Written by | Zhao Libo
Zhao Liewen was zeng guofan's most important and closest aide, although he has always surrounded Zeng Guofan with a small role, but his special talent and morality have always been valued and loved by zeng guofan, Zeng Guoquan, and Li Hongzhang, and other big figures, and through his important masterpiece "Diary of Being Able to Live quietly" completely and accurately recorded the entire political pattern of the late Qing Dynasty. With the publication of this important work, Zhao Liewen's name became more and more well known, and the most famous event was a normal conversation with Zeng Guofan, which accurately predicted the time period of the fall of the Qing Dynasty. For Zeng Guofan, who had just pacified the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and was strongly looking forward to the country's prosperity, it was undoubtedly the most fatal spiritual blow. It is precisely because of his unique talent and great wisdom of political vision that Zeng Guofan regarded him as a relative, as a resolute, stubborn and taciturn Zeng Guofan, as long as he was with Zhao Liewen, he could express his true disposition, it can be said that Zhao Liewen was the most important staff disciple of Zeng Guofan in his later years, and to a large extent, it gave Zeng Guofan a rare psychological comfort in his later years.
Retsubun Images
The sixth year of Tongzhi is Zeng Guofan's discussion of the past and the present, Zang no characters, the most frequent period of judging the situation, sometimes to see him several times a day, Zeng Guofan is willing to chat with him as long as he has time, and his brother can not say what he can say, this heart-to-heart friendship is afraid that it is difficult to find a second person here in Zeng Guofan. In Zeng Guofan's heart, he attached great importance to this young talent, and the two finally matched each other as a master and apprentice, and their feelings were very sincere, and because of this, Zhao Liewen followed Zeng Guofan's southern conquest and northern war, and under the great changes in history, he used a very calm vision to make accurate and far-reaching predictions about the political development and the general trend of history in the late Qing Dynasty.
Zhao Liewen, Zi Huifu, No. Neng Jingju, Jiangsu Yanghu people. His father, Zhao Renji (赵仁基), was a Daoguang jinshi (道光進士), an official who was sent to Hubei as an envoy. Zhao Liewen studied traditional education in a down-to-earth and systematic manner since childhood, but he failed the Sanying Township Examination, so he was desperate to pursue a career and concentrate on pragmatic learning. Around January 1856, he was recommended by his brother-in-law Zhou Tenghu to join Zeng Guofan's staff, and in December 1861, he was transferred to the military camp by Zeng Guofan, saying that he "read a lot of books, pays attention to current events, and can be cultivated".
Zeng Guofan was always surrounded by a large number of capable people who influenced the political pattern of the late Qing Dynasty at that time, such as Li Hongzhang, Peng Yulin, Guo Songtao, Zuo Zongtang, Luo Zenan, Li Yuandu, and Ding Richang, all of whom had been able to exert a major influence in the history of the late Qing Dynasty because zeng Guofan knew and employed people. Compared with them, Zhao Liewen is simply unknown, but from the perspective of deep feelings, Zhao Liewen and Zeng Guofan have the deepest feelings, and Zhao Liewen's discipleship often talks about ancient and modern together in Zeng Guofan's later years, which gave Zeng Guofan a great psychological comfort in his heart at that time.
Xiang Army
Zeng Guofan and Zhao Liewen knew each other very early, and Xianfeng's five years were the most difficult days for Zeng Guofan, and most of the accompanying staff abandoned him. Zhao Liewen's brother-in-law Zhou Tenghu recommended him to enter the curtain. Seeing the young Zhao Liewen, he specially asked him to look at his ace troops and give him an opinion. After visiting, Zhao actually said: "The camp system of the camps of the Camphor Camp is very lax, and the military morale is already old, and I am afraid that it is not enough to be ashamed." Zeng Guofan was very angry at what he said, thinking that this young man was arrogant and did not understand the military. At this time, Zhao's old mother was ill, and she may have seen Zeng Guofan's thoughts, so she resigned to Zeng Guofan on the grounds of her mother's illness, and Zeng Guofan did not keep it.
Coincidentally, just when Zhao was about to leave, the Xiang army of Zhou Fengshan's army was defeated at The Tree. Zeng Guofan asked Zhao Liewen to tell why he saw that Zhou Fengshan's Xiang army could not be relied upon, and Zeng Shi was clever and had a new understanding of Zhao Liewen. Later, due to the death of Zhao Liewen's mother, he returned to his hometown to observe the funeral, and this stay was five years. Zeng Guofan never forgot this young man, and when Xianfeng was eleven years old, Zeng Guofan specially played a role in ordering him to enter the military camp, and thus Zhao Liewen began the real staff work of Zeng Guofan, who had just turned thirty years old. Two years later, in the second year of Tongzhi, because of his excellent work, even Zeng Guoquan, who was attacking the city of Nanjing, repeatedly asked Zeng Guofan for Zhao Liewen to assist him. At the same time, as the secretary of the Zeng family brothers and the "high counselor", it can be seen how important the Zeng brothers are to Zhao Liewen.
A few days after the destruction of the city, Zeng Guofan came from Anqing, just in time for the imperial court to send a will, to make Zeng Guofan a first-class marquis, Zeng Guofan a first-class uncle, Zhao Liewen entered the inner congratulations, and asked Zeng Guofan with a smile: "After that, should I be called Zhongtang, or marquis?" Zeng Guofan smiled and replied, "Don't call a monkey a monkey." It is conceivable that Zeng Guofan has always been serious and only willing to tell jokes to Zhao Liewen, although they are not as good as the teachers and students after them.
Zeng Guofan continued to go north to suppress the twist, and after pacifying Hong Xiuquan, his staff and other staff members were all protected for their military merits, and most of them were willing to be recommended as officials. Here Zeng Guofan, he was very concerned about Zhao Liewen's life choices. One day in March of the fourth year of Tongzhi, he chatted with Zeng Guofan and talked about the future road, and Zhao Liewen said frankly: "Yu Yunlie's plan for provenance was not calculated, and the Dutch Xiangguo and the young marshal were generous and did not dare to refuse. However, he is still willing to follow Xiangguo..." Previously, Zhao Liewen had been guaranteed by the Zeng brothers to "stay in Zhejiang to supplement the use of directly subordinate states." Zeng Guofan smiled and nodded. A month later, Zeng Guofan wanted to go north, zhao Liewen asked to follow the line, for various reasons wanted him to come out, Zhao Liewen still did not agree. Zeng Guofan also mobilized many people to persuade Zhao Liewen to come out, so that it seemed that he could withstand the hardships that Zhao Liewen had suffered for so many years, and Zhao Liewen was really stubborn, and reluctantly agreed to return to his hometown to wait.
Zeng Guofan calligraphy
On the day of sending off Zeng Guofan, Zeng Jize, the son of Zeng Guofan, was ordered to send Zhao Liewen a pair of Zeng Guofan's calligraphy, and the money called him: "Brother Yu qi loves each other, which can be described as sincere." "Touched, Zhao Liewen could not bear it any longer, so he ran to zeng guofan to worship the master, and told zeng guofan, in the past I also wanted to worship you as a teacher, but I was afraid that others would say that I was "a person who knows in the name of merit", so I did not dare to be too close to you, and now we have to separate, these suspicions are gone, and my long-term wish can be said. After Zeng Guofan was humble several times, he was very touched to agree, and when he left, Zhao Liewen was very sad, and Zeng Guofan also had a sad face.
Leaving the days of Zeng Dishi, Zhao Liewen returned to his hometown with a paid candidate, and began to build his own spiritual home at the foot of yushan mountain in his hometown, when he wandered around, he did not forget to buy books everywhere, as for the present has become a grand view, he gave this bookstore a name of "Heavenly Floor", this time he was very happy, in his own words is "Le Mo and Li Yi." ”
Two years later, Zhao Liewen received a letter from Zeng Guofan, asking him to continue to work, and once again came to the teacher he missed very much, and after six years of Tongzhi, the feelings between the two of them were extremely cordial, and during the days of living together day and night, they began to talk without reservation. In his diary, what he saw more was "Di Shi Lai Jiu Tan" and other words, sometimes Zeng Guofan was in a bad mood and wanted to talk to him, and when he had problems, he also needed to take the pulse to grasp the medicine, during these days, Zhao Liewen became the spiritual reliance of Zeng Guofan, although he was a teacher and a student, he was in love with father and son.
Once Zeng Guofan said that he relied on the unremitting way of self-improvement to "achieve success in the rough". Zhao Liewen smiled and said to him, "The division has worked hard all year, and the thieves are only three out of ten, and the worldly grammar warriors are no less than five out of ten." Of course, Zeng Guofan's victory depended on the battle against the Taiping Army, how did this become three out of ten, but the war with secular grammar became five out of ten. This was obviously bizarre at the time.
The so-called secular grammar refers to the corrupt political system of that era, the rotten Eight Flags Green Camp, the decadent Shilin, and the unregulated society. The so-called grammar refers to various unspoken rules and so on. To this day, we cannot but admit that the world only sees the surface, and what Zhao Liewen sees is the essence of the turmoil in the same year. What Zeng himself did not expect, and what he did not want to think about, was Zhao's following words: "Now that the division is victorious and the world is calmly following it, I am afraid that this situation cannot be changed for hundreds of years." Unity has been long, and the divided elephant cover has been indiscriminately coveted, although it is only a matter of human affairs, it is only providence! "What did Tsang's victory create? This is what Wang Minyun later said in the "XiangJun Chronicle": "After that, the Xiang army became stronger and stronger, the inspectors became more and more comfortable, and the body became more and more respected", that is, the situation that Zeng Shi was extremely reluctant to see.
It was based on this penetrating understanding that Zhao Liewen became the first person in that era to predict the collapse of the Qing Dynasty with great accuracy.
It was also a few days after this that the teachers and students chatted and talked about one of the most important topics, that is, about the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty, so Zhao Liewen became the first person to foresee the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
Empress Dowager Cixi
On the evening of June 20, 1867, on June 20, 1867, Zeng Guofan had just been treated with medicine by Zhao Liewen. "After the first drum, the diner came to talk freely. As the people from Beijing said, the weather in Yundumen is very bad, and the case of open fire fighting occurs from time to time, and the city is full of beggars, even women are naked and have no pants, and the people are exhausted, I am afraid that there will be changes, why not? Zeng Guofan once again frowned and asked Zhao Liewen. Zhao Liewen said calmly: "The world's public security has been unified for a long time, and it is bound to be tamed to the point of division. However, the Lord's power is heavy, the atmosphere is not open, if it is not a rotten heart, it will not be a situation of disintegration. In the intensity of the day, the calamity of the other day must first be completely overthrown, and the rear state has no master, and the people govern themselves, and they will not be able to survive for fifty years. That is to say, the "world" has been governing for a long time, and there have been too many corruption problems, but because the emperor has always been very authoritative, the royal family has not rotted first, so there will be no situation of disintegration now. But according to his estimation, the great calamity in the future will be the collapse of the Qing court first, and then the situation of fragmentation and division; he further judged that this would happen in about fifty years.
After Zeng Guofan was shocked, he continued to explore in depth: "But when to move south?" ”
Successive Chinese dynasties have built their capital in the Yellow River Valley, and because of the war, they have also moved the capital to the south several times, leaving half of the country.
Zhao Liewen's view was: "Fearing that Lu Shen may not be able to meet Jin and Song Ye." "It is impossible for the Qing government to move south to a remote corner like the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. Then Zhao Liewen expressed some views in detail, and finally Zeng Guofan was so desperate that Zeng Guofan said in despair: "I look forward to death day and night, and I am worried about seeing the fall of zongyi." After some pain, Zeng Guofan put forward a new idea, hoping that Zhao Liewen would pay attention to the "wisdom" of Prince Gong of the current dynasty and the "power" of Empress Dowager Cixi, hoping that they could avoid the end of "sucking the heart" and "fundamentally upsetting the servant". Zhao insisted that I had seen a small photograph of Prince Gong and thought that Yi Chen's "wisdom and faith are also small and wise", and Cixi's "power" will make her more vulnerable to deception.
In late July of the following year, Zeng Guofan was appointed as the governor of Zhili, and finally had the opportunity to meet Empress Dowager Cixi, Emperor Tongzhi, and Prince Gong Yi for the first time, and was summoned by Empress Dowager Cixi four times in a few days. The position of directly subordinate governor not only enabled him to observe the "highest-level" leaders of the Qing Dynasty at close range, but finally Zeng Guofan came to the conclusion that "the two palaces are ordinary, there is no important word to meet, and the emperor is silent, and there is no way to predict it." The situation is all in the military aircraft palace, the number of people in the literature and treasures, and the power is superior to the master. Gong Di is extremely clever, and Dang dangling can't stand. After saying that it was even worrying, he completely believed Zhao Liewen's theory.
Prince Gong
It was also on this day that Zhao Liewen heard a friend named Zhuzhuang say that the current emperor was wise but unwilling to study, and one day he was stubborn with his master, and the master had no choice, so he cried and asked the little emperor for advice. At that time, when he was reading the book, he just read "Gentlemen do not instruments", and the Tongzhi Emperor covered the two "kou characters" under the instrument with his hands and said to his master: "What is the explanation of this sentence by Master?" The teacher saw that the little emperor was so smart and cute, and let him know that "gentlemen do not cry", so he broke into laughter. Also read "Yue Ruo Ji Gu Di Yao, Yue Ruo Ji Gu Di Shun", the little emperor read the imperial characters all the words "fart", Zhao Liewen commented in his diary, looking at this, it is sacred and superior, and there is a majestic atmosphere that can be known. Heaven and Earth' country, so that the benefits are righteous, and our people have a good heart? You must know that when Zhao Liewen and Zeng Guofan thoroughly told Zeng Guofan about the time period of the fall of the Qing Dynasty, he was also bitter and disappointed and contradictory in his heart, why didn't he want the Tongzhi Emperor to be able to help the building fall? I hope that all the words I say will not be fulfilled. Although the period of close contact with Zeng Guofan was only about a year, it became the most important time in Zhao Liewen's life, and it was also the most valuable part of his "Diary of Being Able to Live quietly".
Tongzhi Emperor
Zeng Guofan had a profound influence on Zhao Liewen.
Zhao Liewen had a deep feeling for Zeng Guofan's simple style of living and eating, once, the two were chatting to a lively place, the staff took a piece of paper to ask Zeng Guofan, after reading it, nodded in agreement, and then turned his head to ask Zhao Liewen: "What is this?" Guess what. Zhao Liewen said he couldn't guess. He once said, "This is my meal list." Each meal has two dishes, one large bowl, one small bowl, three flies, and five products, not for abundance, but it must be a separate night. Zhao Liewen admired the teacher's simple style, so he asked: "In the teacher's place for a long time, I saw that you never had chicken and duck in your meals, do you eat ham?" He once said, "None." In the past, some people gave me no needs, but now I am used to it, and no one gives me gifts. Even if you want to drink some Shaoxing rice wine, you also need to buy zero. Zhao Liewen said with emotion: "In the two hundred years of the Qing Dynasty, it is indispensable to be without this governor Yamen. He once said, "You will write me an epitaph in the future, these are all materials." ”
Zeng Guofan usually talks to Zhao Liewen very freely and relaxedly, rarely seriously. Once, Zhao Liewen wanted to visit Zeng Guoquan, and Zeng Guofan said that you could take a ship to and fro, and it would be half a day. Zhao Liewen still had to take a civilian boat, so that he could pass through Wuhu and go to see Huangshan with his friends. Zeng Guofan laughed and said, "Your family has lived a very hard life and has a wild landscape, and you are really a figure like Tao Yuanming and Xie Lingyun." ”
Portrait of Zeng Guofan
Zhao Liewen received the fan surface "Ancient Jiangshan" personally inscribed by Zeng Guofan, and on this day Zhao Liewen wrote affectionately with the four words "Ge Painting Is Vigorous" and "Decades of Not Being a Fan of Books, This Kindness Can Be Felt" Zhao Liewen repeatedly broke through the rules of Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan consulted Zhao Liewen on his own major issues, such as whether to accept his family members to the governor, such as important personnel research, and a major incident in which Zeng Guofan wanted to resign, and Zhao Liewen had pushed his heart to advise him. From Zeng Guofanru's personal safety after resigning as governor and returning to his hometown, which directly endangered the government and government, he was bitterly advised to avoid the "way of great chaos" and "the two Chu and three rivers were thousands of miles away, and they were afraid of one person's ears." When the Master goes to office today, he will rise up tomorrow. The master wants to repent from time to time, to bear the burden of the king's father, to bear the burden of Li Shu, is it too late? Zhao Liewen's heartfelt advice made Zeng Guofan finally make up his mind to take over the family's peace of mind, just as Zeng Guofan said: "The words of this night at a foot make me open-minded." It was Zhao Liewen's behind-the-scenes influence that comprehensively supported the trend of Zeng Guofan's major problems. If these are his work areas, then the following things are even more extraordinary.
Letters of Zeng Guofan
Two years later, Zeng Guofan was transferred north to directly subordinate to the viceroy, and Zhao Liewen followed him north, and after several exhortations, Zhao Liewen came out.
In the eighth year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan raised Zhao Liewen to act as the governor of Cizhou in Guangping Province, and Zhao Liewen was missing the three words "chong", "annoying", and "difficult", which was not suitable for him to take office without qualifications. The next day, Zhao Liewen personally went to find Zeng Guofan, and forced Chen Daqi to be unsuitable for his initial appointment, especially such a fat shortage was not suitable for himself, hoping to find a remote and poor place to do some practical things for the people, so as to repay the teacher. Zeng Guofan insisted on disagreeing, and after several exhortations, hoping that he could be tempered in difficult things. In the years after this, Zhao Liewen was transferred to Yizhou Zhizhou, in his not very long career time, can fully reflect that he is very loving and protective of the people, for the government is clean, the investigation of cases, the judgment of cases is quick and fair, in his diary is often seen in the political places concerned about the harvest of drought and floods, is a typical late Qing Dynasty conscience official, in March of the ninth year of Tongzhi, he dug water conservancy for the people, won the hearts of the people, he advised idle people to work diligently, quit gambling, go to the countryside to work busy until the afternoon to find a small place to rest and eat lunch. He ate a small dish of dried rice that he had brought with him, and the villagers brought him a pot of hot water, and he had to pay for it. Zhao Liewen's political virtues were very valuable in the era when most of the officials in the late Qing Dynasty were corrupt and corrupt, and as Zeng Guofan once predicted, "Yi Bi is a good official and can do things." Since then, Zhao Liewen has exchanged letters with his former teachers and friends, and has worked with all his peace of mind.
Li
In the ninth year of Tongzhi, Zhao Liewen recorded a very memorable sentence: "It is strange that the dishi is reinstated as liangjiang, and Li Hefei is moved to supervise Qifu." And it was particularly surprising to hear that Jiang Duma Xinyi was stabbed to death. A few days later, Li Hongzhang saw Zhao Liewen and said something more interesting. After praising Zhao Liewen's ability to work, Li Hongzhang said: "The literature under the foot is elegant, but I have always taken the foot as a talent for doing things, and now I understand this, I have seen the results, but unfortunately in previous years, I refused to come to my place, if you come early, it will be beneficial to each other." I am ashamed that I have not created a single person in the curtain, and I have no talent. Zhao Liewen listened to this and expressed his humble thanks, and Li Hongzhang continued: "How about the first station of Cizhou Avenue?" At the beginning of his life, Old Master Zeng wanted to see something, but he was also bold..." Through this dialogue, it is conceivable that Li Hongzhang was not in his heart because he did not have an aide like Zhao Liewen, and he also had some slander against Zeng Guofan for "reusing and promoting" Zhao Liewen. Then he used his "listening to the report" type of questioning to communicate with Zhao Liewen on several questions. After Zhao Liewen answered, he asked him about the date of Zeng Guofan's southward journey. So there was a brief communication between the teacher and the student on the last side.
Zhao Liewen went to chase after Zeng Guofan and his party before dawn, and after meeting Teacher Zeng, Zhao Liewen first expressed congratulations on Zeng Guofan's sixtieth birthday, and then expressed his shame that the official had achieved nothing in a year. Zeng Guofan praised it: The official reputation is excellent, which shows that he is talented. What Zeng Guofan wanted to say was not this, but the most important thing was the following words: "Plain and noble and the most affectionate, to be this petty official, I can neither show my ambitions, and I have to go south, I can't fulfill the agreement between you and me in the past, and now I can't get rid of it for the foot." In the eyes of others, Zhao Liewen's position is extremely dazzling, making many people jealous, in the eyes of Zeng Guofan, Zhao Liewen is a "petty official" and cannot really display his talents.
At this time, Zhao Liewen reduced the pressure on Zeng Guofan and blindly comforted him: "Pastoral orders are important officials, not small. Officials do not live up to the spirit, and the spirit bears the ears of the officials. He also said, "In the past, I followed the teacher you because following your cane was the joy of life, and I did not expect the teacher to have the opportunity to go south to take up a post." Now that students have job responsibilities, the work pressure in the past year is very high, and the internal and external contributions are not large. When the teacher played the student for the government, but also encouraged me to rectify the rule of the officials, now there is no achievement at all, see the teacher going south I will go south, so that others will think that forming a party for personal gain has become a joke, and there is no such political system in the career, I am now because of the teacher's personal honor and humiliation to make the teacher embarrassed many times, this is not my original wish. After listening to Zhao Liewen's words, Zeng Guofan was very moved, knowing that Zhao Liewen was very considerate and understanding of himself, and a few days later, looking at the back of his mentor Zeng Guofan who went south, he wrote a sentimental poem of "Sixteen years of tears, three thousand miles away to return".
Former residence of Zhao Liewen in Changshu
One day in February of the eleventh year of Tongzhi was the most painful day for Zhao Liewen, when he learned that his mentor Zeng Guofan had died of illness at the Jiangdu official office. Zhao Liewen described his feelings in his diary on that day: "Surprised to learn that the dishi died at the Jiangdu official office on the fourth day of February, the five internal collapses, and he was momentarily confused, and he struggled to make a sound. The sudden bad news hit Zhao Liewen hard, and then on the second day of his diary, he wrote, "Sleepless at night, thinking about the past, and weeping." "Because they are thousands of miles apart, they are on official business and cannot go to mourn in person, and it is really difficult to write only a letter of condolence." The greatest grief is often informal, and the feelings between him and Zeng Guofan have gone beyond the worldly formal rituals. In the next few days, because of excessive grief and illness, he insisted on working with the disease, and he saw in the diary that during these days he was inquiring about the details of the teacher's death, and learned that the teacher did not suffer before his death. In the letter to Zeng Jize, he fondly recalled the scene of his final separation from the diner: "Remembering the previous year's send-off, the master was honored in the carriage and horse, and sent the spirit to the door. The situation is still there. Every thought is like a cut in the heart. He also blamed himself for not being able to serve and take care of the teacher when he was sick, and he was so deeply favored that he even scolded himself for being a person. It is conceivable that Zhao Liewen has been sad to the point of chaos.
Ten months later, on the sixth day of the first month, the diary showed that Zhao Liewen had been suffering from official politics and wanted to resign, so he reported to Li Hongzhang, the governor of zhili at the time, and Li did not agree, and Zhao Liewen planned to raise it again the next day. Just the next day, something happened that made Zhao Liewen even more shocked and discouraged. The Tongzhi Emperor died of smallpox, "at noon to the Governor's Office, he has already received the question and carved the guest on the fifth day of the first month." Alienating the young minister, there is no snot to swing, but I feel that my heart is shaking and restless. When he asked to see Li Hongzhang again, Li Hongzhang was closing the door to thank guests, and when he heard that Zhao Liewen had come, he asked him to speak in the inner room. At that time, Li Hongzhang was very uneasy, and after Zhao Liewen comforted him a few words, he offered to resign, and Li Hongzhang very sincerely retained him. Zhao Liewen frankly told him: "Yu Yun Lie's generation is still alive, for example, a grass mustard, self-speculation is useless, Hu Wei long-term love stack beans..." Not long after this, Zhao Liewen was finally allowed to resign, drifted back to his hometown, after experiencing the big pattern, he knew that the time for "Lu Shen" of the Qing Dynasty was getting closer and closer, and after witnessing all hopes being dashed, he finally drifted back to Jiangnan and lived his own real life.