Zeng Guofan was known as the "first perfect person in the ages", this person was in a high position before his death, but there was no scandal of coveting beauty, money and power, and was praised by countless famous artists.
Nowadays, the study of Zeng Guofan's thought has become a wave in the academic circles, many people regard Zeng Guofan as a model for life, what did Zeng Guofan do to have his current status, is he really perfect and never makes mistakes?
In fact, Zeng Guofan had many stains in his life, for example, Zeng Guofan, who was more than 50 years old, married a concubine on the battlefield less than a hundred days after the death of the Xianfeng Emperor and was placed in the room. This matter caused controversy at that time, and many people thought that this was a manifestation of Zeng Guofan's hypocrisy, and even scolded Zeng Guofan as a hypocrite. Why did Zeng Guofan suddenly take a concubine at this time? Is this person really pretending to be "perfect"?
First, the "perfect man" Zeng Guofan throughout the ages
The era in which Zeng Guofan lived was precisely the era when the Qing government was in internal and external difficulties and the Chinese nation was gradually marching into the colonial abyss. He experienced two Opium Wars and the largest peasant uprising in Chinese history. As a member of the ruling class of feudal landlords, Zeng Guofan spent his life struggling to save the Qing Dynasty's ruling crisis and achieve the country's self-reliance.
In this process, he himself also realized the highest ideal of the traditional Chinese feudal scholar AndiFu Neisheng and Wai Wang, and was praised as the "perfect person" of the three immortals of "virtue, meritorious service, and speech". In the eyes of many people, Zeng Guofan is a rare "perfect person" in China for five thousand years. As a famous thinker, politician, and military expert, Zeng Guofan's ideas have had a profound impact on Chinese society.
Zeng Guofan liked to read "Zhuangzi" all his life and advocated the art of Huang Lao. His humble retreat and the idea of seeking refuge enabled him to keep a clear head at all times, know how to retire after success, and thus be invincible in the complex official arena. Throughout his life, Zeng Guofan scrupulously adhered to the Mo family's idea of thrift and diligence, and cultivated himself and maintained his family with diligence and thrift. He was a high-ranking official, but he was a rare official in the official field of the late Qing Dynasty.
Zeng Guofan lived in the transition period from ancient society to modern society, did not become a "corrupt Confucian", but treated Western studies with an open vision and mentality, actively advocated "Shi Yizhi", and created the western affairs movement in modern China, which can be described as the first person in the practice of foreign affairs, which is also of great significance to China's road to modernization.
Zeng Guofan's political ideas and ideas had an indelible imprint on the Qing government's internal and foreign affairs. To a large extent, the diplomatic thinking of Li Hongzhang, Guo Songtao, Xue Fucheng, Wang Tao, and others inherited and developed Zeng Guofan's proposition of compromise and concession and the desire for "peace between China and foreign countries." In particular, Li Hongzhang, who was a disciple of Zeng Guofan, proposed that "Waishu and Rong" were mainly "derived from Zeng Guofan".
In terms of domestic policy, Li Hongzhang, Yuan Shikai, Chiang Kai-shek, and others have followed Zeng Guofan's concept of "longli" etiquette and regarded "ceremony" as a very important means of rule.
At the same time, as a military expert, Zeng Guofan's successful formation of the Xiang Army's military strategy also had a profound impact on modern China. Taking Cai Yi and Chiang Kai-shek as examples, Cai Yi compiled the "Quotations of Zeng Hu Zhibing", conducted a comprehensive and in-depth study of Zeng Guofan's military management strategy, and made a high evaluation. Chiang Kai-shek was even more admiring of Zeng Guofan's strategy for governing the army, and even took the "Quotations of Zeng Hu Zhibing" as a teaching material for the Whampoa Military Academy and as a blueprint for governing the army and the country.
Why did such a perfect person, who was incomparably admired by future generations, suddenly choose to suddenly take a concubine when he went to war at the age of 50? And thus it has become a joke after tea? This incident caused quite a stir at the time, but in fact, the reason why Zeng Guofan would do this was very legitimate.
Second, it's really itchy
The reason why Zeng Guofan would take concubines on the battlefield was related to the skin diseases he had been suffering from. In a letter from Daoguang in June of the 25th year, Zeng Guofan mentioned that "recently he had a ringworm on his head and a heat poison on his body", which was the first time Zeng Guofan mentioned the skin disease that had plagued him for a long time and could not be cured.
In letters from his family in the years that followed, he reported several times that his family's ringworm had nearly recovered from the disease, but had recurred several times. It was not until the sixth year of Xianfeng that the illness was not reported in the letters. In Xianfeng's eleven-year diary, he recalled that "Daoguang was born in the twenty-sixth and seventh years of ringworm" and "When Daoguang was in his twentieth and sixth years of ringworm", which shows that these two years were the most serious periods of his malaria. However, in April of the eleventh year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan was once again "full of hot poison".
During this time, Zeng Guofan often complained in his diary that "dragging itch abnormalities" affected his daily activities: "can't do more things", "interest xiaosuo", "lonely and unhappy", "can't sleep". And this time the skin disease was more serious than before, Zeng Guofan had to scratch all day long and could not stop, "both hands and hips are rotten and painful", and finally "no skin".
At this time, it was in the final stages of the Taiping Army's war, and Zeng Guofan's skin disease was so serious that there was no family around him who could take care of him. Several of his subordinates could not bear to see it, so they suggested that Zeng Guofan buy a concubine to take care of his living, and most importantly, tickle him so that he could sleep comfortably at night. At that time, Zeng Guofan was tortured by the disease and had no choice but to listen to the advice of his subordinates and take a concubine on the battlefield to tickle himself.
III. Zeng Guofan took the initiative to "self-defile"
It is worth noting that the time point of Zeng Guofan's concubines is very sensitive. The Xianfeng Emperor had just died, and the Qing Dynasty was in a special period of power transfer, but Zeng Guofan was leading the Xiang army to conquer the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and restore half of the Qing Dynasty. Once this matter is completed, the Great Qing has no troubles in his heart, how to place Zeng Guofan, and how should Zeng Guofan treat himself?
It can be said that Zeng Guofan was the most powerful person in the entire Qing Dynasty at that time, with the largest number of soldiers and horses with the strongest combat effectiveness, and his own virtue was recognized by the world as very perfect, once he wanted to go further, it was difficult to say whether the Qing Dynasty could continue to exist. But Zeng Guofan was not someone who wanted to rebel against him as emperor.
Therefore, at this time, what Zeng Guofan needed to consider was how to make the new jun not jealous of himself. Zeng Guofan thought of a way to self-defile, through the matter of taking concubines, destroying his own perfect image all along, so that Xinjun knew that Zeng Guofan was not so terrible, and there were also various problems. And after this incident, many old subordinates jumped out to accuse Zeng Guofan, believing that Zeng Guofan was too capable of pretending, and was actually an "old ghost".
This incident also reassured Xinjun that Zeng Guofan's Xiang army was not a monolith, nor was it Zeng Guofan's family army, but a group of "rabble-rousers" who blamed each other when they encountered things. It can be said that the matter of taking a concubine is killing two birds with one stone, which not only alleviates the troubles caused by the disease, but also eliminates the vigilance of the new jun.
Text/Leyu
Source: Research on zeng guofan thought, Huang Liang