The story of Zeng Guofan’s growth

With the same food and clothing as a poor man, a common man can become a great weapon - the story of Zeng Guofan's teaching his son

Zeng Guofan (1811-1872) was the leader of the Hunan Army in the late Qing Dynasty. He was in charge of four provinces, ranked as the third Duke, was granted the title of Marquis by the prime minister, and was given the posthumous title of "Wenzheng". His son can be regarded as a "genuine son of a high-ranking official." However, neither the sons Zeng Jize nor Zeng Jihong became "yamen" and "eldest young master". Zeng Jize was excellent in poetry, calligraphy and painting, and he taught himself English and became a famous diplomat in the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, Zeng Jihong died early, and he also made considerable achievements in the study of ancient arithmetic. Not only did his sons become talented, but his grandchildren also produced poets like Zeng Guangjun. The great-grandchildren also produced educators and scholars such as Zeng Baosun and Zeng Yoonong. What is the reason for this?

The reason is that Zeng Guofan taught his children well and "loved them in their own way."

If nothing else, as long as he does not seek any specialization for his children and teaches them to be thrifty and start a business, it will make people think deeply.

On November 5, the sixth year of Xianfeng (1856), he wrote a letter to Ji Zeer. The letter said: "Children of aristocratic families are most likely to be guilty of one word of luxury and one word of pride. It is not necessary to call it luxury after having rich clothes and fine food, but it is common to have leather robes and woolen coats lying around, and the habit of being with horses and servants. This is becoming more and more luxurious day by day. When you see the villagers, you scoff at their simplicity, and when you see the hired workers, you criticize them. Now you have become accustomed to doing this... There is no bad thing among the disciples of the capital who is not due to arrogance and extravagance. You and your brothers should warn them. "

On May 27th of the first year of Tongzhi, he wrote another letter to Ji Hong'er, saying: "The children of ordinary families are all the same as those of poor people, and they can become great people. "If you are tainted with the aura of wealth and wealth, you will have no hope of success."

In July of the third year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan was awarded the title of Marquis, and Ji Hong was going to Changsha to take the exam. Guofan wrote a special letter to warn: "You should be modest while abroad." The two characters are the main ones. He is a member of an aristocratic family and belongs to Wanmu... You cannot interact with the state or county in front of the venue, and you cannot send notes. Be sure to respect yourself when you enter. "

My daughter is equally strict. On August 24, the 11th year of Xianfeng's reign, he wrote to his daughter: "Clothes should not be made in too many styles, especially if they are too garish or too gorgeous." Abundance, blessings cannot be exhausted, and power cannot be exhausted. The first value is to get up early, and the second value is persistence. If you are determined, you can achieve anything."

He also asked: "The men in my family are indispensable for reading, reading, writing, and writing, and the women are indispensable for clothing, food, coarseness, and fineness. One is indispensable. A diligent family will be prosperous, and a person who is diligent will be healthy; if he is diligent and thrifty, he will never be poor."

Zeng Guofan's Couplet. 5 stories

1. Zeng Zuo's Couplet

Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang were both fellows from Hunan and important officials in the late Qing Dynasty, but they had different personalities and similar faces. If they are not on good terms, they will inevitably be sarcastic and sarcastic when they meet.

Once, Zuo Zongtang went to the Zeng Mansion to discuss matters. As usual, he broke into the inner hall of the Zeng Mansion without informing anyone. It happened that Zeng Guofan was washing the feet of his concubine Chen. When Zuo Zongtang saw it, he immediately mocked:

Marshal Zeng washed Mrs. Ru's feet;

Zeng Guofan did not show weakness and replied casually:

Zuo Zhongtang He was born with the title of Jinshi.

This seemingly ordinary couplet is actually very sarcastic. It turned out that Zeng Guofan's wife, Ouyang, had a pockmarked face and was not beautiful. She later took the pretty Chen as his concubine, and she fell in love with him. Zuo's words hit him right there; Zuo Zongtang passed the provincial examination and was able to After failing the exam, he was always looked down upon despite his talent. Later, because Emperor Xianfeng was eager to hire people to lead the army, Zuo was exempted from the exam and given a "Tongjinshi" background. Zeng Guofan's correct answers also exposed his old background.

On another occasion, Zuo and Zeng had different views on the issue of the "Beijing Treaty" signed by the imperial court and Britain. While talking, Zeng Guofan was very impatient and made a joke:

Ji Zi claimed to be highly talented, but he always disagreed with the opinions;

Zuo Zongtang smiled slightly and immediately counterattacked:

If national defense is transferred to foreign countries and becomes a vassal, what happens to the economy?

The two are really rivals in chess, facing each other tit for tat, neither giving in to the other. However, after Zeng Guofan died, Zuo Zongtang thought about his opponent again, but what he thought of was Zeng Guofan's generosity. When Zuo was in crisis, he extended a helping hand and recommended Zuo to the fourth rank of Jingtang to support military affairs. He took control of the actual power of the army and became governor. Zuo Zongtang thus called himself a "late born" and paid homage to Zeng Guofan:

Being loyal to the country and knowing others wisely, I feel ashamed to be inferior to Yuan Fu;

Working together is like gold, and attacking when we are wrong is like gold. Stone, the phase will be good throughout your life.

Zuo Zongtang’s elegiac couplet, which is half euphoric and half blaming, half eulogizing and half lyrical, has been praised as a famous couplet by later generations and is widely recited.

2. Couple of ancestors and grandchildren

This happened when Zeng Guofan was still a child.

My great-grandfather, Lord Hoshioka, loved this eldest son and grandson very much and paid close attention to him all the time.

Once, Mr. Hoshioka went up the stairs and saw Kuofan playing in the house after school. He was holding a pillar and spinning around. He casually recited:

Walking around with an umbrella in hand;

Zeng Guofan had heard some simple couplets spoken by his husband in private school. When he heard his grandfather's words, he thought, isn't this just a "Chu Bi"? My father-in-law wants to test me! So he looked at his father-in-law on the stepladder and read out "contrast" calmly:

The steps on the stepladder are getting higher and higher step by step.

After hearing this, Mr. Xinggang kept saying, Kuan is a good pair, a good pair! He felt that this eldest grandson was not only smart, but also had extraordinary ambitions, and he valued the country more highly from then on.

3. Dumb Right

In the 26th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty, Hunan officials started to take the lead, starting with Zeng Guofan. Manchu officials looked down upon Han officials and always made sarcastic remarks.

One day, Zeng Guofan entered the court room to prepare for an announcement. A Manchu official said tepidly: "Zeng Guofan is quite a talented man. I'm afraid you will never be able to find another one in Hunan, right?" "

Zeng Guofan's mentor Mu Zhang'a rolled his eyes at the man and retorted: "Isn't Guo Kuntao a talented man?"

The man did not show weakness: "I'm afraid it will be difficult. I found the third one."

Zeng Guofan was just a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy at that time, and he was just an insignificant figure in front of this group of dignitaries. However, he said politely and neither humblely nor arrogantly: "To be honest, sir, this is definitely not Zeng's boast. Talentless people like me are everywhere in Hunan. Even villagers can compete with Zeng."< /p>

"Then I'd like to pay you a visit!" The man knew that he couldn't say anything, so he lost his high-sounding words and ran away.

Not long after the incident, the Manchu official went to the south for a business trip and actually paid a private visit to Zeng Guofan's hometown. When he walked to Baiyangping, he met an old man looking after cattle and asked: "My father-in-law, is Zeng Guofan from here?"

Seeing that this northerner was polite, the old man pointed to the hillside opposite and replied politely, "That's right, sir. The house at the foot of Gaomei Mountain is his home."

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The Manchu official thought that when he arrived at the door of Zeng's house, he could test the literary talents of the people here. If he made a joke, he could lose Zeng Guofan's face when he returned. So regardless of whether the old man was reading or not, he pointed to a small stone pagoda in the distance and said: "Looking at the sharp point of the pagoda from a distance, it has seven floors in all directions. Please correct the second line!"

The old man stared at the northerner in confusion and smiled. He shook his hand and walked away.

The Manchu officials were so unhappy that they finally had something in hand. When they returned to Beijing and saw Zeng Guofan, they said: "Zeng Guofan, you said that all of you in Hunan are full of talented people. I think you are exaggerating about Haikou!" Then he told the story of how he met the old man, adding more details.

Zeng Guofan burst out laughing after hearing this. The Manguan was puzzled and asked Zeng why he was laughing. Zeng Guofan stopped laughing and said: "He has already got you right, but he is just dumb. Don't you even understand this?"

The manguan was confused and asked: "What, Dumb right?"

Zeng Guofan replied calmly: "When the old man shakes his hand to you, he means that his palm is flat when viewed from a close distance."

The Manguan said. After hearing this, I immediately turned red and had nothing to say.

4. Qinhuai met Shaoru

After Zeng Guofan pacified the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he took up residence in Nanjing. In order to revive the local economy, he followed the advice of his subordinates and decided to restore the tourism industry on the Qinhuai River. These ten miles of Qinhuai were originally the so-called "golden atmosphere of the Six Dynasties". Among the pavilions and painted boats, under the sound of oars and the shadows of lamps, literati, singers and famous prostitutes drank wine and talked happily. Why not? Some officials under Zeng Guofan could no longer hold back. They were afraid of the majesty of the Governor-General and did not dare to act rashly. So they urged Zeng Guofan to go to "inspect" so that they could explain themselves.

Zeng Guofan knew it well and went with the flow, and he went as expected. For the first time, he met a geisha whose stage name was "Shaoru". This woman was good at sex and quite intelligent. After going back and forth, she learned that the guest in front of her was the famous Governor Zeng, so she asked Zeng for a couplet to increase her worth.

Zeng Guofan was originally a couplet with a famous artist, but it was just a couplet, so he planned to use her stage name "Shaoru" as a couplet to avoid spoiling her enthusiasm. First couplet:

I have to live less and less;

When the geisha saw it, she realized that what she wrote was not her original intention, but just a way to take some time off from her busy schedule. What she wanted was to come here often. Past. Before Zeng Guofan could write the couplet, she spoke first, saying that I would like to renew the couplet for you, what do you think of it? Zeng Guofan didn't expect that a geisha could have literary talent, so he naturally nodded his approval.

The second line, which is as short as a continuation, is:

Just deal with it as you want.

When Zeng Guofan saw her, he was impressed by the woman's good intentions.

5. Huaichunyan

Zeng Guofan had complicated official duties. After he had a good impression of Qinhuai geishas, ??whenever he had free time, he would always invite a few staff friends to the Qinhuai River to eat flowers. Drink some wine and listen to some music to relieve the tension.

Once, he hosted a banquet for a friend who came to Nanjing in a restaurant in Qinhuai, and invited a singing girl named "Chun Yan" to sing for the entertainment. Not only was Chunyan beautiful in appearance, but her singing voice also had the power of "reverberating around the beams for three days without stopping", and everyone who had attended the song was fascinated by it.

Later, Chunyan was taken as a concubine by a wealthy businessman and left Qinhuai. When Zeng Guofan returned, the building was empty. Once, feeling lost, he wrote the following couplet of "Huai Chun Swallow":

It is inevitable that there is love, recalling the feasting and feasting, but the separation actually hurts the spring;

It seems like we have known each other before, The beam is empty and the mud is falling, when will I see Yan come back again?

The couplet embeds the word "Spring Swallow" in the upper and lower couplets respectively, expressing sadness, loss and sincerity.

We can also see another side of Zeng Guofan: he is also a human being, and he also has the emotions and desires of ordinary people! /s/blog_502b032f0100b1vn.html

The Story of Zeng Guofan/%D0%A1%D6%E0/blog/item/7fc411821a8367a30df4d243.html