The Survival Wisdom of the Beiyang Era (315): Extremely wise and moderate.
In the history of Beiyang, the top chair and the head of the cabinet two crucial positions, such as a marquee, there are many grass on the wall, but there are few evergreen trees, after all, if you want to do everything, in the chaotic world of Beiyang mixed with fish and dragons, it is indeed difficult, but Xu Shichang, who is known as the "crystal fox" of the late Qing Dynasty, is a good horn. As a well-known courtier in the temple of the late Qing Dynasty, in the thirty-second year of Guangxu, Xu Shichang took office as the first governor of the three eastern provinces, and it was also the last retreat through the Land of Longxing in the Qing Dynasty, which was enough to see the favor of the Qing court. As an old Hanlin who sat on the cold bench in the Hanlin Courtyard for nearly ten years, Xu Shichang's temple achievements were really step by step from the eunuch sea to the shore, of course, the only thing that people like seemed to be his moderation and smoothness.
However, Xu Shichang's descendant Xu Dingmao, as a grandson, had his own views, and he bluntly said that Xu Shichang's true colors were a reader. He believes that Xu Shichang is a typical reader, not a figure who mixes in the temple. Xu Dingmao believes: "He is deeply influenced by the education of traditional culture, and his personality is relatively gentle, not the kind of person who likes to play with sex." In other words, that is, Xu Shichang in essence does not like the rules of the late Qing Dynasty and the Beiyang Eunuch Sea, and his sleekness and moderation are definitely not without a bottom line and attitude, let alone a way of riding a wall, but a promising and optional. In the late Qing Dynasty, the most able to deal with people was none other than Li Hongzhang, who once asked his confidant Rong Lu: "Xu Shichang or li Hongzhang?" ”
In fact, in Xu Shichang's bones, it is still the nature of a scholar, balance and sense of proportion are only his protective colors, the real reader, but understand the essence of moderation, that is, the bottom line and the adherence to principles, just as Xu Shichang for him to worship the little brother, whatever Xu Shichang opposes, his righteous brother has not done anything. In the memory of Xu Shichang's grandson Xu Dingmao, many family histories were never mentioned by his parents in his early years, because his family lived in tianjin's Fifth Avenue, and many stories were also heard from neighbors and classmates, so that he knew that he was Xu Shichang's descendants. And the name of this descendant is also quite tortuous, Xu Shichang was originally childless, and succeeded Xu Xuzhi, the son of his brother Xu Shiguang. Xu Dingmao's father, Xu Baoli, graduated from Yenching University and has never forgotten to teach his children to abide by the rules.
In the end, Xu Shichang's bookish nature continued to be passed on among future generations, and etiquette and observance of rules were the most basic principles. When Xu Dingmao was young, his parents had always taught him to abide by the rules, bow to the elderly in the New Year, the old man had a birthday, the first day to be warm, the next day to pray for the birthday, to have his own dishes when eating, to other people's homes as guests, to stomp at the door first, guests at home, to get up to greet. Xu Dingmao once said frankly: "Now no matter what kind of guests come, we will stand up to greet you, people say you are not so polite, in fact, it is not polite, it is involuntarily." Xu Shichang in the late Qing Dynasty was almost pedantic, and it should be known that when Xu Shichang recorded his diary, when he mentioned Empress Dowager Cixi, the Guangxu Emperor, and the reward, he would inevitably go out of the ordinary and continue to act in an empty manner to show respect. After the Zhiwan War, Xu Shichang completely bid farewell to the temple in the poetry altar wine base, which was originally the narrative of a fisherman of smoke and waves, and it was also a kind of bookish nature.