"Bullying Man" is the ferocity of Hunan people.
Zeng Guofan, as a man of the hour in Hunan's modern history, has been evaluated by the world in many ways and three-dimensionally, but the ferocity of "dominating" is the same.
Zeng Guofan, who was highly praised by politicians for his family background, ruling the country and leveling the world, was also called "shaved his head" by the world before his death. He was a man who killed people without blinking an eye.
Recently, I wrote a series of vicious people in Hunan, starting with Zeng Guofan, who shaved his head.
In June of the second year of Xianfeng (1852), Zeng Guofan, then assistant minister of the official department, was sent to Jiangxi by the emperor as an examiner.
Jiangxi is close to Hunan, and Zeng Guofan has not been home for more than ten years. Before he left, he asked the emperor for leave: he hoped to go home and visit his parents after the invigilation, and Xianfeng agreed.
When Zeng Guofan arrived in Jiangxi, he received the news of his mother's death, so he had to report to the emperor and diverted to the lotus pond in Xiangxiang, Hunan.
At that time, Hong Xiuquan led his troops from Guangxi to Hunan and besieged Changsha. Zeng Guofan, deputy ministerial cadre, Hunan celebrity. Afraid of meeting Taiping rebels on the road, he rested all the way during the day, hurried on at night, and returned to Hunan in a low-key and careful way.
From then on, he began the second half of his political and military glory.
In the second year of Xianfeng (1852), the Taiping Army surrounded Changsha and then moved eastward. The Qing army could not resist and retreated in succession. In order to control the development of Taiping Army, the Qing government ordered all localities to organize group training. Ying Yong was a military force of the Han nationality, but his regular army had no fighting capacity, which was also a helpless decision of the Qing government.
Zeng Guofan's going home to attend the funeral was recommended by Su Shun, one of the eight ministers. Emperor Xianfeng appointed Zeng Guofan as the minister of Hunan Yingyong and established Yingyong in Hunan. At that time, there were 43 ministers in the country, only Zeng Guofan changed his army.
With the growing power of Taiping Army, various social parties emerged in Hunan Province, and the people also took the opportunity to rise up against the government.
At that time, although the Taiping Army had left Changsha, it was possible to send troops to Hunan again at any time, and the combination of various resistance forces and Taiping Army troops would be in big trouble.
After Zeng Guofan was appointed Minister Ying Yong, he set up a judicial bureau in Changsha, the provincial capital, to recruit Yong Ding.
When Zeng Guofan took office, he decided his "brave policy", which was to severely punish bandits. As early as the first month of the third year of Xianfeng (1853), he issued the order of "shoot to kill" to all counties in Hunan.
During his tenure in Changsha Judicial Bureau, Zeng Guofan killed more than 230 so-called "people who have not killed for decades" in four months. And he also got the reputation of "shaved his head". Killing people like shaving their heads not only describes how easy it is for him to kill people, but also describes how many people he killed.
"Haircutting" is not a good reputation, and Zeng Guofan is also prepared for it. Moreover, the cruelty of war is yet to come. In the future, the Anqing massacre, the fall of Nanjing, etc. His malice is getting worse and worse.
Anqing is an important city near the Yangtze River and an important gateway for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to protect Nanjing's security. If the Xiang army wants to March into Nanjing, it must first capture Anqing. Once Anqing is captured, Nanjing will be in jeopardy.
Therefore, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been stationed in Anqing with heavy troops. In March of the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), Zeng Guofan's younger brother Ceng Guoquan led more than 10,000 Xiang troops to attack Anqing.
In the eleventh year of Xianfeng (186 1), in August, the troops led by Ceng Guoquan blasted the north gate wall of Anqing through the tunnel, and Anqing City, which had been besieged for nearly one and a half years, was finally breached.
The capture of Anqing was a great victory in the history of Xiang army, which made Xiang army famous.
At the same time, it also made Xiang famous, and the battle of Anqing brutally killed Xiang. In this way, it is mainly Zeng Guofan's request for Ceng Guoquan.
It is a common practice in all previous wars to give preferential treatment to prisoners without killing and surrendering. As a scholar, Zeng Guofan should know this very well. But he is just the opposite. This is because, in Zeng Guofan's mind, it is much easier and more practical to eradicate the root cause than to give preferential treatment to prisoners.
On May 18, he wrote to Ceng Guoquan very accurately: "It seems inappropriate for people who have surrendered, such as squeezing boils, steaming carrion, and repeatedly uncovering the lid." It's better to kill a few more in Ke Cheng, instead of pretending to be kind and missing the big event. "
In the 11th year of Xianfeng (186 1), on June 12th, Zeng Guofan wrote to Ceng Guoquan, stressing that since he went out, he should not regret killing more people.
Therefore, when Anqing City was broken, more than 20,000 people were killed against the Taiping Army. Taiping rebels who fled to rivers and lakes were intercepted by Xiang Shuishi and drowned countless times. The old, weak, women and children were first bound by prisoners, and after the news became clear, they were beheaded and released countless times.
The Taiping army guarding Anqing was completely slaughtered, and Zeng Guofan reported good news to the court, repeatedly using words such as "no one was removed", "encirclement and suppression was complete" and "no one escaped".
Zeng Guofan's thought of killing the better turned the Xiang army into a killing machine, and reached the climax of indiscriminate killing after capturing Nanjing.
In May of the first year of Tongzhi (1862), more than 30,000 Xiang troops entered Yuhuatai, and the offensive and defensive war in Nanjing started.
In the third year of Tongzhi (1862), on June 16th, Nanjing was breached, and the flag of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which had been flying for more than ten years, finally landed.
The fall of Nanjing ushered in a bloody and cruel era.
Zeng Guofan said in the throne that "none of the more than 100,000 thieves surrendered and gathered people to set themselves on fire without regret, which is a rare drama in ancient and modern times."
Hundreds of thieves were actually exaggerated by Zeng Guofan. The fact is that when the city fell, there were more than 30,000 ordinary people in the city and more than 10,000 Taiping officers and soldiers 1 10,000. Is that most of the people killed are ordinary people.
It is a fact that the fire burned the city after the fall of Nanjing. It was originally a self-immolation for the solar terms before the failure of the Taiping Army. As for whether the scope is so wide, it has always been doubted by future generations.
Some researchers believe that the Taiping Army burned three-tenths of Nanjing, while the Xiang Army burned seven-tenths.
As for why this is the case, one is to deal with the resistance of Taiping rebels; The second is to destroy the evidence that the city seized property.
Ceng Guoquan, who led the main force into Nanking, gained a reputation as a ruthless killer.
As for the behavior of Hexian, Zeng Guofan played down the memorial afterwards.
This is also a fact. The final command of the Xiang army's cold killing is Zeng Guofan.
Although speculation and comments divorced from the times and background are unfair.
But no matter what kind of evaluation, all agree that Zeng Guofan is a cruel man.
During 1864, the city of Nanjing fell, and the peasant movement of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom lasted for 14 years, which was regarded as the last festival.
According to the number of registered households recorded in the household register before and after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, from 185 1 to 1864, the population of China decreased by 40% and the population loss reached1600,000.
The death toll in the two world wars was150,000 and 60 million respectively, and the death toll caused by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement was almost the sum of the two world wars.
Is Zeng Guofan's behavior cruel or kind? Is it due to personal reasons or the times?
What do you think of readers?
Literature:
Ma Daozong, who once shaved his head, told you a real Zeng Guofan.
Zeng Guofan: the Pillar of Li Zongtao, a Conservative Country
"Reputation is sacred, and praise is the culprit" Jiang.