Text/Xu Yongchao
After the age of thirty, Zeng Guofan aspired to be a saint and vowed not to make a fortune by being an official. But after all, he was in the big dye vat of the late Qing Dynasty officialdom, could he easily do it?
1. The Jingguan period
At the age of twenty-seven, Zeng Guofan not only won the Jinshi, but also was elected to the Hanlin Academy and became a Shujishi. This is great news for the Zeng family.
Soon, the news that Zeng Guofan had ordered Hanlin reached xiangxiang's hometown. After the county order heard about it, he immediately came to Zeng's house, afraid that he would not be able to get married. The local gentry also came to visit.
Before Zeng Guofan entered the army, although the Zeng family had more than 100 acres of land, because they had a lot of mouths to eat, they did not live a rich life. After Zeng Guofan jumped through the dragon gate, he visited everywhere, and the local officials and gentry knew that he was a potential stock, and competed to give silver and silver, for fear of not being satisfied with the less annoying Hanlin Gong. In this way, a total of more than 1,400 taels of silver were given. This amount of money is enough for the Zeng family to buy another sixty acres of fertile land.
In traditional China, imperial power could not directly control the grassroots. Therefore, in the lower class, the gentry played an important role. For example, for some ordinary civil disputes, the parties usually do not report to the authorities, but choose to find a local reputable gentry to mediate. After successful mediation, the gentry will be rewarded handsomely. After Zeng Guofan mediated the dispute, he could also get dozens of taels of silver each time.
As the saying goes, it is difficult for a Beijing official to do it. Especially the Seven Pins of Hanlin like Zeng Guofan. At that time, his annual income was only 90 taels, plus Lu rice, it was only more than 120 taels. But the annual expenditure is much greater than that. He rented a house in the ropesmith alley for 160 taels a year. The rest of the likes are 110 taels of personal exchanges, 30 taels of clothing are purchased, and the daily use is 170 taels, for a total of 470 taels. That is to say, there are at least 350 taels of deficits a year.
It is not impossible to make up for the fiscal deficit. Many Beijing officials can also live a tasteful life by accepting bribes from foreign officials. Zeng Guofan was not well-connected, and he made a vow to be a saint, so he relied on loans to survive.
Later, he became the chief examiner of the Sichuan township examination, and received a gift of 6,000 taels of silver from Sichuan officials, and the economic plight was improved.
During his time as a Beijing official, he achieved the high position of a military attendant, with an annual income of at least 620 taels. But at the same time, expenses have increased so much that sometimes they can't even afford to pay for the trip home.
In the second year of Xianfeng, his mother died, and Zeng Guofan returned to his hometown dingyou, ending his career as a Beijing official.
2. Commander of the Xiang Army
Zeng Guofan swore that he would not get rich by being an official. When he was the commander of the Xiang Army, he kept his oath and became the most incorruptible commander at that time, which was very difficult.
The salaries of the soldiers of the late Qing Dynasty were very low, and they could not support a family at all. Therefore, from the generals to the soldiers, they went to the sea to do business. Of course, the combat effectiveness of the troops has been greatly reduced.
Faced with this situation, Zeng Guofan created the Xiang Army and adopted a policy of generous salaries, allowing the generals to concentrate on killing the enemy. On the other hand, he attaches great importance to the integrity of the army. After zhao Liewen visited, he was deeply impressed by this and eventually became an aide to Zeng Guofan.
Zeng Guofan, who became the commander of the Xiang Army, had absolute control over the income of the Xiang Army, but the money he sent home every year was only 100 taels on average. Because in his view, a luxurious life is not conducive to the development of future generations. In a letter to his younger brother Zeng Guohuang, he said that whether his descendants are rich or poor has a definite number. Even if he gives more property to the loser, he can also lose. He also wrote a letter to Zeng Guoquan, asking him to use the excess money to relieve the people, and specifically advised him not to leave a name.
After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was pacified, all the generals of the Xiang Army became rich, and they built houses and landed one after another, but Zeng Guofan was as poor as ever. After separating from his brothers, he was given 55 acres of land and a small mansion called the Golden Hall. And this is the property of his soldiers for many years.
3. Governor of Liangjiang
In his later years, Zeng Guofan spent nearly ten years as the governor of Liangjiang.
In the Qing system, the viceroy was the emperor's highest-ranking agent at the local level, restraining all civil and military officials in the jurisdiction. Among them, the Viceroy of Liangjiang had jurisdiction over the three provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Jiangxi, and managed the main source of taxation for the imperial court, and the position was extremely important.
At such a high level, how much income is there in a year? At that time, the governor's statutory salary was only 155 taels a year, and the pension was 18,000 taels. The main thing is gray income. The average annual fee is 180,000 taels, which is ten times that of raising cheap silver. It can be said that the Governor's income is quite substantial.
However, Zeng Guofan still lived a simple life, and the requirements for his family were the same as ever. As was customary, he took his wife and children from the countryside of Hunan to the Governor's Palace.
However, Zeng Guofan did not let them enjoy the blessings. Instead, he set a strict schedule for the female relatives of the family, often from morning to night. His relatives complained about this.
In the fifth year of Tongzhi, the fourth daughter Zeng Jichun was married, and he paid a dowry of 200 taels of silver. In the eunuch house, the money was too shabby. Brother Zeng Guoquan couldn't bear to look at it, and gave 400 taels of silver to his niece.
It is reasonable to say that Zeng Guofan is already the governor, and his life does not have to be so hard. Where did he spend his money?
In addition to supporting a large family, he also paid salaries to the staff around him, such as teachers, scriveners, and servants. According to the system of the Qing Dynasty, the governor of Yamen, except for the governor himself, there was no formal establishment of the staff around him. Their salaries are paid out of pocket by the Governor. And if the governor wants to work, he must not be separated from these people. Therefore, Zeng Guofan had to spend 20,000 taels every year to pay salaries to subordinate officials. In addition, administrative matters such as correspondence between the emperor and the governor and the reward of the Green Battalion soldiers also had to be paid for by the governor himself. Taken together, these miscellaneous projects require at least 60,000 taels a year.
In order to make up for the lack of office funds and to conduct human relations, officials had to collect bad rules. Of course, it is up to the officials to collect more and less to receive less.
Zeng Guofan was deeply disgusted by the corruption of the officialdom, and he led by example and refused to accept gifts. One day, Zhao Liewen came to visit the Governor's Palace, and Zeng Guofan left him to eat together. Seeing that there are no chickens and no fish in the dish, I can't help but sigh, is there not even a ham in the Governor's Palace? Zeng Guofan smiled and replied, "In the past, there was an endless stream of gift-giving people, but I refused them, and now there is no one to give gifts." The Shaoxing wine you drink now is still bought by your family on the street. ”
Zhao Liewen listened to Lian Lian and said, In the second hundred years of the Qing Dynasty, it is impossible to do without this governor Yamen!
However, Zeng Guofan did not want to be different in the official arena. Like ordinary bureaucrats, he eats and drinks with public funds. Just try to reduce the size as much as possible. According to the custom, local officials must send ice and charcoal to beijing officials every year, and to officials who come to inspect them, they must also give Cheng Yi, and when local officials finish their work, when they leave the capital, they must also give other respects to beijing officials. For these unspoken rules in the official arena, Zeng Guofan obeyed them one by one.
Zeng Guofan has a creed, that is, do not accumulate silver money to keep with his children and grandchildren, but the more books the better. When his son asked him whether he wanted to build a library building in his hometown, Zeng Guofan gladly accepted.
To this end, the Zeng family spent 5,000 taels of silver to build a mansion called "Fuhou Hall". At first, Zeng Guofan was very dissatisfied and felt that it was too wasteful. It wasn't until I heard that the money was mainly spent on the construction of the library building that I was discouraged.
This library building is even larger than the scale of Ningbo's "Tianyi Pavilion", with a collection of 300,000 volumes at its peak. Today, some of the books in the library are stored in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and some are in the Hunan Provincial Library and Museum.
In his twilight years, Zeng Guofan was full of disappointment in the government. He told his brother Zeng Guohuang that he really wanted to lie in the coffin as soon as possible and not ask about the world.
On the fourth day of February in the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872), Zeng Guofan died of illness while serving as the governor of Liangjiang. Before his death, he saved 18,000 taels of silver and instructed his children to use the money for funerals and not to accept gifts from anyone. His son Zeng Jize obeyed his father's orders and did not even receive Li Hongzhang's money.
Zeng Guofan spent his life as a poor Beijing official, served as the commander of a large army, and in the last years of his life, he also held a high position as the governor. He could have easily accumulated millions of family wealth, and even left tens of millions of assets for his descendants as Li Hongzhang did after his death. However, he left less than 20,000 pieces of silver behind him, truly fulfilling the oath of being an official and not getting rich.