In the twentieth year of Jiaqing (18 15), when Zeng Guofan was less than five years old, his grandfather and father began to teach him to read. At the age of 6, Zeng Guofan entered his home school to study. At first, I worshipped Chen Yanmen as the first teacher and took "Thousand Characters" as the teaching material. Later, I followed my father, Mr. Zhu Ting, to learn eight-part essay, read four books and recite five classics.
Mr Zhu Ting has high expectations of Zeng Guofan and always takes him with him. No matter whether he goes out or at home, from morning till night, whenever he is free, he will read to him and tell him from the beginning. If he doesn't understand, he will take pains and wait patiently.
At that time, the children of scholarly family and cultivated family were generally named after their names, characters and posthumous title, such as Zeng Guofan, whose real name was Kuan Yi, whose original scientific name was Zi Cheng, and whose word was Bo Han. "City" and "Cheng" are homophonic, and "Zi Cheng" also means wishing your children success. Later, after Zeng Guofan was admitted to Jinshi, he felt that the name "Zeng Zicheng" was too tacky, so he changed his name to Zeng Guofan and called it "Tired Life".
One night, Zeng Guofan was reading a book at home. After reading an article many times, he still couldn't recite it. At this time, it was already dark and everyone in the family fell asleep. Only Zeng Guofan's room is still lit. There was silence all around. Zeng Guofan sat under the lamp and read this article again and again. Lang Lang's reading sound spread far in the quiet night.
Just then, a thief sneaked into the Zeng family's yard. The thief didn't dare to make a move when he saw the light on in the room and the sound of reading came from inside. But quietly hiding under the eaves, trying to wait for the scholar to sleep before sneaking into the house. Unexpectedly, the thief waited for a long time, watching the night getting deeper and deeper, but the scholar was wide awake and read the same article over and over again under the lamp.
Time is passing and the night is getting deeper and deeper. The thief hiding under the eaves was cold and hungry, and his legs curled up for a long time gradually became numb, but he still didn't see the scholar go to bed. The thief hates his roots itch, but after all, he has a guilty conscience and dares not act rashly.
After waiting for a long time, the readers in the room are still reading the same article over and over again, without any intention of sleeping. The thief can't stand it any longer. He suddenly jumped out from under the wall, pushed open the door and entered the room. He pointed to Zeng Guofan, who was studying, and said angrily, "You are such a stupid guy! I have recited an article for so long that I haven't recited it yet. My ears are calloused by you! Listen, watch me recite it to you, an illiterate thief! " Say that finish, the thief recited the article word for word in front of Zeng Guofan, then stamped his foot with anger and turned away.
Zeng Guofan was stunned by this sudden event. The thief didn't react when he went out after reciting the article. He couldn't help laughing, thinking: I can't recite this article after reading it so many times, and he can recite it so skillfully after listening to it only a few times. It's amazing! It seems that I still don't work hard enough and need to continue to study hard! So, he sat under the lamp, read the article again and again until he mastered his back, and then went to sleep.
Diligence can make up for it It is with this tenacity and perseverance that Zeng Guofan became an important historical figure in the modern history of China, known as the "first minister" in the late Qing Dynasty, and became the leader of introducing western culture and the founder of the Westernization Movement in modern China.