Zeng Guofan was born in the 16th year of Jiaqing (18 1 1) in a wealthy landlord family in Heyetang, Jingzi Town, Shuangfeng County, Hunan Province. There are nine brothers and sisters, Zeng Guofan is the eldest son. The ancestors were mainly farmers, and their lives were relatively affluent. Grandpa Zeng Yuping's education is not high, but he has rich experience; Father Zeng Linshu is a scholar, and Zeng Guofan, the eldest son and grandson, was naturally educated by two ancestors.
Zeng Guofan entered school at the age of 6, read eight-part essay and recited five classics at the age of 8, read Zhou Li and Selected Works of Historical Records at the age of 14, and took part in the boy test in Changsha. His excellent grades are listed as excellent, which shows that he has been smart and diligent since he was a child. In the 12th year of Daoguang (1832), he was admitted as a scholar and married Ouyang Cangming's daughter.
Zeng Guofan was admitted to Jinshi at the age of 28. From then on, he stepped onto the road of official career step by step, and became the right-hand man of Zhang Mu, Minister of Military Aircraft. After more than ten years in Beijing, he successively served as imperial academy Jishi Shu, transferred to school, gave lectures, served as Wen Yuan Pavilion, served as a cabinet bachelor, inspected Chinese book affairs, served as assistant minister of Ministry of War, assistant minister of Ministry of Industry, assistant minister of punishments and assistant minister of official department. Zeng Guofan was promoted to the second-class position step by step along this career path. Moving seven times in ten years, jumping ten times in a row, jumping from seven products to two products,
Zeng Guofan's life is inseparable from the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement. In the second year of Xianfeng (1852), Zeng Guofan was lost at home because of his mother. At this time, the Taiping Rebellion has swept half of China. Although the Qing government mobilized a large number of Eight Banners green camp officers and men from all over the country to deal with the Taiping Army, this decadent armed force was vulnerable. Therefore, the Qing government issued many orders to reward the Yong Tuan, trying to use the landlord armed forces in various places to curb the development of revolutionary forces, which provided an opportunity for the emergence of Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army. Xianfeng three years (1853), he used the opportunity given by the Qing government to seek strength to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In his hometown of Hunan, he established a local group training called Xiang Army by relying on complicated interpersonal relationships such as mentoring, relatives and friends. Zeng Guofan brutally suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising and used harsh laws. History says that "one person is sent to be known, and another person is sent to judge robbers." If the solution is serious, it will be decided. If it is light, it will be killed. If it is light, it will be blamed. ..... The case will be tried immediately and the law will be implemented immediately. There is no expectation of delay. " Not only did he kill people directly, but his father and four brothers also killed people. Some people accused him of killing too many people and called him "once bald" and "once butcher". It is said that children in Nanjing cry at night, and when their mother says "I shaved my head", the children stop crying. In the battle with the Taiping Army, Zeng Guofan used methods such as looting property and conferring officials to boost morale, which formed the nature of the Xiang Army warrior's disability. Xiang Army became one of the main forces in the Qing army with backward military quality to fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the south of China. Zeng Guofan was named the first-class brave marquis, becoming the first person to seal the marquis of Wu as a scholar in the Qing Dynasty. Later, he served as the governor of Liangjiang and Zhili, and his official residence was a product.
Zeng Guofan wrote a lot in his life, but his letters from home were the most widely circulated and had the greatest influence. In the fifth year of Guangxu (1879), that is, seven years after Zeng Guofan's death, Nakagawa Bookstore carved Zeng Gong's letter edited by Li and Li Hongzhang.
Zeng Guofan himself was also good at employing people, and other famous ministers in Qing Dynasty, such as Zuo and Li Hongzhang, were closely related to him. Zuo and Li Hongzhang called Zeng Guofan a teacher. Zeng Guofan once said, "Li Shaoquan tried his best to be an official, and Yu (Yu Yue) tried his best to write a book".
After the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Army joined the Nian Army in the rest of Jiangbei, and the Qing court ordered Zeng Guofan to supervise the military affairs of Zhili, Shandong and Henan provinces. Zeng Guofan led 20,000 Xiang troops and 60,000 Huai troops, equipped with foreign guns and guns, and "suppressed twists" in the north. His policy was to "suppress hard rather than pursue hard" and put forward plans such as "key fortification" in an attempt to block the Nian army in the canal and Shahe area, so that it had nowhere to escape and was eliminated. However, the Nian Army broke through Zeng Guofan's defense line and entered Shandong, which bankrupt Zeng Guofan's strategic plan. Zeng Guofan was removed from office and replaced by Li Hongzhang.
In the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870), Zeng Guofan, then governor of Zhili, was ordered to go to Tianjin to handle the Tianjin religious plan. On June 2 1870, thousands of people gathered in front of the French Catholic Church in Tianjin, suspecting that the Catholic Church used the nursery as a crutch to kidnap people and kill babies. Uncle Feng, the French consul, believes that there is no hard pressure from the government. He ran into Liu Jie, the magistrate of Tianjin, with a gun in the street. He shot and killed a servant in Liu Jie on the spot because of an argument. In public anger, he first killed Uncle Feng, the French consul, and his secretary Simon, then killed 10 nuns, 2 priests, 2 other French consulate staff, 2 French nationals, 3 Russian nationals and more than 30 China believers, and burned the French consulate and Wanghai. After the incident, Britain, the United States, France and other countries jointly protested and dispatched warships to show off their strength. After Zeng Guofan arrived in Tianjin, considering the situation at that time, he didn't want to go to war with France. "However, the quick success of Hebei lottery is not one of the courtship crimes." At the request of France, it was decided to finally kill 18 people who took the lead in killing people, exile 25 people, and send Tianjin magistrate Zhang Guangzao and magistrate Liu Jie to Heilongjiang to compensate foreigners for the loss of 462,000 silver, and Chonghou sent a mission to France. As a result of this negotiation, the court and the people in public opinion were very dissatisfied, which greatly affected Zeng Guofan's reputation and caused the national ruling and opposition parties to scold him. Even his fellow villagers in Hunan smashed and burned the plaque boasting about his fame in Huguang Hall.
He died in Nanjing on February 4th, 11th year of Tongzhi (Gregorian calendar:1March 20th, 872). The court gave a teacher a gift, and he was named "Zheng Wen" after his death. There are many officials in the descendants of his family, such as Ceng Jize.