at 1: 3 in the morning of October 5th, after reading the last paragraph, I posted four words in my circle of friends: After reading it, I was disappointed.
I read this set of books very slowly. Besides being really busy at work, more importantly, I want to find a soul that I can really touch from my past inexplicable worship of Zeng Guofan.
During this period, I also read a lot of materials, such as Phoenix Vision in 29, the ten-episode feature film Close to Zeng Guofan hosted by Mr. Liang Wendao, the Front and Side of Zeng Guofan by Mr. Zhang Hongjie, the Hundred Years of Falling by Mr. Wu Xiaobo, the Battle of Heaven by Mr. Tan Boniu, and a large number of audio programs about Zeng Guofan that I listened to in the morning and evening.
It can be said that for two months, almost every day was full of philosophical speculation, human thinking, historical review and dream pursuit.
most people in this world have never stepped into the torrent of fate, never experienced ups and downs, and all their lives, they just look at the other side from this side.
From the 18th year of Daoguang, when he was a scholar at the age of 27, to the 2nd year of Xianfeng, when he went out for group training at the age of 41, Zeng Guofan's career in these fourteen years was smooth because he met such a noble person as Mu Zhang 'a, the minister of military aircraft, and became his protege. In addition, he was poor in neo-Confucianism, good at rhetoric, cautious and humble, and knowledgeable.
such a day seems to be managed with care, and it seems to be flashing with philosophical thinking and light, but it is just life.
without great responsibility, less suffering and loss of grandeur, it is not enough to call life.
In fact, everyone has such an opportunity to step into the river of destiny and choose a real life.
it depends on whether you have heard the call from heaven. This call is especially strong in this troubled times.
In fact, the most important point in studying Zeng Guofan is not that he finally climbed the position of governor of the two rivers in the tenth year of Xianfeng, nor that he broke through Tianjing and sealed Hou in the third year of Tongzhi.
personally, the most important node is exactly the three years from four to seven years in Xianfeng.
From the time when Hengzhou sent his troops to the time when he went back to Xiangxiang to attend his father's funeral, what Zeng Guofan experienced was even more splendid, tragic, passionate and desperate than what he had experienced in previous decades.
it was in these three years that Zeng Guofan, who was full of blood and loyal to recover the royal country and defend the dignity of Confucius and Mencius, was left with suspicion from the emperor, pushed aside by the local government, and met with difficulties from all sides, and almost fell into a situation that was unacceptable to the whole country.
in just three years, he almost died twice.
so how did he come over these three years?
In May of the fourth year of Xianfeng, he was defeated in Jinggang, threw himself into the river, was rescued by his subordinates, and was ashamed. He dared not enter Changsha City, and when he entered Changsha City, he set up a coffin for himself. He wanted to be suicidal. Zuo Zongtang called him: This is disloyal, unfilial, heartless and unjust. Just because you die today, it will always be like a bronze cast iron, which will always be accompanied by your name!
in July of the fourth year of Xianfeng, the land and water armies were reorganized and Yuezhou was captured;
in October of the fourth year of Xianfeng, Wuchang was captured. Emperor Xianfeng was overjoyed and made Zeng Guofan act as the governor of Hubei. However, Qi Juanzao, a university student, said, "Zeng Guofan is an assistant minister, and he is like a husband, and a husband lives in the valley. At one call, there are more than 1, people who have started from it, which is not a national blessing." Emperor Xianfeng took back his order and only rewarded Zeng Guofan with the title of assistant minister of the Ministry of War.
in December of the fourth year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan led an army to capture Tianjia town.
The second half of the four years in Xianfeng should be relatively smooth. But the next two years can be described in four words, that is: trapped in Jiangxi.
in February of the fifth year of Xianfeng, Shi Dakai attacked the water camp of the Xiang army and burned more than 1 warships of the Xiang army. Zeng Guofan's ship was captured, and "all the books and volumes were lost." Zeng Guofan was so angry that he planned to ride to the enemy to die, but Luo Zenan and Liu Rongli urged him to stop.
in the fifth year of Xianfeng, in July, Zeng Guofan lost his arm, and Taqibu, his most effective general, died of resentment and hematemesis when he was unable to attack Jiujiang for a long time.
Six years of Xianfeng: Luo Zenan, Zeng Guofan's good friend and one of the founders of Xiang Army, left him when he expected that Jiangxi was in a dilemma and there was no hope of breaking through. He died in Wuchang in the same year, and wrote a letter to him before he died: Zenan claimed that he could study hard all his life, but he failed in his studies and career, so he was ashamed to see his ancestors in Jiuquan. In recent years, I have gained some experience in fighting with long hair. Today, I will leave you far away, and I would like to send it to my brother: "It is useful to stand up in times of chaos.
If it hadn't been for the Tianjing Incident in September of the sixth year of Xianfeng, Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing "clashed" and Shi Dakai were ordered to return to Nanjing, history would have been completely rewritten.
Taking advantage of the gap between Shi Dakai's withdrawal from Jiangxi, in October of the sixth year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan raised courage in his hometown to set up an auspicious word camp to enter Jiangxi, which was the auspicious word camp that later broke through Nanjing and made a great impact on the whole world, and was led by Zeng Guofan's ninth brother, Ceng Guoquan, who was called "Nine Handsome".
in February of the seventh year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan finally "solved" Jiangxi's predicament by "taking the opportunity" of his father's funeral. When leaving, Guo Songtao, his good friend and staff member, gave three pieces of profound advice: First, we should keep in touch with local civil and military officials, and don't always stand in the position of being enemies with them, but compromise when compromising. As the saying goes, a strong dragon does not oppress local strongmen. Second, we can no longer do things that are beyond our power, and we are trying to be thankless and blaming the enemy. Third, we should make use of green camp's strength and stop working alone. If we do these three things, many things will be done better.
This also laid the groundwork for his metamorphosis in the future.
This has to talk about the "three changes" of Zeng Guofan's life.
Zeng Guofan's friend Ouyang Zhaoxiong once said that Zeng Guofan had "three changes in his life": when he was a Beijing official, he relied on Cheng Zhu, and when he changed his military affairs, he applied for Korea. Xianfeng came back in eight years and lived with Huang Lao.
Cheng Zhu, namely Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi, are masters of Neo-Confucianism; Shen Han, namely Shen Buhai and Han Feizi, is the representative of Legalism; Huang Lao, namely Huangdi and Laozi, is another name of Taoism. This passage by Ouyang Zhaoxiong well points out the conceptual change of Zeng Guofan's leadership from "Confucianism" to "Fa" and then to "Tao", which is also the spiral growth track from ideal to reality and then to maturity.
Zeng Guofan came out to command the Xiang army and lead troops to fight, and "changed to apply for Korea" and began to use the concept of Legalism. Legalists are very different from Confucianism. If the core of understanding Confucianism is a word "virtue", then the core of understanding Legalism is actually a word "benefit". Legalists believe that human nature is profit-seeking, and society is essentially centered around interests.
Therefore, the looting of property by the Xiang army after the siege is famous in history. Ceng Guoquan believes that under the four questions, there must be an old adage of a brave man. He admires Hu Linyi's three things most: loving talents like life, killing people like hemp, and spending money like water.
besides interests, legalists believe in strength. The so-called "strength makes strength, strength makes strength, and strength makes virtue". Legalists believe that power really has the power to make people yield and obey, and human behavior can only be changed through coercive power. In the eyes of legalists, nothing can be really reliable except strength. In addition, legalists also emphasize competition. Legalists believe that the essence of this society is competition, that is, the law of the jungle. For what? Fight for benefits. By what? By strength.
It can be seen that, compared with Confucianism, Legalists' thoughts are very realistic. It shows the essence of society in front of people, which makes Zeng Guofan have Confucian ideals on the one hand. However, his ideal is no longer an idealism, which enables Zeng Guofan to see the deep-seated interests through the superficial tenderness and have a clearer understanding of the world, so as to achieve the so-called "well-known, thorough in appearance", which is undoubtedly the key factor for him to always maintain a clear and clear consciousness in the process of serving as an official.
But Legalists also have their own shortcomings. What is the biggest problem of legalists? Is too strong, too cold, too overbearing, too mean, too natural, too self-centered. Being so brave, overbearing and spontaneous will definitely lead to hostility and confrontation of others. Therefore, when Zeng Guofan led troops in Hunan and Jiangxi, he fell into extremely tense interpersonal relationships. Wherever he went, there were constant conflicts with the officialdom, so that it was "incompatible with the whole country". Eventually, the emperor removed the military power and was forced to go home to guard the system, and Zeng Guofan fell to the lowest point in his life.
even he himself sighed: alas! The rainbow penetrates Jing Qing's heart, and those who see it think it is obscene and thin; Bihua Changhong's blood, the viewer thought it was a stone and abandoned it.
when a generation of saints are in such a predicament, how will we evaluate it? We praise his perseverance of "knocking out teeth and swallowing blood", and we will praise another sentence: "Those who have achieved great things in ancient times are not only outstanding talents, but also have the will to persevere."
When we encounter such adversity, we are also used to inspiring ourselves with the experiences of these awesome people.
however, the converse of adversity often lies in the converse of heart.
if you are upset and angry, you will easily become enemies with the outside world.
The demon-vanquisher will descend from his heart first, and the demons will retreat when his heart falls; He who controls the balance controls this qi first, and if the qi is flat, it will not invade the outside.
When Zeng Guofan came out of the mountain again in the eighth year of Xianfeng, his style of being a man and doing things had begun to mix with Huang Lao's Taoist thought of inaction, which can be seen in his diary: "Looking at Liu Wenqing's Qing Ai Tang Tie, I was slightly interested in nature, and I realized that the literati's skills were wonderful in two ways, which were magnificent and distant. Writing is natural, writing poetry is natural, and so is writing words. It is especially valuable if it can contain the majestic in the distance. "
"As the saying goes, a word is like a person, and a writing style is like a person. Writing a word is connected with being a person. Since a word can contain grandeur in the distance and a writing style can contain masculinity in the femininity, why not be a person?"
at the end of the diary, two sentences were quickly added: "strength is stronger than weakness, and Shen Han is in Huang Lao." It is a good place for people to be officials. "
It was this change that reversed Zeng Guofan's later life and changed the historical pattern and trend.
I have to say that Zeng Guofan, who is regarded by later generations as "the most persistent", is actually a very flexible person.
We stick to our inner ideals, but our behavior will change with the external environment. As a master of Neo-Confucianism, Zeng Guofan's behavior is getting closer to Wang Yangming, a master of psychology.
this heart does not move, but moves randomly.