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Text | Li Jinrui
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introduction
As the saying goes: "The king lets his subjects die, but the subjects have to die", this is a clear class expression in the feudal society period, and it is also an ideological concept under the strict hierarchical system of respect and inferiority.
However, sometimes courtiers may also risk their lives to "resist and disobey", such as when the Anglo-French army invaded Beijing in 1860, when the Xianfeng Emperor asked the minister Zeng Guofan for help, hoping that he would send troops to support.
But what he didn't expect was that Zeng Guofan actually did not obey the order of the Xianfeng Emperor and did not send troops to support. You must know that at this time, he is sitting on an army of 120,000, how can he not have the strength to assist the capital, so what is the reason behind this? How dare he choose to die at a critical moment?
(Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army)
First, the situation in suppressing the Taiping Army is very good
Before the Anglo-French invasion of the capital in 1860, both the Qing Dynasty and Zeng Guofan himself faced a grim situation.
It must be known that the Qing Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline after experiencing the "Kang Qian prosperous era", and the country's strength plummeted, which is inseparable from the arrogance of the Qing rulers and the implementation of the policy of closing off the country.
Under these circumstances, the Qing Dynasty, a country based on the feudal absolutist system, became the object of colonial expansion and plunder of the emerging capitalist countries.
(Closed country policy)
Since the outbreak of the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty was forced to open its doors and began to become a colony of foreigners. At the same time, uprisings broke out in China due to the invasion of Western powers, and the Qing Dynasty faced a double crisis of internal strife and foreign enemies.
Zeng Guofan, who was in charge of the Xiang Army at this time, was sent to suppress the largest rebel army at that time, the Taiping Rebel Army, just as the so-called "foreign must first settle inside", which was also the view unanimously endorsed by the military officials of the DPRK and Chinese.
Although the Taiping Army was menacing and won the support of the people, the Xiang Army had also undergone substantial improvement and reform under the rectification and construction of Zeng Guofan.
(Opium Wars)
Coupled with the orthodox dominance of the Qing government, the popular base was still very deep, so Zeng Guofan gradually gained advantages in the war.
By the early 1860s, under the strategy of Zeng Guofan, the Xiang army had repeatedly repelled the attacks of the Taiping army, and the Taiping army had begun to collapse due to internal strife, and many of the "heavenly kings" were killed one after another, and the Taiping army fell into chaos for a while.
This was a godsend for Zeng Guofan, as long as this trend continued, it would not be long before he could successfully suppress the uprising of the Taiping Army. Quelling the biggest war in the country, when the time comes, it will be a great achievement, enough to be famous in history.
However, just as he was beginning to plan his next battle plan, an urgent edict sent by the Xianfeng Emperor made him worry.
(Civil unrest in the Taiping Army)
Second, the capital was in a hurry, and Xianfeng urgently sent reinforcements
It turned out that the Anglo-French army took advantage of the civil war and the Qing army could not concentrate its forces, so it took this opportunity to attack the capital in a big way.
Previously, the Xianfeng Emperor was not too worried, and successively gathered many Manchu generals, transferred tens of thousands of troops to guard the Beijing Division, and selected Manchu generals at the same time, in order to prevent accidents and ensure that the battle was foolproof to the greatest extent.
Although the Xianfeng Emperor's ideas and decisions were correct, he overlooked a very important point, that is, the disparity in strength between the two armies. The Qing army was at most equipped with old artillery and muskets, and some even held bows and arrows and large knives, while the British and French combined forces had all guns and new cannons.
(Old weapons and equipment of the Qing army)
Although the Qing army had an absolute superiority in numbers, in the face of artillery, how many people came were vulnerable.
Therefore, it did not take long for the Manchu army to retreat, and there was no way to fight back, and seeing that the Anglo-French army was about to approach the capital, the Xianfeng Emperor remembered Zeng Guofan who was suppressing the Taiping army in the south.
You must know that the Xiang army in Zeng Guofan's hands at this time adds up to nearly 120,000. Although it is relatively scattered and not Manchu, it is an elite force anyway, perhaps these Xiang troops can relieve their urgent needs, so there is a secret edict sent by the Xianfeng Emperor.
(Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army)
The letter stated that Zeng Guofan should send 3,000 troops and horses back to the defense division to guard the safety of the capital, and ordered 100,000 people to be anxious, and asked Zeng Guofan to send troops immediately.
It stands to reason that after Zeng Guofan received this order, he should immediately order the transfer of military horses to rescue the emperor. After all, the person is a king, he is a courtier, and how can any courtier in the feudal dynasty disobey the emperor's orders.
But what he didn't expect was that Zeng Guofan did not send troops to rescue him at the first time, but wrote a letter and sent someone to submit it to the emperor. The approximate content of the letter was that 3,000 soldiers and horses were not enough for anything, and when the war was calmed down here, he would personally lead the troops back to the defense division, so Zeng Guofan refused the Xianfeng Emperor's urgent edict three times in a row.
(Zeng Guofan)
Third, judging the hour and sizing up the situation will make the fate of the foreign monarch unaffected
It is said that Zeng Guofan has an army of more than 100,000, and it is not very difficult for him to deploy 3,000 soldiers and horses, so why did he choose to die when the British and French forces captured the Beijing division?
And he also disobeyed the emperor's orders many times, isn't this clearly against the emperor? It was really unwise to do so, knowing that if he provoked the emperor, he would probably lose his life.
In fact, Zeng Guofan did this for his reason, not because he was unwilling to support the capital, but because according to the actual situation, his Xiang army was indeed inseparable, and the capital did not necessarily need his support.
(Qing Army)
First of all, although the number of troops he led was large, the number of Taiping troops he fought against was not a small number, it was an army of hundreds of thousands, and you can imagine how much military pressure Zeng Guofan faced. The deployment of 3,000 soldiers and horses seemed to be painless, but according to the battle situation at that time, it was to involve the whole body.
On the other hand, Zeng Guofan's Xiang army had been besieging Anqing for several days at this time, and if he withdrew troops when victory was in sight, the hard work and dedication of his entire army for nearly a year would be in vain.
Therefore, there must not be any military changes at this time, and the current situation is also very serious, and there is no room for sloppiness, otherwise the capital will not be rescued by then, and he will have to ride in.
(Zeng Guofan besieged Anqing)
The second is that he is incompatible with the Manchu and Mongolian courtiers in the dynasty, mainly because during the Qing Dynasty, with the Manchu aristocracy as the core, the Han people did not have no social status, even the high-ranking Zeng Guofan was also ostracized and suppressed, and it happened that the order of the Xianfeng Emperor at that time let him obey the command of General Shengbao after returning to Beijing, the two have never been at odds, and Zeng Guofan naturally does not want to be driven by it.
In the end, Zeng Guofan's allocation of these 3,000 military horses was really not enough to do anything, and the tens of thousands of military horses mobilized by the Xianfeng Emperor were defeated, and what use could he have these 3,000 military horses, and he also had to go through a long journey, and his combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.
On the other hand, there are many armies in the capital, such as the Eight Banner Army, Green Battalion, Zeng Greenqin and Mongol Cavalry and other armies, the total number of these armies is not less than 200,000 people, not to mention that the Qing army is not the first time to fight with Western powers, is it possible that it is impossible to win with more against less? This also made Zeng Guofan feel that he did not need to support Jingshi.
(Eight Flags Army)
However, the result was that the Anglo-French army beat the Xianfeng Emperor and fled, not only burning and looting in Beijing, but also forcing the Qing government to sign the unequal treaty "Beijing Treaty".
This was something Zeng Guofan never expected, but as a general, he was not wrong in making the decision at the beginning, and he did successfully defeat the Taiping Army, which made the Xianfeng Emperor not easy to say anything, but to say that he would suffer the fate of the foreign monarch.
(The humiliating Treaty of Beijing)