Chapter 12 Section 2 Unusually clumsy, uncommonly shrewd

Zeng Guofan's "clumsy" and "smart" are not contradictory. It is the unique "clumsiness" that makes Zeng Guofan's extraordinary shrewdness and brilliance. Zeng Guofan's philosophy of life is very unique, that is, "clumsy".He said: "The most clumsy in the world can overcome the most ingenious in the world." This philosophy of life is derived from his unique life experience.Zeng Guofan's father, Zeng Linshu, knew that he had no hope of making a fortune by studying in his life, so he "furiously taught and supervised all the sons", and he was even more unrelenting in his eldest son Zeng Guofan.But his education method is very backward, he only knows to use brute force blindly and do stupid work.

Zeng Guofan was able to get through the road of imperial examinations, relying entirely on "stupidity".His father asked him not to understand the previous sentence and not to read the next sentence.If you don't finish this book, don't touch the next one.If you don't complete the day's study tasks, you will never sleep.He doesn't know any "skills" or "shortcuts", he only knows one way to go to the dark, and doesn't turn back until he hits the south wall.This "clumsy" way of learning has cultivated in him a spirit of diligence, hardship, and down-to-earth beyond ordinary people.

Zeng Guofan's unique enlightenment was given to Zeng Guofan by his hard work in mechanics.He discovered that being clumsy has a clumsy benefit.Clumsy people have no intellectual capital and are therefore more open-minded than others.Clumsy people have received setback education since childhood, so they are particularly resistant to blows.Clumsy people don't know how to play tricks, and when they encounter problems, they just know how to get past them, so they don't leave any dead ends.On the contrary, those with little cleverness are unwilling to make "hard work" and walk around when encountering difficulties, laying a loose foundation.Therefore, "clumsy" seems to be slow, but in fact it is the fastest, because it is a solid success without leaving any disadvantages.Although Zeng Guofan took the test for nine years as a scholar, once he got the hang of it, the road ahead became smoother and smoother.In the second year after he was selected as a scholar, he was selected as a Juren, and in another four years, he was a high school Jinshi.However, those students who entered the school early did not even come out afterward.He summed up his own experience and said many times that this is due to his good foundation, so "reading and making up your mind must be hard work."

Since he is blunt by nature, Zeng Guofan gave full play to his blunt strengths.In his life, he never made any detours or took shortcuts. He always did things in the most clumsy and most practical way.Accumulation by trickle, water drop through stone, the pursuit is solid and thorough, one step at a time.Just like Guo Jing's Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, on the surface it is simple and clumsy, but in fact it is majestic and invincible.This is the secret of Zeng Guofan's success in his life, and it is also the truth he often talks about to others.He said in "Preface to Sending Guo Yunxian to the South", a gentleman does not take shortcuts and does not seek false fame.Zi baht accumulation, hard to move forward.A gentleman may succeed later than others, but once he succeeds, it is a great success.

This is Zeng Guofan's self-portrait.He has been successful in his life, thanks to the "clumsy" spirit. He founded the Hunan Army, selected generals, and selected people who were not good at speaking and "rural", because they were honest and honest, and less frivolous.He even hates those who are "good at talking": "Generals who are frivolous, when they are in danger, their expressions are flying enough to confuse the soldiers; their words are smooth enough to confuse right and wrong, so Chu Junli does not like to use A general who is good at speaking." He recruited soldiers, and he also specifically wanted mountain people who were "simple and little hearted".Therefore, the Hunan Army's style of work is completely different from that of the Eight Banners Green Battalion, and the naughty habits of soldiers and ruffians have been completely eradicated.

Zeng Guofan also relied on his clumsy spirit to fight.Zeng Guofan was good at fighting stupid wars all his life, stupid wars, but not good at skillful wars.He is not greedy for small gains in war, does not seek ingenuity, is down-to-earth, and fights steadily.He said: "In war, we must fight steadily." In his life, he never fought a battle for which he was unprepared and uncertain.He spent a lot of effort to study the situation of both the enemy and us, the deployment of the battle, the logistics supply, how to rescue in the event of an adverse situation, etc., and did not make up his mind to fight until every link was calculated and thoroughly calculated.

The Hunan Army is famous for "strengthening strongholds and fighting dull battles".Basically, in war, he does not take the initiative to attack, but lures the enemy to attack him first, and strikes later.Although the Taiping army was brave, they were helpless when they encountered the Hunan army.The Taiping Army most hoped to induce the Hunan Army to fight in the field, but the Hunan Army rarely fought in the field.Zeng Guofan said: Those who stay with thieves for a long time are the most refrained from wave battles... It is better not to start a battle for several months, and not to start a battle without planning and calculating.

He has been marching and fighting for decades, except for a few mistakes at the beginning, he has no major setbacks, which is precisely because of this. The Hunan army took the initiative to attack the city, but also used the most stupid method, like a giant python entangled people, using trenches to trap the city to death.The time for them to attack the city is not one day or two days, nor one month or two months, but often one year or two years. The main task every day is to dig trenches continuously.Anqing, Jiujiang, and Tianjing were all defeated in this way.When the war ended, the landscape outside the city wall was completely changed by the Hunan Army.

Zeng Guofan's dealing with people and things throughout his life is based on sincerity and use of clumsiness.All his life, he asked himself: "Don't speak big words, don't seek false fame", and in doing things, "I would like people to take advantage of me, and I definitely don't want me to take advantage of others."Others deceive him with tricks and falsehoods, but he still treats each other with sincerity and clumsiness.His idea is: "Even if people come with tricks and deceptions, I will still respond with vagueness and sincerity and foolishness; over time, people's intentions will disappear. If you fight each other and meet each other, there will be endless revenge. ""Ordinary people come with hypocrisy, and I go with sincerity. After a long time, the hypocrites will also tend to be sincere."

Zeng Guofan did what he said.Prompted by Yu Liang's emotions, Zuo Zongtang refused to accept Zeng Guofan all his life.As his disciple, Li Hongzhang often played games with him and showed his selfishness.Zeng Guofan never changed his care, love, tolerance and support for Li Hongzhang because of his love for Li Zhicai.Li Hongzhang was grateful for this all his life, and he never said "my teacher" in his later years.It is precisely because of this simple way of dealing with the world that Zeng Guofan has many friends in his life, and his advisers are like clouds, fierce generals are like rain, commanding well, getting help from others, and achieving the final victory of the "Battle of Hong and Yang".

Of course, Zeng Guofan's most meaningful "clumsiness" is his way of thinking.It is the "solid and thorough" way of thinking that enables Zeng Guofan to avoid the limitations and weaknesses of "Chinese thinking" for thousands of years. Chinese-style thinking focuses on intuition, experience, and analogy, but less logic.The thoughts of those talented scholars and literati are often unconstrained, unruly, and jumping at will, so it is easy to skip the small step between truth and falsehood.For example: Dong Zhongshu's theory of "interaction between heaven and man" has had a huge impact on the destiny of the Chinese nation, but the logical derivation of this theory is based on plausible intuitive analogies.Dong Zhongshu said that "man is equal to heaven", that is to say, the principle of heaven and the principle of man are the same.His evidence is: the sky has five elements, but humans have five viscera; the sky has four seasons, and humans have four limbs;Because man is a copy of heaven, so heaven and man can sense.Therefore, thunder in the sky is anger, and the emperor should hurry to pray. The logic of his opponent, Wang Chong, is equally muddled.Wang Chong said: The sky has no thoughts, because the sky has no eyes, no mouth, "the sky has no mouth and eyes."How did Wang Chong know that the sky has no mouth and no eyes?Wang Chong said, we can’t touch the sky, but we can see the earth. The earth has no mouth or eyes, and people say that the sky and the earth are a relationship between husband and wife. The body has no mouth and eyes, and also knows that the sky has no mouth and eyes."Wang Chong and Dong Zhongshu are opponents, but their argumentation methods are exactly the same, that is, they are both illogical children's thinking. The biggest weakness of Chinese-style thinking is that it likes to grasp everything from a holistic and macro perspective, but lacks a rigorous and meticulous reasoning process.Under the influence of this holistic way of thinking, Chinese intellectuals always generalized and summed up everything in one word.I always want to find a trick to grasp all the laws of the universe at once, "one size fits all", mix shallots with tofu, three times five divisions two, and completely solve all problems.For example, Confucianism believes that if a person does a good job in moral cultivation, all problems in the world will be solved easily.This is clearly irrational. Gu Zhun has repeatedly criticized the Chinese way of thinking, saying: "China has geniuses, but there is no scientific and systematic step-by-step progress... Chinese people are good at synthesis, but they are all based on insufficient synthesis... Chinese are born dialectics , but dialectics has made the Chinese suffer... There is no 'logic' in Chinese tradition...Therefore, China does not have exact science." The biggest feature of Western thinking is the emphasis on evidence, logic, and differences.Westerners start with quantitative analysis of the differences between things, and advance along the thinking path of "phenomenon-difference-difference expansion-accurate quantification-innovation", so they can develop excellent rational thinking and establish a rigorous academic system. Zeng Guofan's way of thinking coincides with the Western way of thinking.Zeng Guofan's way of thinking has reached a rare level of rigor among Chinese because of its "clumsy and practical". Zeng Guofan wrote in his diary on July 29th of the 10th year of Xianfeng: There are three ways of governing affairs, which are called analysis, brief summary, and comprehensive review.The one who dissects it is like cutting the bones and horns, and cutting like the one who treats jade.Every thing has to be cut into two pieces first, then cut into four pieces from two pieces, and then cut into eight pieces from four pieces. The more you cut it, the more hanging it will be, and the more you cut it, the finer and denser it will be, just like Ji Chang's view of lice as a wheel, like that of a cook. When criticizing gaps and guiding, there is always no confusion or ambiguity. This remark has exhausted the secret of Zeng Guofan's thinking.Every time he encounters an incident, he has to look at it from both positive and negative aspects, ponder it over and over again, and analyze it carefully.As for the two aspects of "positive" and "negative", he also needs to subdivide them, divide the "positive" into two sides, and analyze its pros and cons.In the same way, the "negative" side also has its own pros and cons.He has studied every factor involved in this matter, and there is no ambiguity.If we continue to analyze this way, we will have a very thorough observation of this matter. For example, when a microscopic object is illuminated by a microscope, it will be doubled, ten times, or a hundred times larger.It is also like rough rice, if it is pounded again, all the chaff will be removed, and if it is pounded three or four times, it will be fine and white. It is through this "clumsy" way of thinking that Zeng Guofan can accurately grasp the "degree", that is, the one-step distance between "truth" and "false".He said that all things in the world are different. There is a difference between loving the people and loving the people. There is a difference between being kind to the people and loving things.If there is no distinction but to give alms, it will be too benevolent, which will lead to the paranoid universal love of the Mohists; The cover of "emphasis on oneself". The Chinese place more emphasis on synthesis than analysis.Zeng Guofan discovered the importance of analyzing "differences" through solid and thorough thinking practice.He said: "The knowledge of my heart is limited, and the divisions of all things are infinite. If I don't study the special divisions, I can't adjust to the principle of unity." That is to say, if we do not carefully study the subtle differences between all things, we will not get the unified law behind the differences.The importance of this passage in the history of Chinese thought cannot be overemphasized. Zeng Guofan believes that since ancient times, there have been fine and rough cognition, and real and unreal actions, which is precisely the difference between saintly and ordinary, big and small.Therefore, he said that good talents should be "more organized and less boastful", that is to say, more logical and less rambunctious. Zeng Guofan said that his "talent...is not very brilliant, and he only relies on learning to be smart."Zeng Guofan has experienced countless difficulties and dangers in his life, and has dealt with countless major events, and they are generally very appropriate.Its excellence is that it is not afraid of painstaking efforts, and it conducts in-depth analysis of things without leaving any dead ends.On the basis of a precise analysis of things, find out the key points and grasp the key points.After each processing, we must sum up the experience and lessons for the next reference.Zeng Guofan's shrewdness is based on such clumsiness, such racking of brains and deliberation. Indeed, being "stupid" to the extreme is "smart", and being "clumsy" to the extreme is "smart".Isn't a powerful computer built on the simplest binary basis with only two words "1" and "0"?Zeng Guofan is not smarter than others, and most of us today are not dumber than him.He just worked harder, more grounded, and pushed his brain more relentlessly than others. "The more bitter the wisdom, the clearer it becomes" is his personal experience. One of the shortcomings of Chinese intellectuals is that they are too easy to draw conclusions, and the other is that they are too easy to listen to other people's conclusions.This is not the case with Zeng Guofan.Because of being "stupid", Zeng Guofan is very humble in front of all knowledge, and dare not be prejudiced or wear colored glasses to study.Because of being "stupid", Zeng Guofan didn't want to save effort, and didn't want to borrow other people's brains. He had to read every book seriously, word by word.Therefore, he has a broad vision throughout his life, reading everything and learning everything. Physicians tend to be academically clean.Most of them regard the learning of the philosophers as an out-of-the-ordinary theory and dismiss it.For example, Luo Zenan, a good friend of Zeng Guofan, resolutely rejected the teachings of Buddhism, Laozi and other scholars, and believed that the teachings of Guan and Yan were "humble", and the teachings of Yang and Mo were "obscene", which were not conducive to the morals of the world and people's hearts, and would soon be destroyed. Zeng Guofan is a miscellaneous family.He has read everything in his life, especially the books of the philosophers, and he is very fond of them.Laozi's simple and broad, Zhuangzi's spiritual freedom, Mozi's ambition and hard work, and Legalism's words and deeds all gave him great inspiration.He admired that all scholars are heroes, and it is not too far to go to Confucius: "The kind that a hero sees is not very far. There is a saying in the Han family: "Confucius must use Mozi, and Mozi must use Confucius. If they don't use each other, they are not enough to be Confucius." ink.'" In addition to the classics and history that traditional scholar-bureaucrats are committed to, Zeng Guofan is also very interested in the "text of the copy" that ordinary scholar-bureaucrats avoid.In Zeng Guofan's eyes, knowledge is everywhere.Because he embraces the ambition of latitude and longitude, his vision is extremely broad.The so-called "text of the case", that is, the "compilation of documents" of the past dynasties, the content is of course extremely boring.However, Zeng Guofan believes that this contains a lot of political wisdom, and he is interested in saving Chinese society. Such articles must be read. Zeng Guofan loves to read maps and study geography. "Chronology of Zeng Guofan" says that when Zeng Guofan was serving as a minister in the Ministry of Industry, he "especially studied the study of Fangyu, drawing on the left and writing on the right, and he was more tireless in hooking up, and seeking a compromise in detail on the dangerous mountains and rivers, rivers and water conservancy."In his lifetime, he investigated and studied a wide range, and believed that: "There are fourteen schools of thought on major issues in the world: official system, financial use, salt administration, water affairs, money law, crown ceremony, evening ceremony, Funeral ceremony, sacrificial ceremony, military system, military law, criminal law, geography, and river canal." This is the obvious difference between him and many Neo Confucian scholars at that time. It can be said that apart from Buddhism, Zeng Guofan has read and studied all the books within his reach.In fact, he is not without interest in Buddhism.He had asked Zhao Liewen for Buddhist teachings many times, but he didn't go deeper because he couldn't calm down amidst the fire. In addition to books, Zeng Guofan also absorbed a lot of knowledge from the land where he grew up.Although Zeng Guofan was born as a third-ranked Jinshi, he admired his grandfather who had never studied all his life. He often quoted his grandfather's words in his family letters to educate his children.This old country man who has never been out of Xiangxiang County in his life does have some extraordinary insights from the soil.When he persuaded his younger brother Zeng Guoquan not to be quick in the officialdom, he said: "People in Xinggang often say: 'If you know how to go down to the pond, you must know how to go ashore.' He also said:'I am afraid that I will be old and clean my feet."...Wang my brother is peaceful In the year or two of Hezuo, after sending my elder brother ashore, I will do it with great vigor and vigor. I will tell you to tell me!" Zeng Guofan was able to calculate three steps in everything in his life, especially after he was successful, he was able to quickly disband the Hunan Army and properly relieve the meritorious service. The Lord's worry is related to my grandfather's teaching of having a long-term plan in everything. Opening Zeng Guofan's family letters, quoting Hunan rural sayings and stories from his hometown and neighbors can be seen everywhere. "When my grandfather was there, every time he ridiculed others for accumulating private property, it was a sign of defeat. He often ridiculed the five fathers who talked about water, and the sixth father who talked about sweet-scented osmanthus trees. I think all my brothers are familiar with it." It can be seen in the countryside. Life experience constitutes an important foundation of Zeng Guofan's wisdom. It can be said that Zeng Guofan is like a keen radar, collecting and analyzing all the information he can receive, and extracting useful elements from it, including Chinese mysterious culture. Zeng Guofan's physical endowment is very average, especially his eyes.From the 23rd year of Daoguang, more and more troubles caused by eye diseases have been mentioned in his writings: "dimmed eyesight", "no resemblance", "bitter eyesight", "dimmed eyesight hurts, Difficult to see for a long time." He tried almost everything to treat his eyes.He tried countless traditional Chinese medicines but they didn't work. Later, he personally studied the theory of Chinese medicine and came to the conclusion that "probably more breasts and depression...after middle age, the liver and kidney suffer from the disease. If the depression is not smooth, it will hurt the wood, and if the heart is not bright, it will be Injury to the water" concluded that "the reason for Yu's eye disease and insomnia at night is nothing more than this."Starting from this theory, he came up with the treatment idea of ​​using the word "peace" to treat the heart first, but the result was ineffective. He started using Western "enhancing glasses" (reading glasses) when he was thirty-six years old, but they were no longer effective: "Although they are close, they are of little benefit." Later, his friend Mao Xuchu gave him a pair of "dark crystal mirrors" to cover his eyes to keep out the wind and light, in order to keep the "light in the left eye", but it didn't work. Xu Xianping also gave him a piece of agate with a "hollow water accumulation" and told him to open it with a diamond, take out the water in it, and drop it in his eyes. Following other people's advice, he rubbed his palms to generate heat every morning after getting up, and wiped the saliva on the tip of his tongue eighty-one times on his eyelids.None of these methods worked. He even tried qigong to heal his eyes.An officer named Ma Changming said that he was good at Qigong, and he could heal his eyes with Taoist internal energy.So from August of the ninth year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan invited him to come every day, "Sit with Yu, he is lucky, he can transfer internal organs, etc."Do the exercises for 45 minutes every day.As a result, the qigong master was invited to treat him for 21 days, "but the eyesight was useless."So the attempt had to be abandoned. Afterwards, Zeng Guofan said: "But eye disease is difficult to cure, and there is no one who is good at ophthalmology in modern times. It is better not to cure it." Although Zeng Guofan's various attempts ended in failure, we can indeed see his experimental spirit and open attitude.Zeng Guofan is an empiricist. He is always willing to experience everything for himself, to experience it personally, willing to try, brave to try, and diligent in trying.He is not preconceived by any conclusions, he always has to try it himself, see it with his own eyes, and then draw a conclusion. He pays attention to body, heart, mouth, and eyes when doing things, especially emphasizing the need to "harden your body to experience things."When talking about talents, he said, "Probably there are two types of talents, one with more official spirit and the other with more rustic spirit."Those with a lot of official spirit "have to use the book office, the mouth of the family to speak out when something happens, and write it out with the document. They can't see it with their body, heart, mouth, or eyes, especially they can't take the pains to experience the matter."This "four arrivals" statement is consistent with his general spirit of "eighteen points of upholding the scriptures" and "putting oneself into the game and being responsible". Zeng Guofan summed up the purpose of Sinology as "seeking truth from facts" and that of Song Studies as "that is, the principle of material poverty", and believed that the basic spirits of the two are the same.In the history of Chinese thought, Zeng Guofan turned the proposition of "seeking truth from facts" which was originally a textual research proposition into a philosophical epistemology proposition for the first time. Because of "clumsiness", Zeng Guofan is plain and modest.Zeng Guofan said: "Don't talk big words, don't make a false name, don't make superficial things, don't talk about high principles, so that you can less correct the world's superficial habits." He looks down on those frivolous people who casually criticize and ridicule the ancients.But at the same time, because of his "clumsiness", he is used to practicing everything by himself, which gives him the capital to speak out and criticize the ancients frankly. Through a lot of practice, he found that the results of superstitious ancient books are often wrong: "It is better to have no books than to believe in books." A gentleman's work is not only to collect ancient books, but also to ask for words from all people, but he must think carefully and discern them clearly, so that ordinary people will not take the liberty of doing things. For example, he said that most of the famous military books in ancient times were deceptive. From the beginning of his career as a scholar, Zeng Guofan admired the military books and war strategies passed down from generation to generation in China, and used to study hard.However, with more and more actual combat experience, he found that most of these ancient books were mysterious and deceptive things. In his letter to Yin Gengyun, he said: Guofan has been in the military for a long time. Although he has made little achievements, he thinks that those who do things are extremely blunt. The word "superior speed" is almost opposite. Together, I am deeply ashamed of my selfishness, and because of this, I doubt that the books of the ancients are all decorated in writing, and I cannot fully believe them.Our departments are like Ta, Luo, Li, and Bao. There are literati outside who describe their achievements, which are completely inconsistent with the facts at that time, and the suspicion of ancient books is also repeated. He doubted the authenticity of some battle examples in "Historical Records", and told others that reading "Historical Records" and "Hanshu" should not be taken too seriously: The Taishi said that Zhuangzi's books are all fables, and I think that the "Historical Records" written by Zichang is also sixty-seven out of ten fables. One day, Zeng Guofan discussed the "army formation" with his staff and generals, and found that "although they see and hear the same people in the same situation, everyone's words are different, so they are not trustworthy." The historical biography is not reliable, and it is the same." He believes that the records of Sima Qian are not reliable enough, and the wars recorded by other authors in the Twenty-Three Histories are the opinions of literati and cannot be trusted: Except for horses and squads, the twenty-three histories are all written by literati. They don't know what a battle is or what a battle is.Those who are unreliable in the "Tongjian" are all identified with a pen. There was a battalion officer named Wu Shimai in the Pingjiang Camp of the Hunan Army. He edited the records of wars in the Twenty-Three Histories and compiled them into a book, intending to use them as the basis for governing the army.After Zeng Guofan knew about it, he immediately wrote to Li Yuandu, the commander of the army: "Military affairs are a matter of integrity" and "If the compilation of the Twenty-Three Histories is used as the blueprint for governing the army, the skills are poor and it is difficult to achieve success. Your Excellency and him As a close friend, I must persuade him to abandon all the old papers and focus on things like roll call, watching exercises, and checking the walls." There is also a counselor named Wu Xiyan who suggested that Zeng Guofan "use ancient books to evaluate generals and assign chief and deputy civil and military officers."Zeng Guofan believed that "this is the opinion of scholars", and pointed out in his reply: There are two different paths between reading and using troops.Famous generals in ancient times, such as Han Xin and Cao Can in the former Han Dynasty, and Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun in the later Han Dynasty, have not heard of their books.Qi Jiguang was able to write books but his combat achievements were mediocre.If Sun Wuzhi could not keep his words, Old Su would have ridiculed him. On the surface, this seems to be in conflict with Zeng's modest and modest style. In fact, he dared to speak so loudly because he stood higher than those ignorant literati and saw farther than them. The positive meaning of Neo Confucianism is that it will endow people with the fortitude, cleanliness, firmness, and thoroughness necessary to face this difficult world.At the same time, it also has huge "side effects", such as conservative, stubborn, clear, desolate, and unrealistic. Because of his "clumsiness" and being down-to-earth, on the one hand, Zeng Guofan has obtained the great benefits of Neo-Confucianism, and on the other hand, he has avoided many problems of Neo-Confucianism.Zeng Guofan once bluntly criticized those Neo Confucianists who only know how to talk high-spirited in life, which is of no benefit to reality: "The more the theory of nature and reason is pushed, the more difficult it is to criticize a gentleman, and the more tolerant it is to indulge a villain." Bogey, like a tiger flying and a whale leaking, those who talk about sex and reason are familiar with it and dare not to do anything, only one or two simple gentlemen attack viciously." It is precisely because he has forgiveness in his heart and eats fireworks in the world that he can treat murderers Neo-Confucianism made such penetrating comments. He made use of Neo-Confucians without being fascinated by them.There are a group of Daoists in his shogunate, "but the first one gives thick rice cakes, and does not pretend to be the right to do things."Once, his cronies and staff had disrespectful words for these people, and he bluntly warned him: These people are all vain voices and pure thieves, and their words and deeds must not be candid, and I also know it.However, the reason why he was able to hunt for a lot of money was due to his false reputation.Now it is necessary to expose it and make him lose his food and clothing. Then his enmity against you is comparable to that of ordinary Yazi, and the disaster of killing the red family will fall.All of you! Confucianists are often conservatives, but the practical spirit of "seeking truth from facts" gave Zeng Guofan the courage to break through barriers, deny the ancients, and open up new knowledge. Zeng Guofan said that the study of the art of governing the country should focus on "the current dynasty, and trace the history of the previous dynasties, with benevolence and righteousness in mind, and return to the easy and simple. Those who made mistakes in the previous life can correct themselves; One can create it by oneself. Those who live on will know that the future will inevitably fail; those who know what is right will know the inevitable cause of the future. It is said that although a hundred generations can know it." It is precisely because he did not superstitiously believe in the way of the previous kings, but dared to adapt to the "those who attacked mistakes" and "those who did not reach" with the attitude of "self-improvement" and "self-creation", so he could become the founder of the Westernization Movement. people.In modern China, Zeng was closely related to several major events that promoted Western learning: the establishment of the Anqing Ordnance Institute and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, the young children studying in the United States, the establishment of a translation bureau in the Shanghai Machinery Bureau, and the translation and publication of the last nine volumes of "Original Geometry" , he is the main decision maker. When Western learning first entered China, ordinary scholar-officials regarded it as an enemy.The "Confucianists" headed by his good friend Wo Ren are the backbone of Qiu Yang.Zeng Guofan pointed out frankly that Woren was "poor in talent and knowledge".Among the masters of Neo Confucianism, only Zeng Guofan can realize the necessity of learning from the West with a wise attitude, because he also does not wear colored glasses when looking at foreigners.At that time, most of the literati and bureaucrats thought that foreigners were brutal and cunning barbarians, so they didn't have to be honest with them, but only "jimi".Zeng Guofan advocated that foreigners should be treated sincerely.Because foreigners are also human beings with the same psychological structure as Chinese people.What applies to Chinese people must also apply to foreigners.He said: Barbarian affairs are difficult to deal with, but they are nothing more than Confucius's four words of loyalty, faithfulness and respect.Benevolent, thick also.Respector, Shen Ye.Believe, just don't tell lies; but it is difficult.Our generation should start with one word from now on, and if we make a decision today, don't change it tomorrow because of small interests. Neo-Confucians were particularly fierce in the dispute over Chinese etiquette. They could not let go of their arrogance and arrogance.On the other hand, Zeng Guofan advocated getting along with foreign countries on an equal footing. In terms of foreign relations, he advocated giving up ostentation and emphasizing actual benefits: "Those who compete with others for ostentation are allowed, but those who rob our people of their livelihood are not allowed." This view was at that time It is really brilliant under the historical background, and it still has its practical effect today. Qian Mu's words are very pertinent: (Zeng Guofan) Although he highly praised Tang Jinghai and others, he was able to take advantage of the strengths of Sinologists and ancient writers at that time to make up for the dry and narrow disease of Confucianism.The vastness of its atmosphere and the grandeur of its connotations are beyond the reach of those in Jinghai who are just preaching and preaching.What he achieved in his life is not only to overcome the great difficulties, but also to be shocking for a while, that is to say, the fairness and understanding of the study, the magnanimity and the truth, have been in the Qing Dynasty for more than two hundred years, and it is rare to see it. The distinctive "clumsy" spirit has made Zeng Guofan's vigorous, open and all-encompassing.The down-to-earth way of thinking keeps his thinking flowing, sharp and active.He is humble and honest in front of the vast and mysterious world. He does not presuppose anything, prohibits anything, and does not judge anything arbitrarily.He is good at extracting wisdom from ordinary and trivial real life, and is good at exploring useful things from all spiritual resources he comes into contact with.His idealism and realism do not conflict with each other, but nourish each other.Therefore, he has great vision, great strength, and can achieve great careers. It is most appropriate to use Guo Songtao's words to explain Zeng Guofan's success.Guo Songtao said in his diary that a friend asked him why Hunan produced so many talents.He replied: "Chu people are only three-point stupid, which is what Confucius said they are beyond stupid." After hearing this, my friend agreed very much, saying: "Since ancient times, most of the people who have become famous are stupid. , fleeting, but ultimately useless.”