Zeng Guofan, as a famous politician in modern times, was indifferent to the corruption and decline of the Qing dynasty after the "prosperous period". He said: "The country is poor, but people are scattered, which is very serious." As for "scholar-officials are used to being worried and accommodating", "prosperous times are neither white nor black, neither painful nor itchy" nor "hating secondary bones". He believes that "the bad governance of officials is all caused by group curtains, and it is sincere to seek officials to eliminate the disadvantages of curtains." Based on this, Zeng Guofan put forward that "the administration should get the people first". For those who need both morality and tools in times of crisis, they should advocate honesty, respect benevolent government, oppose tyranny and disturb the people, and must severely punish those officials who take bribes and pervert the law. As for the financial and economic relationship between the national movement and people's livelihood, Zeng Guofan believes that the way to manage money is to make full use of the surplus and deficiency, be down-to-earth, be honest and clean, and "gradually seek rectification, not be eager for quick success." Zeng Guofan mentioned agriculture as the basic strategic position of the national economy. He believes that "people's livelihood comes first, and the national economy takes good years as credit." He demanded that "in today's counties, emphasizing agriculture is the first priority." Influenced by the two Opium Wars, Zeng Guofan had his own views on the diplomatic relations between China and the West. On the one hand, he hates westerners invading China, thinks that others should not snore and sleep next to his couch, and opposes using teachers to help him suppress it, so he is deeply ashamed of using foreign countries. "On the other hand, it is not blindly exclusive and advocates learning from advanced science and technology in the West. For example, he said that buying foreign cultural relics ... visiting thoughtful and intelligent people, starting with practice, and then working hard to build them, can curb hair entanglement and be diligent and far-sighted.

military affairs

Zeng Guofan advocated loyalty to the monarch and morality, and ruled the army with Confucianism, which was also implemented in the aspects of selecting generals, recruiting soldiers, managing the army, and coordinating the internal and external relations of the army. Zeng Guofan's military thought is extremely rich in connotation. He believes that the number of soldiers is small, but fine, "serenade is strong", "the more soldiers, the weaker the strength; The more reimbursement, the poorer the country. " Advocate the separation of military and political affairs and take responsibility. He bought foreign guns, cannons and ships, which promoted the modernization of China's military weapons.

Zeng Guofan regarded the election of generals as the top priority in running the army. He said: "The way to March is to choose the generals first." His selection criteria are both ability and political integrity, wisdom and courage, putting morality first and summarizing its connotation as "loyalty, righteousness and blood". He proposed, "The brave should seek the warm-blooded men of our party, and the loyal ministers have the secret of cymbals to work with them." He also said, "A courageous person must first be able to govern the people, second be not afraid of death, third be indifferent to fame and fortune, and fourth be able to bear hardships and stand hard work." "If you are loyal and bloody, you will agree with each other. Disloyal and bloodless, just like those four, unreliable. " Zeng Guofan believes that "loyal and bloody" generals should mainly be selected from Confucian scholars who are not only influenced by feudal ethics, but also have less bad habits in officialdom. According to Luo Ergang's statistics in the Xiang army system, among 179 Xiang generals whose names, places of origin, origins and positions can be checked, 104 were Confucian scholars, accounting for 58%. It is rare to have so many Confucian scholars as generals in the military history of past dynasties.

It was also Zeng Guofan's first move to establish the Xiang army and reform the world military system in the Qing Dynasty into a recruitment system. He said, "I have hated the habit of military camp for several years. No one is self-defense." So it was decided that there was no need to camp soldiers or towns. "So when he formed the Xiang army, he advocated recruiting soldiers in the countryside, not citizens. Its original intention is that the soldiers recruited in the countryside are simple and robust, which is conducive to instilling feudal loyalty and morality and adapting to the harsh and cruel war environment. Zeng Guofan also stipulated that "to recruit, we must take Jie Bao, make a list of counties, houses, parents, brothers and wives, and skip. "Every knot is attached to the book for inspection." Anyone who has no insurance will not be admitted. Zeng Guofan's practice completely inherited Qi Jiguang's thought of recruiting soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty. Zeng Guofan also changed in compiling green camp. The establishment of the Xiang army takes the battalion as the basic combat unit, with posts below the battalion. Below the post, the land division is a team, the navy division is a ship, and the cavalry team is a shed. In the early days of Xiang Army, there were no officials above battalion level, and all battalions were under the jurisdiction of Zeng Guofan. After that, the number of battalions increased, which is called "command division system". Zeng Guofan called for the formation of the army in accordance with the principles of pro-election, self-seeking and layer-by-layer restraint. From self-criticism to self-encouragement, the election was promoted step by step, which changed the disadvantage of "soldiers don't know each other, and soldiers don't learn from each other" in green camp, but it also clearly exposed the intention of establishing a private army, thus creating a precedent of "soldiers will have them" in modern China, and the situation of warlordism began to appear.

Zeng Guofan took great pains in the general plan of running the army, and advocated running the army with Confucianism, that is, educating officers and men with feudal ethics and training officers and men with benevolence, courtesy and loyalty as the foundation of running the army. His purpose is to maintain the morale of the army and cultivate a private army that is completely and absolutely subordinate to himself. Therefore, he believes that "those who use troops must be independent first, and then make enemies."

Zeng Guofan's military thoughts have influenced several generations, not to mention that his contemporary generals in Hunan and Huai took Zeng Guofan as a model, and later bourgeois strategists such as Huang Xing and Cai E also praised Zeng Guofan's general plan of running the army. When Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai used western methods to train the new army after the Sino-Japanese War, they adopted many practices of Zeng Guofan in running the army. Jiang Fangzhen, a strategist of the Republic of China, praised Zeng Guofan as a "military genius" in modern history in On National Defense, and said that all leaders should follow Zeng Guofan's example. Chiang Kai-shek made it clear that he wanted to learn from Zeng Guofan and demanded that the generals in the Kuomintang army must "recognize history clearly and imitate Zeng Hu". Zeng Guofan attached great importance to spiritual education in running the army, and Mao Zedong attached great importance to it all his life. Zeng Guofan's "loving the people is the first priority in running the army", and Mao Zedong formulated "three disciplines and eight attentions" at the beginning of the establishment of the Red Army.

literature

Zeng Guofan inherited the independent style of Tongcheng School Fang Bao and Yao Nai, and founded the "Xiangxiang School" in the late Qing Dynasty, which is an important representative of Huxiang culture. He talks about ancient Chinese, speaks in a sonorous tone, and tries his best with inexhaustible packages; Ancient prose is profound and magnificent, which can convey the breath of Han Fu, so it has a magnificent artistic conception and can get rid of the disadvantages of Tongcheng School, which is praised by future generations. The imperial clan of the Zeng family is Tongcheng, but it has changed and developed. As a text model, it has compiled a hundred miscellaneous notes on classics and history, which is not controlled by Tongcheng and is known as the Xiangxiang School in the world. Yan Fu, Lin Shu, Tan Sitong and Liang Qichao were all influenced by his writing style in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. He is the author of Quezhai Anthology, poems, reading records, diaries, memorials, family letters, family instructions, hundreds of miscellaneous notes on classics and history, and 18 poems. No less than 100 volumes, known as the Complete Works of Zeng, spread all over the world. He is also the author of The Way of Learning and Five Proverbs.

Ideological scholarship

Zeng Guofan pursued Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism all his life, but he did not blindly worship Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism. In fact, he also borrowed from other schools of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties is actually divided into three academic schools: Qi, Neo-Confucianism and Mind.

In his political practice and military struggle, Zeng Guofan gradually saw the limitations of Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, such as "teaching by words", "illness" or "quietness". In this case, Zeng Guofan showed a tolerant academic attitude towards the theory of mind. As for the academic debate between Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism and Wang Lu's Neo-Confucianism, he thinks that the debate between the two factions should learn from their similarities, avoid their differences, develop their strengths, take everything into consideration, foster strengths and avoid weaknesses, and promote the development of Confucianism.

Zeng Guofan also made up for the limitations of Neo-Confucianism with the resources of Qi in the generative theory, saying that "Zhang Zizhi is sincere, honest and very modest". According to the thought of Qi, Zeng Guofan believed that everything in the world was born of inner Qi, and Qi was the ultimate element that constituted everything in the world. In this sense, everything in the world is the same.

However, Zeng Guofan also believes that although the Qi of Taihe is popular, and the initial Qi of everything in the world is "all ears", people and things, saints and ordinary people are not the same. As far as people and things are concerned, people are full of gas, but things are only partial; An old friend is intellectual, but things are only physical. As far as human beings are concerned, the spirit of saints is clear and thick, while the spirit of ordinary people is turbid and thin.

Make friends with others

Zeng Guofan is quite insightful about the way of making friends. He believes that it is important to be generous to make friends, and to "be honest and upright, compromise and be tolerant, but be selfless and suspicious." "Don't take advantage of people. Don't take other people's money seriously. " Brainstorm, listen without being deaf. "In terms of life, Zeng Guofan thought that" in this troubled times, the poorer the better. "Being an official", it is always good to have less money and less production. " "Patience is the first priority of an official", "Virtue is damaged by fullness, and happiness is reduced by arrogance". One must be careful with the word "light". "Is not particularly rich and famous, the prosperity of his family name is determined by heaven, that is, whether the virtue of learning is established is mostly related to heaven, so laugh it off. "Don't do your own work, don't do your own fame", "The sooner you retire, the better".

Zeng Guofan wrote twelve proverbs, which basically summarized his way of making friends in life.

General program of family management

Zeng Guofan thinks that the most important thing is the principle of filial piety among family members. Filial piety is easy to understand, that is, gratitude, respect and support for parents and elders. Xun refers to the harmony and friendship between brothers, that is, the harmony and harmony between peers. In Zeng Guofan's letters, it is generally believed that he wrote the most letters to his children. In fact, he wrote the most letters to his brother, which shows that he attaches importance to the relationship between brothers. Zeng Guofan has a famous comment that the law of family prosperity is: the world's bureaucrats are generally depressed after only one generation, because most of them are playboys; The family of businessmen, that is, the family of private entrepreneurs, can generally be passed down for three generations; Farming and reading homes, that is, families based on farming and reading, can generally flourish for five or six generations; The home of filial piety is a family that pays attention to filial piety and manages the family harmoniously, which often lasts for ten generations and eight generations.

Under the tenet of "ruling the family with harmony", Zeng Guofan also emphasized "ruling the family with diligence". In Zeng Guofan's view, this diligence has two meanings: one is that family members should be diligent and thrifty, and the other is that parents should be diligent in words and deeds. What Zeng Guopan said, he can take the lead meticulously and do a good job. For example, the eldest son likes western sociology and once liked mathematics and physics. Although Zeng Guofan knows nothing, he can try his best to understand and study hard. Such a father is the real "diligent" father. Under the influence of Zeng Guofan, Ceng Jize always personally taught children to learn English, mathematics and music, and also taught them to practice calligraphy, write poems and explain classics and laws. No matter how busy he is, he always takes time out to spend with his children and family every day. This is the best family education. Therefore, there are many scientists, educators and social activists among Zeng Guofan's descendants, great-grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.

calligraphy

Zeng Guofan's outstanding achievements in calligraphy have always been concealed by his great influence in history. Zeng Guofan's exposition of calligraphy theory can be found in his diary, letters from home and this article. First of all, he had a unique understanding of the theory of the North-South School of Calligraphy thrown by Ruan Yuan at that time. He is both in favor and criticism, and advocates both north and south. Regarding the origin of calligraphy, he put forward the theory of "Gankun Dayuan". From avenue-masculine beauty-concentration-wonder-atmosphere, from kundao-feminine beauty-unfocused-distance-rhyme, he formed a systematic view of calligraphy theory. Zeng Guofan has been diligent in calligraphy creation all his life, and has gone through a tortuous exploration road from extensive to professional, from inheriting classicism to innovating fashion. His diary is nearly 6.5438+0.3 million words, which is a rare giant calligraphy work in ancient China. His regular script is vigorous and powerful, and it has erected a formal calligraphy banner that inherits the Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties and combines rigidity with softness. His running script is vigorous, handsome and gorgeous. His small script and running script are models of the whole Qing Dynasty. He should be as famous as his contemporary Bao He.