Zeng Guofan went from a civilian to a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty. What can we learn from him?

Hello, everyone, this is a small broadcast reading. Starting today, I will use a series of articles to introduce Zeng Guofan, a famous strategist, strategist and philosopher in China. The main references are He's Biography of Zeng Guofan and Tang's Letters from Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan is actually a controversial figure in the history of China in the late Qing Dynasty. Those who affirmed him said that he was "the first perfect man in the ages" and "four famous ministers in the late Qing Dynasty", while those who denied him called him "a national sinner". So, what kind of person is Zeng Guofan? Through several videos, we can understand the front and side of Zeng Guofan, his life story and his ideological and spiritual background.

18 1 1 year, Zeng Guofan was born in a small landlord family in Xiangxiang, Hunan. He studied hard since childhood and entered school at the age of 6. But Zeng Guofan is not a clever boy in our eyes, even a little stupid. You may have heard such a story about Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan studied hard when he was a child, but he was a little stupid and learned slowly. One day a thief went to his house to steal something, and Zeng Guofan was reciting an article. So the thief hid on the beam, thinking about stealing after Zeng Guofan had finished reading and slept. Who knows, Zeng Guofan recited it for several hours and didn't recite it in the middle of the night. The thief hiding on the beam couldn't wait any longer, so he simply jumped out of the car and shouted at Zeng Guofan, "What are you reading for such a fool!" Then I recited the article word for word, and then I walked away!

Of course, whether this story is true or not remains to be verified. But compared with his peers, such as his colleagues Zhang Zhidong and Hu Linyi, and even his student Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan's qualifications are really mediocre. He took the exam seven times, and only at the age of 265,438+0 did he get the penultimate place in the top prize. In the 23-year-old exam, the 27-year-old palace exam ranked in the top three 42. In contrast, Zhang Zhidong 13 years old is a scholar, and 15 years old is a juren.

Compared with Zeng Guofan, his father Zeng Linshu is not so good. His father was admitted as a scholar at the age of 43. But the education of the younger generation is meticulous. Father and mother Jiang had a great influence on Zeng Guofan in his early years, and his mother was strong and virtuous. Zeng Guofan inherited his mother's strong and stubborn personality, and he was with his father since childhood. His father read to him from morning till night. In such a family education environment, it is natural for Zeng Guofan to embark on the road of "learning to be an excellent official" in the future.

1838, Zeng Guofan went to Beijing to take the imperial examination, and won the 42nd place in the top three, and was named imperial academy Jinshi [shù]. From then on, Zeng Guofan began his political career and his life of serving the imperial court.

In the days of the Hanlin Academy, although I was engaged in idle paperwork. However, he insisted on studying and taught himself 12 courses. I kept a diary until the day before my death, which shows that Zeng Guofan's perseverance is extraordinary. God will take care of those who work hard. 1842, Zeng Guofan was sent to Sichuan as the examiner of the imperial examination. It was precisely because of his hard work and honesty that he won the praise of his colleagues. Zeng Guofan, who soon returned to Beijing, became the supervisor of the Wen Yuan Pavilion on the recommendation of his teacher Zhang Mu. In the following years, Zeng Guofan's career prospered and gradually got better.

Hong Xiuquan, who is far away in Guangxi at this time, has a completely different fate from him. In the mountainous area of Guangxi where social contradictions were acute at that time, social unrest created conditions for Hong Xiuquan to launch a peasant uprising. He founded "Worship God" and began missionary activities in Guangzhou, Shunde, Guangxi and other counties 10. Under the cruel economic exploitation and political oppression of the feudal regime in the late Qing Dynasty, Hong Xiuquan held high the banner of "peace" and created a brand-new world with land, rice and grain, which played a huge positive role in organizing and mobilizing the masses.

Finally in 185 1 year 1 month, this day is Hong Xiuquan's birthday. Yang, Feng Yunshan, Shi Dakai and others announced a formal uprising in Jintian Village and established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. On the third day after jintian uprising, the Taiping Army moved eastward, menacing, and repeatedly defeated the Qing army. In just one year, the forces of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have infiltrated from Guangxi to Hunan. The Taiping Army was menacing and camped in Yuezhou. At the same time, they got a large number of ordnance batteries in Wu Sangui, which made them invincible and quickly occupied Wuhan. On the one hand, the Qing government urgently adjusted its military deployment, on the other hand, it called on all localities to practice rural courage and defend their hometown.

1853, 42-year-old Zeng Guofan finally ushered in a turning point in his life. Facing the retreat of the Qing government, Emperor Xianfeng issued an imperial edict to the governor of Hunan, asking Zeng Guofan, who was mourning at home, to train villagers in Hunan. Zeng Guofan, who was still hesitant about accepting the imperial edict, finally reluctantly accepted the appointment of Minister Ying Yong.

After Zeng Guofan took office, he did not have a mature plan for the new army in the future, but he still saw some problems in the military system, so he began to reform the military system: first, the recruitment system replaced the world military system, and second, "soldiers belong to the state" became "soldiers must have it." Zeng Guofan also has his own way to cultivate the item. Mainly summarized in four aspects: exercise, performance, patrol, and point. Compared with the battalions in the Eight Banners green camp, in addition to intense training, it is also a feature of Xiang to call the roll twice a day and stand on the wall. These are all measures taken to draw lessons from the past and improve the combat effectiveness of the army.

Xiang army also paid its soldiers generous salaries, but in order to solve the problem of raising salaries, Xiang army adopted the method of paying half salaries, usually only 50%, and the rest was often in arrears for months or even half a year. If a soldier leaves the camp without authorization, the arrears will be confiscated. This practice not only reduces the difficulty of salary increase, but also prevents soldiers from escaping, and can attract a large number of farmers and scholars to join the army.

Xiang Navy started to build after Zeng Guofan moved to Hengzhou. He found that the confluence of steamed water and Hunan water in Hengzhou City has always been a battleground for military strategists. With the help of Wang Jue 'an and Wang Shiquan, he successfully recruited a talented person who is proficient in navy: Peng Yulin. At this time, the navy division was built, and there were two or three thousand able-bodied men who came to join the army. In less than a year, an Anxiang Army with two divisions of water and land was built. Zeng Guofan secretly rejoiced and prepared to train the two armies with full horsepower, striving to practice well as soon as possible, and then went to court to play things.

He told this story to another famous late Qing Dynasty star, Jiang Zhongyuan, and Jiang Zhongyuan soon told it to the emperor. As a result, the emperor issued an imperial edict asking Zeng Guofan to go to other provinces at once. However, Zeng Guofan insisted on the principle of not fighting out of the province and refused the orders of Emperor Xianfeng. Although this allowed Zeng Guofan to win enough preparation time for his subsequent military victory, he abandoned the friendship between teachers and friends. Wu Wenrong, governor of Huguang and Zeng Guofan's teacher, sent people to save him many times. Zeng Guofan refused to reply, repeatedly saying that it is unreasonable to rush to send troops now; His protege, Jiang Zhongyuan, who was the earliest and trusted by the Qing government, was in danger. Zeng Guofan only sent 1000 recruits to help. In the end, the two men committed suicide in defeat, which brought a great blow to Zeng Guofan.

Ok, that's all for today. I will continue to share Zeng Guofan's personal biography later. If you like my article, please pay attention to the small broadcast reading. See you in the next article.