Just as Zeng Guofan led his troops to besiege Anqing, an urgent twist of the imperial court was handed over to Zeng Guofan. It turned out that this was an edict from the Xianfeng Emperor, which meant that now that there was a crisis in Beijing, Zeng Guofan was asked to send three thousand elite soldiers to Beijing to protect the emperor. On the one hand, if you leave Anqing, going to Beijing is equivalent to sparing the Taiping Army, so that the plan to counterinsurgency of the Taiping Army will be frustrated, and the previous efforts will be wasted. However, throughout the ages, the emperor's life was threatened, and as a courtier, he naturally had to protect it, and if he did not send troops to protect it, he would be accused of disloyalty. Therefore, Zeng Guofan was faced with a dilemma, whether to go or not to go.
In this edict, Xian Feng named Bao Chao, a general in Zeng Guofan's Xiang army, who had strong military command ability and was good at fighting, and at this time he was a powerful general against the Taiping Army. If Bao Chao had been transferred to the imperial court at this time, it would have been tantamount to digging a deadly corner for Zeng Guofan. Secondly, the edict also said that Bao Chao would accept Katsuho's dispatch after entering Beijing, and Zeng Guofan analyzed that this matter was not simple, which was clearly a demolition. However, the situation in Beijing is very critical, and if you rush to Beijing at this time, all the efforts of Anqing will be wasted.
Just when Zeng Guofan was in a dilemma, Li Hongzhang came, and after some discussion, he had to admire Li Hongzhang's keen military insight, and Li Hongzhang felt that although the situation of this edict was critical, even if Zeng Guofan sent troops to Beijing, he would not be able to save Beijing, and the foreigners' strong ships and cannons would soon attack Beijing, and after going there at this time, they could not change at all. The time for the Anglo-French coalition army to enter Beijing will not exceed ten days, and after these ten days, whether it is war or peace, it is more inclined to seek peace. Therefore, if Zeng Guofan sent troops forward, if he was in the process of seeking peace between the Great Qing and the great powers, it would add to the chaos, after all, after so many soldiers, after going, there would be no sincerity in seeking peace.
And how can such a crisis be solved now? Li Hongzhang felt that it would be okay to drag it out, and within twenty days, the peace would be successful. Li Hongzhang knew that the purpose of the Anglo-French coalition was for money and profit, and the rest was not within their consideration, so the peacemaking could be successful. Later, sure enough, the Xianfeng Emperor fled and went to Chengde, leaving Prince Gong Yi on the Beijing side. For Prince Gong Yi, this mess still needs him to clean up, in fact, Prince Gong is more capable, under his maneuvering, he has consulted with many foreigners many times, and after agreeing to the conditions proposed by the foreigners, the two sides signed an agreement, and the Beijing crisis has come to an end.
How did Zeng Guofan drag it out? The emperor's oracle could not be returned, so he said in the oracle that Bao Chao's grade and experience were not enough, and I was afraid that it would be difficult to complete this task, and he pleaded with the emperor if he could change a capable person to go north, so as to ensure the safety of the emperor. Just when this reply was sent, the discussion was successful at this time, really as Li Hongzhang expected. This matter is probably the most difficult event that Zeng Guofan has encountered in his life, fortunately, Li Hongzhang has a plan, although in the end, the crisis is turned into safety, Zeng Guofan's heart still has palpitations. From this incident, we can see Li Hongzhang's excellent political insight, and if he could not see the overall situation clearly, he would not speculate so.
Zeng Guofan is a very thoughtful person, everything will leave a back road, in this matter he has long thought of the back road, and wrote a letter to Zeng Guoquan, that is, Zeng Guofan's ninth brother. In the letter, Zeng Guofan and Zeng Guoquan said that if the emperor issued another edict to take the two of them to Beijing to rescue the car, zeng Guoquan later returned a letter from Zeng Guofan, and Zeng Guofan burned it after reading it, so the letter was not left behind. According to the later Zeng Guofan family letter, the content of this letter can be inferred.
Zeng Guoquan is a very stubborn person, now surrounded Anqing, if once retreated, the Taiping Army will counterattack, so that the previous efforts will be wasted, Zeng Guoquan naturally knows, so for Zeng Guoquan, going to Beijing at this time is to connive at the Taiping Army, Zeng Guoquan is short-tempered, and blunt, so in this letter it is likely to say that the Xianfeng Emperor is in a disorderly dispatch, or that it is better not to save the Xianfeng Emperor! Such an emperor had no insight at all, and at this time, Prince Gong was much more capable than Xianfeng, and it was not as good as him to be emperor. Of course, these contents are all speculative, although they are only speculations, but they are in line with Zeng Guoquan's psychology and personality. The Ninth Brother said what Zeng Guofan did not dare to say, so Zeng Guofan burned the letter after reading it, and if he continued to stay in his hands and was discovered by others, the Zeng family was likely to be zhulian Nine Tribes.
Later, in Zeng Guofan's family book, Zeng Guofan's reply to the ninth brother was included, in this letter, Zeng Guofan spoke seriously, criticizing Zeng Guoquan's various views, which more affirmed that Zeng Guofan said something that should not be said in his letter to Zeng Guofan, and he criticized the ninth brother so much that he was afraid that the ninth brother would say something that should not be said on some occasions in the future, which was also protecting him, so zeng guofan's family letter was published very late, in order to avoid the disaster of killing.