Reading Notes: Biography of Zeng Guofan

First, the "clumsy" philosophy of life

Zeng Guofan's qualification was average since he was a child, and he took seven exams before he was a scholar. During this period, he has been working hard and spending all his time studying. He is also very aware of his own cognition, so he is not discouraged, but makes him more frustrated and brave. Finally, he finally became famous.

He can be indifferent to the ridicule of others. He focuses on his own goals, so other people's comments and eyes will not affect him. This experience just tempered his mind, and he can become stronger and stronger in a complicated life.

"Stupidity" is Zeng Guofan's philosophy of life, which is to be willing to work hard. This has three advantages: first, it makes people more humble and willing to pay. Second, adversity quotient is high, and you can be more frustrated and brave in difficulties. The third is not to take shortcuts and seek truth from facts.

The experience of imperial examination laid a solid foundation for Zeng Guofan's knowledge and mind, so he can go more smoothly and further in the future.

Second, learn to be a saint.

At the age of thirty, Zeng Guofan made up his mind to learn to be a saint.

The reason why he is so determined stems from his clear understanding of himself. From Hunan to Beijing as an official, his world has undergone a qualitative change, and in a larger world, he found his own smallness.

The closed environment makes people narrow and paranoid. Only by going out can we open our eyes and see ourselves and others better.

The people I contacted before were all villagers, with average knowledge and cultivation; All the books I read are exam-oriented books, and other wisdom can't be obtained. Compared with Beijingers, it is dwarfed. Therefore, he fell into inferiority and anxiety.

At the same time, he found many shortcomings in his personality, such as impetuousness, arrogance, hypocrisy and some lewdness. He wants to change himself and see the hope of self-improvement through the guidance of excellent people around him, so he should study hard from now on.

Since then, in order to reflect on himself, he has kept a diary. Learn from other people's diaries, make them public, let others comment, better restrain themselves and correct their shortcomings.

On the road of change, Zeng Guofan gave up smoking addiction, struggled with deep-rooted personality defects and improved his self-cultivation bit by bit. These are all painful. At the beginning, we will "cook with fierce fire". In this process, we will continue to "reduce the fire" in order to slowly resolve it. This is the only way to sharpen yourself.

Determined to let Zeng Guofan begin to transform on the road of growth, this is the first and most important step for people to succeed, which can inject me with a steady stream of spiritual strength.

Third, the road to progress.

When Zeng Guofan was an official in Beijing, it can be said that he moved seven times in ten years and even jumped ten levels. The reasons behind it are worth exploring.

1, good self-management ability.

He has twelve rules and standards for being a man, and through self-discipline, he has made constant breakthroughs in his behavior habits and comprehensive ability. Get up early, sit quietly, protect yourself, be careful, and let him cultivate his self-cultivation; Reading, practicing calligraphy and writing made his talent jump. These are all the wealth he has saved for himself and laid a solid internal foundation.

It can be seen that a person's self-management ability determines how far he can go, and only through self-discipline practice can he control the direction of progress. For such an example, we can gain brilliant strength, compare ourselves and learn from practice.

2. Make friends and be helpful.

Network is an important weapon for the progress of life. Zeng Guofan made a wide range of friends in Beijing, made high-quality friends selectively, did not overstep the rules, and did not cling to dignitaries. This made him gain a good popularity and naturally gained more opportunities for recommendation.

At the same time, after determined to become a saint, he always thinks of others and helps others, and his favorite friends will also appreciate him and try their best to help him and his whole career.

You should also contact others more in your daily life. The more friends, the more spacious the road, but you need to have your own standards and choose like-minded friends. Give more help to others, make yourself a valuable person, and help others achieve themselves, and you will naturally be blessed.

3, won the appreciation of the emperor.

Daoguang is Zeng Guofan's noble, but also the absolute highest level of noble. They have the same personality and the same idea. In addition, Zeng Guofan's work style is down-to-earth and serious, which reassures the emperor. Of course, they should be reused.

Facing the nobles in life, we must seize the opportunity, follow the nobles, find the direction of success, be positive, constantly polish ourselves, and match our abilities with the trust of others.

Fourth, the officialdom counterparts.

1, depressed "deputy minister"

Zeng Guofan gave birth to the right assistant minister of does, holding real power, which made him feel that he could make great achievements and do more things for the country and the people.

Ambitious, he soon got into trouble and became more and more depressed. In the late Qing Dynasty, when the empire was rotten and attacked from abroad, senior officials muddled along. No one wants to break through the superficial comfort and let the country decline.

Zeng Guofan hated the dirty atmosphere of officialdom, but found himself inferior and inferior, wanting to do great things and change. There is no possibility that even if he occasionally makes some requests, he will be abandoned. He can only watch the country rot day by day and feel wronged.

2. Offend Emperor Xianfeng

The arrival of the new emperor seems to have brought a turn for the better. Emperor Xianfeng deposed incompetent people and asked for words on monkeys. Zeng Guofan thought that this was a good emperor who worked hard and made progress. He began to call a spade a spade, pointed at the officialdom, praised Emperor Xianfeng, and took up more positions.

However, Emperor Xianfeng, who assumed a heroic posture, was just a mediocre master. Soon, after the initial mental exhaustion, he had no ambition. In addition, he is headstrong and has a strong sense of inferiority. He doesn't listen to others, sticks to small things and ignores big plans.

Naive Zeng Guofan also wanted to wake up the emperor with a big stick, be bold and criticize the emperor directly and frankly. The sensitive and fragile emperor flew into a rage, became wary of him and no longer trusted him.

3. Difficult Beijing time

Zeng Guofan not only offended the emperor, but also offended some important people. In the face of a guilty minister, adhering to the principle broke the unspoken rule of "officials protect each other", which made many people complain about him and isolated him.

His stupid words and deeds also disgusted ordinary colleagues. In the memorial of Shangshu, he cursed Jing Guan, and there was a state that everyone was confused and I woke up alone. Therefore, he became a reviled figure.

Zeng Guofan's life became more and more sad and his spirit was very painful. He gave up his ambition many times, but he couldn't afford the fare home. This is also because he "learned to be a saint", and he never made a gray income with a low salary.

Finally, the emperor sent him to Jiangxi to take the provincial examination, so that he could leave the capital and go home on holiday.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) shame of Changsha

1, family changes on the way to work.

On the way to Jiangxi, Zeng Guofan learned the news of his mother's death. He was heartbroken. His mother, he and the whole family are great pillars. They have worked hard and made selfless contributions all their lives. After calming down, he made the most suitable plan, bypassed Jiangxi and went home to attend the funeral.

Step 2 come out of the mountain again

After the funeral, Zeng Guofan decided to rest at home for a period of time and study hard. However, the court remembered him again and arranged for him to help local officials establish Ying Yong. I was about to refuse, but my friend's words woke him up. This is my chance to realize the value of life and save the world. He came out of the mountains again.

Step 3 be the target of public criticism

After arriving in Changsha, Zeng Guofan showed his talents, suppressed bandits, cracked down on evil forces, and conducted social governance with an iron fist. Under the slightly cruel policy, the social order has indeed been stabilized. However, his series of combination boxing shook the interests of the whole local officialdom, bent on breaking the corrupt official style, and was unanimously hated by other officials in Hunan Province.

4, encounter life and death robbery

Zeng Guofan, who was training in Daxing, did not hesitate to offend the local garrison in order to forge a powerful army. Even though Shangshu's memorial criticized the military commander and won the appreciation of the emperor, it did bring him a fatal disaster.

Different from the hatred of civil servants, military commanders directly put into action and began to make trouble. After adding fuel to the fire, the wind of a private military struggle turned into a chaotic struggle. Zeng Guofan's mansion was besieged and almost killed.

So humiliated, Zeng Guofan did not do anything impulsive, but calmly thought and constantly reflected.

Sixth, watch the Xiang army.

1, create the initial heart

Zeng Guofan humiliated Changsha and founded Xiang Army with his bare hands. The emperor first asked him to help Ying Yong, but his ambition was not here.

Facing the decadent regular army, he has no fighting capacity, and the deep-rooted military style cannot be reformed. Therefore, he wanted to build his own army, save the imperial court and rebuild the country.

This is an adventurous move, and his starting point is to challenge the fundamental principle of the country to prevent the Han people from mastering military power, which is in danger of genocide.

However, Zeng Guofan has another consideration. Taiping Army is no ordinary enemy. They represent different cultures. Based on Western Christianity, they destroy China culture everywhere, which is the enemy of the whole traditional culture. Zeng Guofan is a neo-Confucian, advocating Confucianism, and he will do his best to defend his beliefs.

Step 2 face the difficulties bravely

It is difficult to create an army. Zeng Guofan, who had nothing, had to solve the problems of employing people, raising salary, buying a machine, establishing a system and playing games with the emperor.

His initial heart, the emperor can know. Not long after the training, the emperor asked him to reinforce and suppress the Taiping Army. An army that can't stand the weather will surely die if it sends troops, and all its hard work will be in vain.

After weighing the pros and cons, he could only find various excuses to evade and deal with the emperor. Even in the face of the help of his mentor and close friends, he can only reluctantly refuse and stay put.

Finally, he trained A Xiang's 10,000-strong army with the spirit of "coming forward" in many difficulties.

3. The joys and sorrows of the first battle

When the Taiping Army went south to attack Hunan, Zeng Guofan led the army to battle. After careful layout, the soldiers are divided into several roads. He was bent on winning the first battle, but in Jinggang, he faced an unexpected fiasco, suffered serious losses, and tried his best to die and throw himself into the river. Fortunately, he was rescued by the guards in time.

When he returned to Changsha with the beaten army, he was laughed at by everyone. He is disheartened and won't eat or drink. At this time, happiness fell from the sky, and another army of its own came from the front to win the Xiangtan Taiping Army. This was the first victory of the Qing army. This restored his confidence.

4. Team building of Xiang Army.

The reason why the fighting capacity of Xiang army is strong comes from Zeng Guofan's reverse thinking, analyzing the reasons why the regular army is weak, and then constructing the system in reverse.

The regular army implements a low salary system, and soldiers have little money. In order to make a living, they can only do other sideline jobs and will not train well. Moreover, the army itself is extremely corrupt and has no cohesion.

Zeng Guofan's practice of paying a high salary system is to solve the survival problem of soldiers and make everyone willing to actively participate in and join the army.

At the same time, the principle of selecting candidates is that "the soldiers must choose in person, and the soldiers must raise their own money" and "choose talents to lead Shan Nong". On the one hand, everyone knows the root of the problem, which helps to cooperate with each other and has strong cohesion. On the other hand, the quality of the army will be good and the discipline will be strict.

Zeng Guofan attached great importance to spiritual strength and strongly advocated political education in the army, which made the army have faith and high morale.

Zeng Guofan devoted himself to the country and the people, and with tenacity and wisdom, he finally achieved a bullish Xiang army.

Seven. Hubei governor who gains who loses.

Zeng Guofan's great victory should have been greatly praised and promoted, but there was an incompetent emperor.

The emperor was really happy after hearing the news, and immediately appointed him as the governor of Hubei. When the Minister of Military Affairs summoned him, an old enemy of Zeng Guofan began to speak, thinking that he might pose a threat to the stability of the country and let the emperor be cautious.

Without foresight, the emperor went back on his word and even accused Zeng Guofan in the section, which completely cooled Zeng Guofan's heart. At the same time, the emperor himself ignored the truth and blindly directed the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, completely disrupting Zeng Guofan's plan.

Whether it is a country or a team, leaders should have a strategic vision. Like Emperor Xianfeng, he was headstrong and short-sighted, which disappointed people around him. In the end, everyone just wants to protect themselves, so that the country has to go to a more decadent abyss, and the people are miserable.

With such an emperor, Zeng Guofan can still stick to his original intention. He wants to change the country and maintain cultural orthodoxy. It's a great fortune for the country, and he deserves to be the last pilot in the Qing Dynasty.

Eight, great regret

Zeng Guofan was in trouble in Jiangxi, and his army was defeated in Jiujiang, and he almost committed suicide. At the same time, they are politically isolated, have no real power, and their salaries cannot be guaranteed. Local officials everywhere are enemies of the Xiang army. In great pain, my father died and simply returned to his hometown. The emperor conveniently took away his military power.

Dormant at home, Zeng Guofan slowly began to calm down from the depressed state, studied the way of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and constantly reflected and innovated himself. After a thorough understanding, he decided to change his past style of doing things, overcome the strong with the weak, and wait for Jiangshan.

A person's growth always changes with the environment, and all difficulties and hardships will certainly bring us enlightenment. The key is to find your own enterprising direction.

Zeng Guofan's experience of this transformation tells us that in the harsh environment, we should not only be strong, but also resist, change our mentality, tolerate the differences between the universe and ourselves, put our ego into the melting pot of society, and spiral upward in a roundabout way.

Nine,? Take Anqing as an example.

Anqing is a hard bone to chew. Zeng Guofan led the army and was bound to win Anqing. The tactics it adopts are "hard village to fight in secret" and static braking.

Although this tactic is stupid in style, it is the most stable way. Pay attention to camping, March for half a day, camp for half a day, slowly and steadily. Outside Anqing, the city was surrounded and trapped by digging trenches, and reinforcements were attacked outside the city.

After arduous fighting, Zeng Guofan finally won Anqing. But at this time, Emperor Xianfeng died, and so did his best friend Hu Linyi, which made him very sad.

Zeng Guofan is a very determined person. During the attack on Anqing, he met many obstacles. Among them, there were both the blind command of external emperors and different internal strategic views, but they were eventually overcome one by one, and Anqing was finally won with strong determination and perseverance.

It also reminds me of myself. Many times, because of inattention, even if there is a goal, it will be easily influenced by other factors in the process of implementation, paying too much attention to the outside world, and finally failing to achieve their goals and get the desired results.

In the future, we must strengthen our faith, stick to our original goal in action, and be a person who has a finish line.

X. Hatred with He Guiqing

After taking Anqing, Zeng Guofan won the position of Governor of Liangjiang River, which has both political power and military power of Xiang Army, and the power position occupies an absolute advantage.

At this time, a palace coup took place in North Korea, insisting on supporting Xiang's murder. Zeng Guofan was not affected, but was further promoted, becoming the governor of four provinces and helping military affairs.

So, with the help of the trust of the imperial court, Zeng Guofan began to remove the remnants of the old enemy He Guiqing Group. In the past, He Guiqing Group fought against Xiang everywhere, killing many Zhongliang and gnashing Zeng Guofan's teeth. Finally, we can slowly pull back the situation and remove obstacles a little.

In the end, Zeng Guofan Group succeeded in winning and breathed a sigh of relief.

XI。 The Last Battle of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

The capture of Nanjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was the last and most important battle of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War. Zeng Guofan laid the strategy of four-way operation. His younger brother, Ceng Guoquan, was the first to take Nanjing at the gates.

However, Nanjing's imaginary attack is much more difficult. Faced with the failure of other reinforcements to arrive on time and the plague, Ceng Guoquan could only defend himself tenaciously at the gates of Nanjing. The 46-day Yuhuatai War was the most anxious day for the Zeng brothers, and the Xiang army survived with firm willpower.

Later, in order to win Nanjing, Ceng Guoquan tried every means. Zeng Guofan sent more troops to Nanjing, but the food supply could not keep up. It happened that at this time, Shen Baozhen, recommended by Zeng Guofan, defected and no longer provided Li Jin of Jiangxi Province to Zeng Guofan, which made Zeng Guofan unbearable and decided to fight back.

But the battle ended in Shen Baozhen's victory, which made Zeng Guofan realize that the court had been deliberately balancing him. Under the pressure of all parties, the Tseng brothers fell into a long ordeal.

Twelve, trees catch the wind, you need to cut your own branches and leaves.

Nanjing was breached, and the Xiang army finally came to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, thanks to the Tseng brothers.

I thought I would get a huge reward from the imperial court, but I got two pieces of sap, and the imperial court severely accused other improper places. This made Zeng Guofan have to be vigilant.

The power of their Zeng brothers reached its peak. Faced with the suspicion of the imperial court, he had to make arrangements to let himself get away with it.

So on the one hand, he arranged for his younger brother to leave, on the other hand, he abolished the Xiang army, which made the court quite at ease and finally saved the day.

Within the Xiang army, Zeng Guofan also encountered another crisis. He personally promoted Zuo, the leader of the Xiang army, and publicly broke with himself.

Although Zuo once relied heavily on Zeng Guofan, he always looked down on Zeng Guofan and felt that the other party was mediocre and not as good as himself. Later, after conquering Nanjing, Zeng Guofan was forced to fight back because he captured an army in pursuit of the young king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

In spite of this, Zeng Guofan never spoke ill of Zuo again, but he tried his best to help him when he needed military expenses for the Western Expedition. This made Zuo Dawei very moved, and it was also the first time that he really admired Zeng Guofan.

After Zeng Guofan succeeded, he did not expand, but consciously retreated. He is really a saint.

Thirteen. Governor of liangjiang river

During Zeng Guofan's tenure as governor of the two rivers, he concentrated on people's livelihood and official management. Under his single-handed management, Jiangnan quickly recovered its vitality and reappeared its bustling scene.

During Zeng Guofan's tenure, on the one hand, he was honest and never pocketed himself. Don't talk about ostentation and extravagance, only accept small gifts, abolish bad rules, set an example and have a clear conscience. On the other hand, under the condition of not violating the principle, we should abide by the official position, integrate into the official environment, not be an extreme traditional official, mobilize all our strength and achieve great things.

Zeng Guofan saw the darkness and light of officialdom through constant exploration, always followed his own philosophy of doing things, and made the most appropriate choice between clarity and turbidity, which not only did not violate his own heart, but also benefited the world and won the praise of future generations.

In our life, we should also assess the situation and not blindly forge ahead. It is also a kind of wisdom to examine your own problems, improve your ways and means appropriately, and move forward in twists and turns without changing your original heart.

14. Foreigners are also human beings.

After two Opium Wars, Zeng Guofan's views on foreigners changed completely. He no longer thinks that foreigners are rude barbarians, but western powers with particularly strong force and technology.

Therefore, Zeng Guofan began to advocate: learning from foreigners to control foreigners, learning advanced western technology, buying weapons and equipment, establishing "Anqing Inner Ordnance Institute" and Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, joining the military industry and taking the road of self-improvement.

In dealing with foreigners, Zeng Guofan also summed up three diplomatic ideas of keeping pace with the times.

One is equality. In the past, the China government looked down on foreigners and thought it was a country in China. The only thought is particularly serious. Ideologically, it despises foreigners. Even if the country is attacked by a powerful ship, it still deceives itself and does not reflect, and it is teetering in decay.

The second is honesty. People-to-people and country-to-country exchanges all need honesty, cooperation can win a win-win situation and friendship can last forever. Even if it was forced to sign an unequal peace treaty, the Qing government at a disadvantage was glib and did not keep the agreement, which made the strong enemy even more angry.

The third is not to fight for face, but to fight for lining. We are already too weak to let the country collapse for face, but we can't make concessions on matters involving sovereignty, even if we lose money.

15. Zeng Guofan's teacher demeanor?

A person can succeed in his career without the cultivation of famous teachers, who are more important than talents.

Zeng Guofan paid attention to the cultivation of talents all his life, and appreciated, promoted and reused talents. His successor, Li Hongzhang, is the highest achievement of his mentoring and has created the pillars of this country.

Li Hongzhang was gifted and brilliant, and Zeng Guofan gave him various opportunities to make contributions. In view of his moral weakness, he devoted himself to demonstrating, patiently guiding, tempering Li Hongzhang's mind and teaching him to be a man.

Li Hongzhang himself is knowledgeable, has a high emotional intelligence and knows how to advance and retreat, so he has grown rapidly and become the best career successor in Zeng Guofan's heart.

Zeng Guofan was transparent all his life. As a civil servant, he can share his worries for the country. As a military commander, he can lead the troops to calm the chaos; As a teacher, he can teach and preach, and he is a true national saint.

Sixteen, provoke the "Tianjin religious plan" beam processing.

After Zeng Guofan was promoted to the governor of Zhili, he was determined to rectify the officialdom and clean up the backlog. After painstaking efforts, official management has greatly improved. At this time, the Tianjin religious plan that shocked China and foreign countries happened, and someone needed to take the lead to clean up this complicated and dangerous situation.

Zeng Guofan could have refused because of illness, but for the sake of the people of his home country, he once again provoked the girder and struggled to share the worries for the country.

It is indeed a situation of internal troubles and foreign invasion. National sentiment is still rising, and foreigners' armed forces are approaching. How to avoid war, avoid the country falling into a deeper abyss, and how to calm the people's emotions are extremely difficult.

At this time, Zeng Guofan had long forgotten whether he would leave a stigma and stain, and serving the country and the people was his lifelong pursuit of morality.

Although he tried his best to give consideration to all demands, the cruelty of reality and the deliberate muddling of the court made him bear the stigma of "traitor".

His helplessness and painstaking efforts are not understood. In the end, he was exhausted, his body became more and more tired, and his spirit was greatly hit.

At the time of national disaster, Zeng Guofan resolutely set out from the overall situation and never considered personal gains and losses. This is the true sense of justice. Such people deserve our admiration from generation to generation.

Seventeen, exhausted life, for the country and the people to the end.

Zeng Guofan was weak and mentally miserable in his later years because of the Tianjin religious plan. He had to face a cruel reality: his lifelong career of rejuvenating the country and reassuring the people could not reverse the decline of the times at all, and the Qing Dynasty was beyond redemption.

Even so, Zeng Guofan still tried his best to establish westernization, carry out the study abroad plan and revitalize the country from technology and talents. At least this is the most feasible hope.

In addition to his mediocre qualifications, Zeng Guofan's physical fitness is also very poor. He suffers from many diseases, such as premature aging of eyes and ears, especially skin diseases, which have been bothering him. When he attacked, his body was very itchy.

Coupled with years of marching and fighting, his body has not been maintained, and various mental pressures of officialdom have been eroding his weak body. Finally, when he was in his sixties, he ran out of oil and came to the end of his life.

Zeng Guofan's life, meritorious service, virtue and speech. A scholar, who made great efforts in officialdom, founded the Xiang army with his bare hands and saved the country and traditional culture from fire and water; In personal cultivation, starting from the determination to be a saint, I constantly reflect on myself, restrain my desires, correct my shortcomings, and be respected as a saint; In academic accomplishment, he carried forward Confucianism, studied Neo-Confucianism, set an example, and left valuable family instructions and other works for later generations.