Zeng Guofan, one of the initiators of the Western Affairs Movement
Zeng Guofan (26 November 1811 – 12 March 1872), of Han ethnicity, initially known as Zicheng (子城), was the 70th grandson of Zongsheng Zengzi. Modern Chinese politician, strategist, theoretician, and writer, the founder and commander of the Xiang Army. Together with Hu Linyi, he was called Zeng Hu, and together with Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, and Zhang Zhidong, he was called the "Four Famous Ministers of the Late Qing Dynasty".
Zeng Guofan lived in 1811 (jiaqing 16 years), Zeng Guofan was born in 1811 (16 years of Jiaqing), Zeng Guofan was born in a family of ordinary cultivators in Baiyangping, Heyetang, Heyetang, Changsha Province, Hunan Province (present-day Daping Village, Heye Town, Shuangfeng County, Loudi City, Hunan Province). There are nine brothers and sisters, and Zeng Guofan is the eldest son. The ancestors were mainly engaged in farming, and their lives were relatively prosperous. Although his grandfather Zeng Yuping had little culture, he had rich experience; his father, Zeng Linshu, as a master Xiucai, as the eldest son and eldest grandson of Zeng Guofan, naturally received ethical education from the two ancestors.
Zeng Guofan was enlightened at the age of five, and entered the family school "Toshimisai" at the age of six. In the spring of 1826 (the sixth year of Daoguang), he was tested by the boys of Changsha Province and ranked seventh. In the tenth year of Daoguang (1830), he went to Hengyang Tang Ancestral Hall to study, and a year later transferred to Lianbin Academy in Xiangxiang. In 1832 (the twelfth year of Daoguang), Zeng Guofan was admitted to Xiucai and married the daughter of Ouyang Cangming. I failed to pass the exam twice in a row, and then I tried to review for another year. In 1834 (the fourteenth year of Daoguang), Zeng Guofan entered the famous Yuelu Academy exercise in Changsha, and in the same year participated in the Hunan Township Examination, where he was the thirty-sixth person in the examination and left for Beijing to prepare for the next year's examination.
In 1835 (the fifteenth year of Daoguang), Zeng Guofan failed the examination and lived in the Changsha Guild Hall in Beijing to study. The following year, Enke's examination fell again, so he returned to Changsha and lived in the Xiangxiang Guild Hall in his hometowns Liu Rong and Guo Songtao.
In 1838 (the eighteenth year of Daoguang), Zeng Guofan participated in the examination again, and finally won the examination, ranking 42nd in the third rank in the temple examination, and was born as a jinshi, from then on, he embarked on the road of career step by step, and became a proud protégé of the military minister Mu Zhang'a. Chao Kao ranked third in the first class, and the Daoguang Emperor was promoted to the second place, and was elected as the Shu Jishi of the Hanlin Temple.
In 1840 (the twentieth year of Daoguang), the Sankan Examination was ranked second class nineteenth, and was awarded the review of the Hanlin Academy.
In April 1843 (the twenty-third year of Daoguang), he was promoted to the position of attendant of the Hanlin Academy. In July, he was appointed as the examiner of the township examination (Sichuan). In August, he was re-appointed as an attendant at the Hanlin Academy. In December, he was appointed as the administrator of ChongWenyuan Pavilion.
In 1845 (the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang), he was promoted to the rank of a bachelor of teaching. Soon, Li Hongzhang, the son of Li Wen'an, a fellow scholar, entered the Beijing Association and was employed under his disciples, living in his Beijing home for at least a year.
In 1847 (the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang), he was promoted to the rank of Cabinet Scholar and Attendant of the Ministry of Ceremonies.
In 1849 (the twenty-ninth year of Daoguang), he was ordained as the Right Attendant of the Ministry of Ceremonies. Soon the right attendant of the military department was dispatched.
In the more than ten years in Beijing, Zeng Guofan was so tenacious that he followed this path of career and gradually rose to the position of Erpin official. Seven moves in ten years, ten consecutive leaps.
In January 1851 (the first year of Xianfeng), Hong Xiuquan organized a uprising in Jintian Village, Guiping, Guangxi. In May, Zeng Guofan, under the impetus of Liu Rong, Luo Zenan, and others, criticized the Xianfeng Emperor in the "Respect for Chen Shengde's Three Ends to Prevent Abuse and Neglect". Before Emperor Xianfeng had finished reading it, he angrily threw the recital to the ground and immediately summoned the military chancellor to condemn him, and if it were not for Qi Liaozao, Ji Zhichang, and others who were bitterly interceding for him, he would probably fall into an unforeseen crime. When Zeng Guofan learned of this situation, he was very nervous in his heart, and immediately blamed himself for this act of consultation, and never dared to tell the truth about the fundamental decisions of the emperor himself and the imperial court.
In 1852 (the second year of Xianfeng), Zeng Guofan was buried at home because of his mother. At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement had swept through half of China, and although the Qing government mobilized a large number of officers and men from all over the country to deal with the Taiping Army, this decadent armed force was no longer able to withstand a battle. Therefore, the Qing government repeatedly issued orders to reward regimental training, trying to use the landlord armed forces in various places to curb the development of the Taiping Army, which provided an opportunity for the emergence of Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army.
In 1853 (the third year of Xianfeng), taking advantage of the Opportunity of the Qing Government's eagerness to seek strength to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he established a local regiment called Xiangyong in his hometown of Hunan, relying on complex interpersonal relationships such as teachers and apprentices, relatives, and friends. In August, Zeng Guofan was allowed to train troops in Hengzhou, "all the guns and guns and knives anchored, the position of the sails and oars, all of them performed their own tests and tried their best", and sent people to Guangdong to buy Western artillery and prepare for the establishment of a marine division.
During the regimental training of Xiangyong, he solemnly disciplined the army and opened up a new army, and he successively divided the 5,000-strong Xiangyong into ten battalions, including Ta, Luo, Wang, and Li, and successively moved the regimental training site from Changsha to Xiangtan to avoid direct contradictions with the green camp in Changsha.
In February 1854 (the fourth year of Xianfeng), the Xiang army went out, and Zeng Guofan published "Asking for Cantonese Bandits". In this essay, he claimed that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement was "poisonous to the living beings" and that "thousands of years of Chinese rituals and righteous people's lun poetry and book rules are swept away." This strange change in the Great Qing Dynasty is a strange change in the famous religion since the opening of the country, and I Confucius and Mencius wept bitterly in the Nine Springs", and then called on "all those who read and write, and they can sit with their hands and sit idly by, and do not think about what to do", which stood on the commanding heights of morality, so they mobilized the vast number of intellectuals at that time to participate in the struggle against the Taiping Army, laying a solid foundation for future victories.
Zeng Guofan appointed Chu Ruhang as the president of the marine division and Taqibu as the vanguard of the army, commanding 17,000 people and marching north. In May, he was defeated by the Taiping Army's Shi Xiangzhen in the Battle of Jinggang, threw himself into the water, and was rescued by his subordinates. On July 25, after reorganizing the land and water armies, the division attacked Yuezhou. Take Wuchang on October 14. The Xianfeng Emperor was overjoyed and made Zeng Guofan act as the governor of Hubei. However, the university scholar Qi Junzao said, "Zeng Guofan is registered as a waiter, Yu Pi Fu Er, Pi Fu Ju Lu Li, a call, more than 10,000 people who have crept up from it, I am afraid that it is not the blessing of the state." The Xianfeng Emperor withdrew his order and only rewarded Zeng Guofan with the title of squire of the military department. On December 2, Zeng Guofan captured the town of Tianjia.
On the night of February 12, 1855 (the fifth year of Xianfeng), Shi Dakai attacked the Xiang Army's water camp and burned more than 100 Xiang Army warships. Zeng Guofan was captured, and "all the volumes were lost." Zeng Guofan was extremely angry and planned to go to the enemy to die, but Luo Zenan and Liu Rong urged him to stop.
In 1856 (the sixth year of Xianfeng), Zeng Guofan was trapped in Nanchang. On September 2, Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing had infighting, known in history as the Tianjing Incident, and nanchang was lifted. In October, Zeng Guofan formed the Jizi Battalion in Changzhaoyong to aid Jiangxi.
On February 20, 1857 (the seventh year of Xianfeng), his father died, and Zeng Guofan and his brother Zeng Guohua returned home to mourn. In July, he twice asked for the end of the system at home, and was approved by the Xianfeng Emperor. In that year, the "Siyun Pavilion" was built.
On May 19, 1858 (the eighth year of Xianfeng), Li Xubin and Yang Yuebin led the land and water armies to capture Jiujiang. On July 13, Zeng Guofan received Xianfeng's edict to run military affairs in Zhejiang, and arrived in Nanchang on August 15 to discuss with Hu Linyi on the strategy of recruiting troops and raising salaries. On November 15, Li Xubin and Zeng Guohua were killed in battle at the Battle of Sanhe. In December, Zeng Guofan composed "Love Folk Song" to train the Xiang Army.
In November 1859 (the ninth year of Xianfeng), Zeng Guofan proposed a four-way invasion strategy to capture Anqing.
On September 5, 1861 (the eleventh year of Xianfeng), the Xiang army captured Anqing. On September 25, Zeng Guofan moved to Anqing. On December 20, Zeng Guofan was ordered to supervise the military affairs of the four provinces (Suzhou, Anhui, Zhejiang, and Gansu), and his inspectors and towns were all under control. In the same month, the Internal Ordnance Institute was established in Anqing. At the end of the year, the strategy of the March of the Third Route Army was determined: "To besiege the country of Jinling, while zhejiang belonged to Zuo Zongtang, and Su belonged to Li Hongzhang, so the situation of the southeast purging was decided." ”
On January 31, 1862 (the first year of tongzhi), Zeng Guofan was appointed as the viceroy of Liangjiang to assist in the establishment of the university, and Zeng Guoquan was appointed as an envoy to Zhejiang. On February 14, Zuo Zongtang led his army from Jiangxi into Zhejiang. In April, Li Hongzhang arrived in Shanghai with his army. In May, Zeng Guoquan led an army into Yuhuatai and joined peng Yulin's sailors to besiege Tianjing. In June, Hong Xiuquan ordered the Taiping army to return to Tianjing, and the Taiping army gathered 200,000 troops, and from October onwards, the Xiang army fought for more than 40 days, but failed to win.
In July 1864 (the third year of Tongzhi), the Xiang army broke the Tianjing (Nanjing) of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and carried out massacres and looting of innocent civilians, the city of Nanjing at that time was burned down, and the civilians were killed and injured countless times. In July, the imperial court added The Crown Prince Taibao of Zeng Guofan and the Marquis of the First Rank. Zeng Guoquan rewarded the crown prince Shaobao and the first-class earl, and from this time, he formed a clique political dispute with the viceroy of Huguang, who was the second in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In August, the Xiang Army was disbanded from 25,000 men.
In January 1865 (the fourth year of Tongzhi), 17 songs were selected by various ministers since the Han and Tang Dynasties, and the "Mingyuantang Thesis" was compiled. In March, he presided over the repair of the two colleges of Zhongshan and Zunjing. Adopted 800 orphaned children and donated lesson awards from their own incorruptible silver. On May 26, Zeng Guofan led an army to Shandong to suppress the twist. In June, he presided over the collation of the completed manuscript of "Wang Chuanshan Dispatch Book", a total of 320 volumes, which was submitted to Jinling Book Company for publication. On June 18, the strategy of going north to suppress the twist: fortification of important towns, river encirclement, clearance of the wilderness, and tracking of the horse team. In September, it arrived in Xuzhou via Yangzhou and Qingjiangpu. All the way to deploy troops to block the siege, along the way again list recruitment. In October, the Jinling Manufacturing Bureau was moved up to Haihongkou, merged with Li Hongzhang's original artillery bureau and the iron factory purchased from the Americans, and added more than 100 machines purchased by Rong Hong to build the Jiangnan Manufacturing General Bureau. In December, the Yangtze River Water Division's permanent charter and camp rules were approved.
In 1866 (the fifth year of Tongzhi), Zeng Guofan was ordered to enter Zhoujiakou and supervise the suppression of the division as a minister of Chincha.
According to the characteristics of the twist army's uncertain movement and mobile operations, Zeng Guofan adopted the countermeasures of "key defense, clearing the field with strong walls, and drawing river circles", but in the end all failed. Later, he established the "Shahe Hundred Mile Defense Line" west of Zhoukou to Luohe, hoping to use this graben to eliminate the Twist army.
In March 1867 (the sixth year of Tongzhi), a shipyard was established under the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau to produce ships on a trial basis. At the same time, it is proposed to set up a translation library. In May, together with Li Hongzhang, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was moved from Hongkou to Gaochang Temple, and the land acquisition was expanded, and the regulation was greatly increased. In June, he was awarded the Title of Fellow of Renge University.
In April 1868 (the seventh year of Tongzhi), he was reassigned to the rank of Wu Yingdian University Scholar. On May 31, he went to Shanghai to inspect the Jiangnan Manufacturing General Bureau. In August, he was ordered to be transferred to the governorship of Zhili. In September, the first steamship produced by Jiangnan Shipyard sailed to Jiangning, where it boarded the ship for trial sailing and was named "Tianji". In December, Zeng Guofan arrived in Beijing to meet Empress Dowager Cixi and the Tongzhi Emperor.
In 1868 (the seventh year of Tongzhi), Zeng Guofan was reappointed as the governor of Zhili.
On June 21, 1870 (the ninth year of Tongzhi), thousands of people in Tianjin gathered in front of the French Catholic Church on suspicion that the Catholic Church was using the Nursery as a way to abduct people and kill babies. French Consul Feng Daye believed that the official did not seriously suppress, with a gun on the street met Liu Jie in Tianjin Zhixian County, because of a dispute, shot and shot, killed One of Liu Jie's servants on the spot, the people were indignant, first killed the French consul in Tianjin Feng Daye and his secretary Ximen, and then killed 10 nuns, 2 priests, another 2 French consulate personnel, 2 French expatriates, 3 Russian expatriates and more than 30 Chinese believers, burned the French consulate, Wanghailou Catholic Church, and 4 Christian churches run by local British and American missionaries. After the incident, Britain, the United States, France and other countries jointly protested and dispatched warships to make a threat.
Zeng Guofan, who was serving as the governor of Zhili, was ordered to go to Tianjin to handle the Tianjin teaching case. Zeng Guofan was so frightened that he even made a will before leaving, knowing that China was far from being a rival of the Western powers at that time, so he advocated concessions to the outside world.
After Zeng Guofan arrived in Tianjin, considering the situation at that time, he did not go to war with France, "but the peace situation was quick, and one of the crimes of love should be noted", at the request of France, it was discussed and decided to finally execute the 8 people who were the first to kill, to exile 25 people, and to send Zhang Guangzao, the prefect of Tianjin, and Liu Jie of Zhixian county, to Heilongjiang, to compensate foreigners for their losses of 460,000 taels of silver, and to send a delegation from Chonghou to France to apologize. As a result of this negotiation, the court people and public opinion were very dissatisfied, which greatly affected Zeng Guofan's reputation and was called a "traitor" (it was because of this incident that the Jingshihu GuanghuiGuan removed and burned zeng guofan's plaque).
The imperial court ordered him to deal with the "Tianjin Teaching Case". Zeng Guofan issued a notice entitled "Message to the People of Tianjin", accusing the people of Tianjin in many ways, admonishing them not to start another incident, and then releasing the criminals and abductees involved in the case, causing dissatisfaction among the gentlemen of Tianjin. In handling the "Tianjin Teaching Case," many people scolded him as a traitor, and public opinion throughout the country was in an uproar, "since the Beijing Division and the provinces have denounced it as a fallacy, they have firmly refused to believe it."
In 1870 (the ninth year of Tongzhi), after Ma Xinyi, the governor of Liangjiang, was assassinated by the commoner Zhang Wenxiang, the imperial court ordered Zeng Guofan to serve as the governor of Liangjiang again and go to Nanjing to hear the case.
On August 19, 1871 (the tenth year of Tongzhi), Li Hongzhang played "Proposed Selection of Sons Out of the West to Learn Art Fold". In September, the defense and training of the land and water battalions were inspected. Arrived in Shanghai in November.
On February 27, 1872 (the eleventh year of Tongzhi), Zeng Guofan took the lead in playing the song and urged that the "dispatch of overseas students" be implemented as soon as possible. He also proposed the establishment of a "Chinese Student Affairs Office" in the United States, and recommended Chen Lanbin and Rong Hong as members of the Committee to be stationed in the United States for management. In Shanghai, the Bureau of Young Children's Foreign Dumpling Industry was set up, and Liu Hanqing was recommended for "the selection and delivery of the Premier Shanghai Bureau". On March 1, I was tingling my feet and my tongue was unable to speak.
On March 20, Zeng Guofan was walking in the West Flower Garden in Nanjing in the afternoon, and when he suddenly felt numbness, Zeng Jize helped him back to his study and sat down for three moments and died. The imperial court heard the news and quit the dynasty for three days. Posthumously presented Taifu, Tan Wenzheng, Qijing Shi Zhaozhong, xianliang temple. On June 25, the coffin arrived in Changsha. On July 19, he was buried in Jinpenling outside the south gate of Changsha.
On December 13, 1873 (the twelfth year of Tongzhi), he was reburied in Fulong Mountain, Pingtang, Xiangxi, Shanhua County (present-day Wangcheng District). Buried with Mrs. Ouyang.
Zeng Guofan Tomb Zeng Guofan Tomb, Changsha City Cultural Relics Protection Unit. It is located on Fulong Mountain behind Tongxi Temple in Pingtang Town, Wangcheng County, 15 kilometers southwest of Changsha City. In the eleventh year of Qing Tongzhi (1872), Zeng Guofan was buried here, and the tomb covers an area of about 300 square meters.