After the capture of Tianjing, the Xiang Army group headed by Zeng Guofan reached its peak, and almost all of the 18 provinces in the country, except for a few provinces, became the territory of the Xiang Army group; after the suppression of the Twist Army, the Huai Army group headed by Li Hongzhang reached its peak, and for more than 20 years, the Huai Army gradually became the most important military force in the late Qing Dynasty.
Zuo Zongtang, who had also suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and also suppressed the Western Twist army, did not lose his merits to Zuo Zongtang of Zeng and Li, so why did he not form a new political group? Even after his death, he did not leave any political legacy.
Strictly speaking, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang were both from the Xiang Army, but Li Hongzhang's road became wider and wider, and an independent warlord force was formed after the Xiang Army. Zuo Zongtang's Chu army was not a concubine of Zeng Guofan, and since he became the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, he was basically no longer subject to Zeng Guofan's control, and later the Chu army lineage followed Zuo Zongtang to Shaanxi and Gansu.
The reason why Zuo Zongtang's Chu army did not form a political group was due to subjective factors and objective factors, and the main reasons for analyzing them were as follows:
First, the lack of support from Zeng Guofan
After the capture of Tianjing, Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Dowager Yi were killed. The Manchu nobles, led by the Manchu nobles, picked bones in the eggs, and looked for the Zeng brothers several times, in fact, this is the Qing court deliberately hinting at Zeng Guofan: The battle has been fought, and you two brothers should also converge!
Zeng Guofan was a wise man, and he knew a little bit, and he immediately went up to the music to say that he would drastically reduce the Xiang army. Including Zuo Zongtang's Chu army, this disarmament seriously damaged the Xiang army, three-quarters of the troops were laid off, and only a few of the troops of the Concubine clan were left behind because of the garrison.
In the process of disarmament, Zeng Guofan deliberately favored the Huai army, and the size of the Huai army was basically retained, with a loss of less than one-third. Zeng Li had a relationship between teachers and students and family friends, so he regarded Li Hongzhang as his own mantle. Therefore, after the disarmament of the Xiang Army, the Huai Army replaced the Xiang Army as the most powerful armed force in the hands of the Han bureaucracy. In addition, Li Hongzhang attached great importance to equipping the Huai Army with Western weapons, so the Huai Army had more advantages than the Xiang Army and the Chu Army in terms of numbers and combat effectiveness.
Second, focus on cultivating shogunate talents
Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang had a large number of staff members under their command, such as in the early years of tongzhi, when the Xiang Army was at its peak, there were hundreds of officials above zhengerpin, that is, above the general army. More than 60 people in the Xiangjun clique achieved the position of supervisor, and at that time, the governors of the whole country were also on the post, and the Xiangjun clique accounted for the vast majority.
As for the envoys, envoys, taoists, prefects, prefectures, and counties cannot be accurately calculated, let alone thousands.
Li Hongzhang studied under Zeng Guofan, and in the construction of the shogunate, the blue was better than the blue, and during the heyday of the Huai Army, the main generals of the Huai Army were appointed by the Qing court as the governors of the provinces, setting a precedent for modern military personnel to interfere in politics. These governors hold the power of one or more provinces, and they act independently, and the central government decrees are not passable.
The Huai forces successively controlled the local real power of 16 provinces, including Zhili, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Sichuan, and controlled not only local finances, but also the administrative power of the localities.
Of course, Zuo Zongtang also had his own shogunate, but his talent was far less than zeng and Li, and except for Hu Xueyan, we could hardly find a second person with a slight influence. Such as Liu Dian, Zhou Kaixi, Duan Guangqing, Ye Xiongcai, Wang Jiamin, Shen Yingkui, Chen Ruizhi, etc., these people are in the third class, and their fame is generally not high.
Zuo Zongtang's shogunate was not prosperous, first of all, the Chu army was only a part of the Xiang army, and naturally it could not support the situation alone after the Xiang army group was not there, because the Xiang army in the same period still had two main forces, namely Zeng Guoquan and Shen Baozhen, and their areas were in the Central Plains, which was relatively more influential on the situation.
Third, it is not appropriate to employ people far from the political center
From the fifth year of Tongzhi to the sixth year of Guangxu, Zuo Zongtang served as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu for 15 years. The viceroy of Shaanxi and Gansu was one of the more important governors of the Qing Dynasty, but after all, it was far away from the political center in the northwest, and the influence played by Zuo Zongtang could not be compared with Li Hongzhang.
Moreover, during Zuo Zongtang's tenure as governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, it was the most prosperous stage of the foreign affairs movement, li Hongzhang, Shen Baozhen, Zhang Zhidong and others played an important role in the foreign affairs movement, only Zuo Zongtang was marginalized, if it were not for the later recovery of Xinjiang, I am afraid he would not be able to be on a par with Li Hongzhang.
The geographical location of Shaanxi and Gansu not only affected Zuo Zongtang's political status and prospects, but also was not conducive to the pooling of talents. Because the high-end talents at that time were not willing to stay away from the Jingshi, Zhili, Liangjiang or central plains, it was difficult to say that the talents in the Zuo Zongtang shogunate were all leaked out of the fingers of Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong. Therefore, Zuo Zongtang's shogunate was not full of talents, and the overall quality was relatively general.
In addition, Zuo Zongtang's personality is relatively withdrawn, and it is not easy to get along with people, especially those who are born into the military. This also had a great impact on the development of his shogunate, and it is said that many outstanding talents were not reused by Zuo Zongtang, and many people abandoned Zuo and joined Li.
Fourth, people who do not understand the unspoken rules of the official arena are unlikely to become officials
Zuo Zongtang was born with a stubborn temper and was too self-aware. In the early years, he had fought a general soldier under the supervision of hunan, and because of this matter, he was impeached by the governor of Huguang and almost cut off his career prospects. During the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Zuo also had conflicts with Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, which made everyone very embarrassed.
On the one hand, the relationship with colleagues was not good, and the relationship with the powerful people of the imperial court Zuo Zongtang was not harmonious. After recovering Xinjiang, Cixi ordered Zuo to be transferred to the capital to become a military minister, but Zuo Zongtang regarded himself as a high meritocracy, and no one paid attention to it, that is, Prince Gong Yi? As well as a large number of military ministers, Zuo Zongtang was also completely inappropriate. During the six months in the capital, Zuo Zongtang ran into a wall left and right, suffering from not understanding the unspoken rules of the officialdom, and finally Cixi felt that Zuo Zongtang was indeed not suitable for being an official in the capital, and transferred him to Liangjiang.
In the official arena, do not flatter, do not shoot horses, do not give gifts and bribes, Zuo Zongtang's style of doing his own thing, the high-level naturally does not like, but Zuo Zongtang does not have a bad eye, the credit is great, everyone still let him in the face, but after all, it is not easy to get along with Zuo, far less comfortable than Li Hongzhang.
The above four reasons are that Zuo Zongtang's Chu army group did not form a climate, and there were not many people around him who became high-ranking officials such as the governor, and as for his death, he was even more innocent, leaving no political legacy, let alone the so-called mantle passed on.