Zuo Zongtang was clever and clever in his youth, with great ambitions, self-proclaimed Zhuge Liang, and often called himself "Jin Liang" and "Old Liang". Everyone also praised him as "Little Zhuge Ge".
Sometimes, Zuo Zongtang even felt that he was more powerful than Zhuge Liang.
In the first year of Tongzhi (1862), after Zuo Zongtang was appointed as the governor of Zhejiang, he led the Chu army into Zhejiang to fight against the Taiping Army. After a year of fierce fighting, Zuo Zongtang recovered most of the lost land in Zhejiang except for a few cities such as Hangzhou, and was promoted to the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. Suddenly, Zuo Zongtang was full of scenery and ambition.
In the second year of Tongzhi (1863), zuo Zongtang wrote a letter to his friend Guo Songtao, after introducing his strategy and achievements in pacifying and governing Zhejiang, he said a lot of flowers: "When Gaizhe was overthrown, It was not ruoyi prefecture as the country of heaven. In the past, the present light seems to be better than the ancient light. ”
This means that the basic conditions of the Tianfu Kingdom of Yizhou, which Zhuge Liang (Gu Liang) ran, were very good; Zhejiang was a complete mess before this, and it was actually cleaned up by itself. In contrast, I am more powerful than Zhuge Liang.
So, did Zuo Zongtang reach zhuge Liang's height in the end?
First, let's look at official positions.
When Zhuge Liang was young, he farmed in Longzhong and called himself Guan Zhong and Le Yi, which was very similar to Zuo Zongtang. Later, Zhuge Liang was invited out of the mountains by Liu Bei's "Three Gu Maolu" and became Liu Bei's military division. Zhuge Liang's highest official position was that of Shu Han Cheng Xiang.
When Zuo Zongtang was young, he took the entrance examination three times, all of which were named Luosun Mountain, and also returned to his hometown to farm. After the outbreak of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, he threw himself into the camp of defending the Qing court, and successively served as the governor of Zhejiang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and other feudal officials, and the official to the Dongge University and the minister of military aircraft.
During the Qing Dynasty, there was no position of minister, the university scholar was called "the minister with no real name", the military minister was called the "real and nameless" minister, and Zuo Zongtang was also a scholar of dongge university and a minister of military aircraft, so naturally he could be called a "nominal and real" minister.
From the perspective of official positions, Zhuge Liang and Zuo Zongtang sat on an equal footing.
Second, let's look at knighthood.
After Zhuge Liang succeeded to the throne by Liu Chan, the lord of the Shu Han Dynasty, he was given the title of Marquis of Wuxiang (武乡侯) and leading the Governor of Yizhou. When Zhuge Liang died of illness, Liu Chan was posthumously honored as the Marquis of Zhongwu. Therefore, later generations honored Zhuge Liang as "Marquis wu". Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin Dynasty posthumously honored Zhuge Liang as the King of Wuxing. During the Song Dynasty, Zhuge Liang was posthumously honored as the King of Renji of Weilie Wuling; during the Yuan Dynasty, Zhuge Liang was again posthumously honored as king of Renji of Weilie Zhongwu Xianling.
Zuo Zongtang was knighted twice. The first time was after the recovery of all of Zhejiang, and he was awarded the title of second-class Kejingbo. The second time was after recovering a million square kilometers of land in the western region, and he was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Kejing of the Second Rank.
Judging from the knighthood, Zhuge Liang and Zuo Zongtang were both marquises before they died, and they fought a draw. However, Zhuge Liang was posthumously awarded the title of prince after his death, which can be regarded as a slight victory.
Then there's real power.
Zhuge Liang belonged to the mainstay of the Shu Han and played a great role in the creation and development of the Shu Han. Because of this, when Liu Bei died of illness, he would entrust him with loneliness and say, "If the heir (Liu Chan) can assist him, he will assist him; if he does not have talent, you can take it yourself." This shows that Zhuge Liang has real power to influence the overall situation of shu han. In fact, this is also true. After Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang could almost decide the size of Shu Han's administrative affairs, and Liu Chan was useless.
Zuo Zongtang had long served as a feudal official, and his real power was not insignificant. The Tongzhi Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi also took the initiative to consult him when deciding on major military affairs. However, in contrast, Zuo Zongtang had limited real power in his hands. Empress Dowager Cixi was able to easily transfer him back and forth between the local and imperial courts.
In terms of real power, Zuo Zongtang was inferior to Zhuge Liang.
Finally, let's look at the achievements.
Zhuge Liang's greatest achievements in his life were several. The first was to assist Liu Bei in creating the Shu Han. The second was to create an entire official system and legal system for the Shu Han Dynasty, which had a great impact on the economy, military, and culture. The third is to pacify The South Central. Fourth, with a very limited military strength, it carried out five northern expeditions to the Central Plains, delaying the speed of the demise of the Shu Han Dynasty.
Zuo Zongtang's achievements are also very great. The first was to create the Chu Army and recover all of Zhejiang, as well as parts of Fujian and Guangdong. The second is the Ten Thousand Miles Expedition, which recovered millions of square kilometers of land in the western region, and created a miracle of the loss and recovery of the land since the late Qing Dynasty. The third was to participate in the foreign affairs movement and create China's first coastal defense modernization affairs agency, known as the cradle of modern navy, the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau and the School of Ship Administration.
In terms of achievements, Zhuge Liang and Zuo Zongtang are in different environments, and the results achieved have their own characteristics, and it is difficult to make a seamless comparison like "one plus one equals two". Taken together, we might as well say they were tied again.
On the whole, I think that Zuo Zongtang, as a fallen person, became one of the most accomplished top figures of his time, and his achievements were comparable to Zhuge Liang's, and he also reached the height of Zhuge Liang.