Chapter 41 Years have turned people from criticism to construction

I know Hongjie. He wrote "Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty" and Zhu Yuanzhang. He wrote about the root of Chinese feudal autocracy to the bone. Later he said that he wanted to write about Zeng Guofan. I once asked him: "Why did you write about this person? How many people have written about so many books." Hongjie said: "I didn't think too much about it, I was just interested in him and wanted to know him through writing." I was writing about Gu Zhun at the time, and I felt very kind to his words. The two people exchanged manuscripts with each other, only to find that the starting point of each other's writing is very similar. Gu and Zeng are both people in the system, and neither is a genius. painful transformation.

Lao Zeng said, "Those who live on will know that the future will be ruined; those who know what to do will know the cause of the future. The so-called can be known even after a hundred generations." Gu Zhun said, "I believe in the continuous progress of human beings, and I pay attention to the present world. I don’t believe that there is any kingdom on earth, and the prospect of the future must start from the past. There is nothing that will appear in the future, and there is no germination in the present. Therefore, I pay attention to the induction of experience, and do not believe in prophecy of the future based on experience.”

The characteristic of empiricism is that it is vain and acceptable, otherwise it is easy to embark on the road of arbitrariness and dictatorship. As Gu Zhun said, "tyranny is the idea that you firmly believe that you are infallible." Zeng Guofan's thought track was changeable and complicated throughout his life. Some people ridiculed him for not having a specialty, but he said: "Confucius must use Mozi, and Mozi must use Confucius. If they don't work together, they are not enough to be Confucius and Mo." Therefore, he does not talk about high principles. , only with the purpose of "seeking truth from facts".This is actually a process of unbinding.Eliminate ideological authoritarianism and be inclusive. This way of thinking, in the words of Lao Zeng, is "holding fixed opinions and holding the six bridles in hand", and in the words of Gu Zhun, "can inherit and absorb all good things, and be able to speak eloquently." Criticize everything that is incorrect."

The cross-sections of their thoughts are recorded in diaries and articles. It can be seen that in this kind of mind, there is no leap, no flash of inspiration, and instant epiphany. , like a knife that plunges deep into the handle without thinking. This path means that everyone can do it with the posture of being a middle-aged man. In March of the 30th year of Daoguang, Lao Zeng was the minister of the Ministry of Rites.At the age of forty, he was still an angry young man. At that time, the officialdom was already so familiar. He commented on the "old people" in a stern voice-"Evil is neither black nor white, neither painful nor itchy. The village is willing to be the mean, and when there is a dispute between the true and the false, it is first advocated as gossip, lead to heresy, and uses Yin to exclude good people, and considers itself to be among the old and fair."

He even scolded the emperor, saying in a letter that Xianfeng himself "has no time to ask deeply" about state affairs, "just pretends to be literary", and the superficial speaker is innocent, but he is "thousands of miles away", or "denounced as a disorderly stream".Therefore, ministers no longer dare to speak on personnel affairs and official system, and when encountering any problems, they can only "hand in hand, helpless". Every sentence sees blood. After reading the full text, Emperor Xianfeng was furious on the spot, "throwing it on the ground". Although he was persuaded by others, he might have committed murder.

Three years later, Zeng Guofan began to manage the navy.In less than a month, the emperor urged him to "immediately rush to set up the gun positions of the ships" and "steer into the river from Dongting Lake, flow eastward, and go straight to the Anhui River."At that time, all the conditions for the Hunan Army Navy were not yet available, so Lao Zeng could only resist. Xianfeng had held back his anger for several years, and now he let it out—"Let me ask: Are your talents capable? Is it true? I usually boast about myself, thinking that there is no one who is better than myself; when it comes to things, I can do my best." It fits his words very well, but if you get involved with Zhang Huang, wouldn’t it make the world laugh?...Since the words come out of your mouth, you must do what you say, and let me see.”

This is quite harsh, don't you scold this and that every day, and think that you are better than anyone else?OK, "do it with me." You can hear the sneer after the poem. I read Hongjie’s writing about the military camps in the late Qing Dynasty. It’s jaw-dropping. It can be corrupted to such an extent. After staying in the army for a few years, Lao Zeng knows it. Don't care about favors at all. The situation is critical, and it's useless to have decrees. "If there is no mercy, a hundred requests will not be answered." Learning how to socialize is Lao Zeng's rite of passage.

Sociable and thoughtful, these four words seem mediocre, but it is not easy for cynics to do it. Whoever has a strong blood, who is divided into black and white, can lower his figure and treat the "soft and familiar" person he hates? Arm circle? After his comeback, he said: "Aiming to suppress thieves, it is not as strong as the previous one. As for being considerate in entertainment, replying every letter, and completing official documents today, it is far better than the previous one." One can imagine how "the elders" twisted their beards behind their backs and sneered: "Xiao Zeng suffered a loss, and now he knows the severity." Hu Linyi also said that after his reappearance, he "has gradually become more mature, and has no more rigid air."

But such consequences will inevitably lead to losses. Lao Zeng himself admitted: "The etiquette is more strict, but the true meaning is worse than before." If it is compromised, the true nature of the self must also be damaged. Zeng Guofan knew that he was already on the edge of the cliff, and that further was the abyss, but retreat?There is a big slope behind, slipping out is the easiest thing in the world, unknowingly, one day at a time, you can quickly slide down to the person you once opposed the most. He himself said that he wanted to find a middle way, but how could it be so easy?

So I often see Lao Zeng tossing about himself in his diary, "After waking up tonight, my mood is not very comfortable. I haven't fully understood my love, hatred, grievances, and is far worse than the innocence and magnanimity of last night." This mentality is often misunderstood. Many people think that he has changed from Huang Lao's learning to practical cynicism, a person who is full of faces, slandering and laughing.I often read "Zeng Guofan with a thick face and a dark heart" written in big characters on the shelves of bookstores. It is true that Chinese people often become believers in Taoism in middle age. Zeng Guofan has also repeatedly said that Lao Tzu said that "weakness is better than strength."

Zeng Guoquan is one of them. He is a believer in the law of the jungle. He advised his brother that today's world is "a world of snobbery, a world where the strong bully the weak." People with such values ​​tend to be reckless and careless when they are strong, and become smooth and withdrawn when they are weak. As Hongjie wrote, "From the bull who broke into the porcelain store at the beginning, he became an old man who does not think about making progress and wisely protects himself. Bureaucrats, praying to God and divination all day long, not doing business. In his later years, he served as the governor of Liangjiang. .” Take the common path of "kowtow more and talk less" in late Qing officialdom. Lao Zeng's understanding of rigidity and softness is different, and he has never reached the goal of "no distinction between authenticity and falsehood". All his life he loved majesty.When a person reaches middle age, although he sharpens his temperament, "knows that he is inferior to others", treats others with a gentle face, and refuses to discuss people's wrongs lightly, but until he is deeply involved in the world, he always advises his children: "Young people are not afraid of being ugly. , there must be a madman’s enterprising interest, if you don’t try to do it now, you will definitely not want to do it in the future.” However, when he reaches middle age, he also dismantles and reorganizes the concept of "rigid"? ——Getting rid of anger and retaining stubbornness is for rigidity. "Toughness does not mean violence, but forceful correction. If you want to go to public affairs, you should be forceful, and if you strive for fame and profit, you should be humble and retreat."On the title page of his book, he wrote "to be rigid without rigidity, to be soft but not soft", which means that softness does not mean softness and flattery.It's just that "a gentleman has no number, no size, no dare to be slow, he is peaceful and not arrogant". A great change in Hu Shi's thinking was also caused by his understanding of softness and firmness.For a while, he firmly believed in Lao Tzu's saying, "The most soft can overcome all things."Later, after he was in the United States, he once went to the Grand Canyon and saw a huge waterfall, so he said to Wei Liansi, look, how powerful the water is, because water is a very weak thing in the hearts of us Chinese.Wei Liansi told him in a typical American spirit, you are wrong, water will never have strength because of weakness, but the strength of water is because of potential energy. Lao Zeng would not express it this way, but he did not think that weakness itself can win, it must be full of majestic strength. When he described his way of writing books, he wrote a sentence "embracing profound majesty in tranquility". "Xiong characters must have a long sword and a fast halberd. The image of a dragon holding a tiger. It is sharp and sharp. Those who cannot be looked at are authentic. They should not be despised by the four characters of swords and crossbows. It is a kind of rural wish character, which is called subtlety and profoundness. If there is no thorn in the thorn, there will be no entry for life." American missionary Arthur Smith lived in China at the same time as Zeng Guofan. He wrote a book called "The Weakness of the Chinese". China's "string of money" can never be the expected one hundred coins, Shaanxi Province has eighty-three coins, and Zhili has thirty-three coins. "This brings endless troubles to honest people." "There are several villages scattered around the city, one to six miles away from the city, but each village is called Sanlitun." Smith lamented the incomprehensible intellectual chaos behind this, "You ask a Chinese chef, why is there no salt in the bread?" The answer is only one, "We don't put salt in the bread"; Why don’t you save some food for the winter?” The answer is only one, “No, we never have iced food here in winter.” The missionary, who lived in China for more than fifty years, wrote that "a Latin poet who believed in the maxim that he is happy is he who understands the why of things" would have changed the maxim to " Woe to him who tries to find out why things happen." This kind of culture lacking scientific spirit permeated the entire old empire, and the scholar-bureaucrat class was as old and chaotic. Gu Zhun criticized them: "Song Confucianism said, 'One thing about today's grid is one thing about tomorrow', but their purpose is not to be today's tomorrow's grid. For one thing, what they hope for is the wisdom that can be understood once suddenly, which is the opposite of science. The knowledge that science seeks is the truth of this thing and that thing, and it does not dream of the ultimate supreme wisdom." The predicament of the late Qing Dynasty was very passive, and there were constant conflicts between China and the West. The more such a court, the more people who talked about sex and rationality gained the limelight.When he is passive, he is radical, and when he is conservative, he is stubborn. Wo Ren was a famous Confucianist at that time. Reason, it's a priority." Cai Yuanpei commented on these corrupt Confucians who held great power: "Since the Han Dynasty, although there have been many thinkers, their main ideas cannot go beyond the scope of Confucianism, but philosophy is used to speculate on everything, and each school often suspends speculation... This kind of philosophy, Without science as the premise, the standard of holy words is always used as the standard, and it cannot go beyond the scope of cumbersome philosophy. In the four thousand years of Chinese education, except for the germination of science and the successful establishment of metaphysics, it can be said that there is nothing in reality. There is no external influence, it just changes from simple to complex." Until the generation of Lao Zeng and Li Hongzhang, they couldn't get through with their eyes closed.They are on the front line, war is real swords and guns, and land is real gold and silver. It is painful to know that the world cannot be saved by "sacred words". Li Hongzhang's words are enough to overthrow Confucianism from the bottom: "Confucius can't shoot foreign guns ". There is no distinction between gentlemen and villains when shooting a gun, and only rely on the detailed "this thing and that thing" principle. With a realistic mind, talents will get down from the commanding heights of morality, be down-to-earth, and not be agitated or follow suit. At the beginning of Emperor Xianfeng's accession to the throne, he asked everyone to express their opinions on "administration with personnel", and both Woren and Zeng Guofan wrote letters.Wu Ren talked about "the distinction between a gentleman and a villain", but Xianfeng was not confused, and criticized a "although the name is very good, but it is difficult to do it". Lao Zeng is more realistic and writes very concretely. He thinks that the matter of employing people "probably has a way to transfer, a way to cultivate, and a way to investigate. The three cannot be discarded." Lao Zeng was also a disciple of Confucianism, which likes to distinguish good from evil based on morality, but he said that he does not divide people into gentlemen and villains, emphasizing that his standard is "knowing things", that is, understanding things. "If you don't know things, it's absurd to rely on selfishness and absurdity. It's absurd to be absurd. A villain is absurd. He said this very harshly, and he was quick to break the melon. As journalists, after a few years, there has been a change. In the past, we always felt that we were confronted with good people and bad people, but now we feel that there are only good and bad things. As the old man once said, "There is no uniform gentleman in the world, and there is no uniform villain. Today, you can know people." If you can understand things, you are a gentleman. If you don’t know people or things tomorrow, you are a villain. If you are fair and bright, you are a gentleman. If you are partial and private, you are a villain.” Only with such a standpoint can we take facts and evidence as the yardstick, never take people lightly or slander others, be independent and fearless, and be truly indomitable. He said: "The reason for the reputation of the group and the destruction of the group is that Chang Muran thought deeply about it when he went down, and dared not go along with it." Lao Zeng was often criticized for being "confucian and slow". The British Hurd who served at the same time believed that he had a false name and was "indecisive". He also admitted that he was "foolish".In fact, his original temperament is not like this, he is a person who is "easy to judge".From here to there is the result of self-correction.Although stupidity also has weaknesses, thinking left and right, and sometimes even missing the best time to make a decision, but admitting to be "stupid" means knowing that it is not easy to know things, and not easily judging things that you don't fully understand. There are often doubts in reading books, written on the forehead, and even become a book after a long time.In addition, when he led troops to manage affairs, when he read military books and history, he often questioned reality, regardless of the ancients, and did not stick to the law. Coupled with getting older, after stepping forward to enter the game, he gradually saw the complexity of things themselves. He once hated the ethos of "neither black nor white" and insisted on distinguishing good from evil, but this time it is like Wang Xiaobo mocking those who "know right from wrong Sarcastic about the literati habits in himself, "Forcibly distinguishing between black and white, those who are provocative when things happen, are the habits of literati. They do not observe but act on them. They often distinguish between good and evil, and their ranks are high and low. The good ones may not be persuaded, but the bad ones are almost Nothing to do with it." Zeng Guofan grew up in the old system, but he was able to appreciate the excellence of Western civilization, "so those who are outstanding in ancient and modern times, let them manage every matter, deliberate, and never stop if they fail to achieve their goals." In his life, he regarded as one of the three shames that he did not know astronomy and arithmetic, but he had a simple and near-scientific way of "knowing things", "one is analysis, the other is brief, and the third is comprehensive." "The person who dissects it is like cutting a bone and corner, like cutting a jade stone. Every thing must be cut into two pieces first, then cut into four pieces from two pieces, and then cut into eight pieces from four pieces, and the more you cut it, the more it will heal." Suspended, the more dissected, the finer and more detailed, just like Ji Chang's view of lice like a wheel, like Cook Ding's criticism of gaps, there will never be a single ambiguity or ambiguity." This is his reasoning clue of "trying to find the reason of things". The more detailed the understanding of things, the more subtle they are disassembled. Accuracy is the elimination of evil, which is also the source of the scientific spirit. This spirit is inherently a restless spirit, not sure of existing answers, not subservient to apparent unity, and quick to ask questions and try to get newer answers when it encounters obstacles in a homogeneous system . Lao Zeng has no desire to overthrow the old system, but to forcefully grow another branch from within, so that new forces can grow as soon as possible.In addition to the three disciplines of Confucianism, which are righteousness, textual research, and poems, he added "economics", "there are fourteen schools of research on major issues in the world: official system, finance, salt administration, water affairs, It is called money law, crown ceremony, evening ceremony, funeral ceremony, sacrificial ceremony, military system, military law, criminal law, geography, and river canals." These are mostly the governance sciences of realpolitik. It can be seen that this professional official, who is deeply embedded in the core of the system, will use a clumsy and naive attitude to get to the bottom of the matter, fight hard, fight to the death, liberate from the royal culture, liberate from the moral commandments, and start to loosen the ties. Break free so that this class begins to have its own independent identity. Zeng Guofan became Zeng Guofan not by virtue of moral courage, but by continuous spiritual self-renewal. Hongjie wrote about Zeng Guofan's stupidity. He is indeed not very talented, but he became famous at a young age and has great ambitions. He transferred to Zhu Zi, "If you stand up to the big, if you don't supplement it with Zhu Zizhu's accumulated efforts, you will have no confidence in the bottom." Hu Shi once commented on Zhu Zi, saying that Zhu Zi was an extremely intelligent person, who "studied Zen when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, and he changed from evil to righteousness after he was middle-aged."What he said about correcting the evil and returning to the right is to turn from the pursuit of absolute wisdom that flashes of inspiration to the secular knowledge of "rather detail than omission, nearness rather than far, lowness rather than height, clumsiness rather than ingenuity". This is what Hu Shi said, "Those who are extremely intelligent and willing to be stupid will have great achievements." I used to have a kind of view on the word "stupid" if I regret it, but actually like it. Wisdom, but more mistakes." All his life he emphasized diligence and perseverance.Speaking of world affairs, no matter what, to make it look like, there must be two things, one is scale, the other is proficiency, both of which come from diligence and perseverance. When I was a child, I fell asleep when I heard these two words. After school, I had to copy similar adages to hand in my homework every day. Later, I hated other people’s moral lessons for many years, and felt that the headscarf was heavy. Because in my understanding at the time, diligence and perseverance are nothing more than a lesson imposed on the body by the outside world, a norm that wears away all the fun of a person. It was only later that I understood the truth that there is no spiritual movement, and I realized it at the moment. Even in art, it is also what Fellini said, "In order to go beyond the routine, strict order is needed." This order comes from diligence and perseverance. But when I first read the channel given by Lao Zeng, I really found it boring. The high-level truths he said were close to fake or false.So if you want to be diligent and persevering, start with two points, "Don't laugh at others, don't get up late", these two points are really plain and almost roundabout. He said that he has benefited a lot from these two sentences in his life, but he can get rid of all arrogance and falsehood.Everyone knows these words, and they don't think it's very clever. Only later did they realize that his greatness lies in his lifelong practice. When I was learning English, the teacher said a word, what is genius, genius is persistence and patience, everyone laughed at that time.Seeing Lao Zeng talking about his way of using the brush, I understand that the human nature must be like a grinder, like rough rice, and the chaff will be gone when pounded again, and the chaff will be completely white after three pounding and four pounding. "In the past, I was thinking hard, almost sleepy, but I had words in my chest, but I didn't have words in my hands. In recent years, I didn't think much in the army, but I kept writing every day. Except for writing and office work, I wrote a piece of paper. Not only the decoration, but also the structure, and the brushwork and brushwork, keep pace with it, and the words on the chest ten years ago can reach under the wrist today." Hongjie and I often encourage each other with "persistence" in the past two years, learning this and that together, thinking that as the old man once said, friends admonish each other and hold each other hostage, and even open a special learning blog to supervise each other. I am very excited, I can't wait to make great strides forward, and now quite a few of them have given up. This word is really difficult. No wonder the old man said: "Those who work hard so there is no perseverance, all encourage and harm. This is by no means a weak person. To be able to win, one must be fierce, and with bloody kung fu, one must never be weak." Without this, relying on a strong sense of purpose, relying on a whim, and quickly gave up. I am ashamed to understand what the old man said, success or failure is determined not by the high place, but by the low place, not by the high place, but by the flat place.It all depends on whether one can endure trouble in tricky places. There is no other way. After reading Hongjie's manuscript, I asked him: "Have you thought about it? Why did you write from Zhu Yuanzhang to Zeng Guofan?" He thought about it and said, "No." I said, "Perhaps time has turned people from criticism to construction." Once on this road, the road will never end.On this road, every tree planted may be planted deeply, but it will be uprooted, but there is no other way, just like Lao Zeng always said that if one wants to establish something, one must start from not asking others to know , "Just ask about hard work, not about harvest." As for the result, he wrote to his friend Guo Songtao, saying: I once put the success or failure of my achievements, the quality of my reputation, and the clumsiness of my articles on the "luck" of "luck". In the "capsule", it will become more and more trustworthy after a long time. This is also fate, so that he half-jokingly half-seriously asked someone to engrave "Don't believe in books, believe in luck" on his tomb after his death. There is infinite sadness in these words. Lao Zeng was a man of good reputation in the past, he put his reputation above his life, and cherished it very much. Later, he realized that "mostly a person in charge cannot have a reputation without damage, and a kindness without resentment." Most reformers within the system have experienced such a situation, as Cai Yuanpei said, "frying on both sides", the government thinks you are disloyal, the common people think you are a lackey, conservatives think you have shaken the foundation, radicals think You are sluggish and slow, and you are always scolded by both sides, and you can't get anything good. Two years before his death, he was dealt with the religious case in Tianjin. His fellow villagers in Hunan, who were proud of him, regarded him as a great shame.In the Hunan Guild Hall in Beijing, not only his "official and noble plaques... were destroyed", even his name was also cut off.One scholar wrote a couplet: "If you kill a thief with great skill, you will be a blessed general for the rest of your life; if you have committed a great crime against the army, you will be a perfect man if you die three years early." Lao Zeng could only make up his mind: "But it is a great fortune to prevent the overall situation from breaking down from now on; if the whole body is destroyed, it is because of the shallowness of wisdom that we can't have both, so there is no further argument." For a hundred years, his reputation has been extremely extreme. He was considered a perfect man, a traitor, a saint, and an executioner. The true and the false are great enemies, but the true is always empty-handed and has nothing to rely on. But this Hunan native knew it was wrong, so he still did it with a domineering spirit. "The way for us to commit suicide is to fight a bloody battle with 'luck', betting that the world is in Russia, and the school hall is the most in pennies. In the end, we will not let 'bag' win alone and I lose alone." The old man looked as simple as a farmer, he had been frugal and miserable all his life, he held an ivy box in his hand, his robe was stained with oil, he didn't have any elite face, he even looked down upon him.However, relying on a poor bone to support the spring meaning can gradually spread in the land of China. There have been Chinese people from generation to generation, like Liang Qichao, who got the power of construction from him, "I can't stop doing it, When it is possible, if it is not done, there will be nothing in the world." Zeng Guofan described this kind of power as "the wind is a thing". When trying to grasp it, it seems to be empty, and when trying to restrain it, it seems to be easy to decline. And Wan Liying, the power of the world is poor, and nothing can resist." (End of the book)