Zhang Hongjie's Biography of Zeng Guofan, the counterattack of grassroots, the road from ordinary to extraordinary
Zeng Guofan, without a prominent family background, was the worst talent among the great men of his generation in the late Qing Dynasty, but he was the governor of Liangjiang, the governor of Zhili and the university student of Wuyingdian. He surpassed everyone in the complicated changes of the times and achieved the greatest success. He was praised as the "first minister of Zhongxing" in the Qing Dynasty, and finally retired unscathed. He completed the road from ordinary to extraordinary. Later generations called him "Ceng Wenzheng", but he was perfect when he was alive, and he was a saint when he was born.
Zeng Guofan has made contributions, established himself and made a point in his life.
Mao Zedong commented: "Be close to others and serve Ceng Wenzheng alone. Watching it clean up the flood and Yang Yi's battle is perfect, so that it can be as perfect as that today? " Chiang Kai-shek commented: "Zeng Gong is a model of Chinese spirit."
He was born in an ordinary family, which can be described as grass roots and average IQ, but every step he took became the cornerstone of life improvement, and eventually he became the last leader of the Qing Dynasty and the last idol of Confucian culture from a fool to a saint. What is his way of counterattack and escalation?
Zeng Guofan was a scholar in the scientific examination for seven times, but then he made great strides, and he was promoted to the court in one fell swoop. This road of imperial examination shaped his philosophy of life "being clumsy": advocating clumsiness. His method of learning to read is clumsy. He reads one sentence at a time, never reads another sentence if he doesn't understand one sentence, and never touches the next one until he finishes reading one book. He read it over and over again, surpassing the diligence, hardship and practical spirit of finding people, and laid a very solid foundation. In the future, if you get the hang of it, it will be smooth and smooth, so it will be as handy as it is in the more difficult examination of juren and Jinshi.
since you are born dull, give play to your strengths. Trickle-down accumulation, dripping water wears through the stone, and the pursuit is solid and thorough, step by step. Later, he led troops to pay attention to "building a hard village and fighting a dull battle." Just as Yang Guo's "epee has no front", and as Guo Jing's "great skill is clumsy", it is steady and invincible.
if you are still clumsy, you can beat the cleverness of the world with the clumsiness of the world.
Zeng Guofan experienced numerous difficulties, setbacks, failures and even retrogression in his life. However, he never gave up, endured hardships extremely, and finally succeeded step by step. His road to imperial examinations is like this, so is the road to fighting bandits, and so is the road to saints.
Many things are long-term undertakings, which can not be achieved by "fierce cooking" for a while, but by "slow cooking". Zeng Guofan emphasized the importance of constancy all his life. He said that "constancy is the foundation of sanctification". His diary day after day, self-management, never stopped. His life is a life of constant self-sharpening and self-cultivation. In the constant tempering, the temperament and personality gradually change, and people are more and more persistent, generous and sincere, and their quality is more and more pure. They stand higher and higher and see farther and farther. Don't worry, don't slack off, stick to constancy and be mature.
a man without perseverance can achieve nothing all his life.
After experiencing the inferiority and anxiety of Beijing officials, Zeng Guofan's desire for self-improvement became more and more intense. At the age of 3, he decided to thoroughly remould himself, turn over a new leaf, and set his mind to be a "saint". "If you are not a sage, you will be an animal", which is a grand ideal of personality. His every move, without exception, can govern the country and benefit the people.
after setting this great ambition of "lifelong large-scale", he began his road of self-management, self-examination and lifelong learning. Starting from the end, he has been climbing forward all his life, thinking about his goals, constantly improving himself and practicing himself. Although he has made a lot of mistakes, he has not been idle for a moment, which has finally made him meritorious, moral and independent.
Confucius' "I save my body in three provinces in my day" is vividly displayed in Zeng Guofan. Whether he was an official in Beijing or created the Xiang army to suppress bandits, Zeng Guofan was constantly reflecting on himself. He was impetuous, conceited, vulgar, irritable, hypocritical, narrow-minded and paranoid ... All these were owned by Zeng Guofan in his youth. After one day of determination, he reflected on himself through his diary, relatives and friends, success or failure, and even lurked for two years, and finally "reborn".
His road to introspection is a long life, and it is continuous all his life. Introspection enables him to improve himself, treat others sincerely, be broad-minded and realize that the world is the softest and the world is the strongest. Since then, he has shared the same dust with others and embarked on an extraordinary road.
reflection, here is reverse thinking. When the Xiang army was founded, Zeng Guofan did not first think about "how did the Xiang army have combat effectiveness", but first analyzed "why did the green campers have no combat effectiveness". He found a very important starting point, summed up the mistakes made by others, and then did it instead. He also summed up the mistakes he made, and reflected through introspection. When he was an official in Beijing, he faced other officials, why he felt inferior, why the Xiang army got off to a bad start, why he suffered from the plight of Jiangxi, and so on. Through reflection, he found out the root of the disease and eliminated it until he succeeded.
Only by finding the essential things and finding the core key of things with reverse thinking can we consolidate the original source, thus accumulating positively and moving towards success.
for his own ambition, Zeng Guofan has formulated 12 military regulations for self-management, namely, respect, sitting quietly, getting up early, being unique in reading, reading history, being cautious in speaking, nourishing qi, preserving health, knowing that he will die every day, never forgetting what he can do in the month, writing words and staying at home at night.
Aim high and cultivate your heart, never overnight, but develop strict self-management and lifelong self-discipline. Strict self-management is undoubtedly the key to get rid of mediocrity and move towards the road of sages.
Zeng Guofan's grassroots counterattack, continuous struggle and upgrading, and the successful transformation from ordinary to extraordinary are examples for generations who are equally mediocre. His growth gives us inspiration for growth and also provides us with firm strength.