"Praise is the sacred phase, praise is the culprit", which is the evaluation of Zeng Guofan by Zhang Taiyan, a cultural celebrity in the late Qing Dynasty. This shows Zeng Guofan's complicated life. People's comments on him have been mixed. Some people regard him as a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty, while others regard him as a "feudal guardian" and "executioner". In fact, it is not exaggerated in some individual aspects, but there is no comprehensive and objective evaluation.
On the issue of dealing with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, most people think that Zeng Guofan is the executioner who suppressed the people's revolution and gave him the nickname "Zeng shaved his head" to describe the cruelty and harshness of killing people like shaving his head. This is indeed a fact. He declared that "severe punishment should be used in troubled times" and instructed officials to "catch more and kill quickly", "don't stick to the rules" and "cut off all officers and men who captured the Taiping Army". Even in his later years, he deeply felt the "killing for a living" in life. In a letter to his son Ceng Jize, he said, "When you grow up, you must never get involved in military affairs. It is difficult to see merit and easy to commit crimes. I have been fidgeting for a long time. " However, this can not completely cover up some of Zeng Guofan's political thoughts, such as his way of being an official, self-cultivation and westernization. In fact, Zeng Guofan's political thought during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not completely hostile to the people's revolutionary movement, but had profound historical roots and changed with the development of the times.
Mr. Feng Youlan believes that the struggle between Zeng Guofan and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is essentially a conflict between two cultures and two different religious beliefs. Zeng Guofan is a Taoist believer. He was guided by Taoism in Song and Ming Dynasties, supported by feudal regime and armed with Xiang Army. With Hong Xiuquan, who is based on Christianity, theocracy and armed with Taiping Army, it completely belongs to the conflict of two different cultural forms.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement is a large-scale and far-reaching peasant revolutionary movement in China's modern history. It has an indelible historical achievement, which inspired the people of China to strike a lasting and heroic blow against feudalism and foreign aggression, thus laying the foundation for China's modern democratic revolution. From a cultural point of view, as Mr. Feng Youlan said, the Taiping Revolution was an impact of western culture on China's traditional culture. However, this western culture advocating "theocracy" is not social progress, but has fallen behind for hundreds of years.
First of all, in the way of sports, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom implemented an ultra-left policy. People have no private property, all property is turned over to the "holy treasury", and compulsory military service is implemented. There are even cases where men and women are immoral, men and women are not married, and husband and wife are separated, which is rare in China and even in the world.
Secondly, the development process of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement can't meet people's expectations. The initial slogan of the Taiping Rebellion was "God" and "Heaven", which is a theocracy that has long fallen behind in the West. Moreover, after the uprising army flourished, Hong Xiuquan and other uprising leaders did not further put forward a political program that met the people's expectations, which was mainly reflected in the ideological limitations of land policy and tax policy. Even after coming to Nanjing with its capital, "China land system" is still a hollow thing, and it has not really solved the contradiction between farmers and land, farmers and rich gentry.
Third, the political naivety of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was exposed prematurely. After the fall of Nanjing, divisions began to appear within the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, especially after the capital was established as the emperor. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is actually another feudal regime after the Qing government. Moreover, after the uprising army flourished, Hong Xiuquan tried to settle internal contradictions and was often crowned king. He lives a luxurious life himself. He has no broad mind, foresight and magnanimity. He crowded out a large number of talented people and was suspicious of his subordinates. Moreover, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was hierarchical and bureaucratic.
Fourth, Hong Xiuquan was dissatisfied with Confucius and Mencius, rejected Confucian classics and took Christian classics as the foundation of the country. Scholars value the Confucian Temple, the Learning Palace and the Sacrifice most, but together with Chenzhou, the Taiping Army burned the Learning Palace and destroyed the column, and even "the awe-inspiring Guandi Betty Wong polluted his palace".
On the other hand, it is the intellectuals represented by Zeng Guofan who look back on the political thoughts of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and protect the traditional culture of China, especially the Confucian orthodoxy. Almost all the intellectuals in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were not allies of the revolutionary peasant class. At that time, although there were a few intellectuals who initially accepted capitalist ideas, they still stood on the position of the landlord class, or were closely related to imperialism and incompatible with the peasant revolution. They would rather pin their hopes on Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, enemies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. For example, Feng Guifen believes that "suppressing thieves"-the disappearance of the peasant revolution in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is a top priority at present; Wang Tao advocated that Taiping Army and Zeng Guofan give up the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, obviously for the benefit of the British. Hong Rong, the first foreign student, refused to take part in the peasant revolution and eventually became Zeng Guofan's right-hand man for westernization.
Zeng Guofan's political thought is loyal to the monarch and patriotism, advocating etiquette and honesty, and believing in sages and philosophers, so it is completely Confucian. The way to govern the country with "ceremony" as the center is that everything in the world flows in "ceremony", which was reflected in the feudal era. This is the core of Zeng Guofan's own political thought. Administering the people by courtesy, governing oneself by courtesy, and claiming to be a benevolent government and etiquette, are actually "external Confucianism and internal law", saying "courtesy" to the peasant class and restricting its use, severely punishing those who dare to resist and doubt, governing the Xiang army by true courtesy, "being kind and using courtesy", implementing family rules and regulations, educating soldiers in the name of feudal laws, and cultivating loyalty to feudal emperors. Under the influence of the item, Zeng Guofan and the officers in the army can be said to be brothers, and over time they formed the fate of * * *.
First of all, Zeng Guofan highly praised "ruling the country by courtesy". He said: "Wang Zhidao comes first, so-called repairing the machine to govern the people, where does the latitude and longitude belong?" Also said: it's just a ceremony! Ancient gentlemen ..... it is a matter of ceremony to cultivate one's morality, govern the country and level the world. From the heart, it is immoral to give up gifts; It doesn't matter if you are strict in appearance. He also argues that "courtesy" is the most important thing in "solving world disputes". In his view, there are 14 categories of world events to be studied: "official system, financial use, salt policy, water affairs, money law, crown ceremony, wedding, funeral, sacrifice, military system, criminal law, land and land, canal." Zeng Guofan's "ceremony" actually refers to the Confucian orthodoxy that maintains the feudal hierarchy and feudal ruling order. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the wave of peasant revolution washed away the dam of feudal rule and dealt an unprecedented heavy blow to feudal orthodoxy. Zeng Guofan accused the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of slandering Confucius and Mencius and sweeping away the etiquette and ethics of the year before last, pointing out: the saints of past dynasties supported the famous religion, and the ethics described by the famous religion, the monarch, the minister and the son, ranked as high as the crown; Attacking the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's idea of pure equality and jointly destroying the feudal hierarchy is "a strange change of famous religions since the opening up." Obviously, Zeng Guofan's propaganda of "ruling the country by courtesy" in this situation is to cooperate with the military suppression of the peasant masses, imprison their thoughts with the shackles of orthodoxy, and eliminate their rebellious spirit, thus maintaining and strengthening the ideological rule of the landlord class.
Secondly, as a famous politician in modern times, Zeng Guofan's political thought is very important to be loyal to the monarch and patriotic. He thinks that what he wants politically is to make himself a good minister. This is also the political center of Confucianism. This view often emerges in his letters. When he was honored to invite Lu Wei, he said, "Within one door, it is extremely embarrassing, and it is immoral to do nothing. What is shameful? " However, if Qi Xin works together, it will still try its best to save the country by practicing sideways and doing it seriously. "He also believes that the monarch and his subjects should be honest and there should be no gap." If you have something on your mind, you can always put it out. The memorial service is the most important thing for an official, and my brother must work hard. "The second essence of being a good' virtuous minister' is' loving the people'. He once said: "It seems that there is no reason in the world to observe the recent official management of people's hearts and the governors and generals of various provinces. I only repay my husband with diligence and my relatives with love for the people. "Although this is in conflict with Zeng Guofan's cruelty in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, loyalty to the monarch and patriotism is first and foremost his spiritual leadership, and sometimes he can't help himself in actual situations.
Third, in the eyes of people who sympathize with the peasant uprising, another remarkable feature of Zeng Guofan's political thought is that he is full of hatred for the people's revolutionary movement. He put great emphasis on brutally suppressing people's resistance with harsh laws. He thought that "forgiveness can't rule the people", even if he was "branded as a martial artist" and "afraid to quit" in order to suppress the peasant uprising, under the guidance of this thought, Zeng Guofan was famous for his bravery as early as in Hunan, and it was extremely cruel and cruel to lead the Xiang army to suppress the revolutionary movement of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Of course, Zeng Guofan's reactionary face exposed in this respect is undeniable, but the emergence of this thought also has its profound historical roots. Specifically, Zeng Guofan should combine the ruling thought of Confucianism and Legalism, and its ultimate goal is to maintain feudal rule.
During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guofan's political thought could not be separated from the category of Confucianism. While worshiping Confucianism, he actually advocated the rule of law. Therefore, there is a fundamental conflict between his thoughts and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Zeng Guofan's family background can also be described as "studying in agriculture". Zeng's "since ancient times, the world has been a farmer, and it has accumulated filial piety without showing it to the world." But his family is undoubtedly a country aristocrat. Zeng Guofan grew up in such a family, and he was exposed to the frugal and simple life of his elders, the teaching of courtesy, righteousness and shame, and the thought of loyalty to the monarch and patriotism read in the book. In addition, he was born and raised in Hunan, with a strong atmosphere of Neo-Confucianism, which also gave him a profound influence.
Confucianism has been the mainstream of China's cultural thought since the Han and Tang Dynasties. The traditional culture of China, with Confucianism as the mainstream, shows the humanistic spirit with life as the center and emphasizing subjectivity and morality, which is rooted in the sense of hardship in China culture. China people's strong sense of hardship breeds moral consciousness. Personal strong sense of obligation and responsibility to society is also an important feature of ideal personality emphasized by Confucianism. Therefore, under the influence of this traditional Confucian ideology and culture, when the Taiping Army rose and the country was in cobblestone autumn, Zeng Guofan took the world as his responsibility and set out to fight bandits.
China has been ruling the country by virtue since ancient times. No matter how the accident happened, the books of sages must be read, and the legacy of sages must be kept. Hong Xiuquan rejected Confucius classics, so it is no wonder that Zeng Guofan and others regard Christian classics as the foundation of the country and regard them as "the strange change of Ming religion." It is no wonder that Zeng Guofan and others can't stand it and lead like-minded Hu Linyi, Zuo, Li Hongzhang and others to "defend morality".
China was ruled by ethnic minorities in the Qing Dynasty, and Zeng Guofan, a Han Chinese, was naturally clear. However, it was 200 years since the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, and the scars of the Qing Dynasty when it entered the customs have been calmed down. Zeng Guofan grew up in a family and in the thought of "loyalty to the monarch and patriotism" of Confucius and Mencius. I thought it was providence. If it wasn't for his choice, God would never entrust him with the advice of all the comrades in the world, so they only had faith in the monarch and had no doubt. When the peasants rose up against the feudal court, it was natural to suppress the rebels in order to be loyal and patriotic ministers.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was mixed with the western propaganda thought of "worshipping God", which caused a huge ideological wave in its ruling area and destroyed the traditional Confucian classics. In the case that it is too slow to simply explain and sort out the country, Zeng Guofan and others, the representatives of Confucian traditional culture who advocate the idea of practical application, stand in the vanguard position of thought to defend the "holy way" and maintain the face of "orthodoxy". Some scholars say: "If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom only calls for the overthrow of Land Rover, instead of opposing Confucianism, propagating heresy and insulting the integrity and shame handed down by China for thousands of years", this may not cause dissatisfaction among the literati, nor may it cause Zeng Guofan's armed forces.
Although Confucianism effectively maintained the long feudal autocracy in ancient China and greatly restricted the people's freedom of thought, Zeng Guofan's suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which respected Confucianism and political thought could not be separated from Confucianism, at least protected the whole feudal society from retrogression to the theocratic era, which the West had lagged behind for hundreds of years. In addition, compared with China's traditional Confucianism, Hong Xiuquan's "worship of God" is also a superstitious and backward cultural form. In a sense, Zeng Guofan is defending the wisdom of China culture and avoiding the lagging invasion of western culture. Therefore, Zeng Guofan's political thoughts during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were not completely reactionary, but should be viewed objectively from the perspective of maintaining traditional ethics and protecting China's traditional culture.