On July 19, 1864, the summer was approaching, and Nanjing was the hottest time of the year, a day when the sky was clear and the sun was shining, but for the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it was destined to be an incomparably dark and cold day.
At noon, the Taiping Gate of Tianjing City collapsed for explosives, tens of thousands of wolf-like Xiang troops outside the city swarmed in, the Six Dynasties Gold Powder, Qinhuai Smoke and Rain, the thousand-year-old imperial capital of the tiger on the dragon pan, and all the beauty of the once small paradise, all left the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the rumbling cannon fire.
With the fall of Tianjing, zeng guofan, the commander of the Xiang army, completed the immortal feat of the first merit of Pingkou, and his prestige reached its peak.
At this time, As the governor of Liangjiang, Lord Zeng controlled the military affairs of the four provinces of Suzhou, Anhui, Zhejiang, and Gansu, and the rich land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang was in his control, and with the rear base of the Xiang Army, Hunan and Hubei, it was not an exaggeration to say that the southeast half of the wall was maintained.
His command was as high as hundreds of thousands of troops, the Xiang generals were assigned to important positions, and the protégés were all over the government and the public. The Yangtze River Graben was also controlled by the Xiang Army's water division.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty is dying of old age and the rivers are falling day by day, and its own power is still strong and strong, and more internal generals have "persuaded" to advance, hoping that the commander can directly attack the Yellow Dragon and win the world.
In this situation, when the time and place were favorable, Zeng Guofan did not take advantage of the situation and restore the Han Dynasty, but resolutely chose to quickly and decisively dismantle the Xiang army, dispelling the doubts of the rulers and expressing his determination to support the Qing Dynasty with practical actions.
Was zeng guofan lacking ambition, or was it his deep-rooted loyalty to the Qing court? Or are there other concerns, with these questions, let's walk together to today's article.
Zeng Guofan was deeply influenced by the way of Confucius and Mencius, learning benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, and faith, respecting the heavens and the earth, refraining from self-denial, being cautious and cautious, and always demanding himself according to the standards of saints.
After conquering Nanjing, Zeng Guofan has achieved fame - self-cultivation, Qi family, governance, and peace in the world, and the progressive life ambitions of Confucianism have all been realized, and they have become a model for the world's scribes.
At this time, if there is a hasty rebellion, the perfect image that Zeng Guofan has worked hard to create for many years will collapse in an instant, and whether it is successful or not, it will bear the stigma of a chaotic courtier.
Even slogans such as "anti-Qing and restoration" and "expulsion of the Tartars" could not put on the cloak of justice for Zeng Guofan's rebellious behavior, and once the Manchu Qing had been in the customs for a long time, the difference between the manchu and Han ethnic contradictions, orthodoxy, and barbarians at this time was not as profound and sharp as it had been at the beginning.
Second, although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not explicitly put forward the slogan of "expelling the Tartars and restoring China", the core of its action undoubtedly had the nationalist color of eradicating the Manchu Qing, and the Xiang Army was the main force that helped the Qing court to destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
But we should also see that constraints from the moral level have an impact on people's final behavior, but they are not decisive factors.
The central government was weak, and the rebellion of the powerful ministers had been in ancient times, taking the era of Zeng Guofan as a reference, with Zhao Kuangyin in the front and Yuan Shikai in the back.
No matter what dynasty, it is not a glorious thing to be deeply favored by the country and then commit a rebellion, and didn't Song Taizu and Hongxian Emperor understand the Three Principles and Five Constants? Untethered and unconstrained by morality?
But under the great temptation of "yellow robes and body", as long as the strength allows and there is enough certainty, the restraining power of morality will sometimes become fragile.
Rather than loyalty, it is better to say that the chips of betrayal are not enough, I prefer to believe that after Tianjing, Zeng Guofan did not think of rebelling, but after comprehensively considering various possible risks, weighing the pros and cons, and thinking that it seems unwise to gamble on a thing with a small success rate at the cost of destroying fame and reputation under the premise of success and fame.
So what other factors would make Zeng Guofan think that there were huge risks and uncertainties in raising troops to rebel?
The Xiang Army in 1864 should have been the largest armed force in China at that time, of course, with the strength to win the Central Plains, and the generals around Zeng Guofan were indeed eager to move, constantly encouraging him to stand on his own.
As early as 1862, when the Xiang army was restoring Anqing, Li Yuandu wrote an article suggesting that "the prince has no species, the emperor has the truth"; Zeng Guofan's birthday, Hu Linyi also asked with a note: "The southeast half of the wall has no owner, does my father care?" Another big man in the Xiang Army, Zuo Zongtang, once wrote that "the weight of Ding is as heavy as it seems to be asked!" Peng Yuling, the commander of the Xiang Army's water division, even sent a secret envoy to send a letter, with the motto, "The southeast half of the wall has no owner, does the teacher care?" "Express the intention of persuasion.
For the above four generals who explicitly or implicitly supported Zeng Guofan's rebellion, we analyzed them one by one: Zuo Zongtang's situation is special, which will be described in detail below, but one thing is certain, that is, he will never sincerely support Zeng Guofan.
Among the remaining three, Li Yuandu was a literati, his influence and the help he could give to Zeng Guofan was negligible, and Hubei Inspector Hu Linyi was a real Xiang Army giant, a mainstay, but unfortunately, the day did not leave the year, this person had already died of illness in 1861. Therefore, among these people, the only ones who could really provide support to Zeng Guofan were none other than his protégé Peng Yulin and his Xiang Army Marine Division.
In addition to the supporters around them, let's take a look at the strength of the Xiang Army, when it attacked Tianjing in 1864, the strength of the Xiang Army also reached its peak, as for the specific figures, there are different versions of the historical records, but the overall should be around 200,000 or 300,000.
However, no matter how large the Xiang army was at that time, Zeng Guofan's concubines, that is, he could directly mobilize and was sure to follow him against the Qing, probably only three troops, first of all, of course, his brother, the Ninth Marshal Zeng Guoquan's Jizi battalion of 50,000 people.
In addition, Bao Chaotingzi's forty battalions of about 20,000 people, as well as Peng Yulin's Yangtze River Water Division of 50,000 people, with a total of 120,000 people against the Manchu Qing, can not be said to have no chance of victory, but it does have considerable risks.
The so-called knowing oneself and knowing the other side can never be defeated, Zeng Guofan wants to rebel and claim the emperor, and he has a few pounds and a few pounds in his own family, presumably he has weighed it countless times in his heart.
In addition to considering their own strength, the existence of several other important military forces is also a factor that cannot be ignored.
Although Zeng Guofan was the commander of the Xiang Army, the Xiang Army was not his private army, and its interior was not monolithic, at least divided into three lines: Jiang Liu (headed by Jiang Zhongyuan and Liu Changyou), Zeng Hu (headed by Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi), and Wang Zuo (headed by Wang Zheng and Zuo Zongtang).
Jiang Zhongyuan and Liu Changyou, both natives of Xinning, Hunan, became famous in the Chu Yong clan, the most senior member of the Xiang Army, and although they nominally belonged to the Xiang Army, they actually had no origin with Zeng Guofan.
Jiang Zhongyuan died early, Liu Changyou and Zeng Guofan did not have superior and subordinate subordinate relations, and in 1864, Liu Changyou had become the head of the nine viceroys of the Qing court, hoping that he would participate in the rebellion, which was tantamount to a fool's dream.
Looking at the aforementioned Zuo Zongtang, this person said that "the weight of the Ding, it seems to be questionable", to tell the truth, I seriously doubt the authenticity of the historical records, first of all, Zuo Zongtang, who was also the four famous ministers of ZTE, was not only arrogant and arrogant at that time, but also ranked in the feudal territory at that time, compared to the status of Zeng Guofan, it was only slightly inferior, what reason did he have to instigate or even follow his rebellion?
Moreover, shortly after the destruction of Tianjing City, the young king Hong Tianfugui fled, and Zeng Guofan wrote to the imperial court, falsely claiming that Hong Tianfugui had died in the war in Tianjing, but Zuo Zongtang actually wrote to the imperial court, indicating that the young king was still alive, and had fled south to Zhejiang under the escort of Huang Wenjin, the king of the blockade.
Concealing the whereabouts of the Young Heavenly King, deceiving the emperor and accusing him of his sins, Zuo Zongtang was loyal to the Qing court, and did not consider Zeng Guofan's previous favor for him, but instead had the feeling of putting Zeng Dashuai to death.
Such Zuo Zongtang and his 50,000 Chu troops, against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, of course, fully obeyed Zeng Guofan's dispatches, if Zeng Guofan rebelled, I believe that the first to stand up for the crusade, most likely will be Zuo Zongtang.
There was also another important figure- Li Hongzhang, commander of the Huai Army. By 1864, the Huai army had grown to more than 70,000 people, and the weapons and equipment were second to none at the time, and there was also a mixed Chinese and foreign unit "Changsheng Army" in hand, if Li Hongzhang supported Zeng Guofan, the situation would be very different.
But will Li Hongzhang follow Zeng Guofan in rebellion? The answer is obviously no, although Zeng and Li have a friendship between teachers and students, and the Huai Army is also from the Xiang Army, but for various reasons, the relationship between the Xiang and Huai armies is not harmonious.
And Li Hongzhang is a man of deep calculations, compared to Zeng Guofan, more than that, in 1861 Zeng Guofan Qimen was surrounded, leaving his mentor the first to run away was Li Hongzhang. It can be seen that Li Wenzhonggong knows the truth of Mingzhe's self-preservation better than anyone.
Moreover, relying on the strength on paper alone, the 70,000 Huai army in Li Hongzhang's hands is not weaker than zeng guofan's 120,000 xiang army, since they are all going to rebel, it is better to go it alone, why should they support zeng guofan and make wedding clothes for others?
Finally, although the Qing Dynasty has weakened the Western Mountains, it is not as vulnerable as imagined, and the Green Battalion soldiers throughout the country, although the combat strength is relaxed, but there are hundreds of thousands of people, Gyeonggi Heavy Land, and the most elite hundreds of thousands of cavalry in the Eight Banners.
Once Zeng Guofan used troops in the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, the Xiang Army's marine division would lose its usefulness, the director of the Jizi Battalion was to form a hard village and fight a stupid battle, although Bao Chaoting's army was good at charging into the front, the number of people was only 20,000, and the second was all infantry, even if the Qing court did not have the help of External forces such as Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, the confrontation on the plains, the Eight Banners Cavalry would also be a difficult opponent of Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army.
Looking at the external environment that affected Zeng Guofan's claim to the throne, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom began in 1851 from the Jintian Uprising in 1851 to the end of the Tianjing City in 1864, and in 14 years, there were countless wars of all sizes with the Qing army, and the flames of war almost burned throughout the south, during which the Second Opium War also broke out, and the Tiandihui and twist army uprisings also occurred one after another.
Mountains and rivers have fallen, the country is in turmoil, and the poor masses who have been devastated in the war are always the poorest masses, and now it is not easy to survive until the end of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the people, especially the people of the southern provinces, are extremely eager for a stable and peaceful life.
Zeng Guofan was full of poetry books, and the truth of "getting more help for the Tao and losing the Tao and not helping the Tao" should be understood.
Similarly, many grassroots soldiers of the Xiang Army, after breaking through Tianjing, more or less reaped a lot of benefits, surviving after the bloody battle, who is not eager to return to their hometown in fine clothes, enjoy the glory and wealth, and now let them put down everything in their hands and continue to carry their heads to be "rebels", and how many people will sincerely fight for the Sake of the Zeng family's Jiangshan?
What is more crucial is that although Tianjing was breached, there were still hundreds of thousands of remnants of the Taiping Army in the south at that time, and the 200,000 horses and horses who rescued Tianjing were marching east into Anhui, and the attendants Li Shixian and Wang Haiyang, the king of Kang, also had more than 200,000 troops, occupying Jiangxi and Zhejiang; and Huang Wenjin, the king of blockade, escorted the young king of Heaven to the south, absorbing the scattered troops along the way, and also gathering 120,000 people.
The remnants of these Taiping Armies, under the joint encirclement and suppression of the Qing Army and the Xiang Army, would be difficult to make great achievements in either surrender or defeat, but if Zeng Guofan rebelled against the Qing Dynasty in 1864 and went north, these hundreds of thousands of Taiping Troops who were destroyed by Zeng Guofan would be a huge hidden danger behind the Xiang Army.
Wars, especially large-scale and long-term wars, are definitely a bottomless pit of burning money. Weapons and equipment, ammunition, grain and grass, medicine and materials, military expenses and salaries, piles and pieces are all huge expenses, so the open side is the battle between the two armies on the battlefield, in fact, it is also a contest of financial resources behind the two sides.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Xiang Army, it was not a regular army of the state, so it was impossible to get financial support from the central government, and the Qing government was also stretched at that time, even if it wanted to help, it was unable to face the increasingly large Xiang Army.
Zeng Guofan has always adhered to the policy of "thick salary and raising soldiers", Xiang Yong's salary and silver are almost double that of the Green Battalion soldiers in the same period, and the Xiang Army does not produce or operate, itself does not have any hematopoietic function, the state has no special appropriations, and has fought with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for more than ten years, so where did Zeng Guofan's military expenditure come from?
In fact, the military expenses of the Xiang Army came from three aspects: persuasion, selling officials, and collecting gold.
In the early days, the number of Xiang troops was not large, and Zeng Guofan used his personal feelings and national righteousness to persuade the rich households of the squires to donate, but it was really impossible, so he softly grinded hard bubbles, threatened and intimidated with kidnapping and extortion.
In addition, although the Qing government could not give money, the policy support was quite powerful, and a large number of vacant diplomas and official positions were sent to Zeng Guofan, so that he could be sold in exchange for military funds in exchange for military funds.
However, whether it is to persuade donations and raise funds, or to sell officials and lords, after all, it is not a long-term solution. With the intensification of the course of the war and the increasing number of the Xiang army, this kind of small fight can no longer fundamentally solve the problem of the survival and development of the Xiang army.
In this case, the "lijin" came into being, and the lijin, to put it bluntly, is to increase the commodity tax, but the tax does not have to be handed over to the national treasury, and directly serves as the military expenses of the Xiang Army.
In the more than ten years that Zeng Guofan suppressed bandits, there were countless "gold bureaus" of all sizes in the southern provinces, and these gold cents taken from commodities were bound to be transferred to the heads of the common people in the form of raising prices.
Therefore, to use a less appropriate analogy, how many years Zeng Guofan "suppressed bandits", the Xiang Army lay on the bodies of ordinary people in various provinces and sucked blood for many years.
Of course, the Xiang Army is for the sake of the country, and in the absence of the central financial support, even if it is a bit of people's fat and people's ointment, it is still forgivable. But if Zeng Guofan was to satisfy his own personal imperial dream, the nature would be completely different.
The suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a war fought for more than ten years, the overthrow of the Manchu Qing, even if successful, I am afraid that the time will be longer.
At this time, the rich Jiangsu and Zhejiang were under the system of Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang respectively, while the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Gansu, and Anhui, after so many years of war, had long been devastated, and the localities needed to resume production, the people were eager to live and work in peace and contentment, and where there was still the ability to bear the larger and more protracted war consumption.
Based on the above reasons, in 1864, Zeng Guofan, who was in power and power, was able to judge the hour and size up the situation and immediately dismiss the Xiang army, instead of rising up as emperor with a hot head, it should be said that it was a helpless but quite wise decision.