Sentence / Kodama
Politics is a discipline that requires a high quality of contestants, and all outstanding contestants who have left their mark in the long river of history have all broken through the encirclement of human nature, and all actions are just to serve the goal, and performances are commonplace.
On July 19, the third year of Tongzhi (1864), Tianjing City was broken by the Hunan army. With the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, which had tormented the Qing Dynasty for decades and affected most of the world, it was quelled, and the temples of the Qing Dynasty not only did not have time to celebrate, but once again became nervous, and entered a state of emergency alert from the court to the locality, which was highly sensitive.
There is no way, the difference between Manchu and Han is something engraved in the genes of the Qing Dynasty, and the wariness of Han official power runs through the entire life cycle of the Qing Dynasty. Although because of the decay of the Eight Banners and the Green Camp, the imperial court had to use Han officials to run regimental training in the local area to assist the imperial court in exterminating the Taiping army, but from Xianfeng to Cixi, the Qing court's attitude towards Han officials has always been both useful and defensive.
Now, the Han officials and the Hunan system have risen in an all-round way with the extermination of the Taiping Army, and the Hunan forces have infiltrated the imperial court and local areas on a large scale, how can the Qing court not be nervous. The addition of the yellow robe has become a nightmare for Cixi and the Manchu officials, and how to prevent the recurrence of historical dramas has forced the Qing court to come up with relevant prevention plans.
This is the tension caused by the difference between Manchu and Han.
At the same time, this is also a contradiction between the imperial court and the locality.
In any war in history, as long as the local army acted as the main force, the imperial court had to bear the risk of local forces sitting on the throne, just as the Tang Dynasty had to face the rise of feudal towns after using local forces to quell the Anshi Rebellion. The reason why Song Gaozong and Zhao Gou had to kill Yue Fei was because the local forces represented by Yue Fei had risen in the process of resisting the Jin Dynasty and seriously threatened the imperial power.
Now, the Hunan army has also snowballed in the process of pacifying the Taiping army, which has seriously threatened the safety of the imperial court. In the perception of the Qing court, the threat of the Hunan army was no less than that of the Taiping army.
The rumor that "up and down the Yangtze River for 3,000 miles, there is not a single boat without the flag of Zengzi" on the rivers and lakes has exaggerated this tension to the extreme.
Besides, the salary of the Hunan army also comes entirely from the local area, which makes the soldiers of the Hunan army have no sense of identity with the imperial court at all. Like any feudal town in history, the magistrates have completely turned their armies into their own private soldiers through military power, financial power, and political power. And the fall of military power is often the beginning of a dynastic disaster.
In other words, the difference between the Manchu and Han dynasties, and the contradictions between the imperial court and the local government made the Qing court have to guard against Zeng Guofan.
But no one expected that Zuo Zongtang's twists and turns would further escalate the situation, and in the twists and turns, Zuo Zongtang reported to Cixi: "The young king Hong Tianguifu did not die, but fled after successfully breaking through. In addition, the Taiping army in Tianjing City was not completely annihilated, and most of them broke through. ”
The paper is full of attacks on the Hunan army and Zeng Guofan.
Zuo Zongtang's performance was like a boulder thrown into the lake, Cixi immediately found the direction of force, followed by a thunderbolt output: "Zeng Guofan's false news that the young king was killed is of a bad nature, how many Taiping troops broke out of Nanjing City, please check carefully immediately, and report to me the list of generals who are not well prepared." ”
Cixi was able to write this holy decree by hand, which had completely exposed her mentality towards the Hunan army as if she were facing a great enemy.
Cixi is like a great enemy to the Hunan army Source/stills
To a certain extent, Cixi was also deliberately stimulating Zeng Guofan to test his loyalty index to the imperial court and find out his true psychology.
At the same time, the imperial court also began to investigate the whereabouts of the wealth of the Heavenly Sacred Treasury, and asked Zeng Guofan to list the expenses of the various battalions of the Hunan army over the years.
To put it bluntly, Cixi did not want to reimburse the Hunan army for military expenses at all, and understanding the details of the Hunan army was the real purpose.
The Hunan army was originally waiting for the reward from the imperial court, but it turned out to be an earthquake from the imperial court, and Zeng Guofan, as the commander-in-chief, was even more panicked, so he could only explain to the imperial court while cutting the Hunan army to reassure the queen mother-
On August 21, 1864, Zeng Guofan cut half of his descendant troops from the Jizi Battalion led by Zeng Guoquan at one time, and the remaining 25,000 people, 10,000 guarded Nanjing City, and 15,000 went out to fight guerrillas; forced Zeng Guoquan, the first hero of the Taiping Army, to return to his hometown in Xiangxiang for vacation.
After this combination of punches, Zeng Guofan landed safely, maintaining the contradiction between the imperial court and the Hunan system in a controllable state.
On August 30, Zeng Guofan explained the relevant issues to the imperial court one by one, and also participated in Zuo Zongtang's book: "When the city of Hangzhou was broken, hundreds of thousands of Taiping troops successfully broke through, but Zuo Zongtang's data on the imperial court was thousands. ”
Attacking each other, Zeng Zuo completely lost harmony, and for the next eight years, the two did not communicate again until Zeng Guofan's death. The positioning of the relationship between the two on the rivers and lakes is: complete disharmony.
This is just the surface, in fact, everyone ignores the fact that after the Taiping Army was exterminated, Han officials such as Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang not only did not fall into the historical stereotype of rabbit dead dog cooking, Zuo Zongtang's Chu army also further became the regular army of the imperial court and continued to create myths on the historical stage.
Based on the results, it is necessary to peel off the cocoon for further interpretation of Zeng Guofan's and Zuo Zongtang's mutual attacks.
After the conquest of Tianjing City, all Han officials and Hunan members, including Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang, formed a consensus: the Hunan army had become the new enemy of the imperial court. This can be seen from a series of arrangements made by Cixi to the imperial court's precautions against the Hunan army-
Guanwen, the minister of the Qin Mission, led an army of 200,000 troops to garrison Wuchang and controlled the upper reaches of the Yangtze River;
Monk Greenqin led troops to garrison Anhui and Wuhu;
Fuming Atong led the army to guard Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, and controlled the lower reaches of the Yangtze River;
There are also hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners and Green Battalions stationed near the Beijing Division;
The Hunan army in Jinling City was monitored from all directions by the imperial army;
...
At the same time, these people also received a secret order from Cixi: "If you find any abnormal behavior of the Hunan army, you will do it immediately." ”
The Qing court arranged a large number of troops to guard against the Hunan army Source/stills
The future and fate of the Han officials, the Hunan family, and the Hunan army instantly became extremely uncertain.
How to deal with the situation, the Hunan army was divided into two factions: the generals of the Hunan army represented by Zeng Guoquan supported Zeng Guofan's replication of the plot of the yellow robe and fought with the Qing court for the world; As the commander-in-chief, Zeng Guofan was resolutely opposed to standing on the opposite side of the imperial court.
As for why Zeng Guofan opposed the "persuasion" behavior of the Hunan army, there are mainly the following reasons: Zeng Guofan's first identity attribute is that he is a disciple of science, and betraying the imperial court is equivalent to betraying himself and denying himself; The Hunan army is too heavy in twilight, there are many factions, and it is no longer able to fight, and it is not necessarily the opponent of the Eight Banners; The great powers were eyeing each other, and Zeng Guofan did not want to drag the entire nation into the water because of the civil war and become a historical sinner; The Qing court was still strong, and had taken relevant precautions against the Hunan army.
Thinking about this, Zeng Guofan showed the hole cards to the soldiers of the Hunan army with the sentence "Relying on the sky and the sea and countless flowers, and the mountains and rivers know themselves".
This is actually very easy to understand, the soldiers of the Hunan army hope to gain greater fame by persuasion, but Zeng Guofan has to bear all the risks, and the angles of considering the problem are naturally different in different positions, and the choices are naturally different.
Since Zeng Guofan did not want to stand on the opposite side of the imperial court, the next main problem was how to dispel the doubts of the imperial court and save himself from the historical stereotype of rabbit dead dog cooking. To dispel Cixi's doubts, it was not enough to dismiss the Hunan army, it was necessary to artificially create contradictions within the Han officials and the Hunan system, because what Cixi was afraid of was not only the Hunan army, but also the unity of the Han officials and the Hunan forces.
After the Tang Dynasty pacified the Anshi Rebellion, the emperor maintained the balance of the empire by combining vertical and horizontal between the various feudal towns, and now, the Qing Dynasty also needs to play the balance card. But the premise is that Cixi has to have room for vertical and horizontal cooperation. Therefore, the split of the Hunan system is very necessary.
So there was a mutual tear between Zeng Zuo.
Think about it, if the Hunan army, the Chu army, and the Huai army continue to form a whole, then the imperial court and the Hunan army will immediately have to go to war, and the situation will be even more complicated. The Qing court was able to use the Hunan army to pacify the Taiping army, so it was completely possible to cultivate new forces to fight the Hunan army. Besides, at that time, the Hunan family was not the only one who held group exercises.
After receiving Zuo Zongtang's recital, Cixi had already clarified Zuo Zongtang's attitude, and the panic was slightly alleviated. It can be said that Zuo Zongtang is equivalent to Han Xin in the later stage of the Chu and Han wars, and Han Xin won which side he took.
Now that Zuo Zongtang has sided with the Qing court, the crisis index of the imperial court has been lowered. Coupled with Zeng Guofan's initiative to disarm, the contradiction between the imperial court and the Hunan army was temporarily resolved.
It is equivalent to saying that Zeng Zuo teamed up to perform a play for Cixi, and Zeng Zuo's performance essentially transferred the contradiction between the imperial court and the Hunan system to the internal contradiction of the Hunan system, and Cixi became an audience instead. The de-escalation and transfer of contradictions enabled the Hunan system to successfully survive a crisis.
It is certain that Zuo Zongtang's attack on Zeng Guofan was to protect Zeng Guofan, and at the same time to ensure that he would not be affected when the imperial court attacked the Hunan army. Because, sooner or later, the Qing court will have to know about Hong Tianguifu's escape.
Regarding Zuo Zongtang's performance, Zeng Guofan knew in advance and had already made a response plan. Because, Zuo Zongtang's recital to the imperial court was also copied to Zeng Guofan at the same time.
This further confirms that the two are acting, and the purpose is to jump out of the historical stereotype of rabbit dead dog cooking.
At the same time, Zeng Zuo's performance was also to preserve the establishment of the Chu army. Zeng Guofan is familiar with history and understands that the best way to protect himself is to become a strong vassal with soldiers in his hands, so that the imperial court cannot move himself, just like the various feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty. However, when the Hunan army had become the focus of the Qing court, Zeng Guofan had to withdraw the Hunan army.
In order to keep the results of the efforts of the Han officials and the Hunan system, it is necessary to have the support of the army, and the Chu army is the best card. But in order to protect the Chu army, Zeng Guofan had to become a political enemy with Zuo Zongtang, so that Cixi would have room to play the card of "using Hunan to control Hunan".
After a wonderful performance, Cixi successfully assumed the role of the script, and introduced Zuo Zongtang as a confidant to balance Zeng Guofan and the Hunan army. Moreover, the Chu army later became the regular army of the imperial court, and after suppressing and pacifying Xinjiang, it was still expanding exponentially.
It was precisely because of the card of the Chu army that Cixi did not dare to break the balance and suppress the forces of the Han officials and the Hunan system. To a certain extent, Zeng Guofan's success in skipping the historical stereotype of rabbit dead dog cooking is because of the existence of the Chu army. And the continuous expansion of the Han official's power was also because of the Chu army.
In the midst of drastic historical changes, the Han official forces not only expanded, but also presided over a series of major events that affected the fate and future of the nation, such as the Westernization Movement and the recovery of Xinjiang.
If Zeng Zuo had not understood the overall situation and deliberately made enemies, then the future of the Han officials and the Hunan family would have been another possibility, that is, the fate of the entire nation would have been more passive.
For Cixi, how could she not know that this was Zeng Zuo Lian acting for her, but in the context of the decline of the Eight Banners, the rise of Han officials, and the complicated situation, she could only do this, cooperating with Zeng Zuo's performance.
The fact is that Zeng Zuo not only did not make enemies, but Zeng Guofan also continued to help Zuo Zongtang. Zeng Guofan not only recommended his subordinate Liu Songshan to Zuo Zongtang, but also provided Zuo Zongtang's Western Expeditionary Army with a military salary of more than two million every year during his tenure as governor of Liangjiang.
Without Zeng Guofan's strong support, it would be difficult for Zuo Zongtang to make contributions. It is not so much that Zuo Zongtang's merits are the result of his personal and Chu army's initiative, but rather that it is the entire Han officials and Hunan forces that are carrying him forward.
All major historical events are the result of group operations, and don't blindly mythologize individuals.
Behind Zuo Zongtang is the Hunan and Han officials Source/stills
In his later years, Zeng Guofan often mentioned Zuo Zongtang to his family, his tone was full of affirmation, and asserted: "Zuo Zongtang's great achievements are still to come." ”
This is like an evil relationship, and they are clearly comrades-in-arms. This kind of thing can also be done by people like Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang who understand the overall situation, have a sense of responsibility, and have a sense of history. They have not been in touch for eight years, but they have never given up communication, not only actively communicating, but also supporting each other to move forward.
Therefore, don't say that Zuo Zongtang was jealous of Zeng Guofan's military exploits and participated in the other party's book, this idea is purely an insult to Zuo Gong.
In addition, if Zuo Zongtang really wanted to engage Zeng Guofan, he would never reveal the content of the folds to him in advance, nor would he write it in the work report.
It can only be said that the people outside are all watching the excitement, and only the people in the city themselves know what is going on.
The reality is like this, the market culture always likes to exaggerate some ups and downs, and define historical figures from an emotional level, so that it will only be far from the truth.
As for Zeng Zuo, the truth and public opinion are not important at all, they only care about the result.
On March 12, 1872, Zeng Guofan died in the Liangjiang Governor's Office in Nanjing at the age of 61. After receiving the news, Zuo Zongtang was sobbing and sobbing.
People must have a higher pain index for losing their comrades-in-arms than their friends, because only comrades-in-arms have experienced the major proposition of life and death. Zuo Zongtang's feelings for Zeng Guofan are definitely not as simple as described by public opinion. Look at the elegy he wrote to Zeng Guofan to read his heart:
"The loyalty of seeking the country, the wisdom of knowing people, and the shame of being inferior to Yuanfu; Concentricity is like gold, attack mistakes like stones, and there is no negative life in the phase. ”
There is no need to explain at all.
Echoing it is Zeng Guofan's evaluation of Zuo Zongtang before his death: "In terms of military warfare, I am not as good as Zuo Zongtang; Loyal to the country, but also with Ji Gao as the crown. ”
Full of affirmations.
Masters don't care about public opinion at all, they always bury their emotions, and they always only care about the result.
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