What is Zeng Guofan's existence in history?

Critics generally believe that Zeng Guofan is a master of China traditional culture. Some even commented that, in a sense, Zeng Guofan is the embodiment of China's traditional culture. If Confucian culture can be divided into three stages: early stage, middle stage and late stage, and there is corresponding Theory of Three Represents's character theory, then Confucius in the early stage, Zhu in the middle stage and Zeng Guofan in the later stage. Zeng Guofan did inherit the traditional culture of China with Confucianism as the core. Many papers submitted to the conference this time involve this point. Zeng Guofan completely followed the Confucian road of "self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" and finished his life. He abides by the principle of "three cardinal guides and five permanents", and holds that "although a gentleman is unkind, a minister cannot be unfaithful, a father is unkind, a son must be unfilial, a husband is immoral, and a wife must be unhappy." His own self-cultivation, such as "ruling the people with courtesy", "using both hands", "keeping profits and protecting Thailand", "combining rigidity with softness", "managing the family diligently, being sincere and trustworthy", and his family motto "eight books, eight characters, four essays and four defeats" all show that Zeng Guofan is authentic. Commentators have different opinions about the "Three Cardinal Principles and Five Permanent Principles". Some people regard the "Three Cardinals and Five Permits" as dross, even the most untimely dross, while others disagree, thinking that since China traditional culture should be divided into two, why not? Can we say that the core of China's traditional culture is dross? Only the non-core part has some essence? Obviously, we can't say that. If so, wouldn't it be a total denial of traditional culture? In fact, for a long time in the past, loyalty, filial piety, loyalty, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith were all regarded as dross, or were not discussed or advocated, which did not bring any benefits to our society, but suffered greatly. Some critics say that Zeng Guofan suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in order to maintain China's traditional culture. Others said that Zeng Guofan maintained not the essence of China traditional culture, but the dross.

Second, Zeng Guofan and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

Zeng Guofan fought against Taiping Army for nearly 20 years, and defeating Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was the peak of his career. The evaluation of him has to be related to the evaluation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Some commentators insist on the traditional view that Zeng Guofan's suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is the sinner and executioner of history. Because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement is a peasant uprising, and the peasant uprising is the driving force of historical development. However, some commentators hold different views and think that "from the Marxist point of view, whether the cultural concept determines everything or the peasant war is the driving force of historical development, it is subjective and one-sided. We evaluate historical figures and events mainly to see whether they promote or hinder the development of society. Hong Xiu tried to introduce the teachings of western religions to launch a peasant war to overthrow the Manchu Dynasty, but he introduced not the ethical spirit of Protestantism, but the religious theology of the Middle Ages, which blended with the feudal superstition of China and the simple and equal concept of peasant uprising and became the spiritual pillar of theocracy in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, if the Taiping Army wins and Hong Xiuquan's theocracy is consolidated, it may pull China back to the dark ages in Europe. As a defender of traditional culture and feudal regime, Zeng Guofan's position is obviously conservative. " "However, Hong Xiuquan's theocracy is more backward than Zeng Guofan's feudal regime, with the least two evils. Zeng Guofan's victory in suppressing the Taiping Army shortened the tinkering time and was more conducive to the development of social history. " This is consistent with Feng Youlan's view on the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. But I don't agree with Feng Youlan that the suppression of Taiping rebels played a role in resisting imperialist cultural aggression. Some commentators totally disagree with Feng Youlan's point of view, saying that "although the thoughts and speeches of the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, such as Hong Xiuquan and Yang, are painted with a layer of Shinto doctrine, their ignorance, backwardness and superstition are different from those of the general church. As far as programmatic documents such as China Land System and Senior Minister New Chapter are concerned, they actually have certain modern assets. Therefore, the assumption that "theocracy" has regressed to the dark ages is obviously unfounded. Therefore, it is still difficult to deny the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Zeng Guofan's guilt in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cannot escape. "

Thirdly, Zeng Guofan and Westernization Movement.

Now, it is generally believed that Zeng Guofan is the leader of the Westernization Movement. With people's re-understanding of the Westernization Movement, it is necessary to re-understand his leader Zeng Guofan. The Westernization Movement proved to be the first modernization movement in China, so Zeng Guofan became the pioneer of China's modernization. Although foreigners with various purposes participated in China's modernization movement from the beginning, its mainstream was China people's own activities, and its patriotism and progressiveness were recognized by more and more people. Therefore, there is little controversy about the patriotism and progressiveness of Zeng Guofan's westernization thought and its practice. There was no big debate on this point at this meeting. Some commentators said that Zeng Guofan's westernization thought should be divided into two parts: Zeng Guofan put Wei Yuan's thought of "learning from foreigners" into practice, took the lead in building ships and guns, and set up modern military industry and science and technology, which should be affirmed; It should be denied that it preaches "not to control foreigners" but "to control the people". In this regard, some critics retort that it is unfounded to say that Zeng Guofan's creation is "not used to control foreigners" but "committed to controlling the people". Zeng Guofan said, "At present, resources are used to help suppress economic movements, so that we can temporarily worry; It will be especially beneficial to learn to build a cooking boat in the future. " The purpose of self-improvement and defense is obvious. Some commentators specifically discussed the formation, content, origin and orientation of Zeng Guofan's thought of self-improvement and anti-aggression, which deepened people's understanding of Zeng Guofan's thought of self-improvement and anti-aggression, and further affirmed Zeng Guofan's patriotic spirit. Some commentators have put forward new views on Zeng Guofan's "learning to build a ship and build a gun" Before this, people thought that Zeng Guofan's academic branch one only inherited Wei Yuan's "academic branch one", but did not see the difference between "wisdom" and "skill". The commentator said that the connotation of "wisdom" is far greater than "technology". "Technology" contains nothing but weapons to build strong ships and guns. Wei Yuan clearly said: "Use their technology and forbid them to spread academic knowledge". However, Zeng Guofan's "wisdom" includes not only the skill of "building a strong ship and sharpening guns", but also the skill of "building weapons" and related scientific culture or other advanced cultures, and even part of what Wei Yuan wanted to ban. Zeng Guofan not only had this idea, but also put it into practice. It can be seen that Zeng Guofan has a farther vision, greater courage and a more open mind than Wei Yuan. Zeng Guofan took "learning from others" as a program of action to learn western culture, which made him more brilliant than his peers.

Fourthly, Zeng Guofan and modern China diplomacy.

Zeng Guofan's diplomacy has been simply regarded as the diplomacy of compromise and surrender for many years. 10 For many years, historians began to raise objections. There are also many articles on discussion and diplomacy at this meeting. Some commentators said: "People often scold Zeng Guofan with words such as weakness, compromise, flattery, surrender and treason, which is unfair. Because Zeng Guofan's enslavement diplomatic thought is actually to win over powerful enemies, strive for a peaceful environment, strive for rapid self-improvement, and finally achieve the goal of resisting aggression. Zeng Guofan can correctly assess the situation and know the disparity between Chinese and foreign strength. It is unwise and unrealistic to confront the column and deal with it forcibly. Under certain historical conditions, poor, backward and bullied countries have no good way to survive, and they have no choice but to imprison diplomacy. Zeng Guofan's foreign policy has four words:' sincerity', pushing for sincerity to meet each other,' faithfulness', keeping the peace treaty,' contention', arguing according to reason,' harmony' and peace outside London.

Although Zeng Guofan himself felt "guilty" about the handling of the Tianjin religious plan, some commentators pointed out that this was mainly not his personal problem. At that time, the imperial court itself had two schools of thought on how to deal with Tianjin religious plans: "arguer" and "arguer". Theorists believe that the people are the foundation of the country and the people's hearts cannot be lost. They advocate a decisive battle with foreign countries to speed up the people's hearts. Most of the "potential strategists" are "insiders" who are in charge of diplomacy and have the responsibility of defending the country. They think that the great powers are always bellicose in poor years, and they often unite with many countries, and their forces are strong and have the potential to invade China, while China's soldiers are exhausted and lack of combat readiness. If the war breaks out, the invading Coalition forces may strike Beijing again. Zeng Guofan's question is nothing more than listening to the words of those who are in power. It is nothing more than "striving for fame and gain and taking care of the overall situation."

Some commentators believe that Zeng Guofan was in a dilemma at that time: if he wants to fight, he will inevitably fail, and the loss after failure will be even greater; To maintain peace, we must compromise with the aggressors and make some concessions. This will be hit by die-hards and will not vent the indignation of Tianjin people. Moreover, Zeng Guofan himself did not want to. He resolutely opposed the use of foreign soldiers to help suppress, advocated the dismissal of the poplar fleet, hated "obsequiousness" and wanted to win the trust of Britain and France. He thought it over and over again, but in the end reason prevailed over emotion. According to his sober analysis of the situation, he chose the road of maintaining peace and compromising with the invaders. Under the international and domestic situation at that time, this choice is understandable, and only in this way can a new war disaster be avoided. Zeng Guofan's responsibility at that time was to see how to lose less and humiliate more on the premise of ensuring a draw. Of course, Zeng Guofan also has shortcomings in dealing with lesson plans. However, his historical merits and demerits should be evaluated truthfully, and his merits and demerits are greater than his faults. Because the loss of a war disaster is far greater than the loss and humiliation caused by the Tianjin religious plan.

Fifth, why did young Mao Zedong "serve Ceng Wenzheng alone"?

Critics believe that Mao Zedong said, "It is just right for a fool to get close to others and take Ceng Wenzheng alone to watch him clean up the battle of Hongyang". Among them, there are two layers of admiration for Zeng Guofan. First, watching him clean up the battle of Hongyang shows that young Mao Zedong, influenced by Yang Changji, Kang Youwei and others, has a conservative tendency of opposing violent revolution and advocating gradual improvement. First, Mao Zedong attaches great importance to the role of psychological energy, and thinks that "those who move the world should move the heart of the world", "those who move their hearts should have a big source" and "those who are rich in sources are the truth of the universe". If they master the great source, they can become missionaries. Mao Zedong thinks that famous people in history can be divided into "people who handle affairs" and "people who preach", such as Zhuge Liang and Fan Zhongyan before, followed by Zhu, Lu Xiangshan and Wang Yangming. He thinks that Fan Zhongyan and Zeng Guofan are both people who handle affairs and preach, because they have mastered the great source and can handle affairs, so they cleaned up the battle of Hongyang and achieved it.

6. Why didn't Zeng Guofan take the Qing Emperor instead?

Many people have paid attention to this issue, including Hu Linyi, Zuo, Li, etc. At that time, they felt sorry for Zeng Guofan for not listening to the advice of the Qing emperor and replaced him. Later generations also constantly lamented this, saying that Zeng Guofan "favored one over the other and forgot the people. It was a great shame." At this meeting, some commentators believe that Zeng Guofan is willing to be a slave of the Yehnara family if it can be replaced conditionally. This is caused by his outlook on life, ideological knowledge, personality and other factors. Some commentators believe that after the Taiping Army was suppressed, the auspicious word camp of the Zeng Group has become a spent force, and the entire Xiang Army has also become fragmented. General Xiang Huai could not unite against the Qing Dynasty. Xiang officers and soldiers have more savings, and the people anxious to return. There are not many people who took the throne, but there are many thieves. I'm afraid there is no chance of winning by weighing my strength, so it was wise to cut my wings to solve the doubts of the Qing court and continue to be a loyal minister.

Seven, about Zeng Guofan's overall evaluation

There are many papers about Zeng Guofan's success and limitations in literature, history, military science, academic outlook and family education. And the concept of talent. They are all very original, but there is no argument, so they are omitted here.

On the overall evaluation of Zeng Guofan, the commentator said: "Zeng Guofan's achievements are enormous and he is known as the' famous minister of Zhongxing' in the late Qing Dynasty. He founded the Westernization School, and he deserves to be the leader of the Westernization School. He has a rich collection of books and can be regarded as a scholar. He studied ancient philology, managed the army well and deployed it properly, which was comparable to that of ancient military strategists. He is a soldier with no self-esteem, flexible and modest. Being honest in politics, applying what they have learned, loving their jobs and setting an example, is worthy of being a blue sky, managing their families and caring for their children, and is a model for future generations. " Some commentators said: "Zeng Guofan angered Emperor Xianfeng from his last performance and began to step onto the historical stage, showing a concern for the country and the people." He suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with merits and demerits. Under the guise of his hand, history made a choice between the two feudal regimes in the north and the south. Zeng Guofan initiated the Westernization Movement, which integrated China's historical movement with the world modernization movement. The history of China has thus entered a new stage. No matter how hard the pace of history is, history is not retrogression, but progress. In dealing with foreign affairs, Zeng Guofan showed the ability to assess the situation and cope with great changes. He adhered to the position of national justice, endured humiliation and made great efforts to maintain peace, thus avoiding a new war disaster, giving China a breathing space and carrying out the construction of "striving for wealth" in a relatively stable peaceful environment. Therefore, although Zeng Guofan has certain historical sins, his historical position should be classified as a patriotic figure of modern progress, and its importance was almost unparalleled in the first 60 years of China's modern history.