Why is it said that from ancient times to the present, Zeng Guofan is an extreme example of mediocre qualifications but outstanding achievements?
Zeng Guofan
From ancient times to the present, all those who can stand out and achieve great achievements and leave their reputation in history are of extraordinary qualifications. For example, in ancient Zhang Liang , Zhuge Liang , and in modern Zhou Enlai, who is not a person with extraordinary wisdom?
But there are also extreme cases, such as Zeng Guofan in the Qing Dynasty. He is a person with mediocre qualifications, but he rarely stands out and has written a brilliant mark in modern Chinese history.
But Zeng Guofan can only be an extremely lonely example. Not to mention that there are no futurers, at least they are unprecedented.
Because Zeng Guofan's success is unreplicable, there was the decline of the country's fortune at the late Qing Dynasty, which gave Zeng Guofan the opportunity to stand out; there was also Zeng Guofan's personal almost crazy and almost perverted self-hardening. Both are indispensable.
211 years ago, Hunan Township School teacher Zeng Linshu gave birth to a son. Although he hoped that the child would be gifted when he was born, the facts later proved that his hope was unrealistic. This child was just like other rural children, and this child was Zeng Guofan, who was later known as the leader of the "famous minister of the revival of the late Qing Dynasty".
Because as his father, Zeng Linshu himself was just a mediocre person. He studied hard all his life, but he was not able to barely get a scholar until he was 43 years old. Such qualifications are indeed relatively mediocre, and even stupid among scholars.
Let’s see how mediocre Zeng Guofan’s qualifications are! He started taking the county exam at the age of 14 and took the exam for 9 consecutive years. It was not until he was 23 that he finally got into the scholar. Compared with those celebrities of his generation, his qualifications are simply not worth mentioning.
Zeng Guofan, 1 year old Zuo Zongtang, , won the first place in the county examination at the age of 14. The next year he participated in the Changsha Prefecture Examination and won the second place; Li Hongzhang became a scholar at the age of 317, and as for the famous Liang Qichao , he even became a scholar at the age of 11 and a juren at the age of 16.
In front of these people with extraordinary qualifications, Zeng Guofan's talent is really beyond the reach of the world. Therefore, he also has a clear understanding of his mediocre qualifications. He said that he was "Wu's life is shorter than talent." Objectively speaking, this is indeed not a humble statement.
Zeng Guofan's hometown is more than 130 miles away from the county town. It is surrounded by mountains and beautiful mountains and rivers, but it is extremely remote and has a closed information. In the past 100 years before Zeng Guofan, there has not been a scholar. Who would have thought that in such a remote place, a big man like Zeng Guofan would appear later?
Emperor Xianfeng (stills)
The remote land of Hunan has nurtured a unique folk custom and temperament. Although Zeng Guofan had mediocre qualifications, he benefited from the unique simple and vigorous temperament of the mountain people in his hometown throughout his life. This difficult living environment has tempered the unparalleled tenacity and perseverance of the mountain people, and this tenacity and perseverance that is integrated into the bones and blood has made Zeng Guofan, who is of mediocre qualifications.
Although Zeng Guofan's family had to get up and work before dawn every day, working diligently throughout the year without a moment of comfortable time, such hard work could only bring meager gains, but they never complained, and they were all optimistic and open-minded, and the whole family had a kind of ambition to strive for progress.
Zeng Guofan later made a concise summary of this. He believed that the good or bad of a family is not about whether the family is poor, but whether the family has a high spirit of progress. As long as there is this spirit, the family will sooner or later have a day to make progress. This summary of is actually a refinement of his own life experience.
Although the Zeng family is in a remote area, the Zeng family is quite rigorous in managing the family. Although Zeng Guofan's grandfather Zeng Yuping was not very familiar with words, he was a very courageous and opinionated person. He was also strong and upright, and had a prestige among the villagers. He often resolved disputes for others. Under his governance, the Zeng family's family style was quite serious.
This personality trait of grandfather was passed down to Zeng Guofan from generation to generation, and his grandfather's style of dealing with people and things influenced Zeng Guofan. He has always regarded his grandfather's words and deeds as his supreme life principle. Therefore, he believes that "a man is ashamed of being cowardly and not strong, and must be stubborn."
Influenced by this family style, Zeng Guofan has been diligent and hardworking since he was a child, making up for his shortcomings with diligence. After 9 consecutive exams, he became a scholar. The next year, he passed the Juren again and went through three more exams. Finally, he passed the Jinshi exam at the age of 28, which brought his path to a perfect end.
But when Zeng Guofan entered the Hanlin Academy, he realized that the eight-legged essays he had learned for the exam were almost useless and knew very little about the great principles of Confucianism. He felt ashamed of this Hanlin Academy, which was crouching tiger, hidden dragon, and he made up his mind to study the great principles of life and strive to achieve his life goals.
Confucian believes that every ordinary person has the opportunity to "transcend the ordinary and become a saint", but what is needed is to achieve this state through hard work. Only through one's own diligent study and practice can one understand the principles of heaven and master the operating rules of everything in the world. Only by reaching this state can we govern the country and benefit the people. This is the realm that Zeng Guofan pursued after exhausting his entire life.
Hunan Army (stills)
In the increasingly declining chaotic world of the late Qing Dynasty, many people have pursued this realm, but they all have to give up because they cannot bear this almost inhuman painful process. Only Zeng Guofan, a scholar from a remote village, actually did not hesitate and persevere in order to cultivate this realm, and finally realized his ideals.
The fundamental difference between Zeng Guofan and the bureaucrats of his contemporaries is that He pursues not only the title of marquis and the glory of his ancestors, but also the cultivation of his own character and being an open and honest man. Therefore, he vowed to be ashamed of becoming an official and to leave huge wealth to his descendants.
Zeng Guofan's practice is similar to an ascetic monk: he reflects every day, insists on writing a diary every day, and writes down every thing and every thought of his day. If he has any words and deeds that do not conform to the norms of sages, he must thoroughly review himself and kill this "evil" at the beginning. Sometimes when dreaming that you are rich, you should also be more harsh on yourself when you wake up.
Zeng Guofan even used his personal experience to educate the younger generation in the family: he likes to eat cigarettes the most before he was 30 years old, and he never left him for a moment; but he was determined to quit smoking at the age of 30, and never touched him again since then. Before the age of 46, I had no perseverance in doing things, but after the age of 46, I thought it was a warning, and later I had perseverance in doing big and small things. So, 's conclusion is that as long as you make up your mind, there is nothing that cannot be done.
This path of cultivation is extremely boring and difficult, but Zeng Guofan walked extremely firmly and extremely persistently. He even set a motto for himself: If you are not a sage, you are a beast; don’t ask about the harvest, but ask about the hard work. On the road to "sages", there is no way out, so you can't become a beast, right? Therefore, he forced himself to move forward bravely with the courage to burn his boats.
It is through this hard practice that almost destroyed human nature that Zeng Guofan, who has mediocre qualifications, finally cultivated a great mind, aspiration, and a great realm. Of course, there are the most important skills. At the age of 42, he was ordered by Emperor Xianfeng to organize a regiment training and train troops in Hengzhou, and established the Hunan Army that would make many outstanding achievements in the future.
Relying on this hard practice that is almost inhumane, Zeng Guofan, who has mediocre qualifications, has also cultivated great concentration that has gone through life-and-death death. He fought repeatedly and failed. Even if he missed death several times, he could finally escape from death and be obsessed with his life ideals. Even with outstanding achievements, he can still maintain his determination to be neither arrogant nor impatient, which is also a fundamental reason why he can have a good ending.
In feudal dynasties, those who have made great contributions to the master often end up miserably, but Zeng Guofan is an exception.
From ancient times to the present, it is indeed an extremely lonely example that Zeng Guofan has a mediocre qualification but can finally make his mark because of his hard practice of almost inhumanity. Not to mention that there are no futures, at least it is unprecedented.
References:
"The Front and Sides of Zeng Guofan": written by Zhang Hongjie Published by Yuelu Bookstore
