Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang, the master and apprentice, were like brothers. But after the incident of the Young Heavenly King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the contradiction between the two intensified and became a nail in each other's hearts. It is unbelievable that after the death of Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang actually vigorously helped and promoted the children of the Zeng family, one of whom eventually became the governor, and the other became a famous diplomat. Is this Zuo Zongtang's last compensation to Zeng Guofan? Or is there something else to hide? How the grievances and hatreds between the two will be interpreted, let's wait and see.
旧交深重却反目成仇
Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang, two famous families in Hunan, are old acquaintances. Since childhood, they have formed an indissoluble bond. Tsang was born in 1811 and Zuo Zongtang was born in 1812, and they were about the same age. Zeng Guofan's ancestors were big families, with family roots and pay attention to the education of their children and grandchildren, while Zuo Zongtang's family was a scholar, but they were in a humble situation.
The trajectories of the two are inherently different. Zeng Guofan has been smart since childhood, and finally won the seventh show of talent after repeated attempts, and since then he has gradually entered high school, and has entered the imperial court in only a few years. In contrast, although Zuo Zongtang is talented, he has fallen in the first place year after year, and it has been difficult to display his talents.
By chance, Zuo Zongtang was appreciated by Zeng Guofan, and was recruited by Zeng Guofan as an assistant, thus embarking on a career as an official. After that, under the vigorous support of Zeng Guofan, he was in charge of the Hunan New Army, and also led the military affairs of Zhejiang Province, and was finally appointed by the imperial court as the governor of Zhejiang and the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. It can be said that he has risen all the way, and Zuo Zongtang's career in this life is really inseparable from Zeng Guofan's support and reuse.
The two who were once close had a disagreement at the critical moment of exterminating the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In 1864, the Young Heavenly King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was arrested, and Zeng Guoquan, the younger brother of Zeng Guofan, was anxious to report the good news to the imperial court, so he hastily reported that the Young Heavenly King had died. However, this was not the case, and the Young Heavenly King escaped the encirclement of the Zeng family's army.
At the same time, Zuo Zongtang, who was the governor of Zhejiang at the time, was keenly aware of this situation, so he bypassed Zeng Guofan and reported the truth directly to the imperial court, which almost caused a catastrophe. This made Zeng Guofan very angry, and the two turned against each other and never reconciled.
Although the two are entangled in grievances and the past has faded away with the years, this friendship is also precious. For example, after Zeng Guofan's death, Zuo Zongtang specially instructed his son to go to mourn filial piety, and praised Zeng Guofan's friendship of "seeking loyalty to the country, knowing people's wisdom, and being ashamed of being inferior to Yuan Fu", which is really moving.
Zuo Zongtang praised Zeng Guofan and threatened to be ashamed
In 1872, Zeng Guofan died of illness in his hometown of Changsha, Hunan. As a former apprentice, Zuo Zongtang, although he was already a senior member in the northwest at that time, he did not ignore Zeng Guofan's death because the two had a bad relationship. On the contrary, Zuo Zongtang not only specially told his son to go to mourn, but also wrote a pair of elegiac couplets with his pen, giving Zeng Guofan a very high evaluation and praise.
Bang Lian wrote: "The loyalty of seeking the country, the wisdom of knowing people, and the shame of being inferior to Yuanfu; Concentricity is like gold, attack mistakes like stones, and there is no negative life in the phase. The meaning of the language directly refers to Zeng Guofan's lifelong loyalty to the country, and he has the wisdom to know people, compared with Zuo Zongtang, he is really much inferior. Although the two had differences due to their different opinions, they were as indestructible as gold when they worked together to advance the great cause, and they never shy away from each other's mistakes. The last sentence of "There is no negative life in the phase" shows that although the two have a bad relationship in the world, they have never really lost this old friendship in their lives.
This elegiac couplet is not only subtle in rhetoric, but also touching in terms of deep connotation. Zuo Zongtang used the words "self-ashamed is not as good as Yuan Fu" to clearly express his sincere admiration for Zeng Guofan's talent and virtue, and also reflected his respect for Zeng Guofan. The two sentences of "one heart is like gold" and "attack mistakes like stones" show that the two were indeed close to each other like brothers in the past, and they can work together with one heart and one mind to learn from each other. Even though the two were entangled in grievances in the later period, they never abandoned the importance of this Qingming world friendship.
What's even more surprising is that Zuo Zongtang's signature here is "Late Zuo Zongtang". Prior to this, no matter in correspondence or other occasions, Zuo Zongtang had always called himself "Brother Zuo Zongtang", and he had never been so humble in his later years, which shows how much he respected and missed Zeng Guofan. This is undoubtedly the last compensation and compensation for Zeng Guofan.
For Zuo Zongtang's elegiac couplet, the Zeng family was all moved. At that time, all the people who came to mourn saw this and were all amazed. Who would have thought that Zuo Zongtang, who was accused of being "ungrateful" in the past, would make such a big move to Zeng Guofan?
Zuo Zongtang helped the children of the Zeng family
After Zeng Guofan's death, his family was not wealthy. At one time, he couldn't even see a doctor for the children and grandchildren of the Zeng family. One year, Zeng Jihong, the second son of Zeng Guofan, unfortunately suffered from diphtheria, but the family did not have enough money to pay for medical expenses. Zeng Jihong saw that the situation was critical, so he remembered his father's old friend Liu Jintang, who was in a high position before his death, so he wrote a letter asking for help and borrowing silver.
The news soon reached Zuo Zongtang's ears. At that time, Zuo Zongtang was already a feudal official, commanding the post of governor of Liangguang. However, he lived a very frugal life, and his household expenses were only two or three hundred taels of silver a year. Hearing about the Zeng family's predicament, Zuo Zongtang didn't say a word, and immediately took out three hundred taels of silver and sent it to Zeng Jihong, so that he could tide over the difficulties in front of him.
Since then, Zeng Jihong's health has been weak and sickly, and his medical expenses have been extremely large. Zuo Zongtang spared no effort to provide careful and thoughtful support to Zeng Jihong for several years in succession, ensuring that he could recuperate with peace of mind until Zeng Jihong's death.
In addition to subsidizing Zeng Jihong's medical expenses, Zuo Zongtang was also generous to Zeng Guofan's other children. For example, Zeng Guofan's youngest daughter, Zeng Jifen, married Nie Jichun as his wife in her early years. Although the Nie family is a scholarly family, Nie Jichun repeatedly hit a wall when he first entered the official career, and he fell into a state of despair for many years, and he was even infected with a little habit of being a gentleman, which made him unwelcome by his uncle Zeng Jize.
At this critical moment, Zeng Jifen decided to make a desperate bet and ask for help from his brother-in-law Zuo Zongtang. Surprisingly, Zuo Zongtang not only did not look down on Nie Jizhen's situation, but directly appointed him as the meeting manager of the Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, which opened up a new career path for him. At the same time, Zuo Zongtang also personally advised Nie Jichun, hoping that he could completely get rid of those bad habits of the past and devote himself to his work.
Sure enough, with the help of Zuo Zongtang, Nie Jichun studied Western studies diligently, and finally excelled in the post of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, won repeated appreciation, was repeatedly promoted, and finally promoted to the post of governor, becoming a famous translator and promoter of Westernization in the late Qing Dynasty.
Zuo Zongtang contributed to Zeng Jize's diplomatic career
Among Zeng Guofan's many children, the eldest son Zeng Jize is undoubtedly the most outstanding one. He is intelligent by nature and eager to learn since he was a child, and Zeng Guofan personally managed the education and built him into a generation of talents. However, even though Zeng Jize's personal ability is outstanding, he still needs a noble person who can be vigorously supported to go further in the officialdom.
Just when Zeng Jize's career encountered a bottleneck, Zuo Zongtang had a discerning eye and took a fancy to his extraordinary talent, so he strongly recommended Zeng Jize to the imperial court to envoy to European countries and serve as China's minister abroad. Zeng Jize received this important task and started his diplomatic career.
In 1877, Zeng Jize was ordered to go to Britain, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Prussia and other European powers to station, summarize the situation of Chinese workers in various countries, and negotiate with them to sign labor reciprocity treaties. Tsang's extensive knowledge and understanding of Western culture has enabled him to perform many feats in diplomatic missions in European countries, and has been warmly welcomed by the local population many times.
After returning to China, Zeng Jize then responded to Zuo Zongtang's order to take charge of the post of Minister of Beiyang Coastal Defense. During this period, he vigorously advocated naval modernization, calling on China to follow the example of Western countries to build a unified and modern navy to resist the invasion of foreign powers. With his far-sighted insight, Zeng Jize caused an uproar in the government and the opposition, and was enshrined as the founding father.
Zuo Zongtang's support and appreciation for Zeng Jize can be said to be out of insight. In his opinion, Zeng Jize is not only talented, but also honest and patriotic, and is a well-deserved naval commander. Therefore, Zuo Zongtang has always strongly recommended Zeng Jize to serve as the Minister of Beiyang Coastal Defense, and he has been successful.
Interestingly, Zuo Zongtang's admiration and praise for Zeng Jize far exceeded his evaluation of Zeng Guofan himself. Someone once asked Zuo Zongtang privately: "Do you think Zeng Jize has the qualifications of a 'grandmaster'?" Zuo Zongtang gave an affirmative reply without hesitation: "Zeng Jize is the master of the Minister of Coastal Defense, and his talent and deeds are not ugly. ＂
Why is the grievance between the two difficult to solve?
Since Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang turned against each other because of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Young Heavenly King incident, the contradictions and grievances between the two have not been completely resolved. Although Zuo Zongtang made all kinds of good intentions after Zeng Guofan's death, it is still a mystery what his intentions were.
There is a view that the reason why Zuo Zongtang vigorously supported the children of the Zeng family after the death of Zeng Guofan was only because of the kindness of the two teachers and students in the past, and wanted to compensate the former teacher in this way. After all, although the relationship between the two broke down at that time, Zeng Guofan undoubtedly reused Zuo Zongtang during his lifetime, creating a platform for him to display his ambitions.
However, there are some doubts about this claim. At the time of Zeng Guofan's death, Zuo Zongtang was already a very popular minister, and the amount of money he funded the children of the Zeng family was insignificant. Moreover, Zuo Zongtang treats Zeng Jize even more unusually, I am afraid that he may not be so vigorously supported by the old feelings alone.
Another speculation is that the reason why Zuo Zongtang vigorously promoted the children of the Zeng family was actually for political purposes. At that time, the descendants of Zeng Guofan still had a great influence in Hunan, and if Zuo Zongtang could win over the descendants of the Zeng family, he would undoubtedly be able to consolidate his foundation in Hunan.
But this argument is also lacking in sufficient evidence. Zeng Jihong and others are low-key and incompetent on weekdays, and it is unrealistic to want to use them to establish a political foundation in Hunan. And Zeng Jize, who was strongly promoted by Zuo Zongtang, was not based in Hunan, but developed in the north.
There is another point of view, that Zuo Zongtang's help to the children of the Zeng family is actually to avoid the descendants of the Zeng family from posing a greater threat to themselves. Therefore, he chose to accept the descendants of the Zeng family and cultivate them personally, so as to turn them into his cronies.
This statement, although somewhat one-sided, is the closest to the truth. It is not difficult to see that whether it is subsidizing Zeng Jihong's medical expenses, or strongly recommending Zeng Jifen's son-in-law Nie Jichun to take up the post, and strongly recommending Zeng Jize to envoy to Europe, they are all weakening the strength of the Zeng family while also wooing them into their own people. Undoubtedly, this is a very clever tactic.
end
Judging from the analysis of various possibilities, Zuo Zongtang's intention to bring the children of the Zeng family seems to be really difficult to explain with a single reason. Perhaps, there are some hidden secrets in this, which have not been completely solved so far. But it is undeniable that no matter what the purpose, Zuo Zongtang is indeed in love with the children of the Zeng family, and finally helped them wholeheartedly.