As we all know, the court of the late Qing Dynasty was very corrupt and dark, but in such a situation, a group of people appeared, still putting the security and interests of the country in the first place, and making no small contribution to the country, including Zuo Zongtang.
Liang Qichao once praised Zuo Zongtang as "the first great man in five hundred years", so why did he get such a high evaluation?
Excavated by Lin Zexu
Lin Zexu resolutely sold cigarettes at Humen and made meritorious contributions, but the gun shot the head bird, and the imperial court feared foreign invaders, and dismissed Lin Zexu, who had made meritorious achievements, and many government officials targeted him.
Lin Zexu was completely disappointed in the officialdom, but he could not watch the Qing court decline step by step, so he wanted to find a person who benefited the country to enter the Qing court to urge the country not to continue to degenerate, and Zuo Zongtang entered Lin Zexu's eyes at that time.
Zuo Zongtang was born in a not-so-wealthy scholarly Xiang mendi, and from an early age he read poetry and books, and studied military and political studies, laying the foundation for his future service to the country. After the outbreak of the First Opium War, Zuo Zongtang was still in Hunan.
In 1848, when there was a flood in Xiangyin, Zuo Zongtang used his heart to relieve the disaster. In 1850, Lin Zexu returned to the township and met Zuo Zongtang, and after getting along, Lin Zexu was very optimistic about Zuo Zongtang, and the two hit it off.
Therefore, Lin Zexu handed over the materials and atlases accumulated over the years to Zuo Zongtang, retreated to the second line, and pushed Zuo Zongtang to the front of the imperial court, and after getting Lin Zexu's recommendation, Zuo Zongtang was reused by the Qing court.
Try your best to contribute to the imperial court
After entering and leaving the imperial court, Zuo Zongtang did not live up to Lin Zexu's appreciation, and made a series of measures in many aspects, making indelible contributions to the faltering Qing Dynasty at that time.
Zuo Zongtang realized that the Repeated Setbacks of the Qing Court in its confrontation with Western powers were mostly due to military defeats, so he attached great importance to "foreign affairs" and learned advanced Western military industrial technology.
He founded the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, established a shipyard, became the first new type of shipyard in Chinese history, and also made great contributions to the improvement of China's shipbuilding technology and the cultivation of naval talents, and was one of the leading figures in the foreign affairs movement.
After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement began, Changsha was surrounded by the Taiping Army, and Zuo Zongtang immediately personally commanded the battle, spending three months to repel the Taiping Army and defend the imperial court.
While building up military forces, Zuo Zongtang also rectified corrupt officials and corrupt officials, advocating the establishment of inspectors to supervise government officials in various localities, which played a certain role in rectifying the illusory atmosphere in the imperial court.
Zuo Zongtang was also very concerned about the people's livelihood problems, and during his term of office, he carried out the treatment and repair of the country's rivers and canals, unified planning, and vigorously built irrigation projects in many places to help the people develop agriculture.
Before Lin Zexuhumen sold cigarettes and launched a campaign to ban smoking, Zuo Zongtang also made a difference in the issue of controlling opium, increasing import taxes and blocking opium imports. At the same time, in China, he encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland to plant crops such as cotton to replace planting, which not only tried to increase the income of the people, but also played a role in reducing the amount of opium planted.
From many perspectives, Zuo Zongtang's measures played a huge role in the Qing Dynasty, delaying the decline of the Qing court to a certain extent. At that time, when the country was in trouble, his courage and consciousness to serve the country were rare.
Recover territory
In 1864, the centralization of power in the Qing Dynasty was constantly weakened, and foreign forces also took advantage of the influx, and rebellions occurred throughout Xinjiang, forming a situation of division and division.
In 1867, Agubo became king in Xinjiang, and Russia took the opportunity to occupy the Ili region, challenging the Qing dynasty's rule. Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang advocated abandoning Guanwai, not recovering territory, and defending the overall situation with peace of mind.
Zuo Zongtang, on the other hand, believed that none of the country's territories could be divided, and firmly advocated the recovery of Xinjiang. Then the Qing Emperor decided to send Zuo Zongtang to recover the lost land, and Zuo Zongtang was ordered to take charge of the recovery operation outside Guanwai.
After a meticulous analysis of the situation, Zuo Zongtang put forward the strategy of "slowly advancing into a rapid battle, first north and then south", he planned and then moved, and was very cautious in recovering the lost land.
Because the officials and soldiers of the Qing court were not very familiar with the situation in Xinjiang, Zuo Zongtang decided to start with the relatively stable northern Xinjiang, and then slowly advance to the south, and then launch a fierce offensive to take back Xinjiang in one fell swoop after making all the preparations for battle.
In the process of recovering the territory, Zuo Zongtang knew how to skillfully gather various forces and strengthen them from all aspects of financial strength and military strength, he overcame all difficulties, personally did all kinds of things, and shared weal and woe with the soldiers.
brief summary
Zuo Zongtang swung his division south after pacifying northern Xinjiang, repelled Agubo's army, and recaptured Xinjiang a year later, which was undoubtedly very exciting for the Qing court at that time.
Although the feudal corruption of the Qing Dynasty determined that it was bound to decline, Zuo Zongtang's outstanding contributions were still indelible, and it can be said that without Zuo Zongtang, China would have lost a large area of Xinjiang.