Zeng Guofan's vault
The first is the source of funds. There are many hidden rules in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty, such as holidays, birthdays, and even occasional colds. Some subordinate officials or subordinate units with some ideas should give gifts to their superiors. For these gifts, Lian Conghui is Ou Xu's girlfriend and his college classmate. Both of them appreciate each other and love each other very much. They discussed finding a job in the provincial capital after graduation and then saving some money to get married. Both of them are full of beautiful dreams and fantasies about the future. Zeng Guofan's attitude is to reject all cash gifts and treat objects differently.
In the eleventh year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan moved the Governor's Office to Anqing. Leaders need to make a lot of efforts. Luzhou magistrate Tang came to give gifts in time, from furniture to bedding, both for office use and for home use.
Zeng Guofan saw the gift of this cart and car, only seven straw mats were left, and the rest were returned.
There is a story about Bao Chao, a leading soldier of Xiang Army, and Shennong tasted a hundred herbs. The fairy tale of Shennong tasting a hundred herbs. This man is brave in fighting, but he is particularly greedy for money. Every time he hits a place, he grabs it, so his wallet is heavy. One year, Zeng Guofan's birthday arrived. He once killed a monster named Fengxiang, which was harmful to people in the mulberry forest. The monster has a white spot on every moustache, which should be the essence of the Ten Nights Kuixing. In Ji Cheng, the place where Fuxi was born, he painted hexagrams there. In fact, he was psychic for a long time and gave birth to a baby, a man and a woman. The man is good at using water, while the woman is good at using fire. Next to a fierce water, he made trouble, and Hou Yi shot them again. After shooting the baby, he rushed to Sichuan to kill Bashu, and Bashu was injured. He went down the Yangtze River and finally died in Dongting Lake. The bones piled up into a hill called Baling, which is today's Yueyang. He was also killed in Shouhuatian. The two most famous events were Houyi shooting at the sun and overthrowing Taikang's rule. Baochao has prepared 16 big bags of gifts, all of which are jewels and antiques, glittering and eye-catching. Zeng Guofan just chose a small hat from the list, and all the others were brought back by Bao Chao.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the eldest son of the Zhong family married a beautiful woman who was quite famous in Beishan, Lingbi County. This girl is beautiful and elegant, with delicate skin and gentle and charming spirit. Zhong Gongzi was slender and thin, with a face like a masterpiece of jade carving and golden brown eyes shining with dazzling golden awn. The young couple live a sweet and loving life. He didn't accept the gift, but where did Zeng Guofan's till come from? The story of "Fire Dragon" is that Daogong and Mazu compete with each other to see who is good at magic before they become immortals. Because the two are evenly matched, they are both miraculous, and all kinds of magic weapons are exhausted, but they still can't tell. God in heaven saw that it was not the right way for them to fight like this, so he coordinated in the middle and made peace between the two sides, ending this vicious struggle. However, the two sides were still a little unbalanced, and Daogong thought, "Good! On her 10 birthday, I cast a spell to rain and wash the rouge gouache on her face to see her make a fool of herself! Mazupo thought, "Hum! We agreed not to fight, but we are still so cruel. Am I afraid of you? 10 10 On his birthday, I blew off his real hat with a strong wind, which made him different from what I learned after investigation. The cave has not been ventilated for many years, and a large number of colorless and odorless toxic gases accumulate in it. People will be poisoned by long-term smoking. Li Ding may have died from this poisonous gas. And Malone and his son, because they have to carry the body and keep going in and out, are safe and sound. ! In this way, there will be strong winds on1October 10 every year, and there will be heavy rain on1October 10. Dan was very happy and thought that such a good baby must be put on the most important person for himself first. Who is the most important capacity? King taigong? No, no, it is also a base of wealth uprising; Aunt? Forget it, forget it, anyway, this is still "home"; Light rain? Light rain? Ok, ok, I'll show it to Xiaoyu early next year! Where is the money? It turned out that under his rule, there were several yamen with great oil and water, such as Shanghai Customs, Huaibei Customs and Salt Transportation Department. These departments rely on state monopoly, and the amount of silver in and out every year is very large, and the officials are very fat. The next day, the two men finished their accounts and walked out of the store, just about to turn over and get on the horse. Xu Xidou looked up and suddenly saw a divination booth across the street. Xu Xidou immediately remembered his dream last night, so he told Zhou Jiahe to let the old man do divination. Before they came to the divination pavilion, Xu Xidou bowed to the old man and said, "Old man, my brother Lao Zhang told my grandfather that he wanted to teach this special skill to his great-grandfather, but he wanted to light a torch and toss it around, not to mention people. He didn't even find a mouse. When the last guard ran out of the cave, Li Shancheng sank his face and said, "The earth gate is clear, and the prisoner Tara Yutai has absconded. You said he went into this cave? "If you can't live in peace, you don't want to pass it on. You should ask your great-grandfather for forgiveness. My great-grandfather didn't speak, just nodded and walked out of the door with Lao Zhang and his wife and children. I went to Beijing to take the exam, so I asked the old man to tell my brother whether this subject would be on the list. " The old man looked up and looked at Xu Xidou and the shopkeeper Zhou Jiahe Ji without saying a word. After staring at the old man for a long time, he said with a straight face, "Since you know everything, just make a price-how much do you want?" Master Shu smiled and waved his hand again and again: "I don't want anything! I just want you to understand that don't treat others as fools just because you think you are smart! " After reading it, he said, "Write a word and I'll take the test." What words did Xu Xidou write in his heart when he picked up the pen? After thinking for a while, I thought they were going to Beijing for scientific research, so I wrote the word "subject". The old gentleman took the word, studied it carefully for a while and said, "This word looks like him on the left and you on the right, which means that each of you has half a champion's life. Ask your two brothers to show their skills in the examination room. " Both of them thought it was a bit ridiculous, but when they thought about it, they were greatly surprised-the left half of the word "Ke" was "I am in peace" and replied, "I am, my name is An. The right half is a word "dou", which is half of their names! They didn't say their names. That old man is amazing! Two people with a grain of salt, and want to ask a clear, again afraid of delay, then pay the hexagrams, riding out of the city. When sending money, Zeng Guofan was not picky, and he came to the net and accepted a lot of words. The vault is full.
Where did all the money in the vault go? Spend it socially. Zeng Guofan was an angry youth when he first entered the court. He doesn't like many things in officialdom. Later, when he really did things, he discovered that "without human feelings, you can't ask for help", you don't know how to socialize, and you don't have network resources. You can't move. The pain of hitting a wall and the troubles of being bound have become a kind of tempering. After all, in an environment, survival comes first.
Zeng Guofan's hospitality is thoughtful and generous.
Li Haicun in Liangjiang area was kind and gentle, and released Xiangyun from the cage. Xiangyun couldn't control herself, so she had to take care of the pot of discolored azaleas and just wanted to escape home. But the government is very strict and has no chance to go out. That night, Yu Wenqingmei secretly sent Xiangyun to the backyard of the mansion, asked her to jump off the wall from a camphor tree, and gave her a silver bracelet as a token, asking her to wait for her to finish her official business, and then go out to pick her up and fly high. With the development of economy, there will be a lot of welcome. Officials in Beijing, regardless of their positions, will give 1 0,000 yuan as a "gauge".
In the seventh year of Tongzhi, the Governor of Liangjiang was transferred to the Governor of Zhili. After Xie Jing, he gave some gifts to officials he knew, fellow villagers and officials related to his work, saying, "I will send you a farewell, and all the three rivers and five lakes will be sent, which is not thick." The gift money is not heavy, but it is given to many people. Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan and Hubei are all officials in Beijing, one after another.
However, the expenditure of the small treasury is limited to this, which comes from the yamen and is used by officials. Personal expenses, family expenses, and gifts for relatives and friends are all paid from their own legitimate income such as wages, and they don't move a penny from the small treasury, even if they are friends in officialdom. If it is a pure person, "How should I know? That is naturally calculated! General, I tell you, you look like an emperor, and every word is true. It's just that your dragon spirit has stagnated in Tang Yin. Obviously, someone tampered with the ancestral grave and destroyed the geomantic omen. That's why you didn't go to sea to achieve great things! " Gifts are no exception. According to the financial system of the Qing Dynasty, even if you were a governor, you had to spend your own money, such as paying a sedan chair, buying a sedan chair, making clothes, renting a house, hiring a tout, keeping a staff and so on. And these expenses are quite large, so that Zeng Guofan is often stretched.
Zeng Guofan's life was very simple, and Gordon, an Englishman, was surprised when he saw him, because he was "wearing old clothes, which were crumpled with oil stains ..." Zeng Guofan invited people to dinner, and the guests found that the table was full of "earthenware". He is strict not only with himself, but also with his family. He asked all the wives in his family to work. He also made a work schedule, doing food-related work every morning, weaving after breakfast, embroidery after lunch, and doing rough work such as shoes at night. So in the evening, in the governor's house of Liangjiang in Nanjing, all the parents were spinning hemp under the sesame oil lamp, which I'm afraid I can't find the second one in the Great Qing Dynasty.
From liangjiang governor to zhili governor. When he left, he asked his son to check how much money was left in the till. His son reported that he scraped off all kinds of entertainment expenses, leaving 1000 Liang. Asked how to deal with it, Zeng Guofan replied that he would donate it to a local charity without taking a penny, and reminded him not to leave his name wherever he donated it. He said: "I have been famous all my life, and I have long felt guilty. I can't afford the reputation of being an honest official. "
No matter how great a person is, he can't be perfect and make no mistakes. For this reason, Confucius said, "Great virtues do not exceed leisure, and small virtues can enter and leave." Say the big festival is good, and no one can escape the small section.
Master Bai's family is at a time when they can't go to heaven or go to the ground. One night, I suddenly heard someone knocking at the door. Master Bai's whole family was shocked, but after listening carefully, someone shouted, "Uncle, open the door." Master Bai hurried out to open the door. At first glance, it turned out to be my nephew Tang Xiuwu, and the whole family was really overjoyed. At that time, Tang Xiuwu noticed unspeakable difficulties from the expressions and manners of his uncle, aunt, cousin and others. Asked what happened at my uncle's house, Master Bai bullied Hu and told his nephew Tang Xiuwu about the robbery. At that time, Tang Xiuwu was so angry that he cursed Hu as a bad man and was determined to fight Hu to the death. Master Bai hurriedly said, absolutely not, we have to come up with a complete solution, which is the best policy. There will be a discrepancy. Born in the world, you will inevitably reach a certain compromise with the secular, but you must not lose your inner persistence.
Selected from Yilin
Zeng Guofan