In modern Chinese history, Cixi is one of the most controversial figures, and her performance is also unpredictable, one will be enlightened and capable, the other will be conservative and reactionary, which is her true face? Today's historians have sprayed each other's saliva in each other's faces for this matter, and they can't fight for a high or low.
In fact, if you want me to say this, it is very simple, if you look at the history carefully, we will find very clearly: when her son was alive, she put the country first, because this country is his son's home, so the mother is willing to give all her efforts, and naturally she is also enlightened and capable.
After her son died, at this time she no longer had to pay for anyone, she put herself first, everything was for herself, and naturally she became conservative and reactionary, everything was as simple as that.
After the British and French forces captured the city, her husband Xianfeng took her and her son to hide in Rehe and did not dare to come back. Xianfeng was the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty to compete for a post, so he was not an incompetent person, not only was he not an incompetent person, but he was also very conscientious at the beginning and wanted to work hard.
When he first came to power, internally, he dismissed the traitor Mu Zhang'a on the spot, severely investigated and dealt with the case of fraud in the imperial examination, and then reused Su Shun, advocated anti-corruption and clean government, and worked hard to correct the atmosphere of officialdom.
He works actively every day, stays up all night to deal with government affairs, and concentrates on his work. Because the work was too tiring and stressful, so that his other important task, breeding offspring, had to rely on the help of ancient viagra and fresh deer blood to be carried out reluctantly, and in the end, the harvest was not large, and he only had a son.
But what makes him miserable is that he has paid so much, but in the end he has gained nothing, the harder he works, the more chaotic the country becomes, the more people rebel, and finally to the point where he is out of control, he really can't understand, what did he do wrong?
To tell the truth, according to the cognitive level of that era, Emperor Xianfeng's every move and style were all decent and well-documented, and there were corresponding explanations in China's ancient history books, but the problem was that he didn't realize that what he wanted to solve was something that ancient China did not have, and this was where his back was urging.
The news of the burning of the Old Summer Palace was the last straw that broke the camel's back, after Emperor Xianfeng learned about it, he completely collapsed, he had a strong premonition, the Qing Empire was going to die in his hands, facing the tide from all over the country every day, all kinds of urgent documents, he felt powerless to return to the sky, he needed to be relieved.
He began to drink to drown his sorrows, smoke opium, and when he was sober, he only sighed and wept bitterly, he just wanted to die quickly.
Seeing all this, Cixi soon realized that her husband was unreliable, and she had to hold up a piece of the sky with one hand and find a way out for her son and herself, otherwise, sooner or later, they would have to flee back to the white mountains and black waters, and live a life of drinking blood again.
It is more likely that one day, among the people around who are now banging their chests and hysterically swearing allegiance to God, someone will take out a knife and cut off her and her son's heads and offer them to the future ruler.
Therefore, in the days of Xianfeng's collapse, Cixi began to save herself, she put all her thoughts on the folds piled up on his husband's desk, and she desperately needed to know, what was going on in the world? Can it be recovered? Who can help Xianfeng in the days after his death?
Soon, when the day came, she already knew the situation in the world. She first waged a resolute struggle with Su Shun, the minister of Gu Ming, insisting that all the twists and turns must be seen by her in person before she could stamp them.
Then, she deliberately had a serious conflict with Su Shun, the minister of Gu Ming, on other matters, and when the stalemate was deadlocked, she took the initiative to show weakness, proposing that both sides take a step back, retreat a little more, and retreat a little less, deceiving Su Shun to give up the military power of the capital, and then she united with Prince Gong, legend has it that his old lover Rong Lu, took them down in one fell swoop, and successfully seized power.
The first thing after coming to power, she first changed the name of Su Shunqi "Qixiang", which sounded similar to "begging", too obscure, she changed it to "Tongzhi", of course, the meaning is not what later historians said, the two empress dowagers "Tongzhi", or the Manchu and Han "Tongzhi", the real meaning should be only she herself to "rule", of course, these are speculations, there is no evidence.
Then, she handed over the military power, financial power, and administrative power of the southern battlefield to Zeng Guofan without reservation, which frightened those old-fashioned Manchu and Han ministers, especially the later big pit goods Weng Tong, and repeatedly lobbied Cixi not to do this.
Why do we say that Weng Tonggong is a big pit goods? Because history proves that what he advises you to do must be to make you fall into the pit and break your two front teeth, and what he advises you not to do must be a great thing.
Weng Tongyi persuaded Cixi for two reasons, first, he was a slave who was stupid by Cheng Zhuli's teachings, for fear that the imperial power would be a little sidelined. Second, he is a villain, and he has a common enmity with Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, so he can't allow them to become bigger.
Hey, you may be surprised, Zeng Guofan Li Hongzhang was fighting on the front line, 108,000 miles away from Weng Tonggong, and he couldn't hit two poles, how could he form such a deep beam?
This is a long story, Weng Tongyi has an elder brother named Weng Tongshu, who is a complete fool, relying on the ability of his father and brother, and relying on the background of the second generation of officials, he became the governor of Anhui.
However, this person's force index is almost zero, his IQ is zero, and in the face of the attack of the Twist Army, he can't hold a city, and he has been defeated in successive battles. Zeng Guofan, the commander of the theater in this area, had a headache, but for the sake of his father and brother's face, he didn't dig deeper, so he asked him to guard a small city called Shouyuan and make meritorious contributions.
Unexpectedly, I followed him to do a stupid thing that was extremely stupid. There were three generals in his jurisdiction, all militia leaders. Two of them got into a fight with the other, resulting in fatalities. So one of them reversed, and came to attack the city, this person is called Miao Peilin, a notoriously capricious villain.
Miao Peilin This frightened Weng Tongshu, considering that his force index was zero, he wanted to recruit the leader of the rebellion, and the staff advised him, don't be afraid, those two leaders have a blood feud with Miao Peilin, and they will fight to the death if they fight hard, and they will definitely defend the city. And Miao Peilin will forgive him if he goes against him, which is also politically incorrect.
But the problem is that Weng Tongshu is a stupid person, he can't listen to people's words, so he still sends someone to surrender, but Miao Peilin replied, unless you kill the other two people who have no rebellion, I will surrender. Normal people's understanding is that I have made up my mind, don't chirp crookedly, let's fight.
But Weng Tongshu couldn't listen to people's words, he took this as a condition, and actually killed these two people, and then gave his head to Miao Peilin, Miao Peilin was also considered to have gone through strong winds and waves, but at that moment, he was stupid: "Big brother, I didn't mean that, I have a big tongue since I was a child, is it not clear to speak?" Although you are so kind to me, I really don't mean it, and you give me two heads, which really scares me, and I dare not fight back when your men are too dangerous. ”
The matter reached Zeng Guofan's Li Hongzhang, and the two of them fainted several times in anger, so they couldn't care whether his brother and his father were the emperor's teacher, instructed by Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang personally wrote it, and handed it over with an imposing recital, which read, "Please quickly kill this idiot!" ”
When it came to Rehe, Emperor Xianfeng was too lazy to watch it, so Cixi took a look at it, and immediately became angry. Since there is no brain, what is the use of keeping it? I gave an order for Xianfeng, cut it!
As a result, Weng Tong's father, the emperor's teacher, heard the holy decree and was furious, and died in front of the emperor on the spot. Oh, now Cixi is embarrassed, I read the holy decree carefully a few times, and I wrote it correctly, I said that I would kill your son, why are you in a hurry to die?
So Cixi was a little weak-hearted, no matter what, after all, he was his son's teacher, and he was in a hurry, even if he was taking the blame for his son, forget it, he filled the army for 3,000 miles, and left Weng Tongshu alive.
I don't understand when I write this, Cixi has always been relatively wise before Guangxu was in power, why did she continue to use her idiot brother to continue to teach the emperor? As a result, this pit hurt Guangxu miserably, and the biggest sinner in the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War was him, and in the end, Guangxu Cixi hated him, which is a later story.
So from then on, Weng Tongyi hated Li Hongzhang of Zeng Guofan, and did everything with them, but although he chirped crookedly for a long time, Cixi at this time had a number in her heart, what was right and what was wrong, she was clear.
Therefore, the more the ministers objected, the more benefits Cixi gave Zeng Guofan, first, to reassure Zeng Guofan, to show that I fully support you, and second, to let those fools know their determination and shut up with interest.
So not long after, she issued an order to reward Zeng Guofan with more property and more power, so the opposition saw that Cixi was so resolute, and there was nothing to be done, and the opposition gradually stopped.
Now we know how wise Cixi's decision was. But at that time, even Zeng Guofan himself did not score, although Zeng Guoquan captured Anqing, but Li Xiucheng captured Hangzhou, Ningbo, and once again came to Shanghai, so one in and one out, in fact, did not take any advantage.
And more importantly, although in the battle of Anqing, Zeng Guoquan and Duolonga joined hands to block Chen Yucheng's rescue and eliminate more than 40,000 of him, but their losses were not light, and although Chen Yucheng retreated to Hefei, Anhui, he still had more than 60,000 troops.
At this time, Zeng Guofan was very embarrassed, first of all, although Li Hongzhang decided to go out alone, went back to his hometown to recruit an army, and now he wants to go to Shanghai to rescue, but there are only about 9,000 people, and his opponent Li Xiucheng has an army of 300,000.
Secondly, although Zeng Guoquan took Anqing, he did not dare to go down the river and attack Nanjing, because in case Chen Yucheng eased up and attacked Anqing again, Duolonga alone could not stop him, once it was broken, Zeng Guoquan would suffer from the enemy on his back, and it was likely that the whole army would be annihilated.
And if Zeng Guoquan did not attack Nanjing immediately, he would not be able to mobilize Li Xiucheng to return to his division to save the driver, Zuo Zongtang would be driven out of Zhejiang, and Li Hongzhang's trip to Shanghai would have become futile.
Zhejiang is also the richest province in the country and the most important treaty port, if it is controlled by Li Xiucheng for a long time, the balance of power between the two sides will change, and the wavering foreigners are likely to change their ways and side with the Taiping army, so that the Qing Dynasty will be dangerous.
Therefore, the core of the whole battle situation is to transfer the main force of Li Xiucheng's army back from Zhejiang, give Li Hongzhang Zuo Zongtang a chance to recapture Zhejiang, so as to stabilize the battle situation, change the balance of forces, and stabilize the foreigners.
Therefore, the core of all the problems is to eliminate Chen Yucheng, so that Zeng Guofan can let go of his hands and feet and do what he wants. But Chen Yucheng still has an army of 60,000, and his combat effectiveness is still very strong. If Zeng Guoquan and Duolonga want to eliminate Chen Yucheng in the field, it is also wishful thinking, and if they are not careful, they may even become the other party's next meal.
Therefore, Cixi's holy decrees came one after another, although they were all promotions and awards, but Zeng Guofan's heart sank to the bottom of the ice, the situation on the battlefield was so sinister, but he couldn't come up with a good strategy, how could he repay this trust, Zeng Guofan thought hard, sleepless all night, unless a miracle happened, otherwise, this is still a long war, and there are many auspicious ones.
Chen Yucheng was also hesitating at this time, although the battle of Anqing was a disastrous defeat, but before retreating, they bought a boatload of smuggling arms from foreigners, added more than 2,000 muskets and more than a dozen cannons, and a large amount of foreign gunpowder.
If the munitions had arrived earlier, the British navy had been so tightly inspected that the smugglers had evaded the inspection and arrived smuggling, but it was more than ten days later than expected.
Although these ** are the old Baker flintlock pistols eliminated by the British army, and the cannon is also a smoothbore gun during the Napoleonic Wars, which is not as good as the newly bought rifled Armstrong gun and the 1853 Enfield rifle of the Hunan army, and it has paid several times the **, but compared with their own arquebus guns and earthen cannons, the power is also amazing, so the combat effectiveness has been partially restored.
Now Chen Yucheng has to make a decision, whether to stay in Anhui, drag Zeng Guofan, and continue to slowly consume him, or listen to the words of those Muslims and go to the northwest to start a new career.
He couldn't make up his mind, in these days in Hefei, he had held many meetings, and every time it was noisy, everyone's opinions were all about retreating, which made him upset.
He has been with Zeng Guofan for several years, and he knows that if he wants to eliminate Zeng Guofan, it is absolutely wishful thinking, but although it is risky to lead the army west and open up a new battlefield, it may really bring new opportunities, and it may not be a good choice.
Zeng Guofan However, he was worried that if he didn't spend time with Zeng Guofan, it would cause the west side of Nanjing to be empty, and Zeng Guofan would free up his hands to attack Nanjing, so what should he do? There is also the problem, now that the military rations are becoming more and more tight, he must immediately make a decision to choose a direction of attack. Is there a way to get the best of both worlds?
At this time, his uncle, Fuwang Chen Decai, saw through his mind and gave him an idea, otherwise, divide the army into two routes, one route is led by Chen Decai, Lai Wenguang, and led by those Muslims, to attack Shaanxi and explore the truth.
In case something happens, you can also use the friendship between Chen Yucheng and the Twist Army to recruit the Twist Army to come to help, so that Zeng Guofan can be dragged down, so that he does not dare to attack Nanjing along the Jiangdong, and at the same time can solve the problem of food shortage.
If Shaanxi doesn't go well, we will immediately retreat, if it goes well, you will come over in person, plan big things, control the overall situation, what do you think?
When Chen Yucheng heard this, he immediately nodded in approval, what a good idea, why didn't I think of it, it's still my uncle's old plan.
So he immediately summoned the generals to discuss, but unexpectedly, as soon as the idea was spoken, some people immediately objected, and they pointed out that the idea would not work at all.
First of all, how exactly do you divide the troops? If Chen Decai and Lai Wenguang had few soldiers, it would be impossible for them to cross Henan and attack Shaanxi, and if they were halfway through, they would be dumplings made by the Qing army.
Secondly, if there are too many troops, then the troops left behind in Hefei are insufficient, and if Zeng Guofan comes to attack, he will not be able to hold Hefei. As for looking for the Twist Army to help, first of all, Zhang Luoxing's gang is simply a group of rabble, we have the upper hand, they will follow to take advantage, if we fall behind a little, they can run faster than anyone else, and they can't be relied on at all.
Secondly, Miao Peilin is a two-faced person, in case our army is defeated, with this person's virtue, let alone help us, as long as he does not fall into the well, even if he is thankful, therefore, the only correct way at present is to fight back along the Yangtze River.
So there was another quarrel, the public said that the public was reasonable, and the mother-in-law said that the mother-in-law was reasonable, and the dispute was inextricable.
The more Chen Yucheng listened, the more irritated he became, and suddenly, he pulled out his knife, "brushed" the knife, split the table in front of him in half, and then scolded loudly: "Don't fight, I've made up my mind!" ”
Then he continued: "It has been more than ten years since we fought the Jintian Uprising, but we have not been able to completely defeat the Qing Demon. If we go back to the Yangtze River, it will be nothing more than a repetition of the past, and now the Muslim brothers have shown us a way, although they are infidels, but it cannot be ruled out that the Father sent them to give us a revelation, so that we can break this deadlock, destroy the demons, establish the kingdom of heaven, and preach the gospel. ”
So Chen Yucheng decided to divide the troops into two routes, helping the king Chen Decai and Zunwang Lai Wenguang to lead more than 30,000 elite soldiers to prepare for the expedition, and he and the remaining more than 20,000 people continued to defend Hefei. For the sake of safety, he wrote to Zhang Luoxing and Miao Peilin, the leaders of the Twist Army, before sending out the army, and soon got a reply, everyone recognized Chen Yucheng as a friend, and was willing to stick a knife in his ribs at any time.
So, Chen Yucheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, he was relieved, and immediately ordered Chen Decai and Lai Wenguang to set off, divide their troops into two routes, travel day and night, quickly cross Henan, don't fall in love with the war, and go directly to attack Shaanxi. At the same time, let a few of the Muslims go back first, inform Li Lan's rebel army to go north, attack Shaanxi on both sides, and at the same time go back to do a good job of internal response, and the rest will lead the way for them, so as to maintain smooth communication between the two sides.
At this moment, Chen Yucheng believes that he will rewrite history.
Soon after, the news reached Zeng Guofan, so that Zeng Guofan didn't understand what Chen Yucheng wanted to do, and finally he came to a conclusion that this was a trap to lure the Hunan army to attack Hefei, and then the troops who pretended to go west took the opportunity to turn back and attack the besieging troops from behind, attacking them from both sides, and annihilating them under the city of Hefei.
When Zeng Guofan told everyone about this conclusion, all the generals were extremely impressed, because this was the only reasonable explanation, it was impossible for Chen Yucheng to leave the main battlefield and run to the far northwest, unless he had a funny mind.
But then, a series of urgent documents came to him, and Chen Yucheng's troops really entered Henan, and the scale was huge. Zeng Guofan was stunned, how could this be possible! But all the information told him unmistakably that this was the truth.
Zeng Guofan suddenly felt his heart jumping, and his eyes began to moisten a little, did God really want to take care of him? He tried to stabilize his excitement, and immediately asked his staff, how far is Dolonga's camp from Hefei?The staff told him that it was a long way, a five-day journey.
So he ordered, let Duolong Abe take the baggage, organize his horse team, starry night, be sure to arrive at Hefei City within two days, Hefei City, only the old and weak soldiers, do not hesitate, immediately attack the city, will be a complete victory, be sure to capture the four-eyed dog.
At this moment, Zeng Guofan also believes that he will rewrite history.
The sect leader, who was far away in the sky, also got the news at this time, the Taiping army was moving west, he couldn't help laughing, but his imam was very nervous and asked him, what should he do if the Taiping army invaded Shaanxi and found that the old Muslims in Shaanxi were not preparing to rebel at all?Will it take revenge on us?
The sect leader smiled, they don't rebel, they have to rebel, I have already arranged it, the biggest problem now is that the Muslims in River State must also be forced to rebel, but this is no longer a problem.
The imam looked at the mysterious sect leader, and he couldn't understand why once the Taiping army attacked Shaanxi, the usually law-abiding Shaanxi Muslims would definitely rebelHow is it possible that they don't listen to us?
He also couldn't figure out why the Muslims in River State had to rebel as wellThey and the Qing court wore the same pants, and every time we revolted, they killed us the hardest, so how could they stand in the same trench with us?
But he knew that the sect leader must have a way, so what kind of way did the sect leader have?If you want to know what's going on, listen to the next breakdown.