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1In July, 864, Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, fell and the peasant uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom failed. At the same time, it also declared that the Xiang army led by Zeng Guofan finally defeated the Taiping Army after more than ten years. In fact, when Zeng Guofan's younger brother led the Xiang army to attack Tianjing, many people had already seen the final result. When people of insight saw this result, some undercurrents kept surging.
As early as two years ago, when Anqing was captured in the preceding paragraph and Zeng Guofan set up the governor's office in Anqing, Zuo, then the governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, sent Zeng Guofan a secret message. Since it is a secret letter, what did Zuo say?
We know that Zuo Yisheng was at odds with Zeng Guofan. He is arrogant and clever, and has always been regarded as a freak by the world. Lin Zexu, Tao Shu and other famous ministers regarded him as a "national scholar". Later, in the late Qing Dynasty, there was a saying that "Hunan is indispensable in the world, and Hunan is indispensable in the left". But I didn't do well in the left exam. He thinks Zeng Guofan is much more stupid than himself, but he has been admitted to high school many times. Even if I don't want to test people, I can't help but sigh the injustice of fate, so I feel somewhat "born with He Shengliang". Because of the left psychology, he always had a hard time with Zeng Guofan, and Zeng Guofan was not as eloquent as he was. When he quarrels, he always hits people when they are down, so Zeng Guofan regards Zuo as an enemy.
Now the enemy has sent himself a secret letter. Zuo asked Hu Linyi to give Zeng Guofan a secret letter. The content of the letter is the title "Shending Mountain Alliance" written by He Ding's case:
"God's will depends on virtue. Ding's weight seems doubtful! " Especially off the assembly line, "the weight of tripod seems to be a problem." Zeng Guofan was shocked when he saw it. Because winning the championship means winning the Central Plains and the world. The meaning of "left" is clear:-Yes, boss? The general trend of the world is clear. Seeing that the Taiping Army won't last long, we should have a longer-term goal. This goal is to destroy the Taiping Army, reverse the general trend and take over the world! Although I always like to compete with you, I will listen to you and treat you as my big brother if you are against me!
It is said that Zeng Guofan looked heavy and hesitated for a long time after reading the secret letter. After a long time, I took a pen and changed a word on these eight words, and then I gave it back to Hu Linyi, and Hu Linyi passed it on to Zuo. It is said that Zuo scoffed at Zeng Guofan's reply, said nothing, and burned the secret letter that only changed one word.
So, which word did Zeng Guofan change? It is the word "elephant" that he changed the word "elephant" to "Wei", so this sentence became "the importance of Ding is beyond doubt!" The meaning is also very clear: brother, I have not been the boss for many years! Don't be infatuated with me, I am just a legend! I will never do this kind of rebellion!
Moreover, when Hu Linyi replied to this letter, he also attached his own sentence, which said, "It seems that there is nothing, how can I return it!" It shows that he, like Zuo, also wants to persuade Zeng Guofan to rebel. Visible zeng guofan changed, which made him have nothing to say.
But even if there was nothing to say, Hu Linyi didn't give up. Later, he wrote a secret letter to Zeng Guofan. There is only one sentence in the letter: "There is no owner in the southeast. Am I serious? "
It means that even if we don't take the world, at least our Xiang army can monopolize the southeast and cross the river. As long as you have an open mind, Xiang will always follow each other! Zeng Guofan remained unmoved.
Soon after, Peng Yulin, commander-in-chief of Zeng Guofan's navy and the most loyal, honest and self-disciplined person in the late Qing Dynasty, also sent a secret letter to Zeng Guofan, saying, "The southeast half of the country has no owner. Is the teacher serious? " Just changed Hu Linyi's words into two words, indicating that there is a tacit understanding between Zuo, Hu and Peng, so Zeng Guofan rebelled. Because the tide is gone, what Hu and Peng mean is that even if we don't try our best to fight the Yangtze River and Beijing, according to our strength, we will occupy half of the southeast, and there is nothing the Qing court can do.
Zeng Guofan received an admonition letter from Peng Yulin on his handsome ship. According to Governor Ni, who was closely related to him at that time, Zeng Guofan repeatedly said after reading the letter: "There is nothing to say, nothing to say, and you still judge me like this! Damn, damn! " Say that finish, rub the letter, open your mouth, chew it in your mouth, and then swallow the letter of advice and opposition. Soon, another world-famous celebrity visited Zeng Guofan in Xiang camp. He is Wang Yun who later wrote Comments on Zeng Guofan's Family Instructions Rip. Wang Yun learned a lot. After the Revolution of 1911, he served as the curator of the Qing History Museum. But he claimed that what he was best at was learning from emperors, that is, teaching others how to dominate. He ran to see Zeng Guofan, and they talked about Wang Ba's lifestyle behind closed doors. Zeng Guofan was silent, but Wang Yun was eloquent. Wang Yun has the demeanor of a military strategist. Speaking of the emotional situation, it seems that Zeng Guofan will rebel and claim the title as soon as he meets the situation, pointing to a way out. When Yun3 spoke, he didn't notice Zeng Guofan's silence. He just frowned, dipped his hand in tea and continued to draw on the coffee table. After talking for a while, a servant came to report that an important guest was coming to visit. Zeng Guofan said to Gong, "Please sit down for a while, teacher. I'll be right back. " Say that finish, a man went out.
Wang _ Yun discovered that Zeng Guofan dipped in tea and wrote a few words: "False!"
Wang Yun knew it was useless to talk more, so he drifted away. So when he later wrote Xiang Jun Zhi, he was very emotionally resistant to Zeng Guofan.
The last and most important rebellion was not an individual action, but a group action.
It is said that after Xiang captured Tianjing, the Qing government began to be wary of Xiang, and green camp and the Eight Banners all over Jiangbei showed signs of nervous protection. The Qing government sent an imperial envoy to Nanjing for the first time, which was called a reward. This is actually a secret investigation. On the other hand, General Xiang, who captured Tianjing, let Hong Xiuquan's son go because of looting and was criticized by the imperial court. In addition, the accounts of the project were audited. The anger in Xiang, especially in Ceng Guoquan's department, played a role in urging Zeng Guofan to follow in Song Taizu's footsteps.
Legend has it that the four top champions left and bypass conspired in Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing, which is called Xuanwu Lake Conference in history. Later, Ceng Guoquan led more than 30 senior Xiang generals to see Zeng Guofan. Knowing the intentions of Zeng Guofan's younger brother and his generals, he refused to see them. When they saw that Marshal Zeng refused to come out to meet each other, they were even more excited and invited people into the imperial palace again and again. But no matter how please, Zeng Guofan is determined not to come out to see you. Later, after a stalemate for half a day, Zeng Guofan sent a pair of couplets. It is said that when everyone saw this couplet, some were filled with emotion, some shook their heads and sighed, and some even burst into tears. Finally, Ceng Guoquan said, "Stop it. Don't mention anything today. If there are any side problems, I am alone in Laojiu. " Speaking of which, the crowd gradually dispersed.
So, what kind of couplets did Zeng Guofan write to make the generals who wanted to frame him for rebellion willingly disperse?
This couplet is very famous. The first half is "countless flowers on the sea" and the second half is "running water knows oneself"!
It is generally believed that this famous couplet was written by Zeng Guofan. In fact, this couplet is just a collection. The couplet above is a sentence in Su Dongpo's poem, and the couplet below is a sentence in Wang Anshi's poem. Zeng Guofan took one of them.
So what are these two couplets saying? Can make an angry resistance disappear into the invisible!
The bottom line "flowing water, high mountains, self-knowledge" is easy to understand, and the focus is on the top line "relying on the sky and shining countless flowers on the sea". "Forever leaning" means standing at the highest place. You can lean against the sky and you can see its height. When you stand alone at the highest point, you face a sea that can accommodate hundreds of rivers. What kind of scene should this time be? The sun shines on the sea and is full of weather. Although the weather is myriad, because people who look at the sea are leaning on the sky, no matter how strange, amazing and attractive the scene is, they can't shake their ambitions or their hearts. So the bottom line is "self-knowledge". This kind of self-knowledge really has a state of "high mountains and flowing water", which is beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Zeng Guofan's couplet still talks about his determination never to rebel, clearly stating that the reason for not rebelling is that I have my own persistence and my own realm of life, and those gorgeous scenes like "letting a hundred flowers blossom" are not attractive to me.
think
So, we can't help but ask,-what is the persistence and realm in Zeng Guofan's heart?
The answer I understand is only two simple words: faith!
Zeng Guofan was led by a scholar. When he started the war, he said in the campaign that he was crying for "Jiuyuan, the hometown of Confucius and Mencius". Does Wu Can Coe, who can read and write, just stand by? "It is to save the traditional Confucian culture, not the decadent Manchu court. Of course, Zeng Guofan's body is full of the ethical thought of loyalty and filial piety of ancient Confucian scholars, and he did have this loyalty and filial piety at work without opposing the Qing court. However, from a larger historical background, the ultimate goal of his foolish loyalty is not to be loyal to feudal kings, but to be loyal to Confucian culture and to the ideals and beliefs of life advocated by Confucianism, such as "self-cultivation, governing the country and calming the world".
Therefore, he is very self-disciplined and regards constant introspection and study as the most important living habit in life. The reason why he led troops to fight as an official and wrote countless letters and famous family instructions is that in Confucian culture, "keeping the family in order" is the most important bridge between "self-cultivation" and "governing the country and leveling the world". According to his standard Confucian scholars, if they want to be a "scholar-bureaucrat" with indomitable spirit and the backbone of national culture, they should not only be good at themselves, but also take good care of the whole family. Because the so-called "country", in the eyes of China people, the state-owned country, the state-owned home and the country are isomorphic, so only a "unified home" can "govern the country", but how can the home govern the country? Therefore, Zeng Guofan made a lot of efforts to improve family education during his military career and extended the wisdom of family education to the level of social education. He wants to use this wisdom not only to help his family, but also to save the country. Therefore, he published his "Ceng Wenzheng's Collection of Official Documents for Guangdong Bandits" before his death, so his family instructions not only educated his family, but also educated a whole generation. This is also the reason why Mr. Qian Mu, a master of Chinese studies, called him an "educator", and this is also the reason why his family training can be called "the first family training since ancient times".
This kind of spiritual pursuit and belief with a strong Confucian color was finally transformed into a realistic choice by Zeng Guofan, that is, the choice of opposing or not opposing. Is it to be a hero? Or be a saint?
Zeng Guofan's answer is very clear: depend on the sky, shine on the sea, let a hundred flowers blossom, and hegemony is not what you want. The mountain knows itself, and the sage is immortal! So he will never choose to be a hero, because deep down, he has chosen to be a saint.