Zeng Guofan is known to everyone that this is known as Tongzhi Zhongxing, the head of the four ministers. He was Li Hongzhang's teacher and is also known as the only person in modern history who has come close to a sage in modern history. Everyone must be curious, what kind of person is the famous Zeng Guofan? Is it really as perfect as the legend?
This is not a biography, but a character review book, the author Mr. Zhang Hongjie, the one who wrote about the ten faces of the Daming Dynasty, he writes with special attention to details, not just piling up information to record the running account, he will start from some fragmented details to show the character of the character.
Zeng Guofan's life is not smooth, he has been a scumbag since he was a child, and he is still taking the Xiucai exam at the age of 21, this is already his 6th exam, and he has failed all 5 times before, even his father thinks he is hopeless, saying that this child is too stupid, stupid and helpless. But Zeng Guofan is still studying very hard, really hard work,
But it's a pity that when the exam was released, he was named by the local education director, saying that his arts and science were too shallow, and only gave him half a show talent, which means that next time you have to come to the exam, but you don't have to start from the county exam and the prefectural exam, you can directly participate in the college exam. In the eyes of ordinary people, this is not in vain, and it is finally one step closer to Xiucai.
But Zeng Guofan's idea is very peculiar, he feels that this is a great shame, even more humiliating than not being admitted. So after he went back, he closed his doors, and Zeng Guofan, a scumbag who had not learned it for 16 years before, suddenly became like a daigo empowerment and suddenly opened his mind. In the next year, he was admitted to Xiucai, another year he won the juren, and 4 years later he won the jinshi and ordered Hanlin.
This is equivalent to 21 years old, you have not graduated from primary school, but 6 years later, you have won elementary school, junior high school, high school and even university, and finally with excellent grades admitted to the civil service and become a national cadre. It's kind of incredible. The only explanation is to be shameful and courageous, and everyone should cherish the person who hurts you and inspires you to grow.
Next, we look at Zeng Guofan's second great humiliation, Zeng Guofan not only became an official, but also promoted and raised his salary very quickly, promoted 7 times in 10 years, and soon became a deputy ministerial-level official, Zeng Guofan's family letter, he himself admitted, this is a little smooth beyond imagination.
But at this time, Zeng Guofan's poetry was full of world-weariness and vented all kinds of dissatisfaction. He said directly to his friend, don't look at me as an official is not small, but it's just a decoration, nothing to do, can only mess around, he also wrote to his brother, saying that being an official is not interesting, it is better to give you to drink and eat meat at home to be happy. If you younger brothers can support your family, Lao Tzu will stop choosing. I want to go home to support my parents, and I don't want to go to officialdom anymore.
At that time, the Daoguang Emperor was in power, it can be described as internal and external troubles, the outside was beaten by the Opium War, and the inside was even more corrupt, the Daoguang Emperor was simple, but it was also very mediocre, and the people under him were basically this attitude, in line with the attitude of talking less, not doing things, and making more money, it was simply a mixed life. Zeng Guofan still has ideals, but there is nothing he can do, he has no part to talk except to read more.
Later, taking advantage of the emperor's deposition of Mu Zhang'a, Zeng Guofan felt that the opportunity had come, and wrote a letter to denounce the shortcomings of officialdom and put forward suggestions for rectifying officialdom. The emperor was very interested, so he asked him to explain on the spot, and Zeng Guofan was also prepared and drew a picture, but he couldn't draw, so the picture was quite ugly. So the lecture became a laughing stock of officialdom, and everyone did not care about his suggestions at all, but just laughed at him for drawing too ugly.
This incident made Zeng Guofan depressed to death, and the anger in his heart was like when you told him about the country's plan to govern the country, but he told you that Mandarin is not standard and the tone is not right.
The second shame was his own inflicted, in addition to being angry, it did not make him depressed, but it strengthened his determination to find an opportunity to straighten out the officialdom.
Then he repeatedly wrote to the emperor directly from Daoguang to Xianfeng, but it was still useless, the Xianfeng Emperor was even more narrow-minded, the emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was actually the highest level in all dynasties, at least there were few bastards, but the Qing Dynasty and the Kang Yongqian in front were really incomparable. Therefore, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, everyone remembered Cixi and remembered famous ministers, and in the early Qing Dynasty, basically all the limelight was stolen by the emperor.
Zeng Guofan repeatedly wrote books, but they were all suppressed, and the emperor said that there was no need to discuss, which made Zeng Guofan simply angry. His heart became more and more anxious, at this time, the chaos in the world that he had foreseen before had become a reality, and the Taiping Army had already swept through Guangxi in the first year of Xianfeng. A civil riot has become out of control. But the Xianfeng Emperor remained mediocre and even unprepared.
Zeng Guofan lived to be 61 years old in total, and at this time he was over 40 years old, but he was still immature, and in order to vent his dissatisfaction, he directly criticized the emperor, which was common in the Ming Dynasty, and there were really not many in the Qing Dynasty, because the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not come from the right way, so their fragile careful liver really could not withstand this blow.
Don't look at the Xianfeng Emperor mediocre, but when Zeng Guofan scolded him like this, he was immediately furious, and he directly wanted to arrest Zeng Guofan, and only let him go under the intercession of his colleagues. But this time it is basically a turn with the emperor.
But Zeng Guofan did not make people worry, he not only wanted to offend the emperor, but also offended the courtiers, and when the Qishan case was tried, because Qishan had a good reputation and a thick foundation, the officials protected each other. Only Zeng Guofan came forward and said that he would be strictly judged.
As a result, Qishan was dismissed and assigned, and another named Saishang'a, who suppressed the poor scheduling of the Taiping Army and was questioned, and only Zeng Guofan fought with him, and Saishang'a was dismissed. These two events made Zeng Guofan's popularity completely lost, and he became an outlier in the officialdom. Even in the capital, from the emperor to the ministers, everyone scolded him.
At this time, Zeng Guofan was already in the capital and couldn't get mixed up, and then found an opportunity and hurriedly made up for the errand, but unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived in Anhui, he received the news of his mother's death, so he rushed back to mourn. It was the end of his first 14-year mediocre political career.
In the 2nd year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Army went north, and Zeng Guofan, who was worried about his filial piety to his old wife Ding at home, was also remembered by the emperor, and ordered Zeng Guofan to set up a regimental training, that is, organize militia to defend Changsha. This was also not done before the Manchu Qing, the Manchus have always distrusted the Han people, so no local armed forces are allowed, and this Taiping Army rebellion made the Xianfeng Emperor also a little panicked, and even the rules of the ancestors could not be cared for.
Zeng Guofan immediately arrived in Changsha, by which time the Taiping Army had occupied Hubei, and Hunan was in danger. Changsha City is already panicked. Zeng Guofan used heavy codes in the chaotic times, and he set up a trial bureau, but all the bandits and robbers he caught were either beheaded or beaten to death with sticks, or whipped to death. As a result, Zeng Guofan's reputation was ruined, and hundreds of people died at his hands within 4 months. The common people told him to shave his head. Among them, many have died unjustly.
Although the reign of terror also had a positive effect, the bandits also knew that Zeng Guofan was more ruthless and did not dare to act rashly, but it always did more harm than good, and some people began to use this to attack Zeng Guofan, because Zeng Guofan almost monopolized the case, in the hands of local officials, the case is the road of wealth, Zeng Guofan fought and killed in one day, killed the customers, and they also cut off the way of wealth, so they held a grudge.
At that time, the emperor found a total of 43 retired old cadres to run regimental training, most of them simply could not contribute, and when they arrived at the locality, in the name of running regimental training, they asked the local gentry to donate, and then organized a little armed to help the landlords watch over the homes and nursing homes to deal with bandits. Only Zeng Guofan was alone and was seriously organizing group training. Don't want money, don't want profit, just want to do something.
Although Zeng Guofan was a literati, he had worked as a left attendant of the military department, which was considered to be a little military experience, and he knew that the army of the Great Qing was incorrigible, and it was no longer possible to defeat the Taiping army. The Qing army no longer has a soul, so he wants to build an army of faith, but the problem is that he has exceeded his power by doing it, and he asked the regular army to practice every day, but this almost killed him, those civilian officials hated Zeng Guofan, at most they made bad things behind their backs, and now the military attaché also hates Zeng Guofan, they are not polite at all.
Soon there was a mutiny, Changsha deputy general Qingde, don't look at the Taiping army to escape, but Zeng Guofan he took the lead in the charge. Stirring up trouble everywhere. Later, Zeng Guofan impeached Qingde, and the emperor dismissed Qingde, but it caused a shock in Hunan officialdom.
The governor of Hunan Bao Qibao was even more waiting for an opportunity to take revenge, the regular army looked at these Xiang troops recruited by Zeng Guofan, how to look at it was not pleasing to the eye, the two sides often had armed fights, that is, holding armaments to fight in groups, Bao Qibao saw that the opportunity came, he tied up a few highly respected soldiers and sent them to Zeng Guofan, let him fall, and then told the officers and soldiers below, saying that Zeng Guofan would severely punish these people. Stirring up.
So the Green Camp soldiers were excited, and began to march on the streets, straight to Zeng Guofan's official residence, and a riot was about to break out. At this time, those local officials, because they usually hated Zeng Guofan, did not stop it at all, and all cut melons and moved benches to watch the liveliness. Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan who lived next door to Zeng Guofan, knew all this, but the old guy just didn't care, pretending to be deaf and dumb, causing the Green Camp soldiers to rush into Zeng Guofan's official residence and almost stab him. Frightened, Zeng Guofan fled and went to Luo Bingzhang's door for help.
So how did the old fox Luo Bingzhang mediate in the end? What humiliation did Zeng Guofan suffer? We'll talk about it tomorrow.