«——【Preamble】】 ——»
It was under the expectation of his grandfather that Zeng Guofan embarked on the road of studying, and he carried the dream of the Zeng family's imperial examination to seek the lintel of the official light, and he finally realized this dream, but his road was quite difficult, because his talent was not very smart.
Tsang Kwok-fan is the eldest son in the family, his four younger brothers are Tsang Kwok-huang, Tsang Kwok-wah, Tsang Kwok-chuen and Tsang Kwok-pao, and his sisters are Tsang Kwok-lan, Tsang Kwok-hui and Tsang Kwok-chi.
Zeng Guofan's younger brothers all grew up under his tutelage, and most of them paid a heavy price for following their brothers, but eventually realized their value in life.
Zeng Guofan claims to be the sixty-eighth grandson of Zengzi, and the author is not sure about the accuracy of this statement, but Zeng Guofan has not insulted Zengzi, the ancestor of the Zeng family, and his life's achievements are far beyond his ancestors.
His knowledge, character, and status are also enough to glorify his ancestors. Zengzi's existence as a sage of the Zeng family provided Zeng Guofan's spiritual motivation to devote himself to studying, and his dedication to reading enabled him to embark on a successful path to enter the office.
If Zeng Guofan had not entered the officialdom of the Qing court through the imperial examination, then even if he later participated in the formation of the Hunan army, he would not have had such a high starting point. Zeng Guofan's road to success began with his imperial examination for office, and he made great efforts to this end.
1. Zeng Guofan's path to study
In order to cultivate Zeng Guofan into a talent as soon as possible, when he was four years old, that is, in 1815, the twentieth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, his father Zeng Linshu began to enlighten him in writing.
Although Zeng Linshu had not even obtained a talent at that time, he already had a relatively solid foundation in Chinese studies, which was enough to guide his son to read and write.
Anyone who understands traditional education should know that the old school enlightenment education is different from what we teach primary school students today, it generally does not start with literacy and pronunciation, but allows children to memorize some classic words first.
As the author said earlier, Zeng Guofan did not show extraordinary talent for reading since he was a child, and his efficiency in memorizing documents was not high, and he always relied on repeated recitation to strengthen his memory.
In 1816, when Zeng Guofan was five years old, after a year of enlightenment, he was able to memorize some basic classics and also recognize some simple Chinese characters.
In order to let Zeng Guofan officially embark on the road of studying, his father Zeng Linshu brought him into the family private school Lijianzhai and made him officially a schoolboy.
Although the teacher who taught Zeng Guofan to read was still his father Zeng Linshu, he had to be strictly controlled when he entered the private school, because there were a group of children studying in this private school, and the quality of teaching could not be guaranteed without strict rules.
Tsang was the son of a teacher, which meant that he was subject to stricter controls, which were harsh for a five- or six-year-old child, but he quickly adapted to the teaching environment, and he always studied hard to manage himself.
Zeng Guofan's love for reading is by no means a natural thing, but a product of intensive training, because fundamentally speaking, the way of private school education is unscientific.
Zeng Guofan's motivation for loving reading was mainly the expectation and guidance of his family at first, and it was mainly to achieve his dream of seeking official positions in the imperial examination as soon as possible, and it also became the foundation of his life and self-cultivation, so that he developed to the situation of "not going without studying for a day".
If you simply read for a utilitarian purpose, then reading all day must be a very hard errand, but if reading becomes a hobby, then the person who reads will take suffering as pleasure.
In 1826, the spring of the sixth year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, at the age of fifteen, he participated in the Changsha Boys' Examination and won the seventh place in the preliminary examination.
The Tong Zi Examination, also known as the Tong Examination, was the first pass of the imperial examination in the Qing Dynasty, which was divided into three stages: the county examination, the government examination and the hospital examination, and was ranked before the township examination, the meeting examination and the palace examination.
Anyone who passed the first pass of the academy examination in the children's examination can be awarded the fame of Xiucai, although Zeng Guofan had a smooth start in the first two levels, but this time he failed to pass the academy examination, and he failed to achieve the fame of Xiucai.
This exam was both an incentive and a blow to Zeng Guofan, making him realize his own academic shortcomings, so he devoted himself more diligently to his studies.
After finishing his trip to Changsha, Zeng Guofan returned to Xiangxiang and continued to study the Four Books and Five Classics and the Eight Strands of Literature in preparation for participating in the imperial examination again in the future.
During this period, Ouyang Ningzhi, an old friend of Zeng Guofan's father Zeng Linshu, admired the young Zeng Guofan's academic spirit and poetry level very much, so he offered to marry his daughter Ouyang to him, so Zeng Guofan had a fiancée.
In 1833, the thirteenth year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, at the age of twenty-two, he rushed to Changsha, the provincial capital, again to participate in the children's examination that determined the fate of his imperial examination.
This is a very remarkable thing, because before that, among the scholars of the Xiangxiang Zeng clan and its township party, except for Zeng Guofan's father Zeng Linshu, no one had achieved any imperial examination fame.
And Zeng Linshu has entered middle age, and it is unrealistic to glorify the court through the imperial examination, and the hope of the Zeng family falls on Zeng Guofan's shoulders.
Zeng Guofan, who had achieved initial success, returned to his hometown, not only received praise from his family and neighbors, but also ushered in the first marriage in his life, he and Ouyang officially married, which was really a double happiness for the young Zeng Guofan.
After becoming a family, Zeng Guofan continued to march into the imperial examination, because only after participating in the township examination, the meeting examination and the palace examination could he enter the ranks of civil officials who were born on the right path.
Second, Zeng Guofan's imperial examination for officials
In the spring of 1834, Zeng Guofan entered the prestigious Yuelu Academy to further his studies and prepare for the township examination.
Yuelu Academy is one of the four major academies in ancient China, after the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, known as the "millennium school", rich in books, academic profound, Zeng Guofan entered the academy like a fish in water, quickly absorbed the essence of Chinese culture.
Later, Zeng Guofan led the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which had a lot to do with the Taiping army's burning of the Yuelu Academy, because this academy carried the ancient Chinese cultural tradition and the scholars' dreams of studying.
In 1834, that is, in the autumn of the 14th year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan, who was 23 years old at the time, participated in the Hunan Township Examination held in Changsha. Zeng Guofan gave full play to his better knowledge level, calmly completed all the answer sheets, and finally successfully won the championship with a score of 36th.
This was a major event that caused a sensation in Xiangxiang and even Hunan at that time, we must know that there are many scholars who have struggled all their lives and have not been able to get the fame of lifting people, Zeng Guofan's father Zeng Linshu was over forty years old before he was admitted to the fame of Xiucai.
Zeng Guofan has achieved fame and fame, and he has won the qualification of an alternate official, but he has a higher pursuit, and plans to rush to Beijing to participate in the examination to obtain greater fame and fortune.
Before Zeng Guofan entered Beijing to take the exam, he went south to Hengyang to visit his teacher Wang Jue'an, and the teacher and student saw each other very happily, and Wang Jue'an no longer dared to despise this stupid student.
Zeng Guofan traveled more than 3,000 miles through the two roads of water and drought, and it took more than a month to arrive in Beijing. After Zeng Guofan arrived in Beijing, according to the practice of the imperial examination at that time, he lived in the Changsha Guild Hall, which was equivalent to one of the provincial offices in Beijing.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were more than 500 guild halls in Beijing, mainly where the gentry from various provinces contacted the villagers, and the scholars of the province who participated in the imperial examination often lived here.
Zeng Guofan's stay in the Changsha Guild Hall had two advantages for him: first, he could save a sum of money, because the guild hall charged low fees for scholars from the province. Second, they can take the opportunity to join the Hunan gentry circle and lay the foundation for future progress in the scientific field and officialdom.
In 1835, Zeng Guofan, then 24 years old, officially entered the examination room of the examination. Zeng Guofan thought that he could stand out in the examination, but he didn't expect that the result was that he fell to Sun Shan, which was the first major blow he suffered after going to Beijing to catch the exam.
Zeng Guofan was not crushed by this setback, and after a brief period of depression, he continued to pack up his original books and bury his head in these classics again.
Originally, the scholars who failed the scientific examination had to return to their hometowns, because under normal circumstances, the examination was only held once every three years, and with the coils carried by Zeng Guofan at that time, he could not support the cost of three years in Beijing.
However, Zeng Guofan remained firmly in the capital and continued to live in the Changsha Hall to study. It turned out that the coming year would be the 60th birthday of the Empress Dowager, and according to the usual practice, there would be an additional Enke, which gave Zeng Guofan new hope.
In the sixteenth year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan once again walked into the examination room of the examination. I don't know if it's because Zeng Guofan is not good at learning arts, or because of his bad luck, anyway, on the day of the list, he found that he was once again famous in Sun Shan.
This fiasco was a big blow to Zeng Guofan, who had lost the capital and courage to continue to stay in Beijing, so he had to return to his hometown in frustration. Zeng Guofan did not return the same way, but made a special trip south along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, and visited the scenery along the way.
Zeng Guofan's trip increased his knowledge of geography and customs, and paved the way for his later attack on Nanjing and the management of Liangjiang.
Zeng Guofan returned to his hometown from the capital, looking very chic, but in fact he was very embarrassed, because he was forced to return to his hometown after the failure of the imperial examination, and at this time he had reached the point of exhaustion.
At the beginning of 1838, Zeng Guofan, who was 27 years old at the time, rushed from his hometown to the capital again after full preparation, and re-lived in the Changsha Guild Hall, making sufficient preparations for participating in the examination.
This is the third time that Zeng Guofan has participated in the examination, and his years of hard work have finally paid off, after participating in the three examinations held by the Ministry of Rites in the Gongyuan, and finally his name appears on the apricot list.
Zeng Guofan, as a member of the third class, was given the same Jinshi background, which means that he did not have the qualifications to enter the Hanlin Academy. Since the Tang Dynasty, the Hanlin Academy has been an official office with strong academic color, and later it has become a training base for senior officials in previous dynasties.
Therefore, entering the Hanlin Academy has become the dream of all scholars, and Zeng Guofan is certainly no exception. Zeng Guofan was fortunate to enter the Hanlin Academy later, thanks to the fact that he seized the last opportunity, that is, the court examination after the palace examination.
This imperial examination was presided over by Mu Zhang'a, the chief military minister of the Daoguang Emperor, who admired Zeng Guofan's poems and writings, and at this time he was about to win over his henchmen, and Zeng Guofan's simple style entered his eyes.
So, under the guidance of his fellow villager Yu Shi Lao Chongguang, Zeng Guofan went to Mu Zhang'a's mansion in advance with his poems and texts, and visited the first important minister of the dynasty.
Zeng Guofan was respectful to Mu Zhang'a, and Mu Zhang'a cared for Zeng Guofan, so Zeng Guofan took the opportunity to kowtow and admit this teacher.
Mu Zhang'a was Emperor Daoguang's confidant, so his recommendation was very valued by the emperor, and Emperor Daoguang decided to personally assess Zeng Guofan.
Emperor Daoguang's way of asking Zeng Guofan was very special, he ordered the eunuch to introduce Zeng Guofan into the Zhonghe Hall and stayed for an hour, but he refused to come forward to meet him.
Tsang spent the hour in tension before exiting the palace in disappointment and doubt, and in order to solve the mystery, he paid a visit to his mentor Mu Zhang'a overnight.
After listening to Zeng Guofan's story, Mu Zhang'a immediately understood what was going on, so he ordered someone to quickly bring four hundred taels of silver to the palace to buy the deacon and eunuch, and copy the text on the inner wall of the palace where Zeng Guofan had stayed.
Mu Zhang'aken's bleeding for Zeng Guofan, a third-class jinshi, is enough to prove that Zeng Guofan gained his weight at that time, and he will also achieve Zeng Guofan's fame and fortune.
It turned out that the text on the inner wall of that palace was a "Zhuzi Family Motto", which was an ideological theory that Emperor Daoguang valued more in his life.
3. Summary
Under Mu Zhang'a's entrustment, Zeng Guofan memorized this text late at night and explored its essence in detail. So, when Emperor Daoguang summoned Zeng Guofan again the next day, he asked Zeng Guofan about the relevant content of the "Zhuzi Family Motto".
Zeng Guofan replied fluently, so he was quite loved by Emperor Daoguang. In the following official court examination, Mu Zhang'a ranked Zeng Guofan in third place, and Emperor Daoguang personally changed Zeng Guofan to second place, and awarded him the official position of Jishi of the Hanlin Academy.
Hanlin Yuan Shu Jishi is also known as Shu Chang, although it is only a small official from the seventh grade, but it is the highest starting point that the Ming and Qing dynasties of Jinshi can obtain, which means that the Jinshi has the opportunity to soar.
He worked at the Hanlin Academy, mainly responsible for writing and cultivating the ability to handle government affairs.
Zeng Guofan became a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and officially entered the officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty and became a young Beijing official.