Which school of thought did Zeng Guofan belong to?

Zeng Guofan (November 21, 1811 - March 12, 1872), was originally named Zicheng, given the courtesy name Bohan, nicknamed Disheng, and posthumous title Wenzheng. A military strategist, Neo-Confucianist, and statesman during the Qing Dynasty in China, he was one of the "famous ministers of the ZTE" and a litterateur. He was the founder of the "Xiangxiang School" of prose in the late Qing Dynasty. He rose to the rank of Governor of Liangjiang, Governor of Zhili, Bachelor of Wuyingdian, and was granted the title of First-class Yiyong Marquis. A native of Baiyangping, Xiangxiang, Changsha Prefecture, Hunan, it now belongs to Tianziping, Heye Town, Shuangfeng County, Hunan Province.

Zeng Guofan's life is inseparable from the suppression of the Taiping Revolutionary Movement. In 1852, Zeng Guofan died at home because of his mother. At this time, the revolutionary storm of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had swept half of China. Although the Qing government mobilized a large number of Eight Banners and Green Camp officers and soldiers from all over the country to deal with the Taiping Army, this decadent counter-revolutionary force was vulnerable and completely lost its ability to resist the revolutionary army. Therefore, the Qing government repeatedly issued orders to reward regiment training, trying to use the armed landlords in various places to curb the development of revolutionary forces. This provided an opportunity for the emergence of Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army. In January 1853, the Qing government appointed Zeng Guofan as the Minister of Assistant League Training to supervise the organization of league training in Hunan. Zeng Guofan ignored the three-year gift and took active action, starting his lifelong career against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He knew that if we followed the old method of organizing regiment training, we would not be able to deal with the large-scale and strongly organized peasant forces, so he suggested re-establishing a regular army outside the Green Camp - the Hunan Army. The main characteristics of the Hunan Army: First, it uses feudal patriarchal relations as a bond to unite the army. The officers and soldiers of the Hunan Army are mostly selected and recruited through relationships with fellow villagers, ethnic groups, relatives and friends, teachers and students, etc. Each battalion only obeyed one battalion officer, and the entire army only obeyed one person, Zeng Guofan. Second, the generals of the Hunan Army were mostly selected from the intellectuals of the small and medium-sized landlord class who had been influenced by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, failed in the imperial examinations, and were bent on gaining fame and wealth through military exploits. These people usually advertise themselves as Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and regard defending the feudal ruling order as their highest goal. Third, the Hunan Army used the name of "defending the Tao", but in fact it was a group of bandits who committed murder and arson. When he was training in Changsha, Zeng Guofan had already earned the nickname "Zeng Shao" because he killed many people. During the battle with the Taiping Army, Zeng Guofan used methods such as plundering property and appointing officials and rewards to boost morale and develop the Hunan Army's fierce nature of leading the disabled.

In early 1854, the Hunan Army formed the 13th Army Battalion and the 10th Navy Battalion, with more than 17,000 soldiers. In the same year, it officially set off to fight against the Taiping Army. Zeng Guofan issued a proclamation in his own name, falsely calling the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom "Cantonese bandits" and saying that he came out to suppress the revolution not only to defend the Qing Dynasty, but also to defend the entire old tradition. He called on all "literate people" to fight to safeguard the famous religion represented by Confucius and Mencius.

Zeng Guofan fulfilled his promise. In 1854, he led the Hunan Army to launch a crazy counterattack against the Taiping Army in Hunan and Hubei. In December, the Hunan army encircled Jiujiang. The situation was very unfavorable to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Zeng Guofan was so proud that he shouted: "Clear the river and go straight to Jinling." In order to reverse this passive situation, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sent Shi Dakai and others to lead troops to the west to aid. In the battles of Hukou and Jiujiang, they severely annihilated the Hunan Navy. On February 11, 1855, the Taiping Army set fire to more than a hundred Hunan Army ships moored on the river and seized Zeng Guofan's ship. Zeng Guofan was desperate and committed suicide by drowning. He was rescued by his minions and fled into Nanchang in a hurry, where he fell into the trap of the Taiping Army. Surrounded, he "called for help but no one was around" and "dreamed of nightmares".

In 1856, there was internal chaos in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Hunan Army took the opportunity to make a comeback and captured Wuhan in December. Then Li Xubin led the main force of the Hunan Army into the battlefield in Jiangxi, fell into Jiujiang, and advanced towards Sanhe Town, an important military stronghold of the Taiping Army. Obviously, Zeng Guofan's intention was to capture Wuhan and Jiujiang first, and then use Hubei and Jiangxi as the rear to compete with the Taiping Army for Anhui, with special emphasis on Anqing. He believed that as long as he captured Anqing, he could go east along the Yangtze River and take Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Rebellion. In November 1858, Taiping Army generals Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng launched a fierce attack on the Hunan Army in Sanhe. The three armies surrounded Li Xubin's camp. The Hunan Army was defeated. More than 400 civil and military leaders under Li Xubin were wiped out. Zeng Guofan had to admit: "In the defeat of Sanhe, six thousand people were killed in our city, and our morale was greatly damaged!"

Although Zeng Guofan's Hunan army suffered a disastrous defeat in Sanhe, its strength was not destroyed. Still insisting on the strategy of capturing Anqing and advancing to Tianjing. In 1860, Zeng Guofan personally led 80,000 Hunan troops to besiege Anqing. At this time, the Taiping Army defeated the Jiangnan camp and marched eastward to Su and Chang. Emperor Xianfeng was furious and asked Zeng Guofan to send troops for rescue as soon as possible. However, he refused to accept the order and said: "The Anqing Army is currently related to the overall situation of Huainan and will be responsible for overcoming Jinling in the future." "Zhang Ben". In order to understand the siege of Anqing, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom decided to divide its troops into two groups, break into the enemy's rear and capture Wuhan. This action caused panic within the Hunan Army. Some people advocated withdrawing the siege of Anqing and returning to rescue Hubei. However, Zeng Guofan was unmoved and still insisted on his original proposal, saying: "I only strive to break the Anqing Pass. In addition, Don't rush to compete with them for gains and losses." Sure enough, the Taiping Army's plan to seize Wuhan westward failed to materialize, but Zeng Guofan made a desperate move and got his wish. After five months of fighting, Anqing finally fell into the hands of the Hunan Army on September 5, 1861.

In October 1860, the Qing government signed the Treaty of Beijing with Britain and France. The Second Opium War ended, and the time for Chinese and foreign reactionaries to collude with the Communist Party to suppress the Taiping Revolutionary Movement gradually matured.

Also in June 1860, due to the defeat of the Jiangnan camp, Emperor Xianfeng, who had always been suspicious of the Hunan Army, had to order Zeng Guofan, the only powerful Han landlord who could compete with the Taiping Army at the time, to act as his agent. The governor of Liangjiang was changed to the actual professor in August, and he was appointed as the imperial envoy to supervise the affairs of Jiangnan. After Cixi and Yixin came to power, at the end of 1861, they ordered Zeng Guofan to supervise the military affairs of the four provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi. The governors and admirals of the four provinces were all under control. In this way, the Zeng Guofan group suddenly became the largest powerful faction among the landlord class in power, and gradually gained the favor and support of the Western powers.

In the spring of 1862, the Qing government announced that the southeastern local officials would "not use remote control" to "use" foreign invaders to suppress the Taiping Army. Zeng Guofan also believed that imperialism "has virtue for me" and "the current situation is "There is really no other good strategy than relying on foreign soldiers." He was determined to flatter the foreign invaders and join hands with them to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. At the beginning of 1862, he recommended Zuo Zongtang as the governor of Zhejiang and led troops to Zhejiang. He recommended Li Hongzhang as the governor of Jiangsu and led the Huai army to Shanghai, allowing them to cooperate with the invading army and jointly attack the Taiping army. Zeng Guofan himself sat in Anqing and sent him His brother Zeng Guoquan led the main force of the Hunan army from northern Anhui to the east and invaded Tianjing.

In the process of collusion between Chinese and foreign counter-revolutionary forces, Zeng Guofan and others began to order large quantities of ship guns from foreign countries, invited foreigners to train the army, and prepare for a new arms industry. In 1861, he set up an ordnance factory in Anqing to imitate foreign guns and cannons. Since then, many provinces have also established arms industries. These industries played a great role in the massacre of the Chinese people.

In the spring of 1864, most of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's bases in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were lost. At the same time, the city gates of Tianjing were also surrounded by the Hunan army. On July 19, Tianjing fell. "As soon as the Hunan army broke through the city, they killed everyone they saw and burned their houses. All their children's treasures and silks were given to the Hunan army." From top to bottom in the Hunan army, everyone bought a big bamboo basket and put it into the bamboo basket after grabbing money. When Zeng Guofan heard that he was very happy, he took it for granted and thought he had not grabbed enough. Due to their meritorious service in killing the people, Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army had a large number of personnel promoted to the third rank or above in more than ten years, including a large number of admirals and generals.

After the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the remaining Taiping Army in Jiangbei joined the Nian Army and gained momentum. The Qing court ordered Zeng Guofan to supervise the military affairs of Zhili, Shandong, and Henan provinces. Zeng Guofan led the Hunan Army of 20,000 and the Huai Army of 60,000, equipped with foreign guns and cannons, and went north to "suppress Nian". His policy was to "focus on greeting and suppression, not on pursuit", and proposed plans such as "key defense" in an attempt to control Nian. The army blocked the canal and Shahe areas, leaving the Nian army with nowhere to escape, and then destroyed them. However, the Nian Army broke through Zeng Guofan's defense line and successfully entered Shandong, which completely bankrupted Zeng Guofan's strategic plan. Zeng Guofan was dismissed and replaced by Li Hongzhang.

In 1870, Zeng Guofan, who was serving as the governor of Zhili, was ordered to go to Tianjin to handle the Tianjin religious case. It turned out that on June 21, 1870, thousands of people in Tianjin were dissatisfied with the French Catholic Church for abducting people and torturing babies. They gathered in front of the French Catholic Church and angrily denounced the atrocious crimes of the invaders. The French consul Feng Daye believed that the government was not serious about suppressing the government and carried out an attack with a gun. He met Liu Jie, the magistrate of Tianjin, on the street and shot him again, killing one of Liu Jie's servants on the spot. This aroused even greater indignation among the people. Feng Daye was beaten to death and the church was set on fire. After the incident, Britain, the United States, France and other countries jointly protested and dispatched warships to show off their power. After Zeng Guofan came to Tianjin, in accordance with his usual policy of favoring foreigners, "but in the hope of a speedy peace in Hebei, regardless of whether one of the crimes was committed," twenty Chinese were innocently killed and twenty-five were exiled into the army (the Tianjin magistrate also said was dismissed from his post and sent to the army). Zeng Guofan's traitorous behavior aroused the condemnation of the whole country. Even his fellow Hunan residents smashed and burned the plaque boasting his achievements in the Huguang Guild Hall. He himself died in shame amid the scolding that everyone said he could be killed. .

Life

Zeng Guofan was born on October 11, the 16th year of Jiaqing. His father, Zeng Linshu, was a private school teacher. He was born in the imperial examination and was a Jinshi in the 18th year of Daoguang (1838). He once served as minister of various ministries. In 1853, taking advantage of the opportunity given by the Qing government to seek strength to suppress the Taiping Rebellion, he established a local regiment called the Hunan Army in his hometown of Hunan, relying on complex interpersonal relationships such as masters, apprentices, relatives, and friends. As a private armed force of local bureaucrats, the Hunan Army became one of the main forces fighting the Taiping Rebellion in southern China among the armed forces of the Qing Dynasty with backward military quality. Zeng Guofan brutally suppressed the Taiping Rebellion and used harsh punishments. It is said in history that "one person was sent to the state magistrate and another person to supervise the bandits. If the case was serious, he would be sentenced to death, and if the light was light, he would be killed with a stick, and if the light was light, he would be whipped a thousand times. ... The case was imminent. The confession will be rectified immediately, and there will be no delay." Not only did he directly kill people, but his father and fourth brother also killed people. Some people accused him of killing too many people and called him "Zeng Shatou" and "Zeng Butcher". It is said that if a child in Nanjing cries at night, his mother will say, "Zeng Shao is here," and the child will stop crying.

The Tianjin Teaching Case was a teaching case that occurred in Tianjin in 1870 (the ninth year of Tongzhi) that shocked both China and the world. Since the Treaty of Tianjin opened the door to missionary work in the late Qing Dynasty, missionaries have begun to carry out missionary work in various places. However, due to the great difference in the values ​​​​of Christianity and traditional Chinese culture, missionaries and religious people (that is, Chinese Christians, many of whom are illegal in local areas) Scoundrels) often have various misunderstandings and conflicts with the people. Various anti-religious posts and slogans are circulated, and the people believe them to be true.

There are also those who sneak into the church and are of low quality. They take advantage of the situation to bully others. The missionaries are deceived by them and interfere in lawsuits, causing troubles. Sometimes large-scale resistance conflicts are formed, that is, lesson plans.

At that time, foreign missionaries often organized charity activities to attract Chinese people to join the church, and the orphanage was a charity institution often organized by missionaries to take in a large number of homeless orphans. However, such However, their actions often arouse suspicion among the people. For example, the Yangzhou Mission Case in 1868 was also caused by the Foundling Hall.

In 1862, the French Catholic priest Véréume negotiated with Chonghou, the Minister of Commerce of Sankou through the French consul in Tianjin, and obtained the Wanghai Tower on the north bank of the Sancha River Estuary in Tianjin (a three-story pavilion built in 1773 by Tianjin salt merchants. There are 152 rooms, a famous building in Tianjin, also known as Haihe or River Tower, which was abandoned at that time) and its 15 acres of land on the west side of Chongxi Temple. But in the first few years, he could only hide in the deep house compound near the east gate and open the Mercy Hospital. In 1866, French priest Xie Gospel (1820-1870) came to Tianjin to preach. On May 16, 1869, he demolished the old sites of Wanghai Tower and Chongxi Temple. At the end of the year, the first Catholic church in Tianjin, the Church of the Queen of Victory (Our Lady of Victory) was built. Hall), the hall is 30 meters long and 10 meters wide. It is commonly known as Wanghailou Catholic Hall. The French Consulate in Tianjin moved into the Wanghailou palace ruins to the east.

The incident

In April and May of 1870, many cases of missing and kidnapped children occurred in Tianjin. In early June, the weather was hot and epidemics were prevalent. Thirty to forty orphans in the nursery fell ill and died. Hundreds of people came to the cemetery every day to dig out the children's bodies and examine them. As a result, rumors began to spread among the people that they suspected that foreign nuns were using the nursery as prostitutes, but in fact they were kidnapping and killing children for use as medicinal materials. On June 20, Wu Lanzhen, a gangster who was turned over to the government by residents, implicated parishioner Wang San and the church in his confession. As a result, the people were indignant, the gentry gathered together, academies suspended classes, and anti-foreign religious sentiments rose.

In the early morning of June 21, Tianjin Magistrate Liu Jie took the prisoner Wu Lanzhen to the Wanghailou Catholic Church for confrontation. They found that there was no Wang San in the church, and there was no mat fence provided by Wu Lanzhen. The prisoner does not know the person in question and has no way to testify against him." Father Xie Gospel has also discussed with Chonghou how to deal with the aftermath of the incident. But at that time, thousands of people had surrounded the church, and church personnel quarreled with the onlookers, causing bricks to be thrown and fights to occur. Henry Fontanier (1830-1870), the French consul in Tianjin, asked Governor Chonghou to send troops to suppress it, but failed to get satisfactory results. On the way to the church, he argued with the magistrate Liu Jie and fired in anger. Unfortunately, the magistrate was killed. In anger, the people first killed Feng Daye and his secretary Ximen, and then killed 10 nuns, 2 priests, 2 other French consulate staff, 2 French expatriates, 3 Russian expatriates and more than 30 people. A Chinese believer burned down the French Consulate, Wanghailou Catholic Church, Mercy Church, and four Christian churches run by local British and American missionaries. The sabotage operation lasted for 3 hours.

On June 24, foreign warships arrived in Tianjin. Ministers from seven countries protested to the Prime Minister's Office, led by France.

The impact of negotiation

The French initially demanded the execution of responsible Chinese officials. The Qing Dynasty sent Zhili Governor Zeng Guofan to investigate and negotiate with the French. At that time, most officials in the court believed that it was not necessary. The situation is tense because he will not hesitate to fight to give in to him.

However, Zeng Guofan considered the situation at that time and was unwilling to go to war with France. He first offered compensation to Britain, the United States, and Russia so that he could finally negotiate with France alone. Subsequently, after his investigation, he "confirmed" that there was no abduction or harm of children in the nursery, so at the request of France, he decided to execute the 18 people who led the murders (Ma Hongliang, Cui Fusheng, Feng Zizi, etc.). The execution date was October 19), 25 people were exiled from the army, and Zhang Guangzao, the prefect of Tianjin, and Liu Jie, the county magistrate, were dismissed from their posts and sent to Heilongjiang. They compensated foreigners for their losses of 460,000 taels of silver, and Chonghou sent a mission to France to apologize. However, France accepted this condition because it did not pay attention to Eastern affairs due to the Franco-Prussian War that followed.

The result of this negotiation made both the court officials and the public very dissatisfied, which greatly affected Zeng Guofan's reputation. On the other hand, the news of the Tianjin missionary case also had an impact on other parts of the country, generating negative remarks and distrust against Western missionaries. These remarks also caused the occurrence of missionary cases in some areas.

In 1897, Wanghailou Catholic Church was rebuilt after being vacant for more than 20 years. In 1900, it was burned down for the second time during the Gengzi Rebellion. In 1903, it was rebuilt for the second time with the Boxer Indemnity.