This sentence does not come from a document, but from an experience of Zeng Guofan, a sentence he said himself.
Ding Qirui, Ma Shengwu, Xiao Shiben, Zhao Liewen, Wu Rulun, Xue Fucheng and others stayed at the bedside all day long to provide comfort and comfort. Zeng Guofan was completely haggard physically and mentally, and could not speak any more. He just repeated eight words over and over again: "I am ashamed to express my opinions, and I am guilty of God!"
As soon as you read this article, you will know that he said The background of this sentence is:
Ashamed to express opinions, guilty to the gods
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After Zeng Guofan decided to hand over the local officials of Tianjin to the Ministry of Punishment for strict discussion and set the number of people to die with the foreigners, the capital was in an uproar. Criticisms of "traitors" arose from all directions. A group of enthusiastic young people from the Imperial Academy rushed angrily to the Hufangqiao Changjun Guild Hall. Zeng Guofan's handwritten couplet was written on the pillars of the Guild Hall: "Ten Jinshi in the same subject, three first prizes in the celebration list." ", scrape it off with a knife.
This couplet was inscribed by Zeng Guofan in the 25th year of Daoguang reign. He passed the Shuntian Provincial Examination the previous year and passed the Nanyuan High School of Zhou Shouchang. The following year, Xiao Jinzhong won the first prize in the examination, and Sun Dingchen came first in the imperial examination. The eight Jinshi from Hunan in this subject are all from Changsha Prefecture. The Guizhou Jinshi Huang Fuxiang and Huang Pengnian's uncle and nephew are also from Changsha Prefecture. At this time, Hunan people in Beijing were excited. Congratulations to Changsha Mansion for its talented people and brilliant stars, especially Xiao Jinzhong’s number one prize, which is the envy of all eyes. Most of the number one scholars in the Qing Dynasty came from Liangjiang. Before Hunan, only Peng Jun, a native of Hengshan, had this honor. Xiao Jinzhong's dominance has actually earned Hunan Province and Changsha Prefecture a lot of face. So officials from Changsha in Beijing jointly held a banquet and performed in the Changjun Guild Hall to celebrate grandly. Zeng Guofan, who had just been promoted to the right concubine of Youchunfang in Zhanshi Prefecture, was recognized as a handsome young man in Changsha Prefecture. Everyone recommended him to write a couplet as a commemoration. At that time, Zeng Guofan was at the height of his talent and career. He suddenly felt inspired and wrote: "Ten scholars in the same discipline will celebrate the third place in the ranking." The couplet of the grand event was widely praised among the officials in Beijing. Zeng Guofan was very satisfied with this couplet throughout his life. This impromptu couplet was later carved on the pillars of the Changjun Guild Hall by craftsmen, and will be permanently preserved as the best record of the glorious history of Changsha Mansion. Over the years, as Zeng Guofan's reputation has grown, so has its reputation.
The old man guarding the guild hall could not stop him and could only stumble and sigh. After scraping off the couplet, someone shouted again: "The plaque of the Hunan Guild Hall was also written by the old traitor."
"Smash it!" Everyone immediately made a decision, and the supervisors rushed to Jiaozi Alley again. Hunan Guild Hall. After a while of scolding, he took down the big plaque with gold characters on the blue ground hanging high at the gate, stamped it with his feet and hit it with stones until it was broken into pieces, and then walked away.
Even Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu who was far away in Lanzhou and commanded the Chu army to fight the Hui people, was also aggrieved. In the three years since Tongzhi, Zuo Zongtang has not corresponded with Zeng Guofan. That year, Zeng Guofan took the initiative to write a letter to make peace with him. Because there was no apology or acknowledgment of his mistake in the letter, Zuo Zongtang became angry. Zeng Guofan did not write to him again. Later, he realized that his anger was wrong, but he was always strong and would not admit his mistakes even if he was wrong, so there was no personal correspondence between them. However, official business exchanges were still frequent, and both parties were uncompromising. Whenever there was a request for help, manuscripts were recorded and sent for consultation. It was completely like sending a hoe to the mausoleum valley, and there was no bright scene in the city. Zeng Guofan wanted to change the Yangtze River Navy into an economic division, and Zuo Zongtang supported it. When Zuo Zongtang was fighting in Shaanxi-Gansu, Zeng Guofan always delivered the food and wages allocated to the two rivers according to the quantity and schedule. He also took the initiative to recommend Liu Songshan, a famous general with both political integrity and talent in the later Hunan Army, to Zuo Zongtang. Liu Songshan and the Laoxiang Battalion under his command became Zuo Zongtang's elite. In the first month of this year, Liu Songshan died in battle, and his nephew Liu Jintang took over the command of his army. His wisdom and bravery were not inferior to his uncle. Zuo Zongtang was deeply impressed by Zeng Guofan's virtue. At a meeting of the Liangjiang Governor’s Yamen, someone praised Zuo Zongtang as the number one person in the northwest. Zeng Guofan responded: “Not just in the northwest, he is actually the number one person in the world today.
"Over the years, he has only saved 20,000 taels of silver in his pension fund for old age. He can take part of it, but he cannot take it all. He must leave some. After carefully considering the necessary expenses, he decided He took out 7,000 taels and divided it among three people, but each of them only got more than 2,000 taels. When he couldn't think of anything less, he revealed this to Zhao Liewen and immediately said generously: "My lord, this is shocking to the world." Weeping ghosts and gods has no precedent in ancient and modern times. Liewen has been cultivated by the Lord for many years and has a rough understanding of righteousness. Wouldn't he be moved? Although it cannot be said that everyone on the staff of the Supervisory Office holds the idea of ????Liu Wen, it is still 90% certain. I will return to Baoding as soon as possible tomorrow and return to Jin in three days. ”
Three days later, Zhao Liewen brought back 13,000 taels of silver notes. They were all collected by the staff of the Zhili Governor’s Yamen and did not alarm a single local official. Zeng Guofan was very grateful. Zhao Liewen advised Zeng Guofan that he did not need to He took the money. How could he obey! In this way, together with his seven thousand, Zhou Dao, Zhang Shou, and Liu Ling each had five thousand taels, and he repeated the remaining five thousand taels. After thinking about it, I decided to give Xu Hanlong, Liu Aizi, and Feng Zizi 500 taels each, the seven people in Hongliu Village each received 100 taels, and Tian Laoer and the other five people also received 60 taels each.
This. Not to mention the past, even Zeng Guofan would not do it a few days ago. Those who hurt others will be compensated; those who kill will be punished. This is the most basic law since ancient times, not to mention killing foreigners, it will almost cause a huge disaster. , public opinion across the country finally woke him up: after all, this was a conflict caused by long-term grievances. Fundamentally speaking, it was the foreigners who were at fault, not the people of Tianjin, and they could not simply discuss the matter, especially Xu Hanlong, Liu Aizi, and Feng Zizi. It was out of the righteous indignation of patriots and respectful officials. It was indeed unfair to kill their heads. Although Tian Laoer and others were gangsters who took advantage of the situation, but in such a complicated case, killing their heads also indirectly hurt the patriotism of the people. I have the right to use this little money as compensation!
I heard that the murderers who killed people in Hongliuzhuang were given one hundred taels of silver each just because they admitted that they died for killing foreigners. Under the persuasion of their relatives, several murderers from poor families also expressed their willingness to sign confessions for killing foreigners and receive one hundred taels of silver before their death as repayment to their families. Therefore, Zeng Guofan identified five murderers. Come, each person will be given one hundred taels of silver. The remaining two thousand taels of silver will be used to give money to the orphans who escaped from the nursery, as well as the Chinese who were accidentally injured that day and the nearby people who were injured. After this arrangement, Zeng Guofan. Deep down, I feel better.