Scholars must first have ambition, secondly, knowledge, and thirdly, perseverance.
If you have ambition, you will never be willing to be a vulgar.
If you have knowledge, you will know that you have endless knowledge and dare not be able to be self-sufficient; like the viewing of the sea by a river or a frog in a well, you will have no knowledge.
has constant, and everything will be accomplished.
These three are indispensable.
——"Zeng Guofan's Family Letter"
Introduction
During the period when the taillights of the feudal monarchy were on, the Chinese nation suffered humiliation, and those unbearable history was inseparable from the late Qing government!
The corruption in the Qing government’s officialdom was deeply impressed by every Chinese junior.
So, how corruption is?
According to historical data, the annual income of Zeng Guofan alone is 16,000 taels of , which is equivalent to about 3 million .
So, what exactly is it that makes Zeng Guofan, who wrote that "if he has ambition, he will never be willing to be a vulgar", embarked on the road of "corruption"?
is not corrupt for one person
In fact, Zeng Guofan's annual income was the normal income of all the imperial members at that time:
According to historical data "Qinghui Dictionary Examples"
However, this so-called normal level was simply outrageous for the social environment where people were living in the miserable life at that time. You must know that the people at that time didn't even know where the next meal was.
Therefore, it was not Zeng Guofan who corrupted , but the entire Qing government.
年4天文
Zeng Guofan's ancestors mainly farmed and lived a wealthy life. His father Zeng Linshu was a scholar. Under the influence of his father, Zeng Guofan knew thousands of words at the age of seven and read the Four Books and Five Classics at the age of eight. He has been fond of learning since childhood.
From the sixth to the eighteenth year of Daoguang, Zeng Guofan went from the Boy Examination to the Jinshi. Although he encountered difficulties, he upheld the spirit of never giving up and finally passed the exam and became the favorite student of the Minister of Military Affairs Mu Zhanga.
Since then, we have embarked on the path of officialdom step by step.
From the Hanlin Academy Shujishi to the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, step by step to the second rank, and was awarded the title of first-class Yiyonghou .
This year, more than ten years have passed since he was in Beijing. During these ten years, he has persevered, moved seven times in ten years, and leaped ten levels in a row. He is known as the "Four Famous Ministers of the Revival of the Late Qing Dynasty" together with Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, and Zhang Zhidong . He ranks first and is the first of the four famous ministers. ——The information comes from Baidu Encyclopedia
, but he always strictly regulates himself , and also requires his family to be financially struggling and not to be greedy for money or be generous.
influence and contribution
When talking about Zeng Guofan's contribution to the Qing government, the first thing to mention is that founded Hunan Army , pacified the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom , and initiated Westernization Movement .
Everyone knows that the primary focus of the Westernization Movement is to establish military industry. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that Zeng Guofan promoted the modernization of China's military industry.
However, his contributions are far more than this:
In addition to promoting the modernization of China's military industry, he also promoted the modernization of China's industry, the modernization of China's navy, the modernization of China's science and technology, and the modernization of China's education.
Its influence spans multiple fields such as industry, military, education, and technology.
Corruption in the officialdom
However, it is such a person who can be said to be honest and honest, born in a scholarly family and has a huge influence. Why is he labeled as " Corruption "?
This is inseparable from the era he lives in.
As the saying goes, those who are close to red are red, those who are close to ink are black, and one place is water and soil to nurture one person. The same is true for the country. The kind of country will have the same kind of officials.
If the roots of a tree are broken, then how healthy can the branches it emits?
The corruption of the late Qing government was famous far and wide and infamous for thousands of years, and was an indelible darkness in Chinese history.
The late Qing Dynasty was a more special existence than special among all dynasties.
Qing Dynasty was the last symbol of the feudal dynasty. The late Qing Dynasty (late Qing Dynasty) was a stage of the transition from the feudal dynasty to a democratic republic.
Since then, Chinese history has entered an unprecedented and new social system. The turmoil, twists and turns and complexity can be imagined.
This change must not only be changed from economic, institutional, military, etc., but also from ideological and cultural aspects.
Thoughts determine behavior, behavior determines habits, and habits determine destiny. —— Bacon "Theory of Habits"
From this we can see how important thought is.
However, it is not easy to change a person's thoughts, let alone tens of millions of people in a country.
This period of transformation and dynasty at the end of the dynasty stimulates more and more complex social contradictions, and the most affected are the officials closest to the Qing government.
In a moment, officials protect each other, money leads the way, and treating the imperialist powers as their backers... became a common phenomenon among late Qing government officials.
First entered the officialdom, Zeng Guofan, who was a seventh-rank reviewer at the Hanlin Academy, was upright and strict in discipline, but once had to rely on relief to survive.
He once took out a loan to work, and his salary there was only enough to cover the food and clothing for a few months. He paid for the rest of his time.
He gradually saw the current situation clearly and gradually realized that being honest and honest would not be able to achieve his great cause, so he began to learn the way of becoming an official with trembling and bumpy bruises.
He began to break through his inner barrier and began to accept bribes as he painted the cat, handled things from top to bottom, and visited the door to visit.
From the hardships at the beginning to the officialdom, the sacrifices and bitterness in ordinary people cannot understand.
Whenever this happens, I have to sigh, is the time to create people .
Even so, Zeng Guofan still had a year after he got married and had to borrow money to barely have a New Year.
can be seen that if you want to be rich and powerful in the late Qing Dynasty officialdom, just gaining a foothold is not enough, and you have to be versatile.
, Zeng Guofan seemed not interested in this word. His interest lies in achieving his inner great cause.
Hard road to success
Zeng Guofan is quietly dormant, just waiting for the opportunity to make achievements and show his talents.
In the mid-19th century, the largest large-scale anti-Qing movement in China, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was his opportunity to make achievements.
And the first step he has to do is to gather an army that can really be used for him.
Zeng Guofan hated the flattery of military camp habits very much. He once said bluntly: " military camps are self-defense, and no one is willing to lose their conscience! ". Therefore, when forming the Hunan Army, he said that he would not use camp soldiers, but instead recruited soldiers from the rural farmers with innocent and strong family.
However, he can complete such a arduous task as recruiting several elite soldiers in the sea of thousands of people, but he can't defeat humanity .
obstructs
When Zeng Guofan was training the Hunan Army in Hunan, he was excluding him from his colleagues in .
Zeng Guofan was the second-rank attendant minister at the time. Although he was a nameless and empty shell, he was at least a second-rank, but he still could not escape the fate of being excluded.
At that time, there was another imperial military commander in Hunan: the Green Camp Army. The Green Camp Army once regarded him as an invader and repeatedly sought trouble, even put Zeng Guofan's life on the line.
can be the local governor Luo Bingzhang is only separated from Zeng Guofan by a wall, which clearly can avoid this matter. However, Luo Bingzhang pretended to turn a blind eye until Zeng Guofan was in a mess and asked about his well-being.
After this storm, Zeng Guofan resolutely left the local area, returned to his birthplace Hengyang , and continued to practice.
He swore that since his life was conceived on this land, his career would also take off from here.
In fact, all the officials in the North knew that Zeng Guofan's army was set up to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It would be fine if he did not cooperate with his work, but he even obstructed him in every way. This shows how big the rift was within the late Qing government at that time.
However, the exclusion of colleagues is nothing in the entire military activity. What makes Zeng Guofan the most sad is the emperor's suspicion.
Extra defense
For the government at that time, the biggest trouble was the strong Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, for the emperor at that time, the big trouble was the Hunan Army in the hands of Zeng Guofan.
When Zeng Guofan first established the Hunan Army, Emperor Xianfeng gave him an empty shell of a second-rank minister because of distrust. After Zeng Guofan defeated the Taiping Army, Emperor Xianfeng reluctantly appointed him as the governor of Hubei, but afterwards, he quickly took it back.
Zeng Guofan's battle was a battle of internal and external troubles, sadness and uneasy.
During the war, Zeng Guofan was isolated and helpless. He and his Hunan Army were not welcomed anywhere. They could not mobilize local officials at all, let alone praying for some military rations and military pay. The Hunan Army suffered numerous casualties, and Zeng Guofan himself fell into danger several times.
finally won the victory with multiple pressures such as insufficient military spending, exclusion of colleagues, and difficulty in combat. What we have encountered was the emperor's doubts.
This is undoubtedly the most heartbreaking for the heroes who have just made great contributions to the Qing government.
It’s really true that my heart is facing the bright moon, but the bright moon shines on the ditch, and all kinds of bitterness and depression are beyond your ability to feel.
ending
Everything in the world has cause and effect.
Heroes are created at the time, but maggots are also produced.
No one is a saint who never makes mistakes, no one can live alone, make achievements, and no one can ascend to immortality without asking about the world.
As long as you are a mortal walking on the ground with both feet, you will be affected by the current situation and will be eroded by the environment.
List the merits, demerits, right and wrong, good and evil of historical figures, and right and wrong, and leave them to history to judge.
Ps: Historical facts such as colleagues' exclusion are derived from searches, and cannot be changed, "My heart is facing the bright moon..." Quotes poems, habits determine destiny, quotes famous quotes, and quotes famous quotes at the beginning
Ps: Suppression has been changed, others have not been judged, just use the word
