Chapter 30 Section 30 Li Hongzhang worships Zeng Guofan as a teacher

After returning to the mansion, Zeng Guofan first saw the letter sent from Xiangxiang, and learned that his father Zeng Linshu had left for Beijing at the beginning of the month with Zeng Guofan's fourth brother Guohuang, sixth brother Guohua and his wife and children. Zeng Guofan calculated according to the date, and his father should enter Beijing in the middle of every other month.He began to teach Zhou Sheng the etiquette that the old man and his family should pay attention to when they came that night, and he went to bed very late. Because the bearer had not yet been found, Zeng Guofan had no choice but to hire a sedan chair to go to the office of Zhan Shifu to sell his holiday work.Colleagues all congratulated him on his quick recovery, and his complexion was much better than before, and all their words were flattery.

In the afternoon, Zeng Guofan finished dealing with the affairs on the desk, and saw that there was nothing important to do, so he was about to go back to the mansion, but suddenly received another imperial decree: "Zeng Guofan, the right concubine son of Youchunfang, Zhan Shifu, is frugal and conscientious in his work. Granted the palm seal of Youchunfang, Zhan Shifu, Imperial Academy's Department of Attendant and Lecturer." The Bachelor of Attendant of the Imperial Academy is a fourth-rank official, but the palm seal of Youchunfang of Zhan Shifu is the main person in charge of an independent office, which is equivalent to the main hall in the yamen.The manuscripts recorded by the emperor and his ministers discussing poems, words, songs, and fus in the south study room must be reviewed by the palm seal and then directly presented to the emperor for finalization.Therefore, although the palm seal of Youchunfang of Zhan Shifu is not a yamen institution, he has seen the emperor more times than the academicians of the Hanlin Academy.There are two deacons under the palm print, Manchu and Han. Under the deacons, there are more than a dozen recording and transcription officers. When I got up, there were more than 30 people, and it was the largest office in the Imperial Academy.The direct supervisor of Youchunfang in Zhan Shifu is Zhan Shi, the young master of Zhan Shifu.

Zeng Guofan was stunned for a long time before accepting the imperial edict. When the officers on duty supported him, he obviously felt his whole body trembling and his hands were cold.Even he himself wondered that being promoted was a good thing, but every time he was promoted, he was terrified for several days.What puzzled him even more was that every time ringworm had a major attack, he had to be promoted to an official.It seems that his official position was not given by the emperor, but rather by ringworm. It wasn't long before Zeng Guofan learned some things about the empress from his fellow countrymen who were on duty in the palace.

On that day, Li Taiyi brought the decoction made by Zeng Guofan into the palace and handed it in for about a moment. The empress began to vomit and diarrhea: what she vomited was yellow water and what she diarrhea was black stool.The yellow water is so sour that the whole palace smells of vinegar, and the black stool is stinky.There was an instant chaos inside and outside the palace. When Emperor Daoguang arrived, the queen was completely devoid of energy, except for the air coming in and out of her two nostrils, she was no different from a dead person. Emperor Daoguang knew that the queen was too much to see, so he hurriedly told the queen's natal family and the university scholars in Beijing to enter the palace to discuss the funeral.He also secretly ordered Eunuch Cao to imprison Zeng Guofan's secret in the prison of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and not allow any news to leak out.

The maids of Kunning Palace have found out all the queen's clothes and arranged them neatly according to the instructions of the superiors, and put them on when the queen dies.Emperor Daoguang took several academicians to guard the imperial study room, discussing the affairs behind the empress while waiting for news from Kunning Palace. But the queen was really acting strange, she couldn't swallow the breath that floated back and forth, and in the middle of the night, she even opened her eyes, very like a flash of light.The people guarding the bed hurriedly gathered around, and the eunuch on duty thought that the queen had something to say, so he flew to find the emperor.

When Emperor Daoguang arrived, he saw that the queen was being served by two maids, drinking sugar water one mouthful at a time.A huge black cloud dissipated in an instant. After being promoted, Zeng Guofan went to the Palace of Qinzheng to face Sheng Xie En according to the usual practice.Xie Enbi, Emperor Daoguang suddenly asked: "Zeng Guofan, I heard from Sushun that you recorded everything you saw and thought on the way to Shu. Is this true?" Zeng Guofan hurriedly replied: "Responding to the emperor's words, I have indeed memorized some things here and there, including my random thoughts."

"It's rare for you to be so caring! Submit it tomorrow, I want to take a look. You go down." Emperor Daoguang waved his hand, neither reprimanding nor encouraging, and the summoning ended in a lukewarm manner, and there was nothing to do before and after. A moment of sight. Back at the mansion, besides Zhou Sheng, five other people greeted him and presented two letters. It turned out that the four bearers recommended by Mr. Mu Xiangye arrived, and the other was recommended by Tang Jian's friend Woren. The second master who helped the sedan chair was named Xun Si. Zeng Guofan hurriedly asked Zhou Sheng to arrange the five of them to rest in the porter's room first, and then placed the oracle for being promoted to the Bachelor of Attendant of the Imperial Academy, and then took them to kneel down to thank him for their kindness, and then called Zhou Sheng alone The inner room ordered: "Zhou Sheng, you can be the housekeeper for a while. Of course, you will take care of the three meals a day. The income and expenditure are all detailed and clear. We can't live in a muddle. I bought a larger quadrangle courtyard with two palanquin houses, more than forty houses connected together, and a spacious courtyard. I will move there when I choose a day. Now this house will continue to be leased to Chen Gongyuan Hanlin. My family has also arrived. I have already greeted Dong Weng. Tomorrow, you will follow me to the office, and I will send a few people on duty (this is a rule, not an exception), and you take them with you. Go to Nanheng Street to clean the inside and outside of the house, and then buy some utensils. The door must be locked when you leave, and Dong Weng can't let Dong Weng gossip about us. Later, you can go to the north of Tianqiao and call a few handymen to repair what needs to be repaired. It should be made up. The date is certain, we have to move there, but we can't wait until the old man and the others come and have no place to live!"

Zhou Sheng smiled and agreed.From then on, the bearer and the second master called him Steward Zhou. Six days later, Zeng Guofan moved to the rented house in Lubeixin, Nanheng Street, while Chen Gongyuan moved to Zeng Guofan's original residence in Nian'er Hutong, Qianmennei. At this time, the Changsha Guild Hall recommended two cooks to Zeng Guofan, who were also from Hunan.Zeng Guofan originally planned to use only one cook, but later saw that the commission was not much, and both of them were honest and kind, so they both stayed, and had the right to be one as a cook and the other as a handyman, so as to save his father and his family from hiring them when they were young. help cook.

Zeng Guofan had a separate study room, sedan chair room, and meeting room.The sacrificial hall and the bedroom of the family, the study and bedroom of the father, the study and bedroom of the younger brothers, and the study of the son Jize are all available.Two red lanterns embroidered with the words "Zengfu" are also hung high on the lintel.At this time, the Zeng Mansion in the capital was considered to be a mansion. Zhou Sheng is now both the concierge and the housekeeper, but Zeng Guofan still keeps the accounts, because Zhou Sheng knows few words but forgets a lot.Erye (those who help officials with sedan chairs are used to call him Erye) Xun Si joked that Zhou Sheng was the "acting housekeeper", which meant that he should resign as soon as the real shortage came.Zhou Sheng smiled, knowing that Erye Xun was joking, so he didn't take it to heart, and just went about and about every day, doing things with all his heart.

Whenever a visitor came to the Zeng Mansion, the first person they would meet was Zhou Sheng.Zhou Sheng asked you to wait at the porter for a while, he went in to report, and then ran back, yelling "My lord, please" while busy leading the way.When Zeng Guofan went out to meet friends and was not at home on business, Zhou Sheng would say: "My lord happens to be out on business today, do you want to leave a letter for your lord or something? You can tell me that you have been here all the time." "Guests would leave their names and addresses in the visitor book that Zhou Sheng handed over, or leave their name badges, and regular customers would naturally be exempted.Zhou Sheng kept the Zeng Mansion in harmony, and Zeng Guofan was very satisfied.But it is very difficult for him to be a housekeeper, he can't keep accounts, and his memory is poor. Zeng Guofan can say that at home, once Zeng Guofan is busy with business, sometimes he can't go home for a few days and nights, but it will be hard for him. Fourth master helped him remember this event, and asked the bearer to help him remember that event, it was clearly a mess.

Strange to say, when Zeng Guofan was a concubine in the Imperial Academy, apart from boiling water and making tea for three meals a day, his housework was almost blank.But since the day when he was promoted to a Bachelor of Attendance, he has been busy both at home and abroad.There are many entertainments and visitors, and the most puzzling thing is that there are more business affairs. Especially this year, juzis from all over the country have committed some kind of evil, and they have started to come to Beijing one after another, digging holes and stealing holes to worship masters in the capital;For the famous Dahanlin, he will not hesitate to throw ten thousand dollars, and will not give up until he is cast under the door!In a word, it is for the purpose of getting a good ranking in the next year's test and leaping into the dragon gate. Zeng Guofan is recognized as a master of articles by the Imperial Academy of the Capital, and is favored by Mu Xiang. He can often see the emperor. Some officials are obviously Zeng Guofan's seniors, and they came in a few years earlier than Zeng Guofan, but at this time they call themselves elder brothers, call Zeng Guofan younger brothers, and become peers, and the nephews they bring, some of them are old. He was older than Zeng Guofan, but because he entered the body late, he had to respect Zeng Guofan as "Nianbo" and call himself a junior. This was due to the status quo and etiquette of the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty at that time, and no one could surpass it. Soon, Li Hongzhang, the son of Li Wen'an, a doctor of the Ministry of punishment, also worshiped under Zeng Guofan.Zeng Guofan and Li Wen'an were Jinshi in the same year, and the relationship between the two is also very good.But Li Wen'an wanted his son Hongzhang to pay homage to Zeng Guofan. When he met Zeng Guofan, he first called himself a subordinate official, and Zeng Guofan took the lead, so he changed his name to Brother Nian. Li Hongzhang naturally became Zeng Guofan's protégé and Nian's son. Li Hongzhang, whose courtesy name is Shaoquan, was born in the third year of Daoguang. This time he obeyed his father's order to go to Beijing to participate in the general examination, and he directly worshiped under Zeng Guofan.Of course, Li Wen'anbei's Shuxiu ① is also very generous, and it costs five hundred taels of silver when he makes a move.Although Li Wen'an did not make much progress as an official, he was very good at making money. Speaking of the Li family in Hefei, the house was bigger than the governor's yamen.Soon, Guo Songtao, the son of Xiangxiang, also paid homage to Zengfu. In this way, Zeng Guofan's income increased, and one thousand taels of silver was recorded in the account only for tutoring.The applicants seeking teachers naturally lived and boarded in the Zeng Mansion. In the morning Zeng Guofan assigned a day's homework, and when he came back in the evening, he corrected the homework handed in by these candidates, often until late at night, and he would explain it word by word when he got up early the next day. In this way, it will deepen the impression of the students.The disciples who worshiped under him were more successful than Shu Xiu, but Zeng Guofan was a flesh and blood body after all, he was busy with business and had limited energy, so he had to accept those who could not be rejected, and rejected all who could be rejected. After another busy month, the old master Zeng Linshu arrived in Beijing with his 25-year-old son Guohuang, 23-year-old son Guohua, and Zeng Guofan's family Xiaopingan.The Zeng family was once again a bustling scene.