Chapter 64 Cynical Zeng Guofan's Road to Self-improvement

Cynical Zeng Guofan's Road to Self-improvement Feng Tang (one) Zeng Guofan is awesome. After keeping warm, think about sex.After the essence overflows, how can I hope to die and be immortal.Lu Shusunbao classified and defined immortality in this way in "Zuo Zhuan": "The highest is the establishment of virtue, followed by meritorious service, and secondly by the establishment of words. Although it will not be abandoned for a long time, this is called immortality." What is the use of immortality? No one can explain clearly, just like why girls look good when they look like that, no one can explain clearly.It should be when God created man again, a gate of life was left in the operating system of the human brain, with the same name, wealth, sex, fortune, longevity, etc., like cats scratching dogs and digging people's hearts.For some so-called invulnerable people, immortality is even more powerful than fame, fortune, wealth, sex, fortune, and longevity. No alkaloids such as opium or marijuana can also make such people addicted and fascinated.

Zeng Guofan, a bull, used his own body as a candle, cut two sections, four ends, lit four flames to burn, and ran wildly on the flat stone road leading to Niubi.A person achieves all three types of immortality in just sixty-one years of Yangshou.There is a couplet that highly summarizes Zeng Guofan's life: he is immortal in virtue and meritorious deeds, and he is a perfect man as a teacher, a general, and a prime minister. Lide.If you put aside the limitations of the times, Zeng Guofan made up for many of Confucius' deficiencies, and is more qualified than Meng Ke to be selected as the second sage.When Confucius, a stubborn old man, founded Confucianism, his office conditions were poor, and his three thousand disciples were lazy and unpromising, which resulted in three obvious shortcomings in the 24,000-character theoretical system handed down from generation to generation.First, there are no successful people as the image spokesperson for the theory.As a political consultant, Kong Qiu himself traveled to various vassal states. He was suspected by the kings that he did not have quick results, and he was chased and beaten by hooligans. His business development was always weak.After the death of Confucius, no one practiced his theory, ate the biggest yellow croaker and sat in the most luxurious five-flowered oxcart. Inspirational theories without super successful cases lack practical appeal.Second, there is no good preparation of theoretical teaching materials.It is a book with equally obvious advantages and disadvantages.The advantage is the teaching and experience of the stubborn old man Confucius, scallop, shark's fin, abalone, bird's nest, every sentence is dry, without any water, almost every sentence can become a novel by filling it with water.The disadvantage is that it is unorganized and has no theme.Randomly divided these dry goods into twenty chapters, and then randomly picked two words from the first sentence of each chapter as the title of the chapter, such as "Xueer", such as "Bayi", isn't it too lazy?After all, Kong Qiu’s positioning for himself is different from that of Henry Miller, so it can’t be written in the same way, right?Third, it has not kept pace with the times and enriched the application of theories according to the requirements of the times.At that time, Confucius did not imagine the industrial revolution, foreign invasion, rampant cults, huge imperial bureaucracy, opium syphilis and a series of problems that plagued modern Chinese people.Zeng Guofan, a post-academic young man, on the basis of painstakingly practicing Confucianism of Confucius and Qiu, used Zhuang Zhou Laodan to relieve fire, balance his mentality, and used Dayu Modi to strengthen his tendons and increase practicality.Using the fact that he was a great minister and the well-revised "Complete Works of Zeng Wenzheng Gong" to prove that Confucianism can make great achievements, that Confucianism can be richer and more practical, that Confucianism can keep pace with the times, and solve modern problems beautifully, thus making great contributions to the society. To a certain extent, it made up for the three deficiencies of Confucianism in the Confucius era.Although it is not possible to talk about building a complete logical theoretical system like the German philosophers, at least the popular version of "Zeng Wenzheng Gong Jia Yan Chao" has roughly accurate classifications: governing the body, studying, governing the family, governing the world, governing politics, and governing the army.The "Zeng Family Instructions" compiled by Zeng Guofan himself at the age of 38 is also divided into 32 items according to the three disciplines of self-cultivation, family regulation, and state governance.

meritorious service.Zeng Guofan's resume is clear: 28 years old, middle-ranked Jinshi, conferred the title of Shu Jishi of the Imperial Academy, awarded the review (official name, he is at the rank) after the museum was dismissed, and then moved seven times in Beijing for ten years, and was promoted to ten ranks in a row.He has successively served as the official examiner of the Sichuan Provincial Examination, the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, the cabinet bachelor (should be regarded as the official bureau level), the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, and the minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs, Industry, Criminal Affairs and Officials (should be regarded as the deputy ministerial level).At the age of forty-three, he formed the Hunan Army.Eleven years later, when Zeng Guofan was fifty-four years old, the Hunan Army captured Tianjing.At the age of fifty-five, he founded Jiangnan Manufacturing General Bureau.At the age of 60, he dealt with the teaching case in Tianjin.At the age of 61, he proposed to set up a "Chinese Overseas Students Office" in the United States, and died of illness in the Liangjiang Supervision Office.Zeng Guofan's experience as a teacher, general and minister has verified two things. First, generalists exist.Whether it is arresting pornography, gambling, and drugs, or rectifying economic, diplomatic, and military education, there is a golden thread that will always shine through it.Second, doing things is the last word.If you want to make great achievements, don't always stay at the group headquarters, go to the front line, go to the second-tier company, and use real firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, deal with ruffians, fools, fools, and lunatics, and be responsible for a complete and clear profit and loss statement.The only thing I'm curious about is whether Zeng Guofan has ever thought about going further into Emperor Qin and Han Wu, imitating Zhao Kuangyin, and looking for a yellow Kan shoulder shawl.After Zeng Guofan broke Tianjing, he had a condition: 80% of the soldiers who could fight in the world were directly or indirectly brought out by him.There is a saying: "The righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period is farewell to the Huayi", "the ambition to destroy the barbarians is not paid".Someone instigated: According to unofficial history, after Li Xiucheng was captured, he had a dialogue program with Zeng Guofan. In the dialogue, it involved the alliance of the Hunan Army and the forces of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom controlled by Li Xiucheng, expelling the Tartars and restoring China, and wrote tens of thousands of words experience.The final result is that Zeng Guofan killed Li Xiucheng without consulting the headquarters 16 days after capturing Li Xiucheng, and reported tens of thousands of words of confession to the headquarters, which is difficult to distinguish between authenticity and falsehood.Li Hongzhang, who was trained by Zeng Guofan, was one of the very few people who had the knowledge and courage to point out his shortcomings.

Make a statement.When Zeng Guofan first arrived in the capital, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not yet popular, and Lide was too far away and too close to nonsense.His original ideal was to be famous in the government and the public for his articles, to sweep away the decadence in the literary world, and to be an angry literary youth: "Youth should not be afraid of ugliness, but you must have the aggressiveness of a madman. If you don't try it now, you will be in the future If you don’t want to do it.” His goal is very high: “There are so-called practitioners who can learn from Fan and Han, Ma Qian and Han Yu can learn from it, and Cheng and Zhu can also learn from it.” In short, it sounds like the lyrics we used to sing when we were young: When the sun shines, you should dream and sing.However, if Zeng Guofan's aura of meritorious deeds is calmly stripped away, his writing style will be mediocre.One reason is that talent is limited. It is impossible for God to concentrate all good things on one person, and almost all good things are double-edged swords. It is easy for a person to speak slowly, mature and prudent, and it is easy to achieve success, but it is difficult to focus on it. Octopus pen shocking.Another reason is that I have been entangled in mundane affairs, and I have never been able to become a professional writer: "I usually feel that I have a lot of experience in ancient Chinese prose, but when I hold it, I can't think about it, and I always feel uncomfortable when I write it. I can get rid of everything and sleep soundly for ten days. One day, when the spirit is perfect, I will write an essay to capture my interest.” Zeng Guofan didn’t have time to write a column professionally, but he still managed to find time to read: “I had the ambition to write a book when I was young, and I used to drive my army. I also dare not leave poetry and books alone. When I have a little leisure every day, I will take the old favorites of Ban, Ma, Han, and Ou, review them, and use them to nourish my heart and calm my mind. ""Twenty-Three History reads ten pages a day, even if there is something to do without interruption." Long-term and strict reading has caused Zeng Guofan's knowledge of words to be stronger than his writing ability, and the words he edited are better than those he wrote himself. Stronger than his creations, his practical writing (letters, diaries, and memorials) is stronger than his other writing.Zeng Guofan can be called a master of practical writing. He speaks only when he has something to say, stops when he wants to, and stops when he says nothing. He will never add anything more.The bookstores at the airport are the most snobbish, and those that have no market will never be left on the bookshelves.Zeng Guofan, who has been dead for a hundred years, has a green face, neither a beauty nor a handsome man, and has not handed down a single nude photo, nor writes with his lower body flowing or his chest wet, and can occupy the bookshelves of airport bookstores everywhere for a long time.Regardless of the words, this in itself proves that he has made words immortal.

(two) The cynic Zeng Guofan walked a road of self-improvement.This way is old-fashioned: to be sincere and righteous, to cultivate one's self, to govern one's family, to rule the country and to bring peace to the world. The first step, which is also the main point of the first practice, is sincerity and righteousness. "The world is in great chaos today, and people have the heart to live with it. If you go out of the range and ask if you have no faults. We should set up a yardstick, guard it ourselves, and invite comrades to guard it together, so that no thief of my heart will break my heart. Wall." Determined to fight against the thief in my heart for the rest of my life, even if the thief in my heart stands up like a chicken, I will never appease or touch myself. "Great achievements can be made, and fame can be made strong. If you are not a sage, you will be a beast. Don't ask about the harvest, but ask about the cultivation."

The second key point is good habits.In terms of life and study, Zeng Guofan set a series of rules for himself, and once implemented, it lasts for a lifetime.For example, respect: "Neat and serious, fearless at all times." For example, get up early: "Get up at dawn, don't fall in love after waking up." Money to buy books, I will do my best to sew for you, and if you can circle it once, you will live up to me.' Afterwards, I will circle the ten leaves every day, and I will be unfilial." Moreover, the family members are forced to create an atmosphere together: "My nephew half-farming and half-reading In order to keep the past of the ancestors, be careful not to retain the slightest official spirit. You are not allowed to sit in a sedan chair. You are not allowed to call people to fetch water and add tea, etc. You must do things such as collecting firewood and dung. Of."

The third key point is to be in a good mood.Regardless of the harvest, I can't help dreaming of the harvest.No one's night, don't touch the little thief in your heart, tomorrow morning, the little thief and the little dick will wake up facing the morning sun with "cluck and cluck".Long-term "restraint" and longing for fame and fortune will make people crazy.Zeng Guofan survived by relying on psychological hints, repeating: "The flowers are in full bloom and the moon is not yet full", "You can't enjoy the blessings, and you can't use up the power", "Tranquil book taste", "Government does not seek wealth, and reading does not seek official positions. , Cultivate virtue without asking for rewards, write without seeking to pass it on.”Zeng Guofan also had material help: "Read all Tao's poems, and write down the ones that are too leisurely, and compile a collection of leisurely poems from the five families of Du, Wei, Bai, Su, and Lu into one collection for day and night satire. Cleanse the heart of striving for fame and fortune." It is like "Selected Body Art Photography" pressed under the pillow of a construction worker.When you really become famous, you can show your teeth and show your claws. This kind of psychological suggestion has been deeply ingrained.After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed, Zeng Guofan immediately sold himself to the Hunan Army and set up his own rival Huai Army.Two years later, at the age of fifty-five, Shangshu requested to be relieved of all duties, cancel his title, and retire early.

It is not to say that one can become Zeng Guofan if he can achieve the above three points in his whole life, be sincere, and follow good habits with a good mood.To achieve the above three points, even if you add the birth of a god, you can only achieve harmony between humans.In addition, there is also the geographical advantage. If Zeng Guofan's Jiangdong is Shanghai instead of the stubborn and domineering Hunan, I don't believe that three thousand men will give up the steamed buns, wield spears and spears, and go to the near-dead end Zhantianjing with Zeng Guofan journey of.In addition, there is Tianshi. If he had not worshiped God to teach the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zeng Guofan, who was not a princeling, a family member, or a returnee, could have served as a state councilor for one or two terms at most.Zeng Guofan himself admitted this point, and Zeng's own tombstone also said: "Don't believe in books, believe in luck."In short, it is like a sperm, even if you study hard every day with sincerity, and get the highest scores in all four subjects of Zheng Qi Zhiping among thousands of sperm that set off together, rushing to the front, if you want The egg is fertilized to produce an immortal son. You still have to see whether the good fortune wears a condom this time, and whether the important egg is released on time this time.

According to legend, Lin Biao once told a joke about a Russian soldier and a Chinese soldier in public.Two soldiers stood guard at the border together. The Russian soldier asked the Chinese soldier, have you ever been drunk?No, the Chinese soldier replied.Have you ever taken drugs?No.Have you ever prostituted a woman?No.Lin Biao finally asked in public through the mouths of Russian soldiers: What is the meaning of living in your life? 2004/9/18