At this time, Zeng Guofan was awarded the Governor of Liangjiang, who was solely responsible for the military and political affairs of Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. His ninth brother, Ceng Guoquan, has just laid down Anqing, an important town in the Yangtze River valley, and his morale is booming. As the soldier pointed out, the Huai army formed by Zeng Guofan's favorite pupil Li Hongzhang has also risen and entered Shanghai. Not long ago, he recommended Zuo as the governor of Zhejiang. At this time, the two are in the honeymoon period, and their feelings are excellent. Anqing Ordnance Institute, founded by Zeng Guofan before, has been put into production, and the whole Xiang army has a bright future. Zeng Guofan was rich and powerful at this time, and signed huge orders with western powers, which can be said to be in full swing.
As far as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is concerned, the aftermath of the Tianjing incident has not disappeared. In order to avenge his brother, Wei Changhui's younger brother Wei Jun turned and surrendered to the Qing army. Shi Dakai led the troops to leave angrily. Anqing, an important barrier of Tianjing, fell, Chen Yucheng was defeated and died, and the demise of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a foregone conclusion.
At this time, as far as the capital is concerned, Empress Dowager Cixi joined hands with Prince Gong? A coup d' é tat in Qixiang, the execution of eight ministers headed by Su Shun and the seizure of power, broke the power balance system formulated by Xianfeng at his deathbed, which was an excellent excuse to launch an uprising.
Su Shun, headed by eight ministers of life, is a radical reformist. He recommended all the ministers of Han Dynasty, represented by Zeng Guofan, and even saved Zuo's life. As the first minister in charge of life appointed by Emperor Xianfeng, Su Shun was actually put to death by the Empress Dowager. You should know that the Qing dynasty has always had an ancestral motto that the harem should not interfere in politics. Zeng Guofan has reason to raise the banner of "Jun Qing side" in both public and private affairs, and is the savior of the left.
Look at other military presences in Jiangnan. Both the Jiangnan camp and the Jiangbei camp, which obeyed the imperial court, were breached by the Taiping rebels. Li Hongzhang's elite Huai Army is still the former headquarters of Xiang Army. Around the first year of Tongzhi, the Qing court's rule over Jiangnan was unprecedentedly weak, and Zeng Guofan reached the peak of power since he practiced bravery. At this time, as long as he thought Su Shun's revenge was an excuse and raised the banner of "Jun Qing side", at least Jiangnan would easily fall into Zeng Guofan's hands.
Even to say the least, Zeng Guofan did not send troops to the Northern Expedition in the face of the military pressure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but he could refuse to obey the leadership of the Imperial Concubine and form a de facto regime. Hay weapons have always been self-sufficient anyway. After the defeat of Anqing, Taiping Army never dared to provoke Zeng Guofan.
The attitude of the great powers towards Zeng Guofan is definitely better than that of Cixi, because Cixi was not famous before. To put it bluntly, the powers simply ignored her existence. At most, she was the concubine of Emperor Xianfeng. Pay a little attention. However, Zeng Guofan is different. During the preparation for the Xiang army, he has been dealing with foreigners, buying all kinds of foreign advanced weapons, signing huge orders to create arsenals, and so on. It can be said that during his training, Zeng Guofan not only fought against Taiping rebels, but also started westernization.
But Zeng Guofan did not dare. He hasn't even been seen since the coup of Cixi. No matter how his Jiu Ge Ceng Guoquan persuaded him, it was useless to let Cixi play. The group successfully weathered the biggest crisis after the coup.