Chapter 69 Teacher guidance is helpful

After Li Hongzhang arrived in Shanghai, he was the main official who took on the task of borrowing teachers to assist in the suppression.In response to this problem, Zeng Guofan wrote many secret letters to him, guiding him with the idea of ​​self-improvement and self-reliance.On March 30th, the first year of Tongzhi (1862), he said in a letter: "It is difficult to deal with foreigners' entanglement, and the respect can only be resolved with two words: if you can defend Shanghai, you can, and if you can suppress other places." Otherwise not.Nearby are Jiading and Jinnan, and far away are Su, Chang, and Jinling. They are all other places, all in the hinterland.The tone of the words should be gentle, the meaning should be sincere, and the appearance of arrogance should not be exposed.Your Excellency is quite arrogant when dealing with the enemy. If you are in a high position, you should always check yourself.When interacting with foreigners, you should be gentle and docile, and you should not mistake Jane Ao for your strength of character.A person with a strong character is self-reliant on the inside and has nothing to ask for outside, which is not arrogance.Mr. Xue picked two or three thousand people from each battalion to accompany the barbarian soldiers to practice and garrison, but it is absolutely impossible.Knowing that Xue Ying is despised by foreigners, is it okay to use this to fool him?Your Excellency only believes that you will be able to prevent and not suppress the five characters. Since it is not the bandits who are forcing you to attack Shanghai, I have no negotiation with Britain and France.In the letter, he clearly pointed out the principle of getting along with foreigners, that is, we can only defend in Shanghai, and in other places, the big powers must not intervene in order to safeguard China's sovereignty.He warned Li Hongzhang that he must first be self-reliant, even if there are no foreigners, he can completely complete the task by himself.But in the process of getting along with him, he should not show arrogance because of self-reliance and self-improvement, so as not to cause new conflicts.

In the following three months, he wrote four or five letters one after another, teaching Li Hongzhang the way to improve himself and how to get along with foreigners.In his letter, he said: I want my troops to be self-reliant. First, I will suppress one or two places alone. If they are serious and courageous, they will not be laughed at by foreigners, and then I will have a blind date with foreigners. It is not too late.Our army is self-reliant enough to convince Long Yan from afar. May Your Excellency treat foreigners with humility and restraint, and tell all brave men in the army not to boast about their military excellence, and they do not want foreigners to help.There is a bit of pride in my heart, but there is a lot of arrogance in the mouth of a brave man, you must be aware of it.When interacting with foreigners, Confucius is loyal and respectful, and Gou Jian is humble and arrogant, and Wu people are ambiguous.It is better to be sparse and light in appearance.If I am indifferent and self-reliant, then he will seek intimacy more and more.This certain mood also.

Due to Zeng Guofan's repeated warnings, the imperial court also realized the complexity of the problem, so it gave up the idea of ​​borrowing troops to recover and often, and limited the borrowing of troops to help suppress Shanghai and Ningbo, two treaty ports. Li Hongzhang, as the executor, completely followed Zeng Guofan's teachings.The power of foreigners is indispensable, but they try to limit it as much as possible.Because he gained a firm foothold in Shanghai and became a real opponent of the Taiping Army, the great powers did not dare to despise him.And Li Hongzhang was also able to use the power of foreign soldiers to achieve his own goals, and to win over them with all kinds of tricks, so that he could use them for himself, not for others.Even the foreign gun team commanded by Wall and Gordon was under the firm control of Li Hongzhang.After suppressing the Taiping Army, Li Hongzhang resolutely disbanded the foreign gun team and incorporated the elite into the Huai Army, which completely relieved his worries.He took himself as the starting point, took advantage of the power of foreigners, but avoided the ending of being controlled by others, which was the result of Zeng Guofan's self-improvement thought guidance.

At the same time, Zeng Guofan realized that to truly achieve self-improvement, one must learn the strengths of foreigners and develop oneself.So he guided Li Hongzhang, which was also a factor for Li Hongzhang to make a difference in the Westernization Movement.