Zuo Zongtang can be said to be one of the most dignified courtiers in the late Qing Dynasty, and under the situation of internal and external troubles, it is not easy to recover Xinjiang, if there is no Zuo Zongtang, the recovery of Xinjiang is far away. On the one hand, he resisted the pressure, and on the other hand, he fought with the enemy with the belief that he would die, in order to ensure that Xinjiang returned to the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
He was a very courageous general, and the DPRK and China were generally not optimistic about his recovery of Xinjiang, and even measured it with pedantic ideas, so that it was difficult after the war began. Long-distance marching itself is not easy, especially in Xinjiang, where the Gobi is all over the world, which is a great challenge to the endurance of soldiers. However, this army eventually defeated the enemy and successfully recaptured Xinjiang. In the recovery of Xinjiang, these few moments showed Zuo Zongtang's determination to die in this war:
Carry the coffin out on the expedition.
When Zuo Zongtang's army went out, along with the army there was still a coffin, which was Zuo Zongtang's coffin, and the coffin was covered with black paint, which meant that Zuo Zongtang was ready to die. He did not mean that he was really going to die in battle, but to boost morale, carrying a coffin while marching, which is rare. Moreover, the black paint is used when the dead are buried, and it can be said that in this war, Zuo Zongtang would rather die on the battlefield than recover Xinjiang. The soldiers were very brave when they saw that the lord had already given up his life. Later, after arriving in Xinjiang, the coffin was painted red, which showed that Zuo Zongtang had great hopes for this war, and when the soldiers saw this, they had hope in their hearts and were no longer afraid in the face of war.
Kill the chickens and scare the monkeys, and establish military rules.
The Qing Dynasty army was corrupt and lax military discipline was already the norm, and in order to establish military rules, Zuo Zongtang went on a killing spree. On this expedition, insufficient military salaries were also a key problem facing Zuo Zongtang, who lacked food and grass in the army, and many generals marched hungry. When the generals came to the territory of Jiuquan in Gansu, an incident occurred. There was a troop leader, too hungry to walk, saw that there were snacks selling on the street, called sweet yellow rice, selling snacks was a woman, this leader ran over to take sweet yellow rice to eat, after eating enough, she did not pay and left, and then the woman cried and complained about finding the army, saying that someone ate something and did not give money. Zuo Zongtang knew that this matter was not trivial, and if he continued to connive, no one would abide by the military rules and discipline, so he found this leader.
Seeing that Zuo Zongtang was so severe, the leader knew that if he admitted it, he would die, and Zuo Zongtang knew that it must be this person who did it, but how to prove it when something was eaten into his stomach? The leader probably thought the same thing, but just when things didn't make any progress, Zuo Zongtang actually let the leader open his stomach and cut his stomach, and the sweet yellow rice inside flowed out, confirming that this person did it. The woman couldn't believe it either, she was too frightened to speak, and the soldiers were too frightened to speak out, and no one disobeyed Zuo Zongtang's orders anymore. It can be seen that Zuo Zongtang in order to establish strict military rules, killing chickens and monkeys, this move is indeed very effective.
Buckle yourself and take the lead in eating sweet potatoes.
There was great resistance to this western expedition, and many people in the DPRK and China did not support it, including Li Hongzhang, who believed that this western expedition could not change anything at all. Li Hongzhang was Zuo Zongtang's political enemy, and Li Hongzhang did not approve of the Western Expedition, not only disapproving but also saying a lot of bad things about Zuo Zongtang in front of Cixi. Cixi supported this western expedition, believing that Zuo Zongtang, who was too old to be a flower armour, would be able to recover Xinjiang. In addition to Cixi's support, the Western Expedition also needed military salaries, which was the top priority facing Zuo Zongtang.
At that time, Shen Baozhen was in charge of coastal defense, and the silver needed for coastal defense was actually borrowed from foreigners, and the annual military salary was about ten million taels, and at that time, the imperial court did not have so much money at all, in the face of ten million taels of military salaries, Zuo Zongtang was very worried, so he wrote a letter, and told Cixi about this matter in the recital, wanting to borrow money from foreigners to fight like Shen Baozhen. Cixi asked the ministers to discuss the matter, and Li Hongzhang said that the current situation is so dangerous that it is not necessary to win a war, and it is better to give up the war, after all, the DPRK and China have no money. And Shen Baozhen is also this way of saying.
Later, Zuo Zongtang knew that there was no money in the DPRK, so he told Cixi to cut expenses, as long as four million taels, Cixi knew that it was not easy for such an old man with flower armor to lead troops to fight, and since he supported this matter, ten million and twenty thousand could not be less, but there was really no extra money in the DPRK. At this time, Li Hongzhang said that Zuo Zongtang actually fought the war this time for his own sake of swallowing up the Western Regions, implying that he had the intention of rebellion. Although they are all courtiers of the dynasty, political differences are really terrible, but fortunately Cixi did not listen to Li Hongzhang's words, but asked the military minister Wen Xiang, Wen Xiang knew that now Coastal Defense is very short of money, the DPRK really does not have money for Zuo Zongtang to recover Xinjiang, but Wen Xiang is a person with a clear distinction between right and wrong, he told everyone that Zuo Zongtang carried a coffin out on the expedition, such a dignity touched many people, now that he is over the years old, he does not forget the Qing Dynasty, is a model for officials, in order to save military pay, he disregarded his weak body, took the lead in eating sweet potatoes, and he could not see the meat It was not easy, so the controversy of the people was put to rest, and with the support of the imperial court, Zuo Zongtang finally recovered Xinjiang.