Modern Chinese History is a history of humiliation and resistance. The late Qing government cedes land for compensation many times. Even the Central Asia Kokan Khanate (Qing Dynasty former vassal state) dared to invade the northwest border of the Qing Dynasty. If there is humiliation, national heroes will stand up. There are many national heroes in modern Chinese history, but the national hero who has made the greatest contribution to the land of China is Zuo Zongtang .
When it comes to Zuo Zongtang, the first thing that comes to mind is Zuo Zongtang's deeds of restoring his territory in the west, but Zuo Zongtang's contribution is more than this. Zuo Zongtang is a veteran who is extremely courageous, has profound military skills, has both literary and military strategies, and is strict in military discipline. He has twice expeditioned the Hui Rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu and the Agubai Rebellion. Before the outbreak of , Zuo Zongtang went south to supervise his troops to resist France, shattering the ambition of the French army from Vietnam to embezzle Guangxi and occupy Yunnan and Guangdong.
Zuo Zongtang's statue
Zuo Zongtang's three expeditions successfully preserved half of the land of China. Zuo Zongtang pacified the rebellion of Shaanxi and Gansu, and saved Shaanxi and Gansu for China (Gansu at that time included the entire territory of Ningxia, northeastern Qinghai and southeastern Xinjiang); Zuo Zongtang recovered Xinjiang , saving 1.66 million square kilometers of vast land for China; Zuo Zongtang supervised his troops to resist the law, and saved the three provinces of Guangxi, Yunnan and Guangdong for our country (Guangxi at that time included Hainan). In fact, while Zuo Zongtang saved half of our country, he also avoided the local people from continuing to be massacred by the rebels and enemy troops.
The rebellion of Shaanxi and Gansu is a catastrophe in modern Chinese history. If Zuo Zongtang did not quell the rebellion of Shaanxi and Gansu, then the capitals of Shaanxi and Gansu were separatisted by rebels, and the innocent people of the two provinces would be slaughtered by the rebels.
Zuo Zongtang led the Hunan Army soldiers to first quell the rebels in Shaanxi, and then successively quelled the rebels in Dong Zhiyuan (located in Ning County, Gansu), Jinjibao (located in Wuzhong, Ningxia), Xining and Suzhou, and crushed the ambitions of rebel leaders such as Bai Yanhu , Ma Guiyuan , Ma Benyuan, Ma Hualong , and Ma Wenlu.
Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang quelled the rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu, and returned to the capital to discuss with ministers such as Li Hongzhang who advocated giving up the defense of the barrier. Zuo Zongtang knew very well that if he gave up the defense of the barrier, Gansu and Qinghai would be in danger, and Mongolia, Shaanxi and Shanxi would be the same. After Zuo Zongtang refuted the claims of Li Hongzhang and other ministers' misunderstanding, he tried his best to persuade Cixi, which made Cixi agree to his claim to revive the country.
Zuo Zongtang's purpose of expedition to restore the country in the west was to the integrity of the land of China, not for the interests of the Qing government, because the Qing government initially supported the proposal of Li Hongzhang and other ministers to abandon the defense of the border.
Zuo Zongtang selected a group of the most powerful soldiers from the Hunan Army and led them to recover the northern border first. Then the troops headed straight to the southern border and successively recovered the cities in the southern border. Agubai knew that the situation was hopeless, so he took poison and committed suicide. At this point, Zuo Zongtang successfully completed the feat of restoring the country in the Western Expedition.
Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang went to the expedition to supervise his army to resist the law. At this time, Zuo Zongtang was over 70 years old, but for the sake of the integrity of the land of China, Zuo Zongtang took the initiative to submit a report to Cixi, asking Cixi to agree to supervise his army to resist the law.
Supervisors' resistance to France was the last battle in Zuo Zongtang's life. The result of this battle was that the Qing army defeated the French army. Another veteran of the Qing Dynasty, Feng Zicai, also made great contributions in the war against the French army. Zuo Zongtang's superiors' resistance to France gave the Qing army more courage, so Zuo Zongtang made even more contributions in this battle.
Although the Qing and French War ended with the victory of the Qing army, due to the compromise proposals of Cixi and Li Hongzhang, the Qing government signed an unequal treaty with France, and the Qing government gave up the vassal state of Vietnam to France.
Zuo Zongtang once tried his best to persuade Cixi not to sign an unequal treaty with France, but it failed to change Cixi's proposition.
Zuo Zongtang was in a state of grief and anger because of the compromise proposals of Cixi and Li Hongzhang, which directly led to Zuo Zongtang being ill. Soon, the great national hero passed away in grief and regret.
In the life of the national hero Zuo Zongtang, he successively quelled the rebellion of Shaanxi and Gansu, recovered Xinjiang, and supervised his troops to resist the law, saving half of our country. He is a well-deserved, veritable and unquestionable national hero in modern history of our country, and is also the greatest national hero!
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