When mentioning the Xiang Army, everyone immediately thought of the commander Zeng Guofan, but few people knew about zeng Guoquan, the general of the Xiang Army. Zeng Guoquan is the younger brother of Zeng Guofan and the ninth in the family. He was resourceful, courageous, courageous, and had an amazing talent in marching and leading troops to fight.
The Xiang army he led was invincible and quickly occupied a number of military strategic points. After leading the Xiang army to attack the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and overthrow the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, why did this great hero who should have been promoted to the rank of knight choose to retire to the official field when this was the infinite scenery?
Zeng Guoquan, a general of the Xiang Army, led an army to attack the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court was corrupt, and the great powers invaded and divided China. After the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government signed the Treaty of Maguan and owed huge reparations. And these huge reparations, this Qing government, which has long been devastated, can take it out?
Of course not, it must be looting the people. The people at the bottom were miserable and eventually broke out. Hong Xiuquan in Guangxi took the lead in organizing a Taiping army, and they quickly occupied Nanjing all the way north, renaming it "Tianjing" and setting the capital at Tianjing. This posed a great threat to the Qing government's regime.
Coinciding with the emergence of the landlord class and the downward shift of central power after the Foreign Affairs Movement, Zeng Guofan organized a powerful contingent, the Xiang Army. At this time, the imperial court was unable to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so it ordered Zeng Guofan to lead the Xiang army to suppress the Taiping Army and suppress it to eliminate the serious troubles in his heart.
At this time, Zeng Guoquan had already joined the Xiang Army after experiencing many consecutive failed imperial examinations. Because of his amazing military talent, he emerged in the Xiang Army.
During the Xianfeng period, when Zeng Guofan was trapped in Jiangxi by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guofan wrote a letter to lao Jiu Zeng Guoquan for help when he was in a state of anxiety. After receiving his brother's letter, Zeng Guoquan began to recruit troops and horses, and formed a Jizi battalion, relying only on two thousand people and horses, all the way through five levels and six generals to break the siege for his brother.
Zeng Guoquan's Jizi battalion repeatedly relieved Zeng Guofan of its difficulties and captured Ji'an, Anqing and other places. Zeng Guofan realized that his ninth brother was a good soldier and warrior, and believed that Zeng Guoquan was a person who could take on great responsibilities.
Go deep into Tianjing and open the Holy Library
In the spring of 1862, Zeng Guofan began to prepare for the attack on Tianjing, and this time he entrusted the main attack to Zeng Guoquan. Zeng Guoquan confidently assured his brother that he would attack Tianjing and take Hong Xiuquan's first rank to confess to the Qing court.
Originally, the Qing court planned to take the Tianjing gradually and gradually, adopt roundabout tactics, and take tianjing little by little, and strive to win the victory with the least loss. However, Zeng Guoquan, who was already disgusted that the Qing court did not reuse the Han people, scorned the Qing court's tactics of grinding and whining, and he wanted to make some achievements quickly to prove to the Qing court the strength of the Han people.
Therefore, Zeng Guoquan, who was eager to make a quick profit, took the lead in leading a large army to set out, and successively attacked Wuwei, Jiangning Town, Chao County, Hanshan, Wuhu, Hezhou, TaipingFu, Jinzhu Pass, Dongliang Mountain, Dashengguan and other places, and the momentum was like a bamboo, directly approaching Tianjing.
Blinded by the immediate victory, Zeng Guoquan decided on May 31, 1862 to camp in Yuhuatai outside the south gate of Tianjing City, exposing the army to the enemy's eyes and in a dangerous situation of isolation and prominence.
Zeng Guofan, who learned of Zeng Guoquan's move, was worried and quickly wrote a letter to advise Zeng Guoquan to temporarily retreat and re-plan his strategy in order to be safe and preserve the overall situation. Zeng Guoquan replied, "Don't attack the old nest, the wave battle is useless, forcing the city is enough to cause the enemy." Although it is dangerous, things can be done. "Insisting on going its own way, there is no thought of retreating."
Zeng Guofan was still uneasy after receiving the reply from the ninth brother, so he sent Li Hongzhang to help Zeng Guoquan, but the proud Zeng Guoquan refused Li Hongzhang's rescue.
He began digging ditches around Tianjing City in preparation for tunnel warfare. When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reinforcements arrived, they attacked with all their might and repelled the Taiping Army rescue team, which claimed to be 20,000 horses, with 2,000 troops.
After receiving the news of Zeng Guoquan's victory, Zeng Guofan sent people to quickly increase his horse and whip, telling Zeng Guoquan to accept it when he saw it was good, and quickly retreat to save the overall situation.
However, at this time, Zeng Guoquan, who felt that his entry into Tianjing was just around the corner, once again kept dissuading him, and asked people to tell his brother, "The thieves are a ragtag bunch, undisciplined, not enough to be afraid, I should take advantage of the victory to pursue and attack Tianjing as soon as possible." ”
Finally, after spending two years, on the afternoon of July 19, 1864, Zeng Guoquan asked his confidant Li Chendian to ignite tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder buried under the walls of Tianjing City. Suddenly, I only felt a tremor in the earth, followed by a loud "bang", and in the midst of the black smoke, Tianjing was finally captured.
After the Xiang army entered the city, Zeng Guoquan went straight to the holy treasury of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, full of expectations that he could obtain a huge treasure. But after the Sacred Treasury was finally opened, for a long time, Zeng Guoquan whispered like dust, "My life is over!" ”
The mystery of the Holy Treasury, to retreat into the advance
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has always practiced the system of heavenly fields and acres, advocating the common ownership of property and equal division of all people. After entering Nanjing, Hong Xiuquan and others even proposed that every citizen should pay tribute, and if they did not pay tribute, they would send troops to search, and if they found more than one or two pieces of silver and gold, they would not be spared.
At that time, everyone knew that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom "gold and silver entered the sea, and the department stores were abundant", and Zeng Guoquan was also convinced of this rumor and painstakingly wanted to obtain these riches. At the same time, the imperial court also coveted this huge amount of property.
But things always came as a surprise, and Zeng Guoquan was very surprised after opening the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Sacred Treasury. The imaginary treasury of silver and gold, rare treasures piled up into hills, now only "false jade seals" and a "gold seal", and nothing else.
For the disappearance of the treasure, Zeng Guoquan was very afraid. It is a trivial matter that he has not obtained the treasure, but if the imperial court has not obtained it, it will think that the treasure has been swallowed by him, which is a big thing. Who would believe that the so-called Holy Treasury is destitute?
Originally, in the battles of Anqing and Ji'an, in order to enhance the strength of the Xiang army, he privately plundered gold and silver, plundered treasures, and mutilated the people. Every time he won a war, he bought a piece of land in his hometown to build a house. Therefore, along with his reputation as the god of war is his greedy nature.
After suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom this time, after opening the Sacred Treasury, he told the Imperial Court that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Sacred Treasury was destitute, and not only the Imperial Court did not believe it, but even the common people would not believe it.
Zeng Guoquan suspected that the treasure in the holy treasury was hidden, so he personally tortured Li Xiucheng where the treasure was hidden. However, Li Xiucheng repeatedly only had the words "the national treasury has no silver rice, and there is no gold and silver in the family." Helplessly, Zeng Guoquan could only tell the eldest brother about this matter.
Zeng Guofan learned that this matter was also helpless, and finally could only be forced to be helpless and make this decision. He knew that the imperial court had always been jealous of the Xiang Army, and he also understood the truth of rabbits and dead dogs cooking, and was afraid that the Xiang Army would become the second Taiping Army and eventually become a thorn in the eyes of the Imperial Court.
So he went to the imperial court to request the abolition of the Xiang army and the surrender of Zeng Guoquan's military power, saying that his brother had been in the battlefield for a long time and needed to return to his hometown to recuperate after his physical losses. In the middle of the compromise, the credit for the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was all given to the imperial court, so the Xiang Army only assisted the imperial court in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
As for the fact that the treasure in the Holy Treasury could not be handed over, Zeng Guofan explained: "At the time of the attack on Tianjing, the explosives had already blown up the thief's palace, and the so-called Holy Treasury had not been found. Did Zeng Guofan say that the imperial court would not pursue the case?
Yes, the imperial court will not pursue it. The imperial court and the Xiang army were mutually beneficial, the imperial court appointed the Xiang army to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and maintain the rule of the Qing Dynasty, and the Xiang army also accumulated huge wealth, and both purposes had been achieved.
In addition, Zeng Guoquan voluntarily surrendered his military power, reducing the threat of the Xiang army to the imperial court. Moreover, the Xiang army was strong, and the Qing court was unable to eliminate the Xiang army.
As for where the treasures of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were, no one knew. Some people speculate that they were secretly hidden by Zeng Guoquan, and some people say that they were squandered by various princes because of the corruption in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Originally a great hero in the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guoquan was forced to return to his hometown for cultivation because of a false treasure, and he lost the opportunity to add officials to the knighthood, pitiful? But there must be something hateful about the poor. Even if the Xiang army entered the city to burn and loot, trample on women, and kill innocents indiscriminately, such an end might have been decided.