Hu Linyi, Zeng Guofan and Zuo were called famous ministers of Zhongxing in the late Qing Dynasty, but compared with Zeng and Zuo, he was less concerned and studied by later generations. 1980 to 2000, there were less than 40 papers about Hu Linyi, and only one biography, namely, the biography of Dong and Hu Linyi published by Unity Publishing House 1990. In the past two or three years, Hu Linyi has attracted more and more attention from academic circles, and at least three books have been published, such as Tao Haiyang's The World Governor of Hu Linyi (Hubei People's Publishing House, 2006), Hu Linyi and Xiang Jun (Guangling Bookstore, 2008) and Liu Yijiang's Comments on Hu Linyi. But as Mr. Liu Yijiang said, "There is no decent biography of Hu Linyi at home and abroad" (see Liu Zhu's Preface and page 388), and the existing biographies are basically the same, without their own styles and personalities.
Hu Linyi was born in a bureaucratic family, and his father, Hu Dayuan, entered imperial academy with the third place in the top prize, and was awarded editing. After the official to Zhan Shifu less Zhan Shi, for the four-product Jingtang. Because of this, Hu Linyi was valued since childhood, got a better education and had many adventures. At the age of six, his grandfather taught him to read The Analects. At the age of eight, grandpa edited local records in Yiyang Local Records Museum, and he accompanied him. Tao Shu is going to be stationed in eastern Sichuan and returned to his hometown of Yiyang to visit relatives. When he saw Hu Linyi, he was surprised. He said, "I have a son-in-law." So he got engaged to an early marriage and betrothed his five-year-old daughter to him. /kloc-at the age of 0/9, Hu Linyi married Amethyst Juan, the daughter of Tao Shu, at Dow Villa in taohuajiang. After marriage, he studied under Cai Yong-Xi. Cai Yongxi, in the eighteenth year of Jiaqing (18 13), paid tribute, and was later awarded the Shimen imperial edict. He once made a living because of the frustration in the examination hall, and he was "afraid of famous doctors in the world" (Yan Yan Ji: Biography of Mr. Cai, Yiyang County Records, Volume 16). His teaching "as a useful study, not paying attention to literature and art, but paying attention to military strategy and official management." Hu Linyi "studied as a teacher for two years, gradually became infected and served for life". At the age of twenty-one, Mrs. Hu Linyi and Mrs. He sent her mother-in-law to the Governor's Office of Taoshu and Liangjiang in Nanjing. Tao Shu was a representative figure who revitalized the study of statecraft during the reign of Jia Dao. He has achieved success in his work and has an excellent political voice. After a year's holiday, Hu Linyi witnessed Tao Shu's measures to promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages, which was deeply influenced and "changed his spirit". In a letter to his father, he wrote: "When Zhang Yue retires, he needs to have a long talk with people. Zhang Yue is very knowledgeable. After decades of official career experience, he has mastered everything from ancient times to the present. Every time he talks about something, he always borrows from others. You can't judge superficially that stealing in a cave is good for men. " (Collected Works of Hu Linyi (II), Yuelu Bookstore, 1999, p. 1025).
Gai's knowledge and talent are no less than Zeng and Zuo; As for politics, articles, economy and military affairs, he knows everything and does everything he can. It is more about his life, not only sitting in Wuchang, but also sticking to it in order to seize the opportunity; He was rewarded in class and painted perfectly, so that the army at that time was free from hunger and cold and could play the cause of ZTE. From this perspective, it is allowed to push the work first. In other words, its inspection of officials and people, promoting the advantages and eliminating the disadvantages, is also large enough for future generations. "Thus, Hu Linyi is a compound talent who is proficient in literature, martial arts, economics and politics. As we all know, in the Qing Dynasty, stereotyped writing was used to recruit talents and scholars, forcing scholars to focus on empty and useless knowledge and not dabbling in other knowledge, which seriously weakened their administrative ability and comprehensive quality. So someone wrote a poem and sarcastically said, "Scholars are the worst, they recite the current language and rot like mud. The country was originally seeking talents, but it turned into deception ... It is also the misfortune of the people's court to teach him to deceive senior officials! "However, when Hu Linyi entered the imperial examination, he reached the peak of the imperial examination, but it did not affect him to become a competent official, which should be closely related to his family background.
Hu Linyi is good at managing money. When he was just the governor of Hubei, Wuhan fell twice, and most of Hubei lost to Taiping Army. It can be said that everything is in ruins. Hu Linyi earned more than four million taels of silver by changing Cao Zhang, dredging Shu salt and rectifying taxes, which was second only to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces at that time. This money is mainly used to pay the salaries of the Xiang army. To this end, Zeng Guofan greatly praised Hu Linyi, saying, "This is all due to his meticulous and tacit luck. He raised 60,000 soldiers in the barren areas of Hubei, and the monthly fee was as high as 400,000, and the businessmen were not embarrassed." (Biography of the History of the Qing Dynasty, p. 3352) In fact, in addition to raising soldiers, part of this money is used to "help neighboring provinces and plan the Jianghuai area" and part of it is used as spare money to "raise scholars to return to the camp and keep watch on duty". The latter is particularly worth mentioning. Hu Linyi takes good care of his subordinates and often gives them financial support. For example, for "those who have families in Hubei Province", each family pays a fee of not less than 362 taels of silver every year; Important generals include Du Xing, Duolong, Bao Shu, Li Xuyi, Bao Chao and Yu Qichang. One month's salary 1200 or more; When you meet the general, you have to pay. For example, it has become a common practice to remit money to Duxinghui 1200 yuan and to remit money to 520 yuan in Duo Long. It is precisely because of his generous spending that the reserve bank is getting less and less, so he wrote to his financial assistant, Yan Jingming, asking him to use his own public funds for personal bribery to reduce the cost of the reserve bank (Collected Works of Hu Linyi (2), pages 655 and 729). Hu Linyi paid a lot of money to support a wide range of people, which not only made his subordinates disappointed by his dismissal, but also made many guests willing to join him. Therefore, Zeng Guofan said that "Hubei has the largest number of generals in modern times", among which Taqibu, Li, A, A, Li Xuyi, Yang Zaifu, Bao Chao are all outstanding temporary famous soldiers.
In addition to knowing soldiers and managing money, Hu Linyi was also famous for being good at recruiting talents and talents in the late Qing Dynasty. Among them, Zuo was recommended seven times as a political story.
Hu Linyi was only fifty years old when he died, and he was in charge of Hubei for seven years. In these seven years, Hubei has no age and no military, but in the autumn of war, he worked hard and created support, turning "Hubei abandoned by many people" into "rich and powerful Hubei" (Complete Works of Zeng Guofan, letter 3, page 2239), which enabled Hubei to maintain the overall situation and become an important base for suppressing Taiping rebels. It can be seen that he is really good at synthesizing nuclei and supporting the crown, as evaluated in the draft of Qing history. It is also the theory of seeking truth from facts: "Chinese and foreign theorists only hope to serve the public and govern the country, lamenting the industry of clearing and rejuvenating the country" (Mei Yingjie: Chronicle of Hu Linyi, Volume III).
Chiang Kai-shek: "After the failure of the Republic of China in two years, I carefully studied the works of Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi, and I couldn't help but sigh that Hu Linyi's talent and knowledge were indeed higher than the first time, and he was worthy of being a celebrity at that time."