In the eighteenth year of Qing Daoguang (1838), Zeng Guofan appointed Hanlin as a fellow scholar, and this year he was 28 years old, exhausting his whole body strength and countless sweats, and finally knocked on the door of the imperial examination and officially entered the career path.
In terms of qualifications, Zeng Guofan and many famous people in history cannot be compared at all, but in terms of achievements, Zeng Guofan is by no means inferior to anyone. Liang Qichao believes that there are two half-saints in Chinese history, two are Confucius and Wang Yangming, and half are Zeng Guofan. The original meaning of the saint is to be a perfect person. As a politician, Zeng Guofan eventually became a politician, strategist, physicist, literary scholar, and calligrapher in the late Qing Dynasty, and was recognized as a saint, even if it was only half. And Zeng Guofan's secret to success: perseverance and never give up.
On November 26, 1811, Zeng Guofan was born in an ordinary family in Baiyangping Village, Xiangxiang, Hunan Province. If a person's IQ is judged by the level of memory, then Zeng Guofan is a stupid child who is like a fake bag. When Zeng Guofan was a child, one night in the hot summer, he was reading at home, and he recited a very simple article for an hour or two but still could not memorize it. It turned out that a thief had gotten under Zeng Guofan's bedroom bed, intending to sweep the important items in the house while he slept. However, the thief was so hot under the bed that he almost fainted, Zeng Guofan was still stumbling there, and an article was still missing two pounds. The thief couldn't bear to get out of bed and recite the article like flowing water. Before leaving, the thief said to Zeng Guofan: "Just your mind, what books to read, farm." After that, the thief walked away. Zeng Guofan looked at the thief's distant back incredulously, picked up the book, shook his head and recited it again.
Former residence of Zeng Guofan
In the eyes of our modern people, he is really not the material for reading, and he should have learned a craft and employed a long time ago. But Zeng Guofan never gave up, he firmly believed that "diligence can make up for weakness" and "effort must be rewarded", these wise sayings were finally verified by Zeng Guofan.
Zeng Guofan began to take the Xiucai exam when he was 16 years old, and took the exam seven times. For the first time, Zeng Guofan was expected to fall off the list; The second time, he fell off the list again. His father said that there were no more than three things; The third time, fall off the list again. His father said that he would not relax in his grip on Aoyama; The fourth, fifth, sixth... His father decided that the Zeng family was a companion for the exam and wanted to give up. But Zeng Guofan not only did not lose heart because of repeated failures, but used it as a spur to work harder to prepare for the exam. Finally, at the age of 23, he was shortlisted and ranked second to last. After showing talent, Zeng Guofan seemed to have some good luck, and he won the village examination the next year. In the next entrance examination, Zeng Guofan began the struggle of repeated defeats. After falling off the list one after another, he finally kept the clouds open and saw the moon, and he was listed as a third-class forty-two in the palace examination, and was given the same jinshi. "Tongjinshi" means "equivalent to jinshi", but it is not jinshi, just as a hot dog is not a dog, and a field chicken is not a chicken.
Zeng Guofan photo
Tongjin Shi means that he cannot enter the Hanlin Academy, and if he is lucky, he may serve as an unknown minor official in various ministries of the central government, and if he is unlucky, he will be blasted out of the central government to serve as a county commander in various counties. It was already thankful that he could be on the list with his qualifications, but the arrogant Zeng Guofan thought that passing the palace examination but not being able to enter the Hanlin Academy was a great shame in his life.
At this time, Zeng Guofan's vigor to not give up if he did not achieve his goal came into play again. Zeng Guofan supervised Yushi Lao Chongguang through his fellow villagers, caught up with Mu Chang'a's line, and continued to write poems and articles to make Mu Chang'a Qingyan. But because Zeng Guofan's literary style was so average, Mu Chang'a did not see him for more than ten days. Lao Chongguang, who was a "wild geese" in the middle, also gradually became impatient to introduce him, and he once kindly reminded Zeng Fan: "In fact, it is not bad to go to the local government to serve as a county commander." It is very fast to move from the local level, but after entering the Hanlin Academy, it is difficult to be promoted without more than ten years of seniority. But Zeng Guofan still refused to give up and insisted on writing poetry. Finally, Mu Chang'a was moved by Zeng Guofan's perseverance that he knew that he could not do and had been doing it. Since then, under the promotion of Mu Zhang'a, Zeng Guofan's magnificent political road has officially begun.
Portrait of Zeng Guofan