After all, Zeng Guofan had been soaking in the big dye vat of the capital for ten years, and he was well versed in all kinds of powerful relations in the officialdom, so he dared to gamble that at least there was a 70% chance of winning, and the Xianfeng Emperor did not dare to kill him.
The Xianfeng Emperor was different from ordinary emperors in that he was a particularly inferior and therefore sensitive person. The reason why he has inferiority is that on the one hand, his intelligence is mediocre and his ability is ordinary. There is such a smart and capable younger brother Yi Sue, what is worse than the younger brother, from childhood feel inferior. On the other hand, Xian Feng's body still has a disability. Shi Zai: "Emperor Wenzong was weak and skilled in riding, and when he was a prince, he fell from the South Garden and raced away from the group of beasts. After being healed by the orthopedics of the Shangsi Hospital, it is not easy to walk for life. "That is to say, once he went out hunting, clumsily, fell off his horse, and broke his leg. Later, although the doctor picked it up, he did not receive it well, and he was inconvenient to walk for life, limped, and became a cripple, so this aggravated his inferiority complex. Mr. Mao Haijian said that his "incompetence and lack of energy caused by his inner inferiority, which in turn made him more self-esteem and more pretentious." After coming to power, the reason why he was so meticulous in being critical of the etiquette of the ministers was precisely this manifestation of inferiority. In the second Opium War that followed, he was so obsessed with the dispute between Chinese and foreign etiquette, which was mixed with the same reason.
People with mediocre intelligence tend to be indecisive. Zeng Guofan is now working in several departments, if he dies, who will do that mess?
And SuShun and Duanhua's gang did not want him to die, he was a loyal subject, a leading figure of the Han officials, and if he died, the other Han officials would be reluctant to die. Besides, if the new emperor kills the ministers, if it is passed out, it will be a sign of the fall of the country!
But the Xianfeng Emperor was so face-to-face by Zeng Guofan, where is the dignity of the emperor, where is the face? He couldn't help but get angry and shouted, "Crazy rebellion! What a sin!".
Although Zeng Guofan had made his mental preparations before, he was still a little flustered, and in this case, Zeng Guofan hurriedly said: "The sins of the subjects deserve to die!"
The Xianfeng Emperor immediately ordered the military plane to punish Zeng Guofan for his crimes, and the ministers next to him saw that the emperor wanted to punish Zeng Guofan, so they knelt down to intercede for him, especially Sushun, and stood up and said: Emperor, although he deserves to die for his sins, but he is also doing this for the sake of the Great Qing Society, which shows his loyalty to the country.
Sushun and several other ministers excused Zeng Guofan on the one hand, and on the other hand, they also called the emperor Shunyao, and also said that since ancient times, "loyalty is against the ear, and the king is against the straight", in short, he said a lot of words that the emperor liked to hear.
The Xianfeng Emperor was annoyed by Zeng Guofan, it was indeed like killing people, but he was disturbed by them, and thought: Such a minister, still keep it, although the starting point is good, but the crime of confronting the emperor is still to be determined. Got it, fined a year of Feng Lu, anyway, I don't have any money in the treasury of the Great Qing Dynasty, can save a little is a little.
Although Zeng Guofan's direct advice on risking death this time did not bring much blessing to daqing, he won the praise of many people. Especially in his hometown in Hunan, people have a higher evaluation of him, saying that he is a blessing star of the Qing Dynasty and a person who can bring happiness to the people.
Given himself a step down, the Xianfeng Emperor also praised Zeng Guofan according to the wishes of Sushun and others to appease the hearts of the hundred officials.
However, since then, the careful-eyed Xian Feng has continued to give Zeng Guofan small shoes to wear. The Xianfeng Emperor was a particular enemy, so he later remembered this for a lifetime. Zeng Guofan later established the Xiang Army and made many military achievements, but the Xianfeng Emperor was particularly defensive and always distrusted him, and he did many things without the support of the imperial court. This is, of course, an afterthought.
Zeng Guofan won himself the political prestige of daring to speak out and be loyal to the country. His friend Hu Daren wrote a letter praising Zeng Guofan's approach. Other old friends Liu Rong, Guo Songtao, Jiang Zhongyuan, Peng Xiaofang, Zhu Yaojie, Ou Xiaoling, and others also greatly admired Zeng Guofan's courage, and they praised Zeng Guofan's move as "a person who cannot speak and dare not speak out," saying that this move can "comfort the hopes of the world's virtuous and heroic, and do the loyalty of the minister to serve the country!" This also laid a certain foundation for Zeng Guofan to form the Xiang Army and absorb talents in the future.
It turned out that Zeng Guofan was only famous in the capital, and after this time, the world became famous. Many aspirants automatically came to his side and converged into a big force.
Zeng Guofan, who had a hot head, did something that seemed silly to others at this time.
He thought deeply about everything, in fact, he did not do it stupidly, but for his way out. Because after he provoked the emperor to be angry, the emperor did not punish him too much, rejected his request to send Shi Shi home, and assigned him an extra job, making it clear that he wanted to exhaust him.
So he had to find a way.
The two people he wanted to impeach, one was Qi Shan, and the other was the university scholar Sai Shang'a.
Qi Shan became famous for the Opium War, was made a gunman by Mu Zhang'a, and was "dismissed from his post and locked up, and his family property was confiscated" by Daoguang, because he was born into an aristocratic family, his reputation reached early, and he became the inspector of Henan at the age of thirty, and was once an extremely popular subject and deeply rooted in the imperial court. Therefore, it did not take long to be reinstated as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. After Xianfeng ascended the throne, the deputy capital of Manchuria, Sa Ying'a, played his role as the viceroy of Shaanxi and Gansu, "arbitrarily adding insults" to the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, "extorting confessions from the Yongshafan clan and killing many people."
Qi Shan is also true, he can't remember being beaten for a long time, how good it is to be a peace official, he has to go to suppress bandits and make meritorious contributions, he wants to make some contributions in front of the new emperor, but he doesn't know how to fight, and if he catches people, he will kill them. Sa Ying'a has been in the northwest for many years, he has a set of means to envelop local forces, he is so whole, people's efforts for more than ten years have been in vain, do not participate in your strange. The Qing Dynasty was full of flames, and the imperial court wanted to put an end to the rebellion, but it caused a lot of trouble. The result was only a few words: his dismissal was handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for interrogation.
Although Qi Shan has been convicted twice, his popularity in Beijing has always been very good. After returning to Beijing, the interrogators only looked for trivial matters to make Qi Shan answer, which was actually exonerating him. It was also suggested that the priests who had summoned him should be confronted by the priests who had been summoned to him, and that the messenger confronting the criminals was not in line with the system at the time, and apparently had the intention of retaliating against these people. At that time, Zeng Guofan, who was also a waiter in the Punishment Department, stepped forward and took up the case, saying: The prince has committed the same crime as the common people, and although Qi Shan is the supreme general, according to the laws of the Great Qing, one is one, two is two, and it must be clearly investigated. Although the clerk's official position is not high, there is no reason to confront the criminal. If you do this, in the future, if the big officials are guilty, who will dare to deal with it?
Intimidated by Zeng Guofan's integrity, Shangshu Hengchun of the Punishment Department had to seriously try it. Finally, with the approval of the Xianfeng Emperor, Qi Shan was dismissed from his post. Zeng Guofan overthrew Qi Shan, which was tantamount to offending those Manchu officials. He then wrote to the Xianfeng Emperor, or did he want to go home. He thought that the Manchus would fall into the well and drive him away, but unexpectedly, because he had earned a good reputation, the people only implied anger, and no one dared to impeach him.
This did not work, and he used a trick to stab the Xianfeng Emperor in the heart again.
The second person to be impeached by Zeng Guofan was the university scholar Sai Shang'a. Sai Shang'a was a courtier, the uncle of the Xianfeng Emperor, a scholar of the Mandarin Palace, and once the chief military minister. The Taiping Army rose up in Guangxi and repeatedly defeated the Qing army. Xianfeng sent the university scholar Sai Shang A nan to supervise the south. Zeng Guofan's good friend, the military aircraft Zhang Jing Shao Yichen, thought that Sai Shang'a lacked talent, and he did not know the soldiers, so he went to affirm bad things. So he immediately wrote to stop it, but XianFeng did not accept it. Later facts proved that Shao Yichen's judgment was very accurate, and Sai Shang'a arrived in Guangxi, indiscriminately commanded, missed the military plane, and was indeed defeated. XianFeng ordered Sai Shang'a to be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment. Similarly, most people want to be good old people, look at the emperor's face, and let Sai Shang Ah ride a horse. The Xianfeng Emperor also deliberately spared his uncle, and let the people of the Punishment Department mean it at once, don't go too far. Only Zeng Guofan insisted, "With military affairs as a matter of great importance, it is advisable to punish those who are guilty of serious crimes, and it is not appropriate to follow the routine." He made it very clear in his recital that the mistake of leading soldiers to fight was extraordinary. Military affairs are of great importance and directly related to national security, and if they are not seriously dealt with, who will still lead the troops well in the future? So the country must not perish? Therefore, we must adhere to principles and strictly discuss and deal with them.
At the insistence of Zeng Guofan, Sai Shang'a was finally dismissed. The Xianfeng Emperor hated Zeng Guofan even more: it would be enough not to give Yuan's face, even my uncle dared to move. If this guy continues to stay in the capital, I don't know how many baskets I will have to poke out. He wanted to go home, so I wouldn't let him. Isn't he a doer? He asked him to go out and go to Jiangxi to serve as a township examination examiner.
Zeng Guofan received the holy will and pretended to be sad, but his heart was happy. After harming Lao Tzu for so many tricks, he could finally leave the big dye vat in the capital, and this group of Eight Banner Masters who walked the birds and played with clams when they were full, Lao Tzu did not wait. He took the opportunity to put forward a request to go home to visit his relatives: Chen zi Daoguang left home for thirty years, all for more than ten years, has not been able to go back to see, this time to Jiangxi, I want to stop by home to visit the old mother.
The family wanted to visit his family, and the Xianfeng Emperor had no reason not to agree, so he approved his two-month leave.
Before leaving the capital, he went to Mu Zhang'a's mansion and met the deposed benefactor. As soon as Mu Zhang'a saw Zeng Guofan, he burst into tears, and he felt that he was really wronged. Zeng Guofan comforted the teacher: What are you wronged? The emperor can keep you alive, it is already the greatest blessing, he is satisfied! Look at the people's courtiers and emperors, even their lives are gone.
Mu Zhang'a thought about it, oh well, I still have an old life, and the money that has been embezzled for so many years has not let me spit it out, which is enough for me and my children and grandchildren to be dashing for generations.
After Zeng Guofan left, the Mu Zhang'a people did not die, and the next year donated a large amount of money to the imperial court to supplement the military salary. Salty harvested the people's money, felt a little embarrassed, and gave him five pins to wear.
Packing up his bags, Zeng Guofan took a look at this big city where he had lived for more than ten years, his heart was complicated, and he was not willing to do it, but there was no way, the person who knew the time was Junjie, if he did not leave again, he would become a puppet without thought and driven by others.
At the thought of being reunited with his parents soon, Zeng Guofan's face showed a long-lost smile. Unfortunately, when Zeng Guo, who traveled day and night, traveled to Xiaochiyi in Taihe County, Anhui Province, he received the bad news that his mother had died last month.
This made Zeng Guofan freeze at that time, and he could not imagine that his mother would suddenly leave him. So, a face of tears soaked his clothes, and he cried bitterly. The mother has worked hard day and night this life, which can be described as hard work, so that her son can study, she has suffered and never complained. The feelings between sons and mothers, daughters and fathers, according to psychologists, called Oedipal or Oedipal complexes, are different from the feelings between fathers and sons, mother and daughter, and seem to be at a higher level.
At this time, Zeng Guofan no longer had the heart to rush to Jiangxi to preside over the township examination, and he asked to return to his hometown in Hunan to mourn. This is because the Book of Filial Piety in the Thirteen Classics regards filial piety as the highest standard of righteousness. In the Confucian doctrine advocated by Zeng Guofan, the death of parents is a great funeral, and no matter where the son is, he must rush home to mourn.
The Xianfeng Emperor had no reason not to approve it.
If Zeng Guofan's mother did not die, he might choose another path of life, but history cannot be assumed, and specific circumstances and factors pushed him to another historical level and became the mainstay of the Qing Dynasty.
After turning from Jiangxi to Hunan, Zeng Guofan went to his hometown with the support of a cadre of officials, and after handling his mother's funeral, he wrote to the emperor and asked for three years of filial piety.
Ancient people pay attention to loyalty and filial piety, and when they die, their parents must keep filial piety, and those who are officials are called "Ding You", but if the imperial court employs people, they can also order them to take the state as the most important thing and work quickly. The Kangxi Emperor did such a thing.
After the Xianfeng Emperor received Zeng Guofan's fold, he actually agreed to his request: Don't you want to rest? Then you have a good rest in your hometown in Hunan, I have officials in the Qing Dynasty who can do things, there is no shortage of you, without your former butcher, I still have to eat pigs with hair?
Zeng Guofan received XianFeng's reply, his heart was cold, he only did that, is to try the emperor still attaches importance to him no, did not expect that this Xianfeng Emperor is more thin than his father.
Zeng Guofan was fierce, well, then I will sit in my hometown and watch how Daqing finishes playing! (Foreshadowing, see the next section)