Ceng Guoquan's attitude towards the enemy is very firm, and he will use many cruel means. The battle of Anqing, fought bloody battles for more than a year, finally captured Anqing, an important town in Anhui Province, and immediately launched a massacre, allowing Xiang soldiers to openly kill and rape in the city. Within three days, more than 40,000 people died in Anqing, and the whole city was almost empty. As Zeng Guofan said, "No one needs to take it off." Later, after the fall of Nanking, Ceng Guoquan carried out another crazy massacre. "Many people died in the street. What is shocking is that many of them are old people, and even some children were killed before they were two or three years old. " However, Zeng Guofan reported to the court that Ceng Guoquan had killed more than 65,438,000 people in Nanjing, and bodies were everywhere.
Ceng Guoquan spent a lot of money in his life. Every time he wins a war, he will reward his men with everything he has captured, because in his view, "there must be brave men under the reward" and the "auspicious word camp" led by him is the most effective force, which is largely the result of the reward. At the same time, because the court owed Ceng Guoquan too much salary, many times there was no military expenditure, so soldiers in Ceng Guoquan often robbed everywhere. Zeng also "turned a blind eye" and did not want to be strictly bound.
Many soldiers who went out with Ceng Guoquan made a fortune after they captured Nanking. Ceng Guoquan himself naturally gained a lot, so he finally chose to retire.