Chapter 25 two Han Chinese

It was mentioned earlier that Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to use Han Chinese, now let's take a look at the resume of the first Han Chinese. Zeng Guofan, born in Xiangxiang, Hunan, in 1811, is a sheep.This person was a Jinshi at the age of 28, and served as the Minister of the Ministry of Officials (deputy minister of the Ministry of Personnel) at the age of 40. According to history books, Zeng Guofan's appearance is very similar to a rustic old teacher in the country - rustic clothes, rigid actions, cautious and restrained.Coincidentally, when seeing Zeng Guofan for the first time, many people thought he was an idiot.These people were obviously confused by Zeng Guofan's appearance.Zeng Guofan looks stupid from left to right, but under his befuddled appearance, he has endless wisdom and unbeatable tenacity.

Later, countless people believed that Zeng Guofan was a perfect man, including Chiang Kai-shek, who regarded him as an idol, not only because of his great abilities, but also because he knew how to behave and behave in the world, and he cultivated himself, governed his family, governed the country and the world. model. Of course, this is all in the future.Now he has no future status. In 1852, Zeng Guofan returned to Ding You because of his mother's death. Zeng Guofan Ding You's life was not peaceful, because the flames of war had already reached his hometown: the Qing army was retreating steadily, and the Taiping army had entered Hunan.

The fighting power of the Qing army was not good, and the supreme leader, Emperor Xianfeng, had no choice but to use "bringing doctrine", drawing on the successful experience of his grandfather Jiaqing's use of regiment training to deal with the White Lotus Sect, and appointed dozens of ministers of regiment training in one go. , and even the officials whose parents died and wore mourning at home were all called back, and asked them to call the people to form a militia by themselves, learning and doing. Zeng Guofan was one of them. At the age of 43, he was ordered to encircle and suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The minister of regiment training is not a permanent position, but a temporary position, with no establishment, no rank, and no salary. In other words, he is the "militia commander".The regimental training minister's subordinates are recruited by himself. Those who are capable can recruit hundreds of thousands, and those who are incompetent can barely pass by hundreds of thousands. Xianfeng was very disappointed because Tuanlian was retreating steadily in the battles with the Taiping Army and the Nian Army, but Xianfeng was not yet in despair, because Zeng Guofan gave him a glimmer of hope.

Although Zeng Guofan often failed to please Shi Dakai, Li Xiucheng, and Chen Yucheng in the battles against Shi Dakai, Li Xiucheng, and Chen Yucheng in the Western Expedition of the Taiping Army, but because of his correct work attitude and great tenacity, when everyone was beaten to pieces, Zeng Guofan was able to occasionally fight. After winning the battle, Zeng Guofan's official position became higher and higher. When Xianfeng died, he was already the governor of Liangjiang. When Cixi came to power, Zeng Guofan won another big prize: Anqing victory, taking down Anqing, the western barrier of the Taiping Army.

At this time, Zeng Guofan received Cixi's will: I know your ability, and I also know your loyalty to the empire. There are really not many talented and loyal talents like you. The "suppression of bandits" is entrusted to you to be fully responsible.I order you to be the imperial envoy, in charge of the military affairs of the four provinces in the south of the Yangtze River (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi). All local civil and military officials, large and small, are under your control, and are fully responsible for "suppressing bandits". This decision undoubtedly entrusted half of Jiangnan to Zeng Guofan.Granting such important real power to the Han people was unprecedented in the two hundred years since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. Even Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi who introduced the Qing Dynasty into the customs, had military and political real power only in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.

It can be seen from this that the reason why Cixi can become Cixi is because she has many advantages. Empress Dowager Cixi's decree made Zeng Guofan stunned by happiness for a while.But Zeng Guofan was Zeng Guofan after all, and after a few seconds he woke up from the great happiness, and replied: I will do my best! Zeng Guofan embarked on a new journey with this commitment. With great power comes great responsibility. Although Zeng Guofan's capable subordinate Hu Linyi left him this year and died of illness on the battlefield, but fortunately he still had a few good helpers at this time, such as Zeng Guoquan, the ninth younger brother who was good at murder and arson, and Lin Zexu's son-in-law Shen Baozhen, who thought highly of himself Zuo Zongtang, who looks down on him a bit, is of course his most powerful disciple—Li Hongzhang, who was born in 1823. Long story short, Li Hongzhang is also a sheep.

Zeng Guofan was the first Han Chinese whom Cixi reused. The second Han was a Han called Yuan Jiasan. His title at that time was very long——Governor of Water Transport, Governor of Jiangnan River, and Admiral of the Eight Provincial Army Gates.It is roughly equivalent to today's Minister of Transportation, Minister of Food and Commander of the Eight Provincial Military Regions. He is a high-ranking official.Given that Yuan Jiasan's rank is already so high, Cixi's use of him can be regarded as continued reuse. Yuan Jiasan, like Zeng Guofan, was a veteran of the Xianfeng period.What is rare is that the two are still classmates, and Yuan Jiasan is Zeng Guofan's senior brother.Moreover, both of them are good at "suppressing bandits". The only difference between them is that the scope of their business is different. Zeng Guofan specializes in dealing with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, while Yuan Jiasan concentrates on dealing with the Nian Army.Therefore, Yuan Jiasan logically became Cixi's imperial envoy to exterminate the Nian Army.