Li Hongzhang and Weng Tonghe: How did family feud become national hatred?

Li Hongzhang and Weng Tonghe, two heavyweights in the late Qing Dynasty, formed an issue, which began when Li Hongzhang "killed" Weng's people with the word "Zeng". Weng's family has been farmers for three generations, but since his father Weng Xincun, Weng's family began to be prime ministers and emperors' teachers. The so-called "two dynasties' prime ministers, re-embodiment emperors, three sons or ministers, and four generations of Han Yuan". His eldest brother, Weng Tongshu, is also as high as the governor. Weng's feud with Li Hongzhang is precisely because of his brother Weng Tongshu.

When Weng Tongshu was the governor of Anhui Province, he was ordered to exterminate the Nian army. Because he couldn't properly handle the domestic rebel Miao Peilin, the whole situation was very embarrassing. Zeng Guofan, who bravely killed the enemy on the other front, thought that the Weng family, whose power was growing day by day, was now "destroying one and counting one". But such a powerful family, if it can't be pulled down, won't it hurt itself? Grind the inkstone and pen, posing, and can't speak for a long time. Li Hongzhang, who worked as a secretary in Zengfu, quickly took over the writing: "Where is the official position?". The example should be corrected, and I dare not look forward to it because Weng Tongshu's family is prosperous. " "Example should be corrected" means that it is the work assigned to me by the emperor to overthrow Weng Tongshu, and it is my dereliction of duty not to do so; "I dare not look forward to and accommodate myself because of Weng Tongshu's family prosperity", which means that the emperor will look forward to and accommodate himself because of his family prosperity? Zeng Guofan was particularly appreciative of this writing and reported it to the emperor. The emperor felt that it was impossible to do it, so he immediately put on record. After being tried by a "collegial panel" composed of ministers, he was sentenced to death in the first instance. Later, he appealed to the "Supreme Court" for Weng, and the emperor was "nostalgic" and sentenced to exile in Xinjiang.

in officialdom, there is a saying that if you are in officialdom and he is in officialdom, then, no matter what the reason or motive, as long as you try to break up him and report him, you must be trying to find someone else's way with an ugly mind of political struggle. For example, an official sued a corrupt official, and the first thing everyone asked was not how much money the corrupt official had greedy, but what problems he had with others.

when Weng's family saw Zeng and Li's "example should be corrected", the first thing that came to their mind was not that Weng's family was sorry for the people and the country, but that they were cheating on me. Therefore, Weng and Li began to struggle with each other until they died.

Li Hongzhang formed the Beiyang Water Army, which is the fate of the Qing Dynasty-a strong army leads to national security, and a weak army leads to national danger. This is an iron law that has been tested for thousands of years and is still extremely correct, but raising the army is particularly expensive. Li Hongzhang was the commander of the water army, while Weng Tonghe was in charge of the "Household Department". The soldiers and horses did not move, and the food and grass went first. But Li Hongzhang repeatedly reported to the "Ministry of Finance" for money, and Weng Tonghe said every time that he had no money, which caused the Beiyang Water Army not to buy a warship since the fourteenth year of Guangxu.

On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Li Hongzhang knew that his water army was several catties and several taels, so he insisted on peace. On the one hand, Weng Tonghe refused to give money, on the other hand, he insisted on going to war, because in Weng's mind, the defeat of the water army was the defeat of Li Hongzhang and a godsend opportunity to completely bring down Li Hongzhang. His move is even more ruthless than Cao Cao's. Cao Cao "holds the emperor to make the princes", while Weng's "holds the country to make the princes". His patriotism is not cynical patriotism, cynical patriotism, simple heart and "selfless" anger; His patriotism is a politician's patriotism-take this opportunity to bring down his political opponents.

Both Weng's and Li's have super energy, because what they hold hostage is not to hit people with a stick or a piece of mud, but to hit people with a country and a nation. Hit people with a stick and hit people with mud, but the stick is broken and the mud is broken, while the country is used for the nation, often the country is destroyed and the nation suffers. It was not a straw that crushed the Qing Dynasty, but the struggle between Weng and Li was one of them. Li Hongzhang has been embarrassed, and the country has been difficult to end. However, "a hundred-footed worm, dead but not stiff", the Qing dynasty is not over yet, and the toss between Weng and Li is not over yet.

The two of them were still alive in the Qing Dynasty, and they fought incessantly. Li Hongzhang has always been the premier's yamen for national affairs, specializing in foreign negotiations. After the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, we still have to clean up the mess through diplomacy. Where can weak countries have diplomacy? Since the rooster was defeated in the fight, the Qing Dynasty would only have to be slaughtered. Japan was asking for exorbitant prices and wanted the Qing government to cede land. Li Hongzhang knew that there was no other way but to cede land, so he advocated to cede land for peace. Since this is Li Hongzhang's opinion, Weng Tonghe can't agree. Divide land for peace, or go to war again, if we all stand at the starting point of true patriotism, it is only a "struggle of doctrine", not to mention who is right or wrong. Although peace is not a long-term solution, it can also buy time with space; It is naturally a good thing to win the war, but if we lose again, a lot of land will be lost and many people will die. Whoever is good and who is not feasible can be disputed and weighed. What is the dispute between Weng and Li? You said you were going up the mountain, but he said you were going into the water. You said you were going into the water, but he said you were going up the mountain. Li Hongzhang said, in that case, please ask Mr. Weng to go to Japan to negotiate. Weng had never done westernization, so he had to invite "westernization experts" to personally put Li Hongzhang on the edge of a volcano, but he stood in the dry land and enjoyed the coolness.

Of course, Li Hongzhang didn't grow up a vegetarian. He often went to Cixi to tell about Weng Tonghe's obscenity, which led to the formation of the "two-party system" in the Qing Dynasty. One was the post-party, with Cixi as the chairman and Li Hongzhang as the deputy. One is the Emperor Party, with Guangxu as its chairman and Weng Tonghe as its vice chairman. The two men fought the military, then the internal affairs, and then the diplomacy: you stood in the dry ground and watched the tricks, so I'll let you play in the fire. After Li Hongzhang's operation, Weng Tonghe was indeed appointed as the "Prime Minister's Office for National Affairs". How did you feel? "Japanese dogs and sheep are almost inhuman."

the country is the stick, the country is the stick, and the safety of people's lives and property is the tool of conflict between political enemies. It didn't start with Weng and Li, nor did it end with Weng and Li. Weng Tonghe occupies the financial position, so Li Hongzhang's military department should not want to vent its anger and waste a career with people, which is more than heard from Weng and Li. My political opponents engage in education, so education can't develop; My political opponent is in charge of science and technology, so science and technology can't progress; My political opponents are on the front of politics and law, so if politics and law want to gain a proper position, wait for that guy to step down. This is also called "the city gate is on fire, and the fish in the pool are affected". One person causes the hatred of the leader, and the people below him, the land and a career under his leadership are also unlucky ... It's just a struggle between Weng and Li, but it's really two rare goods, national defense and national security. Can it be the same?

it shouldn't be like this, but it is like this. We can see what the official in this officialdom is! Here, the phrase "a good system can make people better, and a bad system can make people worse" can also be used: there is an "official pair" in officialdom. As long as it is an official, then he correspondingly occupies public resources, the financial department takes care of money, the personnel department takes care of people, and one of the two departments is good, so I will help you get money, and you will help me enter. What if you make friends? Then you card the people in my department and I card the money in your department; That is to say, if two people are "couplets", a good career will be good. You help me, I help you, you help my department, and I help your department; If two people are enemies, then I will kill you, and you will kill my career, and I will kill your career. The personal grievances between political enemies are often interpreted as public events.

As I have said before, there is an iron rule of "making a way" in officialdom. With this iron rule alone, we still can't understand the officialdom culture. We have to read it against the iron rule of "official pair" to get into the hall slightly, which is a complete officialdom culture. The iron of "pursuing the road" and the iron of "official pair" are mutually causal and slap each other. Weng and Li used the rule of "official pair" to engage each other, that is to say, they all used the interests of the public to make sticks.

As a result, personal enmity is infinitely magnified into public hatred, while those with smaller officials are magnified into the hatred of departments and localities, while those with bigger officials, such as Weng and Li, become the hatred of the nation and the country. They have nothing to fear. The so-called fighting with others is endless fun. Those who suffer, those who pay for it with blood and skulls, are all the people.