"Zeng Guofan": When I was young, I disdained the correct writing, but I have learned a lot about the world.

Tang Haoming's novel version of "Zeng Guofan" has a profound background and can be called an epic picture of the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty. Compared with the two extremes of evaluation of Zeng Guofan, one group of people narrowly called him an executioner and a running dog; There is another type of traitor who superficially regards him as a model of Chinese-style success studies and vigorously praises him as a god. The Zeng Guofan described by the author is relatively real and three-dimensional.

Putting the characters in the historical environment and background of the times, Zeng Guofan's bitter journey, the beliefs he upheld, the traditions he defended, the brutal killings, as well as the hypocrisy and many flaws are all understandable.

However, one thing that needs to be understood is that Tang Haoming's version of Zeng Guofan is a novel, which can be artistically processed and contains the author's emotional color and stance. It cannot be completely regarded as history, and there is no need to be too harsh.

From Zeng Guofan attending the funeral for his mother to attending the funeral for his father, he held regiment training in Hunan, formed the Hunan Army, and then led the Hunan Army out of Hunan, regained Wuchang, and went down the Yangtze River to fight in Jiangxi.

Tang Haoming did not follow the chronological order of general biographies, but directly placed Zeng Guofan on the stage of the Taiping Rebellion, interspersing his early years with the imperial examination and his experience as an official in the capital. In terms of plot, More attractive.

This experience was the most bumpy and difficult period in Zeng Guofan's life:

First, exclusion from official circles.

Because of his upright character and hatred of evil, he became the target of public criticism in Hunan officialdom. Xiang Yong, who had worked hard to pull him up, was marginalized by the Changsha Green Camp Army. Head-on conflicts broke out many times, and his own base camp was destroyed by the Green Camp soldiers. . As a last resort, the troops were pulled to Hengyang to stay away from the officialdom.

Second, the scholar leads the troops and drives the ducks to the shelves.

Zeng Guofan was born in the imperial examination and served as a capital official for ten years. At most, he had read a few books on the art of war. He even struggled to ride a horse. He originally aspired to become an able minister, a sage, and a master of Neo-Confucianism. I want to encounter troubled times and receive orders in danger when I go home for a funeral.

Moreover, he did not have the talent of the Confucian generals in history. While talking and laughing, his weapons and oars were wiped out. Later, battlefield practice proved that he was bound to lose every battle. Whenever he led troops in person, the results were miserable. During the first expedition, half of the navy he had worked so hard to build was lost, and he was forced to jump into the river twice.

But there are three things about him that are inferior to others:

(1) He is firm-willed or admits death.

No one can change anything that is determined.

I have been keeping a diary for a lifetime. I reflect on every word, deed, and even every thought every day to see if it is in line with the way of a saint. If there is any violation, I must record it.

During the military training in Hengyang, the Taiping Army had swept across Hubei and marched to Anhui and Jiangxi, threatening the security of the imperial court. The Eight Banners and the Green Camp were defeated in one battle. Emperor Xianfeng issued several edicts urgently ordering him to reinforce. They all delayed on the grounds that the armaments were not complete, and waited until all the ordered cannons were loaded on the warships before setting off northward.

(2) Know and employ people.

This is very similar to Sun Quan during the Three Kingdoms. He was very self-aware and knew that he was not good at fighting. He had a unique vision and selected many generals with military talents, such as Taqibu, Luo Zenan, Li Xubin, and Bao Chao. , his younger brothers Zeng Guoquan and Zeng Guohua, most of them were scholars like him, and they all became all-powerful generals and local governors in the future.

(3) Be good at running the army and fight steadily.

We must make camp step by step, without making any surprises or tricks, and fight tough battles. Everywhere we go, we must set up a camp with deep ditches and high forts.

This was especially evident in the attack on Anqing and the siege of Nanjing. The army stayed under the city for a long time and did not rush to attack the city. They first dug trenches outside the city and built a strong fortress.

The Art of War says that if the city is surrounded ten times, the Hunan Army will dare to encircle the city with weak troops, fight a protracted battle, gradually cut off the Taiping Army's foreign aid, and consume the opponent alive.

Third, the teacher comes from Wuming.

The imperial court decreed to organize group training, why did it say that the teachers were unknown?

The status of the Hunan Army has been very embarrassing for a long time. It is a militia with regiment training. It is built to defend Hunan, but it has to go out of Hunan to take the initiative, and military expenses and food must be supplied by Hunan. What's more terrible is that it may give people an excuse to support the army with self-respect and evil intentions. The court has never given him a title, and he can only call himself Xiangyong.

If we just responded to the court's call and organized a regiment to defend Hunan, then there would be no such thing.

The great thing about Zeng Guofan is that he has a strategic layout. He either does not leave the army. Since he has decided to join the army, he must create a king's army that can pacify the world. At the same time, he must not arouse the suspicion of the court, but also let people His troops are popular and popular.

The Taiping Army was deeply supported by the poor, but it promoted Christianity and completely negated the traditional Confucian ethics. Zeng Guofan used the banner of eradicating heresies to win the support of scholar-bureaucrats and scholars.

Fourth, there is no source of military spending.

Xiangyong belongs to the local regiment training, does not have the establishment of a regular army, and does not receive a penny of assistance from the court.

In order to ensure the quality of his troops, Zeng Guofan learned from the recruitment philosophy of Qi Jiguang of the Ming Dynasty and required that only rural farmers be recruited, who would be honest and obedient and not opportunistic.

However, the peasant brothers are relatively practical, and it is difficult to persuade them to risk their lives and go through fire and water with the words of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. Zeng Guofan had to use his reputation to mobilize local gentry door to door to donate money and materials.

Five, the court is suspicious.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty has always been wary of Han officials. Since Wu Sangui's rebellion, basically no Han people have heavy troops.

After the Eight Banners and the Green Camp were defeated in a battle, and the Taiping Army was invincible, Zeng Guofan led the Hunan Army to capture Wuchang. It was originally a miraculous feat, but the court received almost no substantive commendation. The tighter vigilance caused the Hunan Army to be constrained everywhere. It had to raise its own military expenses. It fought alone without anyone to help it. After losing the battle, its colleagues in the officialdom were ridiculed.

This situation continued until the Hunan army captured Anqing and the Qing army's Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps were wiped out. The court had no choice but to rely on the Hunan army.

Therefore, "Blood Sacrifice" basically tells the story of Zeng Guofan's difficult second entrepreneurial history after he wrote and joined the army. It begins with the preparation of the Hunan Army while his mother is attending a funeral, and ends with his father leaving the battlefield in Jiangxi during the funeral.

The grass on the Lili Plain dries up and grows every year. Wildfires cannot burn it out, but it grows again when the spring breeze blows. Wherever the war touches, life is devastated and no grass can grow. The script of the rise and fall of history is repeated repeatedly, and it is the burned weeds that suffer.

This part tells about the difficult stalemate between the Hunan Army and the Taiping Army, the life and death struggle, and the internal strife in Tianjing. The Hunan Army began to gain the upper hand, and with the help of Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, it pressed forward step by step. In the end, Jinling was broken and the world was pacified.

But the reason why the author uses Zeng Guofan to return to his hometown to observe filial piety for his father is because Zeng Guofan's thoughts changed dramatically during his time at home.

Returning to his hometown of Heyetang in Xiangxiang again, Zeng Guofan calmed down and reflected on his experiences in the past decades. He was puzzled and finally found the answer in Laozi's thoughts and found a way out. All things in the world, There are two sides of yin and yang, which are mutually reinforcing and restraining each other. If it is too strong, it will be broken, and if it is too soft, it will be weak. Only by combining hardness and softness can we be at ease and turn evil into good.

In the timeline of "Wild Burning", the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in civil strife and their strength was greatly damaged. Zeng Guofan and the Hunan Army took a long breath, and the balance of history began to tilt towards the Qing Dynasty. Despite this, Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng, who were boldly promoted and appointed by Hong Xiuquan, were also reckless heroes, geniuses in the world, and used treacherous troops. Zeng Guofan and the Hunan Army still had a difficult life, and every step forward had to pay a heavy price.

During the Sanhe Incident, an arrogant Hunan army with 6,000 men led by the mighty general Li Xubin and the sixth brother of Zeng Guofan, the sixth brother of Zeng Guohua, went deep alone and fell into the encirclement carefully arranged by Li Xiucheng. The entire army was annihilated. , Li Xubin committed suicide, and Zeng Guohua disappeared. The novel fabricated the plot of Zeng Guohua's escape from death and becoming a monk based on unofficial history.

Anqing is the gateway to Tianjing. Taking Anqing and Tianjing is in danger! The Hunan Army and the Taiping Army were well aware of the success or failure of this war and the life and death of this city, so they started a tug-of-war here. First, the Hunan Army was hungry. After the peripheral channels of Anqing were cut off, the Taiping Army in the city began to starve and ate up all the weeds and tree bark. Just eat rats. After eating all the rats, they start eating human flesh. There is no hell on earth like this. Besiege a city. People inside the city want to get out, and people outside the city want to come in.

The reinforcements sent by Chen Yucheng were also in a desperate situation of running out of ammunition and food. Six thousand people laid down their weapons and surrendered, and were all killed by Zeng Guoquan. One hundred people were taken into the camp in batches and beheaded, which lasted a whole day. , only a senior general was left, and he was dismembered in public under the city. Zeng Guofan wrote a letter to comfort his guilty brother, "using thunderbolt means to show the heart of a Bodhisattva." After the city of Anqing was captured, all the adult men were killed, and the women became the private property of the Hunan Army.

They followed the same method for Tianjing, besieging the city, calling for reinforcements, and blocking all exits. With Zuo Zongtang regaining Hangzhou and Li Hongzhang regaining Suzhou, Tianjing became an isolated city. It was only a matter of time before it was breached. . During this period, the plague spread among Zeng Guoquan's troops, and many people fell down every day. Zeng Guofan's younger brother Zeng Guofan died of illness.

After Tianjing City was destroyed, there was still burning, killing, raping and looting, with corpses piled up in mountains. During the war, the so-called morality and righteousness disappeared, and the most extreme side of human nature was fully displayed.

This part mainly talks about Zeng Guofan’s series of experiences after he put down the Taiping Rebellion. From the peak of the sun to the sunset, he abolished the Hunan Army, appointed governor of Liangjiang, established Westernization, went out to pingni, and dealt with the Tianjin religious case. This was also Zeng Guofan’s ZTE. The experience of shattered dreams.

After breaking Jinling and quelling the Taiping Rebellion, Zeng Guofan's reputation was at its peak. With hundreds of thousands of brave Hunan troops at his disposal, he was the best armed force in the world. At the same time, he faced the biggest crisis in his life. The historical murder of Niao Jin Gongzang has become a lingering nightmare. Many people around him advised him to imitate Song Taizu's yellow robe, overthrow the decadent Manchu and Qing Dynasty, and restore the Han people's country. Otherwise, he may suffer the disaster of genocide.

Zeng Guofan, who had been immersed in the Confucian idea of ??loyalty to the emperor and patriotism since he was a child, and who took it as his own responsibility to govern the country and bring peace to the world, could never accept that he was embarking on the path of rebellion, so he decided to cut off his wings, abolished most of the Hunan Army, and let the court rest assured. For Zeng Guofan's loyalty and unparalleled achievements, the imperial court also gave unprecedented trust and praise, granted him the title of Marquis, and granted him the title of Governor-General of Liangjiang. This was the most for a Han person in the history of the Qing Dynasty.

Finally having the real power of local governor, and being the richest place in China, Zeng Guofan could free his hands to realize his ZTE ambitions, resume imperial examinations, combat corruption, and preside over the construction of modern ships, new weapons, The first batch of Chinese students were sent to Europe and the United States to study, including Zhan Tianyou and a group of others who later spread Western science and culture.

If Wei Yuan is the first person in China to open his eyes to the world, then Zeng Guofan is the first person in China to go global.

However, the rebellion of the Nian Army disrupted his plan. Senggelinqin was killed in the battle. There was no one available in the court and he had to re-activate Zeng Guofan. After the disarmament, Zeng Guofan had no good generals and no heavy troops to use, so he had to bite the bullet and go. , but failed, and it was student Li Hongzhang who picked up the mess.

The defeat of the Nian Army had already seen his decline, and the handling of the Tianjin religious case made him unsafe at the end of his life. His reputation was ruined, and he was branded a traitor to the court.

He is a living, flesh-and-blood person with seven emotions and six desires. He grew up from a peasant boy with mediocre qualifications. He relied on half hard work and half luck to climb to bigger platforms one after another. At the same time, he spent his whole life with others. Fight against sexual weaknesses, constantly extricate yourself and renew yourself, and finally achieve something.

Why have we been so keen on studying Zeng Guofan? It is very down-to-earth. In his family letters, diaries and letters, he does not talk too much about big principles, but many of them are verbose details. Brother, as a friend, as a subject, these are simple principles that he never tire of saying, such as diligence, persistence, sincerity, reading, getting up early, etc. Ordinary people can learn it, but most people cannot achieve the ultimate like him.