Zeng Guofan's article is well written, which is very famous inside and outside the government and the public. In fact, among the literati in Hunan, there is one person whose article is as good as Zeng Guofan, that is, "the prosperity of hunan two hundred years of articles, the first to promote Zeng Wu.".
The "Zeng" here, of course, refers to Zeng Guofan; the "Wu" here refers to the late Qing Dynasty writer and historian Wu Minshu.
Today we will talk about the story of Wu Minshu.
Wu Minshu (Chinese: 吴敏树; pinyin: Dīng Đạng Đồng Đại Đồng Đạng Đạng Đồng Đại Đạng Wu Minshu liked Du Fu's poems very much and could even memorize them in its entirety.
In 1832, the 27-year-old Wu Minshu took the Hunan Township Examination, and the title of the gold list was named. In that year, there was also a celebrity who took the Hunan Township Examination and passed the examination, he was Zuo Zongtang, who later became famous all over the world. Speaking of which, Wu Minshu's road to the imperial examination was even more bumpy than Zuo Zongtang's. In 1833, 1836, 1844 and 1852, he entered Beijing four times to take the examination, but he did not pass the examination, and he had no chance of entering the jinshi for life.
If you can't pass the entrance examination, you can't become a high official, but fortunately, you can also rely on your status as a person to do official positions such as teaching. In 1844, the imperial court selected a group of people to serve as local officials, and Wu Minshu was appointed to Liuyang County, Hunan Province, as a teaching official, equivalent to the current county education bureau chief.
Facts have proved that Wu Minshu is a literary scholar and historian who calls the wind and rain in the literary world, but is not suitable for long-sleeved dancing in the official field. Wu Minshu had only been a teacher for more than a year, and he was disgusted with the official career of fighting for power and profit, and said that he had retired from illness. Since then, Wu Minshu has no longer sought to become an official.
After that, Wu Minshu devoted himself to the study of classical history and literature, and wrote poems and poems, leaving a valuable wealth of classical history literature for future generations. Throughout his life, Wu Minshu wrote poems of both literary and historical value, such as "Shu Xie Yushi", "Shi Junyan Ming", "Mr. Mei Boyan's Recitation", "Reply to Li Xiangzhou Book", "Preface to Xiyuan", "New Xiu Lü Xianting", "First Examination Certificate", "Wu Yuntai Lamentation", "Death Brother Yunsong Incident", "Talking Fishing", "Records of The Tuohu Lake", "Poetry Manuscript of the Tuohu Lake", and so on.
Wu Minshu is a standard intellectual, who loves to climb tall branches and does not like money.
Wu Minshu and Zuo Zongtang are the same list of people, belonging to the "same year", and once went to the capital to participate in the examination, and the relationship between the two was very good. Zuo Zongtang later abandoned Wen Congwu, led the army to fight, and became a feudal governor on the ruling side, which was very hot, and many old friends were friends and flocked to him, hoping to obtain an official and a half-post through Zuo Zongtang. Wu Minshu did not do this. When Zuo Zongtang was still unborn, he wrote two small poems and three letters to him. After Zuo Zongtang became famous, he rarely exchanged letters with him.
In addition to Zuo Zongtang, Wu Minshu had a good relationship with another famous late Qing dynasty minister, Zeng Guofan.
In 1854, after Zeng Guofan led the Xiang army to conquer Yuezhou, he specially invited Wu Minshu to Yueyang Lou to gather, sincerely asked him about the way to march and fight, and invited him to serve as his staff. As we all know, the Xiang Army is full of power all over the world, and those who have served as zeng guofan's staff, such as Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Li Yuandu, and others, have come out on top, and many of them have come out on top, and the officials have been the superintendents, and the worst of them are also the kind of political envoys. However, Wu Minshu declined Zeng Guofan's invitation.
If you are not interested in being an official, you must always like money, right?
One year, Zeng Guofan recommended Wu Minshu to be the envoy of the two Guangdong capitals. The salt administration and salt law of the liangguang region, stationed in Guangzhou, is a fat errand that can easily earn 100,000 taels of silver every year, which has attracted the covetousness of countless people.
Wu Minshu did not hesitate to refuse, he smiled and said: "We Wu family are not salt dealers." ”
What is touching is that although Wu Minshu does not want to be an official, he does not refuse social welfare undertakings. In 1872, the Tongzhi Bureau of Hunan Province hired Wu Minshu to preside over the compilation and revision of the "Hunan Tongzhi" and continue to revise the "Yuanxiangqi Old Poetry Collection". Wu Minshu is old and sick, but in order to benefit Sangzi and benefit future generations, he went to work with illness. When I went, I never came home.
In August 1873, Wu Minshu died of illness at the Tongzhi Bureau of Hunan Province at the age of 69.
[References: Wu Minshu, etc.]