Zuo and Li Hongzhang were both promoted by Zeng Guofan at that time, but they treated Zeng Guofan in different ways. At that time, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Du were in power. At that time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also launched an uprising. When the Qing dynasty suppressed, one thing happened at that time, which can fully explain that Li Hongzhang was much smarter than Zuo.
At that time, Ceng Guoquan, Zeng Guofan's younger brother, led troops and suffered heavy casualties. Many ministers in the imperial court were also very dissatisfied with Zeng Guofan's brothers, and they were all afraid that they would rob the work. After the Empress Dowager Cixi learned of this incident, she decided to send Li Hongzhang and Zuo to support her in order to disperse her forces. However, after Li Hongzhang and Zuo learned about this incident, their handling methods were completely different. Zuo thought that he could not win the war for a long time and looked down on him. So he sent his big army and main force in the past, hoping to win a battle for Ceng Guoquan. But what he didn't expect was that after he arrived in the local area, he was given a cold shoulder by Ceng Guoquan and the generals.
Li Hongzhang handled it in a completely different way. He could see that although Ceng Guoquan didn't win Tientsin, he was sure to win. At the same time, he didn't want to embarrass his teacher Zeng Guofan. So he wrote to the emperor, explaining why he couldn't go, and went to Zeng Guofan, telling him that he couldn't go to the battlefield and had to ask for leave to go home. Zeng Guofan was very happy at this time and was very satisfied with Li Hongzhang's method of handling this matter. Since then, the relationship between Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang has become better and better.