiangsu and demanding that he be replaced by Li Hongzhang. On March 27th, the first year of Tongzhi (1862), the Qing court officially appointed Li Hongzhang as acting governor of Jiangsu.

Then there is He Guiqing, the core figure of He Guiqing Group.

Jiangnan camp collapsed, and he should organize defense in Changzhou. First, according to the laws of the Qing dynasty, it is a capital crime for senior officials to abandon the city. Second, abandoning the city first will shake the morale of the army and the people. But He Guiqing was desperate and just wanted to live. Xue Huan and others deliberately let him surrender to Suzhou. He is very happy and ready to leave the city. People are not allowed to run away with him.

When the governor leaves, the whole city will suffer. As a result, many gentry people knelt down to burn incense, and He Guiqing ordered the shooting, killing 19 people. After He Guiqing left, Changzhou quickly fell, and the Taiping Army slaughtered the city. When the news came out, there was anger everywhere and they were not allowed to enter the city. When He Guiqing fled to Shanghai, he also defended himself: Suzhou was not ready. I went to the Soviet Union to gain popularity.

Xianfeng hated He Guiqing so much that he ordered the local officials to arrest He Qihua and take him to Beijing. At this point, Xue Huan and Wang Youling were still in power, and they joined hands to rescue He Guiqing. Please allow He Guiqing to stay in the camp. Soon, the British and French allied forces committed crimes, and Xianfeng left for Chengde, and he didn't have time to deal with him again.

After Li Hongzhang became the governor of Jiangsu, he immediately put Prince Gong? Orders were given to arrest He Guiqing, who was hiding in the concession, and escort him to Beijing.

He Guiqing was already up and down, so he went boldly, thinking that he could make a comeback. Because first, Empress Dowager Cixi had several curtains at that time, and she refused to give a light sentence to the former guilty minister; Second, Qi Junzao, an anti-Zeng etiquette, has returned to the mountains and regained power, urging the rescue of He Guiqing. His peers are very high, and his influence is extraordinary. Under his leadership, the "Salvation School" rose suddenly.

But on the other hand, people who want to kill He Guiqing are also very powerful. Officials in Jiangnan will want to kill them and soon, they will try their best not to let them, saying, "How can we thank the millions of people in Jiangnan if we don't kill He Guiqing?" .

The court was embarrassed.

He Guiqing took out a copy of Xue Huan and others' honour, saying that several subordinates, such as Xue Huan, wanted him to retreat to Suzhou for reimbursement.

Is this official report really from the time, or is it a supplement afterwards? Was it necessary to retreat to Suzhou at that time? The court ordered Zeng Guofan, governor of Liangjiang, to investigate. Zeng Guofan's echo is very characteristic. He said, first of all, this report was based on the facts at that time, or it was forged afterwards. It is very complicated to investigate, and there is no need to investigate, because anyone who knows the political rules of the Qing Dynasty knows that the governor has great power and can be in charge of the honor and disgrace of his subordinates all his life, so he can not only please his subordinates at the first time, but also let them hide behind him and whitewash the peace.

He went on to say that he had a criminal record forged by He Guiqing. Jiaxing jointly posted a request to keep He Guiqing in Jiangsu, which was forged by several people in the army.

Finally, he made a crucial remark: it is not only the requirement of the imperial court, but also a great festival for scholars, and there can be no ambiguity. Senior ministers, in order to escape, shoot people, this article is enough to be executed, and there is no need to investigate whether they have this public office.

This repetition, strategic placement, irrefutable, irrefutable, He Guiqing soon abandoned the market.

Equipped with everything you need

In order to make the Xiang army make contributions as soon as possible, the imperial court almost obeyed Zeng Guofan's instructions, and the adjustment of relevant government officials nationwide was also based on whether they could cooperate with the Xiang army or raise their salaries.

The Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi was replaced by Yan Duanshu, who had a good relationship with Zeng Guofan, and Guo Songtao, a good friend of Zeng Guofan, represented the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Luo was transferred to the governor of Sichuan, and Liu Rongze was a close friend of Zeng Guofan's hometown, contributing money to the Xiang army in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Mao Hongbin, the governor of Hunan Province, is an old friend of Zeng Guofan. After Hu Linyi's death, Yan Shusen, the successor of Hubei Governor, was hand-picked by Hu Linyi, which is absolutely reliable.

With a good political environment, Zeng Guofan made a three-way March plan and began a comprehensive counterattack against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

On the middle road, Ceng Guoquan runs from Anqing to Nanjing along the river.

On the East Road, Li Hongzhang founded the Huai Army, based in Shanghai, marched into Suzhou and Changzhou, and then recovered the whole province of Jiangsu.

On the south road, the new governor of Zhejiang left the Chu army to March into Zhejiang and recover Hangzhou.

It seems that everything is ready, and the weather is right. However, Zeng Guofan once said, "Nothing is difficult in the world, nothing is impossible to a willing mind; The joy of life, the sorrow of life. " When there are great achievements, there are often many troubles.

Isolated troops deep into enemy-occupied areas

After taking Anqing, Xiang's next primary goal is naturally the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This will be the last and most important battle of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War.

Zeng Guofan laid the strategy of four-way operation. The first way is for Ceng Guoquan to go straight to Nanking. The other three roads: a west road, where Duolong 'a first captured Luzhou and then surrounded Nanjing; On the east road, we attacked Ningguo first and then entered Jinling; Li Xuyi, a branch of North Road, has been appointed as the governor of Anhui, breaking through many obstacles and attacking Nanjing. He wants to copy the battle of Anqing, let Ceng Guoquan besieged the city, and let Duo Long 'a, Li Jiyi and others help him.

Through the battle of Anqing, Ceng Guoquan became famous all over the world. He led the auspicious word camp, destroyed the city all the way along the north bank of the Yangtze River, seized Shanhaiguan Pass, successively captured many places, and attacked Yuhuatai outside the south gate of Jinling City, camped and prepared to win the first place in the world.

However, Ceng Guoquan hit too hard and walked too fast. The other three reinforcements were not as fast as him, or were blocked, or there was an emergency, and none of them could keep up, which suddenly formed a trend of going into Ceng Guoquan alone.

Li Xuyi suddenly lost his father. Baochao was heavily blocked by Taiping rebels in Ningguo. Duo Long's heart was cold because of his exploits in Anqing.

Duo Long is a standard-bearer. He doesn't like Han people. Besides, because of his brother's power, Ceng Guoquan is very bossy and difficult to get along with. He can be used by Hu Linyi because Hu Linyi is especially good at employing people. After Hu died, he never wanted to work with him again. Therefore, after capturing Luzhou, we held our ground and delayed moving Nanjing. It happened that the Northwest Military Department was in an emergency soon, so it invited itself to Shaanxi and never dealt with Zeng Guofan's brothers again. So, the west road is gone.

Four people, the other three couldn't arrive on time, and the auspicious word camp stationed in Yuhuatai actually became a loner.

Ignorance and fearlessness

Zeng Guofan was surprised. Because the situation is very similar to that of Li in Sanhe town, it is likely to be completely eaten. As early as Ceng Guoquan killed all the way to Nanking, Zeng Guofan repeatedly ordered him to stop temporarily and so on. But Ceng Guoquan doesn't care.

Among the Xiang generals, Zeng Guofan's most difficult command is his own brother. Their personalities are very different. Zeng Guofan has a long history of unrest, and he is self-serious. Often when things start, he has already seen the ending. Ceng Guoquan has never done anything important, and he is young, narrow-minded and inexperienced. Zeng Guofan is more concerned with everything from the perspective of risk, while Ceng Guoquan is always ignorant and fearless, taking things too simple and doing subtraction if something happens.

He didn't take Zeng Guofan's orders seriously at all, eager to copy Anqing's glory, stormed all the way and camped in Yuhuatai. After digging trenches around the camp and repairing the long wall, he visited the outside of Nanjing with great interest, only to find that something bad happened.

Nanjing City Wall is not only the largest city wall in China, but also the largest city wall in the world. It took Ming Taizu 2 1 year to build this city. Its circumference is 96 miles, and its height and thickness are incomparable with those of other city walls in China: the foundation width of the city wall is 14m, the widest part is 30m, and the height is14 to 2 1 m. The foundation is made of huge strips of stone, and the wall is made of huge bricks, which is extremely grand.

Ceng Guoquan and some of them walked outside the city all day, but they didn't see the panoramic view of Jinling City Wall. This Ceng Guoquan is blindsided. Nanjing is 96 miles long, but it is not allowed to build trenches and high walls 700 miles long. Isn't it necessary to build the Great Wall like Qin Shihuang?

It rained all night. At this time, the third and fourth cholera pandemics broke out in the world, and the germs spread to the camps in Ceng Guoquan, causing serious personnel losses.

Taiping Army has an absolute advantage. It has obtained a large number of western-style weapons from Shanghai, and its equipment level is much more advanced than that of Xiang Army. Taiping Army reinforcements stationed for hundreds of miles, attacking with western fireworks day and night. Ceng Guoquan left those sick Xiang troops to keep tents, and all those who could fight went to the front line and held their ground tenaciously. At this moment, Ceng Guoquan finally admitted that he was wrong and should not go it alone.

Zeng Guofan gave the order to dispatch troops. But each road is in a hurry, and there is no soldier to adjust. Zeng Guofan had to send his own four hundred people to escort Qin Bing to give Xiao Ceng courage.

Yuhuatai war

The Yuhuatai World War I lasted for 46 days. These forty-six days are not only the most dangerous days in Ceng Guoquan's life, but also the most anxious forty-six days in Zeng Guofan's life.

Zeng Guofan knew that the siege would not last for several months. He calculated from the figures that Li Xiucheng's army needs to consume 60 tons of meters every day. But the Yangtze River is firmly controlled by Xiang Shuishi, and this army will soon run out of grain and grass in Nanjing.

Zeng Guofan had already put his life and death at risk, but he could not bear the death of his younger brother. With no soldiers to adjust, Zeng Guofan had to make every effort to ensure the logistics supply so that Ceng Guoquan could get enough food, rice and ammunition. But at this time, Jiangxi Governor Shen Baozhen suddenly announced that he would stop supplying 42,000 yuan to Zeng Guofan every month. Not only will there be problems in the supply of weapons and ammunition in Ceng Guoquan, but there may even be a shortage of food.

This is a big surprise for Zeng Guofan. Shen Baozhen, a native of Fujian, was Lin Zexu's son-in-law. He worked in Zeng Guofan's shogunate and was recommended by Zeng Guofan as the governor of Jiangxi. According to tradition, Shen Baozhen should be grateful and make great efforts to repay him, and don't want Shen Shi to lose his salary at this time.

Zeng Guofan recommended Shen Baozhen as the governor of Jiangxi Province, mainly to let him provide military pay for Xiang. But Shen Baozhen doesn't think so. He thought highly of himself since he was a child and wanted to build his own achievements instead of Zeng Guofan's. He recruited soldiers and was determined to build his own army, which required a lot of money and conflicted with Zeng Guofan's needs. To be out of line, Shen Baozhen did not consult with Zeng Guofan before making this decision.

Shen Baozhen's move really bites the hand that feeds him. Zeng Guofan's first reaction was anger, of course. Although Zeng Guofan never recommended others in order to make others repay their personal kindness, he never thought that the person he recommended would become his enemy.

He was angry and tangled in his heart, but he reflected that saints often encounter constraints and disobedience, and if they take overbearing measures, they will destroy dissidents. After a long time, you will become an arrogant minister and bring disaster to yourself. If I have patience, I can sharpen my mind with this unpleasant thing.

Many great men like others to kneel at their feet and let all their decisions be "resolutely carried out", "carry out what they understand and carry out what they don't understand" Zeng Guofan is not like this. He likes listening to other people's criticism best. The more powerful you are, the more you take the initiative to listen to unpleasant words to get rid of your anger, politeness and pity.

Zeng Guofan's aides cursed and demanded Zeng Guofan's immediate participation. Zeng Guofan didn't do this. Shen Baozhen, who was promoted by him, is now participating in the performance. Not only does Shen Shi's face look bad, but so does his own. He read the mantra of forbearance and chose to swallow this bitter fruit silently, without revealing the contradiction between him and Shen Shi to the outside world.

Fortunately, Li Xiucheng is far less brave than Chen Yucheng. This time, the two sides were deadlocked until1October 4, and the weather was already very cold. The Taiping Army had neither winter clothes nor food supplies, so it had to retreat. Ceng Guoquan finally succeeded. This thrilling battle lasted for forty-six days. The item paid a very heavy price for this. Five thousand casualties, soldiers exhausted. Zeng, who had fought alongside him, died from overwork soon after the war, and Zeng Guofan lost another brother.