Zeng Guofan is actually quite contradictory, but it is undeniable that he played an important role in the modern history of China. Everything about him was determined by the era in which he lived. We cannot judge him from a certain aspect. That would be too unfair to him. Personally, I quite admire him. Zeng Guofan experienced four generations of emperors in power. The most important thing was that China was facing major political reforms at that time. During this period, he experienced the Opium War, suppressed the Taiping Rebellion, launched the Westernization Movement, and dealt with the Tianjin Mission Case. These, in the general environment of the time, promoted the entire social period.
We are not in that era, so we cannot judge and understand him. There will be different Zeng Guofan in different times and in the eyes of different people. Therefore, some people call Zeng Guofan "the crown prince of Zhongxing's honorable ministers", and some people call Zeng Guofan the "chief culprit" who brought disaster to the country and the people. No one is right or wrong. However, in order to clarify Zeng Guofan's historical status, Zeng Guofan must be placed in the era that gave birth to him. Connect him with the historical tasks of his time. The Taiping Rebellion itself was controversial and limited. Therefore, the Hunan Army represented by Zeng Guofan achieved the reunification of China and reestablished social order. Its historical merits and demerits are self-evident. Zeng Guofan, the initiator and earliest practitioner of the Foreign Service Movement, his role in it is self-evident. He made China take a very important step on the road to modernization. As for the three major diplomatic events in his later years: the borrowing of barbarian troops to assist the suppression, the Aspen fleet incident, and the Tianjin missionary case, these issues are still highly controversial. Whether Zeng Guofan’s achievements in the Tianjin missionary case outweighed his faults or his faults were weighed. To be honest, the merits and demerits of the handling should be greater than the faults, or the faults are greater than the merits. I don’t know how to evaluate it, it just depends on my personal understanding!
The reason why I admire him is because of the two books you mentioned above. In college, sometimes when I was bored, I would read a lot of books. I don’t remember what novel I read at that time. It was very recommended by the novel "Zeng Guofan Family Letters", so I read it. In fact, I felt that many of the contents were fundamental. There is no way to achieve it, but I can understand it and will be moved by him. I appreciate his persistence in things and his rigorous attitude towards life!
If you are interested in Zeng Guofan, you can check out this website. It specializes in studying Zeng Guofan, called Zeng Guofan Research Network. It has a very comprehensive study on him. I hope it will be helpful to you!