Chapter 109 Do things squarely and behave roundly

The real "square and round" people are a combination of great wisdom and great tolerance. Such people are not only fierce and brave, but also calm and wise.The real "square and round" people can be calm about great joy and great sorrow.The real "square and round" people are capable and quick when they act, and are not influenced by emotions; when retreating, they can judge the situation, retreat wholeheartedly, and seize the best opportunity to make a comeback.The real "square and round" people have no failure, only forbearance, and it is forbearance in order to accumulate strength and make a comeback in the face of setbacks and adversity.

There is a story in "Cao Cao cooks wine and talks about heroes".At that time, Liu Bei was in trouble and took refuge in Cao Cao. Cao Cao received Liu Bei very sincerely.Liu Bei lived in Xudu, and after signing the Yidai Zhao, he also protected himself from being murdered by Cao Cao, so he planted vegetables in the back garden and watered them himself, so as to confuse Cao Cao and make him relax his attention. One day, Cao Cao asked Liu Bei to come to the mansion for a drink. He talked about the dragon-like man and who is the hero of the world.Liu Bei pointed out Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Sun Ce, Zhang Xiu, and Zhang Lu, but Cao Cao denied them one by one.Cao Cao pointed out that the criteria for judging a hero are: "Have great ambitions, have a good plan, have the opportunity to hide the universe, and have the ambition to swallow the world." Liu Bei asked "Who should be it?" Cao Cao said: "The only heroes in the world are you and me. ”Liu Bei was living in Xudu with a secret plan, but after Cao Cao pointed out that he was a hero, he was so frightened that he threw the spoon and chopsticks on the ground.Cao Cao asked Liu Bei, why did he drop the chopsticks?Liu Bei picked it up calmly and said: "The power of a shock is so great." Cao Cao said: "Thunder is the sound of Yin and Yang fighting in the world, why be frightened?" Liu Bei said: "I was afraid of thunder since I was a child. The sound of thunder only hates that there is no place to hide." Since then, Cao Cao thought that Liu Bei had no ambitions and would not be successful, so he didn't take him seriously, and Liu Bei skillfully concealed his panic, thus avoiding a catastrophe.

Liu Bei was very clever in the answer to the hero of cooking wine. He used the technique of square and circle. Cao Cao's suspicion and jealousy towards him were saved by Cao Cao's laughter, so that he finally escaped from the tiger and wolf as he wished. place. To be a man is to be square.Every industry has its own insurmountable rules.For example: To be an official must abide by the principle of incorruptibility, otherwise the official will never last long.For business, we must follow the word "sincerity".A real big businessman must put integrity first, and will never engage in cunning and deceitful tricks, and lose faith in the world for some petty profits or immediate gains and losses.

To be a round person is to be round.This "circle" is by no means smooth and sophisticated, nor is it mediocre and incompetent. This "circle" is tact, a kind of generous and accommodating great wisdom;Don't be aggressive because of insight into other people's weaknesses, and don't be overbearing because you are superior to others; at any time, you won't feel oppressed and fearful because you insist on your own personality and opinions; Moisturize things silently; this requires extremely high quality, high understanding and skill, which is a noble state of being a human being.

Only by taking into account both the radius and radius of a person can a great cause be achieved.Water is impermanent, and soldiers are impermanent.If you meet the square, you will be square, if you meet the circle, you will be round. It is said that after Zeng Guofan pacified the Taiping Army, he went to Beijing to meet Emperor Xianfeng. Thousands of people gathered in Beijing, wanting to see the demeanor of this unrivaled hero. Opportunity.However, what is disappointing is that Zeng Guofan is actually a bad-looking old man.What is puzzling to those who are proficient in physiognomy is that Zeng Guofan was supposed to be the short-lived phase of a treacherous minister, why did he have such a glorious fate?

Regardless of whether the legend is true or not, one thing is certain, that is, after the conquest of Jinling, the imperial court did take precautions against Zeng Guofan. If he did not change his character and continued to act in accordance with his previous character, he would definitely end up in peace. Yao's fate.Therefore, Zeng Guofan did change his destiny by changing his personality. Zeng Guofan is the most typical representative of Fangyuan's character, and he is also a person who changes his destiny because of changing his character. Indeed, in Zeng Guofan's body, both the fame and the actual profit have been concentratedly reflected, and he has not lived in vain in his life: eating, drinking, having fun, being powerful, exercising power, making contributions, and playing with ink. End of life accounted for.All in all, the four characters of "fame, fame and wealth" are all taken up, which can be said to have taken up all the enviable benefits.

Zeng Guofan's 12-year history of attacking the Taiping Army has not been smooth sailing.He was defeated several times, so that he committed suicide by throwing himself into the water twice. Another time, because he was afraid of the attack of Li Xiucheng's army, he hanged his sword for several days, planning to commit suicide if he failed.Although he was loyal, he was repeatedly suspected.After the capture of Wuhan for the first time, the news of victory spread to Beijing. Emperor Xianfeng was very happy and praised Zeng Guofan a few words, but the close ministers around Xianfeng said: "It is not necessarily a blessing for the country that such a white-faced scholar can respond to everyone. "Xianfeng was silent after hearing this.

Zeng Guofan also knew that he would be suspected and jealous, so he took the opportunity to go home to watch his father's funeral, and took his two brothers, who were also important generals of the Hunan Army at that time, back home and resigned from all military positions.After nearly a year, the Taiping Army attacked Zhejiang, which was rich in products. The Qing court was very panicked and was forced to ask Zeng Guofan to come out of the mountain and gave him the title of Minister of the Ministry of War.So Zeng Guofan had real military and political power.Soon, the Empress Dowager Cixi took over the dictatorship. She believed that the Manchus were incompetent and began to reuse the Han people. This provided an important historical opportunity for Zeng Guofan to seize power.

The "square and round" in Zeng Guofan's character can also be understood as "hard and soft". "Gang" made him resist the edict four times to protect the Hunan Army.When Zeng Guofan first practiced water bravery, there were about 10,000 soldiers in the water and land armies. At this time, if he competed with the millions of troops of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it would be like hitting a stone with an egg.Therefore, in order to protect his starting capital, Zeng Guofan resisted the order four times. "Strong" is the true nature of Zeng Guofan's character. If he continues to be rigid, he may indeed die in Huangquan after conquering Jinling, as the physiognomy said.Personality, however, can be changed.Although people often say that "the country is easy to change, but the nature is hard to change", but for Zeng Guofan, who studies hard, the insights in the book can indeed make him vigilant at all times and everything.

If "square" means "rigid", then "round" must be "soft".The "softness" in Zeng Guofan's character was tempered, and the "softness" character made him change his own destiny. The so-called "square and round life, both hardness and softness" is what it means.