What are Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan like respectively?

Li Hongzhang, a teenager, became the youngest scholar in Anhui Province at the age of 24. I have invested in famous teachers in Beijing and have been guided by experts. I am highly accomplished in poetry and calligraphy. Later, he entered the shogunate of Zeng Guofan, and he honed his officialdom prose. Li Hongzhang was a great figure in the late Qing Dynasty. He inherited his teacher Zeng Guofan's career and opened China's eyes to the world. He is a real scholar and official in China. The relationship between Zeng and Zeng Guofan can be traced back to the communication between Li Hongzhang's father and Zeng Guofan. Li Wenan and Zeng Guofan were both 1898 (1838) Jinshi, so they had the friendship of "the same year". Before Li Hongzhang and his younger brother Li entered the imperial examination, they used to take refuge in Zeng Guofan's school as "old children", worshipped Zeng as a teacher, studied eight-part essay, tried to post poems and essays, and "learned from righteousness and pragmatism". 1845, Li Hongzhang took the Cohen exam, and Zeng Guofan served as a college examiner. Although Li Hongzhang failed in the exam, his poems were appreciated by Zeng and he felt that Li Hongzhang's talents were of great use. Later, when Li Hongzhang was studying in the Imperial Academy, he often asked Zeng for advice. 1853, Li, the younger brother of Li Hongzhang, entered Zeng Guofan's shogunate to help manage the grain platform of the Xiang army, while Li Hongzhang returned to his hometown in Anhui to help Yong ying and suppress the Taiping rebels. A few years later, Li Hongzhang, who wanted to make a big difference, was defeated by the Taiping Army. When he was down and out, he laughed at himself as an "old drunkard". In desperation, he came to Zeng Guofan Camp in Jiangxi at the end of 1858 and wanted to enter the curtain. I knew Li Hongzhang's talent for a long time, but I thought he was unstable and conceited, so I deliberately didn't see him. More than a month later, Li Hongzhang found someone to intercede. Zeng Guofan said: Li Hongzhang is also an academician. He is ambitious and talented. My situation here is very narrow, just a shallow ditch, and he can't accommodate this big ship. Why doesn't he go back to work in Beijing? After repeated intercession, Li Hongzhang finally entered Zeng Guofan's curtain in June of 1859 and became Zeng's curtain guest. In fact, Zeng Guofan didn't want him, just wanted to blow his pride and make him more restrained and calm. In Zeng Guofan's shogunate, Li Hongzhang handled copywriting, reviewed official documents and drafted the memorial. Zeng Guofan's most famous performance in The Story of Weng Tonghe was written by Li Hongzhang. Anhui Governor Weng Shu Tong was the teacher of Emperor Xianfeng and Prince Gong, and served as the eldest son of Weng Xincun, the minister of the Ministry of Industry. This participant accused Weng of improper measures, ineffective guarding the city, abandoning the city and fleeing, and should be severely punished. With the strength of Weng's family, it is difficult to bring it down. Therefore, Zeng Guofan attached great importance to it and asked the copywriting office to draft several drafts. Among several drafts, he selected Li Hongzhang's draft. Such an important discount, but less than 600 words, can be said that every word is fateful, every sentence is bloody. This chapter describes in detail Weng Zhong's crimes of betraying, using villains badly, mishandling, dying for fear of sin, and losing two cities in succession, and then points out the contradictions in Weng's memorials, refuting his various self-justifications, leaving him no room for further justification. At the end of this fold, it reads: "Why does Weng Shu Tong get away with it?" We should ask Weng Shu Tong to be dismissed to remind him to observe military discipline. Where the official position is, the injustice will be corrected, and I dare not pay attention to it, because Weng Shu's family is prosperous. The sentence "I dare not give in to the Weng family's wealth" means that the court blocked the "back road" that was lenient because of the Weng family's wealth. The court had to reluctantly sentence Weng Shu Tong to "quasi-beheading and awaiting trial in prison" according to regulations. Therefore, Zeng Guofan praised: "Shao Quanlin's talent is the closest to the public, and the proposed books have great advantages, and will certainly make extraordinary achievements in the future, and even shine on you. "Zeng Guofan's life is very regular. He gets up early every day to check the camp, and then has breakfast with the staff at dawn, or talks about the work arrangement of the day or casually chats. When he first arrived at Zeng Guofan's shogunate, Li Hongzhang, who was lazy by nature, was very uncomfortable with this regular and rigid life and was deeply bitter. One morning, he wanted to sleep for a while in the name of a headache, but Zeng Guofan knew that he was faking illness and slept for a while, so he sent someone to invite Li Hongzhang to dinner several times. Finally, he told Li Hongzhang that all his staff must be here before dinner. Li Hongzhang hurriedly put on his clothes and stumbled. "Zeng Guofan didn't say a word when eating. After dinner, he taught him seriously: "Shao Quanlin, since you have entered my door curtain, I have something to tell you. Here, the only word is "sincerity." After leaving angrily, Li Hongzhang was "terrified". Zeng Guofan always knew that Li Hongzhang was "brilliant and unruly", so he was extremely strict with him, trying his best to carve, cultivate temperament and cultivate morality. Many years later, Li Hongzhang recalled: "In the camp, my teacher always had to wait for my generation to eat at the same time;" "After dinner, sit around and talk about the history of the classics, and take pains to learn the useful and practical words of the economy. A meal is better than the last class. " Leaving Zengmu angrily, Li Hongzhang not only drafted official documents, but also participated in important military aircraft. For example, in September of 1860, the British and French allied forces captured Tianjin, pushing Beijing at the gates. On the way to Jehol, Emperor Xianfeng ordered Zeng Guofan, who was alone in Qimen, to send Bao Chao, an elite Xiang army, to the north for rescue. After receiving the order, Zeng Guofan was in a dilemma and indecisive. The industrious king has the responsibility to go to the north. If he doesn't go to the north to protect God, he will be accused of being a sinner in the world. However, this is a critical moment to destroy the Taiping Army. Once the elite is eliminated, it will have a great impact on the war situation, and it is at the time when Huizhou fell and Qimen was in danger. Zeng Guofan was so anxious that he couldn't sleep for several nights that he asked his subordinates to put forward a plan. As a result, almost all advocated going north to be a "diligent king", and only Li Hongzhang pushed for conformity and disagreed with the transfer of troops to the north. Li Hongzhang believes that the British and French allied forces have arrived at the gates of Beijing, and it is only a matter of time before they attack the city. There is no point in sending troops north to defend the capital. Moreover, the invasion of the British and French allied forces will eventually end this matter, and the real threat to the Qing Dynasty is the Taiping Army. Li Hongzhang saw this earlier than the Qing court, and his vision was really unusual. He further discussed that the Xiang army suppressed the Taiping military "the security of the world" and should "obey the orders of the soldiers" and wait and see the changes of the situation. After careful consideration, I think what Li said is very reasonable, so I adopted this suggestion. Unsurprisingly, I soon received an order that the "peace talks" were over and there was no need for northern assistance. This incident made Zeng pay more attention to Li. Li Hongzhang used to be a teacher, but after all, he is a strong-minded person. He often has conflicts because of his stubbornness and wants to leave Zeng several times. 1860 When Zeng Guofan was promoted to the position of Governor of Liangjiang and decided to move to Qimen, Anhui Province, Li Hongzhang thought that Qimen was like the bottom of a kettle and there was no retreat. From a strategic point of view, it is very dangerous to move the camp here. Under the attack of Taiping Army, it was really dangerous. Li Hongzhang and others repeatedly asked to move to other places. Zeng Guofan insisted on his own opinion and even said to Li Hongzhang and others: "If you are timid, you can disperse separately." Soon, the contradiction between the two sides resumed, which was intensified by the Li Duyuan incident, which eventually led to Li Hongzhang's resignation in anger.