In the late Qing Dynasty, there were invasions by external powers, and peasant uprisings one after another inside, and there was a state of turmoil; and among the many troubles, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had the greatest influence. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom originated in Guangxi, then marched eastward, through Hunan to Hubei, and then to Jiangxi and Anhui, encompassing the richest Jiangnan of the Qing Dynasty, and establishing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; and the Qing Army was decayed, defeated and retreated, and even once beaten by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army near the capital.
At the most dangerous time of the dynasty, Zeng Guofan, who was worried at home, stood up and was ordered to form a regimental training; when the Qing rulers began to plan the regimental training, they only hoped to use local forces to delay the attack of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Army and weaken the strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but they did not expect that Zeng Guofan would take advantage of this to soar into the sky and become the main force in attacking the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the regiment training led by Zeng Guofan was also called the "Xiang Army" and was famous in history.
However, Zeng Guofan's journey to conquer the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not smooth, especially Shi Dakai, the most courageous and warlike warrior in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, repeatedly defeated Zeng Guofan, forcing Zeng Guofan to commit suicide several times, and the Xiang army also suffered heavy losses. Although Zeng Guofan did not want his younger brothers to join the military travel ranks, his younger brothers were concerned about the safety of their eldest brother, so they often led the army to help despite dissuasion. As a result, after going to the battlefield, Zeng Guofan was surprised to find that his brothers were more capable than him.
The first thing to say is that Zeng Guofan's second brother Zeng Guohuang, Zeng Guohuang is nine years younger than Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guohuang has not taken the examination, nor has he gone to the battlefield, but Zeng Guohuang is old and heavy; because Zeng Guofan, the eldest brother, has been away for many years, so the task of taking care of his parents and younger brothers at home has been entrusted to Zeng Guohuang, and judging from the development of the descendants of the Zeng family, Zeng Guohuang is still very outstanding; and Zeng Guofan is still quite okay with this second brother who paid silently, and later spent money to donate him the name of a prisoner.
But when it comes to Zeng Guofan's third brother, it is not the same; Zeng Guofan's third brother is named Zeng Guohua; this Zeng Guohua was also studying at home in his early years and preparing for the imperial examination, but at that time Zeng Guofan was forced by Shi Dakai to be cornered, and in desperation, he wrote to Zeng Guohua and said, "Double the road to Wuchang, beg the teacher to save the brother"; later Zeng Guohua and Pu Chengyao, on the orders of Hu Linyi, led five thousand people to rescue Zeng Guofan, but did not expect that Zeng Guohua had courage and strategy, and won successive battles and victories all the way, conquered Ruizhou, opened up the transportation routes of Jiangxi and Hubei, and let Zeng Guofan get out of trouble.
Moreover, as the younger brother of Zeng Guofan, he was naturally also trusted and valued by Zeng Guofan, and during the period when Zeng Guofan returned home to Ding Guohua's father's worries (previously Ding's mother's worries), the Xiang army was temporarily commanded by Zeng Guohua, during which although there was no great merit, there was no major transgression, and it was steady and steady, revealing Zeng Guohua's general style. After Zeng Guofan returned, Zeng Guohua joined the Zhejiang envoy Li Xubin's department and deputy to hubei military affairs, during which he once again made many military achievements, but unfortunately he died in the battle of Sanhe Town, and his bones did not survive.
As for Zeng Guofan's fourth brother Zeng Guoquan, that is a generation of "fierce people" in history, Zeng Guoquan's intelligence is quite high, when Zeng Guofan was still having a headache for the imperial examination, he became a Gongsheng with the first result of the government examination at a young age, which is equivalent to lifting the deputy list, and then he is going to be promoted to the Guozijian of the Beijing Division, which is equivalent to half a foot has already stepped into the official field. Zeng Guofan's original intention was also to hope that he could study well, but Zeng Guofan was concerned about his eldest brother, and eventually threw himself into the pen when he learned that Zeng Guofan was unfavorable in the war.
This Zeng Guoquan was a great reader, and he was also very brave in fighting, and the unit he led was called the "Jizi Battalion", which was the most "notorious" unit in the Xiang Army, and the battle was extremely fierce and brave, almost undefeated; but Zeng Guofan did not dare to use this unit recklessly, because the "Jizi Battalion" was too poor in style and discipline, and every next city had to "enjoy" for three days, and Zeng Guoquan also liked to kill prisoners, and after the Battle of Anqing, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was slaughtered in numbers, and Zeng Guoquan claimed that he had "killed softly."
After breaking through the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Tianjing, Zeng Guoquan led the soldiers of the "Jizi Battalion" to burn and loot for seven days and seven nights, and washed the whole city in blood; so that later Zeng Guofan had to send Zeng Guoquan back to his hometown to avoid disaster. Unexpectedly, Zeng Guoquan, who came back a few years later, was a benevolent official with compassion, and it was said that he was also related to the Buddha, and had a feeling of "putting down the butcher's knife and becoming a Buddha". In his later years, Zeng Guoquan's status was no weaker than that of Zeng Guofan, and he was made the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of trade affairs, plus the crown prince Taibao, and was posthumously given the title of Taifu (太傅) with the courtesy name "Zhongxiang".
However, the real most regrettable thing is Zeng Guofan's fifth brother Zeng Guobao, although zeng Guobao is the youngest of the Zeng family, but he is extremely brave and strategic, and in his early years he followed Zeng Guofan to suppress the bandits of Pingde and Ningxiang; after Zeng Guohua's death in battle, Zeng Guobao was furious and vowed to avenge his brother Zeng Guohua, leading troops from Hu Lin's wing to lead troops from Hu Lin's wing to lianke many cities; at the Battle of Anqing, he designed a surrender to Learn to help Zeng Guoquan attack Anqing.
After that, he and Zeng Guoquan divided their troops and took Tianjing directly, Zeng Guobao even broke through the important towns of Lugang, Fanchang, Nanling, Wuhu, and other important towns, and met with Zeng Guoquan to teach Yuhuatai, during which he attacked the masses with fewer people, and broke all roads to help Li Xiucheng's Taiping army of 100,000, and made great achievements, and the strategy of "encircling Tianjing" at that time was also responsible for Zeng Guobao; it can be seen that Zeng Guobao's ability was not at all under Zeng Guoquan, and his future achievements were naturally extraordinary; unfortunately, Zeng Guobao died of overwork in the camp of the Xiang Army in Nanjing Yuhuatai. So much so that the credit for finally breaking through Tianjing was obtained by Zeng Guoquan.
I have to say that although Zeng Linshu's luck is indeed good, although he is ordinary and ordinary to the extreme, but the birth of a son and the education of his son is quite good, Zeng Guofan will not say, although the ability shown in the early days is very ordinary, but with the help of luck, the ability shown later is also rare in the world; although Zeng Guohuang lives in his hometown, he cannot be said to be bad; as for Zeng Guohua, Zeng Guoquan and Zeng Guobao, they can all be called the existence of dragons and phoenixes among people, especially Zeng Guoquan and Zeng Guobao. And the ability that Zeng Guobao showed in the final stage seemed to be above Zeng Guoquan, but it was a pity that he died of illness, otherwise the Zeng family was really glorious.