1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 216 Zongtang's Bait
Li Xingyuan's body has been retrieved from the Xiangjiang River and transported to Lingling.

Peng Gang ordered someone to make a coffin for Li Xingyuan and to preserve and safeguard Li Xingyuan's body.

Unlike Zhang Bilu, Peng Gang was willing to hold a funeral for Zhang Bilu because Zhang Bilu was one of the few courageous and capable soldiers in the Qing army, and a respectable enemy.

Given Li Xingyuan's lackluster performance at Huangsha Pass, his determination to die alone is not enough to earn Peng Gang's respect.

Peng Gang was only willing to give Li Xingyuan a coffin because he thought Li Xingyuan's body was still somewhat useful to him.

"Huang Bingxian, go to the prisoner-of-war camp and find a family member or advisor of Li Xingyuan, then bring them to me," Peng Gang said to Huang Bingxian while engrossed in writing a letter.

Although Li Xingyuan drowned himself in the Xiang River during the Battle of Huangsha Pass, most of his advisors and family members survived.

Huang Bingxian had no idea what Peng Gang was going to do with Li Xingyuan's family and staff.

As a prominent member of the Li family in Xiangyin, Li Xingyuan's family members and advisors were all quite literate.

In particular, among Li Xingyuan's advisors, being a tribute student was merely the minimum requirement. There were also many candidates who had not yet secured a real position and came to Li Xingyuan's tutelage to seek connections.

More than half of the official positions in the Qing Dynasty were reserved for the Eight Banners, and less than half of the remaining positions had to be sold to replenish the treasury.

Since the Qin Dynasty, the sale of official positions was not uncommon, but only the Qing Dynasty took this practice to its zenith, institutionalizing it through the donation system.

In the Qing Dynasty, buying an official position was not a one-time transaction. The entire process could be divided into three stages: obtaining qualifications, waiting in line for a position, and being officially appointed upon filling a vacancy. Each stage required additional payment.

To buy an official position, one had to first become a student of the Imperial Academy or a tribute student, and only then would one be eligible to purchase an honorary title. For example, Jiang Zhongyuan currently holds the title of Prefect, but his title was personally bestowed by Emperor Xianfeng, making it far more valuable than one that could be purchased through donation.

The title of prefect does not mean you are a prefect; it only means you are qualified to be one.

Once qualified, the next step is to buy a waiting list and enter the queue system to wait for a vacancy (i.e., a "vacancy").

But what if the practice of donating official positions is rampant, there are many candidates but few actual ones, and the waiting period is extremely long?

No problem, there are also "donation options" that allow you to skip the line and speed up the process.

Therefore, even if a Han Chinese Jinshi (进士) passed the imperial examination, the path to advancement was very narrow, and many Jinshi were unemployed, resorting to flexible employment as advisors to local governors and viceroys.

Li Xingyuan's advisors were inflexible; they looked down on Zuo Jun's makeshift team and Peng Gang, this self-made kingpin, and were unwilling to serve him.

Huang Bingxian didn't understand why Peng Gang wanted to see them. They weren't even on the same side.

Before long, Li Huan, the third son who had been following Li Xingyuan around, was taken by Huang Bingxian to the Xihua Hall, where Peng Gang held his office and received guests.

By this time, Peng Gang had already written two letters. He was fairly satisfied with the people Huang Bingxian brought. Li Heng was Li Xingyuan's son and could meet Luo Bingzhang directly.

Once the ink on the letter had dried, Peng Gang sealed the letter and gave Huang Bingxian a wink.

Huang Bingxian took the letter from Peng Gang and handed it to Li Heng.

Glancing at Li Heng, whose face was filled with fear and who seemed at a loss, Peng Gang said, "I have had your father's body retrieved. These two letters, one to Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, and the other to Zuo Zongtang, tell them that they want the body of the imperial envoy back and that Zuo Zongtang should come to Lingling to retrieve it in person."

Zuo Zongtang was a talented man who was not given the opportunity to succeed. After passing the provincial examination at the age of twenty, he failed the metropolitan examination three times.

Although Zuo Zongtang's talent was appreciated by important officials such as Tao Shu and Lin Zexu, the Qing court never gave him a real position, and he remained a commoner until he was forty years old.

Compared to Zeng Guofan, who was promoted seven times in ten years and eventually became a vice minister.

Li Hongzhang passed the imperial examination at the age of 24, ranking 13th in the second class. He entered the Hanlin Academy in his early years and later served in Zeng Guofan's staff.

Zuo Zongtang's official career was quite bumpy and fraught with difficulties.

Legend has it that Zuo Zongtang once advised Zeng Guofan to take advantage of the opportunity of suppressing the Taiping Rebellion and having a large army to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. He presented Zeng Guofan with a couplet, "The weight of the tripod is something that can be asked," to test Zeng Guofan's attitude. Zeng Guofan refused the couplet and changed the word "seems" to "not".

In addition, there are rumors that Zuo Zongtang secretly met with Shi Dakai or Hong Xiuquan when the Taiping Army besieged Changsha.

Regardless of whether the rumors are true or false, the fact that these rumors about Zuo Zongtang circulate among the people reflects, to some extent, the traditional Confucian scholar-official mentality of Zuo Zongtang, who was loyal to China rather than to any particular dynasty.

The fundamental obstacle preventing Zuo Zongtang from joining forces with the Taiping Army was that Confucianism was trampled upon by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and he viewed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's veneration of Western religions and opposition to Confucius as a cultural disaster.

More than his own frustration at not being recognized for his talents and his dissatisfaction with the Qing Dynasty's selection system, Zuo Zongtang found it even more unacceptable that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wanted to fundamentally destroy this system.

Zuo Zongtang's ultimate choice to suppress the Taiping Rebellion was driven by both traditional Confucian values ​​and the Qing court's exceptional promotion (promoted to governor in one year and governor-general in two years), which filled the void in his political ambitions.

At present, Zuo Zongtang is still a commoner and has not yet received the Qing court's exceptional promotion. Regardless of whether we can win Zuo Zongtang over, we must give it a try.

Historically, Zhang Liangji was in charge of defending Changsha. However, Zhang Liangji was only transferred to the position of Governor of Hunan in May of the second year of Xianfeng's reign (1852), and it is now April of the first year of Xianfeng's reign.

The current governor of Hunan, Luo Bingzhang, is stationed in Changsha. Peng Gang is unsure whether Zuo Zongtang has arrived in Changsha to assist Luo Bingzhang in defending the city, nor does he know Zuo Zongtang's exact location. It would be almost impossible for Peng Gang to take the initiative to visit Zuo Zongtang.

Since they couldn't actively seek out Zuo Zongtang, they decided to try using Li Xingyuan's corpse as bait to see if Zuo Zongtang would come to Lingling.

With trembling hands, Li Heng held the two letters and mustered his courage to plead in a shaky voice, "Your Majesty, could you please grant me a glimpse of my father's remains?"

“Bingxian, take him over to see him.” This request wasn’t unreasonable, and Peng Gang nodded in agreement, saying to Huang Bingxian.

After arranging for Li Heng to deliver the message, Peng Gang brought the manifesto he had drafted over the past few days and some fresh pork belly that he had prepared earlier to his teacher Liu Bingwen's residence.

He was not good at writing manifestos, and the local scholars in Lingling either ran away or had already gone to Changsha to prepare for the special imperial examination to be held by the Qing court this year.

Although Peng Gang had lowered the requirements from students to anyone who had passed the preliminary examinations, he could still go directly to the Yongzhou government office to submit their name and meet him, but there were still very few who responded.

So far, Peng Gang has only one Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) under his command: Liu Bingwen.

Peng Gang specially arranged a platoon of guards to protect the safety of Liu Bingwen's family, but did not restrict Liu Bingwen's personal freedom. As long as Liu Bingwen did not leave the Zuojun camp, he was able to walk around and see the place with the guards.

When he was in Quanzhou City, Liu Bingwen liked to observe the Left Army in various camps, especially the Boys' Camp.

This may be due to Liu Bingwen's profession; Liu Bingwen teaches at a school in Guixian County.

Peng Gang's children's camp is like a mobile university, teaching the children the most basic Chinese and math knowledge.

The third batch of trainees are also in the children's camp. Since the casualties among the junior officers in the various battalions of the Left Army are currently very small, Peng Gang has not yet transferred personnel from the third batch of trainees to supplement the army.

Therefore, the third cohort of trainees actually had the longest learning and training period.

The only regret is that Peng Gang is busy with military affairs and rarely has time to personally teach the third batch of trainees. He can only visit the children's camp from time to time to check on the learning and training of the third batch of trainees.

The third cohort of students had more time to study and their academic performance was better than that of the second cohort, but still not as good as that of the first cohort.

The first batch of trainees consisted of only twenty-four people, and Peng Gang personally taught them step by step.

Peng Gang has no immediate plans to expand the training by drawing students from the third cohort. He prefers to let them continue their studies and select those with outstanding performance to teach them advanced knowledge, such as basic geographical and physical knowledge.

Liu Bingwen lived in a house about a mile away from the Yongzhou government office. This house originally belonged to the Zhou family, a prominent local family that claimed to be descendants of Zhou Dunyi, the founder of Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties.

Upon arriving at the gate, the two guards at the entrance stood at attention and saluted Peng Gang, who nodded slightly in return.

When Peng Gang's teacher's wife, Madam Li, saw that Peng Gang had come to visit, she hurriedly came out to greet him.

"Master's wife, is the master in?"

Peng Gang handed a piece of pork belly weighing eight or nine pounds to Li Shi and asked.

"It's rare that you still remember this little bit of his preference." Li smiled broadly as she took the meat Peng Gang handed her and pointed towards the study. "He's reading in the study. I'll call him out to see you now."

Things are different now. Peng Gang used to be just an ordinary student, but now he is a king. Li Shi felt that Peng Gang was now in a high position and had great power. Their whole family depended on Peng Gang for support. According to the rules, Liu Bingwen should be the one to see Peng Gang, not the other way around.

"Please go ahead with your business, Madam. I'm going to the study to see Mr. Liu." Peng Gang didn't care much about these things. Liu Bingwen was his teacher, and it was perfectly acceptable for a student to take the initiative to see his teacher, even if word got out.

Entering the study, Liu Bingwen was engrossed in browsing through a dictionary of commonly used characters compiled by Peng Gang. On the scrap paper on the desk, there were densely written characters with pinyin annotations.

Liu Bingwen, dressed in a straight-cut suit and having started growing his hair out, heard the noise at the door and, seeing that it was Peng Gang, got up to greet him.

"Sir, do you have a moment? Could you please correct this manifesto for me?" With that, Peng Gang took out the manifesto and handed it to Liu Bingwen, requesting Liu Bingwen to correct it.

The reason why Hunan scholars were unwilling to join Peng Gang's cause was not only because the Left Army had not yet achieved its goal, but also because the Qing government's slander and rumors about the so-called religious bandits led Hunan scholars to be unaware of the Left Army's political propositions and harbor hostility towards it.

When the Taiping Army was in Guangxi, they frequently destroyed Confucian temples and ancestral halls. Even if the people of Hunan were unaware of these events, the Qing government would still publicize them extensively, exaggerating and smearing the Taiping Army.

Liu Bingwen took Peng Gang's proclamation and asked in confusion, "As far as I know, the Heavenly King is the supreme ruler of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Even if the Heavenly King does not hold power, this proclamation should be issued by the Eastern King, who has the power to control the other kings. Could it be that the Heavenly King and the Eastern King have already arrived in Lingling?"

(End of this chapter)