Zuo Zongtang (November 10, 1812-September 5, 1885), Han nationality , whose courtesy name is Jigao, his character is Pu Cun, and his pseudonym is Xiangshangnongren. From Xiangyin, Hunan. A late Qing politician, military strategist, national hero, one of the representative figures of the Westernization School, was known as the "Four Famous Ministers of the Revival of the Late Qing Dynasty" together with Zeng Guofan and others.
Zuo Zongtang studied at Changsha Chengnan Academy and passed the provincial examination at the age of 20. Although he failed many exams in the imperial examinations since then, he paid attention to agricultural affairs, read books all over the country, and studied geography and military tactics. Later, he started his friend and participated in the pacification of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, established the Westernization Movement, suppressed the Nian Army, and presided over the pacification of the Hui people's uprising of the Tongzhi of Shaanxi and Gansu, regaining Xinjiang and promoting the establishment of a province in Xinjiang. During this period, he served as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and the governor of Liangjiang. He was appointed as the Grand Secretary of the Dongge and Minister of Military Affairs, and was granted the title of the second-class Marquis of Kejing. During the Sino-French War, he invited him to Fujian to supervise his troops. He died of illness in Fuzhou in 1885 (the 11th year of Guangxu). The Qing court posthumously awarded the title of Taifu, with the posthumous title of " Wenxiang ", and was also worshipped in Zhaozhong Temple and Xianliang Temple.
Zuo Zongtang wrote "Chu Army Camp System" and "Pu Cunge Agricultural Books". His memorials and documents were compiled into " Zuo Wenxiang Duke " in the late Qing Dynasty. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he also compiled the "Zuo Zongtang's Complete Works".
Historical evaluation:
He Xiling: Zuo Zi Ji Gao, after he was young, he saw that he was able to stand up for himself, and he found out that he had gained something when he learned. If he observed his advance and retreat, he would follow the rules and dare not let go of anything. I have already disagreed with it.
Guo Songtao: Zuo Zongtang has the greatest talent, everything is done, and his character is very good, so everyone is convinced of him.
Pan Zuyin : The country cannot be without Hunan for a day, that is, Hunan cannot be without Zongtang for a day.
Zeng Guofan: When it comes to military battles, I am not as good as Zuo Zongtang; I am loyal to the country, and I am also crowned by Ji Gao. Fortunately, Zuo Zongtang was born in the country.
Li Hongzhang : 30 years of circumference, harmony but different, proud but not fighting, only the teacher knows me; the nine edicts are shining, literature is governed by internal affairs, martial is governed by external affairs, and cherishes the king of the world.
Xiao Yishan: Guofan wins with rigor, Zong Tang wins with heroism.
Anecdotes:
Comparing Zhuge
Zuo Zongtang was conceited and claimed to be Zhuge Liang . He often claimed to be " Jinliang " and "Lao Liang" (opposite to Guo Kuntao , which is called "Xinliang"), and people at that time often compared Zhuge Liang.
"Qing Bai Lei Chao" records that Zuo Zongtang was under the position of the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and his vassal was Lin Shoutu . He was good at drinking and was very humorous. The two often drank and talked about it. One day, while Lin and Zong Tang were having a laughing conversation, a good news came in front of him. Lin Sheng said that Zong Tang was as wonderful as a god and admired him. Zong Tang slapped the table and boasted, "This is why Zhuge is Liang." Then the two talked about the characters again. Zong Tang blamed many people at that time for calling themselves Zhuge. Lin Piao Han said, "This is why Ge Liang is Zhuge." Zuo Zongtang thought Lin was mocking him, and the two made a grudge.
Note, Zuo Zongtang did claim to be Jinliang in his letter, and even said in a letter to Guo Kuntao: "Because the present is now in ancient times, today is still better than ancient Liang." However, while boasting, Zuo Zongtang also knew that he had the shortcomings of "subtle temperament", and once worked hard on the two principles of "talent and quiet, and forced himself to work hard."
get acquaintance with Tao Shu
1836 (the sixteenth year of Daoguang), Tao Shu, the governor of Liangjiang, returned to his hometown to visit his relatives. Passing through Liling , a couplet from the county mansion made him feel moved: "The spring palace is calm, and the family mountain is sealed with stones; the river flows day and night, and the children of eight states are looking forward to their return." This couplet expresses the respect and welcome of Tao Shu by his hometown, and also reveals the most proud experience in Tao Shu's life. When you walk into the mansion, you will see a landscape painting, with two short poems on it: A county is a public place, and two green waters are waiting for you to be clear. It means that the proudly standing mountains in Liling County are all born with a sense of righteousness from Tao Gong. In Little Liling, I actually have my confidant! This 60-year-old official immediately proposed to meet the author of the poem. And the author is Zuo Zongtang.
Xiangjiang Night Talk
Zuo Zongtang was famous, Lin Zexu has already heard of it. In 1850 (the end of the 29th year of the Daoguang reign), Lin Zexu passed by Hunan, and the two finally met in Changsha. "Qing Bai Lei Chao" records that Zuo Zongtang had long admired Lin Zexu's name and was eager to meet each other. Unexpectedly, he fell into the water in a hurry and climbed onto Lin Zexu's boat in wet clothes. After saying, "I heard that there was the etiquette of treating scholars in ancient times. The "Three Mu" had already paid homage to the 'Three Mu', but the 'Three Mu' was not yet." Lin Zexu smiled and said, "What else do you want to say? Go and change your clothes quickly and don't catch a cold." The two talked to each other until the day. Speaking of the situation in Xinjiang, Lin Zexu suddenly patted his left shoulder with his hand and sighed, "It's probably you who will fulfill my ambitions in the future!" Lin Zexu also wrote a couplet in the boat to Zuo Zongtang: "There are mountains and steep mountains here, lush forests and bamboos; they can read the three tombs and five scriptures, eight ropes and nine hills." When signing, Lin called himself "fool brother" and called Zuo Zongtang "Brother". Zuo Zongtang was extremely moved and still hung this couplet on the wall of the vegetarian wall in his later years.
Press, "Qing Bai Lei Chao" has a performance color. The "Xiangjiang Night Talk" incident has been recorded in Hu Linyi , Zuo Zongtang and others. When Zuo Zongtang wrote the preface to "Lin Wenzhong's Book of Government" in his later years, he recalled that he sighed: "At noon by the military book, I was confused, I was rude and strict, and I couldn't sleep when I was sleeping with the pen. I showed the volume several lines, just like when I was talking at night in the Xiangjiang River." When I was twenty-three years old, Zuo Zongtang wrote his own couplet: "I don't have half acre, but I worry about the world; I read ten thousand volumes and I will be in harmony with the ancients." Thirty years later, in March of the fifth year of Tongzhi , Zuo Zongtang also wrote this couplet when he wrote the family precepts for his children in his residence in Fuzhou.
Zuo Zongtang respects Tao Shu and Lin Zexu. When Lin passed away, Zuo once wrote an elephant couplet. Several years later, he was able to serve in Jiangning (now Nanjing) like Tao and Lin, and built a special temple for Tao and Xu He, and wrote a couplet: "Three Wusongsongs are left with love, whale waves are at the beginning, water and salt are used to control water, and all like the Duke are immortal; the sound is collected, the sound is dusty, the womb mud is trampled on, and the Hunan wore on the widows, I will repeat it now."
In the rumors about the once-left misfortune, there are some stories involving couplets, such as " Jizi is self-taught, and is contrary to the time of the people" and "the vassal ministers regard their hearts as their country, and ask how the economy of Iraq has never been", and "Look at the wife of the like to wash their feet" and "give the same Jinshi" (some similar couplets were also put into the dispute between Zuo Li), but after research, their credibility is low. The famous "Making the Best Wishes" couplet is not the original work of Zuo Zongtang.
Left Censor
Zuo Zongtang was a friend of the Hunan Governor Luo Bingzhang , and he gained deep trust and his authority. "Qing Bai Lei Chao" says that Luo Bingzhang sometimes comes to the shogunate and sees Zuo Zongtang and others talking loudly and passionately, but just listen quietly and not commenting; "Guilu Tan Shanglu" says ("Qing Bai Lei Chao") that Luo Bingzhang drinks and enjoys all day long, and the government affairs committee Zuo said to him, "You are like a puppet. Without me holding it, how can you move?" Luo Bingzhang just smiled. "Yong Yan Notes" says that Luo Bingzhang heard the sound of cannons from the gate of the Fu Office one day, and hurriedly asked what happened to the people around him, and replied, "It was Master Zuo who was paying a military report to the military." Luo nodded and said slowly, "Why would you like to show me the memorial?" Although the rumors were exaggerated, Zuo's "Qian Gang's arbitrary decision" could also be seen. At that time, the governor Luo Bingzhang was just the right deputy censor of Censorate , while Hunanese jokingly called Zuo Zongtang the "left censor" to show that the left's power was even greater than Luo.
Fan Xie case
"Miscellaneous Memories of the World" and others said that during the time Zuo was appointed as Luo Bingzhang's staff, a time when the general fan Xie visited, and a controversy arose. When it was said that Fan Xie refused to pay tribute to him, Zuo was very displeased with Fan Xie who was despised by him. He raised his foot and wanted to kick him, cursing: " forgot about , get out!" Another said that Zuo Fan disagrees and slapped Fan Xie with his left hand. After that, the two reported each other. Not long after, Fan Xie was dismissed.
Fan Xie was furious. After returning home, he wrote a wooden sign with six words "Get out of the bastard", next to his ancestor's tablet, called "Sweeping the Insult Card". He also hired a famous teacher to teach his two sons, and asked them to revenge for their father if they surpassed Zuo Zongtang, who had only had the fame of Juren.He also ordered his two sons to wear women's clothing before achieving something: "A scholar took the exam and took off the outer women's clothing; he passed the imperial examination and took off the inner women's clothing; he passed the imperial examination and took off the inner women's clothing; he passed the imperial examination and burned the insult cards and told his ancestors not to be guilty." Later, Fan's second son Fan Zengxiang In the third year of Guangxu in high school (1877), he was a Jinshi in Dingchou, burned the insult cards to comfort Fan Xie, who had died at that time.
Press, researcher Liu Jianghua believes that slapping and kicking Fan Xie with his left hand are not credible. However, Fan Xie was indeed impeached by Luo Bingzhang for the incident (the memorial was written by Zuo Zongtang). In order to counterattack, he accused Zuo Zongtang, and intended to defeat Luo Bingzhang, but failed because Pan Zuyin and others supported Zuo Zongtang, and Fan Xie was eventually dismissed. Fan Xie's son was indeed outstanding in literature and achieved great fame; as for Zuo Zongtang, he treated Pan Zuyin who rescued himself in Fan Xie's case well and once presented him with a gift from the Great Yu Ding.
Zuo Gongliu
Zuo Zongtang led his troops to the west twice, marched one by one, built bridges and roads, and planted elm willow trees along the way. In less than a few years, from Lanzhou to Suzhou, from Hexi to Hami , from Turpan to Urumqi, the willows planted in the places where Hunan Army went, except for the Gobi Desert, all the branches were continuous, and the branches blew through the sky. This is what later generations called "Zuogong Willow". The poets of the Qing Dynasty, Xiao Xiong and others, once recited them, and Yang Changjun's seven-character charlatan "Praise to Zuo Gong's Journey to Gan Tang" circulated You Guang:
was not willing to return it, and the children of Hunan and Xiang were everywhere in the mountains.
New willow planted three thousand miles, attracting the spring breeze of Yuguan.
During the Republic of China, Luo Jialun wrote the lyrics "Yumen Going Out of the Frontier", the first sentence is "Zuo Gong Liu Fu Yumen Xiao".
Inspection of Shanghai
During his tenure as Governor of Liangjiang, Zuo Zongtang inspected Shanghai four times to inspect river and sea defense. During the first inspection (June 1882), Zuo Zongtang led hundreds of personal soldiers. Some (one said to be the Industrial Department Bureau police, and another said to be the "Concession Bureau Bureau") informed Zuo Jiedao that he must have a note to pass the weapon. Zuo Zongtang was furious and said, "Shanghai is located in China, and outsiders only rent it. How can we tell us if our Chinese soldiers travel to China?" He ordered all his personal soldiers to be unsheathed with guns and knives. The foreigners not only dared not stop them, but also sent police to take care of and clear the roads along the way. They also changed to the Chinese Dragon Flag , and fired thirteen cannons to welcome them. After that, the foreigners became more respectful and polite in the inspection. During the fourth inspection (February 1884), foreign foreign travelers and consulates from Britain, the United States, Germany, Russia, and Austria all went to visit.
Press, Luo ZhengjunThe Biography of Zuo Wenxianggong will be the event of the concession authorities' first inspection of Shanghai in 1882 (the eighth year of Guangxu). However, according to letters from Zuo Zongtang to relatives and friends, this should be in 1883 (the ninth year of Guangxu).
Zuo Zongtang Chicken
The famous dish Zuo Zongtang Chicken is Peng Changgui "Navy Commander-in-Chief" Liang Xuzhao banquet at the then American Admiral Arthur William Redford (also said that when the guest invited Jiang Jingguo in the 1970s), Peng found that when he asked about the name of the dish, because he was from Hunan, he hoped that the name of the dish would be famous and had some relationship with Hunan, he casually answered "Zuo Zongtang Chicken". In the 1970s, Peng Changgui went to the United States to open a "Pengyuan" restaurant. Because the media reported that former US Secretary of State Kissinger tasted "Zuo Zongtang Chicken" in "Pengyuan", this dish was so famous that it gradually became the "first dish" of Chinese food in the eyes of Americans.
Source: Biography of historical figures and stories
