What I copied today is a letter written by Zeng Guofan to his fourth brother Zeng Guoquan on the eleventh day of the first month of the eighth year of Xianfeng year.

After copying this letter, I checked the biography of Zeng Guofan, and then I understood why Zeng Guofan always had a tireless and persuasive feeling towards this younger brother.

Zeng Guoquan’s literary talent was not outstanding, but his military ability was quite high. In the sixth year of Xianfeng, he already led an army alone. He conquered Ji'an after three battles, and "changed his post seven times in half a year." Such a person must be a bit unruly.

In this letter, Zeng Guoquan had just led the troops to victory in the battle, and the army was in great momentum. Therefore, Zeng Guofan told his brother to concentrate on organizing military affairs and not be distracted by other things. Reading is certainly a good thing, but it also requires time and place. If you want to rectify military affairs and study at the same time, you will probably not be able to do anything well, but will waste your energy and time.

"When ordinary people work on one thing, they focus on one thing and become refined, and use diversity to disperse. Xunzi said that the ears can be discerned without hearing at both ends, and the eyes can be clear without seeing at both ends. Zhuangzi said that the will should not be divided, but should be concentrated on the spirit. It’s all about words.”

I have been making this mistake. After October last year, I wanted to write and draw, so in addition to my normal work, I divided these two tasks into afternoons and evenings.

The design was very good at first. When you practice drawing and controlling pens in the afternoon, you can listen to some variety shows or books, so that you will have materials available when you practice writing and pen writing in the evening.

As a result, after three or four months, I found that nothing had been done, the painting was still at the stage of controlling the pen, and no decent article could be written to explain why.

So at the beginning of the year, I learned from the pain and decided which one I wanted to do the most, and then re-planned the time and learning steps. It has been more than two months now, and although I have not made any major progress, I am not at a loss when writing.

Therefore, if you want to do something well, you must concentrate on it and not be distracted.

Thank you for what you have gained today!

Also: The benefits of copying books are not only the content of the book, but also arouse curiosity and interest in other things. What I copied today inspired me to inquire about Zeng Guoquan and learn about the reason why he exchanged "the best merit in the world" for "the best slander in the world" in his life.

So interesting!