He recovered Xinjiang from Taiwan and is known as the person who has contributed the most to Chinese territory since Li Shimin. Some say that he is the first person in China in 500 years, while others say that he is the last hard bone of the late Qing Dynasty.
Next, let's understand the life of a generation of famous ancestors in one breath. Zuo Zongtang is a native of Xiangyin, Hunan Province, and was born into a Hansu family that worked as a farmer. His father and grandfather were both talented people, but Zuo Zongtang was a non-mainstream scholar, and in addition to studying Confucian classics, he seemed to be more interested in military, geography and even water conservancy, which were used by the world, so much so that he repeatedly tried after he was twenty years old.
In 1838, 26-year-old Zuo Zongtang returned home for the third time. In a fit of anger, he decided to give up the road of the imperial examination, go home to continue farming and studying, and called himself Longshang Zhuge with no half an acre in his heart, worried about the world's ambition, waiting for the opportunity to make meritorious achievements. In 1852, when the Taiping army besieged Changsha, the provincial capital was in danger, and Zhang Liangji, the governor of Hunan Province, sent people to ask Zuo Zongtang to come out of the mountain, and Zuo Zongtang braved the artillery fire of the Taiping army to enter the city by hanging Weiya. Zuo Zongtang's arrival made Zhang Liangji overjoyed, and immediately handed over all military affairs to him. Zuo Zongtang, in the name of Muke, went on an inspection tour, and after his day and night planning, the Taiping army besieged Changsha for 82 days, could not attack it for a long time, and finally withdrew north. Zuo Zongtang became famous in this battle.
Soon, Zhang Liangji left Hunan, and Zuo Zongtang resigned to Xiangyin. The new governor, Luo Bingzhang, repeatedly offered him to go out of the mountains, but he was rejected. Two years later, the Taiping Army galloped into northern Hunan, and Hunan was once again in crisis. Zuo Zongtang made a comeback again due to the urgent military situation. Luo Bingzhang obeyed Zuo Zongtang's words, and all the affairs of the inspector were left to Zuo Zongtang. Zuo Zongtang also spared no effort to assist him, inwardly in four realms, foreign aid in five provinces, and the situation in Hunan finally turned critical. At that time, Luo Bingzhang was holding the official title of the right deputy capital imperial history, and the left and right respected the right, so the people of Hunan gave Zuo Zongtang a nickname, called Zuo Du Yushi, and laughingly said that he was a muke who was greater than the right to be an inspector. It was also Luo Bingzhang's full authorization and trust that enabled Zuo Zongtang to show his strength and make Hunan military affairs sound and brilliant, becoming an important base for the Qing court against the Taiping Army. However, Zuo Zongtang's brilliance was jealous of many Manchu ministers at that time.
In 1859, Fan Xie, the commander-in-chief of Yongzhou Town, Hunan Province, asked the Xianfeng Emperor for Zuo Zongtang, saying that he controlled the military and government as a staff member. Although this impeachment forced Zuo Zongtang to leave the Hunan shogunate, it also made his name shake the government and the public. Because Pan Zuyin, the young secretary of the Dali Temple who blessed him, actually wrote in the above book that the country cannot be without Hunan for a day, that is, Hunan cannot be without Zongtang. The staff of the Fu Department in the district and the district can actually be related to the security of the country, and it also makes Zuo Zongtang enter the sight of the Xianfeng Emperor. Sure enough, the following year, the Taiping Army attacked the Jiangnan camp, and Zuo Zongtang joined Zeng Guofan, the minister of Qincha and the governor of Liangjiang, as an alternate of Sipin Jingtang. Since then, he has been running wildly on the road of a generation of famous ministers.
Zeng Guofan recommended him as the governor of Zhejiang and went south to retake Zhejiang. In just four years, the forty-nine-year-old Zuo Zongtang led his army through Zhejiang, and his official position was also promoted to the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and he was given the title of second-class Jingbo. In 1865, Agubai, entrenched in Central Asia, led an army into Xinjiang, quickly eliminated many separatist regimes, and established the Hongfu Khanate. At this time, in the Great Qing Dynasty, the remnants of the Taiping Rebellion had not yet been eliminated, the twister army swept the entire northern land, and peasant uprisings broke out in Shaanxi, Gansu and other places, causing internal and external troubles, and the entire country fell apart. Li Hongzhang, the directly subordinate governor, lamented that China was facing major changes unseen in 3,000 years, and Zuo Zongtang once again stepped forward to oversee the various armies to quell the civil unrest as the minister of Qincha. But civil unrest has not yet been settled, and waves have risen again.
In 1871, Tsarist Russia sent troops to seize Ili, and the entire Xinjiang fell, and the northwest was in danger. At this time, Britain even expressed its full support for Xinjiang Agubai, which made the situation in Xinjiang more complicated. In the same year, Japan attacked the coast of Taiwan, hundreds of thousands of Qing troops had no resistance, the southeast was urgent, and border plugs and coastal defenses were urgent at the same time. The silver of the Great Qing Dynasty's treasury could not support both sides at the same time, so a fierce debate broke out within the Qing court about whether to strengthen coastal defense or plug defense. The coastal defense faction led by Li Hongzhang insisted on giving priority to coastal defense, believing that the navy should be built first and Xinjiang should be abandoned, while Zuo Zongtang was the ruler of the country's territory. If Xinjiang is abandoned at this time, I am afraid that there will be no chance of recovery in the future. In the end, under the advice of Zuo Zongtang, Empress Dowager Cixi decided to send troops to Xinjiang, but only gave him five million taels of silver, which was only a drop in the bucket for the army of the Western Expedition. Therefore, Zuo Zongtang moved left and right, borrowed everywhere, and finally scraped together 10 million taels of silver.
In 1876, the sixty-four-year-old Zuo Zongtang once again went out on a campaign. And this battle once again demonstrated Zuo Zongtang's outstanding military talent. He first formulated the strategic plan of first going north and then south, using Urumqi's position to create the necessary conditions for the next step to recapture Ili, and skillfully applied the principle of slow advance and quick warfare in operations. In just over a year, all territories except Ili were recovered. During this period, his real combat time was only four months, and the rest of the time was spent on material preparation and fighter selection. The war was fought cleanly, without dragging Tony with water, and did not give Britain and Russia any opportunity for military intervention.
Subsequently, Zuo Zongtang immediately urged the imperial court to recover Ili as soon as possible through negotiation, but he did not expect that the minister sent to the peace talks, Yan Chonghou, would sign a humiliating "Treaty of Livachia" with Tsarist Russia without authorization. Zuo Zongtang was furious when he heard the news, and bluntly said that if he didn't achieve the fight, he would still take the lead. Therefore, Zuo Zongtang, who was 68 years old, carried the coffin to battle, personally led 40,000 troops to Hami, and decided on a new plan for the three-way army to retake Ili, which provided sufficient military backing for the negotiations. This time, the imperial court sent Zeng Jize, the eldest son of Zeng Guofan, to negotiate, and in the end, the Sino-Russian Treaty of Ili was signed, and Russia returned most of the territory of Ili. So far, Zuo Zongtang recovered 1.66 million square kilometers of Xinjiang. This was an unprecedented miracle of the Great Qing Dynasty, and the whole country was shocked. Empress Dowager Cixi was overjoyed and ordered that civil and military officials were not allowed to participate in Zuo Zongtang for thirty years.
In 1884, the Sino-French War broke out, and Zuo Zongtang, who was already 72 years old, arrived at the front line again with a debilitating body and formed a Jingjing army to aid Taiwan and cross Taiwan eastward. But history did not give Zuo Zongtang any more time. Soon, he became seriously ill. At this time, Li Hongzhang signed the Sino-French Treaty of Vietnam with the French in Tianjin. Zuo Zongtang cursed when he heard the news, ten French generals are not as bad as one Li Hongzhang. At the time of his death, Zuo Zongtang still went to the imperial court and insisted on requesting Taiwan to establish a province, and although the imperial court eventually agreed to his request, Zuo Zongtang was not able to witness this moment in person.
In 1885, Zuo Zongtang, who never talked about peace and discussion, died with regret at the age of seventy-three. Shortly after Zuo Zongtang's death, the Sino-French Treaty of Vietnam was ratified. Since then, China has recognized the annexation of Annan by France, and the gateway to southwestern China has been wide open.