Zhang Zhidong, one of the four famous ministers in the late Qing Dynasty, is on the list, and he is also called Zhang Xiangshuai with Zeng Guofan, Zuo and Li Hongzhang.
In the Qing Dynasty, there was a custom of naming ministers, that is, adding their surnames to their places of origin.
For example, Li Hongzhang is known internationally as Li Hefei because he is from Hefei, Anhui.
Li Hongzhang's adversary is Weng Tonghe, the master of Emperor Guangxu, because he is from Changshu, Jiangsu, and is internationally known as Weng Changshu.
There is a cloud in the world: "Hefei, the prime minister, is thin and Changshu, the farmer, is barren."
"Zhang Zhidong is no exception, because his native place is Nanpi, so the world is called Zhang Nanpi. Where is Nanpi? We open a map of Hebei Province. Just south of Tianjin is Cangzhou City, the famous Henghai County of Cangzhou. Nanpi County is at the southern end of the main urban area of Cangzhou. Nanpi County is located about 30 kilometers southwest of the main city of Cangzhou. Beijing-shanghai railway and Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway run through Nanpi in the south and crisscross the endless North China Plain.
Nanpi has a long history. As early as the 1960 s, Nanpi had been excavated, and it was called Picheng at that time. As soon as you look at this place name, you will know that it is associated with leather. When you were old, Yan had a good relationship with Qi, because Yan was attacked by Beishan Rong and was asked to save it. The time is 664 BC. It is here that Jiang, Jiang, Jiang made a skin protection mountain. In the Western Han Dynasty, Nanpi was subordinate to Youzhou (provincial level) Bohai County (prefecture level) and established Nanpi County. Some people will say why it is called Nanpi, a slightly vivid place name. It's really short, because Zhangwu County, which belongs to Bohai County (now between the main city of Cangzhou and Qingxian and Huanghua City), has a Beipi Pavilion, which is opposite to the north and south, so it's called Nanpi. During the Three Kingdoms period, Nanpi was controlled by Yuan Shao of Hebei Province. In the fifth year of the Jian 'an reign of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty (AD 200), Cao Cao defeated the mighty Yuan Shao in the battle of Guandu, which shocked the world, and Yuan Shao soon became angry.
Later, Yuan Shang, the son of Yuan Shao, and the Yuan Tan brothers fought against each other, from which Cao Cao benefited. In 203 AD, Yuan Tan borrowed soldiers from Yuan Shang and failed to become Yuan Shang. After being surrendered by Yuan Shang, he surrendered to Nanpi. More than a year later, Cao Cao began to attack Nanpi and killed Yuan Tan in one fell swoop. Nanpi has belonged to Cangzhou since the Sui Dynasty, but it has remained basically unchanged since then. However, Li Lunanpi, who has been talking about Zhang Zhidong for a long time, is actually the birthplace of Zhang Zhidong, not the birthplace of Zhang Zhidong. There are many such examples in history, such as the famous Emperor Wu, who was "brave and talented and swallowed Wan Li like a tiger". Emperor Wu of Song is called "Pengcheng (Xuzhou, Jiangsu)" in the history books. In fact, Emperor Wu of Song was born in Jingkou (Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), and so were Xiao Qi and Xiao Liang in the Song Dynasty. Zhang Zhidong's life is not in Nanpi, but in Guizhou thousands of miles away from Nanpi.
Guizhou is located in the southwest inland of China, bordering Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan, Guangxi and Yunnan. Guizhou is located in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, with complex terrain, and is known as "the land is not three miles flat, the sky is not sunny for three days" and "eight mountains, one water and one field". There are generally two versions about the birthplace of Zhang Zhidong. One is that Zhang Zhidong was born in Liuliqiao, Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou. Guiyang is located in the middle of Guizhou Province, which is basically the same as the four sides of Guizhou Province. It has been an important town in the southwest since ancient times. Guiyang was the government of Guiyang in Qing Dynasty, and its administrative address was Zhu Gui County. There is also a view that Zhang Zhidong's native place is Xingyi Prefecture, which is today's Anlong County. There is a southwest Guizhou province in the southwest of Guizhou province, with Xingyi city in the southwest as the center. Southwest Guizhou was called Xingyi House in Qing Dynasty, but Xingyi House in Qing Dynasty was not in Xingyi City now, but in Anlong County, east of Xingyi City today.
Zhang Zhidong was born in Guizhou because of his father's official career. Zhang Ai was a juren in the 18th year of Jiaqing (A.D. 18 13). 13 years later, Daoguang arrived in Guizhou as an official for six years and served as the county magistrate of Zhu Gui. Zhang Zhidong was born in 1837. There is a saying that Yi worked as a county magistrate in Xingyi. When he was young, Zhang Zhidong followed his father to Anlong, where he resumed his strict education and laid the foundation for becoming a famous minister. However, Zhang Zhidong was educated in Guizhou, but he took part in the imperial examination in Nanpi, his ancestral home in Zhili. The time is 30 years of Daoguang (A.D. 1850), on the eve of the quiet heavenly kingdom uprising. In the future, Zhang Zhidong made steady progress in his official career and eventually became a first-class official. For example, I have been governor of Shanxi, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, governor of Huguang, and governor of Liangjiang. In the official career of these local officials, Zhang Zhidong is undoubtedly the governor of Huguang.
Zhang Zhidong was in charge of Huguang era, and held the resurgence of Westernization Movement, which made extraordinary achievements. It is worth mentioning that the relationship between Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, and Zhang Zhidong is very simple. At that time, the Han Jing (Hankou) Railway was to be built, and a railway bridge across the Yellow River was to be built. Zhang Zhidong thought that the soil of the Yellow River near Kaifeng, the capital of Henan Province, was soft at that time, and it was not as easy to repair the bridge as the soil near Zhengzhou. Finally, Han Jing Railway passes through Zhengzhou, and together with the east-west Longhai Railway, Zhengzhou's central position in Henan Province is increasingly consolidated, eventually replacing Kaifeng as the capital of Henan Province. Zhang Zhidong's life came back to life. He is not only a minister with the ability to govern the world, but also a brilliant scholar. Zhang Zhidong died at the age of 73 (nominal age) in Xuantong Yuannian (A.D. 1909) in the late Qing Dynasty. Three years later, the Qing Dynasty, for which he made amends, was swept away by the torrent of history.