Chapter 13 Section 13 Zuo Zongtang is here

On March 26th in the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860 A.D.), a man came to Zeng Guofan's camp in Susong.His surname is Zuo, his name is Zongtang, his surname is Ji Gao, and he is from Xiangyin, Hunan.Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guofan were classmates at Lianbin Academy in Hunan Province. They were born at the top of the list. After failing three times in the general examination, they gave up the idea of ​​​​taking the Jinshi exam.Those who are bright today, as the name suggests, are also Zhuge Liang today.Zuo Zongtang was also polite, and later used the word "Jinliang" to call himself. Eight years ago, when the Taiping Army besieged Changsha, Zhang Liangji, governor of Hunan Province, was in a state of desperation. He found Zuo Zongtang and asked him to come out to help.Zuo Zongtang stood on the city wall of Changsha, set up a pergola to look out, and ordered people to set up all the limited small earthen cannons in the city on the city wall.

Before the Taiping Army was about to launch a general offensive, Zuo Zongtang ordered to bombard the enemy ships.Before the smoke cleared, the Taiping army hastily withdrew. It turned out that their commander, Xiwang Xiao Chaogui, had been shot and killed. This was Zuo Zongtang's first battle out of the mountains, everyone called him a god, and soon he was recommended as a fourth-rank title. Zuo Zongtang originally planned to go to Beijing for the test, but because of the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army, the Qing troops who were defeated in a row stopped the way to the north.In desperation, Zuo Zongtang decided to turn east and seek a battalion officer from Zeng Guofan to show what he had learned in his life.

On the day Zuo Zongtang arrived, Zeng Guofan was having dinner with his staff in the dining hall.Hearing the news, Zeng Guofan said please, and greeted him with chopsticks.Everyone in the hall was shocked. After being welcomed in, the chubby Zuo Zongtang washed up and sat down to eat. During the meal, Zuo Zongtang's words shocked the audience again. "Disheng, is it too simple for you to have three meals a day?" Zuo Zongtang didn't address him as Marshal or Your Excellency, but called Zeng Guofan directly. This made many of the staff members who were eating couldn't help but put down their chopsticks and look at Zeng Guofan quietly. How to cope.

But Zeng Guofan seemed to be used to it, just smiled and said, "You are new here, so you don't know the inside story of Daying! You must be very hungry after walking all the way. Eat first, and I will tell you after the meal." At that time, Zeng Guofan only held the vacant title of Minister of the Ministry of War, but after all he was a high-ranking official who held a heavy army and was deeply relied on by the court. Needless to say, his staff admired him. Zuo Zongtang was only a candidate for a fourth-rank official, and he dared to call him Lord Shi Lang directly, which was a strange thing in the Qing Dynasty.The aides privately gave Zuo Zongtang the nickname "Xian Shi Mi Heng ①", which was nothing more than making fun of him with the affairs of the Han Dynasty.However, Li Hongzhang saw that the relationship between Zeng and Zuo was indeed extraordinary.

On the second day after Zuo Zongtang arrived in Susong, he began to help Zeng Guofan with the documents.But Zuo Zongtang, who was outspoken, was not reconciled to being an aide for a long time. He soon proposed to Zeng Guofan the idea of ​​bringing his own battalion.Zeng Guofan smiled, without saying a word, and picked up an imperial decree and handed it to him. Zuo Zongtang unfolded the imperial decree suspiciously, and saw that it said: "The atmosphere of thieves is very hot now. Whether Zuo Zongtang should be still in Hunan to help organize regiment training and other things, or be transferred to the military camp of the minister, and Zeng Guofan should handle it at his discretion."

Zuo Zongtang put down the imperial decree and asked in a low voice: "Disheng, what are you..." Zeng Guofan said with a smile: "Nowadays Zhuge Liang only wants to take care of one battalion, which is a little too wronged." Zuo Zongtang was taken aback for a moment: "Dasheng, do you want me to go back to Hunan Xiang to run a group training? I left the governor's office with great difficulty, and you can't let me go back!" Zeng Guofan said with a smile: "Today Zhuge Liang always works as an assistant for others, which seems to be too much. I am going to let you go back to your hometown to recruit brave people. I have weighed it. You should recruit ten battalions first."

The next day, Zeng Guofan signed the letter for him, and at the same time reported the matter to the court.Zuo Zongtang then returned to his hometown with a letter of appointment.The day before his departure, brothers Li Hanzhang and Li Hongzhang specially prepared a banquet in a small restaurant in Susong for Zuo Zongtang's farewell party.Zuo Zongtang generously agreed. Before he had drunk three cups of wine, Zuo Zongtang had already started talking without any scruples: "You two brothers have been with me for a long time, and I would like to ask you a question today. I would like to ask you two brothers, there is a scholar who was once a student, Why do you get more and more attention from above?"

Li Hanzhang replied: "Zeng Shuai is an important minister of the court, so naturally he should be valued by the court." Li Hongzhang replied: "The teacher's success in practicing bravery can almost compete with the teachers of the national economic system. The court cannot do without the teacher!" Zuo Zongtang laughed and said: "Disheng often praises Shaoquan in front of me for being brilliant, and Shaoquan is true to his word. In today's world, long hairs are making trouble, and twisters are running rampant. A man wants to stand in the world and do earth-shattering things. In fact, what the court values ​​is not Zeng Disheng, but the tens of thousands of Xiangyongs trained by Zeng Disheng. But Zeng Disheng is suitable for learning and being an official, but not suitable for commanding the army. He is the one who faces the enemy in battle. I am determined to go back to my hometown to recruit bravery, just to show the world that I, Zuo Jigao, can not only act as a curtain, but also lead the army!"

Li Hanzhang whispered: "How many tribulations Zeng Shuai has gone through, and how many times he has faced life and death, has come to this situation. It is conceivable how difficult it is to practice bravery! The former Anhui Fujiang was brave and brave, and he was killed in the battle of Luzhou; Lu Shilang An excerpt written by the Manchu Dynasty was full of civil and military affairs in the Manchu Dynasty. Who would have thought that within a few days after leaving the mountain, he became an ancient man in Shucheng. Master Zuo, you may have already seen that practicing bravery is both a commanding army and not a commanding army. The so-called commanding troops , refers to the division that leads the economic system, such as Qiying and Lvying. The division of economics has a fixed source of salary, but it is different for practicing bravery. The group training has no fixed source of salary, and the second has no fixed equipment. I am Zeng Shuai Handling the grain desk and the reimbursement bureau, I know the joys and sorrows involved, how difficult it is!"

Zuo Zongtang laughed and said: "Di Sheng often said that Hefei Xiaoquan was shrewd and prudent. Now, after listening to my brother's words, Di Sheng is really right. Xiao Quan, you only know that it is not easy to practice courage, but you don't know that it is also easy. Group practice There is no fixed salary source, which is indeed the difficulty of practicing bravery. But there is no fixed quota and no organization for group training, which is exactly the difficulty of practicing courage. Jiang Zhongyuan and Lu Xianji mentioned by Xiao Quan just now, from a certain point of view, Jiang Zhongyuan Bravery is courageous, but with little resourcefulness, it is expected by the people of the country to die for the country. Lu Xianji is a rotten Confucian, who only knows how to embroider on paper and does not know the secrets of military affairs. Isn't it wrong for the superiors to let such a person practice bravery? Shaoquan, Shanren ① is right, right?"

Li Hongzhang replied with a smile: "Your Excellency speaks highly of it, but Shaoquan deeply agrees." Zuo Zongtang was praised by Li Hongzhang, and his words were more like a broken Yellow River, which became more and more turbulent.Zuo Zongtang left the camp for a long time, but Li Hanzhang still regretted inviting him to drink, and even said: "It's not worth it to invite him to drink raw!" But Zuo Zongtang's words inspired Li Hongzhang a lot, and he dismissed it soon after. The idea of ​​going to Fujian to take up his post was solemnly proposed to Zeng Guofan, and he would still stay in the military camp. Zeng Guofan smiled and said nothing. On the same day, he drafted "Li Hongzhang Stayed in the Camp and Assisted Office" to the court and handed it to the capital.According to the decree, Li Hongzhang is still handling the paperwork by Zeng Guofan's side. At the beginning of May in the tenth year of Xianfeng (AD 1860), the Jiangnan camp was destroyed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Hechun, Zhang Guoliang and others led the remnants to retreat to Zhenjiang and search for Danyang. The Taiping Army chased after him.Zhang Guoliang was drowned to death, and Hechun fled to Changzhou and Wuxi, but was hit head-on by the Taiping army.Hechun was desperate and committed suicide at Hushu Pass.At the same time that the Jiangnan camp was destroyed, He Guiqing, the governor of Liangjiang, also lost to Changshu and was dismissed. On May 20th, the imperial decree was delivered to the camp of the Hunan Army: Zeng Guofan wrote the first reward and added the title of minister of the Ministry of War, and hurried to Jiangsu to act as the governor of Liangjiang, and asked him to move to Qimen to station in the festival. Li Hongzhang led nearly a hundred people from his staff to congratulate Zeng Guofan, but Zeng Guofan was not happy.Due to the unsustainable payment of the provinces, the battalions of the Hunan Army have not paid their salary for three months. Seeing that the morale of the army has begun to fluctuate, if they do not think about it, it will inevitably lead to a mutiny. For several days in a row, Li Hongzhang saw his teacher's eyebrows furrowed, his face full of sorrow, and his head frequently whitened, and he couldn't help secretly worrying for his teacher.Li Hongzhang thought hard for a few days, and finally thought of a way out for the Hunan Army: to remind his mentor, he might as well ask the Taxation Bureau (the agency that collects commercial taxes) to raise salaries.Li Hongzhang remembered that Lei Yijian, who was helping Yangzhou with military affairs because of the lack of pay and food, had done this in the third year of Xianfeng in the Xiannv Temple, Shaobo and other places in the Lihe area, and received 20,000 guan in half a year; Li Hongzhang still remembered Every time when Fuji's pockets were not full, he would always send a few people to the main roads. Every passing merchant would draw a certain amount of lijin according to their goods. If so, there would be a considerable amount. Li Hongzhang speculated privately that Fuji did this to fill his own pockets, and after a long time of trouble, it was reported that the higher ups in the capital would not agree.However, if the Hunan Army does this, it is for the public, and you can ask the imperial court to do it with great fanfare. Li Hongzhang quietly told Zeng Guofan his idea, and Zeng Guofan even said it was feasible. Soon, the excerpt of "Please try to set up a Yali Bureau in Jiangxi to ease the shortage of salary sources" written by Li Hongzhang and signed by Zeng Guofan was sent to the capital for approval. Li Hanzhang, Zeng Guofan's special committee, left Susong and went to Jiangxi to handle the donation bureau. Soon after Shengbao announced that the Bureau of Taxation and Donation would be implemented nationwide, and the provinces also began to handle it.Although this incident increased the burden on merchants and caused some public anger, it did ease the contradiction of excessive military pay.On the surface, this incident was initiated by Zeng Guofan, but the instigators were Lei Yichen and Shengbao. Lei Yichen was born in Xianning, Hubei Province, with the style name Hegao and a Jinshi of Daoguang.He has successively served as the head of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, the Minister of Rites, the Bachelor of Cabinet Attendant, and the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple. In the spring of the third year of Xianfeng (AD 1853), he moved to the left deputy capital Yushi.Recruited bravely to station at Wanfu Bridge in the southeast of Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, to fight against the Taiping Army.In order to raise military salaries, according to Muke Qianjiang's suggestion, a tax donation was established in October of that year, and card collection was set up in Xiannv Temple, Shaobo, etc., and the effect was remarkable.