In seeking knowledge, a scholar must first have determination, then knowledge, and finally perseverance. If you are determined, you will never want to be reduced to mediocrity.
Learning is endless, never ending. We should be humble and know that what we have learned is only a drop in the ocean. Only by continuing to learn can we broaden our horizons and avoid being complacent with the river in front of us like Hebo, or only seeing the sky at the mouth of the well like a frog in a well.
In addition, we need to persevere, without which there is no success. These three aspects are indispensable in order to go further and further on the road of learning.
In the period when the feudal monarchy was about to decline, the Chinese nation was humiliated, and almost all of that period of painful history was closely related to the corruption of the late Qing Dynasty.
That kind of deep corruption has been deeply imprinted in the hearts of every Chinese descendant. So, to what extent is the corruption?
Zeng Guofan's annual income was as high as 16,000 taels, equivalent to about 3 million yuan, which was only the normal income of members of the imperial court during his period. So, what is the reason why this person who once wrote the famous saying "If you have ambition, you will never be willing to be indecent", went down the road of corruption?
The reality is not the corruption of a single individual, but the problem of the entire social environment.
According to historical records, the "Qing Huidian Case" shows that the so-called normal level was extremely abnormal in the poor and backward social environment at that time, because many people could not even guarantee food and clothing, and did not know that the next meal would be in **.
Therefore, corruption is not limited to Zeng Guofan, but the problem of the entire Qing Dynasty. Zeng Guofan's ancestors were mainly engaged in farming, and his life was relatively comfortable, and his father Zeng Linshu was born in Xiucai, which had a far-reaching impact on Zeng Guofan's growth, and he was studious since he was a child, and he was familiar with four books and five classics at the age of eight.
Zeng Guofan, a man full of perseverance and determination, he relied on his perseverance in Daoguang from six to eighteen years, from Tongzi to Jinshi, even if he encountered setbacks, he still persevered, and finally succeeded in ascending to the top, and became the proud protégé of Mu Zhang'a, Minister of Military Aircraft.
His road to success, from the Hanlin Academy Jishi to the Ministry of Works, to the second grade, and the knighthood of the first-class Yiyong Marquis, every step is full of challenges and efforts. His story tells us that as long as we have faith and perseverance, there is no dream that cannot be realized.
During his more than ten years in Beijing, Zeng Guofan was promoted seven times in a row with his indomitable spirit, crossing ten steps, and Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, and Zhang Zhidong were known as the "Four Famous Ministers of Zhongxing in the Late Qing Dynasty", and he ranked first among the four famous ministers with his outstanding talent and noble character.
Despite his revered status, he was always strict with himself and his family, lived a simple life, and resolutely opposed the greed for money and extravagance. His contributions and influence are huge, especially the establishment of the Hunan Army, the pacification of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the initiation of the Westernization Movement, which played an important role in promoting the Qing Dynasty.
Zeng Guofan not only made outstanding contributions to the military industry, but also promoted the modernization of China's industry, China's navy, China's science and technology, and China's education.
Although his influence spans many fields such as industry, military, education, science and technology, this honest and honest, scholarly and influential figure has been labeled as "corrupt".
This is mainly related to the era in which he lived.
The one who is close to Zhu is red, and the one who is close to ink is black", which is a time-honored wisdom proverb that tells us that the impact of the environment on people is very huge. In the same way, the state is also a general environment, and its impact on the bureaucracy is also far-reaching.
If there is corruption at the root of a country, i.e., **, then its bureaucrats are afraid that it will be difficult to be healthy. The corruption of the late Qing Dynasty is well known and is a dark stroke in Chinese history.
The end of the Qing Dynasty was a unique era, unparalleled in particular.
The Qing Dynasty was the last symbol of feudal society, and the late Qing Dynasty was an important stage in the transformation of feudal society into a democratic republic. Since then, Chinese history has entered an unprecedented and completely new social system, in which the turbulence, twists and turns and complexity are self-evident.
This reform needs to be carried out not only from the economic, institutional, and military angles, but also from the ideological and cultural levels. Because thoughts determine actions, actions determine habits, and habits determine fate.
Bacon, The Theory of Habit
The power of ideas should not be underestimated, but changing the minds of hundreds of millions of people in a country is never easy. In those periods of change and the end of dynasties, social contradictions became more complex, especially for those closest to the Qing Dynasty.
They have adopted the means of protecting their own interests, using money to open the way, and finding imperialist powers as backers, forming a common phenomenon among the late Qing Dynasty.
Zeng Guofan first entered the officialdom and served as a judge from the seventh grade, and he was respected for his strict self-discipline and upright spirit. However, due to the meager salary of officialdom, he could only rely on handouts for a while, and even took out loans to work, which was only enough to solve the food and clothing for a few months, and he needed to pay for the rest of the time.
He gradually realized that the path of honesty and honesty could not help him achieve the great cause in his heart, so he began to carefully learn the way of being an official, breaking the inner barrier, accepting bribes, playing up and down, and visiting customers, in order to succeed in the officialdom.
From the initial hard struggle to the foothold of officialdom, the sacrifice and bitterness are difficult for ordinary people to feel. Whenever I think of these, I can't help but sigh with emotion, the times create heroes.
Despite this, Zeng Guofan still had to borrow money for one year after he got married. It can be seen from this that if you want to be rich and wealthy in the officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty, it is not enough to just base yourself on officialdom, you also need to have exquisite means.
Zeng Guofan is not keen on that word, he pursues the realization of his inner great cause. In order to wait for the opportunity to make contributions and show his talents, he worked silently and was not afraid of hardships.
At a major turning point in Chinese history, the Taiping Rebellion in the mid-nineteenth century, Zeng found a stage to make a difference. His first step was to build an army that could really be used by him.
Zeng Guofan hated the flattery in the military camp, and believed that even the military commanders above the garrison had lost their conscience. Therefore, when forming the Hunan army, he resolutely did not use battalion soldiers, but only recruited from the village peasants who were innocent and strong.
However, although he was able to easily complete the task of recruiting elite soldiers in a sea of thousands of people, he could not resist the obstacles of human nature. During the training of the Hunan army, he was ostracized by his colleagues.
Although Zeng Guofan is a second-class **, he was still excluded because of his nominal identity as an empty shell. At that time, there was still a imperial army guarding the Hunan region, and the Green Camp Army had regarded him as an intruder, and had repeatedly asked for trouble, and even put Zeng Guofan in a dangerous situation for a time.
However, Zeng Guofan's neighbor Luo Bingzhang chose to pretend not to see it, and it was not until Zeng Guofan was in trouble that he pretended to greet and care.
After encountering a turmoil in the local area, Zeng Guofan resolutely left and returned to his birthplace of Hengyang to continue training the army. He firmly said that since life originates from this land, then the cause must also take off here.
In fact, the imperial court knew that the army trained by Zeng Guofan was to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and it was too much not to cooperate with the work, and he was obstructed in every way, which fully showed the great distrust within the late Qing Dynasty at that time.
Zeng Guofan was ostracized by his colleagues in military activities, but this seemed insignificant compared to the suspicion of the emperor. The biggest threat facing Emperor Xianfeng at that time was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but he was wary of Zeng Guofan.
At the beginning of Zeng Guofan's creation of the Hunan army, Emperor Xianfeng only gave him an empty title of a second-rank registered squire, expressing his distrust. Later, after the Hunan army defeated the Taiping army, Emperor Xianfeng reluctantly made him the governor of Hubei, but then withdrew this title, which made Zeng Guofan feel sad.
Zeng Guofan's battle left him in a state of internal and external difficulties, traumatic souls, and difficult to calm down. In the war, Zeng Guofan was isolated, and his Hunan army could not get the support of the magistrates no matter how he went, let alone seek military food and military salaries, the Hunan army was extremely heavy, and Zeng Guofan himself was in danger many times.
Although he struggled to withstand multiple pressures such as insufficient military spending, the exclusion of his colleagues, and the difficulty of the battle, he finally won the victory, but it was met with the emperor's suspicion.
The dedication of the heroes has not been duly recognized, just like the bright moon shining on the ditch, which makes people feel sad and depressed. Everything in the world has cause and effect, and the times create heroes and give birth to moths.
No one can never make mistakes, but they have made achievements in isolation, and it is even more delusional to ascend to immortals without asking about the world.
Life is like a pedestrian on the earth, always tempered by the current situation and environment. The merits and demerits of historical figures, good and evil, right and wrong, have their own posterity to comment. Although historical facts such as the exclusion of colleagues originate from search, they cannot be changed.
But my heart is to the bright moon, uphold my own beliefs and principles, habits determine destiny, will determine our future.