Chapter 10 Returning to the hometown to suppress the bandits

On June 12, the second year of Xianfeng (1852), Zeng Guofan was ordered to serve as the official examiner of the Jiangxi provincial examination in anxiety, and he was allowed to return home to visit relatives.Zeng Guofan chose to leave Beijing on June 24. Li Hongzhang got up very early that day and made a special trip to send his teacher to Lugou Bridge. After Li Hongzhang bid farewell to his teacher Zeng Guofan at Lugou Bridge, within half a year, the flames of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom revolution spread rapidly to the north.On the surface, the Imperial Academy is still so quiet and leisurely, but after all, the Imperial Academy can't hold their breath anymore, and they have no intention of compiling history and writing articles, and they can't help talking about the war when they meet.

On this day, Li Hongzhang was standing in front of the window with his hands behind his back melancholy, looking up to the sky and contemplating the battle situation. Deng Wengong, who was in the same room as a reviewer of Hubei, suddenly came in from the outside in a panic and said: Wuchang has fallen.Chang Dachun, the governor of Hubei, and the vassals and officials of Mancheng and Taiwan have all been martyred. Li Hongzhang did not expect the momentum of the Taiping Army to be so turbulent. He no longer had the heart to deal with official duties. He walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, thinking in confusion. Just ask, the officers and soldiers of the green battalion led by Guangxi Admiral Xiang Rong could not stop the tiger of the Taiping Army.Hong Xiuquan might spend his new year in Wuchang in the cold weather. If New Year's Eve came down the river from Wuchang, counting the water distance, Anqing would be endangered within ten days.Anhui will suffer a catastrophe in the first month of next year.Li Hongzhang murmured and sighed worriedly.

In March 1853, the Taiping Army entered Anhui in a large scale.One morning in late February, when Li Hongzhang was wandering in Liulichang after dinner, he ran into a fellow from Anhui.From his mouth, he learned that the provincial capital Anqing had fallen, Futai Jiang Wenqing had been killed, and his hometown would soon be completely occupied by the Taiping Army.In desperation, Li Hongzhang went straight to Lu Xianji's home. Lu Xianji can also be regarded as a fellow of Li Hongzhang. He, whose name is Hetian, was born in Jingde, Anhui.When Li Hongzhang was editing for the Hanlin Academy, he often wrote articles for the Lu family.As soon as they met, Li Hongzhang lamented all the information he had just received, and suggested that Lu quickly ask the Qing government to quickly send troops to rescue Anhui.Lu Xianji said casually: You still write it, I will submit it.

Li Hongzhang returned to Hanyuan and immediately wrote a memorial, which was sent to Lu Xianji overnight.The next day, Emperor Xianfeng ordered Lv Xianji to be a native, and together with Wanfu, he was in charge of handling regiment training and anti-suppression matters.Lu Xianji had no choice but to ask the court to let Li Hongzhang return home with him, saying that he was familiar with the hometown.When he returned from the next court, he said bluntly to Li Hongzhang who was waiting for him: You asked me to play to harm me. The emperor asked me to go to Anhui to help the regiment practice; I also hurt you. I asked you to go to Anhui with me.However, in the final analysis, the reason why Lu Xianji chose Li Hongzhang was because he knew that Li Hongzhang was talented and could help him.The court quickly responded to Lu Xianji's request.Soon, Li Hongzhang followed Lu Xianji back to his hometown and started his military career.

Li Hongzhang was originally a scholar, and he was not interested in martial arts such as group training.But the emperor's life is in his body, so he has no choice.After returning to Anhui, the first thing Li Hongzhang faced was the intricate interpersonal relationship in Anhui.The strife and struggle among officials gave Li Hongzhang, who had been soaking in ink books and learning piles for many years, a lot of new experiences and lessons.What made Li Hongzhang even more distressed was that organizing regiments to practice and command campaigns were all new things that he had never been exposed to.Although there were many precedents in ancient times of becoming famous generals by joining the army, Li Hongzhang never thought that he would become such a model of a Confucian scholar who started his career in the military.

Li Hongzhang believed that handling regiment training and anti-suppression work was temporary, only due to the current situation in the Qing Dynasty. When the internal troubles were eliminated and the country was stable, he still had to return to the temple in the capital.However, if he is not qualified for the current job, it will be unknown whether he can return to the capital.Li Hongzhang was completely blank about how to work at present and how to implement the strategic plan.Furthermore, Li Hongzhang had no power, no soldiers, and no pay in his hands, and he was at a loss as to how to proceed.Despite this, Li Hongzhang was still full of desire to serve the court and defend his hometown.

Anhui was also the same as some other provinces and regions in the south of the Yangtze River where class struggle was fierce. The landlords and gentry held group training one after another and stood at the forefront of the struggle against the peasants.Among them, the fierce and famous ones are: Ma Sanjun in Tongcheng, father and son Wu Tingxiang and Wu Changqing (named Xiaoxuan, born in hereditary Yunqiwei) in Lujiang, brothers Zhang Shusheng (named Zhenxuan, Linsheng) and Zhang Shushan (named Haike) in Hefei, and Zhou Shengbo (named Haike). Brothers Haiji) and Zhou Shengchuan (Xinru), Liu Mingchuan (Shengsan), Pan Dingxin (Qinxuan, Juren), Xie Guangliang, Li Hezhang and others.It is said that the regiments in Lujun are neat and have a close relationship with Li Wen'an who is far away in the capital.Based on his class instinct, he sent a letter back home, advising the villagers to take precautionary measures first.The leaders of the regiment training build a polder to train soldiers, and call themselves the master of the polder. The so-called bandits come to help each other, and the bandits go to attack each other. bandit.

When Li Hongzhang arrived in Luzhou, facing such a situation of internal and external strife, one can imagine the shock in his heart.Although he is full of blood, he intends to show his talents and turn the tide, but he has no power, no soldiers, no pay, and he is a Confucian scholar who knows nothing about military affairs, so he looks forward to the future and is worried. At that time, there were three important figures in Anhui's political situation: the governor Li Jiaduan, Zhou Tianjue, the minister of the military department who was helping the regiment training, and Lu Xianji. Li Hongzhang first entered the scene at Zhou Tianjue.Entering the curtain was an important official phenomenon in the Qing Dynasty.Generally, bureaucrats with status must train staff, the so-called supporters.Generally, those who are knowledgeable and talented have the experience of being a staff member.The aides are not only the students of the bureaucracy, but also the right-hand man of the bureaucracy, which is what we call the think tank today.Many talented young people have a deep understanding of officialdom politics through the opportunity to enter the curtain, and at the same time, they have also exercised their abilities in the handling of some specific affairs.Therefore, entering the court and raising scholars is a matter that is beneficial to both parties, which is why China's staff system can last for a long time.

In Zhou Tianjue's place, eliminating the Nian army was Li Hongzhang's main task.The Nian Army, formerly known as the Nian Party, started in the early years of the Qing Dynasty. It was formed by poor people on both sides of the Huaihe River to resist oppression.Later, it gradually developed to Shandong, Henan, northern Jiangsu and other places.The members of the Nian Army are complex, including farmers, fishermen, handicraftsmen, boatmen, hungry people and so on.The first thing they did was to fight against food and poverty, eat big families, rob the rich and help the poor.During activities, dozens or hundreds of people form a twitter, and each department has its own name, which is different.The leader is called a twist head.Originally, the Nian Party mainly engaged in economic struggles, and did not have a clear political program.However, with the growth of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the masses in Anhui, Henan and other places formed twists and responded one after another. The Nian Party gradually developed into the Nian Army, and its scale and organization became increasingly strict.Therefore, the elimination of the Nian Army has become an imminent event for the Qing government.

Li Hongzhang followed Zhou Tianjue to participate in two major battles to wipe out the Nian Army.One was to suppress the Lu Xialing uprising in Dingyuan. Lu Xialing (about 1803︱1853) was born in Qigan Village, Huangpiqiao, Dingyuan County (now part of Peihe Township, Changfeng County). He was detained in Anqing Prison.In February 1853, the Taiping Army conquered Anqing first, rescued him from prison, and sent him back to Dingyuan to organize the masses to respond.About the first ten days of March, Lu rebelled in his hometown, erected the Suitian Dawang and other banners, and gathered more than ten thousand people to attack the local tyrants and the Qing army.According to the records of the time: Dingyuan magistrates invaded and lost two battles, and the regiment training in the city was even a joke, and even openly took advantage of the opportunity to profit, using a bamboo gun and spending 800 liters of public money.At that time, Xia Jinshu of Hefei Xiacun contacted Lu Xialing to make an appointment, and the north and south responded.Hearing the news, Li Hezhang immediately led a regiment of more than a hundred people to surround and stab, killed Jin Shu and his son, disbanded more than a thousand, and increased the regiment defense of Northeast Township, blocking Lu Xianling's southward passage.Then Li Hongzhang and Li Hezhang accompanied Zhou Tianjue to defeat Lu Xialing's uprising army in Huangpi Bridge in Dingyuan and Dongxiang in Shouzhou.In mid-April, Zhou Tianjue trapped and killed Lu Xianling and his son.Zhou Tianjue awarded Li Hezhang the sixth grade title.

The other time was to suppress the uprising of Chen Xuezeng and Ji Heizhuang who were active at the junction of Yingzhou, Mengcheng, and Bozhou.According to records: (March of the third year of Xianfeng) Chen Xuezeng, Ji Heizhuang and others gathered in Yingzhou Zhiwang Market.At the beginning of May, Li Jiaduan, governor of Anhui, arrived in Luzhou, and soon Li Hongzhang was transferred from Zhou Tianjue to assist in the group training.The new governor of Anhui made it his top priority to stabilize internal changes and resist foreign aggression.Zhou Tianjue called the suppression of the mass struggle in the territory with the Nian Army as the main body the Jingnei Bian.Intercepting the Taiping Army's entry into Anhui is called imperial aggression.In fact, the local rebels had already made them lose sight of one another and were exhausted. How could they have any power to stop the Taiping Army from breaking in?Not long after Li Jiaduan arrived in Luzhou, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sent troops to the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition successively, and Anhui was the first to bear the brunt.The Northern Expedition led by Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang was the first to advance into Anhui.On May 10, the Northern Expedition Army occupied Chuzhou. On the 18th, the Northern Expedition Army conquered Linhuai Pass and approached Fengyang.Facing the fierce offensive of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Li Jiaduan and others were terrified and had trouble sleeping and eating. They lamented: Now there are no heavy troops in the south of Fengyang, and the regiments in each city are only trained, and they have nothing to rely on.Therefore, on the one hand, he called on Xianfeng to quickly transfer the officers and soldiers from Jiangxi and Hubei to Luzhou to rescue them, and block the way for the bandits to flee back;He ordered Li Dengzhou, the alternate magistrate of Zhili Prefecture, to lead 300 troops first, and then ordered Wang Zhengyi, the head of the household department, to meet Li Hongzhang in Liangyuan Town, and called for training bravely, and persuaded him to borrow military pay. He then led more than 200 troops to march one after another.On May 28, the Northern Expedition army captured Fengyang in one fell swoop.Li Dengzhou, who had just led Yongjin to the junction of Dingyuan and Fengyang, suddenly heard that Fengyang had fallen, and all the civilians under his command fled. He was also afraid that the courageous thoughts he brought back to Hefei would be scattered, so he led his troops to retreat in a hurry.Li Jiaduan was at his wit's end, and his inner life was on fire, hesitating around the post guarding the city.Although he didn't have the courage to lead his troops straight to Fengyang, he had to bluff.He ordered Wang Zhengyi and Li Hongzhang to order the heads of the regiments to practice bravery at the day point from Dianbu to Mabu Bridge, so that the sound of guns and guns could be continuously communicated.It was only because the Northern Expeditionary Army continued to go north and did not send troops south that Li Jiaduan and Li Hongzhang were able to escape the catastrophe. Subsequently, Li Jiaduan, governor of Anhui, began to assign Li Hongzhang to command the military independently.In June 1853, Li Hongzhang already had a thousand soldiers under his command.These people were all recruited by Li Hongzhang from the local regiment training and other troops.In August, near Chaoxian County in northern Anhui, Li Hongzhang's army defeated a small Taiping army for the first time, making Li Hongzhang his first nickname.For this reason, Li Jiaduan, the governor of Anhui, also specially went to the Qing government to request that Li Hongzhang be rewarded with the sixth-rank Dingdai and Lanling.In fact, although Li Hongzhang abided by his duties at that time, the battle was fought in a disorderly manner.Li Jiaduan asked for credit for it, but the old bureaucrat put money on his face. The emperor's reward did not cheer up the morale of the Qing army.Not long after Li Jiaduan asked for credit for Li Hongzhang, Taiping Army general Shi Dakai led his troops to Anqing to preside over the Taiping Army's western expedition.Wherever Shi Dakai's army went, the Qing soldiers were defeated and fled.Afterwards, Shibu advanced step by step, taking Jixianguan and Tongcheng straight, and Shucheng, which Lu Xianji was defending, was in danger.Li Hongzhang hastily assembled hundreds of soldiers in Hefei and rushed to the Shucheng camp.Seeing that the Taiping army was about to invade, Lu Xianji was ready to die to serve the emperor's kindness.Seeing this situation, Li Hongzhang was very embarrassed. He thought: I can't escape like those soldiers, can I?However, if you don't run, it will be difficult for you to survive.When Li Hongzhang was unable to decide whether to escape or not, a man named Liu Doushai rescued him and persuaded Li Hongzhang to escape quickly. At first Li Hongzhang was embarrassed.Maybe Liu Doushai has seen Li Hongzhang's mind, and he has already pulled the horse out.At this time, Li Hongzhang simply got on his horse and ran home overnight.In November, on the second day after Li Hongzhang escaped, the Taiping army captured Shucheng, and Lu Xianji drowned to death.In January of the following year, the Taiping Army conquered Luzhou, and Jiang Zhongyuan, the new governor of Anhui, was also forced to commit suicide by drowning himself. Emperor Xianfeng urgently ordered Fuji to be the new governor of Anhui.Fuji, Manchurian inlaid white banner, character repair, Daoguang Jinshi.He was Li Hongzhang's deputy examiner when he was admitted to Jinshi.Fuji didn't know how to use troops, so after arriving in Anhui, he immediately called Li Hongzhang into the camp.Fu Ji put a lot of value on Li Hongzhang, and they discussed military plans together.Fuji seriously considered every suggestion of Li Hongzhang.Due to the strong strength of the Taiping Army and the continuous reinforcements and food, the Qing army suffered successive defeats.Fuji decided not to attack by force, but waited for the Taiping army to lose foreign aid, ammunition and food, and wait for an opportunity to attack when civil strife broke out. In February 1855, Li Hongzhang led his troops to occupy Hanshan, killed more than a thousand Taiping soldiers, and was awarded the title of prefect by the Qing government.Li Hongzhang took advantage of the victory to cooperate with Zhongtai, the deputy commander of the capital, to attack the Taiping Army in Chao County, and the two sides were at a stalemate.At this time, he received the news of his father's death.In July 1855, Li Wen'an died in Hefei.Li Wen'an returned to Anhui in 1854 to lead a regiment to practice.At that time, the group training in Luzhou, Anhui, under the leadership of Li and his son, was orderly and orderly, which can be regarded as a model of group training.Li Wen'an is in good health and likes to drink.In July 1855, he died from drinking.Li Hongzhang was deeply saddened when he heard the news of his father's death, and hurried back to take care of the funeral.At this moment, the Taiping Army in Chao County launched a fierce attack. Zhongtai, the deputy governor, died in battle, and the entire army was wiped out.Li Hongzhang survived because he was not in the army. Li Wen'an's death dealt a great blow to Li Hongzhang's thoughts. We can see his deep miss and deep mourning for his father in many poems and essays of Li Hongzhang.Li Hongzhang kept his father's legacy in mind and dared not slack off for a moment.In November 1855, Fuji, Hechun and other governors bravely captured Luzhou, and Li Hongzhang was commended for his meritorious service in the battle.Afterwards, the troops were divided into two groups. The southwest directed at Shucheng, Sanhe, Lujiang and other places; the southeast attacked Chaoxian, Hezhou, Dongguan and other places.Except for a small victory in Shucheng, this battle ended in failure in other places.The southeast war that Li Hongzhang participated in was also defeated all the way.He was extremely depressed, and wrote poems about his ambitions. For four years, the oxen and horses have gone through the dust, and the catastrophe is left behind. A glass of wine is used to pour a piece of chest, and try to boldly take turns, You can see all of Chaohu Lake and Honghu Lake, the southeast corner of the paradise. I am a flock of wild geese without a home, who can have a house to live safely. His sadness is beyond words.In September 1856, unprecedented civil strife broke out in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.Fu Ji, He Chun and others took the opportunity to open up the southeast and southwest routes of Luzhou.Li Hongzhang participated in the battles of Chao County, Hezhou, and Dongguan, and was granted the rank of inspector for his meritorious service.In February 1857, the young generals Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng of the Taiping Army launched another attack on northern Anhui, conquering Tongcheng, Shucheng and other places.Li Hongzhang's troops were defeated, and he led his mother to flee north in a hurry.In the autumn of 1857, Li Hongzhang asked the Qing government to keep the system for his late father Ding You.Because of Li Hongzhang's meritorious service in the battle, the Qing government handed Li Hongzhang to the Military Aircraft Office to record his name, and when there was a lack of Taoist priests, he would be released.In this way, Li Hongzhang ended his five-year team training career. In the process of Li Hongzhang helping the group training, there was not only confusion and confusion at a loss, but also exploration and accumulation in practice.Although he has a bad record of being able to fight with waves, and has a notoriety of turning Hanlin into a green forest; but from the standpoint of the Qing ruling class, he is indeed fighting hard to maintain the country of the Qing Empire. During the five years of hard work, Li Hongzhang gradually understood a truth: the way to be a general lies in seeing the opportunities ahead, and truly knowing yourself and the enemy is the only way to win a hundred battles.Don't care about the success or failure of the moment, you must look at the overall situation, and you must not be brave.Li Hongzhang was deeply ashamed of his various experiences of defeat and his desperate mood.This kind of shame hurt his heart more deeply than his unsatisfactory ups and downs in his official career.This sense of shame will not be appeased by several awards from the court. In January 1859, Li Hongzhang joined Zeng Guofan as an aide.Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang have always exchanged letters except for the many meetings in the capital in the early years.At that time, Li Hongzhang's elder brother Li Hanzhang was working in the Hunan Army led by Zeng Guofan, and was very popular with Zeng Guofan. During Li Hongzhang's assisted regiment training, Zeng Guofan wrote to Li Hongzhang many times, directly suggesting that he follow the successful experience of the Hunan Army and train a combat-capable team in a unique way.When Li Hongzhang's defense system was coming to an end, Ding You thought about the way out again and again.The long life is impermanent, and the officialdom is ruthless!The experience of so many years tells Li Hongzhang that the unpredictable changes in the political arena and the ups and downs of rewards and punishments are, in the final analysis, the battles of interpersonal relationships.The most important thing is to grasp the people you can rely on.At this time, Li Hanzhang, who also went home to end the father's guarding system, was sent by Zeng Guofan to Jiangxi Prime Minister Liangtai affairs.Before leaving, Hanzhang, the eldest son, decided to take his mother to Nanchang to take up the post.After Li Hanzhang left with his mother, the Taiping Army broke through Luzhou again.The ancestral house of Li's family was completely burned down by the Taiping army, and all the possessions in the house were also swept away.Looking at the ruins, the traces of the house being destroyed, and the panic-stricken family members, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but think of his father's teaching that the thief is not destroyed, why the family is his legacy, and endless sadness spread in his heart.