The six-dimensional pictures of emperors of all dynasties were exposed, and the ancestors panicked

Chapter 776 "A brave man swallows his blood and loses his teeth"

[After Zeng Guofan arrived in Changsha, his main enemy was not the Taiping Army that had already headed north, nor the Tiandihui that was very active in the province, but his own people.]

【The major military and political officials of Hunan Province.】

[As mentioned above, Emperor Xianfeng ordered Zeng Guofan to come out of retirement to "help organize militia", that is, to train "militia". The starting point was that he was worried that the public security in Hunan would be unstable and the governor would be too busy to handle it alone, so he asked Zeng Guofan to help fight bandits. ]

[The terms "helping others" and "training villagers" in the imperial edict have clearly defined the nature and scope of Zeng Guofan's work.]

【However, Zeng Guofan was not interested in this. He had long known that training militias would have no effect on the overall situation of the country.】

【So he made a fuss about the word "tuanlian" and misinterpreted its meaning. 】

[The armed forces controlled by the gentry to protect the country and the people, that is, the militia in the original sense, are called "tuan", while the hired warriors who are recruited to fight away from their hometowns are called "lian". ]

[As a result, he developed an armed force of several thousand people from the hired militia, which became the basis of his new army in the future.]

[The task of searching for bandits assigned by Emperor Xianfeng hardly took him much effort.]

[He used the "tuan" as his eyes and ears, and the "lian" as his mobile force, ready to go to various places to suppress at any time.]

[Within a few months, the situation in Hunan was largely stabilized.]

[However, his conflicts with the local officials in Hunan were like fire and water, and they were incompatible.]

……

Ming Dynasty Yongle Period
Zhu Di looked at the old man on the sky curtain and nodded at him with a smile.

"This guy is interesting."

Zhu Zhanji also agreed:
"That's true. If this person is not very loyal, then he is a great traitor."

"But look at how he is self-centered, cynical, radical and arrogant."

"There are more loyal people than treacherous ones."

Zhu Di was thinking about the overall situation of the Taiping Army.

"The Taiping Army's power was created by the combined efforts of heaven and earth."

"Zeng Guofan was not only facing the Taiping Army, but more importantly, the group of people in the officialdom."

“Life progresses when we are frustrated.”

"If Xianfeng could overcome all difficulties when there were so many setbacks."

"The Qing Dynasty can really continue."

Zhu Zhanji was silent.

Is it really a good thing for the Qing Dynasty to continue?

……

Qing Dynasty and Qianlong period
The officials deeply admired this rustic old man.

This kind of self-assertion is punishable by death!

He is so brave!
"To rise above the common people, to learn through hardship, and to act with effort, this is a true official of the Qing Dynasty!"

The ministers listened to Qianlong's praise without any emotion.

Go ahead and praise me, only a fool would believe you.

But he is a Han Chinese.

……

[In suppressing rebellions in various places, Zeng Guofan captured a large number of "bandit leaders", and public security became a top priority. ]

[He set up a "trial bureau" in his mansion and made his own judgments.]

[Whenever local bandits, hooligans, or robbers are captured, they are sent directly here without having to go through the prefectures or counties.]

[As long as the person is brought in in bundles, there is no need to refer to the law, and no need for any actual evidence. The only thing we need to do is to take the words of the informant as the truth, and after a brief interrogation, the case will be closed immediately.]

[There are only three ways to deal with it: one is to behead immediately, the second is to beat to death with sticks, and the third is to impose cruel whipping. ]

[In Zeng Guofan's own words: "When the bandits are brought in, if they are serious, they will be executed immediately; if they are minor, they will be beaten to death; if they are even less serious, they will be whipped a thousand times. This is the only way we can stop here."]

【In four months, the case review bureau "delivered 104 prisoners to death, 2 were beaten to death instantly, and 31 were killed in prison."】

【He was called "Zeng the Barber" by the villagers. 】

……

On the canopy.

Zeng Guofan, dressed in dust, sat on the armchair.

Below were a group of officials and clerks who were resentful of him.

But no matter how angry these people were in front of Zeng Guofan, they had to keep their heads down.

Because behind him was an endless army.

……

【According to the Qing Dynasty system, the criminal cases of a province were handled by the Censor. 】

【Zeng Guofan brazenly established a "Case Review Bureau" that was neither fish nor fowl, and took over the power of public security from the provincial governor to the governor of each prefecture, state, and county. "I will report major cases myself, and I will handle minor cases."】

[He had great distrust of local officials, so he often bypassed them and issued orders directly.]

[It is stipulated that anyone can tie up and send away bandits and hooligans without going through the layers of formalities in the past. "All the documents for investigation and transfer and the fees for releasing the prisoners will be omitted. They will be punished leniently and given cheaper treatment."]

[Investigations are always handled immediately and quickly, to avoid being harassed by people who come to plead for mercy: "We aim to handle the case immediately, without any hindrance or hindrance. When a case comes, we will question the confession immediately and execute the law immediately, without expecting any delay."]

……

Tang Xuanzong Period
Li Longji quite liked this kind of character.

"It's neat and tidy, good."

Yang Yuhuan didn't quite understand.

"He has angered the provincial civil servants."

"According to the social order of the Ming and Qing dynasties, a case means money, and if it's not cash, it's a huge favor."

"If you take over the power to arrest, judge, imprison and execute, what other people can do?"

Li Longji replied with a normal look:
"Yes! So the provincial judges who were sidelined were naturally dissatisfied, and the clerks who wanted to gain various benefits from the trial were even more critical."

"Isn't this just cutting yourself off from the world?"

"A place that can get things done and won't form cliques."

"What a good subject!"

A lone minister is a loyal minister!
……

【According to the general practice at that time, after the local area was calmed down, the trained soldiers should be immediately disbanded, or at least reduced in size, but Zeng Guofan's troops had the tendency to be supplemented and expanded. 】

[The huge amount of military pay that resulted from this also made the governors and provincial governors who were responsible for financial management extremely tired. Why should they use their own money to support other people's soldiers?]

[Whether it was militia training or hired warriors, they were all under the control of the official military commander in the past.]

[However, even the governor had difficulty interfering with the "trained warriors" under Zeng Guofan's control, and the governor of Hunan, who held military power over the entire province, had even less room to interfere.]

[At the same time, Zeng Guofan also used his subordinates to interfere with the local government troops, and ordered the Green Camp in Changsha to train with these unpresentable "trained warriors"! ]

[These soldiers, who usually did not do drills but had all kinds of bad habits, refused to obey orders, and the enraged officers even provoked trouble.]

[Finally, at the instigation of the Hunan governor, the rebels rushed into Zeng Guofan's mansion, and Zeng Guofan was almost killed by the swords.]

……

｛Zeng Guofan's residence was temporarily set up in the shooting range of the governor's office, separated only by a wall from the office of then governor Luo Bingzhang.｝
{Zeng Guofan thought that no matter how brave the Green Camp soldiers were, they would never dare to attack him, a second-rank official, with arms. So after being surrounded by the Green Camp soldiers, he still handled official documents as if nothing had happened.}
{Unexpectedly, the Green Camp soldiers broke into the house, injuring several of his followers, and Zeng Guofan himself was almost stabbed.}
{He ran out of the door, ran to the governor's office next door, and knocked on the door repeatedly.}
{The Green Camp was making trouble outside the gate, and Governor Luo Bingzhang heard it clearly, but he pretended to be deaf and dumb.}
{It was not until Zeng Guofan knocked on the door that he pretended to be surprised and came out to mediate. When the Green Camp soldiers saw the governor coming, they immediately behaved themselves.}
{Luo Bingzhang's method of mediation was to order his men to tie up the ringleaders, and then apologize to them profusely, saying that he had wronged his brothers.}
{The Green Camp soldiers gained enough face and retreated directly.}
{Finally, only Luo Bingzhang and Zeng Guofan were left. Luo Bingzhang did not say a word of comfort to Zeng Guofan. He just said calmly, "In the future, we will have to rely on them in the war!" and then turned and left.}
{When the Hunan officials saw that Zeng Guofan had been severely punished, they regarded this as a joke and spread the news everywhere. "All the officials were secretly delighted, thinking that they could punish the troublemaker.}
{A second-rank official is a member of the Politburo of a provincial official, almost on the same level as a senior official, yet this kind of situation still occurs.}
{If such a high-ranking official were to be humiliated now, it would be unthinkable. Who among his subordinates would dare to do so now?}
……

Qing Dynasty Yongzheng Period
"A second-rank official!"

"I was almost killed by the riotous soldiers! And you still don't want to reason with me?!"

Yongzheng's throat tightened with anger.

"This kind of embarrassment almost happened in the Qing Dynasty!"

Yongzheng admired Zeng Guofan very much.

There is nothing else, just two words.

Be strong!

Power is the apple of the eye of these officials, their life, the main source of their "income" and the only capital for them to gain respect, flattery and attachment from others.

Therefore, officials view the scope of their power like a dog looking at the bone in its food bowl.

No one is allowed to touch it.

They could allow themselves to do nothing, occupying the toilet without taking a shit, but they would never allow others to do anything here. And if we discuss it according to the officialdom rules at that time, Zeng Guofan was violating the order.

He originally helped the local officials to organize militia.

However, he used the remaining prestige of his former second-rank official in the capital and his power to report matters to the emperor, and asked local officials to "help" him in raising an army of "trained warriors."

From this perspective, the dissatisfaction of local officials is "reasonable".

"But it is precisely these principles that have put our Qing Dynasty into such a dangerous situation!"

"To get things done, you have to put your feet on the ground!"

"We must not get involved in those old, rotten habits!"

Hongli lay on the side with a grimace on his face, allowing the eunuchs and palace maids to apply medicine to him.

Is this for me?
……

[Zeng Guofan's first reaction was of course to complain to the emperor.]

[However, after thinking about it carefully, he knew that this approach would not work.]

[Can this memorial bring down all the officials in Hunan? If it fails, then wouldn’t his situation in Hunan be even more difficult in the future?]

[“A brave man swallows his blood when his teeth are broken.”]

[On August 1853, the third year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign (September 9, 29), he swallowed his anger and led people south to Hengzhou (now Hengyang), reporting to Emperor Xianfeng that he was going to suppress the bandits there.]

……

Big man.

"A brave man swallows his blood and tears his teeth."

These words really touched Liu Bang's heart.

“It’s so bitter…”

Liu Bang began to talk about the bad things that happened between him and Xiang Yu.

"I said I didn't want to do it, but he insisted that I do it."

"He is not happy when the Lord really enters Xianyang!"

"I'm telling you, Naigong wanted to turn against me at that time!"

"How many heads do you have, Xiang Yu? Do I have to leave if you come?"

"But then I thought, after all, I am a few years older than you, so I'll just have to endure it! He wins."

Lu Zhi rolled her eyes at him and said nothing.

Liu Ying blinked below.

Right?
He had heard Liu Hou talk about this, but it seemed that things did not develop in this way?
He was just about to ask his doubts.

A piece of barbecue was stuffed into his mouth.

"Brother! You eat!"

Liu Ying looked at little Liu Heng with emotion and took the barbecue.

"Brother, I'm not hungry. You eat."

Little Liu Heng smiled and shook his head, then picked up the barbecue again.

"Brother! You eat!"

Liu Bang stopped reminiscing, looked down, and pointed with his finger at the scene of "brotherly love and respect".

"E'er, look! How wonderful!"

Lu Zhi had no expression on her face.

She wanted to poison Liu Bang and make him mute.

……

【The fierce attack of the Taiping Army made Emperor Xianfeng so overwhelmed that he had no time to care about Zeng Guofan in Hunan.】

[Zeng Guofan changed his role from helping to organize the "military training" to organizing the "military training" himself, and he accepted it without knowing why.]

[Zeng Guofan requested funds to purchase cannons and build ships, and he approved it without hesitation.]

[He only believed in one principle: as long as it was beneficial to suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and did not take money from the central government's treasury, he would do whatever he wanted.]

[He didn't know the details, and didn't have the time or energy to make a specific plan.]

[It was this gap that enabled Zeng Guofan to train a new army, the Hunan Army, which was very different from all the armed forces of the Qing Dynasty, in a corner of southern Hunan without interference from the Qing Dynasty's military and political system, completely according to his own design.]

……

{The Hunan Army... its way of governing the army was not completely eliminated until the more advanced Sanwan Reform was established.}
{He founded the Hunan Army with his bare hands.}
{He was really unarmed, with no office space and no legitimate authority. He wanted to hang up a sign that read "Command the Hunan Xiang Army General Camp Affairs Bureau", but the imperial edict clearly stated that his authority was to "assist in charge" rather than "command". He had no choice but to take down the sign.}
{Three experiences: he had never served as a soldier for a day, and had no practical experience in marching, deploying troops, or training troops.}
{How to recruit soldiers, how to raise funds, how to purchase weapons, how to organize camps, how to train, how to formulate camp rules, how to select officers, how to set military pay standards, how to deploy troops, how to set up battle formations... There are too many steps to learn from scratch.}
{Without any friends to help him, the humiliation in Changsha made Zeng Guofan lose all face and lost the people's hearts.}
{Not only did the provincial officials despise him, but even his good friends Guo Songtao, Guo Kuntao, Liu Rong, and Zuo Zongtang all thought that he was reckless and unlikely to succeed, and no one was willing to help him.}
｛Lao Zeng once said that a few people can make plans, but not many people, and benefits can be shared, but not monopolized. There is some truth in this. If you want to achieve great things, you have to rely on yourself.｝
{The real difficulty is Article 5, which has no institutional guarantee.}
{It was the first time in the history of the Qing Dynasty that scholars trained soldiers.}
{Since the day the Hunan Army was born, it has had no place to rest in the system.}
……

Datang.

"Its biggest enemy is not the Taiping Rebellion, but the old system."

Li Shimin was well aware of the contradiction.

Fang Xuanling also felt Zeng Guofan's difficulties and shook his head:
"Logically speaking, the task the emperor gave Zeng Guofan was to train the troops, and the military expenses should naturally be provided by the central government."

"The problem is that the national fiscal revenue is used to provide salaries for the Green Camp military, so it is impossible to allocate funds specifically for him."

"Officials in Hunan province have a strained relationship with him, so it's natural that they won't be generous to him."

"The task of training soldiers was Zeng Guofan's own fault. It was not planned by the country or the Hunan government."

"As a 'deputy minister' who has no financial or taxation power, it is impossible for him to develop a fixed source of funds."

"But for a military under construction, money is too important."

"Without money, we can't move forward with anything, from recruiting soldiers and purchasing weapons to office expenses and daily food and clothing."

Li Jing, who had been silent all this time, also spoke up:

"Raising funds is more difficult than supervising the troops."

"Generally speaking, if there is no sufficient financial resources, there is no way to start military affairs and civil administration."

……

[The Hunan Army was different from any previous army of the Qing Dynasty.]

[Generally, employers tend to choose people with practical work experience. ]

【However, Zeng Guofan’s principle of selecting people was exactly the opposite. 】

[He selected Hunan Army generals who were scholars with no combat experience, rather than experienced Green Camp officers.]

[Among the 179 generals of the Hunan Army whose names can be verified, 104 of them were scholars. Most of them were scholars and juren from the countryside.]

【Zeng Guofan always believed that the power of the spirit is far greater than the power of the body.】

[Though a reckless man from the military may be brave for a while, he does not have unshakable faith.]

【What Zeng Guofan wanted to build was an army with faith and spiritual strength, so that faith and spirit could generate combat effectiveness.】

【And Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is the common belief of these Hunan scholars.】

[With a firm belief, a person can burst out with amazing courage and energy. ]

【Zeng Guofan believed that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not only a political and military enemy, but also a cultural enemy.】

【What he is fighting is a battle to defend Chinese traditional culture.】

[Only by calling on those "gentlemen who uphold the truth" to devote themselves to this cause with the spirit of "sacrificing their lives to defend the truth" and "dying for the sake of righteousness" can the Hunan Army succeed. ]

……

Tomorrow I will recommend...

This should be the last time I recommend this book.

I decided to update twice tomorrow!
I originally planned to update twice every seven days, but I may not be able to do it.

So be conservative and update twice tomorrow.

Then...just read it during the recommendation period, and I will update more chapters if I can.

I won’t play the game of changing sides with you this time.

Four thousand words per chapter.



(End of this chapter)