Saints occupy a high position in history. They are respected "saints". The three semi-saints in the history of China are Confucius, Wang Yangming, Zhuge Liang and Zeng Guofan, among whom Zeng Guofan is called the semi-saint, because his center of gravity is still in officialdom, so he can only be regarded as the semi-saint.

Confucius held a very high position in China, and was a famous thinker and educator in ancient China. He successfully founded Confucianism and led the culture of China for more than two thousand years. He is the most widely spread thinker in the world, and he is the first thinker who proposed that everyone should receive education.

Wang Yangming successfully established the theory of mind. He is also a strategist and thinker, and put forward the great theory of "the unity of knowledge and action". He founded the theory of mind, which is regarded as the virtue of saints and three immortals. He is a scholar, but he put down the rebellion of Ning Wang Zhu and wiped out bandits many times. Tougou Heihachirou, the Japanese "military god", said: He bowed his head and worshipped Yangming all his life.

Zhuge Liang was an important figure in the Three Kingdoms period. He is a politician and strategist. His resourcefulness has successfully guided many successful battles, and he advocates continuous innovation in the economy.

Zeng Guofan was an important member of the Westernization School in the late Qing Dynasty. He has a high position in the officialdom, but in the final analysis, he is a politician without his own theoretical system. The frugality thought expressed in his family books advocated that everyone should be frugal, which made his frugality thought have a far-reaching impact on the Qing Dynasty. His only shortcoming is that after the fall of Tianjing, he killed more than half a million innocent people.

Therefore, compared with the Three Sages, Zeng Guofan still has a big gap. He has some defects, so he can't be called a "saint" but a "semi-saint".