Zeng Guofan was studying in Hengyang at the age of 20. My roommate has a classmate named Yang, who is a well-known local rich boy. Yang, relying on his family's influence, is usually arrogant and is also making things difficult for Zeng Guofan, who is obviously better than him.
One day, Zeng Guofan was sitting at the window, reading "Zuo Zhuan" loudly by the light outside the window, and he was fascinated. Suddenly, he heard someone shouting, "Zeng Guofan, you blocked the light in the window." How can I read this book? Don't move! " Zeng Guofan stopped and looked sideways. It is Yang opposite his bed. At this time, Yang didn't actually study. His bed was on the other side of the window, and the light was not blocked at all. Zeng Guofan was very angry and wanted to argue with him, but he still suppressed his anger, moved the stool to his bed and read it again.
In the evening, Zeng Guofan continued to study under the lamp, and Yang yelled at him: "Don't study during the day, have fun at night, and show it to others at the same time!" How can we sleep if you study now? "Zeng guofan looked up and smiled at him, reading in silence.
Soon, Zeng Guofan was promoted in the exam, and all his classmates congratulated him. Yang was furious and shouted at Zeng Guofan: "The Feng Shui in this room is mine. You took it away as soon as you came." The student on the side was disgusted and asked him, "Isn't Zeng Guofan's case your position?" Why take a bite now? " Yang still said irrationally, "He took my Feng Shui." Everyone accused Yang in succession, but Zeng Guofan, in turn, advised everyone not to argue with him about this trivial matter, and everyone immediately admired Zeng Guofan.
A person in the world, even a little injustice can not stand, if you want to succeed, it is not easy. Zeng Guofan became a general in the late Qing Dynasty after his successful career, which was not unrelated to his forbearance when he was young.
Why can Zeng Guofan make great achievements?
Zhang Taiyan once said: "Zeng Guofan's reputation is a sacred image, and praise is the culprit." Since the Opium War, the political situation in modern China has been constantly turbulent, which made the evaluation of Zeng Guofan repeated. Zeng Guofan suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising and saved the fate of the Qing Dynasty, so the court officials, landlords and intellectuals in the same light-year period praised him as the "head of the famous officials in Zhongxing". By the end of the Qing Dynasty, revolutionaries would rise up to overthrow the Manchu Dynasty and "expel the Tatars and restore China". At this time, everyone found that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising was an uprising with the Han people as the main body. Zeng Guofan helped the Manchu government suppress the Han people uprising, so Zeng Guofan was labeled as a "traitor." In the future, the * * * production party will lead the peasants to make revolution, which is called "agrarian revolution", so our view of history is very clear: all peasant uprisings in history are good, and all suppression of peasant uprisings is bad. Zeng Guofan suppressed the largest peasant uprising in history, and this crime is obviously the biggest, so he was labeled as the most cruel and ferocious representative of the landlord class and the executioner, and was completely denied. This is the image of Zeng Guofan in textbooks that we are all familiar with. All of the above are actually described from the perspective of their respective political positions, which is bound to be limited and one-sided.
After the reform and opening up, people began to emancipate their minds, including the evaluation of some historical figures, and gradually became more and more comprehensive and objective. At this time, people found that Zeng Guofan's role in the history of China was very complicated, and he could not be denied simply by the label of "a certain class". From a cultural point of view, he embodies the essence of China traditional culture and is the last idol of China traditional culture. From the military point of view, he initiated the military modernization of China. From the economic point of view, Zeng Guofan was the initiator of the Westernization Movement, which opened the curtain of modern economic reform in practice. His thought of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners" is quite open and progressive. Zeng Guofan can give profound enlightenment to impetuous contemporary China people from the perspectives of family education, dealing with people and moral cultivation.
Now that we are far away from Zeng Guofan's era, we can look at Zeng Guofan calmly. When Mao Zedong was young, he said, "I am close to others, and I serve Ceng Wenzheng alone." He also said that in the history of China, there were two kinds of people, one was an official and the other was a missionary, and Zeng Guofan was an official and a missionary. Mao Zedong thinks that only two people in the history of China can reach this level, one is Zeng Guofan and the other is Fan Zhongyan in the Northern Song Dynasty. This evaluation is very high. Here, Mao Zedong obviously regards Zeng Guofan as a successful leader. I think this is a very important perspective to interpret Zeng Guofan today. Interpreting Zeng Guofan from this angle should bring us more gains. Of course, there is a phenomenon worthy of attention in the society now, that is, Zeng Guofan is regarded as synonymous with officialdom tactics. In my opinion, this is another plastic surgery for Zeng Guofan and a new distortion of Zeng Guofan's image, which is not serious.
People interpret Zeng Guofan with different needs. Everyone has his own needs, so everyone has an image of Zeng Guofan in his heart. This is the characteristic of reading history, and each has his own needs. One of the important reasons why people are very interested in Zeng Guofan's letters is that Zeng Guofan's education of his children is really successful. The descendants of the Zeng family basically followed a family motto of Zeng Guofan, that is, "all mortals want their descendants to be big officials, and I don't want to be big officials, but I want to be a gentleman who knows how to read" and take reading as their pursuit. Ceng Jize, the eldest son of Zeng Guofan, became an official because he inherited the title, which was very successful. His second son, Zeng Ji Hong, was a mathematician and didn't go into politics. In the third generation, I basically stopped being an official. The Zeng family passed from Zeng Guofan to the sixth generation, and now many descendants of Zeng are overseas, basically in the fields of education, medical care, science and technology. Among Zeng's descendants, there are more than 240 academicians, engineers and professors who still follow his family instructions until now. This kind of family education is not something that ordinary people can do.
What is the rise and fall of a family? He made it very clear. It doesn't depend on how big an official you are and how much money you earn, but on the construction of family style. Zeng Guofan once said: "The way to get rich is nothing more than diligence inside and outside, harmony between brothers, and humility for future generations. Losing a family is just the opposite. " Diligent and thrifty inside and outside the family, brothers are harmonious, and children are modest and prudent. Such a family will surely flourish. On the other hand, it will definitely be defeated. So the reason is actually very simple. Zeng Guofan also summed up many memorable things, such as his family's "Eight Books". These things are really worth thinking about today.
China people have a sense of mission in their bones. A person's life is always limited, but the meaning of China people's life has been surpassed in the continuation of family blood. This is the psychological characteristic of China people. Zeng Guofan's family precepts are the family's greatest spiritual wealth. The family inheritance that many of us pay attention to is often the inheritance of wealth at the material level, but what really lasts is the inheritance of wealth at the spiritual level. Matter will always die, but spiritual things can spread infinitely and have unlimited influence.
In fact, from the perspective of being a man and doing things, Zeng Guofan did not put forward a brand-new idea. His family precepts are nothing more than some classic Confucian thoughts, such as modesty and prudence, thrift, extravagance and arrogance, and so on. But he will always tell you, and more importantly, he only needs to know one sentence. He said so and did so, which is also the reason for his success. He is an example himself, and his words will naturally carry weight and be easily accepted by everyone.
Zeng Guofan wrote a letter to his family, which was really well-meaning. In his theory, this is called "mouth to mouth". Zeng Guofan has a "five essentials": "body, mind, eyes, hands and mouth", and the "mouth" is repeated persuasion. He is such a kind-hearted attitude. So it is easy for the family to accept his education.
In addition, the truth in Zeng Guofan's family instructions is actually not difficult to start. If you want to be diligent, just get up early. If you want to be frugal, you should never spend too much money at home. Make some rules that can be implemented, and everyone in the family can do it together and implement it.
Moreover, Zeng Guofan spread this sense of responsibility to the family to everyone. He said: "People with a long family history rely not on temporary titles, but on long-term family rules, not on the sudden development of one or two people, but on the maintenance of the public." The long-term prosperity of a family depends not on a temporary official position, but on long-term family rules. Not by the outbreak of one or two people, but by the maintenance of everyone. He asked everyone to maintain this family together. Finally, everyone realized how much my behavior affected my family. We should do it together. If the family has a sense of pride and responsibility, they will be willing to do as Zeng Guofan asked. This is why Zeng Guofan died so many years ago, and the Zeng family still abides by the family precepts. Family precepts can only play a real role if they become the conscious behavior of family members.
Some people regard Zeng Guofan as a synonym for officialdom tactics, which is actually a great misunderstanding. No leader can succeed only by resorting to strategy. Depending on tactics, you can be complacent for a while, but you can't succeed in the long run. The core of Zeng Guofan's leadership is not tactics, but ideas, which is his "sincere" efforts to practice ideas. "Stupidity" means doing it step by step, and "sincerity" means doing it sincerely. I only know one sentence. Zeng Guofan has a belief that "only the sincerity of the world can overcome the falsehood of the world; Only the best in the world can win the best in the world. "This is the core sentence to understand his leadership." Fake and clever are just cleverness, while sincere and clumsy are great wisdom. That's the truth.
Zeng Guofan's leadership is not completely devoid of Machiavellian factors. As an official, he must also compromise with reality and practice both inside and outside. But generally speaking, it is based on morality, simplicity, honesty, patience, tolerance, overall situation, decision-making, diligence and self-cultivation. The core of his leadership is the concept of "loyalty, righteousness and blood" and the sense of mission of "sacrificing oneself to defend the Tao".
There are actually three realms for people to do things. The first realm is occupation, and doing things is the requirement of occupation and the food for soldiers. Such people don't really invest in things; The second level is career. With career, people will be willing to pay, pay and suffer. The third level is ideas and beliefs. Faith is uncompromising, and faith does not need to pay any price. Faith can make people pay 100% or even 200% of their energy, which will make people burn themselves for faith.
Zeng Guofan achieved the second and third levels. His belief, his ambition, his accomplishment, his personality, his perseverance, his mind and his strong sense of saving the world, as well as the strong appeal formed by his persistent pursuit of his own ideas, are the key factors for his great achievements. These contents are far from being covered by one stroke. From Zeng Guofan, we can feel the profoundness of leadership in China's history and culture.