In April of the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), Zeng Guofan finally waited for the long-awaited good news - due to the escape of the former governor of Liangjiang, He Guiqing, the two military fortresses of Suzhou and Changzhou fell into the hands of the Taiping army, the imperial court decided to remove He Guiqing and hold him accountable, and at the same time appointed Zeng Guofan to take over as the governor of Liangjiang.
This was the imperial court's recognition of Zeng Guofan. Since Xianfeng led the Hunan army to participate in the pacification of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in the fourth year, Zeng Guofan has repeatedly performed miraculous feats, recovering strategic places such as Wuchang, Anqing, Jiujiang, and Luzhou, and becoming the only main general in the imperial court who can compete with the Taiping army.
For such a general, the imperial court seems to have no other way than to reward him with the governor of Liangjiang.
Zeng Guofan, one of the nine feudal officials of the Qing Dynasty, served as the governor of Liangjiang, in charge of the government affairs of Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. In the late Qing Dynasty, the Liangjiang region was the most prosperous and prosperous place, and it was also the economic lifeblood of the Qing court.
The Qing court would rather abandon the capital than lose the Liangjiang region. In addition to administering the Liangjiang region, the Governor of Liangjiang was also in charge of the Lianghuai Salt Administration, held the power of salt tax, and concurrently served as the Minister of Nanyang Commerce, and held the power of foreign affairs, and his power was almost equal to the entire military, administrative, fiscal and taxation and diplomatic affairs.
However, Zeng's position was not something that the Qing court was willing to give him, but rather an expedient measure to deal with the crisis. When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was wiped out and the threat to the Qing court disappeared, they began to find a way to reclaim the governorship of Liangjiang from Zeng.
Zeng Guofan captured Tianjing, the strength of the Hunan army reached its peak, and if the Qing court wanted to take back the position of governor of Liangjiang, it needed to operate cautiously to avoid angering Zeng Guofan and triggering the "Zeng Sangui" incident.
The Qing court needed to wait for the right moment and deal with it skillfully. The time was not long in coming. In September of the same year when Tianjing was captured, Chen Decai, the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Ma Ronghe, the heavenly general, besieged the Qing army in Qishui, Hubei, and Shi Qingji, the general of the Qing army, was killed, and Cheng Daji was besieged in Qibei, Hubei.
The Qing court ordered Zeng Guofan to lead his troops to aid Hubei, and the post of governor of Liangjiang was temporarily assigned to Li Hongzhang, governor of Jiangsu.
Li Hongzhang successfully exploited the tactics of the Qing court, but Zeng Guofan did not approve of this approach. He believed that the order of the Qing court had a deeper meaning, probably to obtain the position of governor of Liangjiang.
Zeng Guofan decided not to lead the troops himself, but sent another Hunan general, Liu Lianjie, to lead his troops into Hubei. His reasoning was that he was not good at commanding on the fly. Zeng Guofan's reply was so watertight that the Qing court could not refute it.
In the end, the Qing court relented and agreed to let Zeng Guofan continue to serve as governor of Liangjiang. Although the Qing court did not achieve its goal for the first time, they did not give up easily. A year later, they tried again.
Zeng Guofan received an order from Seng Lingqin to leave his post as governor of Liangjiang and go to Shandong to lead the army of the Twisters. At the same time, Li Hongzhang was appointed as the temporary care governor of Liangjiang, responsible for logistical matters such as troop transfer and salary raising.
After Zeng Guofan went north, the Qing court decided to transfer Li Hongzhang to Henan, where he was responsible for the suppression operation and guarded the gates of Shaanxi and Shanxi to prevent the mobile fighting of the Twist army. In this process, Wu Tang, the governor of Caoyun, will be the governor of Liangjiang.
Zeng Guofan's subordinates Li Zongxi and Ding Richang were appointed governors of Caoyun and governor of Jiangsu, and Zeng Guofan expressed concern about this. He believes that the changes in these key positions may affect the salaries of the Hunan and Huai armies, and make them subject to restrictions everywhere.
Although Zeng Guofan could not directly refuse the will of the Qing court, he still found a few aides to discuss countermeasures. Finally, he submitted a report to the imperial court, expressing his concern that Li Hongzhang was being transferred to Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and other places, and questioning the qualifications and abilities of Li Zongxi and Ding Richang.
In this way, his purpose was to prevent the appointment of Li Hongzhang and Li Zongxi.
Zeng Guofan cleverly avoided the term "Governor of Liangjiang" in his recital, but in fact they were discussing matters related to the Governor of Liangjiang. The Qing court eventually understood that sufficient conditions must be given to regain the position of governor of Liangjiang from Zeng.
Although both Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang eventually left the Liangjiang region, the Qing court was unable to hold the position for long, as most of the successors were Hunan generals.