Chapter 36 Section 5 Bow to the Little Officials: Zeng Guofan and Unspoken Rules

In addition to the clean side, Zeng Guofan also has a "turbid" side. During the governor's period, Zeng Guofan spent a lot on human relations. In terms of official entertainment, Zeng Guofan is not unconventional, but tries his best to follow the custom.When he first took office as the governor, he once asked his subordinates not to be escorted. After a long time, he found that this request was really difficult to implement, and it was in vain to shock the world. At the end of September in the tenth year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan went to Suzhou for a military parade.He wrote to Zeng Jize about his entertainment in Suzhou these days:

After Yu arrived in Su on the 28th, he visited guests all day long on the 29th and had a night banquet at Zhang Ziqing's Zhongcheng.On the 30th, I met guests at home, weaving and Zhitang, Meisheng, and Ji Yugong invited opera wine.On the first day of the first day of the lunar new year, I made an inscription at Yun Cishan's house, and then received more than 160 candidates, and the county magistrate of Sidaofu invited the opera wine.On the second day of junior high school, I watched the exercises in the morning, and at night, my fellow villagers in Hunan invited me to play and drink.

It can be seen that visiting guests every day, playing and drinking every day, Zeng Guofan's actions are no different from ordinary bureaucrats.It's just that while adhering to the established rules, he tried his best to reduce the scale, simplify the form, consider others everywhere, and didn't want to cause too much burden to his subordinates.He arrived in Shanghai in early October, just in time for his birthday.On the tenth day of October, the day before his birthday, local officials invited opera wine to wish him well.It's my birthday on the 11th, and I have to "congratulate" it again as usual.Zeng Guofan was afraid that everyone would spend too much money, so he tried his best to dismiss, but paid for a few tables by himself:

On the tenth day of the lunar month, all the officials prepared Yinzun to wish Yu Yu.On the 11th, there will be another official congratulation by Yin Zun.I spared no effort to say goodbye, but prepared my own wine and noodles to meet all the guests.There are two seats in the inner hall, including the Futi Fan, and 20 seats in the outer hall, including the Civil, Military and Printing Committee.Although it costs a little more money, so as not to disturb the staff, I feel uneasy. These twenty or so seats must have cost him a lot of money, but eating and drinking are only the smallest part of his daily expenses.

The governor of Liangjiang was originally the most "fat" and "short" in the world, so Zeng Guofan's predecessors were more generous in their writing.Since Zeng Guofan took up this post, he had to follow Cao Cao in many ways, such as sending charcoal to pay respects. Contacting Beijing officials is an indispensable action for local officials.In the late Qing Dynasty, the secrets of the officialdom circulated in the official circles said: the official career should be refined, the capital letter should be well communicated, and the charcoal should be always rich.Zeng Guofan has always hated the pursuit of officialdom, but he didn't want to be exempt from the charcoal respect given by the governors of the world.He has been an official in the capital for many years, and he knows how much the charcoal respect means to them every winter.The recipients Zeng Guofan sent were mainly Beijing officials from Hunan.On the sixth day of December in the fifth year of Tongzhi, he said in a letter to Zeng Guohuang: "Beijing officials from the same township, this winter charcoal respect must still be donated as usual." This amount of money is at least several thousand taels a year.

In addition to Beijing officials, some old families in Hunan will also send gifts to him on the occasion of the New Year.After the last sentence, he immediately said: "Yesterday, Li Zhuhan was ordered to return to Hunan to send two hundred gold from the Luo family, two hundred gold from the Li family, and a hundred gold from the Liu family. They are also those who have shared hardships in the past." In addition to Tan Jing, another relatively large expense is Cheng Yi, that is, money.As mentioned earlier, welcoming and sending off is an important task in officialdom.Naturally, there are not a few important officials who travel to and from Nanjing every year.

In April of the ninth year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan wrote a letter to his son Zeng Jize, saying: "Xianping (Xu Zhen) is a messenger. If he passes through Baoding, I should give Cheng Yi a hundred gold. It is a common practice for star envoys to pass through the border, and friends who make friends give gifts. " That is to say, in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty, when the imperial envoy sent by the emperor passed by the jurisdiction, the big officials who met him usually gave him a hundred taels of Chengyi in addition to the welcome and see-off banquet.He was going to use this standard to treat Xu Zhen.

In the ninth year of Tongzhi, the famous "horse assassination case" occurred in the south of the Yangtze River. The imperial court sent Zheng Dunjin (No. Xiaoshan), the minister of punishment, to the south to jointly try it with Zeng Guofan.According to the custom, after the work is done, the local government will give the imperial envoy a heavy sum of Cheng Yi.However, Zheng Dunjin was very clean and honest, "Zheng Xiaoshan came out to pay a visit on the 28th day of the first lunar month, and set off on the 29th day after paying his respects. He did not accept any ceremony or water ceremony, and it was completely clear. The little imperial envoy Cheng Yi has already taken it away ( Five hundred ears per person)". "Dry gift" refers to precious gifts such as gold, silver, silk, satin and the like, while "water gift" refers to food, fruit and other miscellaneous items.He doesn't even accept water gifts, which can be said to be clean to the end, so Zeng Guofan said that he is "clean to the bone".But his main entourage, the "little imperial envoys" as Zeng Guofan called them, were unwilling to imitate their chief officials.They each received five hundred taels of silver from Zeng Guofan.Zeng Guofan added the word "ear" after five or two hundred, which shows that the amount of money is not too much for them in terms of official practice.

The largest Cheng Yi gift from Zeng Guofan that we can find was in the third year of Tongzhi.At the end of that year, the Jiangnan Township Examination, which had been suspended for many years due to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War, was finally held.Traditionally, after the exam, the chief examiner and deputy chief examiner of the rural examination will receive a heavy sum of money from the local officials.Zeng Guofan himself was the chief examiner, and he also gained a lot in the past. This time he decided to be the master, "everything is as good as it is". This year, the chief examiner sent by the imperial court was Liu Kun, and the deputy chief examiner was Ping Buqing.After the exam, they gained a lot in Liangjiang, "the public and private sent Cheng Yi about three thousand each."That is to say, Jiangnan officials donated 3,000 taels, and everyone donated in their own names and added up to 3,000 taels. "The two chief examiners have 3,000 bags each, and the Ministry of Households routinely sends 500 for travel expenses. Everything is as generous as it is."

"Tan Jing" and "Cheng Yi" are frequent expenditures in officialdom.As for "don't respect", the frequency is relatively low, and it only happens when local officials need to go to Beijing. On July 20, the seventh year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan was ordered to be transferred to the governor of Zhili.He arrived in Beijing in December of this year, and left the capital to Baoding to take up his post after spending the Chinese New Year in Beijing. Before setting off, Zeng Guofan carried a bank note with a denomination of 20,000 taels of cash on him.Why do you have to bring so much money?The main reason is to send "Farewell" to the Beijing officials.He has not been to Beijing for many years, and those old friends and new friends who are struggling in the life of poor Beijing officials look forward to him like clouds.Of course, his respect cannot be too little.In his diary, he recorded many times in his diary "checking the honor form", "determining the ceremony code", "determining distribution and sending each order", which shows how much he cares about this work.In a letter to his son, he said: "I send you more than 14,000 taels of gold as farewell, and all three rivers, two lakes and five provinces, but it is not thick." A total of 14,000 taels was given, which he thinks is still not thick.

After the Tianjin teaching case, he received the order to serve as the governor of Liangjiang.On September 23rd of the ninth year of Tongzhi, he set out for the capital from Tianjin, and returned to the south of the Yangtze River on October 15th after seeing him.This time, "Farewell" still needs to be sent.Before entering Beijing, Zeng Guofan planned this way: It is planned to set off for the capital on the 21st and 21st of September (September), and must leave Beijing on the 6th and 7th of October.Don't respect that you can't send it quickly, so you have to make an agreement with the princes to send it after leaving Beijing, or to send charcoal and gold at the end of the wax.The 20,000 gold deposited in Baoding will probably cost eight or nine thousand. Later, he said in a letter to Zeng Guoquan: "More than ten thousand taels of silver were spent in Beijing in the winter of the ninth year." It can be seen that this time sending "Farewell to You" cost more than ten thousand taels of silver. In addition to human relations, the unspoken rules in officialdom require a lot of money. In the seventh year of Tongzhi, the Nian Army was wiped out, the world was generally peaceful, and the reimbursement of military expenses for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War was put on the agenda. Reimbursement will inevitably encounter the "department fee" problem. According to the financial system of the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan needs to first count the military expenditures over the years one by one, compile them into an inventory, and send them to the Ministry of Households.The Ministry of Households shall review the reimbursement list to check whether there are any cases of "false overestimation" such as "doing more with less, making more with cheap, discrepancies in numbers, untrue assessments" and so on. Return and resubmit.After passing the examination, it will be reported to the emperor for reimbursement. Therefore, in the reimbursement process, the most critical thing is the attitude of the household department.If the Ministry of Household Affairs is too expensive, any expenses that do not comply with the regulations can be reimbursed; if they look for bones in eggs, no matter how honest the expenditure is, they will not be able to pass their audit.So, what determines the attitude of the household department?It depends on how much the "department fee" is. In order to get reimbursed smoothly, all localities have to spend a special activity fund in the Ministry of Households, which is called "ministry fee". "Ministry fees" mainly fall into the pockets of the "scribes" who are responsible for the specific handling, that is, the clerks.This is also understandable, because these scribes have no wages and only rely on this gray income to make a living. But their appetite is really too big.Zeng Guofan asked Li Hongzhang to inquire about how much the Ministry of Household Affairs planned to charge, and Li Hongzhang wrote back: Reimbursement section... entrusting someone to inquire, the officials of the ministry want extravagantly.Although there is no way to reduce the one cent three...the Anhui and Jiangsu two bureaus spent about 30 million in salary in the past few years, and nearly 400,000 in silver.How to raise funds is not worth explaining in detail... If you want to be greedy, it's really hard to get tired of it. In other words, Li Hongzhang asked someone to find the clerks of the household department to find out what they said.According to the feedback, the scribes want a rebate of 1.3 cents, that is, reimbursement of one hundred taels will give one, two or three cents.The total amount of military expenses that Zeng Guofan needs to be reimbursed is more than 30 million taels of silver, and 400,000 taels of "ministry expenses" are calculated at 1.3 cents. When Zeng Guofan heard this, he was also taken aback.A huge amount of 400,000 is unacceptable anyway.How to do it?Only continue with PR.Zeng Guofan ordered Jiangning (Nanjing) chief envoy Li Zongxi to entrust someone, and Li entrusted another person named Xu Yuanzhong to come forward to contact the clerk of the household department. He did a lot of work, and the result of the bargain was to give 80,000 taels. made great concessions. Just at this moment, the approval from the center arrived.Out of their outstanding achievements in pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Nian Army, the emperor (actually the empress dowager) agreed to exempt them from reimbursement. Zeng Guofan was very grateful for this. For this, "I am grateful to the bones, and I am a hundred times more grateful than being a high-ranking official."It stands to reason that the 80,000 taels can be saved after the emperor has spoken.However, Zeng Guofan said that the "department fee" of the agreed 80,000 taels of silver will still be paid.Because the King of Hades likes to see little ghosts, he is afraid that the scribes in the household department will make trouble for him in the future. So, where did the money for the above expenses come from? Let's first take a look at the source of expenditure for the 14,000 taels of respect at the end of the seventh year of Tongzhi. Zeng Guofan spent 20,000 taels on that trip to Beijing.In addition to the 14,000 taels of respect, "the combined donations and miscellaneous expenses are as high as 16,000 taels, and more than a thousand taels are spent, and more than 2,000 taels of gold are brought to the official, and a total of 20,000 taels is used."Zeng Guofan made it very clear about the source of this huge sum of money: "I have sent a letter to Ying Minzhai, and Zuomei Yuyu proposed to return the money under the anti-smuggling funds deposited by Yuyu." The "anti-smuggling funds" came from the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Department.An important means of managing the salt industry is to "catch smuggled salt" to ensure the sale of official salt.Therefore, the Department of Salt Transportation raises a large amount of funds every year for anti-smuggling.However, anti-smuggling is only one of the uses of "anti-smuggling funds". In fact, many unmanageable expenses of the Salt Transportation Department are all in the name of "anti-smuggling funds".For example, they "respect" the "rule rules" to the governor of Liangjiang every year, and they also send them in this name. Judging from Zeng Guofan's letter on the 8th day of November in the seventh year of Tongzhi, "The Department of Transportation sent Zeng Delin to solve the anti-smuggling funds of more than 2,000 gold", it can be seen that the Department of Salt Transportation regularly sent Zeng Guofan "anti-smuggling funds", and Zeng Guofan stored them all in "" Houlu Liangtai", "I ordered him to solve Jinling Houlu Liangtai".In addition, Shanghai Customs also sends him public funds every month.In the same letter, Zeng Guofan said: "The ones stored in Zuomei Taizhong (that is, Houlu Liangtai) are the anti-smuggling funds of the Transport Department and the monthly public funds of Shanghai Customs (now nearly 30,000 gold), which are used for my trip to Beijing this time. (Including round-trip expenses may be nearly 20,000 yuan)." Later, the letter on the third day of February in the eighth year of Tongzhi said: "The anti-smuggling funds stored in Houlu Liangtai, in addition to the 20,000 yuan used in Beijing, there are still more than 10,000 yuan... In addition, there are still some people who should pay for Huaibei's public expenses (in October, the book office had drafted a manuscript to raise it, but it has not yet been judged)..." It is inferred from the context of this letter that Zeng Guofan built a "small treasury" in the "Houlu Liangtai", which is his own financial secretary.The "anti-smuggling funds" sent by the Salt Transportation Department, and the "public funds" sent by Shanghai Customs, Huaibei Customs and other customs are the source of money for Zeng Guofan's "small treasury".And its use is mainly for Zeng Guofan's official entertainment management.Zeng Guofan went to Beijing at the end of the seventh year of Tongzhi. All the travel expenses and living expenses were used for gifts in Beijing, plus the 2,000 taels of pocket money brought to Zhili Governor's Mansion. Use your own "counseling money".Therefore, we have reason to speculate that the money he gave to the chief examiner of the township examination in the third year of Tongzhi, and the "Cheng Yi" given to the "little imperial envoy" in the ninth year of Tongzhi should also come from here. Zeng Guofan's Yanglian Bank was deposited in the chief envoy's yamen, which was mainly used for his own family expenses.In the same letter, he confessed to Zeng Jize: My silver is deposited in the Yuting Department (that is, at the place of Li Zongxi, the governor of Jiangning), which is attached to Yang Lian (there are more than 18,000 people), and you can use it as much as you like. On the 22nd of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Tongzhi, he wrote to Zeng Jize: "When you go to Beijing, you can go to Yuting to collect thousands of gold from Yanglian as travel expenses." It can be seen that the travel expenses of Zeng Guofan's family to Beijing are Yanglian, And not money in small coffers. From this, we can roughly judge how Zeng Guofan differentiated the purposes of "shabby rules" and "fostering integrity". The official entertainments arising from "business" come from the "small treasury".The daily necessities of my family and the money I donate to relatives and friends come from "raising integrity".Fang Zongcheng's summary is roughly in line with the facts: In addition to the low salary of the governor of Liangjiang, there is also office expenses (that is, "small treasury"), which is ten thousand gold per year.When the public is in Jinling, all the food in the office and the legacy of relatives are taken from cheap salaries, and their office expenses are all stored in the grain table, and they are not used for non-official affairs. "Small treasury" plus "Yang Lian Yin" are the sources of Zeng Guofan's personal finances in Liangjiang.After arriving in Zhili, the source structure is roughly the same, except that the "anti-smuggling funds" are replaced by "salt regulations".After arriving in Zhili, Zeng Guofan talked to his son about his personal expenditure plans in a letter: The direct governor raised 15,000 taels of silver, and the Yanyuan received nearly 20,000 taels of silver, which is not as grand as Liangjiang's anti-smuggling funds.And Liu Yinqu's name is Qingzheng, which was also used. That is to say, the main personal income of the governor of Zhili is 15,000 taels of Yanglian silver, in addition to 20,000 taels of salt regulations.The 20,000 taels of salt is like Liangjiang's anti-smuggling funds, which are provided for the governor's personal expenses.Therefore, the governor's source of income totaled 35,000 taels.According to Zeng Guofan's own calculation, he needs to spend about 22,300 taels a year, so he can save more than 10,000 taels a year: Yu Ji needs to spend 22,300 gold per year to pay out. In addition to raising integrity, he only needs to use the salt institute to invest 70,000 to 8,000 gold, and there is still more than 10,000 gold left. When Zeng Guofan went north to take office as governor of Zhili, the "small treasury" of "Houlu Liangtai" coexisted with about 30,000 taels.As mentioned earlier, the 32,000 small coffers only cost 20,000 in Beijing, so what should we do with the remaining 10,000?According to official practice, Zeng Guofan can take the more than 10,000 yuan home with him.But he didn't want to do that. In a letter on the eighth day of November in the seventh year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan said to Ji Ze: The rest (I found out the number when I was going north) are stored in Taichung, and they can be used if they are in distress in the future.Otherwise, it's okay to disperse (every dispersal of wealth is the most taboo to be famous). That is to say, if the family really needs to spend money, some can be used.Otherwise, when the whole family is going north, find a way to donate it. On the twenty-second day of the first lunar month of the eighth year, he proposed two more "dispersion" solutions: "The Yu family can't take any more than 20,000 yuan. Make) and try to use it.” He said that it can be used in two ways: one is as a petty expense for the Aftermath Bureau, and the other is as a department fee for the Reimbursement Bureau.He specifically asked not to donate to charity: It may be used as a petty expense for the aftermath bureau, or reserved for the reimbursement of the department's expenses, and it is not allowed to be donated as a charity fee.To tell to tell. Why not donate to charity?Because it will be known by others, Zeng Guofan believed in his life that "everyone who spends money should avoid being famous" and "once he is famous, there are many obstacles."Therefore, "Never let one person know."He also said: "For the rest of my life, I have been worrying about enjoying the name of fame. If I am in the name of being clean and honest, I am especially afraid of losing my blessings." On the third day of February, in his letter to Jize, he once again clarified the method of handling the money, that is, all of it will be used for "departmental expenses" for military reimbursement.Judging from this letter, part of the 80,000 taels of reimbursement expenses came from Zeng Guofan's "bad rules" that could have been pocketed. However, according to Fang Zongcheng, part of the money left by Zeng Guofan was later used to buy relief rice: ...their office expenses are all stored in the food table, and they are not used for non-official affairs.It has always been the case that when the governor-general leaves office, all this money goes into the official's bag, and the public is still reserved for charity.After the transfer to Zhili, there was a disaster in Anhui, and the money was used to buy rice for relief. According to Fang, Zeng Guofan changed his mind again and did not use it as a ministry fee, but used it for relief.Since there is no first-hand information, how the money was spent in the end, it is impossible to provide conclusive evidence. Zeng Guofan stayed as the governor of Zhili for less than two years. When he returned to Liangjiang, he found that he had accumulated "about 30,000 yuan in salary".He will bring part of this money into Beijing as "farewell respect" and other entertainment expenses, and there is still the rest.For example, under the Governor of Zhili's bad regulations, there is still an item of unspent money called "salt officials' occupation fee", which is about a thousand taels. Law: "Salt officials occupy more than a thousand gold in fees. If they don't want to use it for personal gain, they can donate 400 yuan to the Yuying Hall, and the rest will be distributed to everyone." Servants decide.)” Through the above examples, we can find that Zeng Guofan, like every local official of the empire, has his own small treasury.But the balance in the small treasury, he did not take away like other officials. As for raising integrity, there is no surplus.In the first few years of his tenure as governor, the population in Zeng's mansion was small, and Zeng Guofan often used it to help his relatives and friends, even strangers, instead of saving money that could not be spent every year: Mr. Zeng has a great friendship with his old friends.Wai Yichen, a Western member of Renhe Shao, died in Hangzhou, and his wife died. The public invited An Qing to take care of him, and extended his teacher to teach his son.Shidai Shen Huaiqing Yanqing of the Ming Dynasty died in Poyang County, and did not meet Gongshi.The public thinks of his loyalty, and donates to Jin Zhou's family every year.Jixi Zhou Zhifu Ming Jingcheng, the public hired the bureau of loyalty and righteousness to edit the records, and after he died, the public also sympathized with him and educated his disciples.Other loyal people, even though they don't know each other and hear that they are poor, all support them.And the expenses are divided into cheap salaries, and the military supplies are never used. In other words, Zeng Guofan has great affection for the old man.After his friend Shao Yichen was martyred, his wife had nothing to rely on. Zeng Guofan took her to Anqing to support him, and asked a teacher to teach his son.Shen Yanqing and Zeng Guofan were strangers at first, but after he died in the line of duty, Zeng Guofan felt his loyalty, pityed his poor family, and sent money to his family every year.Zhou Cheng was a staff member of the Loyalty Bureau under Zeng Guofan. After his death, Zeng Guofan also provided generous pensions and assumed the responsibility for the education of several of his children.To do these things, they all use the maintenance and salary, and never use military supplies and public funds. From this we can understand why Zeng Guofan has little accumulation behind him. The reason why he refused to leave the balance of the small treasury and the extra money to support his family is because Zeng Guofan had made up his mind since he was young that he "do not rely on being an official to make a fortune." He said in a letter to Zeng Jize: "I will not accumulate money in the future." stay with your children and grandchildren.” In terms of personal life, there is only one item that Zeng Guofan is more willing to spend money on, and that is buying books.In the letter to Zeng Jize, the next sentence after "I will not accumulate money to leave to my children and grandchildren" is "I only want to buy books". On the one hand, he is addicted to books, on the other hand, Zeng Guofan is willing to pass on books as a legacy to future generations.He said to Zeng Jize, "You must buy too many books." Zeng Guofan has always disagreed with the large-scale construction of his family, "building a house and starting a house", but before Zeng Guofan's death, his brother and son built him an expensive library in his hometown. It was the fifth year of Tongzhi, and Zeng Guofan planned to resign and go home.Before that, people drowned in the pond in front of Huangjintang's former residence year after year. Mrs. Ouyang thought this place was unlucky.Zeng Guofan then ordered Jize to repair another old house in Fu, so that he could settle in after retirement.He asked Zeng Jize to act frugally and keep a low profile as much as possible: "You can't write the words "Hou Fu Xiang Fu" on the plaque outside the door. The world is so difficult, and these things may not be reliable, but the first plaque of the palace and the Taibao is just hanging." Jize planned to build a library in the house, and Zeng Guofan readily agreed: "Building a library at home is the right thing to do." When the old house in the sixth year of Tongzhi was repaired, Zeng Jize reported to him that seven thousand strings of copper coins had been spent.When Zeng Guofan heard this, he was far beyond his plan and was very annoyed.On February 13, he wrote a letter to reprimand Zeng Jize and Zeng Guohuang who participated in the incident, saying: Fu repaired the old house, why did he spend as much as seven thousand strings?Even building a new house should not cost a lot of money.In Yu Shengsheng, it was a shameful thing for the family of a high official to buy a field and build a house, but unexpectedly my family did it.Uncle Cheng can empathize with my heart in everything, and using money alone is too extravagant and it doesn't fit my mind.Every official should not have a clear name, if the name is clear but the reality is not clear, it is especially angry with the creation... In his diary, he also complained greatly: "It was a letter from brother Cheng (referring to Zeng Guohuang) that Yu's family started to build seven study rooms, and spent more than 3,000 strings of money. It is ridiculous for Peng Fang to do six things. It is deeply regrettable." He even proposed that Peng Fangliu and Keer who were in charge of repairing the building should pay compensation.It can be seen how this matter was beyond his expectation. After receiving Zeng Guofan's letter, Zeng Guohuang took his time and wrote back to explain.He said that so much money was spent to make the library strong and permanent: Fuhoutang built seven bookstores, Fangliu and Keeri. It is not absurd at all. They are built on foundations that used to be flooded fields. , the material wood is more than fir tree, and Youfei can be counted normally... Zeng Guohuang knew very well that Zeng Guofan could be frugal in other places, but he was willing to spend money on collecting books.So if you explain clearly how the money is used, Zeng Guofan will definitely understand.Today, when we visit the library building in Zeng Guofan's former residence, we will find that its design and construction are indeed different from other buildings in the house.Although it is an expensive mansion, most of the buildings in Fuhoutang are covered with green bricks and adobe inside, or the front face is made of green bricks, and other parts are made of adobe, which is more frugal than the local rich man.Only this library building is willing to spend money. The outer corridors on the first floor are all made of granite pillars to prevent termites;There are outer corridors around the second floor, where you can dry books; all the study rooms are on the third floor.The wood used in the entire library is high-quality Chinese fir.The height of the library building is higher than that of the neighboring rooms, and it is located at the southern end. Windows are installed around the top floor for ventilation on all sides, which can avoid the disadvantages of mildew and corruption of the library.Compared with other buildings in the house, this library building is indeed ingenious, and it took a lot of effort from Zeng's uncle and nephew. Sure enough, after Zeng Guohuang's explanation, Zeng Guofan stopped criticizing.This library has also become the only "luxury building" left by Zeng Guofan.In fact, it has become one of the largest private library buildings in the south of the Yangtze River. Although it is far less famous than the "Tieqin Bronze Sword Building" and "Tianyi Pavilion" in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, its scale has long surpassed it.It's just that Zeng Guofan's wish to retire and return to his hometown has never been realized, so he didn't see this library with his own eyes until his death.