The society was in turmoil in the late Qing Dynasty, and Zeng Guofan was grateful for the kindness of the emperor. He made a western expedition for the Qing government without complaint and played an important role in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The fighting capacity of Taiping Army should not be underestimated. In order to destroy the Taiping Army, the Xiang army carefully cultivated by Zeng Guofan also suffered heavy casualties. It can be said that the struggle between the Taiping rebels exhausted his life's hard work. So he hated Hong Xiuquan, and we can see a thing or two from the massacre after he captured Tianjing. So why did Cixi dismember Hong Xiuquan, but Zeng Guofan stopped her?
First of all, it was not Zeng Guofan who led Xiang to seize Tianjing, but his younger brother.
1864, the Xiang army occupied Tianjin under the leadership of Ceng Guoquan. Like many battles in history, the first thing the Xiang army did after the city was to plunder property. After the establishment of political power, Hong Xiuquan used the name of working for the well-being of the people to collect money wantonly, and there were countless jewels and beauties in the palace.
Xiang army searched Tianjing for three days and nights, and took countless gold, silver and jewels as their own. In the choice of manslaughter instead of letting go, they massacred innocent people on a large scale. Ceng Guoquan, who occupied Tianjin, did not find Hong Xiuquan. After pressing the maid-in-waiting, I learned that Hong Xiuquan was dead. Under the guidance of the maid-in-waiting, he found Hong Xiuquan's grave. Ceng Guoquan immediately ordered the excavation of Hong Xiuquan's body, so what Zeng Guofan later saw was that Hong Xiuquan was dead, and the body wrapped in yellow cloth was already a body. In principle, the punishment of dismemberment cannot be executed.
Second, Zeng Guofan directly treated Hong Xiuquan's bones.
Ceng Guoquan showed the remains of Hong Xiuquan to Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan saw that Hong Xiuquan's body was wrapped in a whole embroidered dragon cloth, not a coffin. Although he has been dead for many days, he is still not completely decomposed, and his hair and eyebrows are white. Zeng Guofan, who has always believed in Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, thinks of this person? Is there a demon that looks like it? At the same time, in order to dispel the idea of the Boxer Rebellion, Hong Xiuquan was directly ordered to be dismembered, burned and shelled, which became a real end, and I am afraid it was the death of the ancients.
A few days after everything was processed, Zeng Guofan received a letter from Cixi asking for dismemberment to quell public anger, but at that time, the body had been processed, and naturally there was no body to be divided.
The last point, I am afraid, is also the most important point, Zeng Guofan and Hong Xiuquan's personal grievances.
Zeng Guofan and Hong Xiuquan met several times, and he also suffered a lot in Hong Xiuquan's hands, even damaging the elite teachers he had worked hard to cultivate. How can Zeng Guofan not hold a grudge? It is estimated that Zeng Guofan wants to crush Hong Xiuquan every time he sees him, even if he finally sees his body. Therefore, from the historical facts, strictly speaking, Zeng Guofan did not act according to the will of Galeries Lafayette, but he did not resist the will, but showed a step while obeying the will.