After decades of experience, in his later years, Zeng Guofan has been called the "old fox". Zhao Liewen, his counselor, recorded an interesting story: in the ninth year of Xianfeng, a mysterious figure appeared in Tongcheng with several followers. He claimed to be a senior official from Beijing, visiting military affairs everywhere. He acts furtively and talks in a trance. Some senior officials were captured by his aura and given the gift of monarch and minister, which he also accepted publicly. People thought it was a private visit by princes, nobles and even the emperor himself, and they were amazed. He took the yellow paper as a letter and ordered a magistrate to serve Zeng Guofan's camp. Zeng Guofan looked at his "imperial edict", sometimes calling himself "Yu", sometimes calling himself "I", "poor in arts and sciences, full of mistakes in words." But between the lines, it seems that some political insiders in Beijing are quite exposed. If in the past, Zeng Guofan would have quickly arrested him and sent him to the capital for punishment. But at this time, Zeng Guofan had thoroughly understood the beauty of the "longevity" method and was unwilling to "ascend to prison". He put this letter aside and "don't ask, don't investigate." Seeing that the blackmail of Zeng Guofan failed, this person turned to the official document of Governor Huguang, which held him for interrogation, which was "untrue and did not delve into it" and this person "did not know where he was afterwards". In his later years, Zeng Guofan, like other old bureaucrats, skillfully used the word "exhibition" in officialdom and pushed away many thorny things. Because of the wage problem, the local fiscal deficit is large. Zeng Guofan used the word "exhibition" to "continue". This year will be postponed until next year, and next year will be postponed until the end of the year. Sometimes he uses this tactic to his subordinates. For example, in his letter to Wan Qichen, he said: "It is the secret of officialdom to bear old debts for many years and run deficits." Of course, the Li Xiucheng case is the best example of Zeng Guofan's "wily old fox". After Li Xiucheng was captured, Zeng Guofan immediately attacked and got the information he needed. He interviewed Li Xiucheng several times, although he called it Xun, but his attitude was modest and his words were considerate. In the process of talking with Li Xiucheng, he also showed a true and frank attitude, expressing appreciation for Li's talent, but deeply regretting that he "went astray". Li Xiu was fascinated by Zeng Guofan's charm. In his readme, he said that Zeng Guofan was "kind" and "virtuous" and "benevolent" to him. Judging from Li Xiucheng's "affectionate last night" and other words, Zeng Guofan had hinted at Li Xiucheng, such as promising to win his favor from the court. This made Li Xiucheng fantasize and waver for a moment, thus writing a self-report of tens of thousands of words. However, after getting what he needed, Zeng Guofan couldn't wait to disobey the orders of the imperial court, capture Beijing and kill Li Xiucheng early in Nanjing. Because once Li Xian is captured, some secrets hidden in the Xiang army may be exposed. Of course, the process of killing Li Xiucheng was well thought out and full of human feelings. Zeng Guofan specially sent his spin doctor, Li Hongzi, to see Li Xiucheng, informing him that "the national law is too hard to avoid crimes" and telling him that he would be executed that day. This action not only shows respect for Li Xiucheng, but also shows his "outspoken" and "open-minded" style. Zeng Guofan didn't dismember Li into ten thousand pieces as stated in the report, but beheaded him. Later, Li's head was spread to all the troops, and his body was still buried in coffins. Before he died, Li Xiucheng still had no resentment against Zeng Guofan, saying, "The main hall is kind and never forgets. This life is wrong, and there will be retribution in the afterlife! " Zeng Guofan claimed to be "honest" all his life, but when he copied Li Xiucheng's self-report to the court, he made many frauds. After textual research by Luo Ergang and others, Zeng Guofan made the following key revisions to Li Xiucheng's manuscript: First, regarding the cause of death of Hong Xiuquan, Li Xiucheng's handwriting originally said that "Tennoja was seriously ill, and this person's illness was not treated, and he died on April 21st". Explain that Hong Xiuquan died of illness. In order to exaggerate Ceng Guoquan's military exploits, Zeng Guofan changed this passage to: "Because the soldiers of the Nine Commanders (Ceng Guoquan) are everywhere near the city, the King of Heaven is anxious every day, that is, he died of taking poison on May 27." Prove that Hong died directly under military pressure. Second, Li Xiucheng was captured. Li Xiucheng was caught by "two traitors" when he fled alone and sent to the Qing camp. If the report is true, Li Xiucheng's arrest has nothing to do with himself. Zeng Guofan, on the other hand, crossed out the words "raped by two people" with a brush and changed "captured" to "captured by Ceng Shuai officers and soldiers". When it was copied to the Qing court and printed, it was changed to "captured by Ceng Shuai in pursuit". Third, when Li Xiucheng rushed out of Tianjing. Li Xiucheng's original words were: "After the first watch, he risked his life to lead the army to charge, and nine generals fell out of the city wall, and the monarch and his ministers gave their lives to rush out." Zeng Guofan changed the word "Chu" to "four" and changed "Chu Geng" to "four tillage". At first, it was between 19 and 20 o'clock in the evening. After dark, he was driven out by the Taiping Army, and Ceng Guoquan was punished. However, changing to the fourth shift (one o'clock the next day) lightened his responsibility. The fourth is to delete the tenth of China's top ten mistakes. Li Xiucheng summed up the top ten political mistakes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in his self-report, and the tenth mistake was "Misadministration without Chapter". Zeng Guofan changed this article to: "Ten. Mistakes should not protect Tianjing and incite military forces everywhere. " This change not only exaggerates the first feat of conquering Tianjing, but also interprets Li Hongzhang's contribution to conquering Jiangsu and Zhejiang as the Taiping Army transferring troops from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to defend Tianjing. Second, Wu Fang made a wonderful analysis of Zeng Guofan's complexity in "The Energy and Limit of Passing Thoughts-Looking at History from Zeng Guofan": "Zeng Guofan's success mainly lies in his grasp of the essence of traditional political culture, which is principled and flexible, that is, he insists on classics without giving up contingency. He has two hands and three hands, not just one hand. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, this pattern of "two hands" (legalizing Confucianism or integrating Confucianism and law) was practiced by Zeng Guofan again. Whether his neo-Confucianism position is false or not, the situation is really bad to the point of "not false", so Zeng Guofan can also be said to be "sincerely disguised." This is probably an embarrassing truth in the history of China's political thought. "Although later historians found so much evidence of Zeng Guofan's forgery, in all fairness, we have to admit that Zeng Guofan is still the most loyal government official in the late Qing Dynasty. Except for a few places involving his family, brothers and old interests, in most cases, he implemented the principle of being honest and being smart with fools. On major issues involving the fundamental interests of the country, he has always ignored his personal interests and devoted himself to serving the country. For example, in the process of handling the religious case in Tianjin, he was willing to be a "scapegoat" for the sake of national interests, which made him famous for many years and ruined his reputation. As a result, Li Hongzhang said in a letter on August 2 1 that year: "After my teacher came to Tianjin, Zhang Shu was honest and everyone held him hostage, so he dared not publish this big chapter. "Although Zeng Guofan has mastered the secret of officialdom's survival and sometimes uses deception, his inner integrity is still clear and he is never vague on right and wrong. Therefore, he was not particularly handy in the officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty. In his later years, he said in a letter to his brothers: "I was not sociable in Beijing twice, and I was neither humble nor servile to Tianjin's religious plan." After that, everything was deliberately boasting and sneering ... so I was worried. "It is such a thing that can best show Zeng Guofan's character in his later years. After Zeng Guofan was transferred to the governor of Zhili, Zhu Xueqin, Zeng Guofan's good friend, was entrusted by the Prince of Alcohol to send a letter, which complimented Zeng Guofan and meant to marry him. Prince Chun is the brother of Prince Gong Yi, the uncle of Emperor Tongzhi and the brother-in-law of Cixi, and has a very close relationship with Cixi. For a long time, he always wanted to compete with Yi, so he took the initiative to win over Zeng Guofan to enhance his political strength. Ordinary people dare not welcome such a core pro-expensive, but Zeng Guofan did not reply to him. He just explained in a letter to Zhu Xueqin: "Alcohol is only interesting to me and I feel ashamed. There are few letters in our office, so it is inconvenient to suddenly get warm. "In other words, I am very touched that Prince Chun is so interested in me. However, I have always talked less with people, because it is not convenient to change my routine because of Prince's alcohol. The meaning of refusal is obvious. Yi was unwilling. In the spring of the ninth year of Tongzhi, Huang Qi, another friend of Zeng Guofan, was asked to forward poems, hoping that Zeng Guofan would respond. Zeng Guofan still didn't reply, and once again gave Yi a complete embarrassment. Zeng Guofan was so heroic, apart from being indifferent to the talents of the game, he mainly defended this political principle based on the fundamental interests of the dynasty, but he deeply offended the Prince of Alcohol. So after the Tianjin religious plan, he and his faction spared no effort to attack Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan was a typical cynic in his early years. One-way thinking, egoism, cynicism, arrogance. When doing things, the means are single, the style is tough, pure and fierce, and indomitable. Therefore, it is easy to be accused of hitting the wall everywhere. After middle age, Zeng Guofan finally moved towards harmony in the struggle with the world. But this kind of harmony is not all in his nature, but it is realized with indomitable spirit from falling again and again, and it is born from simple square rigidity. This is the difference between Zeng Guofan and others, so his harmony is based on simplicity and integrity, which is not the same as worldly tact. After several twists and turns, Zeng Guofan's initial heart has not changed. His ambition is still "loyal to the monarch, and then change the customs." "He no longer thinks that he can achieve his goal quickly by thunder. But he still believes that this ideal will be realized in a few days through infiltration. He said, "How thick and thin is the custom? Just what one or two people want. "In other words, the whole social atmosphere can be advocated by one or two people who have the right and virtue, and can be promoted from top to bottom, thus driving everyone in the world to be good." If one or two people's hearts are just, then everyone will go to justice with them; If one or two people are interested in profit, then everyone will follow the crowd. The general trend, the general trend, although there is a strong, dare not go against it. "His plan is to start from himself, infiltrate the surrounding areas, cultivate a group of gentlemen, occupy important areas, and gradually influence the whole social atmosphere through these people to realize the benign development of society. In his letter to Hu Linyi, he said: "The overall situation of the world cannot be redeemed. Those who can be encouraged by the public can cite a group of honest people and train a few good officials as seeds. "Therefore, while being an official, Zeng Guofan also spent a lot of time and energy on moral knowledge to educate the people and cultivate subordinates' cronies, which is unparalleled in the history of China. Zhao Liewen, Zeng Guofan's secretary in his later years, once said: (Zeng Guofan) worked hard these years, but only three or four times against thieves and five or six times against secular grammar. That is to say, although Zeng Guofan pacified Hongyang in history, in his life, only three or four tenths of his energy was used to fight the peasant army, but five or six tenths of his energy was used to fight the officialdom. This statement is painful and profound. This is a terrible price that anyone who wants to work in China must pay. Many Fang Zhengzhi scholars have learned nothing about the "characteristics" of China society. Zeng Guofan was not defeated by setbacks. He cut off his passport in conflicts with the world again and again, and finally he was able to expand and contract. Zeng Guofan reviewed several big gaps in his life and thought that setbacks were his greatest help. He said: After eating these four grabens, there is no room for shame, so although I recently stole my name, I dare not pretend to be capable or self-righteous. Fear of people's words and destiny all stem from tempering. Summing up his life, Zeng Guofan has said many times that setbacks are the driving force for his progress, so he encouraged his younger brother to grit his teeth in the face of setbacks, persevere, turn passivity into initiative, expand his mind and increase his skills: my progress in this life is at the time of setbacks and humiliation. Be sure to grit your teeth and motivate yourself, save your breath and increase your wisdom, and never be complacent. When this hundred blows to it, the only way to leave it to fate is still nothing more than regret and hard words. Everything is difficult and dangerous, and all that makes sense are heroes. Liang Qichao said: "Ceng Wenzheng ... is the most clumsy sage in the merger, and he will suffer lifelong rebellion." . And those who are immortal in virtue, have made great achievements, but are not in Beijing, have the strength to yearn for, extricate themselves, learn from, but have the courage to walk, go through difficulties without setbacks, accumulate inch by inch, accept vanity, be diligent, unswerving, unyielding, sincere and handsome, and be brave and refined.
Second, Li Xiucheng was captured. Li Xiucheng was caught by "two traitors" when he fled alone and sent to the Qing camp. If the report is true, Li Xiucheng's arrest has nothing to do with himself. Zeng Guofan, on the other hand, crossed out the words "raped by two people" with a brush and changed "captured" to "captured by Ceng Shuai officers and soldiers". When it was copied to the Qing court and printed, it was changed to "captured by Ceng Shuai in pursuit". Third, when Li Xiucheng rushed out of Tianjing. Li Xiucheng's original words were: "After the first watch, he risked his life to lead the army to charge, and nine generals fell out of the city wall, and the monarch and his ministers gave their lives to rush out." Zeng Guofan changed the word "Chu" to "four" and changed "Chu Geng" to "four tillage". At first, it was between 19 and 20 o'clock in the evening. After dark, he was driven out by the Taiping Army, and Ceng Guoquan was punished. However, changing to the fourth shift (one o'clock the next day) lightened his responsibility. The fourth is to delete the tenth of China's top ten mistakes. Li Xiucheng summed up the top ten political mistakes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in his self-report, and the tenth mistake was "Misadministration without Chapter". Zeng Guofan changed this article to: "Ten. Mistakes should not protect Tianjing and incite military forces everywhere. " This change not only exaggerates the first feat of conquering Tianjing, but also interprets Li Hongzhang's contribution to conquering Jiangsu and Zhejiang as the Taiping Army transferring troops from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to defend Tianjing. Second, Wu Fang made a wonderful analysis of Zeng Guofan's complexity in "The Energy and Limit of Passing Thoughts-Looking at History from Zeng Guofan": "Zeng Guofan's success mainly lies in his grasp of the essence of traditional political culture, which is principled and flexible, that is, he insists on classics without giving up contingency. He has two hands and three hands, not just one hand. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, this pattern of "two hands" (legalizing Confucianism or integrating Confucianism and law) was practiced by Zeng Guofan again. Whether his neo-Confucianism position is false or not, the situation is really bad to the point of "not false", so Zeng Guofan can also be said to be "sincerely disguised." This is probably an embarrassing truth in the history of China's political thought. "Although later historians found so much evidence of Zeng Guofan's forgery, in all fairness, we have to admit that Zeng Guofan is still the most loyal government official in the late Qing Dynasty. Except for a few places involving his family, brothers and old interests, in most cases, he implemented the principle of being honest and being smart with fools. On major issues involving the fundamental interests of the country, he has always ignored his personal interests and devoted himself to serving the country. For example, in the process of handling the religious case in Tianjin, he was willing to be a "scapegoat" for the sake of national interests, which made him famous for many years and ruined his reputation. As a result, Li Hongzhang said in a letter on August 2 1 that year: "After my teacher came to Tianjin, Zhang Shu was honest and everyone held him hostage, so he dared not publish this big chapter. "Although Zeng Guofan has mastered the secret of officialdom's survival and sometimes uses deception, his inner integrity is still clear and he is never vague on right and wrong. Therefore, he was not particularly handy in the officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty. In his later years, he said in a letter to his brothers: "I was not sociable in Beijing twice, and I was neither humble nor servile to Tianjin's religious plan." After that, everything was deliberately boasting and sneering ... so I was worried. "It is such a thing that can best show Zeng Guofan's character in his later years. After Zeng Guofan was transferred to the governor of Zhili, Zhu Xueqin, Zeng Guofan's good friend, was entrusted by the Prince of Alcohol to send a letter, which complimented Zeng Guofan and meant to marry him. Prince Chun is the brother of Prince Gong Yi, the uncle of Emperor Tongzhi and the brother-in-law of Cixi, and has a very close relationship with Cixi. For a long time, he always wanted to compete with Yi, so he took the initiative to win over Zeng Guofan to enhance his political strength. Ordinary people dare not welcome such a core pro-expensive, but Zeng Guofan did not reply to him. He just explained in a letter to Zhu Xueqin: "Alcohol is only interesting to me and I feel ashamed. There are few letters in our office, so it is inconvenient to suddenly get warm. "In other words, I am very touched that Prince Chun is so interested in me. However, I have always talked less with people, because it is not convenient to change my routine because of Prince's alcohol. The meaning of refusal is obvious. Yi was unwilling. In the spring of the ninth year of Tongzhi, Huang Qi, another friend of Zeng Guofan, was asked to forward poems, hoping that Zeng Guofan would respond. Zeng Guofan still didn't reply, and once again gave Yi a complete embarrassment. The reason why Zeng Guofan is so heroic, apart from his indifference to the game, mainly comes from China's political principle of "avoiding the suspicion of internal and external traffic". Private contacts between governors and foreign governors were forbidden in all previous dynasties, because it was a move to disturb the autocratic political order. Zeng Guofan defended this political principle from the fundamental interests of the dynasty, but deeply offended the prince of alcohol. So after the Tianjin religious plan, he and his faction spared no effort to attack Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan was a typical cynic in his early years. One-way thinking, egoism, cynicism, arrogance. When doing things, the means are single, the style is tough, pure and fierce, and indomitable. Therefore, it is easy to be accused of hitting the wall everywhere. After middle age, Zeng Guofan finally moved towards harmony in the struggle with the world. But this kind of harmony is not all in his nature, but it is realized with indomitable spirit from falling again and again, and it is born from simple square rigidity. This is the difference between Zeng Guofan and others, so his harmony is based on simplicity and integrity, which is not the same as worldly tact. After several twists and turns, Zeng Guofan's initial heart has not changed. His ambition is still "loyal to the monarch, and then change the customs." "He no longer thinks that he can achieve his goal quickly by thunder. But he still believes that through infiltration, this ideal will be realized in a few days. He said, "How thick and thin is the custom? Just what one or two people want. "In other words, the whole social atmosphere can be advocated by one or two people who have the right and virtue, and can be promoted from top to bottom, thus driving everyone in the world to be good." If one or two people's hearts are just, then everyone will go to justice with them; If one or two people are interested in profit, then everyone will follow the crowd. The general trend, the general trend, although there is a strong, dare not go against it. "His plan is to start from himself, infiltrate the surrounding areas, cultivate a group of gentlemen, occupy important areas, and gradually influence the whole social atmosphere through these people to realize the benign development of society. In his letter to Hu Linyi, he said: "The overall situation of the world cannot be redeemed. Those who can be encouraged by the public can cite a group of honest people and train a few good officials as seeds. "Therefore, while being an official, Zeng Guofan also spent a lot of time and energy on moral knowledge to educate the people and cultivate subordinates' cronies, which is unparalleled in the history of China. Zhao Liewen, Zeng Guofan's secretary in his later years, once said: (Zeng Guofan) worked hard these years, but only three or four times against thieves and five or six times against secular grammar. That is to say, although Zeng Guofan pacified Hongyang in history, in his life, only three or four tenths of his energy was used to fight the peasant army, but five or six tenths of his energy was used to fight the officialdom. This statement is painful and profound. This is a terrible price that anyone who wants to work in China must pay. Many Fang Zhengzhi scholars have learned nothing about the "characteristics" of China society. Zeng Guofan was not defeated by setbacks. He cut off his passport in conflicts with the world again and again, and finally he was able to expand and contract. Zeng Guofan reviewed several big gaps in his life and thought that setbacks were his greatest help. He said: After eating these four grabens, there is no room for shame, so although I recently stole my name, I dare not pretend to be capable or self-righteous. Fear of people's words and destiny all stem from tempering. Summing up his life, Zeng Guofan has said many times that setbacks are his driving force, so he encouraged his younger brother to grit his teeth in the face of setbacks, persevere, turn passivity into initiative, expand his mind and increase his skills: my progress in this life is at the time of setbacks and humiliation. Be sure to grit your teeth and motivate yourself, save your breath and increase your wisdom, and never be complacent. When this hundred blows to it, the only way to leave it to fate is still nothing more than regret and hard words. Everything is difficult and dangerous, and all that makes sense are heroes. Liang Qichao said: "Ceng Wenzheng ... is the most clumsy sage in the merger, and he will suffer lifelong rebellion." . And those who are immortal in virtue, have made great achievements, but are not in Beijing, have the strength to yearn for, extricate themselves, learn from, but have the courage to walk, go through difficulties without setbacks, accumulate inch by inch, accept vanity, be diligent, unswerving, unyielding, sincere and handsome, and be brave and refined.