Zeng Guofan was basically a mediocre person before the age of 30: after that, he achieved a perfect counterattack.

Before the age of 30, Zeng Guofan was basically a mediocre person. He has done many great things in his life, and his methods are very clever and shrewd. But Zeng Guofan's IQ is not particularly high. From the perspective of family inheritance, Zeng Guofan's father Zeng Linshu was very stupid when he was studying. He took the scholar exam from his teens until he was 43. He took the exam 17 times, and finally his hair turned gray and he won a scholar. Zeng Guofan's own imperial examination road was a bit like his father at first. The first six exams failed, and it was not until the seventh time that I managed to win a scholar. Why do you say you can't bear it? Because his ranking is the second from the bottom.

There was a lot of discussion about Zeng Guofan's talent at that time. His friend Zuo often commented on Zeng Guofan in correspondence with some relatives and friends, saying that Zeng Guofan lacked talents, talents and talents. His student Li Hongzhang said to his face that he was slow in Confucianism and too slow in responding to things.

Zeng Guofan had many common shortcomings and faults in his personality before he was 30 years old. After he became an official in Beijing, he spent a lot of time socializing, drinking and chatting everywhere, watching plays and playing chess, spending little time studying and often sitting still. On one occasion, imperial academy had a 40-day holiday. At the end of the holiday, Zeng Guofan made a self-summary in his diary and said what he had done in these 40 days. I didn't do anything except write a few letters home, so I muddled along.

He is arrogant, ill-bred and short-tempered, and has had several serious conflicts with others. One of them was with Zheng Xiaoshan, a Beijing official from his hometown. The two men got into a fight because they didn't agree at dinner. I swore all kinds of dirty words and even greeted my relatives on both sides. Upon hearing this, Zeng Guofan felt very sorry and said that his move was too insulting.

Therefore, Zeng Guofan, before the age of 30, was a very mediocre person in many ways, which was very different from the sage with perfect personality in our later impression.

Introspection, learn to be a saint. Why can Zeng Guofan thoroughly remould himself and practice his internal skills? This is also inseparable from his being an official in Beijing. Zeng Guofan met many scholars and scholars in Beijing, and he was very touched. At the same time, after Zeng Guofan became an official, there was no pressure to write eight-part essays, and he began to have time to learn some knowledge calmly. At that time, it was essential for a scholar to study Neo-Confucianism. A basic theory of Neo-Confucianism is that everyone can become a saint through self-tempering, and everyone has the ambition to be a saint. So at the age of 30, Zeng Guofan felt that he was 30 years old, and he could no longer dawdle like before. He should be thoroughly remoulded, turn over a new leaf and learn to be a saint.

How did Zeng Guofan learn to be a saint? To put it simply, he learned to be a saint by keeping a diary, and reflected on what he did every day in neat fine print, and what he did when he woke up every morning and went to bed at night, especially when he failed to meet the standards of a saint. In his diary, he also set himself the lower limit of daily conquest, reading ten pages of history every day, telling one article in each diary after dinner and practicing his composition every day. With the tool of diary, Zeng Guofan's work and study efficiency have been greatly improved.

Determined to turn over a new leaf, Zeng Guofan immediately thought of the struggle with Zheng Xiaoshan. Although both of them were at fault in this fight, if they want to turn over a new leaf, they must turn their faces, find reasons for themselves and do it as soon as possible. So Zeng Guofan immediately went to Zheng Xiaoshan's house to visit and apologize. Zheng Xiaoshan was also very moved and invited Zeng Guofan to dinner. So the two men made up again.

Living conditions Generally speaking, everyone's controversy about Zeng Guofan focuses on whether Zeng Guofan is a sincere person or a hypocritical person. Many people say that Zeng Guofan is a sincere gentleman and saint, but quite a few people think that Zeng Guofan is a hypocritical person and a cunning person. His every move is for promotion and wealth. One's economic income and expenditure is a very secret aspect of one's life. Knowing this aspect can often define the authenticity of this person.

Xiangxiang has an account book of Zeng Guofan before and after Daoguang, because Zeng Guofan is a very careful person. When he was an official in Beijing, the economy was very tight, and Zeng Guofan had to keep accounts for his daily life. By combing these data, we can see the basic context of Zeng Guofan's life economic income and expenditure.

Let's talk about Zeng Guofan's economic situation when he was an official in Beijing. Twenty years after Daoguang, Zeng Guofan was a scholar, and was awarded the official position of reviewing from Qipin imperial academy by the emperor. This is equivalent to the researcher at or above the deputy division level in the State Council Policy Research Office today. He often meets ministers and sometimes the emperor, and often drafts articles for the country. But his financial situation can be summed up in one word-poverty. For example, in the twenty-second year of Daoguang, Zeng Guofan's servant Bobby Chen had a quarrel with his master. It is also common for the host and servant to quarrel, but Bobby Chen packed his bags and left after the quarrel and went to another official's house to climb high. Why? Because Zeng Guofan's living standard at home is too low, he often defaults on his salary and can't eat well. So this incident made Zeng Guofan very popular, and then he wrote a proud slave poem, saying that he had no knowledge, no money and was quite arrogant all his life. Who knows that a proud slave is me. Without money, servants look down on themselves, and a servant is more arrogant than himself. Why are you so poor? This is because of the low salary system in Qing Dynasty.

How many meters can one or two pieces of silver buy in Qing Dynasty? About one tael of silver is equivalent to RMB in 200 yuan today, and Zeng Guofan's annual salary is equivalent to about 24,000 RMB now. This money is already very difficult for a drifter in Beijing today, not to mention Zeng Guofan and getting married and having children. What was the expenditure of a Beijing official at that time? In the twenty-first year of Daoguang, Zeng Guofan spent 458 taels 1 money 9 cents, and the fiscal deficit was 333 taels, 5 taels and 4 cents.

In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), Zeng Guofan became the governor of the two rivers. What is Zeng Guofan's income at this time? 155 Liang, similar to when he was an official in Beijing. But this is only a nominal salary. In Qing Dynasty, the main income of governors and governors was fees, which, in popular parlance, was gray income. Governor-level officials, with an average annual income of 6.5438+0.8 million, equivalent to RMB 36 million. If Zeng Guofan's income is really so much, he can be one of the highest earners in the Qing Empire. With such a large increase in income, how much has Zeng Guofan's living standard improved?

Since Zeng Guofan became an official, the living standard has indeed changed greatly, but it has not improved, but decreased. First of all, in terms of dressing, Zeng Guofan not only dressed simply, but also was slovenly. This impression has been confirmed by foreigners. Gordon, captain of the foreign gun team, met Zeng Guofan in Anqing in the second year of Tongzhi. Gordon's entourage wrote a memoir and mentioned the meeting. These foreigners were surprised to find that Governor Tang Liang's clothes were shabby, wrinkled and full of oil stains, which were accidentally dropped while eating. Why didn't Zeng Guofan pay attention to clothes when he was governor? The reason is simple, because Zeng Guofan is the biggest official on the site of Liangjiang River. He has no superiors to see, but all who come to see him are subordinates. He can be casual.

Zeng Guofan, an atypical official, has an interesting homework list in his data, which he set for the harem of the Governor's House. Because Zeng Guofan was not allowed to employ too many servants in the Governor's Office and was understaffed, Zeng Guofan asked the harem to be self-reliant and do housework by himself. In the seventh year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan set a schedule for his daughter-in-law. Make side dishes, snacks and wine syrup after breakfast every day, and call it eating. Spinning flowers or weaving hemp in the morning is called clothing. Do fine work such as embroidery after lunch. I have to make shoes at night, which is rough work. Therefore, the harem of the Governor's Mansion can hardly rest from waking in the morning to resting at night. You can't find another one like this in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, every night, Zeng Guofan was watching his official business by candlelight in the governor's house in Nanjing, and the harem was lighting and weaving. It should be said that this is a very touching picture in the history of China. This is Zeng Guofan's incorruptible performance.

At the same time, he also has a turbid side. Zeng Guofan also ate and drank. During the decade of Tongzhi (187 1), Zeng Guofan went to Suzhou to inspect the work. He treats people to dinner most of the day. Before he left, he also arranged two tables of banquets for Suzhou officials. This attitude is the same as that of any official in the late Qing Dynasty. At the same time, in his later years, Zeng Guofan also sent ice worship and charcoal worship to Beijing officials, totaling thousands of taels of silver.

Zeng Guofan's biggest entertainment in officialdom took place in Tongzhi seven years (1868), because in this year he was transferred from the governor of Liangjiang to the governor of Zhili, and went to Beijing to meet Empress Dowager Cixi and the emperor. When leaving Beijing, according to the practice of officialdom at that time, officials in Beijing were given a farewell gift. After spending 14000 taels of silver, he didn't feel very rich. Compared with others, the money is not much.

Summarizing Zeng Guofan's economic income and expenditure in his life, I think Zeng Guofan is an atypical honest official. On the one hand, he did have a clear conscience and didn't take a penny into his pocket. However, on the other hand, his integrity is different from that of an upright official in the traditional history of China. Unlike an honest official like Harry, he has a clear-cut stand and strictly abides by state regulations, which stipulate that he can't take a penny or a penny. Don't do what the state stipulates can't be done. I think such an honest official is a facade honest official and can't do anything practical. If an official is so clear, he will become a public enemy of officialdom, and no one will recognize you. Because your practice obviously implies that others are unclean, you can't have any friends in officialdom, and you can't have any power to support yourself.

Zeng Guofan has a saying that he is particularly unwilling to get the name of an upright official, that is, he does not want others to think that he is an upright official. His practice of following the rules and hidden rules of officialdom has alleviated the contradiction between himself and officialdom to some extent, which is conducive to uniting all forces that can be United, mobilizing resources from all sides and doing some important things for society. Therefore, I think Zeng Guofan is an atypical upright official with a clear interior and a round exterior.

Zeng Guofan, who knows Feng Shui but doesn't monopolize a good graveyard, is good at reading faces. Every time he meets a stranger, he has a habit of not talking to you first, letting you sit in your seat and look at you from top to bottom for a few minutes before you speak. This habit is scary, but Zeng Guofan himself thinks it is a way for him to identify talents.

In addition, Zeng Guofan can also calculate divination. He led troops to fight, and every time he encountered military indecision, he had to open the Book of Changes to calculate divination himself. There are as many as 15 records in his diary. Zeng Guofan also believed in dreams and geomantic omen.

In fact, in China's traditional culture, especially in Neo-Confucianism, ghosts and gods and geomantic omen are important parts. Zeng Guofan was a Neo-Confucianism scholar, so it was not a shameful thing at that time, but a very aboveboard thing that he was superstitious about ghosts and gods and studied Feng Shui.

Since he knows feng shui, Zeng Guofan certainly can't have no consideration for the feng shui of his future burial place. Zeng Guofan had a friend named Feng Shutang in his later years, who was very good at checking Feng Shui. In his later years, he took the initiative to tell Zeng Guofan that he would go to Hunan to find a cemetery for Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan agreed happily. After Feng Shutang returned to Hunan, he chose more than half a year to find a good place for Zeng Guofan. This place is in Dongtai Mountain in Xiangxiang. Feng Shutang wrote to Zeng Guofan and reported that the geomantic omen in Dongtai Mountain was really good. If Zeng Guofan is buried here in the future, it can ensure that future generations will be a juren and a scholar. Unexpectedly, Zeng Guofan wrote back that I can't take this land. Because this land is so good, it is related to the literary and artistic movement in a county. If I bury it here, the literary movement in Xiangxiang County will be occupied by my Zeng family, which will hinder the prosperity of other people's literary movements. I wouldn't do such a thing. So you can choose another piece of land for me, not too good, as long as it can protect my children and grandchildren. So Zeng Guofan was buried in another place after his death. Even in such things as geomantic omen and superstition, Zeng Guofan's personality can be reflected.