Zuo Tang Zong, born in the 17th year of Jiaqing (18 12), was born in Zuojiadun, Dongxiang, Xiangyin, Hunan. When he was young, his family was poor and belonged to a small and medium-sized landlord family. Grandfather Zuo was born in imperial academy, and father Zuo Guanlan was also a scholar. Both father and son teach several students, and their income is very limited. Zuojia had dozens of acres of land at that time, earning four or eight stones to rent grain every year. They also cultivated a little land, belonging to a "half-farming and half-reading" family. Later, when Zuo was in Lanzhou, he took this as a reputation and posted the words "Geng Du Di" on the door. In Zuo's childhood, due to family changes, his life was already very poor. Sometimes in famine years, crops fail, and even chaff vegetables are used to satisfy hunger. After Zuo was born, his mother often chewed rice into juice and fed it to him because of lack of milk. She still didn't have enough to eat, so she burst her navel crying.

Zuo was brilliant since he was a child. /kloc-at the age of 0/5, he took the boy test, and the next year he took the government test and won the second place. However, during this period, both parents died and owed a large amount of debt, which could not be repaid. Twelve years of Daoguang (1832), left twenty years old, helpless. Originally, his father engaged him, and his father-in-law's family was in Xiangtan, which was relatively rich. Zuo adopted the Zhou family, and his wife Zhou Jiduan was good at poetry and virtuous. In the first year of Daoguang, that is, the eleventh year of Daoguang (183 1), he left for Changsha Chengnan Academy, where he studied under the mountain leader He Xiling. He Xiling, born in Changsha, is a scholar. He has been an editor, studied politics and is a doer. He Xiling has a big brother named He Changling, who is a judge, minister, governor and governor. There are many books at home. Zuo often borrows books and has the opportunity to discuss world affairs with He Changling. The two chatted very speculatively. He Changling promised to let him borrow all the books at home, but when he returned them, he always asked about his income. Zuo answered like a stream, and he could "test each other". Zuo soon broadened his horizons and increased his knowledge. He had devoted himself to reading The Imperial Classics edited by He Changling, which was a paper on the national economy and people's livelihood written by famous ministers and scholars before Jiaqing. Before that, he also read Gu Zuyu's Minutes of Reading Historical Records and Gu's Records of Diseases in Counties and Countries in the World. All these have promoted the rapid formation of Zuo's thought of governing the country.

In the 12th year of Daoguang (1832), Zuo took the rural examination and failed. The examiner Xu was on the losing list, and he chose six ones with slightly better grades. Zuo should choose one of them and rank eighteenth in the pilot test.

In feudal society, if you win the jury, you can go to Beijing to take the exam. If you can pass the exam, you will be appointed by the court. With the help of his wife Zhou and his clan, he scraped together enough money to go to Beijing, but after the list was published, he fell into. After that, Zuo went to Beijing twice to catch the exam, both of which were the last. The failure of the exam made Zuo lose the confidence to pass the exam and become an official. He continued to explore the "practical application". He spent a lot of time on the study of map drawing, and found that the previous map drawing was inaccurate and the labeling was far-fetched. He wants to redraw the map to correct past mistakes. With the help of his wife Zhou, he began to draw maps and explain them. It also extracts local chronicles of various provinces and maps of the western regions, and classifies mountains and rivers, blockade lines, post roads and cities into dozens of volumes. He is particularly interested in the geography of Xinjiang and has carefully studied the geography of Xinjiang.

Although Zuo was in a difficult situation at that time, he was very concerned about state affairs. In a couplet, he wrote:

Without half an acre, worry about the world; Read through thousands of books and make friends with the ancients.

This couplet shows his lofty sentiments and ambitions. He studied hard, studied military and agricultural books, and even planted tea and mulberry. His extensive knowledge made him hope to serve his country one day.

During the reign of Jia Dao, famous government officials were Tao Shu and Lin Zexu. During his tenure as governor of the two rivers, Tao Shu once passed through Liling and returned to his hometown in Anhua, Hunan. At that time, Zuo was giving lectures at Castle Peak College, and the magistrate of a county built a house for Tao Shu, so Zuo wrote several couplets for him, one of which wrote:

The spring temple is quiet, and it has been home for 20 years, and the ceiling stone is there; The river flows day and night, and the children of Bazhou look forward to the public return.

The "coping stone" in the first couplet is a strange stone in Tao Shu's home. Emperor Renzong of the Qing Dynasty knew that Tao Shu had this treasure in his home, so he wrote a plaque for him, "The Stone House with the Emptying Roof". Tao Shu was very happy and invited Zuo. After they met, they talked about state affairs and their language was harmonious. Tao Shu deliberately stayed one more day, calling him a "wizard". After his third visit to Beijing, Zuo made a detour to visit Tao Shu in Nanjing and stayed in Nanjing for a few days. In the 19th year of Daoguang (1839), Tao Shu died, and the orphan Tao Yuanming was just nine years old. He Xiling is a relative of Tao Shu and Zuo's teacher, so he introduced Zuo as Tao Ming's teacher to help him with the housework. In this way, Zuo lived in a Taoist home for eight years. He read Taoist books and lectures by Tao Shu, and observed the gains and losses of officialdom and politics in Qing Dynasty, which had a certain influence on the future development of left political thought.

Zuo Qin is good at reading, and what he has learned is related to state affairs. He often talks about the gains and losses of ancient and modern military strategists.

He Xiling attaches great importance to him, saying that he "knows the world situation like the back of his hand". And personally wrote a poem praising him:

In the Six Dynasties, flowers fall on the moon, but Wan Li's eyes are horizontal.

Opening one's mouth can tell what's going on in the world, and reading deeply cherishes the feelings of the ancients.

Zuo has a strong patriotic thought since his youth. In the 13th year of Daoguang (1833), when the national disaster was approaching, he wrote this poem:

Soldiers in the western regions did not count for several years, and the founding of the People's Republic was reopened.

Camel Wan Li lost official rice, and Shaqi made this stone field for generations.

It's still annoying to set up a province for another day. It's better to spend money on it.

The general is more worried about his eyes and his livelihood is poor.

After the Opium War broke out, he was very concerned about how to defeat the British invaders. He once wrote articles such as Foreseeing the Enemy, Deciding Strategies and Tools, and put forward his own views on how to defeat the invaders.

When Lin Zexu was governor of Yungui, he asked Zuo to be his chief of staff, but Zuo could not bear to part with Tao Shu's son and was not invited. Later, Lin Zexu resigned and went back to Changsha, and specially asked him to chat on the Xiangjiang boat all night. Zuo Tang Zong worships Lin Zexu, and Lin Zexu also values Zuo Tang Zong. 1850, when Lin Zexu died, Zuo wrote a letter of condolence to Lin Zexu's son. In the letter, he talked with Lin Zexu on the boat in Xiangjiang River. And wrote a pair of elegiac couplet:

All are not gentlemen who are attached to the public, but must be villains who are between the public. They are concerned about their country and people and have stayed at home for more than 200 years. The temple leans against the Great Wall, and the grass looks wild if it rains, and the start is unsuccessful, and the stars disappear for eight thousand miles.

This elegiac couplet spoke highly of Lin Zexu's patriotic spirit, but it also exposed the left's thought of suppressing the peasant war, which later made him an accomplice and thug of the Qing government in suppressing the peasant uprising.