Zeng Guofan

I am very grateful to Teacher Tang Haoming for his many years of research and writing such a book. Like Zeng Diweng, you have also left a treasure for future generations, allowing more students to understand the late Qing Dynasty so clearly. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

It's been a long time since I read a book. I think this book is good. There are a lot of things you can learn from, and it can inspire you in your life, work, and knowledge. Some of the couplets in the book are very good and interesting to read. The dialogues between the characters are full of witty remarks and are worth reciting over and over again.

I read it for the second time, and once again I read that this old man who had experienced hardships and glory came to the end of his life. If given a chance to start over, he would probably still choose to repay the emperor's favor with all his loyalty. What a sad ending, Zeng Gong endures through the ages!

This is the third time I've watched it. The Tang version of Zeng Guofan is my favorite. Because the author wrote Zeng as a real person. He had many shortcomings, but he spent his whole life overcoming them. Never retreat until death. Admire. The saints and sages are too far away from us. Zeng Guofan is only 300 years away from us. It is a reliable example worth learning from. Zeng also has historical limitations, which are the same for everyone. I hope you won't criticize him too much. I really hope this can be made into a high-quality TV series!

The book earlier talks about Zeng's founding of the Hunan Army, the suppression of the Changmao rebellion, and the recovery of Jinling. Most of the book is documentary, showing the ups and downs of Zeng's half-life of leading the army, making people feel the hardships of building a successful career. However, the reading is not good and a bit draggy. The last few chapters, when Zeng Ming realized that his time was running out, told the reflections of an old man, and summarized all the wisdom and reflections of a famous minister's life. It makes people want to read it, and hate the book's small size.

Zeng Guofan served his country loyally throughout his life, neither humble nor arrogant. Loyal to the king and observe etiquette, he will cut his own wings. In the end, what he protected was a dying court.

Cultivate oneself, manage the family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world. Wen Zhenggong uses his own life to tell us the principles of life and doing things.

The author's writing style is exquisite, and he draws out Zeng Guofan's merits and demerits through small things little by little. He said that nothing is difficult in the world, and there are great people. It is of great educational significance. You can also see Zeng's persistence for decades. I am not well educated and too young, so I don't understand the meaning of some classical Chinese texts. I have also learned that using softness to overcome hardness has benefited me a lot. I have collected it and read it several times in the past few years! Mr. Zeng may be the pillar of the Qing court, but he is definitely not a good father. His three daughters are not doing well, and he is not a good friend. I saw his unscrupulous methods, dishonest words, and unkindness to Kang Fu. The Zeng family must be great. This life is too difficult. Whatever you gain, you must lose something.

He did not have a prominent family background, but he was appointed as the governor of Liangjiang. His talent was the worst among his contemporaries in the late Qing Dynasty, but he was hailed as the first official in the resurgence of the Qing Dynasty. Zeng Guofan's life experience has given people special inspiration both in the past and now. Build a stronghold and fight stupidly, take a long-term view, assess the situation, and go from fool to saint. Open this book and see how Zeng Guofan explains the way to upgrade as a continuous struggler. The so-called saint is a perfect person who understands the principles of nature and masters the laws of the operation of all things in the world through his diligent study and hard work. Clumsy people don't know how to use tricks or take shortcuts. They just know how to get through problems when they encounter them, so they do things without leaving any blind spots.

Under the circumstances at that time, no matter how strong your ability was and how loyal your heart was, you still had to consider the local bureaucrats when doing things because there were too many villains. Zeng Disheng, a weak scholar, achieved great things for a long time, and he could not do without the help of his friends. It really complied with the saying that one more friend means many roads, one more enemy means many walls. This book had a great impact on my thinking.