There has never been a good war, and there has never been a bad peace. - Franklin
War will always bring harm, whether it is the victorious side or the losing side, those who have passed away will never come back. In the modern history of our country, there have been many wars with foreign invaders, and of course, these wars have all ended in the defeat of the Chinese army.
War can not be separated from the experience of the commander-in-chief has a very great impact on the war, in the modern war in our country must be inseparable from a person, that is, Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guofan in a series of wars in China's modern period has a figure, which has a great impact on the situation in the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang is his protégé, until now, Zeng Guofan has still become a saint in the hearts of some people who have neutral virtue and made meritorious contributions.
However, Zeng Guofan was actually not as good as everyone thought, in 1860. The Anglo-French coalition invaded the city of Beijing at that time, and Zeng Guofan at this time actually led 120,000 generals, but he did not help.
In fact, this was because there were some contradictions between Zeng Guofan and the Qing government at that time, and Zeng Guofan was still responsible for encircling and suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so he was not willing to send troops to help.
1. Zeng Guofan and his 120,000 Xiang army
At the beginning, Zeng Guofan's army was actually just a few regiments training militia. Like all last dynasties, a very grand peasant revolt broke out in the late period of the new government, which was at the level of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which soon swept through several provinces in the southeast, causing very heavy losses to the Qing Dynasty's tax-paying land.
Since the supply of taxes could not be obtained, the Qing government naturally had no money to deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and more importantly, the Qing government at this time was still facing huge reparations from foreign invaders, and it was even more impossible to take out silver from the national treasury to train the army.
Therefore, the Qing government at that time was also like the government of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han government required each locality to gather its own people and horses to garrison, and the Qing government required each local village to organize its own regiment training to resist the attack of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
This also gave Zeng Guofan a chance to make meritorious contributions, he set up a regimental exercise in his hometown of Hubei, and began to train such people. Because of Zeng Guofan's relatively large reputation and the fact that he was a landlord himself, he soon colluded with the bureaucrats and gentry in central China.
With the money and property of these people, supporting Zeng Guofan's regimental training, it was soon done well, and then with the confrontation of the Eight Banners army of the full rank and the repeated defeats in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guofan's Xiang army gradually began to grow, until about 120,000 people.
However, the Manchu Qing Emperor naturally did not like the Han bureaucratic landlords to have such strength, so in their eyes, the Xiang Army could be regarded as a second-class citizen, and the most bitter and difficult battles were let these Xiang Troops fight, and after the battle, they let the Eight Banner Army pick peaches and give the credit to these Eight Banner Army.
It is precisely for such a reason that there is an irreconcilable contradiction between the Xiang Army of Zeng Guofan and the Eight Banners of the Qing Army.
Later, with the efforts of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army, Jiangnan broke the Northern Camp one after another, and it can be said that in the conquest of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Eight Banner Army had no foothold at all, so the affairs of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom completely fell into the hands of Zeng Guofan.
Zeng Guofan was unambiguous, and he used his stupid method of fighting wars to drag down the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In the end, Zeng Guofan surrounded Anqing, the barrier of Tianjing, and using Zeng Guofan's usual stupid method, the Xiang army besieged Anqing to death, there was no grain and grass in Anqing City, and the soldiers were afraid to live forever.
However, at this time, in August 1860, Zeng Guofan received an urgent distress letter from the Xianfeng Emperor. In this letter, the Xianfeng Emperor demanded that it be too much, and immediately mobilize 3,000 elite soldiers, so that his fierce general Bao Chao, as the commander, immediately set off, and the starry night rushed to the Beijing Division.
This was because the Xianfeng Emperor at this time felt threatened by the British and French forces, and by this time the British and French had gathered their armies and prepared to attack Beijing, the seat of the Qing government at that time. At this time, the Xianfeng Emperor gathered a large number of Qin Wang's army, but the commander of Qin Wang's army was the incompetent Manchu Shengbao. Shengbao has always been unable to get along with Zeng Guofan, and there is a very big contradiction between the two, and the Xianfeng Emperor's order at this time is to let Zeng Guofan's army return to Shengbao's name to listen to his command. So how will Zeng Guofan choose?
Faced with such a situation, Zeng Guofan certainly could not let his elite troops eat it in vain, but since it was the order personally issued by the Xianfeng Emperor, Zeng Guofan did not dare to immediately deny it, so he started taijiquan with the Xianfeng Emperor.
2. Zeng Guofan's behavior
Zeng Guofan has always been loyal to the king for the people, and all his actions are in the name of serving the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which also brings him certain limitations. In the face of such a Zhao order from the Xianfeng Emperor, Zeng Guofan actually had a lot of thoughts in his heart.
The first is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. At this time, Zeng Guofan's army has been the barrier of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Anqing siege is not clear, at this time it is forced to separate 3,000 elite troops, once such a military movement occurs, it is likely to be found by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army in the city, once these people rush out of the city to fight in the direction of the gap, then Zeng Guofan's long-term efforts may be in vain. These achievements were all exchanged for the lives of the sons of the Xiang Army, and Zeng Guofan did not want to let them sacrifice in vain.
The second is the contradiction between him and Katsuho. Katsuho is Manchu, Zeng Guofan is Han, the Qing government is to use the Manchus to restrain the Han, seeing that the Chinese clan is becoming more and more powerful, so the Qing government will support such Manchu generals to suppress Chinese food in the DPRK.
Moreover, if he handed over his elite troops to Katsuho, I am afraid that there would be no return. With this in mind, it was even more impossible for Zeng Guofan to send 3,000 troops to support the Xianfeng Emperor.
Finally, it is Zeng Guofan's own consideration. Zeng Guofan deeply knew that the artillery and military strength of the foreigners were very strong, not to mention that the Xiang Army had experienced 3,000 soldiers, even if all 120,000 sons and daughters of the Xiang Army were sent out to stop the attack of the British and French coalition forces, it was a fool's dream.
Since he could not stop the Anglo-French coalition forces, and the war in Anqing was imminent at the moment, why did he let his sons sacrifice in vain? So Zeng Guofan played Taijiquan with Emperor Xianfeng, and he told Emperor Xianfeng that sending 3,000 soldiers and horses would not help, and he wanted to fight in person, but he still hoped that Emperor Xianfeng could choose between him and Hu Linji, and one person would go north and one person would stay to supervise the battle of Anqing.
In fact, it did not matter how to answer, because at that time, the distance was long, and there was no telegram, and Zeng Guofan's intelligence would take several days to reach the hands of the Xianfeng Emperor. Before the Xianfeng Emperor could see such a letter, the Anglo-French army had already been pursued to his Chengde Mountain Resort, so the Xianfeng Emperor also signed the Treaty of Beijing, which humiliated the country.
In fact, according to the situation at that time, Zeng Guofan did this, both selfish and righteous, even if the British and French coalition forces attacked even if 3,000 soldiers and horses were sent, it would be useless, and it would waste the opportunity to crush the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
brief summary
Although Zeng Guofan can be regarded as the last sage of Chinese Confucianism, his hands are stained with blood, and in such a complicated situation at that time, although Zeng Guofan's behavior has wisdom everywhere, such wisdom is inhuman wisdom, not the benevolence advocated by Confucianism.
Zeng Guofan was raised to such a high position, which was really sorry for the country's sages, Zeng Guofan finally disarmed his Xiang army and gave up the right to rule the army, although he was able to save himself, but let China fall into a darker period.
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