One
In February 1854, Zeng Guofan was full of vigor and ambition.
In this year, the Xiang Army formed by Zeng Guofan initially became an army. At the repeated urging of the imperial court, Zeng Guofan led 240 large and small ships, 17,000 land and sea troops, and marched east.
Prior to this, Zeng Guofan had no experience in leading soldiers to fight. But he was full of faith. As he said in "The Beggars of Cantonese Bandits": "At the behest of the Son of Heaven, honbudo commanded 20,000 teachers, marched on land and water, and vowed to eat the courage of the people, to kill this fierce rebellion, to save my captive ships, and to find the people who were threatened." It does not relieve the diligence of the emperor's father, but also comforts the hidden pain of Kong Mengrenren. It is not especially for the revenge of millions of beings to kill in vain, but also for the shame of the gods and goddesses who have been humiliated. ”
However, the Taiping Army taught him two lessons.
The first lesson was the Battle of Yuezhou in March, in which the Xiang army was defeated by the Taiping Army and the division was unfavorable; the second lesson was the Battle of Jinggang in April, in which the Xiang army was defeated again.
After the Jinggang Water Battle, Zeng Guofan was humiliated and committed suicide by throwing himself into the water - if it were not for the desperate efforts of his staff Zhang Shoulin to rescue him, there would be no Zeng Guofan in the world.
Two
Zhang Shoulin was a native of Shanhua (present-day Changsha), Hunan. There is very little record of Zhang Shoulin in the history books, leaving only a few words such as "less lonely and poor". This shows that Zhang Shoulin's family environment was very bad when he was a child.
In 1852, after Zeng Guofan was appointed to form the Xiang Army in Hunan, Zhang Shoulin joined Zeng Guofan's camp and became an aide. At that time, in the camp of Zeng Guofan, there were also Li Yuandu, Chen Shijie and other staff, and Zhang Shoulin had a good relationship with them. Before the Jinggang Water Battle began, Zeng Guofan quietly wrote a suicide note because he was not sure of the battle, which had the meaning of "treating death as a return". After Li Yuandu and Chen Shijie found out, they entrusted Zhang Shoulin to hide in the back cabin of Zeng Guofan's ship and act on camera.
Jinggang was originally named Lujiang, and during the Tang Dynasty, the famous general Li Jing once stationed troops here. Li Jing ruled the army well, strict military discipline, never harassed the people, and in order to commemorate Li Jing, people renamed this place Jinggang. Jinggang is an important military town in Hunan and has been a place where soldiers and families must fight since ancient times.
After the battle began, Zeng Guofan caused the main water division to fall into the encirclement of the Taiping Army due to intelligence errors. Under the fierce offensive of the Taiping Army, the Xiang army fled into the wilderness. When he saw the hordes of Xiang troops fleeing backwards, Zeng Guofan lost all his prestige, looked like dead ash, and plunged into the water.
At this moment, Zhang Shoulin ran out of the back cabin of the boat, jumped into the water, and rescued Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan already had the heart of "repaying the country with death", dived into the water again, and was rescued by Zhang Shoulin.
Zhang Shoulin is not only watery and has good strength, but also adapts to changes. He made up a lie to comfort Zeng Guofan, saying that the Xiang army had broken the enemy army in Xiangtan and asked Zeng Guofan to regroup and not seek death.
Three
After Zeng Guofan returned to Changsha, his mood was still very depressed. At this time, Zuo Zongtang came to see him, looked at his wretched scene, laughed and said, "Di Gong, things are still possible at present, you have to cheer up." "Zeng Guofan is called Disheng, and he is called so honored by Zuo Zongtang.
Listening to Zuo Zongtang's words, Zeng Guofan had no intention of cheering up, but just handed over the handover list and account book, asking Zuo Zongtang to handle the handover work for him. Why the handover? It turned out that Zeng Guofan still had the heart to die, and he set himself a date of death on April 4. Before April 4, he bought the coffin, wrote the will, and had to handle all the handovers.
Fortunately, on April 3, good news came from Xiangtan: Taqibu, a famous general of the Xiang Army, together with the garrison Yang Zaifu, Peng Yulin of Zhixian County, and others, led the army to kill the Taiping Army and conquer Xiangtan. This battle not only recaptured a city for the Xiang army, but also boosted morale and allowed Zeng Guofan to see the hope of victory. Zeng Guofan couldn't die if he wanted to.
Zhang Shoulin's lies turned out to be true. He once again saved Zeng Guofan's life.
Because of the huge role played by Zeng Guofan in the late Qing Dynasty, Zhang Shoulin not only saved Zeng Guofan's life, but also saved the national fortunes of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, some people praise it as "helping one person and helping the world".
Four
After that, Zeng Guofan ushered in his own era.
Zeng Guofan won the trust of the imperial court by virtue of his military achievements, and he was promoted all the way, successively serving as the governor of Liangjiang and the viceroy directly subordinate to him, and controlling the local military and political power. In the Xiang army led by Zeng Guofan, dozens of governors and high-ranking officials of the rank of inspector also came out. According to common sense, Zeng Guofan should more or less repay Zhang Shoulin, who had saved his life, right?
At that time, Zhang Shoulin served as a Zhi County under Zeng Guofan. If Zeng Guofan wanted to repay him, it would be completely easy. Even, with the identity and status of Zeng Guofan, there was no need to personally go out on the horse, only a slight hint to the imperial court, Zhang Shoulin immediately official luck and prosperity, Qingyun straight up.
However, Zeng Guofan seemed to have completely forgotten about Zhang Shoulin's existence. Until Zeng Guofan died of illness, Zhang Shoulin was only a district governor. Zeng Guofan did not even say the word "thank you" to Zhang Shoulin. There is nothing more unkind in the world than this.
After Zeng Guofan died of illness, Zhang Shoulin felt that his career was completely hopeless, so he told his old man to return to his hometown and completely withdrew from the official field. While passing through Jinggang, he also painted a painting "Old Drawing of Copper Sense" and wrote a preface. Zhang Shoulin was very modest and said: Zeng Guofan was born to calm this great chaos, this is the destiny of heaven. Even if he didn't save him, he wouldn't die, and someone would always save him.
Zhang Shoulin's posture was very high. Li Yuandu didn't think so. Li Yuandu said that Zhang Shoulin "does not speak of Lu, Lu Yifu and Fu". Meaning, he didn't want to repay, and the reward really didn't come. Li Yuandu This is a satire on Zeng Guofan's widowhood.
[References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, "Discussion of Cantonese Bandits", etc.]