Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang were both among the four most famous officials in the late Qing Dynasty, so many people thought they were peers. But in fact, Zuo Zongtang can be said to have been supported by Zeng Guofan. It stands to reason that he should have great admiration for Zeng Guofan. But later Zuo Zongtang actually broke with Zeng Guofan completely. What is the reason for this?

Zuo Zongtang’s ability is obvious to all. He was invited to come out, and he delivered a brilliant answer in the first battle. He arranged military supplies and wrote documents day and night, just for the Qing Dynasty to win. It was precisely because of the military plan he provided that Changsha was able to hold on. After that, Zuo Zongtang became famous.

But it is precisely because he is very capable that he is particularly proud. Zeng Guofan's status is higher than him, and many people give him very high praise. Zuo Zongtang was very disdainful of this. He felt that the reason why Zeng Guofan was able to achieve those achievements was not because of how powerful he was, but because he followed the trend. He believed that if he were in Zeng Guofan's position, he would definitely do better than him.

In fact, earlier, the person Zuo Zongtang hated the most was probably Li Hongzhang. It's not that the two of them have any personal conflicts, but that their political views are exactly opposite. Zuo Zongtang hoped to pacify Xinjiang first, while Li Hongzhang and others regarded Japan as an imaginary enemy and proposed to recover the cost of recovering Xinjiang and then upgrade coastal defense. The two parties have been arguing.

Although Zuo Zongtang won in the end, he spent a lot of effort to fight against Li Hongzhang. This is actually just a microcosm of the discord between Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang. Because of their different positions, Zuo Zongtang would stand on the opposite side of Li Hongzhang on many matters.

You must know that Li Hongzhang, the junior who quarreled with Zuo Zongtang, was also promoted by Zeng Guofan, so Zuo Zongtang transferred his dislike of Li Hongzhang to Zeng Guofan. You know, the discord between Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang was well known at that time. Under such circumstances, Zeng Guofan still took extra care of Li Hongzhang, which made Zuo Zongtang very unhappy.

Zuo Zongtang was promoted by Zeng Guofan, and he must be grateful to Zeng Guofan in his heart, but gratitude does not mean that he will make concessions on many things. Because many times what Zuo Zongtang represents is not himself, but the interests of a collective. If Zuo Zongtang chooses to compromise, then he will have no way to establish prestige among his party members. This is actually a very helpless thing.

Of course, the most important reason is that no matter how their feelings are between Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guofan, they can only appear to be at odds. Rulers of all dynasties wanted to see ministers checking and balancing each other, rather than being monolithic. If the ministers are united as never before, then the one who should be anxious becomes the emperor. Anyone who dares to make the emperor anxious will definitely die on the spot. Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang are both good people, so they naturally understand this simple truth.

So if they have conflicts, they will boldly bring the conflicts to the table. If they didn't use contradiction, then they forced it to make Ci Xi feel at ease. This is not an unfounded worry. You must know that the two of them are not only powerful ministers, but also powerful ministers with heavy troops. If they really unite, they have the ability to subvert the rule of the Qing Dynasty.