Proud protégés and close friends are all important courtiers of the imperial court, and it has to be said that Zeng Guofan has a fairly heavy right to speak in the Manchu Qing regime, and can even be said to be the "half of the country" in the official field of the Qing Dynasty. Especially after the Xiang army broke through the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guofan could be described as a power in the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
So why? Zeng Guofan, who was already in power and opposition, wanted to violate the holy will, and at the risk of resisting the will, he also wanted "loyal king" Li Xiucheng not to enter the capital? Could it be that Zeng Guofan, a Hanchen with great influence, already had the determination to oppose the Qing Dynasty? In fact, Zeng Guofan's resistance was completely forced by his brother.
"The city is broken! The traitorous city of Nanjing has been beaten down! "Report! Li Xiucheng has been captured! With several letters reported that Nanjing, the "capital" of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was breached by the Xiang army, and Zeng Guofan at this time also received this news. Soon after, Zeng Guofan also received a holy will from the capital, and Zeng Guofan at that time did not realize that this holy will would force him to resist.
After receiving the Holy Will, Zeng Guofan personally arrived at the prison where Li Xiucheng was being held for interrogation, hoping to obtain more information before Li Xiucheng entered Beijing. But as the interrogation progressed, Zeng Guofan was frightened out of a cold sweat. In the confession at the time, Li Xiucheng said that there were less than 10,000 Taiping Heavenly Kingdom soldiers in Nanjing, and finally they could only abandon the treasures of the city and flee to other cities with the "Crown Prince" of the Heavenly Kingdom.
However, in his brother Zeng Guoquan's "war report", Zeng Guofan knew that what his brother said was that 100,000 rebels were defending the city, and the Xiang army paid a great price to take the rebel capital; the traitorous "Prince" had been self-immolated and killed. As for Li Xiucheng's statement about the treasures of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom treasury, Zeng Guoquan did not mention a word.
The most important thing is not how to write the "war report", but this "war report" has been presented to the Manchu Emperor as a case of the great victory of the Xiang Army. If the Manchu Emperor found that this "war report" was not worthy of the name, then the crime of deceiving the king would definitely sit on the ground, and what awaited the Zeng family would be "full of doors and cuts".
In fact, Zeng Guofan has long understood a truth - the cunning rabbit is cooked by the dead dog, and the bird is well hidden. The Xiang army created by Zeng Guofan rose in battle after battle, and when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed and the Manchu Qing no longer had any major troubles, Zeng Guofan, who held the Xiang army, became a thorn in his eye.
Countless cases in history have proved the fate of the general who has achieved great success, and Zeng Guofan could not have been unaware. Although Zeng Guofan did not have ambitions to oppose the Qing Dynasty and claim the title of emperor, the Manchu Qing Emperor, as the ruler, would not allow such a time bomb to exist. Coupled with the rumors about Zeng Guofan "making dragon chairs" and "wearing yellow robes", Zeng Guofan has actually been on the list of rulers.
It is because of understanding these truths that Zeng Guofan knew that once the Qing Emperor knew that Zeng Guoquan had deceived the king, then the Zeng family would all be "shaved". In order to avoid being beheaded by the door, Zeng Guofan ignored the order in the Holy Decree to escort Li Xiucheng to the capital for interrogation, ordered his henchmen to execute Li Xiucheng in prison, and also modified the confession on Li Xiucheng's confession to ensure that Zeng Guoquan's "war report" was untraceable and unverifiable.
Although Li Xiucheng was dead, this became a reason for political opponents to attack, who accused Zeng Guofan of executing Li Xiucheng and concealing the results of the Battle of Nanjing. However, the Qing Emperor, who had no evidence and no witnesses, had no way to deal with Zeng Guofan in this regard.
However, this resistance eventually led zeng guofan to cut off an arm, and in order to give the Qing dynasty a reply to the investigation, he laid off a large number of Xiang soldiers.