Cixi ordered the dismemberment of Hong Xiuquan. Why did Zeng Guofan, who had always been obedient, disobey the imperial edict?

Zeng Guofan didn't disobey orders. He failed to deal with Hong Xiuquan's body in time, mainly because Zeng Guofan was in Anqing when Xiang conquered Tianjing, and it took several days to get to Tianjing. In fact, after Zeng Guofan arrived in Tianjing, the first thing to do was to dispose of Hong Xiuquan's body and turn Hong Xiuquan into dust. Hong Xiuquan was a very special peasant uprising in Chinese history. Hong Xiuquan's particularity is mainly reflected in two aspects. The first aspect is that after the uprising, Hong Xiuquan established a? Integration of politics and religion? The second aspect of Hong Xiuquan's regime was that after the uprising achieved initial results, he immediately built a luxurious palace and lived a luxurious life. He hasn't been out of Tianjing for more than ten years in a row, and he has raised thousands of beautiful women in his palace, which is more luxurious than the Qing emperor.

Hong Xiuquan's extravagance indirectly led to the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. 1864, Ceng Guoquan led an army to surround Tianjing, and the surrounding troops were slow to come. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is on the verge of extinction. If Hong Xiuquan is captured by the Qing army, he will be ruined. However, at this critical moment, Hong Xiuquan suddenly died and escaped the ending of the chess piece. When Hong Xiuquan died, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was on the verge of collapse, so Hong Xiuquan was buried in a corner of Tianwangfu.

Shortly after Hong Xiuquan's death, Ceng Guoquan occupied Tianjin. At first, Ceng Guoquan didn't know that Hong Xiuquan was dead. He inquired about the whereabouts of Hong Xiuquan in Tianjing, and finally learned from a captured maid-in-waiting that Hong Xiuquan was dead and dug up his body. Xiang and Huai armies have always been short of salaries, so when they captured a city, they burned, killed and looted for many days. Ceng Guoquan led the Xiang army to plunder everywhere and collected the wealth accumulated by Hong Xiuquan for more than ten years. Because Xiang was busy robbing money, no one had time to dispose of Hong Xiuquan's body.

Empress Dowager Cixi ordered Zeng Guofan to dispose of Hong Xiuquan's body. Because Zeng Guofan was far away in Anqing, when Zeng Guofan arrived in Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan's body had been placed for several days. Zeng Guofan's failure to dispose of Hong Xiuquan's body in time has aroused many people's doubts. After all, Zeng Guofan was armed to the teeth and threatened the Qing Dynasty far more than Hong Xiuquan. In order to dispel the suspicion of Empress Dowager Cixi, Zeng Guofan secretly transported Hong Xiuquan's body to a deserted place, and then cleaned it up with several confidants without leaving any residue.

Because Zeng Guofan handled Hong Xiuquan's body too cleanly, leaving no trace or record.

Historians believe that Zeng Guofan is really witty, and there have been several rumors about Zeng Guofan's handling of Hong Xiuquan's body. The first rumor is that Zeng Guofan shot Hong Xiuquan's body with a cannon, which is purely a fable. Cannons can only fire shells of normal specifications, and it is impossible to put a person's body in. Besides, human flesh and blood is too fragile to start.

There is also a saying that Zeng Guofan's heroes cherish heroes and secretly bury Hong Xiuquan. Judging from Zeng Guofan's practice after pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guofan is a very cautious person. Burying Hong Xiuquan without authorization is a great sin to destroy nine families. As a wise man, Zeng Guofan certainly wouldn't make such a simple mistake. Generally speaking, Zeng Guofan did not disobey the imperial edict when dealing with Hong Xiuquan's body. He just acted slowly in fulfilling the imperial edict and didn't announce the handling method, so he was misunderstood.