In February 1854, Zeng Guofan (谥号文正) moved north from Hengyang and led 17,000 soldiers and horses to Changsha, preparing to attack Hong Xiuquan and eliminate the Taiping Army. At the time of his departure, Zeng Wenzheng issued an essay listing the various evils of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and under the banner of defending the Confucian Taoist system, he called on everyone to rise up and eliminate them: "Once the Chinese thousands of years of ritual and righteous people's poetry and poetry are swept away. This is the change of my great Qing Dynasty, it is a strange change in the famous religion since the opening, I Confucius Mencius wept bitterly in the Nine Plains, and all those who read and read can sit with their hands in peace, and do not think about anything. In this way, Zeng Guofan cleverly avoided the sharp class contradictions and ethnic contradictions at that time, used Confucianism as a weapon of battle, and was determined to fight to the end against Hong Xiuquan, who was fighting to the end with the slogan of "expelling the Tartars, restoring China, and establishing the kingdom of heaven", and finally eliminating them. So, if Hong Xiuquan respected the Confucian tradition, would Zeng Wenzheng still raise an army to fight? The text informs the answer
Hong Xiuquan's destruction of the Confucian tradition is mainly evidenced by Zeng Guofan's famous "Crusade against the Cantonese Bandits", "The Cantonese bandits burned the scholarly officials of Chenzhou, destroyed the Wooden Lord of Xuansheng, and the Ten Philosophers and two Chambers were full of chaos." He was the county he passed, and destroyed the temple first, that is, loyal and righteous soldiers such as the King of Guandi Yue, also defiled his palace and mutilated his head. As for Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, city gods, and altars, there is no direction, no burning, no image, no extinction. "So, is that really the case? Non also. Take the destruction of the Chenzhou Xuegong, the "Chenzhou Zhili Prefecture Rural Chronicle" contains that "suitable For Cantonese thieves to commit crimes, destroyed by soldiers", saying that they were destroyed by military disasters, bing should refer to Qing soldiers, Zeng Wenzheng here is suspected of deliberately planting bribes and marrying disasters. Of course, in the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, there were indeed radical acts of destroying traditional culture, but they were quickly resisted by Yang Xiuqing. Hong Xiuquan set up a book-deleting office in Nanjing, revised Confucian classics, and wanted to destroy them. In this way, Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, directly played "Heavenly Father Under The Mortal", forcing Hong Xiuquan to give in and stop the action of destroying the classic.
After a short period of extremes, Hong Xiuquan, under the pressure of all parties, has become rational and has not destroyed all texts, temples, palaces, Taoist temples and other actions as Zeng Wenzheng said. Defending tradition and protecting culture can only be Zeng Wenzheng's fighting banner and tools, not the real purpose. Zeng Wenzheng is attacking Hong Xiuquan, and there are several places in "The Discussion of Cantonese Bandits" that have clearly informed the answer. Zeng Wenzheng said: "Since his hypocrites and hypocrites have been arrested and served in lowly service, they are all called brothers, and only heaven can be called fathers, and in addition, the fathers of all the people are brothers, and the mothers of all the people are sisters." "What does this mean?" Hong Xiuquan called on everyone to rise up against feudal rule, pursue freedom and equality, and eliminate the existing hierarchical order, which infringed on the political interests of the landlord class. "The peasant cannot cultivate himself to receive the endowment, but the field is the land of the king; the merchant cannot buy itself to get interest, but the goods are the goods of the king." Hong Xiuquan played "public ownership" and confiscated the property of the landlords, infringing on the economic interests of the landlord class. Of course, what Hong Xiuquan said did not do, but it did violate the political and economic interests of the landlord class.
Zeng Wenzheng, the main representative of the Confucian school of Confucianism in Hunan and a staunch defender of the interests of the landlord class, how could he allow his own interests to be infringed upon? Next, Zeng Wenzheng provoked another conflict, that is, provoking regional strife and creating contradictions. As he said: "The Cantonese bandits are in peace and prosperity, but those who regard me as a man who has been threatened by the two lakes and three rivers have been dogs, cattle and horses." This is cruel and cruel, and those who have flesh and blood have not heard of it and do not regret it. "This is interesting, Hong Xiuquan regards Hunan people as cattle, horses, pigs and dogs, is this really the case?" Non-also, after the Battle of Ziyidu, the elite of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was killed in 4,000 battles, and the Southern King Feng Yunshan was killed, which can be described as injuring yuan qi. After entering Daozhou, the Heaven and Earth Society, miners, etc. participated one after another, gathering more than 60,000 people to restore their strength; after invading Yuezhou and Wuchang, more than 100,000 fishermen, sailors, boatmen, porters, etc. joined the army. In just half a year, more than 200,000 people in the two lakes area have taken the initiative to join the army. The two lakes have made great contributions, and the coffee position of their personnel is naturally high, how can it be said that they are wrapped up? For example, Li Rongfa, the second highness of the Zhong'er, and Tang Zhengcai, the leader of the water division, were all people of the two lakes.
Under the natural economic form, all parts of China are relatively closed and do not have much contact with each other, so they have formed a very strong local consciousness and regional concept. Zeng Wenzheng provoked contradictions between personnel from Hunan and Hubei and Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, played "regional conflicts," and let people from the two lakes and the two guangzhous kill each other, thus creating conditions for himself to recruit soldiers and horses. Then, Zeng Guofan played the "sentiment card", saying that the Manchu Qing Emperor was innocent, that he brought us well-being, that he was the emperor of the world, and that we all had to support him. "At the end of the former Han Dynasty, Tang Yuanming, the group of thieves was like Mao, all of whom were in turmoil by the Lord, and could not be leveled. Today the Son is diligent and diligent, respects the heavens and the people, does not give more to the land, does not smoke the household, and is the deep benevolence of the saints, and the tyrannical and rogue thief, no matter how late, will eventually perish, and will not wait for the wise and be clear. "The Emperors of the Han, Tang, and Ming Dynasties were cruel and could not safeguard our interests, so it was understandable that the masses rebelled; the Manchu Qing Emperor "Emperor Grace was vast", thinking of us everywhere, and opposing him was a traitor and a thief, and everyone was condemned. This emotional card, interesting.
From the content of "Seeking Cantonese Bandits", it can be seen that even if Hong Xiuquan was under the banner of defending the Confucian tradition, Zeng Wenzheng would still raise an army to destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in order to protect his own interests. Zeng Wenzheng marked himself as defending tradition, but how many generals and soldiers of the Xiang Army had the spirit of Confucian justice? How many are truly committed to the world? Zeng Guofan's direct subordinate legions, Bao Chao's "Thunder Army" and Zeng Guoquan's "Jizi Battalion", the corruption of military discipline is rare in history, and it can be called a demon. Zeng Guofan, known as "Zeng Shaved His Head", beheaded and demoted many pawns; Li Chendian, after invading Nanjing, died in the "Gentle Township"; Zeng Guoquan, who called himself "squandering money like soil and killing like hemp"; Xi Baotian, the greatest pleasure of fighting, is to earn money. It can be seen that defending the Confucian tradition (Zeng Wenzheng did not dare to continue to maintain the tradition at the time of the Tianjin teaching case) is only a fig leaf for Zeng Wenzheng, not the real purpose. What do you think about this?
Bibliography: "Fengtian Begging Hu Demon", "Begging Cantonese Bandits"