Governor yamen of Liangjiang
Historians recognized that Zeng Guofan could recognize people and use people. Doing well in these two is easier said than done, and it can be difficult to do for thousands of years, and one of the most important points is to go beyond the likes and dislikes of individuals, recognize the advantages and disadvantages of talents, and configure them to the right position.
Zeng Guofan once said to his aide Zhao Liewen:
The world's words store talents, do not know that the second and third people can be sought and stored, and the first class can be encountered and cannot be sought. When it is accomplished, even if it is a small situation, it will surely give birth to several people. Having a different temperament, having a different temperament, and having a good interest and a distance, can he know what to do, and he must be blessed with it.
A leader with a team cannot expect first-class talents to grow naturally and run to his own command for the drive. Being able to seek second-rate and third-rate talents, cultivate them well, and use them is a very good commander. And this commander must be objective and neutral, and do not think that whoever has a character is his temper, he will reuse whom.
Take Zeng Guofan's treatment of Ding Richang as an example. When Zeng Guofan was the governor of Liangjiang, Ding Richang served as a political envoy of Jiangsu and an inspector of Jiangsu under him, and could be said to be a major member of his jurisdiction. Ding's personal moral evaluation was very low.
In May of the sixth year of Tongzhi, when Zhao Liewen and Zeng Guofan were chatting, they denounced officials like Ding Richang as "puppets." Zeng Guofan agreed with Zhao Liewen's view and also carried out "mending the sword", saying that Ding Richang had recently made up his own opinion of Emperor Yin and the collection of essays of Hu Linyi, who had died in the line of duty a few years ago, and sent them to his subordinates, and sent them to Zeng Guofan to win the favor of his superiors, because he knew that Zeng Guofan had always admired Hu Linyi and would definitely approve of his actions. It was once commented that "its ignorance is ridiculous".
On the fourth day of September in the sixth year of Tongzhi, the teachers and students were in the secret room, and they had considerable trust in Zhao Liewen, so they spoke very openly. The two mentioned Gao Ti, a Taoist member of the New Xu Dao (which should refer to the change from Huai Xu Dao to Huai Xu Yang Hai Dao in the Xianfeng Decade), and once commented on it:
"Scammen also. With Ding Richang as the same kind, good name and can do things, fraud is good, although fraud can not not be taken. Then he said: "There are people who have the heart to do things, and those who have the courage to do things have great desires, if the generations know that a good name is good enough, I and Li Shaoquan are there, if the scales and armor of the generations are not fully exposed, but they are also extremely intent on enveloping them, and they must not make traces." It's hard to employ people. (See Diary of Being Able to Live Quietly, Yuelu Book Society, p.1103)
Throughout his life, Zeng Guofan admired a "sincerity" character and hated hypocrisy and treachery. Ding Richang, on the other hand, is a deceitful person who likes to play tricks and make superficial articles for the sake of political achievements and reputation. For example, during his tenure as envoy and inspector in Jiangsu, in order to show thrift and thrift, he ordered private tea houses to sell tea no more than 5 yuan per bowl, and issued a list of banned books to prevent "violent and erotic books" (see the above "Qing Dynasty Officials Ding Richang's Strange Regulations: Selling Tea Cannot Pass Five Texts per Bowl"). But he could do things, and Zeng Guofan knew that his deception could not be used without him. And confidently able to control and envelop him, this kind of taming technique can not show traces.
If, as a great Confucian without an official position, he could have completely avoided interacting with such deceitful people, and could even openly criticize them, as Zhang Taiyan did to people in later generations. However, he was a scholar of Wu Yingdian University, the governor of Liangjiang, and the first heavy minister in the southeast, and could not act with private feelings, but must proceed from the overall situation of the imperial court and employ people for their strengths. Soon after, when Zeng Guofan was instructed to go to Tianjin to handle the teaching case, he played to the imperial court to ask Ding Richang from Jiangsu to come to help him. What he values is that Ding Richang "can do things".