Yang Jian: To be honest, Yang Guang is indeed stronger than the boss in some aspects, this Emperor Xianfeng has been slipping around, and this teacher is looking for quite good!

Di Renjie: Because Emperor Daoguang is such an emperor, what he likes is a child who is obedient, obedient, and steady, and this kind of prince is more in line with the standards of "virtuous" in most of our dynasties.

Fusu: Since it is said that it is the last generation of emperors with real power, it seems that they are still looking away.

Lis: It will decay in the early stage, sooner or later.

"This Emperor Xianfeng can't just be said to be a mediocre emperor, but mediocre, although there is a big difference between countries, but you can't go to war with others."

"Emperor Xianfeng just succeeded to the throne is also a hot-blooded young man, immediately realized his ambitions, immediately changed to the employment system, the Qing Dynasty has always been heavy and light Han, a change from the previous atmosphere, a large number of Han people."

"This policy is actually very good, after all, the Qing Dynasty has been stationed in the Central Plains for decades, and it can be said that it has integrated with the Han people."

"When Emperor Xianfeng first succeeded him, he was so ambitious that the ministers of the court were also full of confidence."

"Moreover, for this reason, within a year of his accession to the throne, he got rid of two powerful ministers who held real power, but pretended to be public and private, and did not work."

"These two powerful ministers are Mu Zhang'a, the first assistant of the cabinet, and the royal nobleman Qiying."

"In the later period of Emperor Daoguang, Mu Zhang'a became a powerful figure in the imperial court who combined political power and military power, and had unshakable influence in the imperial court."

"However, although this person holds real power, he is a mediocre person with no real talent and learning, and he never takes the various problems raised by the emperor seriously, and repeatedly plays sloppy."

"After Emperor Xianfeng came to power, he adopted an attitude of not cooperating and ignoring him, wanting to blackmail Emperor Xianfeng."

"Qi Ying, a member of the Manchu royal family, started as a minor official in the Zongren Mansion, and was promoted all the way to the cabinet scholar, and also entered the cabinet."

After that, he also served as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, the secretary of the household department, and the general of Shengjing.

After the outbreak of the Opium War, Emperor Daoguang had high hopes for him because he was a member of the imperial family, and sent him to Guangzhou to deal with the negotiations with the British and French forces. ”

"However, I didn't expect him to grovel in front of foreigners and sign a series of unequal treaties with the British and French coalition forces, causing unprecedented losses to national sovereignty."

"In the face of these two scum who have brought disaster to the country and the people, Emperor Xianfeng has long hated them."

"However, in the first few months of coming to power, Emperor Xianfeng did not take measures against them, and first sat on his throne and prepared to attack."

"Finally, after ten months, Emperor Xianfeng finally attacked them, and even the edict announcing their guilt was written by Emperor Xianfeng himself."

"Whether it's for personal rights or not, but people do have some achievements, and the results are good."

"But this emperor hasn't waited for reform, wars have swept over and over, and Emperor Xianfeng doesn't know anything about war."

"At that time, the Qing Dynasty was in a turbulent period, because of the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, the Western powers began to establish colonies and spheres of influence in the Qing Dynasty, so that the country's economic and political status gradually declined."

"At the same time, the Qing bureaucracy was corrupt, the poor peasants lived in extreme difficulty, and social contradictions continued to intensify."

"In this context, some anti-Qing uprisings continued to emerge, and one appeared - the Taiping Army uprising."

"The background of the Taiping uprising was mainly religious."

A scholar named Hong Xiuquan in Wuzhou, Guangxi, had a vision when he was reading the Bible, claiming that he was the son of God, who had assumed the mission of the savior and founded the sect of the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom". ”

The Taiping Church advocated "equal wealth, communism, and prohibition of opium and other decadent goods" and called on the vast number of peasants to join the sect. ”

"Hong Xiuquan's ideas spread rapidly in Guangxi, Guangdong and other places, attracting a large number of followers, among whom the Zhuang peasants in Guangxi and the Fujian and Guangdong peasants in Guangdong were the most."

"In January 1850, the Taiping Rebellion took place in Guiping, Guangxi, and the uprising was suppressed by the Qing government, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sect was able to grow in the countryside of Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, and other places."

"But the later Taiping Army uprising, all the way to attack Hanyang, Yuezhou, Nanjing these cities, so that the young Xianfeng Emperor was speechless, after all, he enjoyed the glory and wealth of his business, but in the face of this kind of war, how did he face it?"

"Such a young emperor could not bear this pressure, and finally faced the uprising of the Taiping army, and the Hunan army led by Zeng Guofan went to rehabilitate."

"The battle of Anqing, the battle between the Taiping army and the Hunan army, was really fierce, and of course this peasant uprising failed."

"The Battle of Anqing was a bloody massacre, after the Hunan army broke the city, it burned and looted according to the order of "Bingding Dasuo for three days", and more than 40,000 people in the city died at their hands. ”

"Putting these aside, this battle can be said to be the most proud work of Zeng Guofan's entire military career, and he used his far-reaching strategic vision and vicious military insights to present a great example of clumsy and heavy sword without edge for future generations."

"In everyone's eyes, the economic significance of a region is far less than the strategic significance."

As the so-called "thousands of miles of the Yangtze River is the marquis, Wu Chu divides the first continent of the river", the real strategic significance of Anqing lies in its topography. ”

"The winding and narrow Yangtze River passes through the city, and the mountains on both sides are rugged and steep, and this natural danger is simply impossible to march and fight, and occupying Anqing is equivalent to choking the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which is of vital significance for transporting strategic materials and controlling grain production areas."

"In 1859, the Taiping army marched all the way and defeated the military base camp of the Qing army in the Jiangnan region, and Changzhou, Suzhou, and Zhejiang fell one after another."

"You must know that the taxes paid by Jiangsu and Zhejiang account for nearly half of the financial revenue of the entire Qing court, and if this city is lost, the princes and nobles of the court will run out of food sooner or later."

"So from Emperor Xianfeng to officials at all levels, they strongly urged Zeng Guofan to immediately send troops to Jiangnan to recover the lost territory."

"But the edicts have been issued several times, but Zeng Guofan insisted on taking Anqing first."

"In the end, after he wrote many times to seize the importance of Anqing, Xianfeng could only make concessions, so Zeng Guofan began to attack Anqing's tactical arrangements and detailed matters."

"First of all, Zeng Guofan ordered Fuzhou Commander Duolonga to lead an army to attack Shipai Town at night, the Taiping army had no time to prepare, was killed by surprise, thousands of people were killed and wounded, and the guards were captured."

"After occupying Shipai Town, Zeng Guofan ordered Duolonga and Bao Chao, the general soldier, to lead more than 10,000 people to attack Taihu County."

(End of chapter)