Preface:
In the middle of the 19th century, when the Qing Dynasty was in jeopardy due to the crushing defeat of the Opium War, powerful countries were surrounded by internal and external troubles. The imperial court urgently needed to change the law and strengthen the army in order to save itself. Against the backdrop of these changing times, two famous politicians and military strategists emerged, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, both of whom were the main leaders of the Western Affairs Movement and were also regarded as key contributors to the late Qing dynasty.
Li Zuo and the two have been officials in the same dynasty for more than 30 years, each leading the way, but they also fight openly and secretly. So, what exactly are the contradictions and grudges between the two? What have they done? Today, we're going to explore this saga.
Personalities are incompatible, Tao is different
Li Hongzhang is calm and restrained, good at talking and laughing, and is a typical officialdom politician. Zuo Zongtang, on the other hand, was upright and acted decisively, giving people a sense of military majesty. Two very different temperaments doomed them to have difficulty appreciating each other.
In Zuo Zongtang's eyes, Li Hongzhang led troops like "riffraff", relying on trickery to win, which is shameful. He once criticized Li's Huai army for "using deceitful power to be high", seeking only temporary results, and not benefiting the people of the country.
This is mainly due to the fact that Zuo Zongtang came from a humble background, and he obtained his current status through hard work, and he was not used to the fact that a family child like Li Hongzhang relied on his family lineage and means to obtain fame.
Li Hongzhang, on the other hand, felt that Zuo Zongtang was too straightforward and rigid, calling him "too dashing" and not smooth enough in the court. Li Hongzhang pays attention to the use of power and diplomacy to achieve his goals, and Zuo Zongtang's straightforward and tough style is simply incompatible with the court in his opinion.
In addition, the two have very different ways of governing the military. Zuo Zongtang attached great importance to the right way, and he paid attention to frontal decisive battles when using troops to minimize civilian damage. He believes that the duty of military personnel lies in saving the people and cannot increase the suffering of the common people. Li Hongzhang, on the other hand, is flexible and does not hesitate to use tricks or even unite with foreign forces, as long as he can win. He believes that victory is the most important thing to achieve the end without any means.
Zuo Zongtang believes that Li Hongzhang's approach may cure the symptoms but not the root cause, and it is easy to leave a curse. But Li Hongzhang feels that sometimes he must sacrifice small things to plan big, and he can do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. These differences also became the fuse for the two to argue. The two very different styles of doing things are destined to be difficult for them to run in.
Contradictions arose, interests collided
The contradiction between Li Zuo and Li Zuo can be traced back to the siege of the Taiping Rebellion in 1864. At that time, Zeng Guoquan formed an encirclement network against the Taiping army in Nanjing, and the Qing court sent Li Hongzhang to meet and fight. Li Hongzhang knew that Zeng Guoquan's great achievement was imminent, and he could only grab the merit when he went, so he began to pretend to be ill and tried his best to delay the trip.
Li Hongzhang first said that he had fallen ill with typhoid fever, and then said that rheumatism had committed a crime, and he delayed for a month. It was not until the imperial court repeatedly urged him that he had no choice but to lead troops to Zhejiang to help Zuo Zongtang suppress the bandits. Zuo Zongtang originally thought that with one more general, the war would be accelerated.
Who knew that after Li Hongzhang came, not only did he not consult with Zuo Zongtang, but he also sent troops to capture several cities without authorization, killed all the prisoners, and wantonly looted the money and materials in the city. Zuo Zongtang was very annoyed by this, feeling that Li Hongzhang did not cooperate sincerely and only wanted to seize military merits and interests.
So Zuo Zongtang directly sued the imperial court, saying that Li Hongzhang had "exceeded his post and plundered meritorious service" and demanded that he be transferred from Zhejiang. Since then, the two have forged a beam, and the situation of you competing with me has formed.
Li Hongzhang felt that Zuo Zongtang was petty and angry, while Zuo Zongtang thought that Li Hongzhang was greedy for merit and happy achievements. The cooperation between the two turned into a fight, and contradictions began to surface.
Once again, Zuo Zongtang had a great understanding of Li Hongzhang, after the annihilation of the twister army. At that time, Li Hongzhang easily eliminated the Eastern Twister Army and made great battle achievements. Zuo Zongtang's suppression of the Western Twister army was even more difficult, and he had to pursue it outside Beijing to disturb the imperial palace.
Both were punished, and Zuo Zongtang believed that Li Hongzhang's ineffective fighting on the eastern front had led to the forced surrender of the army to Beijing, and he should bear greater responsibility. However, Li Hongzhang made strong arguments, saying on the contrary that it was Zuo Zongtang's failure to encircle and suppress the western front, which allowed the twister army to break through successfully. The reproach of the two pushes me to further expose the contradiction.
The most military merit, who is the most wise?
The competition between Li Zuo and Li Zuo intensified as his official position rose. In the eighth year of Tongzhi, Zuo Zongtang became the governor of Liangjiang, responsible for suppressing the remnants of the Taiping Rebellion. He adopted a policy of Huairou, personally went to the grassroots level to recruit An, and at the same time established schools to cultivate talents, and finally pacified the Susong Taiping Army.
At the same time, Li Hongzhang also established his own power in the Jiangsu area. He used diplomacy to unite British and French forces to force the Taiping Army to surrender through the threat of force. The situation of the two fighting for me restarted, and even went to the imperial court to report each other. Li Hongzhang repeatedly revived Zuo Zongtang's dereliction of duty during the turmoil in an attempt to undermine Zuo's reputation.
Zuo Zongtang also hinted at Li Hongzhang's treacherous methods in his family letter to his son, believing that he relied on the power of outsiders to obtain victories, and in the long run, he would do more harm than good. The two fought openly and secretly, accusing each other of not.
Two years later, Zeng Guofan died, and Li Hongzhang, who had lost his mentor, recommended Zuo Zongtang to take over as Zeng Guofan's military aircraft minister in order to consolidate his position in the dynasty. He wanted to win over Zuo Zongtang, resolve their contradictions, and jointly control the overall situation of the DPRK. After Zuo Zongtang took office, he did not embarrass Li Hongzhang, and even recommended him to be the minister of Beiyang.
Since then, the two have become the iron triangle that controls the power of the DPRK. But the competitive spirit between each other has not faded, but has turned into a higher-level competition. In 1876, Li Hongzhang, as the minister of Beiyang, presided over the establishment of the Beiyang Naval Division, defeated the Russian fleet in one fell swoop, and became famous.
Zuo Zongtang saw that Li Hongzhang's military achievements were outstanding and his position in the DPRK was shaken, so he strongly advocated sending troops to Xinjiang to recover Ili, which was invaded by Tsarist Russia.
This expedition lasted two years, and Zuo Zongtang finally defeated the Russian army, and the battle of Maweigou was particularly tragic. When he returned to the dynasty in triumph, he was unanimously admired by the government and the public, and Li Hongzhang had nothing to say.
However, Zuo Zongtang had a frank personality, and did not take advantage of the victory to pursue his political enemies, but recommended Li Hongzhang as the first directly subordinate governor. The two have struggled for 30 years, and the official position Lilu is comparable. However, from the perspective of obtaining military merits, Zuo Zongtang has made greater achievements in recovering Xinjiang and pacifying Susong, which can be described as the love of sons and daughters, peach and plum spring wind, and has won the hearts of the people and is slightly better.
A letter from the family, a high opinion
However, to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the two, it is not enough to look at external merits and official positions, the key is to look at inner quality. There is such an anecdote that may give us a glimpse of it.
In 1884, Zuo Zongtang became the minister of the northwest and led the army to the west. He wrote a letter to his son Zuo Gong to the effect of: "This year, there are only 200 taels to send home, and I know that Ru and other difficulties are difficult, but the soldiers are also difficult, I really can't get rich, you and I should live hard and thriftily, don't flatter the rich, and fight hard to become talents."
This family letter shows Zuo Zongtang's honesty and concern for the army. Two hundred taels was insignificant to him, but he refused to embezzle a single cent of his military salary, and used it to support the soldiers. He advised his son to be frugal and hardworking, not to seek wealth, in order to achieve great deeds.
At the same time, Li Hongzhang, who is at the peak of the official movement, has accumulated his family fortune to an astonishing scale. It is recorded that Li Hongzhang alone mastered more than 40 million taels of silver, equivalent to two-thirds of the Qing court's annual fiscal revenue. I don't know how much black effort has been accumulated in this money, and it can be said that Li Hongzhang's greed and corruption have reached the extreme.
Judging from these two family letters, Zuo Zongtang, a famous general, was very poor, and all funds were used for the army. As the prime minister, Li Hongzhang is rich and rival the country. This just shows the difference in the moral qualities of the two men. Zuo Zongtang lived a clean life, allowing his authority to be monstrous, and still able to perform public affairs with integrity. Li Hongzhang, on the other hand, used his power to hoard money, and finally became the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, from the perspective of the intrinsic quality of the two, Zuo Zongtang's purity indeed surpassed Li Hongzhang. Although there was constant fighting in the court, Zuo Zongtang always maintained a gentlemanly demeanor, and finally smiled at this flashy and noisy world. Li Hongzhang, on the other hand, was deceived by wealth and fell into the abyss of corruption.
Epilogue:
To sum up, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang were both great politicians and military strategists of the late Qing Dynasty, and both made significant contributions to the country's strength. However, from the perspective of words and deeds, Zuo Zongtang's corrective style and gentlemanly demeanor are difficult for Li Hongzhang to achieve.
Li Zuo and the two, each leading the way for 30 years, have both made meritorious achievements. However, looking at the long river of history, only those who are virtuous and pure can leave a lasting life, which is actually a selfless act of the great public. No amount of authority can transcend the meaning of the moral spirit. History should not only remember merits and losses, but also praise the spirit. The descendants paradoxed the heroic name, and they were respectful of the left and did not flatter Li; On staying in Fu Kangmin, it is also appropriate to follow Zuo Fei's example. This is the historical wisdom we draw from this saga.