As we all know, Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang, who were fellow villagers in Hunan and were also famous ministers of "Tongguang Zhongxing" in the late Qing Dynasty, have been fighting with the Taiping Army during the Xianfeng period, and then later became feudal officials of Xinjiang with each other, it can be said that the two have been in constant discord! It even ended up to the point of breaking off diplomatic relations for eight years.
During this period, it should be said that the most "painful" thing should be this event: it is said that in June 1864, when the Xiang army attacked the old nest of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom "Tianjing", this talented Zuo Zongtang, or because of jealousy of the unearthly merits of Zeng Jinshi, who was "slightly underdeveloped" in his opinion, actually ignored Zeng Guofan's favor, openly participated in the impeachment of Zeng Guofan for lying about the burning of the young king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and suggested that the Qing court deal with his crime of cheating the king. As a "counterattack", Zeng Guofan complained to Zuo Zongtang for "releasing water" when he surrounded and annihilated the Taiping Army in Hangzhou, and tried to play the imperial court's crime of self-respect.
There is no doubt that for the mutual attack between these two heavyweight Han ministers, the Qing court center at that time was absolutely "happy to see it". Because, after the Taiping Rebellion was wiped out, how to prevent Zeng Guofan and other Han military leaders from colluding with each other to repeat the Wu Sangui-style San Francisco Rebellion was an urgent task of the Qing court, and the truth of fighting for the profits of fishermen one by one was known to three-year-old children.
In fact, according to relevant historical sources, since the Xianfeng Emperor's edict in 1852 ordered Zeng Guofan to go out of the mountains to assist the local group training, the Qing court has actually "kept a hand" for this talented reader. A typical trick during this period was that after the Xiang army restored Wuchang, the Xianfeng Emperor changed his order on the appointment of Zeng Guofan as governor of Hubei.
Of course, subsequent developments also proved that the Qing court's worries were not "superfluous"!
It is said that in 1862, when the Xiang army attacked Anqing, the Yangtze River fortress of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zuo Zongtang first secretly wrote to Zeng Guofan that "the reliance of God will be in virtue." The importance of the Ding, it seems to be questionable"; Later, after the Xiang army captured the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's lair "Tianjing", Zeng Guofan's love generals Hu Linyi and Peng Yulin separately entered Zeng Guofan: "The southeast half of the wall is ownerless, how can my father (teacher) care?" Moreover, in order to "persuade" Zeng Guofan, some Xiang army leaders reportedly specially organized and convened a "Xuanwu Lake Conference" and invited Minyun, a famous Confucian king in central Xiang, to lobby Zeng Guofan with imperial skills. However, to the disappointment of the vast number of Xiang Army generals, or because this Zeng Guofan, who was obsessed with reading the book of sages, was too deeply influenced by Confucian loyalty, he rejected all of his subordinates' "persuasion" and showed the public with the collection of "relying on the sky and the sea flowers are innumerable, and the flowing water and mountains are self-aware". At the same time, in order to "reassure" the imperial court, he first took the initiative to disband the most powerful Jizi battalion in the Xiang army, and then recommended Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, who were equal to his strength, to be the officials of the frontier.
For Zeng Guofan's "operation", today, when we look back or find that at that time, it should have been Zeng Guofan's "timidity", forbearance, concession and wisdom, which finally fulfilled himself and Zuo Zongtang, and also preserved the main veins of the Xianghuai and Huai armies. And the "fight" and dark music of the two people here are actually more like a double reed play for the Qing court to watch.
To this end, let us extend the lens of history a little longer, and invite everyone to go back to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and think about it, if there was no plan of "ruling Han with Han" offered to Emperor Taiji by the great traitor Hong Chengzhuo at the end of the Ming Dynasty, how could there be a counterattack effect of Zeng Guofan and other Han intellectuals standing in the court more than 200 years later, allowing those Eight Banners who flaunted their might, did not learn and had no skills, obediently surrendered their military power? And if after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was annihilated, there was no Zeng Guofan to judge the situation to protect the Xiang army and the Huai army, how could there be a later Yuan Shikai? How could there be the Baoding Military Academy that nurtured the members of the League and the New Army Uprising in the Xinhai Revolution?
As for the true relationship between Zeng Zuo and the two, leaving aside the above-mentioned Zuo Zongtang's "persuasion" secret letter, I thought that I only needed to look at Zuo Zongtang's words to save Zeng Guofan:
Knowing people, seeking loyalty to the country, and being ashamed to be inferior to Yuanfu;
One heart is like gold, attack is like a stone, and there is no negative life in the phase.
- Late born Zuo Zongtang
(2023.7.1 in Xi'an)