If the people of Shaanxi and Gansu are asked to thank a person, then this person is most likely Zuo Zongtang.
Although in the eyes of historians, some of Zuo Zongtang's methods are a little too radical, but this is also a decision made as a last resort. So, why is Zuo Zongtang called the great savior of the Shaanxi and Gansu people?
What did he do, known as radical fanatics by means?
If you look down, you will find the greatness of Zuo Zongtang.
First, the first half of life is ups and downs, and it will run from time to time
In fact, although Zuo Zongtang is one of the "four famous ministers of ZTE", he also experienced ups and downs in the first half of his life, and in the era of paying attention to "becoming famous early", Zuo Zongtang belongs to the representative of the late success of the great instrument.
Although he was 15 years old, he finished second in the Changsha Provincial Examination. But after repeated attempts, in 1835, the exam was successful, but unfortunately, it was not a coincidence that he was laid off this time.
Therefore, according to the way of coming, Zuo Zongtang is not yet a zheng'er Eight Classics jinshi origin. Compared with Li Hongzhang's jinshi origin, Zuo Zongtang's path to the imperial examination was too unsmooth.
But he is not an ordinary person, in the cracks are demanding to survive, repeatedly tried and failed to do so, Zuo Zongtang is enthusiastic about national affairs, not only knows the situation in Xinjiang very well, but also good at using soldiers.
In 1852, Zuo Zongtang, who was already forty years old, thought that his life had gone through such an ordinary life.
Unexpectedly, this year, he suddenly came to run when the great luck came.
At the recommendation of Guo Songtao and others, Zuo Zongtang joined the base camp for the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, where he exerted his outstanding military talents and wisdom and brains to repeatedly thwart the Taiping Army's counter-offensive plans.
In just a few short years, Zuo Zongtang was very popular in the official arena. In 1856, Zuo Zongtang was awarded the title of "Bingbu Langzhong" by the Qing court, and was also rewarded with a flower plume.
With the blessing of Hua Ling, from then on, a generation of famous ministers Zuo Zongtang turned out to be born and quickly became the humeral minister of the Qing court.
Second, to quell the rebellion in the northwest, Zuo Zongtang should be the first to do
There is a nation in the northwest, which itself has migrated from Central and Western Asia, and this ethnic group has always wanted to establish itself because of the difference between the political and religious concepts and the eastern countries.
During the Tongzhi period, a great rebellion broke out in this nation. For a time, the rebels gathered more and more, led by the Bai Yanhu brothers, and wherever they went, they burned and looted everywhere they went.
In order to support Bai Yanhu, as long as the local clan is a young and mature man, almost all of them joined the war.
The jackal walked by, and everywhere was devastated.
In 1868, Bai Yanhu led an army to the ancient city of Xi'an, trying to take this feng shui treasure in one fell swoop.
However, at a very critical moment, there was a person who led thousands of disciples and soldiers all the way north and directly smashed this extermination plan, and this person was Zuo Zongtang.
However, at that time, even if Zuo Zongtang came to suppress it, the local rebels were still rampant, and they even called this great war that destroyed national feelings "holy war"!
At that time, the wind and rain were shaky in the early morning, and internal and external troubles made the Qing court have no time to take care of itself. At this time, a famous "border plug coastal defense dispute" was unveiled.
Li Zhongtang believes that the people on the northwest frontier are stubborn and cannot be tamed at all, and coupled with the backward economy and the people's livelihood there, instead of strengthening the management of border plugs, it is better to concentrate on strengthening coastal defense to resist the great powers.
What Li Zhongtang said was all reasonable, but Zuo Zongtang insisted that the border areas were closely related to national defense, and even more important places, and should never be discarded. At this time, Cixi Lafayette spoke, since the two are important at the same time, let Zuo Zongtang be responsible for border plugging, and let Li Hongzhang rectify coastal defense.
With the strong support of the imperial court, Zuo Zongtang was more confident in quelling the rebellion.
Third, the seriousness of the northwest rebellion has subverted your imagination
How serious was the rebellion of this nation in those years? It can be said that in the local records of Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces, almost every county chronicle has recorded that period of history.
In Dali County, Shaanxi Province, this ethnic group directly did an indignant thing, that is, slaughtering the village, killing more than 10,000 people in a whole morning.
However, not all of the people of this tribe are so tyrannical, and there are some intellectuals who are dissatisfied with the massacre of local people by their own people, and they have launched self-help and protected the Han people with their own strength.
These people, who are full of the light of human nature, should not be treated differently, but should be respected.
In Lintong, Shaanxi Province, an intellectual of this ethnic group, after learning of his compatriot Slaughtering the Village, immediately reported it to the local county magistrate and launched a self-help activity, which saved Lintong City.
In that last days of war and chaos, it was not easy for the people to live. When Zuo Zongtang led a large army into the Shaanxi-Gansu area, the Han people welcomed this great savior.
As soon as Zuo Zongtang arrived in the Shaanxi-Gansu region, he reorganized his troops and developed production in the area of Dong Zhiyuan, leading the army to suppress the rebels on the one hand, and on the other hand
Restore civilian livelihoods and appease displaced persons. Later, when marching to Pingliang and clearing Ma Hualong's rebels, Zuo Zongtang became the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu.
This change of identity made the burden on Zuo Zongtang's shoulders even heavier.
And this battle was also particularly difficult, because Zuo Zongtang faced, but in the face of the rebel army with closer unity of the people, in 1871, when attacking the rebel Army of Ma Zhan'ao, Zuo Zongtang was also repeatedly frustrated, and when other soldiers and civilians surrendered one after another, Zuo Zongtang still struggled to resist.
Until 1873, with the suppression and surrender of the remnants of the rebel forces in various places, and the retreat of the rebel leader Bai Yanhu to Xinjiang, this war between the two ethnic groups, which was basically a war between two ethnic groups, ended in the victory of Zuo Zongtang.
The lessons of this rebellion are very painful, according to historical records, during this more than 10-year-long rebellion, the people of Shaanxi and Gansu provinces slaughtered more than 20 million Han Chinese. Among them, 50% of Han people in Shaanxi were killed, and 65% of Han people in Gansu were killed.
The county chronicle of Gaoling County, Shaanxi, records that before the rebellion, there were 69,000 people in the entire county, and only two years after the rebellion, the population was only 32,000.
According to the "History of Chinese Mouth", in 1861, before the rebellion began, the population of Gansu was 19.459 million people, and more than a decade later, the population was only 4.955 million people, and the population loss reached 14.555 million people.
For these rebels, Zuo Zongtang directly adopted the routine of "returning his body with his own way", he knew that this nation was good at war and was also very rebellious in his bones, so he directly cut the minions of this nation from about 1.8 million to about 150,000. Since then, this nation, whose strength has been greatly weakened, no longer has the energy to challenge other surrounding ethnic groups.
At that time, Zuo Zongtang was in the Gansu area, in order to develop production, he also planted a lot of willow trees, in order to commemorate Zuo Zongtang, the people called it "Zuo Gong Liu".
Time flies, whiskers for a hundred years, once a small sapling, has now grown into a century-old tree.