Chapter 4 Section 4 Refusing to Give Gifts

Zeng Guofan, whose baby name was Kuanyi, whose original name was Zicheng, styled Bohan, and nicknamed Disheng, was born on Haishi, October 11, the 16th year of Jiaqing (1811 A.D.).His hometown is Heyetangdu, Xiangxiang Township, Hunan Province. He has been farming for generations. When his grandfather Zeng Xinggang arrived, his production was slightly thin; when Zeng Guofan's father Zeng Linshu was born, the Zeng family could already hire two long-term laborers. When Zeng Linshu was three years old, there was a big change in his family. Because of the homestead, he had a lawsuit with a big gentry in Xiangxiang.Because Zeng Xinggang was illiterate and did not pay the full amount of the embellishment fee, he was tricked by an old scholar who wrote the complaint on behalf of him. Reasonable things forced his brilliant pen to write unreasonable things.Mr. Xinggang didn't know that he was tricked until he arrived at the county government office. Zeng Xinggang naturally lost the lawsuit because the lawsuit was unreasonable.The big squire even taunted Zeng Xinggang in front of him: "In Xiangxiang, there are still people who dare to fight with me? My two sons are both scholars. Who doesn't know? A scholar, that's a tael of silver. It came out of money. You can’t even pay for a scholar and you want to sue? Hmph, you’ve lost your mind!"

These words with guns and sticks made Zeng Xinggang, who had been alive and kicking, fell ill in bed all of a sudden, and only went to the ground for half a year. This failed lawsuit cost more than 50 taels of silver from the Zeng family. Including the occupied homestead, the sum total may be more than 200 taels.Two hundred taels of silver is not a small sum for the Zeng family.The Zeng family was seriously injured, and soon dismissed a long-term worker. Two years later, Zeng Xinggang dismissed the last long-term worker and asked someone to hire a 60-year-old scholar in Changsha to teach his eldest son Zeng Linshu, who had reached school age, to learn calligraphy.Not for anything else, just for breath.From then on, the Zeng family naturally also had the sound of "Zi Yue Shi Yun" reading aloud.It's a pity that Zeng Linshu was born stupid, and he couldn't write colorful flowers in stereotyped characters. When he married a wife and had children, he was still a boy student;

Zeng Xinggang knew that it was impossible to expect his son to revitalize the family, so he spent most of his energy on his grandchildren.He set up a special library called "Xiqizhai", and paid a high price to hire Chen Yanmen, a 62-year-old veteran of the private school, from Changsha, who had two outstanding students.Zeng Xinggang wholeheartedly hoped to be able to make a fortune out of his grandchildren, but he ignored his son Linshu ever since. Zeng Linshu also felt that his face was dull, so he worked harder to read and write.I entered the examination room again and again, as many as sixteen times, but I was still not discouraged.When he entered the arena for the seventeenth time, even Xuezheng was moved, so he ordered the head of Xiangxiang County, and finally entered the county school and became one of the scholars.Even though he is a forty-three-year-old senior scholar, he can be regarded as a victory for the elders of the Zeng family and his wife and children.From then on, whenever the Zeng family had any major or minor matters, they dared to stand in front of others.

Chen Yanmen is indeed a master of educating people in private schools. Although he only served as a teacher in "Xiqizhai" for five years and returned home to recuperate due to old age and infirmity, several private school teachers recommended by him one after another, They are indeed much higher than Zeng Linshu, and their fame is comparable to that of Chen Yanmen.During this period, Zeng Linshu was also invited by a wealthy family in the neighboring capital to sit in the library, and occasionally went home, but he did not dare to ask about his son's studies. A famous teacher really produces a good apprentice.Zeng Guofan entered the county school at the age of 23, then entered Lianbin Academy to study, and then went to Yuelu Academy for further study.Compared with his father Zeng Linshu, Zeng Guofan's official career can be described as smooth sailing.

After autumn, the temperature in Beijing drops sharply.The heat on the road is gone, replaced by gray dust and biting mosquitoes.There are fewer and fewer boarders in the guild hall. Some officials have let go of their posts, and some officials have also rented houses outside because of their promotion. In addition to Zeng Guofan, there were also Mei Zengliang, Hu Linyi and others who lived in the guild hall. They lived in Huguang, Sichuan and other guild halls.The richer one is Hu Linyi, because there is no suitable house to rent, he temporarily lives in the guild hall, and every night he only eats flowers and wine and is called a bureaucrat.Zeng Guofan and the other eight people rarely have such spare money.

At this time, Zeng Guofan was studying regular script from the famous calligrapher He Shaoji, who was edited by the Imperial Academy at the time. In his spare time, he discussed the theory of righteousness with Tang Jian from Taichang Temple and Woren, Shaoqing from Taipu Temple. On this day, the Imperial Academy closed classes early, and all the yamen were discussing the matter of autumn scorpion (hunting in the mountains in autumn).Since Emperor Daoguang ascended the throne, he had been planning business meetings every autumn, and every year he was unable to make the trip because of Emperor Daoguang's heartache for money.

When he returned to the guild hall, a banquet invitation had been waiting on his desk for a long time.As a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, his immediate boss Zhao Ji, because his father came to Beijing to see his son, booked a few tables in the big restaurant in Laobawang Hutong. Seeing this post, Zeng Guofan's head swelled a lot. In the three years of being a concubine, Zeng Guofan participated in hundreds of birthday and official promotion banquets. In order to follow such people, Xiangxiang sent him an extra hundred taels of silver every year to entertain him.Sometimes the money was not remitted in time, so he took the money from the banks run by several guild halls at high interest rates, and returned the money after it arrived.After a few years, not only did he not send any money to his family (although he didn't receive a salary, he was also given some rewards during festivals), but his family gave him ingots of silver.

At this time, there were only 170 copper coins in Zeng Guofan's account.The guild hall is accounted for years ago, so there is no need to consider the issue of food within a year.Clothes can probably be fooled within a year without extra cost.However, if he didn’t pick up a copy of Chen Huaixuan’s Cunrentang engraved copy of Chen Huaixuan’s "Ding Engraved Rivers and Lakes History" in Liulichang Zhang Sanfeng Antique Shop, if he didn’t pick it up in time, he would not only order money for nothing, but also a favorite thing. To transfer his hands.What's more, those who go to follow the ceremony have never heard of anyone taking copper coins to meet the occasion.Instead of going with the copper plate, it is better not to go, otherwise it will be even more ugly to let the servants drive out.

Do you want to borrow money from the bank in the guild hall again?Although most of the small officials living in Beijing came here in this way, Zeng Guofan was unwilling.Although he was currently receiving the salary of a seventh-rank official, which was only thirty-three taels a year, but since his family was all in Xiangxiang, he didn't have too much expenses, so it was completely enough for one person.The guild hall not only provides three meals but also provides chores. After a year, with the time he saves, he can always squeeze out a few taels to take back to Xiangxiang to honor his grandparents and parents, and sometimes he can buy a book or two of the Song Dynasty. collect.Zeng Guofan's life alone can be regarded as nourishing.

However, when he encountered such a thing as a follower of etiquette, he was immediately stretched.If you don't want to go, you will be suspected of disregarding Shangxian's face and the feelings of colleagues;What made Zeng Guofan even more puzzled was that the banquet posts of the officials of the Shangxian were all very strange. Is it worth posting all over the place like a father going to Beijing to see his son?Human love, human love, is what people want. Although Zhao Ji is Zeng Guofan's immediate boss, because of Zeng Guofan's indecent appearance, Zhao Ji has always been disgusted with this subordinate, and secretly gave him an ugly nickname "hanging ghost", which refers specifically to Zeng Guofan's That pair of hanging eyebrows, those pair of triangular eyes.