What did Cixi say to convince the public when she reused Zeng Guofan?

After the Empress Dowager Cixi stole the power of the Qing Dynasty by various means, she found that the situation she faced was not optimistic. Foreign powers kept making waves, and peasant uprisings broke out frequently in China, which constantly impacted the rule of the Qing Dynasty, the largest of which was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. This peasant uprising, in its heyday, swept through Yusheng in the south and established its own political power, rivaling the Qing Dynasty. At the same time, the annual army in the north is becoming stronger and stronger, echoing the Taiping Army in the south.

The Eight Banners, which the Qing Dynasty relied on most, had lost its fighting capacity after more than 100 years of comfortable life, which was not enough to cope with the complicated situation at that time. If the Qing dynasty wanted to survive, it had to make changes, such as boldly using the Han people, but accustomed to the high-ranking Manchu nobles, who were very resistant to the Han people from the bottom of their hearts.

After Empress Dowager Cixi came to power, faced with such a situation, after weighing the pros and cons repeatedly, she decided to use Han people. After all, it is not a difficult decision whether to save face or to survive. However, Empress Dowager Cixi can understand it, but other Manchu nobles may not. After learning of this decision of Empress Dowager Cixi, many nobles thought that this move of Empress Dowager Cixi violated the patriarchal clan system.

In the face of angry Manchu aristocrats, Empress Dowager Cixi did not make too many excuses, but said:

Don't need them, well, please go to the front to clean up the mess!

Although these nobles clamored fiercely, they really put them on the front line. And more and more timid. So when Empress Dowager Cixi said this, the nobles immediately kept their mouths shut for fear that Empress Dowager Cixi would commit suicide. After all, this woman's means, they still know.

After solving the internal problems, Empress Dowager Cixi looked for a candidate. After repeated selection, he took a fancy to two Han Chinese, one was Zeng Guofan and the other was Yuan Jiasan. The former is mainly used against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, while the latter is mainly used against the Nian Army.

Let me talk about Zeng Guofan first. This is a magical existence that has been regarded as perfect by many people so far. Although he suffered many setbacks in the imperial examination, his ideals and beliefs are very firm, and he can be said to be more and more courageous. He finally entered the imperial examination at the age of 28 and became an official assistant at the age of 40. When Cixi came to power, she was already the governor of Liangjiang.

According to the tradition of the Qing dynasty, this position has come to an end. However, a letter from Cixi gave him a further chance. Because his Ying Yong (that is, Xiang Army) performed very well in the battle against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although he was not invincible, he stood out from other Ying Yong.

So Empress Dowager Cixi appointed Zeng Guofan as an imperial envoy and always led the military and political affairs of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. Officials in these four provinces are controlled by Zeng Guofan regardless of their rank. This kind of power doesn't feel anything at first glance, but it is scary to taste it carefully. This is equivalent to establishing a country for Zeng Guofan, China, a province controlled by so many Han Chinese, which is the first time since the founding of the Qing Dynasty.

Of course, Zeng Guofan lived up to his expectations. He accumulated more and more advantages in a slow and steady way, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom broke out internally? Tianjing incident? The management was badly hurt. Finally, Zeng Guofan successfully captured Tianjing in August 1864.

Let's talk about another Han Chinese, Yuan Jiasan. This person is Zeng Guofan's brother. Compared with Zeng Guofan, his background is slightly better. His family is a family of four, two generations, with a father and son Jinshi and a brother Juren. He was also appointed as an imperial envoy by Empress Dowager Cixi, who was responsible for all the affairs of encirclement and suppression of the Nian Army. But Yuan Jiasan died in the front line before the bandits were finished.

At this time, Zeng Guofan has been liberated from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and naturally took over the banner of Yuan Jiasan and accomplished the task brilliantly.

In this way, the two most violent peasant uprisings in China at that time were solved by Zeng Guofan and Yuan Gusan, two Han Chinese. But unfortunately, these people are ok to fight the insurgents, which is still much worse than the armies of the great powers. Cixi can count on their domestic chaos, but she can't rely on them to deal with the powers.

But on the whole, Empress Dowager Cixi's bold reuse of Zeng Guofan and Yuan Jiasan has achieved good returns. If the time goes back a hundred years and the western powers rise from the peak, maybe the Qing dynasty can shine again after this move. This also explains the difference between Empress Dowager Cixi and other Manchu nobles to some extent. Especially in the case of Zeng Guofan, it caused a very big butterfly effect. His subordinate Zuo and disciple Li Hongzhang later became important figures in the Qing Empire.

Of course, in the face of rolling history, the ideological progress of Empress Dowager Cixi is very insignificant. In that complicated situation, it was not her one move that could break the game.