The Taiping Army led by Hong Xiuquan marched from the north of Guangxi, attacking the city all the way, and in the case of the regular army of the imperial court being defeated and retreated, the Xianfeng Emperor had to pin his hopes on the local regiment training armed forces in order to protect his own country.
From November of the second year of Xianfeng (1852 AD) to February of the third year of Xianfeng, the Xianfeng Emperor appointed a total of 43 regimental training ministers, involving 10 provinces, and the status of these regimental training ministers was not low, they were all retired or former senior members of Ding You's home, and Zeng Guofan was one of them.
Before becoming the minister of hunan regimental training, Zeng Guofan was the imperial court's Zhengerpin waiter, due to the death of his mother, he was worried at home, just when the Taiping Army marched north, from Hunan to Hubei.
At this time, the Qing Dynasty not only had no combat effectiveness of the imperial army, but also the silver treasury was empty. Without the support of silver, the regimental training ministers in many places were useless and did not play a role in resisting the Taiping Army.
Then, in the case that the imperial court did not give financial support for local regiment training, why could Zeng Guofan train into the Xiang Army? Zeng Guofan's skill is not that he is good at training troops, we have to look at his skills as an official.
In fact, as long as we are good at serving officials, whether it is developing the economy or training troops, we can achieve the ultimate.
Below, we explain in detail Zeng Guofan's skills as an official, mainly including the following three points, which people in the official field must understand:
The first point: be good at using policy.
In the official arena, many officials like to talk about policies, but they do not necessarily use them. An official who does not take advantage of policy must not be a good official.
The Xianfeng Emperor, when he could not do anything about the Taiping Army, allowed regimental exercises to be held in various places. Some officials believe that this is just a temporary policy formulated by the Xianfeng Emperor for a while, and it will certainly not last long, but Zeng Guofan, who served as a military attendant, is very aware of the Qing Dynasty's family background. The army of the imperial court was decaying, lacking in discipline and lacking combat effectiveness, and it was almost impossible to rely on the Green Battalion to destroy the Taiping Army, unless another fighting army was formed.
In the case of the weakness of the imperial court," the war between the imperial court and the Taiping Army would certainly last for a long time, so the policy formulated by the Xianfeng Emperor would certainly continue until the Taiping Army was completely destroyed.
It was Zeng Guofan's accurate grasp of the policy that he was appointed as the minister of hunan regiment training, and he was unique and successful.
The second point: be good at borrowing government resources.
In the official arena, as long as they are not stupid, most officials will borrow government resources. What should be particularly noted here is that it is borrowed, and it is not fake public welfare. Let's see how Zeng Guofan did it, after becoming the hunan regiment training university, he used two government resources:
The first is to use the Holy Will to establish a reputation for oneself.
In the Xianfeng Emperor's holy decree, the duty given to Zeng Guofan was to "help the tong to handle the affairs of the province's regiment training the villagers and searching for bandits." ”
That is to say, Zeng Guofan's duty was to help the Hunan Inspector handle the regimental exercises, and he was only the Inspector's deputy. However, Zeng Guofan used the identity of "Hunan Regiment Training Minister" to create his own personal influence, for example, he established an independent office gate, and established an internal organization such as the "Trial Bureau", and he had the power to independently "suppress bandits", adjudicate cases, and adjudicate cases.
This power was beyond the scope of a regimental training minister, but Zeng Guofan used this government resource to establish influence for himself.
The second is to use their identity to recruit some people to help themselves.
Zeng Guofan is a very good official, he believes that all work, there must be a "substitute", the more people work for themselves, the easier they are, the higher the efficiency of work.
For example, Guo Songtao, Luo Zenan, and others, who were well-known in the history of the Qing Dynasty, came to help Zeng Guofan form the Xiang Army together when he was the minister of hunan regiment training. Because everyone knows that Zeng Guofan is a second-class member, and if he mixes with him, sooner or later he will get benefits.
In the official arena, there are inexhaustible resources behind every official, which will attract the attention of many people, as long as they are good at borrowing.
The third point: to be good at good service.
When some people become officials, they become flying and stumbling, and eventually put themselves in trouble. In the official arena, everyone must recognize the reality that the official position is only a job of yours, you must not think that this is your own power, there must be "tianliang", when your "tianliang" is destroyed, that is, the beginning of your end, and no one will sympathize with you.
How does Zeng Guofan do services? His approach is worth learning from:
The first is to be responsible to the imperial court and to the emperor. Everything must be in line with the policies formulated by the imperial court and the emperor.
The second is to be responsible to the people. After Zeng Guofan became the minister of hunan regimental training, he immediately began to "suppress bandits" and cleared all the bandits in Hunan, which won the approval of the common people.
The third is to be responsible for your own actions. For example, in order to form the Xiang Army, when Zeng Guofan offended the local officials in Changsha and was ostracized by everyone, he did not have a fierce infighting with everyone, but took a compromise approach and went to the remote Hengzhou (present-day Hengyang) to concentrate on training troops.
As long as an official does a good job in serving his superiors, his work, and his people, he will succeed in everything he does.
In fact, whether it is the use of policies, borrowing resources, or doing a good job, it is a skill for officials, and its core point is official marketing. Only by smoothly marketing yourself to leaders, ordinary people, and subordinates can we have more and greater room for development.
References: The Complete Works of Zeng Guofan, The Biography of Zeng Guofan, The Great Biography of Zeng Guofan, The Annals of Zeng Guofan, Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, etc.