Zuo Zongtang Hunan, one of the important ministers in the late Qing Dynasty, in the early years of the township examination, but after the examination failed many times, so he studied and studied in the countryside, read a lot of books, and then participated in the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, advocated the foreign affairs movement, set up civil enterprises, once served in the Governor of Liangjiang and the Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, taking advantage of the chaos of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Xinjiang region took the opportunity to divide the territory, the local leaders invited the kokand Khanate leader Agubai, always occupied the Xinjiang region, at this time the Tsarist Russia also took the opportunity to occupy the Ili region of Xinjiang.
At this time, the elderly Zuo Zongtang carried the coffin board out of Ili City and prepared for the final decisive battle against Tsarist Russia, and such a tough attitude on the battlefield infected every soldier, which made Zeng Jize full of confidence in the negotiations. This Tsarist Russia was a paper tiger on the display, afraid that Zuo Zongtang would really be hard to the end, and the western expedition army crossed the border by the way, as far as the Russian mainland was concerned, and seeing that the great war was about to break out, the imperial court that had always been noble came to Zuo Zongtang's side and summoned Zuo Zongtang. This is the credit of the Coastal Defense Faction in the imperial court, and it is also in line with Cixi's wishes. In the face of such a will, Zuo Zongtang naturally understood that this imperial court had not done such things once or twice, but was obviously on the side of the advantage, and still had to do cowardly things. But the will of the monarch can never be violated.
When Zuo Zongtang made a bold promise to recover Xinjiang within five years, Cixi asked him how long it would take to recover it five years ago when he went out on the expedition, and he forcefully replied that it would take five years. Now the last line of the imperial court has fulfilled his original promise, although there is no contest with Tsarist Russia in this city, but his merits and achievements have been able to pass on for hundreds of years. Zuo Zongtang, who returned to Beijing in triumph, once again stepped into this court full of decay, and he felt very sad in his heart. Zuo Zongtang, who was full of righteousness, seemed to have a unique aura on his body that was enough to dispel the unfair and evil qi in this world. It is a kind of heroism that stands tall in the world.
After a long journey back to Beijing, Zuo Zongtang passed through the Chongwen Gate, but was stopped by the gatekeeper, what is the reason, this is to collect the gate fee, Zuo Zongtang thought that the gatekeeper just wanted some small money, so he asked the keeper how much money the gatekeeper needed, and the number of openings was stunned. According to his explanation, Zuo Zongtang was a high-ranking local official with status, and he had to collect tens of thousands of taels of silver when he crossed the door, and Zuo Zongtang had to lose his temper at that time, which was ordered by the monarch to enter the palace for a visit, which was more than the silver was logically out of the imperial court. The gatekeeper was also unconvinced when he heard this, and when this great man entered this door, he also paid tens of thousands of taels of silver, which was a rule established by the imperial court and must not be disobeyed. Zuo Zongtang replied that I didn't have so much silver, and it seemed that I could only break this rule today.
The gatekeeper still refused to give up on this, how could this hall official have no money, he was so stingy, in the early years, Zuo Zongtang had already started to beat people, at this time Zuo Zongtang was old, even if he was tough, he would have to pass and said that since this was the case, I came from the west or returned to the northwest. This imperial court learned that Zuo Zongtang was blocked at chongwen gate, and Li Lianying's general manager could not bear this pressure, and even offended this old minister, Prince Gong went to meet Zuo Zongtang outside the Yongding Gate after asking Cixi, but he did not expect that at this time, some of his men ran out to ask Zuo Zongtang for money, at that time Zuo Zongtang turned his face, I have never seen this situation when I was so old, where did you slaves come from. Li Lianying did not dare to be arrogant when she saw Zuo Zongtang with such a look, so she asked Zuo Zongtang to meet the monarch.
At this time, Cixi was sick and inconvenient to see Zuo Zongtang, only Ci'an presided over the overall situation in the harem, Ci'an obviously had an infinite feeling in his heart after seeing Zuo Zongtang, so he involuntarily let Zuo Zongtang get closer, let her see Zuo Zongtang's appearance, Ci'an observed for a while, his eyes turned red, thinking of Zuo Zongtang's bowing for the imperial court over the years, it was not easy to garrison the frontier and shed tears, seeing Ci'an shed tears, Zuo Zongtang's old eyes were also in tears, It wasn't until he felt out of shape that he took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.
Later, this Guangxu had a birthday, according to the rules, the minister of culture and martial arts had to wait early in the Qianqing Palace, and then perform the ceremony according to the etiquette, but this time Zuo Zongtang was late, and he still had less prostrations when performing the ceremony. This can make the villain who has bad intentions against Zuo Zongtang grasp the handle, and then impeach him, so he handed it to Cixi, and Cixi was furious after seeing it, And Lord Zuo fought for many years and served the imperial court for so many years. Since zuo Zongtang came to the military aircraft department, he was not impeached, but he was never convicted, but why did he leave the military aircraft department later, his strong personality was not accustomed to the official practices, Cixi let Zuo Zongtang go to the Liangjiang area to become the governor.