When Zeng Guofan was young, he took seven subjects as a scholar, failed in the first five subjects, and took the sixth subject as a student. His paper was posted on the bulletin board and was accused of being "too shallow in arts and sciences". Zeng Guofan took this humiliation as the driving force, went home and worked hard, and finally was admitted to the scholar for the seventh time. Later, the next year, he was accepted by a juren. Four years later, he was admitted to Jinshi and entered imperial academy to study. Since then, he has made great achievements.
However, Zeng Guofan's rigid personality, self-esteem, impulsiveness and frankness made him hit a wall everywhere in officialdom. In the first year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan wrote a book "Being Revealed, Being Revealed", which made Manchu officials bear a grudge against him. Later, he wrote a book "Respecting Virtue and Preventing Diseases", which directly criticized the three shortcomings of Emperor Xianfeng, and attracted the emperor to dislike him very much.
It's the same when you get to the place. At the end of the second year of Xianfeng, the emperor ordered him to help Hunan officials form a militia to suppress the Taiping Legion with high morale. As soon as Zeng Guofan arrived in Changsha, he showed a resolute style of doing things. Although Zeng Guofan was very successful and efficient, he was annoyed by Hunan officials because he didn't know the rules. He was forced to move out of Changsha and form the Xiang Army in Hengyang.
After some exploration and two years of introspection, Zeng Guofan summed up his own ideas on selecting soldiers, training and fighting. In selecting talents, Zeng Guofan advocated "selecting scholars and leading Shan Nong". Zeng Guofan believes that it is not only military strength but also spiritual and cultural strength that can defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although scholars can do nothing, they can show amazing courage and energy to protect their firm beliefs. Compared with the green camp army with strong officialdom, Zeng Guofan prefers to choose simple Shan Nong. His employment criteria are "moral, bureaucratic, more organized and less talkative".
Zeng Guofan's way of fighting is also very special. He used the most stupid method to "hard camp and fight a protracted war", "static braking" and "self-consolidation". When the Xiang army was fighting, it only took four hours to March every day. The rest of the time is spent setting up a village, digging two deep ditches and building two high walls, which are solid and firm. As Sun Tzu said in the Art of War, I will be invincible first and wait for the enemy to give you a chance.
In addition, the biggest reason why Zeng Guofan was able to pacify the Taiping Legion was "sincerity". Zeng Guofan famously said, "Only sincerity in the world can overcome falsehood in the world, and only clumsiness in the world can overcome cleverness in the world". When a leader jumps out of the thinking of seeking power, he can succeed. Zeng Guofan's ideological theory is worth learning.