Wen / Ziyu
The contradiction between Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guofan is exaggerated, but is there a possibility that these two people joined forces to deliberately stage a scene in front of Cixi?
And that's exactly what happened.
On July 19, the third year of Tongzhi (1864), as the Tianjing City broke from the temple hall to the Xiang army, the nerves of all parties were tensed to the extreme:
Cixi was afraid that Zeng Guofan would copy the path of the Taiping Army, and Zeng Guofan was afraid of the plot of the rabbit dead dog cooking directed by the imperial court, and they were nervous.
But no one expected that Zuo Zongtang quietly gave Cixi a twist at this time without everyone knowing:
"Empress Dowager, don't believe Zeng Guofan's words, after the destruction of Tianjing City, the young king Hong Tianguifu did not die, but fled.
Also, the Taiping Army in Tianjing City was not completely annihilated, and many of them broke out. ”
Cixi was furious, and directly a violent storm frantically exported to Zeng Guofan:
"You reported that Hong Tianguifu is dead, and this thing turned out to be false.";
"The Taiping Army in Nanjing has all been purged, and this news is not reliable, let me check carefully, how many people have run away?";
"Report me the names of the generals who are not guarded against it."
Moreover, this holy decree was personally instructed by Cixi, which shows that she is simply a great enemy against the Xiang army.
Zeng Guofan was instantly transferred from the joy of annihilating the Taiping Army to a state of panic and fear, and once again lost sleep.
On August 30, Zeng Guofan explained the relevant issues to the imperial court, and also consulted Cixi with a copy of Zuo Zongtang:
"Empress Dowager, Zuo Zongtang is not clean, hundreds of thousands of Taiping troops successfully broke through the siege on the slope of Hangzhou, but he lied to you that there are only a few thousand."
Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang finally developed from the previous pattern of often disliking each other due to different personalities and perceptions of things to open-faced attacks.
As a result, the two men did not communicate again for the next eight years until Zeng Guofan's death. The definition of friendship between the two is:
Utter discord.
In fact, this is the cleverness of Zuo Zongtang, everyone knows that Xianfeng and Cixi are like guarding against the Xiang army and thieves, and now, the Taiping army has been annihilated, and the Xiang army has actually become Cixi who can't sleep. If Zeng Guofan or the Xiang Army took another step forward, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Yes, Zeng Guofan's personal label is "Han superintendent", and the Xiang army's label is "civilian armed forces", both of which are existences that can sting Cixi's nerves at any time.
▲ Cixi had not seen Zeng Guofan at that time Source/Stills
In fact, Cixi has long been doing a series of work to guard against Zeng Guofan and the Xiang Army——
The minister Guan Wen led an army of 200,000 to garrison Wuchang and controlled the upper reaches of the Yangtze River;
Monk Greenqin led troops to garrison Anhui and Wuhu;
Fuming'a led his army to guard Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, controlling the lower reaches of the Yangtze River;
There are also hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners and Green Camps stationed near the Jingshi Division;
The Xiang army in Jinling City was monitored by the imperial army from all directions;
At the same time, these people also received a secret order from Cixi: if they found any abnormal behavior of the Xiang army, they would start immediately.
Yes, this is a war between the Xiang army and the imperial court, but it is still in the shadows.
At the same time, the imperial court also began to investigate the fate of the wealth of the Taiping Rebellion, and asked Zeng Guofan to list the expenses of the Xiang Army battalions over the years.
To put it bluntly, Cixi did not want to reimburse the Xiang Army for military expenses at all, and understanding the internal details of the Xiang Army was the real purpose.
How to say, this war without gunsmoke is even more thrilling than the armed competition with the Taiping Army, which always touches Zeng Guofan's nerves.
And the Xiang Army also bred various dissatisfaction within the imperial court because of the aggressiveness, and everyone was persuading Zeng Guofan to copy the plot of Zhao Kuangyin's Chen Qiao Mutiny that year. At that time, there were rumors in the rivers and lakes: up and down the Yangtze River for 3,000 miles, not a single ship did not hang the Zeng Zi flag.
Zeng Guofan was simply panicked. Again internal and external difficulties.
As Cixi, she actually forced Zeng Guofan to rebel in this way to test his bottom line.
Of course, in the face of this dangerous situation, Zeng Guofan also played a beautiful hand -
On August 21, the third year of Tongzhi (1864), Zeng Guofan cut half of his troops from the 50,000 people in the Jizi battalion led by Zeng Guoquan at one time, and the remaining 25,000 people, 10,000 guarded Nanjing, and 15,000 went out to fight guerrilla;
Zeng Guoquan, the first minister who destroyed the Taiping Army, was dismissed and forced to return to his hometown in Xiangxiang for vacation;
For the blind coaxing of his generals, Zeng Guofan used the phrase "relying on the sky and shining on the sea with countless flowers, and the mountains and flowing water know themselves" to show the hole card;
......
After a set of combination punches, Cixi finally smiled, it seems that Lao Zeng really does not have that mind.
Of course, the more important factor that made Cixi's heart relax was Zuo Zongtang's attitude. Just imagine, if Zuo Zongtang was closely united under the banner of Zeng Guofan, the combination of the Xiang Army, the Huai Army and the Chu Army would be an absolute disaster for the Great Qing.
For example, Zuo Zongtang is equivalent to Han Xin in the late stage of the Chu-Han dispute, and Han Xin wins which side he leans towards.
▲ Zuo Zongtang is as important as Han Xin back then Source/Stills
Therefore, when Zuo Zongtang stood up for the first time to report Zeng Guofan, the tight strings in Cixi's heart had been loosened by half, and then she watched Zeng Guofan's performance, and she relaxed her whole body.
A huge crisis was thus resolved.
Through this incident, we once again saw Zuo Zongtang's thorough understanding of the situation, and the moment the Xiang army captured Tianjing City, he had already thought of the step of rabbit dead dog cooking. Therefore, in order to save Zeng Guofan and not to implicate himself, Zuo Zongtang decisively reported Zeng Guofan.
In fact, think about it from another angle, the imperial court will know sooner or later about Hong Tianguifu's escape, it is better to say it yourself, if others are allowed to report to the imperial court, he and Zeng Guofan will have no good fruit to eat.
After thinking about this, Zuo Zongtang informed the imperial court of the news almost as quickly as possible.
But some people will still say that Zuo Zongtang does not talk about martial virtue, saying that he is jealous of Zeng Guofan's military achievements.
In fact, Zuo Zongtang's report of Zeng Guofan Zeng Guofan knew in advance, and he had already prepared a response plan, because Zuo Zongtang specially copied a copy to the imperial court at that time and sent it to Zeng Guofan in advance.
It's his two-dozen matches. Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang knew better than anyone that only when the two of them stood on opposite sides could they be safe for each other. Later facts also confirmed the shrewdness of the two of them:
Zeng Guofan and Zeng Guoquan were both local governors, and Zuo Zongtang's Chu army court did not move at all, and Zuo Zongtang later led this force to the south and the north.
Zuo Zongtang was even taken as a confidant by Cixi and regularized the Chu army under his command and included it in the official establishment of the Qing Dynasty.
Yes, since the world of the Great Qing has formed a situation in which the outside is heavy and the inside is light, and the Han people supervise the strong rise, the best card is:
Make Xiang with Xiang.
The performances of Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang further made Cixi realize the operability of this plan.
How to say, characters like Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang who can successfully avoid the end of rabbit death and dog cooking are all probability events in history, and it seems that a few people such as Fan Li and Zhang Liang can do it.
This does require wisdom and a little courage. And Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang are both the kind of people who have both wisdom and courage.
In those years, until now, many people still have a misunderstanding of the outcome of the relationship between Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang, but although the two have not corresponded for eight years, they have always thought about each other and given each other the greatest support——
Zeng Guofan recommended his subordinates Liu Songshan to Zuo Zongtang;
During his tenure as governor of Liangjiang, Zeng Guofan provided Zuo Zongtang's western expeditionary army with more than two million salaries a year;
In his later years, Zeng Guofan often mentioned Zuo Zongtang to his family, his tone was full of affirmation, and he asserted, "Zuo Zongtang's great deeds are still to come";
......
Think about it, if the two really lose harmony, will Zeng Guofan always pay attention to Zuo Zongtang and give him the greatest support?
No way.
▲ Zeng Guofan's evaluation of Zuo Zongtang has always been very high Source/Stills
In addition, if Zuo Zongtang really wanted to bring down Zeng Guofan, he would definitely not disclose the content of the compromise to him in advance, nor would he write it down in the compromise of the work report.
It can only be said that the people outside are watching the liveliness, and only the people in the city themselves know what is going on.
On March 12, the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872), Zeng Guofan died in the Liangjiang Governor's Office in Nanjing at the age of 61. Zuo Zongtang's tears gathered under his feet like beads of broken threads.
For Zeng Guofan's funeral, Zuo Zongtang specially arranged for his eldest son Zuo Xiaowei to bring 400 taels of silver to attend, and brought his own handwritten elegy:
"Loyalty to the country, wisdom of knowing people, shame inferior to Yuanfu";
"One heart is like gold, attack is like a stone, and there is no negative life in the phase".
This is already the rhythm of confidants.
Echoing this is Zeng Guofan's evaluation of Zuo Zongtang before his death:
"In the war of war, I am not as good as Zuo Zongtang; Loyal to the country, but also with Ji Gao as the crown.
It is a blessing for the country to have someone like Zuo Zongtang. ”
For all kinds of rumors from the outside world, Zuo Zongtang never explained it, because he knew that there was no need.
There are some things that can only be tacitly understood by the parties.
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