To those who wake up alone: Although I regret that "I have opened my arms several times in my life", I believe that "I am sure that there is this person in the world"

Unlike Zuo Zongtang, who received special attention, Guo Songtao could hardly find "relics" in his hometown of Xiangyin Miluo. I told my local friends that after fifty years, Guo Songtao's reputation would be higher than Zuo Zongtang's, and my friends couldn't believe it. Why do I say that? Of course, I also like Zuo Zongtang, a person with more ability, a hero. However, I would like to tell you that there are such heroes in every dynasty and generation, especially in the water and soil of Chinese culture, and there are few people like Guo Songtao who can provide a new world outlook and a new cultural vision.

- MengZe

Wen 丨 Mengze (Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, Central South University)

Guo Songtao also has a very generous side in his life to deal with interpersonal relationships.

Regarding him as a brother, there are not only Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guoquan, Liu Rong, etc., but also Li Hongzhang, who is referred to by Liang Qichao as "not learning no technique" but actually "not learning to have a skill". He is also well aware that "the ancients became a famous person, established a thing, difficult setbacks, long and then succeeded, frustrated and determined, the more hidden the heart, the more difficult it is to work hard, the loyalty is not recorded and the more peaceful it is"; he also understands that "the way of a gentleman must be to cooperate with people's feelings, and there is no impersonal and can be forced.". Guo Songtao can also do things, such as raising salaries for Zeng Guofan, handling the two Huai salt affairs, and managing Su Song's money and grain, including rectifying Shandong's affairs and patrolling Guangdong, which can be denied to some extent.

In addition to harshly examining the virtues, instruments, and deeds of those who serve as eunuchs, he naturally applauded those officials who could "earnestly seek far-reaching measures" and won position and space for those who were truly well-educated, such as Chen Youming (Bao Zhen) and Chen Li. And for those who appeared around him, full of talent, sharpness, insight and far-sighted juniors, such as Chen Boyan (Sanli), Zeng Chongbo (Guangjun), Guo Qingfan, they were even more highly respected and rewarded. He even more unabashedly praised a courageous and insightful hero like Zeng Guoquan, saying that "his knowledge and insight, multiplied and sharpened, beyond a moment, his life and deeds are good, and the government is ignorant." This is a rare judgment in the world.

However, because of his thoughts, as well as the personality and prophetic foresight that accompanied this thought, his honesty and earnestness made his career really full of obstacles, so that he was frustrated by the monk Gelinqin, then by Li Xiangdi, by Zuo Zongtang three times, and by Liu Xihong... In fact, what really frustrated him was the imperial court for which he had stooped all his life, it was Xianfeng, it was Cixi who made him work hard for the country (Tang Degang said that Li Hongzhang lamented bismarck's "women and children" who worked with him), which was the common follow-up and inheritance of the scholar-doctor class of that era. In his later years, he wrote a poem saying, "Today's imperial court really has a way, but the events of ancient times have become insignificant." It proves that he is not unaware of what is going on in the court where he lived and died. But this belongs to reason, not emotion. He really had some hopes and expectations for Guangxu, who would one day be pro-government, and at least when talking to foreigners about state affairs, he hoped that others would see this, and he also advised foreigners not to force the Qing Dynasty too much for the time being.

In fact, as for Guo Songtao's own talents and the situation he faced, even Zeng Guoquan, who was known as a reckless man, knew: "Those who live today and seek public order, and have nothing to say about foreign affairs." Only one Jia Sheng (referring to Guo Songtao) can not be used, which can really be used for those who are too snotty. "Jia Yi (200 BC - 168 BC), a political commentator of the Western Han Dynasty, served as the Han Emperor Liu Heng, who was the Prince of Changsha, and composed "Hanging Qu Yuanfu", which has ten volumes of the "New Book", "Chen Zhengshi Shu" and "On Passing the Qin", and has many opinions on the politics of the Han Dynasty. However, poor night half empty front seat, do not ask the heavens to ask the ghosts and gods. Jia Yi could not but "honor Jia Hui Xi and sin Changsha."

Just as Zeng Guoquan saw, and unlike the split personality shown by the entire group of scholars and doctors in the face of Western civilization at that time, Guo Songtao's cultural personality was almost healthy; unlike the Tudafu group at that time, which often only had moral passion and lacked the courage to seek truth and knowledge, Guo Songtao had more than moral courage and pragmatic enthusiasm and enthusiasm for knowledge.

It was here that Guo Songtao and his contemporaries" "elites" went farther and farther.

Moreover, his insight into state affairs and foreign affairs, the depth of his persistence, and the strength of his confidence are far above those of Li Hongzhang's generation. His knowledge and understanding of certain aspects of Chinese and Western civilizations transcended his time and had a certain universal significance, belonging to the righteousness and morality that any civilization must follow and practice.

Based on this, Guo Songtao's basic judgment of the country's situation and future is often more accurate, and it is impossible not to let people repeat it decades or even a hundred decades later.

Liu Dingsheng, a scholar of the Republic of China, said: "In the midst of the stubborn and stubborn old atmosphere of the Qing Dynasty, my generation still saw Guo Gong's unbiased theory, measured the advantages and losses of China and foreign countries, and did not hesitate to be extremely rational, to eliminate floating discussions, to solve the world's troubles, and to correct the shortcomings of the scholars' empty words since the Southern Song Dynasty. ”

In 1901, before his death, Li Hongzhang, on behalf of the Qing court, once again signed the alliance under the city, the "Xinugu Treaty", on behalf of the Qing court, and then wrote to the imperial court saying: "Ministers and other officials, in recent decades, every time there is a challenge, there will be one more loss." The events of the previous year were particularly hasty, the wounds were deep and painful, and Bo Hai was terrified. Now that peace has been discussed and the overall situation is less certain, it is still hoped that our imperial court will adhere to the fixed view, make peace with the outside, and make the inner map rich and strong, or there may be a gradual turnaround. For example, many sick people, who are good at self-medicine, are afraid or injured, if they are brave and fierce, they will be worried about their lives! In this way, Guo Songtao said it loudly at the time of Xiantong almost half a century ago, in front of Cixi, and again during the Sino-French war, and no one responded.

Famous contemporary historians Huang Renyu and Tang Degang said in their writings that the Chinese nation in the great history, for more than a century, has been in the midst of storms and rains, like the nirvana of the phoenix, and is passing through the long ups and downs and dangerous obstacles like the Three Gorges, and will eventually set foot on a prosperous village in the foreseeable future. Almost one hundred and fifty years ago, Guo Songtao believed that it would take three hundred years for China to get out of the deep and corrupt politics and religion that had accumulated since the Qin and Han Dynasties and create a new effective "etiquette custom" that could not be expected to succeed. He said that weapons, equipment, and manufacturing, with the responsibility of sages, may be able to change in thirty or fifty years, can be roughly estimated, this also needs to be educated, a hundred years of tree people, a hundred years of strength may be able to clean up the old dyes, and with a hundred years of strength may be able to sharpen the right and qualified people and talents, and then with a hundred years of strength can accumulate adult heart customs, the real change lies in the customs of the human heart, the need for a big vision, the courage of the "saints" to rise one after another.

Naturally, it is inseparable from the efforts of people, including himself, little by little, the so-called "no end".

Such a mission has indeed accompanied the Chinese people to this day. Moreover, the road ahead is long and the road is long.

He also said, "Looking down on the past and the present, and feeling sad, who can know this righteousness?" He realized that the so-called dawn was not right next to him, behind him, not within reach.

Therefore, we cannot help but sympathize with Guo Songtao's once depressed, and he wrote in his own poem: "The world wants to kill and determine talent, and the clumsiness is frequently eaten back." The knowledge is half general and half obvious, and the embrace of a lifetime has been opened several times. "When did the world want to kill and no longer be counted, when did he stretch his arms?"

At the same time, we can't help but be surprised by the confidence that Guo Songtao once had: "Arrogance and laziness are not distorted, but the old state of Yu is entrusted to god." After hundreds of generations of people, it is certain that there is this person in the world. ”

This is a kind of genius self-confidence, and Guo Shi naturally has an emotional and psychological characteristics as a genius: in life, especially in the official arena, for some people and some things, they seek too deeply, and for some people and some things, they lose their chances. But if this is not the case, how can it constitute Guo Songtao's unusual encounter, how to have his discoveries and insights from ordinary people, and how to achieve his special significance in modern history?

Naturally, we don't have to do a medical-like dissection. Through this kind of dissection, it is not necessarily clever to complete the examination of historical figures. Moreover, guo Songtao knew how well he was of his situation and what he had done, and how appropriate he had a self-understanding.

Guo Songtao once compared his own and Zeng Guoquan's encounters in his later years on Zeng Guoquan's sixtieth birthday, jokingly saying: Yuanpu performed arduous duties in Shanxi and made a clean and easy trip in Taixi; Yuanpu Huize was clothed with hundreds of millions of beings, and he cursed all over Kyushu; Yuanpu made the people of Shanxi respect and Bingde more and more humble, and he let the people of Hunan treat it as dung and speak more and more high-pitched; Yuanpu Jiangong Society was too busy to come, and he was just retiring from illness.

How many times have we ever seen a person whose self-perception is so clear and who has no lack of self-deprecation, who knows that he is deeply hurt and does not shy away from regret, who is so proud of himself?

Yes, it is true, what he has left us is a fragrant and mournful soul, an insight and thought about Chinese and Western civilization that transcends the times, rather than an immortal deed that is breathtaking. He didn't have a hand to fix Qiankun and Ansheji, he couldn't think of Ann, he was even a loser. However, when we go deep into China's history, especially modern history, when we realize the modern transformation of Chinese society and its culture, so far, how to repeat itself and how to walk difficult, and China's development is still in the "three thousand years of unprecedented changes", that is, the integration of Chinese and Western culture and civilization has not yet been completed. Then, you must feel that the step that Guo Songtao took in thought and action is a great step, a step that only a great person can take, a step that requires our fragrant prayer.

His setbacks, far from individual setbacks, are those of the outstanding personalities of this nation, and at the same time the frustrations of the whole nation.

Zhengbang library shelf

The protagonist of this book, Guo Songtao, is a person whose concept is more than one step ahead of the times, so that some of his words and deeds are difficult for even his friends Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang to understand and identify. As a sober guest in the chaos of the late Qing Dynasty, Guo Songtao was saddled with too many misunderstandings and infamy.

This book takes Guo Songtao's ups and downs in life experience as the main line, connects Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Hu Linyi, Li Hongzhang and other important military and political figures in the late Qing Dynasty; by describing the choices and fates of different characters in the three thousand years of unprecedented changes, it reflects the political situation of the late Qing Dynasty where internal and external contradictions are intertwined.

Looking back at that period of history from today's perspective, Guo Songtao seems to be an alternative who has traveled from the modern era to the past.

【Book Title】"The Tiredness of Waking Alone: Guo Songtao and the Great Changes in the Late Qing Dynasty"

[Author] Meng Ze

【Publisher】Yuelu Book Club

【Publication date】November 2021