Without Hong Xiuquan, there would be no Zeng Guofan. Hong Xiuquan and "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" Hong Xiuquan, from Huadu, Guangzhou, were born in 18 14 years, three years younger than Zeng Guofan. Hong Xiuquan's talent is insufficient, he failed after having obtained the provincial examinations three times in a row, and his will is weak, so he can't be as tried and tested as Zeng Guofan. After failing the list for the third time, Hong Xiuquan saw "God" come to his home. "God" said, "You can use my flag to exercise my will and slay the demons on the earth. However, Hong Xiuquan is, after all, a scholar. He was wary of this "Machamp God-Disorder", so he just kept it in his heart and didn't put it into action. Six years later, 1843, he went to the provincial exam again and failed again. This time, he accepted the teachings of Christianity and preached the beauty of God everywhere. In the process of missionary work, Hong Xiuquan met several like-minded brothers. 185 1 1 October, Hong Xiuquan and his brothers announced the revolution in Jintian, Guangxi, established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and began the revolutionary movement sweeping across South China. 1March 853, the overwhelming Taiping Army captured Nanjing and made its capital. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom made Nanjing its capital, Hong Xiuquan was ambitious. He not only wanted to occupy Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei and Hunan to consolidate the upper reaches, but also wanted to win Beijing and Tianjin and destroy the Qing Dynasty in one fell swoop, so he launched the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition. In hindsight, it was a strategic mistake of "hitting people with fists", but from Hong Xiuquan's point of view, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was invincible at that time, and hitting people with fists was the best. What worries Zeng Guofan is the Western Expedition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Zeng Guofan clearly realized that after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom made Nanjing its capital, it would strive for Anqing, Jiujiang, Wuchang and even Hunan and Jingzhou. If the Taiping rebels occupy the Yangtze River for 4,000 miles, China will be split in two, and the traffic between the north and the south will be cut off, with disastrous consequences. He is more aware that Wuchang is an important town in the Yangtze River, and its gains and losses are related to the safety of South China, especially Hunan, and to the survival of Changsha. Therefore, the direct purpose of his career is to compete with the Taiping Army for Wuchang. Before starting from Hengyang, Zeng Guofan bit his pen and wrote a battle essay with all his emotions. This is one of the most famous articles in China in the19th century-Asking for Guangdong Bandits. This article is full of wisdom. Zeng Guofan called Taiping Army "Guangdong bandits" and isolated Taiping Army with regionalism. As we all know, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rose in Guangdong and Guangxi, and its backbone and leading members were almost all from Guangdong and Guangxi. They are called "old brothers" in the army. Later, it developed rapidly in the two lakes and three rivers, and most of the new members were in the leading position, called "new brothers". "Zeng Guofan to alienate them, respectively, from the internal differentiation and disintegration of Taiping rebels. He called the bandits in Guangdong and Guangxi "bandits" and people in other areas "threatened people". "Guangdong bandits are proud of their wealth and honor, but they regard the threatened people in our two lakes and three rivers as dogs who refuse to beat cattle and horses. "This is the most sensible move. The Taiping Army & Hong Xiuquan's edition of Worship God says that all men are brothers, all women are sisters, and all soldiers and civilians are brothers and sisters. Zeng Guofan said that these bastards don't let people call their parents, just brothers and sisters. This is a violation of traditional ethics. It's simply a nondescript animal, and everyone will be punished. Taiping Army opposed Confucius and Mencius and worshiped God alone. Zeng Guofan said that it is self-evident that we in China have regarded Confucius and Mencius as saints for thousands of years. You evil animals, regardless of the people's psychology, blindly break idols, which is really self-destructive. A few years later, * * * talked about the reason why Zeng Guofan defeated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, saying that when Hong Xiuquan rose, he opposed Confucianism and advocated Catholicism and did not cater to the psychology of China people. Zeng Guofan drove him out by this means. This is Hong Xiuquan's wrong method. Although Hong Xiuquan is wrong, the battle will still be fought. It cannot be said that it is wrong for Hong Xiuquan to respect Confucius and Mencius, and Zeng Guofan waited for victory. Xiang army ran all the way from Hengyang to Changsha, and Changsha was boiling. Governor Luo personally went out of the city gate to meet Zeng Guofan, and Changsha citizens sang and danced to welcome this seemingly invincible army into the city. Luo took Zeng Guofan's "Bandits of Guangdong and Guangxi" and was full of praise. Zeng Guofan lowered his eyebrows and looked down, exaggerating modesty and prudence. Zeng Guofan: Tianjiazhen has to admit that Hong Xiuquan is a capable person. 1858, Chen Yucheng, who was only 2 1 year old, and Li Xiu, who was 35 years old, were promoted to become Tianzhu. He gave the main force of Taiping Army to these two men without reservation, and never doubted it. Although Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng are young, they are both old revolutions. They have been baptized by years of war and become heroes. The two men were in charge of military power and made extraordinary moves. It took only one month to break the Jiangbei camp, which had besieged Nanjing for a long time, and the siege of Nanjing was solved. 1On February 25th, 854, Zeng Guofan set out from Hengyang with Xiang Army and went to the biggest battlefield in China at that time. More than 5,000 people went hand in hand with the Xiang army, with ships squeezing water and cavalry on both sides of the strait. Ma Benteng was magnificent. It seems that this is a master of tigers and wolves, invincible in the world. Zeng Guofan also had this mysterious feeling, so when he stood on the deck of the main ship and looked into the distance, he saw a sea of flowers. At least from Zeng Guofan's standpoint, this is a fact. Since the Taiping Rebellion, he has painstakingly studied the situation, and with tenacious will and unremitting efforts, he has easily cracked the abacus of Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This is the most brilliant stroke in the history of the Xiang army: Tianjia Town won a great victory. The victory in Tianjia Town was the biggest victory since Zeng Guofan led the Xiang army out of the mountain, and the Taiping Army's "fear of Hunan" was born from it. On the night of triumph in Tianjia Town, Zeng Guofan smiled in the flickering candlelight of warships. He can still hear shouting and killing in his ears, but these voices are giving birth to his smile, because it is the shouting and killing of Taiping prisoners by Xiang army! The material of the article is selected from Zeng Guofan: Stupid and Slow to Level the World. The picture is from the network or CC0.