From repeated defeats to military genius, Zeng Guofan realized two essences of the Book of Changes.

Zeng Guofan comes from a remote village in Hunan Province. He was born in poverty. When he was a teenager, he "failed every exam" and dropped out of Sun Shan six times in a row. After he entered politics, he tried to commit suicide three times. In the end, he became more frustrated and brave, made outstanding achievements and climbed to the top of the world.

There was a period of history when Zeng Guofan, a Confucian scholar, led troops to fight the Taiping Army. The Taiping army was outnumbered, and the Xiang army was weak. At first, the Xiang army was defeated, and it was "terrible". He was also derided as the "diving champion"

Later, when he fought against the Taiping Army, Zeng Guofan wrote a suicide note and led the soldiers to the last battle with the Taiping Army. The result was a total victory, which greatly boosted the morale of the Xiang army. This spirit of "repeated defeats and repeated wars" influenced and inspired the soldiers to win the final victory of the whole battle. Zeng Guofan put forward a point: there are few things that succeed naturally and naturally in the world, and it is even more impossible to develop according to one's own wishes without knowing the situation clearly.

Jiang Baili, a famous modern military theorist, commented that Zeng Guofan was "a military genius" in modern history in On National Defense, and thought that all leaders should follow Zeng Guofan's example. The essence of Zeng Guofan's unified tactics is the following two thoughts on fighting, which are the essence realized after understanding the Book of Changes.

One is to defeat the Taiping rebels skillfully and flexibly, or to divert the attention of the western front, or to encircle Wei and save Zhao, and the opportunity has become great. Zeng Guofan didn't compete with Taiping rebels. His tactic is to "harden the village and fight for a long time." When attacking the city occupied by Taiping rebels, he did not attack blindly, but adopted the method of long-term siege.

When the Xiang army attacked the city, it usually set up two long trenches, the inner trench was used to attack the city, and the outer trench was used to block aid. The advance and retreat were well-founded, and the attack and defense were proper, so that it was invincible and forced the attacking enemy to be passive. Anqing, Jiujiang, Tianjin and Hunan were all shot down in this way. For example, when Xiang invaded Anqing, it took more than a year to dig two long trenches outside Anqing. After entering the Yuhuatai under Tianjing City, it took four months to dig and build two "deep ditches and high barriers". After the war, the landform outside the city wall was completely changed by the item. Although this tactic lasted for a long time, its effect is beyond doubt.

Second, static braking.

Zeng Guofan believes that mobile operations should not "chase" the enemy, but "prevent and suppress" and "change the rear-end bureau into a truncated division, so as to set the military system without customizing the thief." It can be seen that in dealing with mobile operations, Zeng Guofan's thought of using troops is: static braking.

With the idea of static braking, to overcome cleverness with clumsiness, etc. Applying the theory of yin-yang change to military activities shows that Zeng Guofan is well versed in the theory of yin-yang change. How did Zeng Guofan understand the change of yin and yang? It's related to the Book of Changes.

Zeng Guofan later recalled that at the age of 10, he was familiar with the Five Classics and began to write eight-part essays, which made him a little successful. Zeng Guofan worked hard on the Book of Changes. 1844, in a letter to Wendy Yuan Di, Zeng Guofan listed his daily "perusal" 10 page, and the Book of Changes was among them. In Zeng Guofan's diary, there are at least five records of Zeng Guofan reading the Book of Changes. Studying the Book of Changes made Zeng Guofan understand the dynamic and static changes of Yin and Yang. For example, Zeng Guofan has an important attitude towards life: "seeking truth".

Some people say that Plato is the source of western wisdom, Upanishads are the source of Indian wisdom, and Zhouyi is the source of China wisdom.

Zhouyi is a special classic, which occupies a high position in the history of China.

In the era of lack of knowledge in ancient times, Zhouyi is equivalent to "Baidu knows" today. Since ancient times, countless people have been inspired by Zhouyi and changed their destiny. ......

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The Book of Changes (3) Zeng Guofan (9) Taiping Army (4)