Reading Zeng Guofan's Blood Sacrifice

The first time I saw Zeng Guofan, I learned it from anecdotes that were dumber than thieves. However, it is such a silly child, whose talent is only lower-middle, and there is no shadow of his ancestors. From a farmer's son in Heyetang, Xiangxiang County, he passed the imperial examination and became a protege of Hanlin and the emperor. However, he was ordered to set up Xiang Yong under the restraint of various pig teammates to turn the tide and help the construction collapse (at least extending the existence of the Qing Dynasty for 60 years); Supporting the younger generation and being broad-minded have influenced the whole process of China's modernization.

At school, we knew little about Zeng Guofan, because we defined the peasant uprising as a progressive force and a revolutionary force, and defined Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang as the big landlords of the Manchu government. It was only in the 1990s that I heard that "officials should learn from Zeng Guofan and businessmen should learn from Hu Xueyan". It is said that most people in Hunan have worshipped Zeng Guofan in modern times and know that there is such a thing as a letter from Zeng Guofan.

Tang Hao Ming studied Zeng Guofan's letters for decades, and made many investigations and studies, and finally published Zeng Guofan, which basically restored the original appearance of history and provided good materials for us to understand the history of the late Qing Dynasty and Zeng Guofan's magnificent life. The book is divided into three volumes. The first volume is ten chapters of blood sacrifice, which mainly describes Zeng Guofan's early experience and career. The second book "Wild Fire" consists of eight chapters, which restores the whole process of Xiang's victory over the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The third book, Black Rain, consists of seven chapters, focusing on Zeng Guofan's post-war career. From April 25th to May 3rd, in the past ten days, I spent 540 minutes learning 297 pages of Book One, with an average of about 2 minutes per page.

I can't be calm for a long time after reading it. Five years have passed since Zeng Guofan came out of the mountain in December of the second year of Xianfeng, and outsiders can't get enough of the hardships, humiliation and trauma. His teacher O Zhang Mu sent a message that "a brave man lost his tooth and swallowed blood", which was actually the difference between Xiang Yong and green camp. General green camp looked down upon him and falsely accused him. The local governor didn't give him strength, and his salary couldn't make up (the court had no money and the local government was greedy), and so on. Xiang Yong trained for the first time a year later, and Beijing and Hong Kong suffered a crushing defeat. Zeng Guofan jumped into Xiangjiang River. Jiujiang lost three times and Zeng Guofan jumped the Yangtze River. The emperor's suspicion, local exclusion, hit a wall in all directions, in all directions, almost fell into a situation that was not allowed in the whole country. What did Zeng Guofan get in these five years? Officially, he is just an assistant minister. Jiang Zhongyuan summoned up his courage and rose from acting county magistrate to governor. Hu Linyi summoned up his courage and rose from Taoist priest to governor. It doesn't matter. There are also many people like Tao, Lao Ling, who are evil-minded, talented and mediocre, and they have also been promoted one by one, holding heavy power.

After reading the first volume, I found that Zeng Guofan's temperament in this period was general, and he had not yet reached the point where his enemies and friends admired him. He sometimes sulks and is hypocritical and selfish. He was once said to have shaved his head, because he "would rather kill a hundred scholars by mistake than let go of a scum". What impressed me deeply was that Zeng Guofan killed Jin Songling (who was both Zeng Guofan's confidant and Zeng Guofan's mother's savior) in the first world war with Taiping Army for serious military discipline.

This is the reading notes of the first volume of Zeng.

Second, excerpts of good words

1, an extraordinary thing, by extreme means.

2, troubled times need strict politics.

3, the way of employing people, capable, but also take care of the overall situation.

4. A group of crows and elk gather together. Only when you become as black as them, you won't hear the noise around you. The only solution is to leave the environment.

5, be steady, don't be a frivolous person whose emotions are easy to rise and fall; Be a man, do things, study, use more reason and less emotion.

6, who do great things, give priority to with knowledge, supplemented by talent.

7. Pay equal attention to kindness and prestige when leading troops: make good use of kindness and courtesy.

8. Spirit of Xiang Army: Obey orders, unite sincerely, be brave and strong, and persevere.

9, the method of leading troops, to examine the talent first, rectify the camp rules, and fight again. The way to win, some people attribute it to the use of strong ships and guns, but in fact it lies in people, not in weapons. So the most important thing for you is not to add more knives and guns, but to carefully select the sentry (monitor).

10, people value virtue, followed by talent.

1 1, Yang Haoting, the rules are too private.

12 However, since ancient times, most people have done very difficult things.