Chapter III Family Model

The first part talks about "eight characters", "three unbeliefs" and "eight books" advocated by Zeng Guofan. The eight characters are: test, treasure, morning, sweep, book, vegetable, fish and pig. Three unbeliefs: don't believe in immortals, medicine, monks and witches. Eight books, that is, reading is based on learning from the past, writing poetry is based on tune, caring for relatives is based on joy, keeping in good health is based on avoiding anger, establishing faith is based on staying at home, staying at home is based on not getting up late, being an official is based on not asking for money, and marching is based on not disturbing the people. He asked his children to abide by the above family rules, whether in good times or in troubled times.

? The novella talks about "four defeats at home" and "four defeats in body". There are four ways to lose your home: a family without etiquette will decline; Families where brothers cheat on each other will decline; Families with promiscuous women will decline; Families with arrogant children will decline. There are four ways to lose: arrogant people must lose; People who don't know right from wrong and indulge their subordinates will fail; Greedy, demanding and demanding people will fail; People who are capricious and dishonest will fail.

? The next part is about the secret of keeping the family prosperous. Admonish the family members to keep in mind the reasons why the official family, the rich family and the poor family can't continue, and hope that the children at home will strive to make the family a well-educated, filial, friendly and harmonious family.

Zeng Guofan deserves to be a master of family management. He is a visionary, a man of insight, and is prepared for danger in times of peace. As a model, he not only had a prominent position in personal affairs, but also had a good family style handed down from generation to generation, which influenced several generations of Zeng descendants and became the "first family" in Qing Dynasty. Even today, the descendants of the Zeng family still have a good family style, and the Zeng family is still full of talents and prosperous. This cannot but be attributed to Zeng Guofan's good housekeeper.