Chapter 121 end

In the second year of Xianfeng (1852 A.D.), the 42-year-old Zeng Guofan returned to his hometown to watch his mother's funeral. After less than a hundred days of mourning, the imperial court issued an emergency order to help him organize regiment training in Hunan to resist the rampant Taiping army.From this, Zeng Guofan formed the Hunan Army and began a life-and-death battle with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for 11 years. During this period, Zeng Guofan's life hung by a thread several times until the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was defeated. In the eleventh year of Tongzhi (AD 1871), the 62-year-old Zeng Guofan was sick and served as Governor of Liangjiang and Minister of Commerce of Nanyang. On March 12th, while taking a walk in the afternoon, his legs suddenly became numb. After being helped back to his study, he died sitting upright for three moments. Fu", given the posthumous title "Wenzheng".

The world is boundless, and time flies by.Forty-five years after Zeng Guofan's death, a young man from Hunan named Mao Zedong wrote in a long letter to a friend: "Among modern figures, the only one I admire is Zeng Guofan (foolish than others, only obeying Zeng Wenzheng)!"