Zeng Guofan's Letters contains 435 letters from Zeng Guofan, including 14 letters from grandfather, 48 letters from parents, 9 letters from uncle, 249 letters from elder brother and 1 15 letters from adopted son. In addition, there are seven links such as "letter to wife" and "letter to nephew", including self-cultivation, dealing with people, making friends and knowing people, educating children, managing the army and politics, etc. From grandparents to parents to brothers and children.

In dealing with people and things, Zeng Guofan acted with "sincerity" and "constancy" all his life. In his letter to his brother, he said, "I am confident and honest. I neglected my studies just to experience the world, enrich my work and take part in some opportunities!" " My good brother is out at the moment and needs to restore the truth urgently. He must never embark on the road of cleverness, which is getting worse every day. "

As for perseverance, Zeng Guofan is practicing to the extreme. He said: "It is only by honing heroes that we can succeed." Li Shenfu didn't say anything about the anger of gulls, but just endured it blindly, and Xu Tu also improved himself. Because the proverb says' heroes bite their teeth and swallow blood'. These two languages are the keys to the rest of my life. 19 1 1 year, Yu Geng was reviled by the powerful people in Beijing.

Ugly Jia Yin was reviled by Changsha; Mao Yibing was reviled by Jiangxi; And the defeat of Yuezhou, the defeat of Jinggang, the defeat of Hukou, there were many times when Gaida lost his teeth, and there was no time when he swallowed it without blood. Zeng Guofan advocated perseverance and hard work. He not only worked hard when he was proud, but also never lost heart when he was frustrated.

In his condolence letter to his brother Ceng Guoquan, who lost twice in a row, he said: "Start a new stove and start a new era. You must know that these two failures were not tempered by heaven, which made my brother make great progress." As the saying goes, "once you fall, you will gain wisdom." I made progress in my life, all when I was frustrated and humiliated. Be sure to grit your teeth and motivate yourself and learn from wasting energy. Don't be complacent in vain. "

In parenting, Zeng Guofan advocated diligence, diligence, good neighborliness and understanding. He wrote in his letter at home: "I teach my children to be frugal and modest." ..... Brother, think twice every time you use a dollar. Brothers should educate their sons and nephews, be thrifty at home and respect each other. Since I have influence outside, my children are most likely to be arrogant and ignorant, and both words will fail. "

He hopes that future generations will work hard and study hard. He often tells children that as long as they are knowledgeable, they are not afraid of not having food. He also said that if the family is too rich, there will be trouble, and he advocated that the property should not be left to children and grandchildren. It's no use for children and grandchildren to stay. Children and grandchildren can't eat if they want to be strong. This is what he calls the principle of surplus and deficiency.

Regarding the relationship between weapons and people, Zeng Guofan believes that "the way to use soldiers is that people are not in the weapon" and that "attacking and killing should be in people rather than soldiers". In managing the army, he advocates managing the army with courtesy: "Take the method of courage, treat kindness as benevolence, and treat kindness as courtesy." "My generation needs courage, just like fathers and brothers take care of children, and it is a small matter. We can't let him disturb the people and ruin his character. His health will be damaged by gambling on foreign cigarettes. Everyone will study hard and become useful. "

In order to make the officers and men strictly observe discipline and care for the people, Zeng Guofan personally wrote love folk songs to persuade the officers and men.

In terms of strategy and tactics, he believes that war is a matter of life and death, and should "seek stability first, then change." In employing people, the principle of "benevolence and filial piety, honesty and blood" is emphasized, and practical talents are selected.

The criterion for selecting candidates is "advocating the wind of truth and floating, and making great efforts to govern", so Shi Dakai said that "Zeng Guofan is not good at using soldiers, but he can learn to pull out good generals". Zeng Guofan shogunate is a talent training base, surrounded by Li Hongzhang, Zuo, Hua and others.