Zeng Guofan, as a vassal of the late Qing Dynasty, made great contributions to jiangshan Sheji, if it were not for Zeng Guofan leading the Xiang army to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, then the Qing Dynasty might have perished a long time ago, so after this, Zeng Guofan became the mainstay of the Qing court, he was deeply influenced by Confucianism, so he always wanted to be loyal to the king and love the country, and bowed to the imperial court to die, but after seeing Cixi, Zeng Guofan was already disappointed in the imperial court.
Zhao Liewen was a confidant of Zeng Guofan, he had bluntly analyzed Zeng Guofan, he was not optimistic about Cixi and Prince Gong, thinking that the Qing Dynasty was thinning the Western Mountains, and it might perish in fifty years, at that time Zeng Guofan thought that Zhao Liewen's ideas were too pessimistic, but there were also some worries in his heart that were very contradictory, in 1868 Zeng Guofan returned to Beijing and was summoned by the empress, at this time Zeng Guofan was very optimistic, thinking that the two palace empresses were wise and heroic.
Originally, Zeng Guofan thought that the empress dowager of the two palaces was quite dependent on him, but when he saw Cixi Ci'an and the twelve-year-old Tongzhi Emperor, he was completely disappointed, because the two empresses were just chatting normally, just like pulling the family, and the Tongzhi Emperor was even more ignorant and could not bear the responsibility, and what made him even more chilling was that Cixi did not care about the major affairs of the country, but kept asking him about sensitive issues such as the dismissal and rule of the Xiang army.
Although Zeng Guofan had worked hard to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Cixi was still very jealous and did not trust him at all, and Zeng Guofan wrote in his diary when he returned: "The two palaces are ordinary, and there is no important word to meet; the emperor is also unpredictable." Although he was bent on turning the tide, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were faint and selfish, and he was unable to return to heaven at all, at this time Zeng Guofan had to admit that Zhao Liewen's prediction was correct, and the Qing Dynasty would run out of gas in only fifty years.