The ministers who have to mention the Qing Dynasty must have the name of Zeng Guofan; he experienced the transformation of the Qing Dynasty from prosperity to decline, and it was precisely to witness the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty, and after seeing it gradually decay, he wanted to use all kinds of methods to make it come back to life.
Zeng Guofan's contributions to politics and economy are obvious to all, and the fact that he has not been a concubine but chose to take a concubine during the war has also attracted a lot of attention. Zeng Guofan always had only his own wife, although he separated the two places, he did not take another new person, but later chose to include a concubine after reaching the age of fifty.
After careful selection, a young woman named Chen Chunyan was selected; but after checking, she was still in the "national mourning period", and according to the regulations, all music and marriage activities during the national mourning period should be completely prohibited. Zeng Guofan was very grateful to the Qing court for his importance, so he felt that it was inappropriate for him to immediately send Chen Chunyan away temporarily.
First, I was not intelligent when I was young
Zeng Guofan is different from many celebrities in history, most of whom are intelligent from childhood, and then read the scriptures and serve the country. But Zeng Guofan was even more stupid than many children of the same age when he was young, and he had no talent for learning; although he was not a wise man, he had a diligent heart to study.
It is said that when he was a child, he learned to memorize a text when he came home, and he read it over and over again, from day to night; but with little success, he still could not memorize it. At that time, a thief came outside his room and originally wanted to wait until Zeng Guofan went to sleep to enter the room to steal, but he listened to him read the same text for a long time outside.
The thief and the others were really impatient and broke through the window, mainly because he had already skillfully memorized the entire article under Zeng Guofan's repeated reading; but Zeng Guofan still wouldn't, which made him very annoyed. He rushed in and said to him, "You're also too stupid, I'll memorize it after reading it so many times." As if to prove that he had not told a lie, the thief actually memorized it completely and left.
2. Suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
However, although Zeng Guofan had no talent in reading when he was young, this did not prevent him from becoming a pillar of the Qing court in the future. When it comes to zeng guofan's greatest contribution in the past many years, it must be the formation of the Xiang army to lead the army to suppress the vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement.
When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom first broke out, the corrupt Qing government did not take it too seriously and only thought that it was a small fight; most of the troops that could be sent to suppress it had never returned, and seeing that the power and scale of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were getting bigger and bigger, the Xianfeng Emperor felt the crisis. Armed forces from all over the country were quickly assembled to suppress them, but these armies had already collapsed internally and their combat effectiveness was extremely low.
Unsurprisingly, these soldiers either died on the battlefield or were absorbed and used by the Taiping Army; the Qing government had fewer and fewer troops to use. At this time, Zeng Guofan formed the Xiangyong Army in his hometown of Hunan relying on various interpersonal relationships. He personally trained these troops and had strict military discipline, so their combat effectiveness was greatly improved compared to that of the Qing army.
Subsequently, Zeng Guofan began to formally lead troops to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement; it has to be said that the brainwashing ideology of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was very deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and zeng Guofan even suffered a fierce counterattack in the early stage of suppression. However, the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom forgot their original intentions in the later stages, enjoyed the joy of a luxurious life every day and turned a deaf ear to the war ahead.
This also led to the vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement being quickly suppressed, and it was also a standard one-handed good hand. However, if Zeng Guofan had not personally trained his troops to improve his combat capabilities and defeated the Taiping Army, the Qing Dynasty might have perished prematurely. But China will be greeted by a more backward and regressive era of dark theocracy.
Third, the itching is unbearable
It is said that on the night of Zeng Guofan's birth, his grandfather dreamed that a giant python was wrapped around his own pillar and felt that Zeng Guofan was the reincarnation of a giant python and would definitely make great achievements in the future. Just like Liu Bang, the founding prince of the Western Han Dynasty, he was also said to be the reincarnation of the Red Emperor after encountering a silver snake blocking the way and beheading him.
The ancients were originally superstitious, and they were even more convinced of the things entrusted in their dreams. Coincidentally, after Zeng Guofan was born, a tree that had been dead for many years in the back of their yard actually grew new shoots again. Zeng Guofan also had a lot of snake-like scales on his body, that is, some kind of psoriasis-like skin disease today.
This skin disease appeared on him just in response to a python, so he gradually believed that he was the reincarnation of a giant python. It's just that this disease will itch unbearably, and Zeng Guofan has always suffered from this disease, and there was no prescription that could completely cure it at that time, at most it could only be alleviated.
Because of this obvious "scale", Zeng Guofan studied in the academy even in the hot summer, he was covered tightly with long clothes and trousers. And it is precisely because of this itch that he has difficulty falling asleep several times, and there is no one around him who can take care of him closely, so he has the idea of taking a concubine.
Fourth, the elderly concubines scratch the itch
Many people do not believe that Zeng Guofan took a concubine to scratch the itch, but this was indeed his purpose. At this time, his wife also died, even if he did not die, there was no way to take care of him, and his wife once said that zeng guofan would take another room of concubines to take care of him.
So Zeng Guofan handed the matter over to his subordinate Peng Yulin, who was also very concerned about this matter. According to the requirements of the leader, some women were found for Zeng Guofan to choose by himself, and the first few Zeng Guofan were not pleasing to the eye, either too fat, or too short, or too timid. Until the appearance of Chen Chunyan, Zeng Guofan's eyes lit up.
She behaved moderately, dared to look directly into her own eyes when she spoke, and did not go beyond the conversation; both in appearance and inside, she met the requirements of Zeng Guofan. So she was left behind, and when Zeng Guofan returned to the room that night, she found that the house was neatly packed; Chen Chunyan also intimately washed her feet and waited for her feet to soak.
Zeng Guofan once again lamented Chen Chunyan's virtuousness and carefulness, so he opened the conversation box and chatted with her. He originally thought that the day was a good day, so he clearly recorded Chen Chunyan's words and deeds. Later, in order to personally confirm that today had reached the 100-day deadline for national mourning, he personally pulled his finger and counted it again, and found that it was two days behind, which meant that he still could not marry today.
Zeng Guofan was horrified and quickly asked someone to take Chen Chunyan out, and Chen Chunyan thought that he had done something that he should not have done, which made the adults unhappy and quickly apologize. Zeng Guofan had to explain the reason to her, and later when the time expired, she officially became Zeng Guofan's concubine; but the two did not have the truth of husband and wife, she just took care of Zeng Guofan's life and really tickled him.
5. Summary
It was perfectly normal for people in ancient times to have three wives and four concubines, but Zeng Guofan did not remarry again until after the death of his wife, and always paid attention to the changes in the country; his life rarely made a big mistake of being poked in the spine by others; his various behaviors and styles were called virtuous and loyal.
Even if you take a concubine, it is because the male is inconvenient to serve closely, otherwise there will always be unsightly gossip and gossip. Zeng Guofan bowed to the Qing Dynasty and stepped forward and pioneered many times, so that this feudal dynasty, which had already been devastated, could survive for several more years.