Written by | Zhao Libo
As one of Zeng Guofan's most important staff members, Zhao Liewen left behind more than two million words of the "Diary of Being Able to Live quietly", from the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858) to the fifteenth year of Guangxu (1889), spanning thirty-two years, recording the important course of Zhao Liewen's life from the age of twenty-seven to the age of fifty-eight and the important events of that chaotic and complicated world. Including the situation during the Xianfeng, Tongzhi, and Guangxu years, political affairs, military information, especially the Situation of the Xiang Army Group, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Twist Army, and the Late Qing Dynasty, it is particularly valuable and has become one of the core historical materials for the study of this important history. In addition, Zhao Liewen made detailed records about the Qing Dynasty's dynastic chapters, national histories, anecdotes, water transport, salt affairs, river works, and donations, as well as the Opium War and the Anglo-French alliance. What is particularly valuable is that Zhao Liewen recorded in detail the private chat and interaction with Zeng Guofan, and the exchange of views between the two sides on major issues of concern, which also derived the unique prejudgment of Zhao Liewen, a staff member of the chaotic world. In the course of his several attempts to enter the state of Zeng, especially in late August of the eleventh year of Xianfeng, Zhao Liewen entered the shogunate for the second time and submitted a long exhortation to Zeng Guofan, which gave a clear foresight of the foreign situation at that time, and it was this foresight that profoundly influenced Zeng Guofan's later initiatives to vigorously advocate the foreign affairs movement. In addition to the view of the current situation, but also put forward detailed countermeasures for several major problems facing the overall situation at that time, which aroused the great attention of Zeng Guofan.
Zhao Liewen
Zhao Liewen's resume:
Daoguang was born in the twelfth year (1832), the name of the milk to ask, the name Liewen, the character Huifu, the number of neng quiet residents, Jiangsu Yanghu people. His sixth ancestor, Zhao Shenqiao, was a kangxi nine-year jinshi who served as the left capital of the Kangxi dynasty and the Hubu Shangshu. His father, Zhao Renji, went to Hubei to be an envoy and died at the age of fifty-three, when Zhao Liewen was only ten years old. Before the age of sixteen, Zhao Liewen studied with a school teacher, and then fell from the family road and could not afford a teacher, so he taught himself under the guidance of his relatives and friends. He was extensively exposed to various cultural knowledge, especially in The Study of Buddhism, Yi Xue, Yi Xue, Military, History, Politics, and Economics, and later made important contributions to the shogunate of Zeng Guofan.
Zeng Guofan
For example, when the Taiping Army was the most powerful, he asserted that the Taiping Army was not the biggest threat, and that China's biggest scourge was in foreign countries: "Foreign countries are destroying people, political cultivation, national governance, and the people's strength is rich and strong." Everyone is hard-working, competitive and ashamed of being inferior to others, these Westerners have a political and popular sentiment toward China, dangerous and obstructive customs, a plot today, a statement tomorrow, consider things only fear is not clear, observe things only fear is not subtle, collect our cultural classics, translate and disseminate, conscientiously, never interrupted. In this regard, Zhao Liewen concluded: "Their ambitions are not small, and there is no more serious disaster for the country than this." Then Zhao Liewen said, "The main reason why China is so weak is that it advocates false language and learns to use cumbersome and harsh etiquette, while foreign countries strive to be concise and practical." It seems that the general trend in the future is that Providence will "open the Liuhe".
Second Opium War
Zhao Liewen's foresight was very clear, that is, to achieve the full connection of the universe and space, in the current fashionable words, the concept of "global integration", which was tantamount to a groundbreaking theory at that time. Finally, Zhao Liewen said that foreigners are not aliens beyond human beings. Nor is the policy approach a singular art, and as long as we use it in reverse, it will certainly have an effect.
In the Second Opium War, when Emperor Xianfeng was going north to the summer resort and the whole country was shocked, Zhao Liewen also recorded his views on the time when the capital was to be moved to Xi'an: "Beijing has heard that it has made peace with the discussion, and it has not yet been harmonious at the time, and the Yi chieftains want to see King Gong, because the fire is in the MingYuan, the palace is destroyed, and they will want to garrison Kyoto as promised." The car is still in Rehe, and the court wants to move the capital to Xi'an to avoid it. However, France has a minister to the minister, and all the states have it, but if they want to inform the customs and state affairs, it is not malicious at first, such as the European Russia and britain and France feud, and the military affairs are over, that is, they place each other's ministers, and China is not alone. Zhao Liewen can be said to be quite insightful about the Western diplomatic system, at the same time, he analyzed that the Western army in Beijing is only a few thousand people, and Beijing's army "forbidden brigades are like clouds, why should we be afraid of this, and it is incomprehensible to move the capital to the next policy, and he wants to garrison the country, with an empty city, how can he be confused?" I can go, Kou can also go, Xi'an is evil in heaven? Finally, he lamented that "the imperial court is worried about this, and it is indignant and talking." ”
Xiang Army
Paying attention to current affairs and understanding foreign situations, Zhao Liewen has always been at the forefront of qing dynasty intellectuals, so his vision is unique and his vision is insightful. During the Tianjin teaching case, it was a violent shock of the conflict between China and foreign countries again, and the Qing government threw this burden to Zeng Guofan, who was old and weak and had no energy, so much so that he left a suicide note before leaving. During the handling of the "Tianjin Teaching Case," Zeng Guofan suffered tremendous pressure and grievances, was once again scolded as a "traitor, and so on, and was smashed on the plaque hanging in the Beijing Huguang Guild Hall that read, "The Thirty-eighth Jinshi in the Daoguang Pengshu Section Examination, the Forty-second in the Third Rank of the Temple Examination, and the TongjinShi Origin." He himself repeatedly said that the case was "too soft" to the outside world, "guilty in his heart", "ashamed of the outside world, guilty gods" After undergoing this strong blow, the Qing court asked him to return to the post of governor of Liangjiang, and died of illness in Nanjing a year and a half later.
Tianjin Lesson Plan
However, Zeng Guofan's handling of this matter was not a big mistake from the current point of view, and just as Zeng Guofan returned to Nanjing, Zhao Liewen, who was then the governor of Yizhou in Hebei Province, came to see him off, and the two exchanged views on the incident. Zhao Liewen wrote in his diary that day: "The teacher told him about the matter and humbled himself because he was not good at handling it. First of all, the teacher defended the foreigners without digging their eyes and dissecting their hearts, and then played the music, and then there was an uproar at home and abroad, and even those who jointly wrote a letter to slander them. Yu asked If si had a test? Teacher's words: Those who have personally heard about the troublemakers after arriving in Tianjin, if they have the slightest evidence, they are allowed to do it, but the words are wandering and unreasonable, and they are poor, they blame each other, so they cannot break the hearts of outsiders, knowing that they will violate the qing consultation, but they have to. ”
After listening to Zeng Guofan's explanation, Zhao Liewen expressed his opinion: "However, although it is fierce, it will also be thought that there must be nothing. The Catholic Church is inherently unreasonable, why should it eat the flesh of man, be like a jackal, make the fruit have it, and those who obey the Taixi will not be able to wing more than a hundred countries, and can they all be willing to do evil? Chinese do not seek truth, pretend to be self-proclaimed, and when the border is opened, they are helpless. Then Zhao Liewen said that he was afraid that the teacher was forced by the pressure of public opinion to shake the initial opinion, so I specially wrote a letter to you, insisting on distinguishing between twists and turns, and then I was relieved to see the teacher's second omission. In the end, Zhao Liewen concluded: "If you are afraid of the affairs of the world, you are afraid that you will not have the concentration and insight in your chest, if it is clear whether it is right or wrong, what will the foreign rumors be counted?" ”
When foreign affairs were unknown to the whole country at that time, Zhao Liewen was truly aware and had an extremely thorough vision.
In his later years, Zeng Guofan vigorously advocated foreign affairs, and recommended that the Qing government send children abroad to study abroad in order to learn advanced Western scientific and technological knowledge, these people later returned to China to become pioneers of science and technology since modern times, it can be said that above the vast sea, pinned on Zeng Guofan's infinite ardent expectations, the reason is that the country wants to be rich and strong, that is, to constantly follow the development of the times, a set of traditional thinking in one of Zeng Guofan can be so avant-garde, it is really unusual, these more or less thanks to the influence of Zhao Liewen and other people around him.
Foresee the collapse of the Qing government
It was based on advanced consciousness and unique vision that Zhao Liewen became the first person to accurately foresee the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.
One night on July 21, 2007, after Zhao Liewen gave zeng guofan a disease to treat his illness with some improvement, the two began to chat, and Zeng Guofan began to say: "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 pantsless, the people are exhausted, I am afraid that there will be changes, why not?" ”
Portrait of Cixi
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 central government has not rotted first, so there will be no situation of disintegration now. But according to his estimation, the great catastrophe ahead will be the collapse of the central government first, and then the situation of fragmentation and division; he further judges that it will probably happen in less than fifty years.
Zeng Guofan was shocked and asked, "But when you move south?" Zhao Liewen replied decisively: "I am afraid 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." It can be said that these words dealt a great mental blow to Zeng Guofan.
A few days later, Zeng Guofan still did not want to believe Zhao Liewen's assertion, and deliberately asked him to extend this topic again, hoping that Zhao Liewen would retract this point of view.
Zeng Guofan said that the monarchy of this dynasty is very virtuous, that is, if it is diligent at the end of the government, it must be done on the same day, that is, it can span thousands of ages. Another example is that after the great chaos, the levy is reduced, and the reimbursement is waived on the day of exhaustion, and the number of them is not a move of national subjugation.
Zhao Liewen still insisted on his own opinions and explained: "After three generations, on the strength or weakness, no matter the benevolence and violence; on the situation, regardless of Deze." At the same time, he listed zhuge liang's assistance to the lord's exhaustion, bowing to the best of his ability still could not avoid the fall, after the Southern Song Dynasty, seeking treatment was quite earnest, and after all, he was not an opponent of the Jin Dynasty. Hearing this, Zeng Guofan was still unwilling and put forward a new idea, hoping that Zhao Liewen would attach importance to the "wisdom" of Prince Gong of the current dynasty and the "power" of Empress Dowager Cixi, so as to hope that they could avoid the end of "sucking the heart" and "fundamentally upsetting the servants". 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. The so-called "not in the deeds in the real thing", Cixi's assertion is formalism after all, not really pragmatic.
Zhao Liewen's handwriting
Looking at Zhao Liewen's prediction of several great intellectuals and the world, people can clearly see that he stood on the commanding heights of history, used a very speculative philosophical vision, and studied the foresight, and it is precisely because he personally experienced many events in the major process of history that he has always walked in the forefront of history and left him with unlimited reverie for future generations.
Zhao Liewen belongs to a special talent in Zeng Guofan: special status, special status, special work, and special vision. In major historical practice, being in it and participating in it may not be able to completely influence the development of things, but it can transcend the outside world, observe and analyze the causes, consequences, and trends of things with a unique vision and thought, so as to draw accurate prejudgment conclusions. And Zhao Liewen's records and predictions all resonate with people, falling into reflection: why did the Qing Dynasty turn from prosperity to decline, why did it occur in the prosperous Qianlong Dynasty? When a force appears and expands in society, why does it create the opposite of curbing its own existence and development? Zeng Guofan saved the Qing Empire, why did he become its main gravedigger? In this regard, Zhao Liewen gave clear or obscure answers in his diary, so that he also became the highest standing and the farthest sober reader of that era, leaving a clear stroke in the turning point of history. Today, the author recommends to you the zeng guofan family book, which has dabbled in zeng guofan's mental journey and the major events of the Qing Dynasty, he has changed the final trend of many big figures in modern times, and is a model of self-cultivation and family admiration for people. About his interaction with his staff, most of them are also reflected in this book, friends who are interested in Zeng Guofan must not read the family letter, and vivid and easy to understand, no obscure, this set of books is priceable, do not need to make comparisons, the value of the book is not ordinary and comparable, I hope that the kings will get acquainted with the spiritual core of Zeng Guofan as soon as possible, enhance the realm of life, buy can click on the banner below, want to buy as soon as possible.
【Historical Literature】All 4 volumes of Zeng Guofan genuine books Zeng Guofan family books Receiving literature h ¥88 purchase