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In August of the Xianfeng Decade (1860), the Eight-Nation Alliance approached Beijing, and the Xianfeng Emperor fled from Beijing in a hurry, nominally finding a good excuse, that is, to patrol Mulan, to go hunting, in fact, to hide, after all, it is the emperor, to find a good reason. The matter of dealing with foreigners was thrown to the sixth brother Yi Bi, and he ran away first.
Portrait of the Xianfeng court
At this time, Zeng Guofan, who was in the Taiping Army in Qimen County, Anhui Province, received a letter from the emperor, ordering the ministers with heavy troops in various places to quickly send troops back to Beijing to xingshi Qinwang, to put it bluntly, to let them lead the army to rescue the emperor.
After receiving the order, Zeng Guofan was a little annoyed, and Shangyu said that he would send his men back with three thousand elite soldiers, but now was a critical period to suppress the taiping heavenly kingdom war, and if the elite troops were dispatched to the north, it would be a little nervous to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom here, which would have an impact. Moreover, the Anglo-French coalition forces are already very close to Beijing, it is sooner or later to capture Beijing, the situation is very clear, the future can only negotiate peace, send thousands of people north, can not change anything at all, a cup of water, far from the water can not quench the thirst.
Zeng Guofan
However, the xingshi qinwang cannot ignore this kind of thing, nor can it sit idly by. Thinking about it, Zeng Guofan decided to adopt Li Hongzhang's suggestion, and after a few days he replied to a piece of paperback, saying that the generals the emperor had designated for him to be sent back to Beijing were of too low rank to be competent for the great task of Xingshi Qinwang, and that I or Hu Linyi should lead the troops back.
Sure enough, before Xianfeng could reply again, the Eight-Nation Alliance had already invaded the city of Beijing and reached a settlement agreement with Prince Gong Yishi. Soon, Zeng Guofan received a decree from the emperor, telling him that he did not need to send troops back.
Xianfeng's sixth brother Yi Bi
However, Zeng Guofan, who has always done things well, still made many preparations. At the same time as sending the emperor's recital, he also wrote a letter to his ninth brother Zeng Guoquan, saying that in case the emperor really wanted him to go back, he planned to take Zeng Guoquan with him and asked Zeng Guoquan to prepare in advance.
At this time, Zeng Guoquan also attacked the Taiping Army in Anhui, which was the key moment to besiege Anqing, and if he really went north with Zeng Guofan to qin wang, his own siege of the Taiping Heavenly Army would have a chance to breathe. So Zeng Guofan replied to his brother with a furious letter, not only resolutely opposing King Qin, but also complaining about the overall situation of the world, presumably scolding the close ministers around the emperor over and over again.
Zuo Zeng Guoquan Zhong Zeng Guofan Right Zeng JiZe
This letter was finally destroyed by Zeng Guofan, and no one saw the actual content of Zeng Guoquan's letter, but later generations probably guessed that according to Zeng Guofan's reply to his brother, he said in the letter, Now I must not withdraw from the siege of Anqing, maybe the Great Qing will die, without the blind command of the imperial court, I can also pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom more quickly. The talent of the sixth prince Yi Bi was much stronger than that of Xian Feng, and if Xian Feng died in Chengde and Yi Bi became emperor, it might be even better. The reason why Xian Feng has this fate is because he can't use people, and the ministers around him are incompetent people, and they will blindly come up with ideas.
Zeng Guofan, who was proficient in the way of officialdom, read Zeng Guoquan's letter and was frightened into a cold sweat. If this letter is seen by others, not only will Zeng Guoquan be destroyed, but their entire Zeng family will be destroyed. Zeng Guofan immediately burned Zeng Guoquan's credit, and then quickly wrote a family letter to his brother Zeng Guoquan that night, a severe reprimand. In Zeng Guofan's family book, this letter is notoriously harsh and unique.
Zeng Guofan calligraphy
Excerpt from one of the passages of the letter: I received the disciple's letter, full of arrogance and arrogance, and many paradoxical words. There are many things in the world, righteousness is deep, human feelings are difficult to know, and the way of heaven is unpredictable, and my brother has covered the heavens with one hand, arrogant and nonsensical words, and I don't know what the result is? Prince Gong's sage, I have seen and heard of it many times.
Zeng Guofan's reply has about three meanings:
First, do not speak lightly about state affairs, full of paper arrogance, this is a big taboo in politics, and it is not allowed to talk nonsense without going through the brain in the future;
Second, the emperor employs people in his own way of employing the emperor, and your analysis is not necessarily correct, and you cannot trust Yi Bi lightly;
Third, there can be no disloyalty to the imperial court. In the future, you should be cautious in your speech and reduce your own mistakes.
The Tsang family
Zeng Guoquan saw his brother's harsh reply to criticism, and also knew that he was impulsive on a whim, and replied that he would not make such a mistake again in the future.
Sometimes people really do impulsive things, mouth without words, irreparable, it should be said that fortunately, Zeng Guoquan has an older brother who can remind him to correct in time, after all, the speech in ancient times was not as free as it is now, and if you are not careful, your life is not safe.
Source:The Complete Works of Zeng Guofan