Zeng Guofan's aim of advocating loyalty to the monarch, defending morality and running the army with Confucianism is also carried out in the aspects of selecting generals, recruiting soldiers, managing the army and coordinating the relations between the army and the outside. Zeng Guofan's military thought is extremely rich in connotation and outstanding in collection. He believes that the number of soldiers is not many, but fine, "Serenade is strong", "the more soldiers, the weaker the strength; The more reimbursement, the poorer the country. " Advocate the separation of military and political affairs and take responsibility. He bought foreign guns, guns and ships, and promoted the modern times of China's military weapons.

Zeng Guofan regards the election of generals as the first priority in running the army. He said, "The way to March is to choose generals first." His selection criteria are both ability and political integrity, wisdom and courage, and he puts virtue first, and summarizes the connotation of virtue as "loyalty, righteousness and blood". He proposed, "Those who are brave should seek the blood men of our party, those who are loyal and have the secrets of the Tao and the cymbals, and work with them." He also said, "People with courage must first be able to govern the people, second be not afraid of death, third be indifferent to fame and fortune, and fourth be tolerant of hardships." "If you are loyal and bloody, you will be consistent with each other. If you are not loyal and bloody, you will look like the four, and you can't rely on it." Zeng Guofan believes that "loyal and bloody" generals should mainly be selected from Confucian scholars who are both influenced by feudal ethics and less bad habits in officialdom. According to Luo Ergang's statistics in The Military System of Xiang Army, among 179 Xiang generals whose names, places of origin, origins and positions can be checked, 14 were from Confucian scholars, accounting for 58%. It is rare to take so many Confucian scholars as generals in the military history of past dynasties.

It was also Zeng Guofan's first move to establish the Xiang Army to reform the soldier system in the Qing Dynasty into a recruiting system. He said, "I have hated the habits of the military camp for several years, and there is no one who is self-defensive." Therefore, it is decided that there is no need to camp soldiers or towns. " Therefore, when he formed the Xiang army, he advocated recruiting soldiers in rural areas instead of citizens. Its intention is that the soldiers recruited in rural areas are simple and robust, which is conducive to instilling feudal loyalty and ethics and adapting to the harsh and cruel war environment. Zeng Guofan also stipulated that "to recruit soldiers and brave, we must take baojie and make a list of prefectures, counties, residences, parents, brothers, wives' names and skips." Each knot is attached to the book for inspection. " Anyone who has no insurance will not be recruited. Zeng Guofan's practice completely inherited Qi Jiguang's thought of recruiting soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty. Zeng Guofan also changed his ways in compiling green camp. The establishment of Xiang Army takes battalion as its basic combat unit, and posts are set below the battalion. The land division below the posts is the team, the navy division is the ship and the cavalry team is the shed. At the beginning of the Xiang army, there was no official at or above the battalion level, and all the battalions were under the jurisdiction of Zeng Guofan. After that, the number of battalions increased, and it was called "commanding and dividing the system". Zeng Guofan called for the formation of an army based on the principles of pro-selection, self-seeking, and layer-by-layer restraint. From self-command to self-courage, the election was raised step by step, which changed the disadvantage of "soldiers and soldiers don't know each other, and soldiers and soldiers will not learn from each other" in green camp, but it also clearly exposed the intention of establishing a private army, and from then on, it set a precedent of "soldiers will have" in modern China, and the situation of warlord's independent regime began to emerge.

Zeng Guofan took pains in the general plan of running the army, and advocated running the army with Confucianism, that is, educating officers and men with feudal ethics and cultivating officers and men with benevolence, courtesy and faithfulness as the foundation of running the army. His purpose was to maintain the morale of the army and cultivate a private army that was completely and absolutely subordinate to himself. Therefore, he believes that "those who use soldiers must be autonomous first, and then control the enemy."

Zeng Guofan's military thought has influenced several generations, not to mention that his contemporary Hunan and Huai generals took Zeng Guofan as a model, and even later bourgeois militarists such as Huang Xing and Cai E also admired Zeng Guofan's general plan of running the army. When Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai adopted western methods to train new troops after the Sino-Japanese War, they also adopted many practices of Zeng Guofan's running the army. Jiang Fangzhen, a strategist of the Republic of China, praised Zeng Guofan as "a military genius" in modern history in his "On National Defense", and said that all leaders should follow Zeng Guofan's example. Chiang Kai-shek made it clear that he wanted to learn from Zeng Guofan and demanded that the generals in the Kuomintang army must "recognize history clearly and imitate Zeng Hu." Zeng Guofan attached great importance to spiritual education in running the army, and Mao Zedong paid great attention to this point all his life. Zeng Guofan's "loving the people is the first priority in running the army", and Mao Zedong formulated "Three Disciplines and Eight Notices" at the beginning of the establishment of the Red Army. Zeng Guofan pursued Cheng Zhu's neo-Confucianism all his life, but he did not blindly worship Cheng Zhu's neo-Confucianism. In fact, he also learned from other schools of Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties was actually divided into three academic schools: Qi, Neo-Confucianism and Mind.

in his political practice and military struggle, Zeng Guofan gradually saw the limitations of Cheng Zhu's Neo-Confucianism, such as "the language of instruction", "illness" or "quietness". In this case, Zeng Guofan showed a tolerant academic attitude towards the theory of mind. As for the academic debate between Cheng Zhu's Neo-Confucianism and Lu Wang's Neo-Confucianism, he thinks that the dispute between the two schools should learn from their similarities, avoid their differences, promote their strengths, be eclectic, foster strengths and avoid weaknesses, and promote the development of Confucianism.

Zeng Guofan also made up for the limitations of Neo-Confucianism with the resources of Qi in generative theory, saying that "Zhengmeng by Zhang Zizhi is mellow and honest, and it's very modest". According to the thought of Qi, Zeng Guofan believed that everything in the world was born of intrinsic Qi, and Qi was the ultimate element that constituted everything in the world. In the sense that everything in the world is "the same body".

At the same time, Zeng Guofan thinks that although the Qi of Harmony is popular, and the Qi of everything in the world is "all ears" at first, people and things, saints and ordinary people are not the same. As far as people and things are concerned, people are full of qi, but things are only partial; An old friend is intellectual, but things are only physical. As far as human beings are concerned, the spirit of saints is clear and thick, but that of ordinary people is turbid and thin. Zeng Guofan is quite insightful about the way of making friends. He thinks that making friends is expensive and generous, and it is necessary to "push sincerity and keep integrity, compromise and contain macro, but be selfless and suspicious." "Don't take advantage of people in everything. Don't take people's money lightly. " Brainstorm, listen and not be deaf. "In terms of life, Zeng Guofan believes that" in this troubled times, the poorer the better. " Being a senior official, "it is always better to have less money and produce less." "Patience is the first priority for officials", "Virtue is damaged by fullness, and happiness is reduced by arrogance". A man must be careful on the word "light". "It's not especially rich and famous, and the prosperity of his family name is determined by heaven, that is, whether the virtue of learning is established or not is mostly related to heaven, so laugh and forget it." "You don't have to do your own work, you don't have to do your own fame", "The sooner you retire, the better".

Zeng Guofan wrote twelve proverbs, which basically summarized his way of making friends. Zeng Guofan thinks that the most important thing is the principle of filial piety among family members. Filial piety is easy to understand, which means gratitude, respect and support for parents and elders. Xun refers to the harmony and friendship between brothers, that is, the harmony and harmony between peers. In Zeng Guofan's family letters, it is generally thought that he wrote the most letters to his children. In fact, he wrote the most letters to his younger brother, which shows that he attaches importance to the relationship between brothers. Zeng Guofan has a famous comment that the law of family prosperity is: the official family in the world is generally depressed after only one generation, because most of them are playboys; The family of merchants, that is, the family of private entrepreneurs, can generally be passed down for three generations; Farming and reading homes, that is, families based on farming and reading, can generally flourish for five or six generations; The family of filial friends is a family that pays attention to filial piety and manages the family with harmony, which can often last for ten generations and eight generations.

under the tenet of "ruling the family by harmony", Zeng Guofan also emphasized "managing the family by diligence". In Zeng Guofan's view, this diligence has two meanings: one is that family members should be diligent and frugal, and the other is that parents should be diligent in teaching by example. Zeng Guofan said these things, and he can take the lead in doing it meticulously, and he did it very well. For example, Ceng Jize, the eldest son, likes western sociology, and Zeng Jihong likes mathematics and physics. Although Zeng Guofan knows nothing, he can try his best to understand and study hard. Such a father is truly a "diligent" father. Under the influence of Zeng Guofan, Ceng Jize always taught children to learn English, mathematics and music in person, and also taught them to practice calligraphy, write poems and explain classics and laws. No matter how busy he was, he always took time out to spend time with his children and his family every day. This is the best family education. Therefore, there are many scientists, educators and social activists in Zeng Guofan's descendants, great-grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. Personality cultivation is helpful to his career.

first of all, honesty, being consistent in appearance and appearance, everything can be made public.

the second is respect and awe, with no evil thoughts in my heart, dignified and dignified.

the third is quietness. The mind, qi, spirit and body should be in a state of peace and relaxation.

The fourth word is "Sincerely". No boasting, lying or empty talk. It's real. One is one, the other is two.

the fifth word is constant, with regular life, moderate diet and regular daily life. The highest realm is "cautious independence", and there are gods who hold their heads three feet high.

He kept a diary every day, checked and reflected on his words and deeds every day, and throughout his later life, constantly put forward more requirements for himself: to be diligent, to be modest, to be kind and forgiving, to be honest, to be know life, to cherish blessings, and so on, in an effort to make himself a sage at that time. Many people think that personality cultivation is an empty thing, and that self-cultivation is an illusory thing, even pedantic, but Zeng Guofan's lifelong career, self-cultivation is the most important reason for his career success.

Zeng Guofan thought: "There are about five things in the method of keeping in good health: first, sleeping and eating regularly; second, punishing anger; third, abstinence; fourth, washing feet before going to bed every night; fifth, taking 3, steps after two meals every day." The four words "sight", "rest", "sleep" and "food" are the most important ways to maintain health, and you should know how to adjust your health when you are recovering from illness.

Thirteen rules of self-cultivation in early years

First, respect (neat and serious, never afraid. When nothing happens, the heart is in the cavity; When dealing with affairs, be single-minded and not miscellaneous. )

Second, sit quietly (sit quietly for a while at any time every day to restore kindness and calm down, such as the town of Ding. )

get up early (get up at dawn, don't be attached to love after waking up. )

four, reading is the only way (don't read a book until you finish it. Reading from the east to the west is all about favoritism. )

5. Read history (circle ten pages every day, although something is uninterrupted. )

6. Be careful what you say. )

VII. Nourishing qi (There is nothing you can say to people when the gas reservoir is demonstrated. )

Eight, keep fit (abstinence, labor and diet. )

9. Keep a diary (it must be written in block letters, and everything that happened during the day, my heart and my mouth will be recorded one by one, and it will be uninterrupted for life. )

1. What you know in the sun will die (I will talk about one in every diary after tea, which is divided into virtue gate, knowledge gate, economy gate and art gate. )

11. Never forget what you can do in the month (write several poems every month to test the amount of accumulation and the prosperity of nourishing qi). )

12. Write words (write words after breakfast. Any pen and ink entertainment, as their homework. )

13. Don't go out at night. )