Text/Xu Yongchao
As an important aide under Zeng Guofan, Li Yuandu (1821-1887) was a figure that could not be said.
It is said that after the Taiping Army hit Hunan, Zeng Guofan, who was guarding filial piety in his hometown, resolutely stepped forward and founded a regiment to train. At this time, a reader who called himself "Luojiang Fabric" sent a letter expressing his willingness to serve it. Zeng Guofan was overjoyed and met him. On the day of the meeting, I found that this person was his old acquaintance, and he was Li Yuandu.
After a long conversation, Zeng Guofan learned that he was good at writing, so he made him his own writing secretary. Li Yuandu was also impressed by Zeng Guofan's sincere plot for the country, so in the shogunate, he devoted himself to everything, did not worry about hard work, and soon became his most loyal and effective assistant.
Soon, the Battle of Jinggang broke out. This was the first time that Zeng Guofan personally commanded the war. Due to the lack of actual combat experience before, the Xiang Army was greatly defeated. Zeng Guofan was ashamed and indignant, and wanted to commit suicide by throwing himself into the water. Fortunately, Li Yuandu anticipated in advance that if Jinggang was defeated, Zeng Guofan would most likely commit suicide and be martyred, and just in case, he secretly arranged for his friend Zhang Shoulin to let him hide in the rear cabin and instruct him to help him immediately when the marshal wanted to throw water. It was this arrangement of his that gave zeng guofan his life. After returning to the shore, he enlightened many times, and Zeng Guofan dispelled the idea of seeking death and prepared to fight again, which led to the later Xiangtan Victory.
After the great victory at Xiangtan, the Xiang army entered Jiangxi to fight. The Taiping Army introduced part of the Xiang Army's marine division into Poyang Lake, the other intercepted at the Yangtze River, and then took advantage of the dark wind of the moon to sneak attack, the Xiang Army suffered heavy losses, in a hurry, Zeng Guofan once again wanted to commit suicide by throwing himself into the river, Li Yuandu saw the situation, forcibly dragged him, and once again pulled him back from the ghost gate.
This time, the Lake Mouth was defeated, and the Xiang Army suffered heavy losses. In order to recruit brave soldiers, Li Yuandu, who had never brought soldiers before, offered to return to his hometown to recruit soldiers and buy horses. With the three thousand soldiers he recruited, Li Yuandu turned to northeast Jiangsu, greatly relieving the pressure on Zeng Guofan.
Forced by the situation, Li Yuandu put down the pen in his hand and began to march and fight. Zeng Guofan was not at ease, but in view of the fact that there was really no one available under his hands, he had to "put down the needle and pay close attention to it", teaching him to fight by hand, hoping that Li Yuandu would change his temperament and become a real general. At the beginning, Li Yuandu was still very careful, and he followed the operational principles formulated by Zeng Guofan everywhere, so that he could repeatedly defeat the enemy army. However, successive victories overwhelmed his mind, greedily and aggressively, and as a result, Fuzhou City was defeated in a battle and his reputation was discredited. For this failure, Zeng Guofan did not blame too much. Li Yuandu also learned a lesson from this great defeat and was more cautious in using troops.
After Zeng Guofan became the governor of Liangjiang, he transferred Li Yuandu to be in charge of the war in southern Anhui. Just as Li Shixian attacked Huizhou, Li Yuandu asked soldiers to rescue him. Unexpectedly, this time, the Taiping Army attacked with 100,000 heavy troops, coupled with the fact that the original garrison troops had committed treachery, and they were greedy and earnest, so they violated Zeng Guofan's admonition not to go out of the city to fight a decisive battle, and led the army out of the city to fight, resulting in the fall of Huizhou. At this point, the Taiping Army went straight to the old camp of Qimen, where Zeng Guofan was located. The danger this time is no less than that of Jinggang and Hukou in that year, but the difference is that this time it was Li Yuandu's mistake that made him almost fall into death.
Li Yuandu, who had lost the battle, felt that he had no face to continue to lead the troops in the Xiang Army camp, so he defected to Wang Youling, the governor of Zhejiang, and planned to start again. This move caused great dissatisfaction among the Xiang army. It turned out that wang youling and the xiangjun two major groups were sworn enemies, and Li Yuandu's move undoubtedly chilled Zeng Guofan's heart. In a fit of anger, he impeached Li Yuandu.
After Li Yuandu, who had returned to his hometown, experienced the initial resentment, his mentality gradually calmed down. While writing a book, while recalling the bits and pieces with Zeng Guofan, he finally realized his mistake and decided to reconcile with Zeng Guofan.
Zeng Guofan, in fact, did not forget this old friend who firmly supported him and saved his life several times, and felt that his behavior was too mean. Not only did he resume correspondence with him, but he also agreed to let the two families marry.
In 1872, when Li Yuandu was preparing to pack for visiting Zeng Guofan, whom he had not seen for thirteen years, there was bad news: Zeng Guofan died of illness in Nanjing. After Li Yuandu learned the news, he was very sad and wrote many touching poems.
Fifteen years later, Li Yuandu died. The following year, Zeng Guofan's relatives decided to build the Zeng Wenzheng Ancestral Hall in Changsha, and Li Yuandu entered the ancestral hall to accompany the worship. The old friend finally went underground.