Chapter 27 Section 5 Smuggle home ten thousand taels

However, during the first time he came out of the mountain, a major event happened that went against Zeng Guofan's flaunted incorruptible style: a huge sum of 10,000 taels in Zeng Guofan's name was transported from Wuhan to Zeng's home in Xiangxiang.This incident is unprecedented in the history of the Zeng family in Xiangxiang. That was the first half of the sixth year of Xianfeng. There is a letter from Zeng Guohua to Zeng Guohuang in "Family Letters of Three Generations of the Zeng Family", dated the first day of March in the sixth year of Xianfeng.The letter said: "Ji Ze's marriage, the family has no money to use, the eldest brother has 10,000 taels of money in Li Dion's place, and the younger brother asked him to send it to my house." place."

The place where this letter was sent should be Hubei.At the beginning of the sixth year of Gai Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan was besieged in Jiangxi and fell into an unprecedented predicament.The Taiping army succeeded everywhere in Jiangxi. The Hunan army was trapped in the narrow area of ​​Nanchang and Nankang, and was trapped in an isolated city. It had no communication with Hunan and Hubei, and the contact was cut off. In this way, the sender is often found out, and more than a hundred people have been hunted down. "At that time, from the south of Ezhu to Meiling, the traces of the thieves stretched for thousands of miles, with hundreds of thousands of people. The public sent Bian Yong to Chu with a secret letter to ask for help. Most of them were intercepted and killed by the thieves, and they failed to reach them." Zeng Guofan sent envoys to Hubei five times in a row to ask for reinforcements, but there was no news, so he was very frightened.He felt that "the road is blocked by dreams, and there is no way to call for help. When I read this in the middle of the night, my soul and dreams are repeatedly shocked."It is considered to be a defeat "unseen in the provinces since the rise of the army".Therefore, "when you hear the angry howl of the spring wind, your heart will be broken; when you see a thief boat sailing on it, you will wander around the house."

The Zeng family didn't know Zeng Guofan's life or death, so they were naturally very anxious. The second brother Zeng Guohua resolutely went to Hubei to meet Hu Linyi and asked the commander to rescue him.The chronicle says: "Gongdi Guohua was ordered by Lord Zhuting to go to Hubei to ask for help." Hu Linyi sent 3,600 soldiers bravely, "Gongdi Guohua, in short, to help Jiangxi." The Zeng brothers are far less determined than Zeng Guofan when it comes to money.When Zeng Guohua arrived in Hubei and learned that Zeng Guofan had accumulated tens of thousands of taels of silver in Li Xubin (Li Di'an), he decided to send it home without hesitation.One of the excuses is that Zeng Jize needs money to get married.At this time, there are still twenty days before Zeng Jize's marriage.

Zeng Guohua did not seek the consent of Guofan for this move. Because Zeng Guofan said so loudly that he didn't want money, Zeng Guohua did it quietly when he sent money home this time, and at this time, the Zeng family was indeed very difficult. After Zeng Guofan came out to lead the army, the life of the Zeng family became more tense.One is that in the past Zeng Guofan sent home one or two hundred taels a year relatively steadily, but after joining the army, this item did not increase but decreased.The second is that the Zeng family experienced the death of their grandfather, grandmother, and great mother. In the old days, it was a huge expense for a large family to hold a funeral, and it would often empty the family all at once.The third is that not long after Zeng Guofan returned home for the funeral, his wife and children in Beijing returned to their hometown in Hunan.The brothers of the Zeng family have also added new members to the family over the years, and the Zeng family has a population of more than 20 people.The Zeng family's life as a decent country gentry was originally struggling to save face, but now that they have added several people, life is even more tense.

Zeng Guofan's old father, Zeng Linshu, was extremely distressed because of the family's financial constraints.But because the old man understood Zeng Guofan's situation and supported him to lead the army honestly, he never asked Zeng Guofan for money, so he had to support him from left to right.It wasn't until Zeng Guofan returned to his hometown after his father's funeral in the eighth year of Xianfeng that he realized the plight of his family and regretted it.At this time, Zeng Guofan's son, Zeng Jize, was getting married again. Without this money, it was really difficult to support him.At this time, Zeng Guofan had led the army for three years, and he accumulated tens of thousands of taels of silver, which was also very normal.It is believed that this move will greatly ease the economic situation of the Zeng family.

After Zeng Guofan learned of this, he speculated according to common sense that he should express it in his family letter.However, there is no such content in the family letter that can be seen today.One possibility is that some Zeng Guofan's family letters were not preserved due to various considerations.