Perseverance is the first priority for an official position

The first part of Zeng Guofan’s family motto in Baijia Forum

Who will save the stupid child

Who is Zeng Guofan? A very controversial figure in the late Qing Dynasty, he was known as "the first famous official of the ZTE" and also had the reputation of a "traitor". In the past hundred years, his evaluation has been mixed, both praise and blame. However, both those who admire him and those who despise him highly praise his "Zeng Guofan Family Letter". To this day, there is still a saying among the people that "to be an official, one should learn from Zeng Guofan, and to do business, one should learn from Hu Xueyan." It can be seen that "Zeng Guofan's Family Letters" is not only a collection of letters recording ordinary family life, but also a collection of letters that contain life, family management and education. life wisdom book. In today's society, educating children to achieve success has always been the biggest problem that troubles parents all over the world. Many children are labeled as "stupid kids" because of poor grades. Even Zeng Guofan more than a hundred years ago was regarded as a "stupid kid" who couldn't read when he was a child.

In 1825 AD, on a cold night in the twelfth lunar month, in a room of a family in Xiangxiang, Hunan, a 14-year-old boy was lighting a lamp and studying hard. At this time, there was a thief lying on the beam of this house. He planned to wait for the lights in this house to go out and take advantage of the darkness to come down and steal things. This idea is correct, this idea is also correct, but the problem is that the kid studying there is very stupid. He was reciting "The Story of Yueyang Tower" underneath, stumbling but unable to get it down, and it took him a long time to finish it with a single sentence. After doing it over and over again, the thief will basically memorize it after doing it a dozen times. In the end, this thief was either intolerable or intolerable. He had to take action when it was almost dawn. So he was extremely annoyed, and finally couldn't bear it any longer, so he jumped off the beam. Full of anger, he took a step forward, snatched the book from his hand, and threw it on the table: "Look at how stupid you are, why do you think this article is so difficult to memorize?" As he spoke, the thief memorized "The Story of Yueyang Tower" again. After saying that, he shook his sleeves and walked away with an angry expression on his face, and stopped stealing anything. Unfortunately, we don’t know the name of this smart thief, but fortunately, we know the name of this stupid kid. His name at the time was Zeng Zicheng. This name may not be familiar to us, but he later changed it. The name we are all very familiar with is Zeng Guofan.

So, who made this stupid kid’s extraordinary life possible? What kind of enlightenment will Zeng Guofan and his "Zeng Guofan Family Letter" bring to our modern family education? Please watch the first episode of "Zeng Guofan's Family Instructions" "Who Will Save the Stupid Child".

Baijia Lecture Forum Li Bo commented on the first part of Zeng Guofan’s family motto

There is no day without reading

We say that the reason why Zeng Guofan became Zeng Guofan is because of his Confucianism As a lifelong faith and belief are inseparable. Therefore, only when a person is strong in the spiritual world can he be strong in the real world.

In fact, Zeng Guofan was originally just a child with very ordinary qualifications. Of course, many people later spread rumors about how smart and clever he was as a boy. In fact, people are like this when they become famous. After a celebrity becomes famous, everyone will say how talented he is and how he was a genius when he was a child. But where are there so many geniuses? Generally, children have little difference in their qualifications. So how can we cultivate our own firm beliefs and beliefs in life? This starts with Zeng Guofan’s imperial examination. We know that the imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing dynasties were very difficult, so everyone knows that the most famous one, Fan Jin, passed the exam for many years until he was over 50 years old. Consider it a pass.

But there is one person whose success is more difficult than that of Fan Jin. Who is it? It was Zeng Guofan's father, named Zeng Linshu. Even though the name was very elegant, Lin Shu looked very knowledgeable, but this imperial examination could cost him his life. He failed to pass the scholar level exam 16 times, but finally passed the exam 17 times. Probably 17 was his lucky number, and he finally passed the exam. At this time, he was already in his 40s and Zeng Guofan was already in his 20s. So he really couldn't take the exam anymore, and the road was long and long, so he stopped taking the exam, put all his hopes on his son, and went home.

Zeng Guofan is better than his father. Why does his father place all his hopes on him? Because he is obviously better than his father. He was admitted as a scholar at the age of 23, 20 years earlier than his father.

Then he took the provincial examination, and I don’t know how he was so lucky. He passed the test on the first try and passed the examination in the first examination. At this time, we were talking about the stupid kid who didn't study well in the past. He was always scolded by others. As a result, he usually didn't do well in exams, but he did particularly well in the first grade exam. Zeng Guofan's confidence greatly increased, he packed up his bags and went to Beijing to participate in the second year's joint examination. But what he didn't expect was that he was given a big blow by the inevitable entrance examination, and he failed. If you fail the exam, you should go home, because the exam only comes once every few years. Zeng Guofan was lucky. The following year, the Empress Dowager celebrated her 60th birthday. To celebrate, Enke was added as usual. That was great. It was one more chance, right? When Zeng Guofan saw it, he decided not to go home. I worked hard in Beijing for a year and reviewed for a year. I still didn’t believe that I couldn’t pass the exam in the second year. So I originally only brought the money to live in Beijing for half a year, but now I live frugally and live for another year and a half. If it weren't for the diligent and frugal child, it would be impossible. Zeng Guofan lived in Beijing for another year in an unfamiliar place. In the second year, Enke felt that he was destined to win. Thinking about it, he had suffered hardships and suffered, right? If you try again, good things will come naturally. Otherwise, why would God leave me in Beijing for another year? He felt there would be no problem this time. As a result, I failed again this time just like last time. So what should Zeng Guofan do, who failed again? What happened that made Zeng Guofan determined to study every day from then on? Please tune in to the second episode of "Zeng Guofan's Family Instructions" "There is no day without reading".

The two most demeaning words

Although Zeng Guofan was full of problems when he was young and did a lot of ridiculous things, what is valuable is that He has the courage to face his shortcomings and work hard to correct them. However, in the process of Zeng Guofan's self-cultivation, he realized that two words are the most important, because no matter whether they are mediocre people in the world in ancient and modern times, or talented people in the world in ancient and modern times, the reason why they achieve nothing in life in the end is because of these two words. These are the "two most destructive words" repeatedly emphasized in Zeng Guofan's family motto. So what are these two words? Why does Zeng Guofan think these two simple words can ruin a person's life? Why do two simple words have so much power?

Zeng Guofan was not only rigorous in running the army, but he also despised lazy people the most in his life. Although Li Hongzhang was his beloved disciple, he once went too far. Coupled with his bad performance in the past, everyone thought that Zeng Guofan would definitely scold Li Hongzhang, but unexpectedly, Zeng Guofan not only did not scold Instead, he was as calm as if nothing had happened.

Zeng Guofan successfully corrected Li Hongzhang's problem of sleeping in, but according to records, Zeng Guofan was also a child who loved sleeping in when he was a child. So what exactly changed him? Although Zeng Guofan has repeatedly emphasized that pride and laziness are the two most destructive words, we also know that it is not good if a person is too proud or too lazy, but if we are lazy occasionally in life, will it really ruin our lives? ?

In order to transcend his laziness, Zeng Guofan used the word "diligence" to strictly demand himself at all times. Therefore, he attaches great importance to getting up early. No matter how late he stays up, he must get up early the next day. So as long as you get up early, you are "diligent"? Why is it said in Zeng Guofan's family motto that "diligence" can not only maintain health and nourish food, but also build a family business? Please watch the fifth episode of "Zeng Guofan's Family Instructions" "The Two Most Destroying Words".