Zuo Zongtang was a very famous politician and military figure in the late Qing Dynasty, and together with Zeng Guofan and others, he was called the "Four Famous Ministers" of the Late Qing Dynasty. And it was such a military general, but at first he was just a literati and inker. Not only that, the seven generations of Zuo Zongtang's family are all talents, none of them have entered the official, he is a typical rural scholarly family, after the twenty-year-old township examination, he repeatedly failed in the examination, and after experiencing three failures, he completely gave up the imperial examination.
It was not until the age of 40 that he took the opportunity to become an official until the official worship phase. Zuo Zongtang's life's work began with Rong Ma, but he started much later than ordinary people.
"Long live the name of the thousand autumns, the lonely thing behind the scenes." The poem was written by the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu about his close friend Li Bai.
Every person who can be famous for thousands of years, his road before his death is mostly bumpy and bumpy, and the names of many celebrities are mostly known after he was born.
But fortunately, gold always shines, even if it is a hundred years late.
In 2000, the American "Time Magazine" selected one hundred intelligent celebrities in the history of the world, Zuo Zongtang's great name was listed, and his reputation in the United States was getting bigger and bigger, and even many documentary filmmakers came to Zuo Zongtang's hometown to shoot documentaries about him.
As we all know, Bruce Lee has always been the most well-known Chinese in the United States, but Zuo Zongtang, who died in 1885, actually increased his fame in the United States 100 years later, even surpassing Bruce Lee, who has always been at the top of the list.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > reader who failed three times</h1>
Zuo Zongtang's family conditions were only better than those of ordinary rural people, and in 1807, the Huaiyin area continued to suffer a drought, and the crops failed for many years, and the Zuo family could only survive by eating chaff in the throat.
After Zuo Zongtang was born, this lack of food continued, and because his mother had no milk and could not afford to hire a nurse, he cried all day hungry. As an adult, Zuo Zongtang was often hungry and hungry when he was a child, and his height was only one meter six.
He studied at the Chengnan Academy in Changsha, and although he did not advance further in the imperial examination after he was twenty years old, he read a lot of books from an early age, paying special attention to land, agricultural affairs, and the art of war.
At the age of 15, Zuo Zongtang was engaged to his father's daughter Zhou Jingduan according to local customs, but unexpectedly, in the year of the engagement, Zuo Zongtang's mother died of illness, and his father also died three years later.
Zuo Zongtang, who had just reached the age of weak crown, not only was he unable to marry his daughter-in-law, but his family also owed a bunch of debts, and in the end, he had to marry Zhou Zhenduan, who had a solid family, in the way of money, but fortunately, in this whole period of married life, Zhou Yiduan gave him a lot of understanding and support.
During this period, Zuo Zongtang failed three times, and Zhou Liduan never complained or complained about him.
Zuo Zongtang once described one thing: in the second year after marriage, his wife took out more than 100 taels of silver to pay for him, but Zuo Zongtang gave these silver to the poor elder sister, and his wife not only did not have any blame, but also understood his righteous behavior, and continued to ask relatives and friends to raise funds for his participation in the conference trial.
Zhou Ziduan is not only a kind and gentle woman, but her talent is also very good, and many people in her family work in poetry.
Therefore, after marriage, Zhou Huiduan often studied with Zuo Zongtang and talked about the history of the scriptures, and the conjugal life between the two can be described as raising eyebrows and harmonizing the piano.
Under the long-term relationship with Zhou Yiduan and the infiltration of his gentle personality, the obedient atmosphere in the personality of Zuo Zongtang, who has a strong temperament, has gradually changed, and he is willing to change the bad part of his temperament and accept the guidance of his wife to change himself.
The willingness to change himself, coupled with Zhou Puduan's ability and political integrity, not only provided Zuo Zongtang with strong help and spiritual support, but also played a good guiding role for him to become a pillar of the country later.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > carrying the coffin to the west to expand the territory</h1>
In 1852, due to the siege of Changsha by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army, Zuo Zongtang, under the persuasion of Guo Songtao and others, was hired by Zhang Liangji, the governor of Hunan, to go out of the mountains and throw himself into the camp of defending the Qing Dynasty.
Because he was facing difficulties in the midst of a war full of smoke, Zhang Liangji entrusted all the military coefficients to Zuo Zongtang, who adjusted the army food day and night, governed the documents, and put forward suggestions that were not only adopted but also immediately put into action, so after three months of perseverance, he finally made the Taiping Army withdraw to the north.
Even if it has been silent for decades, Zuo Zongtang's day-to-day and unremitting efforts have finally paid off, and when an opportunity comes, it has completely exploded, and it has been a hit, so every effort in life is counted, and it will be inadvertently displayed in the future.
Ten years of cold window no one asked, in one fell swoop became famous in the world. Zuo Zongtang's career and life's fame also began because of this battle, this year, he was exactly 40 years old. Among Zuo Zongtang's countless deeds in his life, the recovery of Xinjiang was the greatest contribution he made to defending the territory and sovereign integrity of the motherland.
In the 1870s, under the influence of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement and the Tongzhi Shaanxi-Gansu Hui Rebellion, there was a chaotic situation in all parts of Xinjiang in which there was a dispute between the division of land and the domination of each land. At that time, above the court, Li Hongzhang advocated coastal defense, and was echoed by the courtiers, and everyone expressed their intention to abandon Xinjiang, but Zuo Zongtang was unwilling, and later impeached Jing Lian, Cheng Lu and other people who had been ordered to recover Xinjiang and did not act.
In 1875, Zuo Zongtang was appointed minister of Chincha to supervise the military affairs of Xinjiang.
In order to express his determination to recover Xinjiang unsuccessfully, in 1876, zuo Zongtang, who was 65 years old, carried a coffin to the west, during which he spent a year and a half to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the army.
After that, in just over a year, Zuo Zongtang recovered the territory of Xinjiang except Ili, making an indelible and important contribution to the expansion of the motherland's territory.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the famous Chinese dish "Zuo Zongtang Chicken" in the United States</h1>
Zeng Guofan once had this evaluation of Zuo Zongtang: On the war of war, I am not as good as Zuo Zongtang; I am loyal to the country and also take Ji Gao as the crown. Kuniyuki has Zuo Zongtang also.
The year of confusion began with Rong Ma, and Zuo Zongtang, who had been loyal to the country all his life, died in 1885.
But his name did not disappear because of his departure.
In 1930, after his death, Peng Changgui, a young man from Hunan, came to Tan Yanlin's house as a helper cook, and his father Tan Zhonglin was a famous general in the Xiang Army, who took over this position after Zuo Zongtang stepped down as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and every time he was at home, he would always tell many anecdotes about Zuo Zongtang.
Peng Changgui listened a lot and admired Zuo Zongtang.
Years later, the grown-up Peng Changgui also became a famous chef of Hunan cuisine, in 1952, "Commander-in-Chief of the Navy" Liang Xuzhao invited Arthur William Redford, then admiral of the United States, when the guests asked the name of the dish, Peng Changgui hoped that the name of the dish was loud and had something to do with his hometown of Hunan, so he casually said: "Zuo Zong tang chicken."
Unexpectedly, the dish that Peng Changgui casually said gradually became a "Chinese delicacy" in the hearts of Americans and has been passed down.
By the 1980s, every Chinese restaurant in the United States had Zuo Zongtang chicken on its menu, and it seemed to have become a household name.
The name Zuo Zongtang associated with this dish has thus become a person known to every American.
Unexpectedly, the name Zuo Zongtang was popular because of a dish name, but his long-term contribution to the people of the motherland before his death was enough to let the whole world know that China's Qing Dynasty once had such an old man full of oriental wisdom.
brief summary:
In the United States, following Zuo Zongtang's name is also known to everyone for his life deeds, his assiduous study of knowledge and learning, his wisdom and courage in leading soldiers to fight, and his spirit of not giving up lightly and daring to fight and dare to fight are all admirable.
Even though his fame rose 100 years after his death, Zuo Zongtang's life is an uplifting history of struggle, which inspires and inspires us to serve the country like him and achieve a better self.