Chapter 12 3. "Self-improvement and Suppression of Twisting" - Acting Governor Jiang controls the two lakes

Acting Governor Jiang controls the two lakes On July 19, 1864, the Hunan Army captured Tianjing, marking the beginning of the ebb of the peasant movement centered on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty overcame difficulties and tended to be stable.Although the remnants of the Taiping Army in the south, the Nian Army in the north, and the ethnic minority uprising in the northwest continued to persist for several years, they were unable to turn things around. After the storm of the peasant movement, the imperial power of the Aixinjueluo family tended to decline, and Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang and other Han landlord bureaucrats emerged.The Xianghuai Army established by the Han landlord bureaucrats replaced the Eight Banners soldiers and the Green Battalion soldiers of the Economic Control Army. control is greatly weakened.The Qing court headed by Cixi not only had to rely on Zeng, Zuo, Li and other Han landlord bureaucrats to support the crisis, but also restricted their power to prevent internal and external troubles.

After the Hunan Army captured Tianjing, the relationship between Zeng Guofan and the Qing court suddenly became tense.The Qing court deeply felt that the biggest threat to its rule was not the aftermath of the Taiping Dynasty, but Zeng Guofan, who had a large army and a wide range of power.At that time, Zeng Guofan was the governor of Liangjiang, supervising the military affairs of the four provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi.The Hunan Army he created has increased to 300,000, and the Hunan Army under his direct command, including his direct descendant Zeng Guoquan, has as many as 120,000 people.He also controlled the lijin of Anhui, Jiangxi and other provinces and the copays of several provinces.He was shocked by those who chose him, and suspicious by those who were near him because he "used his affairs for too long, his military handle was too heavy, and his power was too wide."

①The conflict between Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, who were far below the Zeng family, and the Qing court was relegated to a secondary position.In order to prevent Zeng Guofan's power from continuing to expand and fight against himself, the Qing court adopted a divide-and-conquer strategy of suppressing Zeng Guofan's brothers and supporting Zuo, Li and others to contend with them. On November 6, 1864, less than four months after the Xiang army captured Tianjing, the Qing court suddenly ordered Zeng Guofan to go to the border between Anhui and Hubei to "supervise the soldiers and suppress the bandits, and make sure to advance quickly and not delay less." Li Hongzhang was sent to act as Governor Jiang.Zhao Liewen, Zeng's aide, exclaimed "extremely aggressive" for this, and Zeng Guofan himself "has very little meaning".Although it was less than a month before the Qing court withdrew the order, this move was obviously Yang Li's restraint.

Zeng Guofan, who has been up and down for a long time, realized the importance and urgency of "remote power and avoid slander" in view of the painful lesson that "everyone who has held military positions and stolen power since ancient times has done harm to the country and harmed the family".He said to Zeng Guoquan: "Having a great position and power while enjoying a great name, how many people have been able to deal with the end of the road since ancient times? You must try to push back the word power and position a little. If you subtract a few percent, the evening festival will gradually come to an end. .”

② Cutting Hunan and keeping Huaihe River was one of his main measures to "preserve the evening festival with two words of concession".He believes that cutting Hunan and keeping Huaihe River can not only eliminate the doubts of the Qing court, but also use the Huai army to "help the brave poor in Hunan" and stabilize military power, thus maintaining his position in the ruling group of the Qing Dynasty.He wrote to Li Hongzhang, saying: "At the end of Xiangyong's strong crossbow, his vigor has completely disappeared, and his strength is not enough to control the twists and turns. In the future, Huai, the Huaihe River, must be bravely appointed by the noble department. Guofan has long held this opinion, and I am fortunate that your Excellency has proved this statement." The soldiers are still alive, so we must cultivate vitality and get rid of old ones. Huai courage is strong, so it is not suitable to cut, but Xiangyong should cut more and quickly."

① Li Hongzhang not only saw the intentions of the Qing court, but also saw through Zeng Guofan's true intentions, so he decided to play for the good of both parties and reap the benefits of the fisherman.He knew very well that under the autocratic system, "the military system is especially important for the world's plans", and the rise and fall of the Huai army is related to the ups and downs of personal career.He sent a letter to Zeng Guofan expressing his support for the decision to abolish Hunan and leave Huaihe River, saying that "my division and Hongzhang should end with the military affairs", and that the Huai army "changes to another department, and it is difficult to get quick results", "but if the division is recruited, The prestige is enough to rely on, and you will be respected and outstanding."

②Because Zeng and Li reached a tacit agreement, ① Zeng Guo was injured: "Recovering Guo Yunxian Zhongcheng", "Zeng Wenzheng Gong Shu Zha", Vol. 23, p. 34. ② Zeng Guofan: "To Brother Yuan", "The Complete Works of Zeng Guofan", Letters from Home II, p. 926. ① Zeng Guofan: "To Li Gongbao", "Letter of Zeng Wenzheng Gong", Vol. 24, p. 17. ② Li Hongzhang: "Shang Zeng Xiang", "Li Wenzhong's Complete Works", Letters from Friends, Vol. 5, p. 35. It is a foregone conclusion to cut Hunan and stay in Huaihe.At that time, of the 120,000 Hunan Army directly commanded by Zeng Guofan, 40,000 were in the hands of Zuo Zongtang, governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, more than 30,000 were successively assigned to the jurisdiction of Jiangxi governor Shen Baozhen, and 50,000 were under the direct line of troops led by Zeng Guoquan.Zeng Guofan knew very well that the armed force most suspected and feared by the Qing court was the Hunan Army under Zeng Guoquan's department.In order to eliminate the doubts and fears of the Qing court, he asked Zeng Guoquan to open a vacancy due to illness and return to his hometown for recuperation;With the support of Zeng Guofan, the Huai Army, which has 70,000 land and water troops, only abolished a few and did nothing.Of course, the Huai army was able to survive, and it was still the same as the so-called "Cantonese bandits are still in flames, and the upper and middle frontiers are in full swing."

③ related to the domestic situation.In May 1865, the Nian army who drove Heluo killed Seng Gelinqin, Prince of Horqin, who was built by the Qing court as the Great Wall in Caozhou, Shandong.The demise of the elite armed monk army controlled by the royal family forced the Qing court to pin its hopes of strangling the Nian army on the Xianghuai army.In view of the fact that the Hunan Army had been abolished in large numbers, the Qing court had no choice but to rely on the Huai Army for emergency relief, which gave the Huai Army an opportunity to preserve and expand its power to the north. On May 23, the Qing court appointed Zeng Guofan as an imperial envoy to Shandong to oversee the "suppression of twisters". Li Hongzhang, the governor of Jiangsu, acted as the governor of Liangjiang, and Liu Yunjiao, the governor of Jiangsu, temporarily protected the governor.After Zeng Guofan received the order, he "sighed and grieved for it!" Li Hongzhang applauded that Zeng Guofan was pushed to the front line of suppressing Nian and the real power of the Liangjiang military and government fell into his hands.On the one hand, he sent a letter to Zeng Guofan to comfort him, saying: "Shangyi relies exclusively on my teacher, protects the north, and cleans up the ashes. The situation is urgent, and there is a lot of hope, and there is no excuse for self-reliance."

① On the one hand, he stated to the Qing court in a grand manner that "the subject is under the jurisdiction of Anhui, and the province is under the jurisdiction of the governor, and the rules must be avoided", but the situation is critical. Hand over and go to Jinling to take over temporarily." ②After Li Hongzhang acted as the governor of Jiang, he was ordered by the Qing court to support Zeng Guofan's activities of suppressing twisters in two aspects: mobilizing troops and collecting salaries. Li Hongzhang knew very well that the Hunan Army was "at the end of its strength", and that Zeng Guofan had to rely on the Huai Army to suppress Nian, so he offered to transfer Ming (Liu Mingchuan), Shu (Zhang Shusheng), and Sheng (Zhou Shengbo) 3 armies, a total of 33 battalions with nearly 17,000 people, to the Zeng family command.At the same time, he also transferred his younger brother Li Hezhang to accompany Jinghui to "contact the generals".At that time, the Qing court ordered Li Hongzhang to send a powerful town general to lead a strong army to the north to prevent the Nian army from intimidating Gyeonggi.It was reported that the Qing court was "very anxious for the fireworks and foreign guns", so Li Hongzhang sent Pan Dingxin to lead the 10th battalion of the Dingjun (including the first battalion of the flower guns) to Tianjin, preparing to transfer to Jingzhou and Dezhou to protect Jifu.However, Li Hongzhang was also worried that this "refined and reliable" force would fall into the hands of the Manchu relatives, so he begged Zeng Guofan to transfer him to the former enemy.

③Zeng Guofan looked around and found that "Jinling Chuyong was completely dismantled, and there were only 3,000 people left as guards. In addition, Liu Songshan and Ningguo's first army were transferred" ④, had to rely on the Huai army expedition. Therefore, he notified Li Hongzhang in a letter, saying that he would use the Ming, Sheng, Shu, Ding and other armies "as the heart of Gancheng"; Li Hezhang of Ganliang Road has been transferred to handle the camp affairs office, please allow the opening of Ganliang Road, and Li Zhaoqing, Li Hongzhang's younger brother, to go to the camp." ⑤ Beast Guofan also tried to attract Huai general Liu Bingzhang to use it for himself.Although Li Hongzhang was reluctant, he had to agree with Liu Bingzhang to lead the 10th battalion to move to the Central Plains because of no legitimate reason.Zeng Guofan "suppressed twists" and mobilized 80,000 Xianghuai troops successively, of which 20,000 Hunan troops were the elite left after a large number of abolishments; With the scale of modern army.However, Xianghuai has a very deep door.Although the Huai army came from Hunan, it only respected its commander, Li Hongzhang, and did not listen to Zeng Guofan's dispatch. The 60,000 Huai army was formally allocated to Zeng Guofan's command, but the actual power was still in the hands of Li Hongzhang.Because of Li's intervening time, Yi ③ Li Hongzhang: "Recovering Guo Yunxian Zhongcheng", "Li Wenzhong Gong's Complete Book", Letters from Pengliao, Volume 6, pp. 1-2.

① Li Hongzhang: "Shang Zeng Xiang", "Li Wenzhong's Public Works", manuscripts from friends, volume 6, p. 20. ② Li Hongzhang: "The General Situation of the Acting Governor", "Li Wenzhong's Complete Works", Memorial, Volume 2, p. 74. ③ "Letter from Li Hongzhang to Pan Dingxin", p. 23. ④ Li Shuchang: Chronicle of Zeng Guofan, Vol. 10, p. 202. Missing the opportunity, Zeng Guofan once criticized in a declaration: At present, since all the Huaiyong armies are under the jurisdiction of our office, you should ignore everything, and all requests to your esteemed office will be approved by our office, and the command will be more effective. ... In the future, I will be in the Huai army, except that the dispatch and withdrawal of the battalion must first be discussed with the left and right, and the rest will be entered or stopped, or divided or combined, or protected or joined, or added courage, or rested and returned. If there is anything wrong, please inform us by confidential letter. ① After these twists and turns, although Li Hongzhang restrained, he did not give in.After being criticized by Zeng Guofan, he sent a letter to Pan Dingxin saying: "The general of the Hunan Army despises all the Huai tribes. Like a younger generation, he also wants to compete with his predecessors, but he has to fight to the death to open his door." ②The resentment is beyond words. While mobilizing troops, Li Hongzhang also raised money for the future.From June 1865 to January 1867, Zeng Guofan, who supervised the suppression of Nian, received 11,069,802 taels of payment in real time, and the total number of reported write-offs was 11,026,452 taels, leaving a balance of 43,350 taels.This huge sum of money was mainly raised in Jiangsu by Li Hongzhang.At that time, the military salary was "fundamentally in Wu", and Lijin was the main one.Li Hongzhang believed that after the devastation of Suzhou Province, the farmland was abandoned, and there was too much money and water, so please wait for it.At that time, only business hadn't lost its color, and it was the same in all provinces, not to mention the thoroughfare of rivers and seas, "there is no greater profit than this".Relying on his power, Li Hongzhang extorted violently, which aroused strong dissatisfaction and severe impeachment among Jiangsu gentry. In July 1865, Yin Zhaoyong, a cabinet secretary from Wujiang, Jiangsu, and Wang Xiancheng, a native of Changshu, Jiangsu, wrote successively to criticize Li Hongzhang for "ruling the people with hegemony" and "relying on meritorious deeds" in Jiangsu. ", donating 40 million taels per year, which is a crime that cannot be punished.According to the imperial edict of the Qing court, "Li Hongzhang will strictly eliminate unworthy committee members, and Lika will still focus on mergers. Once the military affairs are cleared up, they will be abolished one by one."This can be said to be the first political crisis Li Hongzhang encountered after entering the frontier, so he was "sorrowful".Zeng Guofan was also worried, and wrote a letter to advise: "However, in the last days, the weather is ugly, upright, and turbulent, and there are still concerns about seeking revenge. Goufei is extremely related, such as donating dung buckets, 40 million, etc., we must not move In addition, there are few violations, so you can ignore it....It is always better to leave more leeway everywhere, so as to extend the infinite blessing." ①However, Li Hongzhang was well aware of the seriousness of the problem, and decided to disregard the "co-criticism and forbearance" The teacher training is to use offense as defense.He wrote to a friend: Since Yin Zhaoyong played the manuscript and issued banknotes, those who know it are unfair, and those who don't know use it to intimidate them, and the people of Wu may spread rumors to fight against it. I have no other plan. Be an official for a day, lead a soldier for a day, and make a donation for a day. , It is better to be sick than to be sick to farmers, and it is not a real disease.If there is a decree to leave the post of supervisor and suppress, please ask the latecomers to pay for it, otherwise, you must allocate another salary, otherwise you can abandon the army and dismiss the official. ②Li Hongzhang first calmed down his staff, saying, "Our generation's struggle is not about interests, but about reason and not power." All the blame and grievances are left to Hongzhang alone, and it is up to you to check out the shortcomings at any time and rectify them nearby, so as not to catch them. Immediately thereafter, he rebutted, accusing Wang Xiancheng of "ignorance of current affairs" and Yin Zhaoyong's "intention to sink", claiming that "Yin Zhaoyong thought that Su belonged to a giant gentry and was a minister of nobles and near. Slander and slander, firstly to confuse the court, and secondly to arouse the ignorance of the people, spread far and near, so as to have excuses, in order to fulfill his selfishness of betraying the public and flouting the law. Because the ministers can't help but feel chilled, in the future, those who are officials and soil will have nothing to do. Caught off guard." ③The reason why Li Hongzhang dared to resist and defend was because he was confident that the Qing court had contributed to the past, and he saw that the Qing court relied on him to plan the deployment of troops and the collection of salaries for the suppression of Nian.He seized the opportunity and fought back with all his strength, "Talking about his heart, so as to see what he thinks. ① "Zeng Wenzheng Gong's Letters", Volume 25, p. 37. ② "Letter from Li Hongzhang to Pan Dingxin", p. 33. ① Zeng Guofan: "Fu Li Gongbao", "Books of Zeng Wenzheng Gong", Vol. 24, p. 39. ② Li Hongzhang: "Recovering Chen Zifeng's Observation", "Li Wenzhong Gong's Complete Book", Letters from Friends, Vol. 6, p. 27. ③ Li Hongzhang: "Replay of Yin Zhaoyong et al. Chen Jiangsu Li's Donation", "Li Wenzhong's Complete Works", Memorial, Vol. 9, p. 5. Violation is the ear of advance and retreat. " ①The Qing court proceeded from the overall situation of maintaining its own rule. Regarding Li Hongzhang and his Huai army, they wanted to manipulate them for their own use and restrain them to prevent accidents. Famous for the township party, but on the grounds of Hongkai's speech, Yin, Wang, etc. were exempted from severe condemnation.With such an ending, Li Hongzhang actually thought that "the slander" had been "revealed", and said that the imperial decree "cannot be judged by lika. ②. Nanjing, where Li Hongzhang was stationed as Jiangdu, was originally a prosperous city in the south of the Yangtze River for six generations.After the Hunan army captured Nanjing, adhering to Zeng Guoquan's will, the so-called "those who follow the thieves will be killed without pardon", "kill anyone who sees them, burn houses when they see them, and all the children's treasures will be given to the Hunan army."Xiao Fusi, under Zeng Guoquan, "takes out gold and silver worthless from the Heavenly King's Mansion, and sets fire to the house to wipe out the traces." ③ Li Hongzhang, who was transferred to supervise the two rivers, confessed with a mixture of worry, indignation and sadness: Jinling is an empty city, surrounded by barren fields, and there is no way to deal with the aftermath. Jie Xiang (Zeng Guofan) took Xiao [He] Cao [Shen] Treat it quietly.He Zhenweng said this: "Yi actually abandoned everything and moved the supervisory office to Yangzhou." "Although it seems to be a miracle, there is no house, no one, and no money. Guan (Zhong) Ge (Zhuge Liang) should stay here. However, it is difficult for the later sages to do so, and it seems that it will take a hundred years to restore the old. ④ Facing the tragic situation of "no house, no money, no people" and the situation of "women and children complaining", Li Hongzhang took some measures to restore production and stabilize the feudal ruling order.The feudal literati bragged about these measures as a so-called "beneficial policy" of "respecting the Lord and protecting the people".Until the death of Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, still praised it in "Jiangning Zuojian Temple". Li Hongzhang acted as the governor of Jiang. Although he made great efforts to govern, but because of his unstable position, the time was short and the results were minimal. Just 5 months after he was ordered, he was suddenly ordered to go to Heluo to defend and suppress, and to take care of the gates of Shanshan and Shaanxi. Wu Tang, the governor of water transport, acted as the governor of Liangjiang, and Li Zongxi and Ding Richang served as the governor of Cao and Su Fu.The Qing court's move was sinister. From a military point of view, at that time, the main force of the Nian Army was moving from Anhui to Henan and moving west, while Zeng Guofan focused on the east and was unable to look west. The other troops rushed to the borders of Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi provinces to "prepare to suppress the Nian" to prevent the Nian Army and the Northwest Hui People's Rebel Army from jointly resisting the Qing Dynasty.From a political point of view, "Jiang Du is in great need of the world, and the food and clothing of the ministers of the shu court are hit (department)", how can Zeng and Li be allowed to live for a long time?The Qing court conspired to kill two birds with one stone: through Wu Tang, who was independent from the Xianghuai Group, he seized the real power in Liangjiang from Li Hongzhang, and used Li Hongzhang from the Huai family to contain Zeng Guofan from the Hunan family, so as to prevent "inner light and outer weight".Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang saw through the intentions of the Qing court and took an attitude of resolute resistance.Zeng Guofan received Feng Ting's letter, thinking that "the handling is too sudden, and he will be unhappy all day long" ①.Without negotiating with Li Hongzhang, he went up to fight against Shu, saying that "thieves are now focusing on the east road", and the Qing army "should focus on the east road with all its strength", and "decreed Li Hongzhang to inspect Heluo, there is nothing to do here. To suppress the bandits, Huai Yong has no other divisions to adjust." "The ones that the minister relies on to deal with the bandits now depend entirely on the Huai Yong army for their command. If Li Hongzhang enters Luo, how can he withdraw his ministers and deploy the troops that have been set up?" Traveling westward, we will sit back and watch the corruption of Shandong and Jiangsu and ignore it.”It is believed that Li Zongxi "has more integrity, but a little less talent, and he has the power to lead Qi, which is too sudden."Ding Richang "although he claims to be familiar with barbarian affairs, but his qualifications are too shallow, and his expectations are not high", so it is difficult to win his position②.Li Hongzhang received Feng Ting's letter, "repeatedly thinking about it, it seems difficult to do it right". He said in "Composite Bibu": ① Li Hongzhang: "Responding to Liu Song's Nursing Care", "Li Wenzhong's Complete Works", Letters from Friends, Vol. 6, p. 32. ② Li Hongzhang: "Responding to Liu Song's Nursing Care", "Li Wenzhong's Complete Works", Letters from Friends, Vol. 6, p. 32. ③ He Shaoji: "Forty Jue of Miscellaneous Comments on Jinling", "Poetry Notes of Dongzhou Thatched Cottage".Volume 26. ④ Li Hongzhang: "Recovering Guo Yunxian Zhongcheng", "Li Wenzhong's Complete Works", Letters from Friends, Vol. 6, p. 34. ① "Zeng Wenzheng Gong's Handwritten Diary", September 10th, the fourth year of Tongzhi. ② Zeng Guofan: "Following the Decree to Recover Chen's Recent Military Situations", "Zeng Wenzhenggong's Contributions", Vol. 4, p. 727. During this period, the order was repeatedly issued, and the supervisor Heluo, since he was the gate of the Qin and Jin Dynasties, did not know that the big forces of the rebels had fled east and west, and Zhang Zongyu's group stayed in Nanyang. .I am unfamiliar with the situation in the northwest, and all the troops under my command have been transferred to the four towns of Jue Xiang. I dared to go there, but I moved to Fuliang. Let's leave it alone, one army and two commanders, there are too many restraints, and the source of salary depends entirely on Wuzhong, entrusted to non-human beings, and the transshipment relief will eventually be scarce. I am afraid that the former enemy will not be of much help, and the overall situation in the southeast will be shaken first. ①It can be seen from this that the reason why Li Hongzhang refused to regard Heluo as his teacher was because the main force of the Nian Army had already pointed to the east.He sent a letter to Zeng Guofan, proposing two coping strategies. On November 2, that is, on the third day after receiving the order from the Qing court, he begged Zeng Guofan to "familiarly plan and make detailed reports" on Liangjiang's personnel arrangements.He believes that if he regards He Luo as his teacher, Wu Tang will definitely compete for Jiang Du's seat, and Wu Tang is "full of complaints, and there will be many changes in employment and administration."Wu Tang (zi Zhongxuan) was born in Xuyi, Anhui (now part of Jiangsu). He used to be the magistrate of Nanhe, Taoyuan, and Qinghe counties, and the magistrate of Pizhou.In his early years, he was virtuous to the poor and underdeveloped Yehenala family, so after Empress Dowager Cixi took charge of the government behind the curtain, "the holy family was very prosperous".Although Li Hongzhang praised Wu Tang as "a well-known Huaihai official of the emperor" and his "golden and stone confidant", considering that Wu Tang was not only a confidant of Cixi, but also degraded by Zeng Guofan as a "special concubine", he opposed Wu Tang out of factional interests. Acting Jiang Du.With the help of others, he expressed his own feelings, and suggested that Li Hanzhang should be transferred to be the governor of the Soviet Union and a trader, while Ding Richang should be the Fan of Su, or that Li Hanzhang should be the governor of Jiang, while Ding Richang should still be the governor of the Soviet Union.Li Hanzhang is his elder brother, and Ding Richang is "familiar with Western affairs" and "closely related" with the Huai army.In his opinion, only they can stabilize the overall situation in the southeast.He advised Zeng Guofan on the issue of choosing people, "Don't blindly tolerate it, this is especially important." On November 4, he wrote to Zeng Guofan again, saying that it is best to maintain the status quo, otherwise they will swap each other.The so-called swap theory was put forward by Li Zongcai.Li Zongxi (named Yuting) was deeply trusted by Zeng Guofan. In 1858, he was transferred to the camp affairs office. In 1865, he was recommended as the governor of Jiangning.Starting from the interests of the Hunan Clan, he suggested that Zeng and Li should be swapped.Li Hongzhang said to Zeng Guofan: Qingyu Yuting sent a special messenger to deliver the letter, which was attached to Juncha.There are many discussions here when the teacher returns to his post.Hong Zhang thinks so.However, when he sent it off last time, he was ordered not to return to his post, so he dared not propose it.If the imperial court follows the current situation, it is best not to change it in a hurry.But Hongzhang fears that he will be ridiculed for taking refuge, so he has no choice but to still follow Yuting's plan. Please use Hongzhang to suppress the bandits on behalf of my teacher. If you don't want to stop it, you must ask for instructions before you dare to do it, and beg for instructions. ①Since Zeng Guofan has long stated that he will "never return to office", he has no choice but to maintain the status quo.Therefore, it was convenient for Li Hongzhang to play again on November 25, tactfully threatening the Qing court, saying that depending on his teacher Heluo, there are "three ends: it is difficult to separate the soldiers, it is difficult to rely solely on wages, and it is difficult to provide regular support for arms." In view of Zeng and Li's attitude, the Qing court did not dare to force it, so it had to issue an order: "This minister and others can carefully examine the details, so that the court can understand the pros and cons of this. Zhang Shushan and others are in a hurry to attack, and Nanyang is only dominated by Zhang Zongyu, so there is no need to change Zhang." ②. However, just one year after the political turmoil subsided, Zeng Guofan was so embarrassed by the Nian army that he felt ashamed and fearful, and asked for a vacancy due to illness.The Qing court knew that only by changing horses could the Nian army be wiped out. Therefore, on December 7, 1866, Zeng Guofan was ordered to return to the post of governor of Liangjiang, and Li Hongzhang was appointed imperial envoy to specialize in "suppressing Nian". matters.Li Hongzhang said to his mother: "Master Zeng said that he had no success in suppressing Nian, and his energy was too weak to take up this important task. He repeatedly asked to be dismissed. When he was approved by the Holy One, he ordered Master Zeng to return to the post of Governor of Liangjiang, and he was appointed as the male imperial envoy. Suppression matters." ③ On February 15 of the following year, the Qing court appointed Li Hongzhang as the governor of Huguang, and he was still in the military camp to oversee the suppression of Nian. ① Li Hongzhang: "Shang Zeng Xiang", "Li Wenzhong Gong Quanshu", manuscripts from friends, volume 6, p. 47. ② Zhou Shicheng: "The Ping Nian Ji of the Huai Army", Volume 1, p. 14. ③ "Li Hongzhang Chido", p. 32. For this matter, Li Hanzhang, the governor of Hunan, was transferred to be the governor of Jiangsu, and he was ordered to act as the governor of Huguang.The purpose of this personnel arrangement is to appease the two factions of Hunan and Huaihe Rivers, and connect the three rivers and two lakes into one, so as to facilitate the raising of salaries for suppressing the Nian army and stabilizing the political and military situation in the rear base.The famous scholar Yu Yue sent a letter to Li Hongzhang to express his congratulations: "There is no such encounter in the history and records, the beautiful talk of bamboo and silk, and the grand event of clothing." ① And this is exactly the strategic plan that Li Hongzhang worked hard to plan.He pointed out long ago that if he wanted to map the original land, the east road would be based on Jiangsu, and the west road would be based on Hunan and Hubei. I got my wish. ① "Yu Quyuan Letters", pp. 31-32.