Main Achievements of Zeng Guofan

Zeng Guofan advocated loyalty to the emperor and defense of the way of life, and the Confucian doctrine of governing the army was also carried out in the selection of generals, recruitment of soldiers, army management, and the coordination of internal and external relations. Zeng Guofan's military thinking is very rich in connotations, set of outstanding. He believed that the soldiers are not in the more but in the fine, "fewer soldiers and the country strong", "the more soldiers, the weaker the force; pay the more, the country is more poor". Advocates of military and political separation, buckle its responsibility. He bought foreign guns, foreign artillery, foreign ships, to promote the modernization of the Chinese army weapons.

Zeng Guofan military to select the will as the first priority, he said, "the way of the army, choose the will first." His selection criteria is both virtue and talent, wisdom and courage, and put virtue in the first place, and the connotation of virtue is summarized as "loyalty, righteousness and blood". He said, "The person with courage should seek for men of our party with blood, who have the spirit of loyalty and righteousness, and who are skilled in the secret of Taoism, to **** with them." He also said, "A man with courage should be able to govern the people, secondly, he should not be afraid of death, thirdly, he should not care about fame and fortune, and fourthly, he should be able to endure hard work." "generally speaking, there is loyalty and righteousness of the blood, then from each other to all to, no loyalty and righteousness of the blood, then looks like four, the end can not be relied upon." Zeng Guofan believes that "loyalty and righteousness" of the generals should be selected from both feudalism and less official vice of Confucian scholars. Luo Ergang in the "Xiang army military system" statistics, where the name, origin, birth, position can be found in the Xiang army generals 179 people, 104 people of Confucian origin, accounting for 58%. With such a large number of Confucian scholars as generals, this is rare in the military history of all generations.

Reforming the Qing Dynasty's military system into a conscription system was also one of Zeng Guofan's first steps in establishing the Hunan army. He said, "a few years hated the barracks habits, the military from the guards and above no one is not a loss of conscience. Therefore, it is decided not to use the camp soldiers, not to use the town generals." Therefore, when he set up the Xiang army, he advocated recruiting soldiers not from the public but from the countryside and farmers. The intention was that the soldiers recruited from the countryside farmers were simple and strong, which was conducive to inculcating the feudal ethic of loyalty and righteousness and easy to adapt to the harsh and cruel war environment. Zeng Guofan also stipulated, "Recruitment of soldiers and braves, must be taken with the bond, made with the prefecture, Liju, parents, brothers, wife's name, Keidou inventory. Each knot attached to the book, in order to check." Where there is no guarantee, will not be recruited. Zeng Guofan's practice, is completely inherited from the late Ming war against Japanese general Qi Jiguang's idea of recruitment. Zeng Guofan also changed his mind about the establishment of the Green Battalion. The establishment of the Xiang army was based on the battalion as the basic combat unit, with the post below the battalion, the land division below the post as the team, the marine division as the boat, and the horse division as the shed. At the beginning of the Xiang army, there were no more officials above the battalion, and all the battalions were under the jurisdiction of Zeng Guofan. After the increase in the number of battalions, there is the title of commander and sub-commander. Zeng Guofan demanded that the general must be personally selected, the soldiers must find their own, the principle of layer by layer control of the formation of the army, from the commander to the soldiers and braves are level by level for the recruitment of the election, changed the green camp in the "soldiers and soldiers do not know each other, the soldiers and the generals do not know each other," the shortcomings of the army, but also clearly exposed the establishment of a private army, and since then on the inception of modern China, the "soldiers for the generals have".

The first time I saw the "soldier for the general" precedent, the situation of the warlords with the army also showed the beginning of the situation.

Zeng Guofan in the military strategy on the painstaking efforts, advocating the use of Confucianism to rule the army, that is, the feudal ethical program to educate the officers and soldiers to benevolence, loyalty and trust as the basis of the military to cultivate the officers and soldiers, his purpose is to maintain the military heart, cultivate a completely absolutely obedient to their own private army. Therefore, he believed that "those who use the army must first be self-governing, and then control the enemy."

Zeng Guofan's military thinking has influenced several generations, not to mention his contemporaries in Hunan and Huaihuai generals to Zeng Guofan as a model, that is, after Huang Xing, Cai E and other bourgeois militarists on Zeng Guofan's military strategy is also highly respected, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai, etc., in the Sino-Japanese War, the use of Western law to train the new army, but also adopted many of the practices of Zeng Guofan's military management. The Republic of China military Jiang Fang Zhen in his "national defense" in the appreciation of Zeng Guofan is modern history "a military genius", but also said that all military leaders should follow the example of Zeng Guofan. Chiang Kai-shek, on the other hand, made it clear that he wanted to follow Zeng Guofan's example, and demanded that the generals in the Kuomintang's army must "recognize history and follow Zeng Hu's example". Tseng Kuo-fan's rule of the army emphasized spiritual education, and Mao Zedong paid close attention to this point in his life. Tseng Kuo-fan's "love for the people is the first thing in ruling the army", and Mao Zedong formulated the "Three Great Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention" at the beginning of the establishment of the Red Army. Zeng Guofan was a lifelong advocate of Cheng Zhu's philosophy, but he did not blindly worship it; in fact, he drew on the ideas of other branches of Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties. In fact, Song Ming Confucianism is divided into three academic schools: qi, science and psychology.

Zeng Guofan in the political practice and military struggle also gradually saw the ChengZhu science "instructions of the language, or lost in the narrow", or "sick in the trivial", or "biased in the static" of the limitations. Limitations. In this case, Zeng Guofan showed a tolerant academic stance towards the School of Mind. For the academic debate between the Cheng-Zhu theory and Lu Wang Xinxue, he believes that the two disputes should be the same, to avoid the differences, to raise their strengths, acceptance and inclusion, to avoid the shortcomings, and to promote the development of Confucianism.

Zeng Guofan also gas in the generative theory of resources to make up for the limitations of science, said "Zhang Zhenmeng", mellow and thick, far away from the few friends ". According to the idea of qi, zeng guofan that, all things in heaven and earth are endowed with qi, qi is the composition of all things in heaven and earth's ultimate primordial. In the endowment of gas and this sense, all things in heaven and earth are "the same body".

However, Zeng Guofan at the same time that, although the gas of Tai He Yan Yan is more than popular, all things in heaven and earth initially obtained the gas "are ear", but people and things, saints and ordinary people actually endowed with the gas is not the same. As far as human beings and things are concerned, human beings have the fullness of qi, while things only have the partiality of qi; therefore, human beings have the nature of knowledge, while things only have the nature of things. As far as human beings are concerned, the qi endowed by saints is clear and thick, while the qi endowed by ordinary people is turbid and thin. Zeng Guofan on the way to make friends is quite insightful, he believes that the amount of friendship noble elegance, to "push the honesty and integrity, the Commission contains macro, and no selfish suspicion of the evils". "Do not take advantage of people in all things. Do not take people's money lightly. To brainstorm and listen to both without losing your hearing. "In the world, Zeng Guofan believes that" in this chaotic world, the poorer the better ". As a senior official, "always to money less production thin as wonderful." "Resident officials to patience as the first essentials", "virtue to full and loss, blessing to pride and reduce carry on". People must be in a "light" word on the intention, "not only the rich and famous and the family of the smooth, the son of the prosperous or not by heaven, that is, the establishment of learning and virtue or not, but also most of the things related to the sky, a general smile and forget about it. "

The first time I saw this, I was in the middle of a long journey, and I was in the middle of a long journey.

Zeng Guofan wrote aphorisms twelve, basically summarizes his way of life and friendship. Zeng Guofan believes that the most important thing is to be in the family members of the principle of filial piety and fraternal duty of everyone. Filial piety is easy to understand, that is, to parents, to the elders of gratitude, respect and support. Brotherly love refers to the harmony and fraternity between brothers, that is, the harmony and harmony between peers. In Zeng Guofan's family letters, it is generally thought that he wrote the most letters to his children, but in fact he wrote the most letters to his younger brother, which shows the importance he attached to the relationship between brothers. Zeng Guofan has a famous comment that the law of family prosperity is: the world official family, generally only one generation on the depression, because most of the fop; business family, that is, private entrepreneurs of the family, generally can be passed on to three generations; cultivation and study of the family, that is, the family of farming and reading as the fundamental family, generally can be prosperous for five or six generations; and filial piety and friendship family, that is, filial piety and fraternal duty, and rule the family and the family, often can be The family of filial piety and friendship, that is, the family that emphasizes filial piety and fraternal duty and governs with harmony, can often last for ten or eight generations.

Zeng Guofan in the "and to rule the family" under the purpose of the special emphasis on "diligence to maintain the family". This diligence in order to maintain the family in zeng guofan that has two layers of meaning, one is the family members to be diligent and thrifty, one is to do the parents to be diligent in order to teach by word and example. Zeng Guofan said these, he himself can meticulously take the lead to do, and do very well. For example, the eldest son Zeng Jize like Western sociology, Zeng Jihong like math and physics, Zeng Guofan although he did not know anything about it, but also can do their best to understand, to try to learn a little. Such a father, worthy of a real "diligence to maintain the family" father. Under the influence of Zeng Guofan, Zeng Jize will always personally teach his children English, math, music, but also teach them to practice calligraphy, writing poetry, explaining the history of the classics, no matter how busy, always find time to spend with their children every day, spend time with their families, this is the best family education. Therefore, among Zeng Guofan's children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, there are many scientists, educators and social activists. Personality cultivation helped him in his career.

The first is sincerity, being consistent in one's behavior, and everything can be made public.

The second is respect, reverence, no evil thoughts in the heart, and holding oneself with dignity and seriousness.

The third is stillness, where the mind, qi, spirit, and body should be in a state of tranquility and relaxation.

The fourth word is honor, do not say big words, false words, empty words, real, one is one and two is two.

The fifth word is "constant", which means regular life, regular diet, and regular living. The highest state is "prudence", lifting the head three feet there is God.

He kept a diary every day, checking and reflecting on what he said and did every day, and continued to do so throughout the rest of his life, constantly putting forward more and more requirements for himself: to be diligent and thrifty, to be modest and right, to be kind and forgiving, to be honest, to know his fate, to cherish his blessings, and so on, and striving to make himself into a saint of his time. Many people think that personality cultivation is something empty, that the cultivation of the body is something nebulous, and even still pedantic, but Zeng Guofan's life's work, the cultivation of the body is the most important reason for the success of his career.

Zeng Guofan believes that: "the method of health about five things: one said sleep and food are constant, the second is to punish the wrath, the third is to abstain from sex, the fourth is to wash your feet before going to sleep every night, the fifth is to walk three thousand steps after two meals a day." The way of life, "vision", "rest", "sleep", "food" four words are the most important, the disease must be aware of The way to adjust the defense.

Thirteen articles of early cultivation

One, the main respect (neat and serious, no time to be afraid.). When there is nothing to do, the heart is in the cavity; when there is something to do, the concentration is not mixed.)

Second, meditation (every day, no matter when, sit quietly for a few moments, come back to the benevolent heart, the right place to stare at the life, such as the tripod of the town).

Three, get up early (dawn that is, do not dip after waking up.)

Four, reading is not two (a book is not finished, not to read other books. The other is a book that is not finished, but is not read.)

Fifth, reading history (daily circle point ten pages, although something does not stop.)

Sixth: Be careful with your words.

Seven, raise qi (qi hidden in the dantian, there is nothing that can not be said to others.)

VIII. Preservation of the body (abstinence from desire, labor, and food.)

Nine, write a diary (must be end regular, all day body, heart, mouth, are written out, life-long uninterrupted).

Ten, the day to know the death of (each diary after tea occasional talk, divided into virtue, learning, economy, art.)

Eleven, the month without forgetting what can be (every month to make a number of poems, to test the accumulation of more or less, to raise the vitality of the fullness or not).

Twelve, make words (after breakfast to make words.). All the ink and writing should be treated as one's own homework).

Thirteen, do not go out at night (absenteeism and fatigue, cut the warning, cut the warning.)