Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang originally belonged to the Xiang Army, and later established their own portals, Zuo Zongtang created the Chu Army, and Li Hongzhang created the Huai Army, both of which made great achievements. After the death of Zeng Guofan, the two became the two most important Han courtiers in the late Qing Dynasty, but unfortunately they were sworn enemies, just like Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, "both Shengyu and He Shengliang". What kind of history did Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang have? What was the outcome of this "Yuliang controversy" in the late Qing Dynasty?
"Cross-border plundering"
Compared with Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, who is eleven years older, is much older. In 1852, when Zuo Zongtang was invited by Zhang Liangji, the governor of Hunan, to go out of the mountains and serve as a master to secretly take power in Hunan, Li Hongzhang was still just a document with no name. Later, the two joined Zeng Guofan's army together, talking harshly so that Zuo Zongtang often liked to satirize others, calling Li Hongzhang a "little plum", and Li Hongzhang was very dissatisfied and helpless, saying in a letter to a friend that Zuo Zongtang "has scales and armor in the chest of the Xiang people." Zuo Zongtang also laughed at Li Hongzhang, who was born in Anhui, saying that "Anhui people are barely able to make a fuss, but they can't fight a war", which made Li Hongzhang feel very dissatisfied and uneven in his heart, and also sowed the seeds of discord between the two people.

Later, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang each led their troops to fight, and when Zuo Zongtang was training the Chu army, he used Li Hongzhang's Huai army as a negative teaching material, "The Huai army is high in deception, and Hefei (Li Hongzhang) is controlling the cage, which is intended to take advantage of the moment, and is worried about the endless poison." Zuo Zongtang served as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, mainly fighting in the Zhejiang area, and Li Hongzhang as the governor of Jiangsu mainly fought in the Jiangsu area, but soon the cities occupied by the Taiping Army in Jiangsu were recaptured by Li Hongzhang's Huai army except Nanjing. The imperial court ordered Li Hongzhang to send troops to assist Zeng Guofan in conquering Nanjing, but Li Hongzhang, who could be taught by Zeng Guofan, "did not dare to go near the forbidden and peep at the bed", so he sent troops to Zhejiang in advance, and zuo Zongtang's "forbidden body" near Zuo Zongtang went, so that Zuo Zongtang, who was "peeping on the bed", was angry enough to play the imperial court and accused Li Hongzhang of "crossing the border and plundering merits".
Zuo Zongtang was also dissatisfied with some of Li Hongzhang's practices in Zhejiang, and once wrote to Zeng Guofan complaining: "The Battle of Xitang, arson and plunder, was caused by his sixth brother's inability to forbid soldiers. Shao Tsuen (Li Hongzhang) therefore angered Jiashan Tang and ordered Cheng Lie to withdraw. In fact, Tang Ling's bureau Jiashan was also commissioned by Shao Tsuen, and the subordinate was consulted. Where the lake silk and salt benefits are all due to Zhejiang, they will all be occupied. Rich households in Jia, Hangzhou, and bandits who had served as township officials were induced to receive a fine. Most of the remnants of Zhejiang take this as a spokesman. And Hubei Xie Zhejiang's salary, ten thousand taels per month, the official said to allocate the Foreign tax of Jiangsu Customs as a credit, has been clearly ordered, Shao Tsuen also ignored. Shanghai salary does not owe January, Zhejiang salary has been owed for a year, Shangfu special note so! Is it possible that Zhejiang is dead and Shanghai can exist alone? It's okay too! ”
After the Taiping Army was basically pacified, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang began to lead the army to suppress the Twister Army, and Zuo Zongtang's Western Twister Army, which was in charge of suppressing it, once ran to the vicinity of Beijing, so that Li Hongzhang, who was in charge of suppressing the Eastern Twister Army, was also reprimanded by the imperial court, so angry that Li Hongzhang gritted his teeth at Zuo Zongtang and wrote in a letter to his brother Li Henian: "Zuo Gong let the thief out of the mountain and harmed the contemptible people. If a thief is convicted, how can the soldier be motivated? The servant's heart is like an ancient well, and he hates not to return to impeachment, and he will not care about the present honor and disgrace."
In 1868, with the cooperation of Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, the Western Twister Army was finally suppressed, and Li Hongzhang went to the imperial court to say that Zhang Zongyu, the leader of the Western Twister Army, committed suicide by throwing himself into the river. Zuo Zongtang, like when he reported zeng guofan for lying that Hong Tianguifu, the young lord of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, had been arrested, once again went to the imperial court to say that Zhang Zongyu did not commit suicide by throwing himself into the river but fled. In this regard, Li Hongzhang was as angry as Zeng Guofan, who was reported that year, and in his letter to Zeng Guofan, he compared Zuo Zongtang, who thought of himself as "now bright", to Cao Cao. This marked the formal confrontation between Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, who were already incompatible.
"The Dispute Between Coastal Defence and Cypriot Defence"
The official confrontation between Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang was known as the "dispute between coastal defense and Cypriot defense." At that time, China was facing the division of empires, the coastal and frontier territories were in a state of emergency, especially the Occupation of Ili by Russia, so in 1874 the Qing court asked all the important ministers to express their views on Cypriot defense and coastal defense. The opinions of the important ministers were mainly divided into two factions, one led by Li Hongzhang, who believed that coastal defense was the center of national defense. Li Hongzhang put forward the proposition of "abandoning Xinjiang and specializing in coastal defense" in the 9,000-word "Preparation for the Fold of Coastal Defense", arguing that Xinjiang is China's hands and feet, while the southeast coast is the heart of China, "Xinjiang is no longer there, and the vitality of the limbs is harmless; If the sea frontier is gone, the abdominal and mental troubles will heal"; The other faction, led by Zuo Zongtang, proposed that "haisai should be given equal importance" and that Xinjiang must not give up, because "the reason why Xinjiang is to protect Mongolia, and the reason why to protect Mongolia is to defend the Beijing Division", and in the middle of the compromise, he took the initiative to ask Miao to lead the army to the west. In the end, Zuo Zongtang used his insight and responsibility to persuade the imperial court and made a decision to attach equal importance to "coastal defense and sai defense".
In the process of Zuo Zongtang's army quelling the rebellion and recovering Xinjiang, unlike Zeng Guofan, who supported him regardless of his personal grievances, Li Hongzhang had many constraints on Zuo Zongtang. For example, in order to collect military expenses to recover Xinjiang, Zuo Zongtang played the imperial court to raise 10 million yuan in foreign funds, and the imperial court wanted to supervise and supervise Taiwan's Chincha minister Shen Baozhen to "raise funds on behalf of the court." Shen Baozhen, who advocated the importance of "coastal defense," was not very willing, and Li Hongzhang also wrote to Shen Baozhen in support, saying that Zuo Zongtang asked others to "borrow on behalf of others, can there be another plan?" In order to ease the conflict, Zuo Zongtang offered to reduce the loan to 4 million, but the Qing court still insisted on borrowing 10 million yuan, and Li Hongzhang found the military minister Wen Xiang for questioning.
After recovering Xinjiang, Zuo Zongtang was promoted to "Second Class Kejing Hou" and entered the Korean Marching Aircraft with the title of a scholar of Dongge University, becoming a major minister of the DPRK and Li Hongzhang's number one opponent. Legend has it that once Zuo Zongtang went to see Li Hongzhang, and Li Hongzhang came out late. Thinking of the rumor that Li Hongzhang spoiled his little wife, Zuo Zongtang sneered and said, "Wash your feet with Mrs. Ru", which means that you will not hesitate to neglect the minister in order to wash the feet of your little wife. Li Hongzhang blurted out his "Tongjinshi Origin", touching the weakness of Zuo Zongtang who only passed the lifting of people and was given "Tongjinshi Origin" by the imperial court, and the two were in the same situation from then on.
"If you turn the left, you must first pour the beard"
When Li Hongzhang returned to his hometown of "Ding You," Zuo Zongtang, a high-ranking and powerful man, struck down the officials of Li Hongzhang's faction, or expelled or belittled him. Li Hongzhang was very annoyed by this after the expiration of the "Ding Worry" period, and decided to retaliate with a-for-tat, so he took Hu Xueyan and opened the knife, "If you turn the left, you must first pour Hu." Hu Xueyan is the richest man in the country who was single-handedly supported by Zuo Zongtang, and from the pacification of the Zhejiang Taiping Army to the recovery of Xinjiang, he also gave Zuo Zongtang strong support, which can be described as Zuo Zongtang's "economic foundation".
At that time, Hu Xueyan bought a large amount of silk at a high price, monopolized the market, and prepared to hoard and make a fortune. At this time, just in time for the maturity of the 800,000 taels of loan that Hu Xueyan had raised for Zuo Zongtang's march to fight, Li Hongzhang instructed Sheng Xuanhuai to let the wind blow to the outside world, saying that Hu Xueyan was short of funds. Although the loan was borrowed for the Qing court, the person who handled it was Hu Xueyan, and foreign banks asked Hu Xueyan for money. Hu Xueyan urgently transferred 800,000 taels of silver from his own Fukang Qianzhuang to repay the debt, but Sheng Xuanhuai arranged for some large households to withdraw money from Fukang Qianzhuang and run money, and let the wind say that Hu Xueyan had lost all his money. As a result, deposit customers went to Hu Xueyan's money bank to withdraw money, and Hu Xueyan woke up like a dream at this time, thinking of sending a telegram to zuo Zongtang, the "patron" for help, but the telegram was detained by Sheng Xuanhuai, who was in charge of the telegraph bureau. Although in the end, Zuo Zongtang also went out to save Hu Xueyan and "inquired according to the book" to reconcile and pay the account, but at this time the general trend had gone, and Hu Xueyan, the richest man of the generation, finally went bankrupt and died tragically in a hut in the wilderness, becoming a victim of the contradiction between Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang.
Although Hu Xueyan was overthrown, the struggle between Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang was not over. After the outbreak of the Sino-French War, the imperial court once ordered Li Hongzhang to lead an army to resist, but was resigned by Li Hongzhang, who had always been the lord and peace. Zuo Zongtang, who was more than seventy years old, once again took the initiative to ask for help, and was appointed as "the minister of Chincha to supervise the military affairs of Fujian." Under the dispatch of Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong and others, the Chinese army won a great victory at Zhennanguan, and the situation was very good, and Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong and others advocated taking the opportunity to march into Guangfu Hanoi. Li Hongzhang, however, tried his best to negotiate peace, and said in a telegram to Prime Minister Yamen: "If we peacefully negotiate peace with France at this time, there will be little damage to peace, otherwise the military disaster will recur again." In the end, the Qing government appointed Li Hongzhang as "minister plenipotentiary" to negotiate peace with the Representative of the French Government, Badeno, and signed the Sino-French Treaty of Vietnam, resulting in "France winning without victory, and China defeating without defeat.". Li Hongzhang also went to the imperial court and "dismissed his post and punished" Zuo Zongtang's subordinate Wang Debang and others.
Zuo Zongtang hated this ending and angrily rebuked Li Hongzhang, "For China, ten French generals are not as bad as one Li Hongzhang" and "Li Hongzhang has mistakenly exhausted his life and will be cursed for eternity." Cursed, the dying Zuo Zongtang had already set over the Western Mountains and died in Fuzhou in 1885 at the age of 73. Before his death, Zuo Zongtang dictated the testament: "In the Vietnamese war and war, China's strength and weakness are also a major key. The chancellor went south, and so far he did not extend the tart, Zhang Continental, hated his life, and could not be blinded. It cannot be completely said that Zuo Zongtang was killed by Li Hongzhang like Zhou Yu was killed by Zhuge Liangqi, but there are some reasons for this.
After Zuo Zongtang's death, Li Hongzhang, who breathed a long sigh, sent a picture of the elegy: "Thirty years of circumlocution, harmony and difference, not dispute, only Mr. Know me; The Nine Commandments of Kun Yao, the rule of the inside, the rule of the outside of the martial arts, for the sake of the world. I am afraid that this painting is more of a performance like "Zhuge Liang crying Zhou Yu", not the real voice of Li Hongzhang.
Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang 's "circumvention for thirty years" is not false, but it is basically different and contentious. Moreover, the arrogant and upright Zuo Zongtang did not know Li Hongzhang, and I am afraid that he looked down on li Hongzhang, who was sleek and sophisticated, which was also the main reason for the contradictions between the two of them in addition to their different political views and interests. And Li Hongzhang probably would not spare Zuo Zongtang, but more to remove the happiness of the number one opponent, he finally won the "Present Liang" Zuo Zongtang in the "Yuliang Dispute" in the late Qing Dynasty.