Zeng Guofan regarded the election of generals as the top priority in running the army. He said: "The way to March is to choose the generals first." His selection criteria are both ability and political integrity, wisdom and courage, putting morality first and summarizing its connotation as "loyalty, righteousness and blood". He proposed, "The brave should seek the warm-blooded men of our party, and the loyal ministers have the secret of cymbals to work with them." He also said, "A courageous person must first be able to govern the people, second be not afraid of death, third be indifferent to fame and fortune, and fourth be able to bear hardships and stand hard work." "If you are loyal and bloody, you will agree with each other. Disloyal and bloodless, just like those four, unreliable. " Zeng Guofan believes that "loyal and bloody" generals should mainly be selected from Confucian scholars who are not only influenced by feudal ethics, but also have less bad habits in officialdom. According to Luo Ergang's statistics in the Xiang army system, among 179 Xiang generals whose names, places of origin, origins and positions can be checked, 104 were Confucian scholars, accounting for 58%. It is rare to have 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 and reform the world military system in the Qing Dynasty into a recruitment system. He said, "I have hated the habit of military camp for several years. No one is self-defense." So it was decided that there was no need to camp soldiers or towns. "So when he formed the Xiang army, he advocated recruiting soldiers in the countryside, not citizens. Its original intention is that the soldiers recruited in the countryside are simple and robust, which is conducive to instilling feudal loyalty and morality and adapting to the harsh and cruel war environment. Zeng Guofan also stipulated that "to recruit, we must take Jie Bao, make a list of counties, houses, parents, brothers and wives, and skip. "Every knot is attached to the book for inspection." Anyone who has no insurance will not be admitted. Zeng Guofan's practice completely inherited Qi Jiguang's thought of recruiting soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty. Zeng Guofan also changed in compiling green camp. The establishment of the Xiang army takes the battalion as the basic combat unit, with posts below the battalion. Below the post, the land division is a team, the navy division is a ship, and the cavalry team is a shed. In the early days of Xiang Army, there were no officials above battalion level, and all battalions were under the jurisdiction of Zeng Guofan. After that, the number of battalions increased, which is called "command division system". Zeng Guofan called for the formation of the army in accordance with the principles of pro-election, self-seeking and layer-by-layer restraint. From self-criticism to self-encouragement, the election was promoted step by step, which changed the disadvantage of "soldiers don't know each other, and soldiers don't learn from each other" in green camp, but it also clearly exposed the intention of establishing a private army, thus creating a precedent of "soldiers will have them" in modern China, and the situation of warlordism began to appear.
Zeng Guofan took great 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 training officers and men with benevolence, courtesy and loyalty as the foundation of running the army. His purpose is to maintain the morale of the army and cultivate a private army that is completely and absolutely subordinate to himself. Therefore, he believes that "those who use troops must be independent first, and then make enemies."
Zeng Guofan's military thoughts have influenced several generations, not to mention that his contemporary generals in Hunan and Huai took Zeng Guofan as a model, and later bourgeois strategists such as Huang Xing and Cai E also praised Zeng Guofan's general plan of running the army. When Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai used western methods to train the new army after the Sino-Japanese War, they adopted many practices of Zeng Guofan in running the army. Jiang Fangzhen, a strategist of the Republic of China, praised Zeng Guofan as a "military genius" in modern history in 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 attached great importance to it 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 attentions" at the beginning of the establishment of the Red Army. Zeng Guofan pursued Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism all his life, but he did not blindly worship Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism. In fact, he also borrowed from other schools of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties is 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 Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, such as "teaching by words", "illness" or "quietness". In this case, Zeng Guofan showed a tolerant academic attitude towards the theory of mind. As for the academic debate between Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism and Wang Lu's Neo-Confucianism, he thinks that the debate between the two factions should learn from their similarities, avoid their differences, develop their strengths, take everything into consideration, 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 the generative theory, saying that "Zhang Zizhi is sincere, honest and very modest". According to the thought of Qi, Zeng Guofan believed that everything in the world was born of inner Qi, and Qi was the ultimate element that constituted everything in the world. In this sense, everything in the world is the same.
However, Zeng Guofan also believes that although the Qi of Taihe is popular, and the Qi of all things in the world is "all ears", people and things, saints and ordinary people are not the same. As far as people and things are concerned, people are full of gas, 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, while the spirit of ordinary people is turbid and thin. Zeng Guofan is quite insightful about the way of making friends. He believes that it is important to be generous to make friends, and to "be honest and upright, compromise and be tolerant, but be selfless and suspicious." "Don't take advantage of people. Don't take other people's money seriously. " Brainstorm, listen without being deaf. "In terms of life, Zeng Guofan thought that" in this troubled times, the poorer the better. "Being an official", it is always good to have less money and less production. " "Patience is the first priority of an official", "Virtue is damaged by fullness, and happiness is reduced by arrogance". One must be careful with the word "light". "Is not particularly rich and famous, the prosperity of his family name is determined by heaven, that is, whether the virtue of learning is established is mostly related to heaven, so laugh it off. "Don't do your own work, don't do your own fame", "The sooner you retire, the better".
Zeng Guofan wrote twelve proverbs, which basically summarized his way of making friends in life. Zeng Guofan thinks that the most important thing is the principle of filial piety among family members. Filial piety is easy to understand, that is, 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 letters, it is generally believed that he wrote the most letters to his children. In fact, he wrote the most letters to his 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 world's bureaucrats are generally depressed after only one generation, because most of them are playboys; The family of businessmen, 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 home of filial piety is a family that pays attention to filial piety and manages the family harmoniously, which often lasts for ten generations and eight generations.
Under the tenet of "ruling the family with harmony", Zeng Guofan also emphasized "ruling the family with diligence". In Zeng Guofan's view, this diligence has two meanings: one is that family members should be diligent and thrifty, and the other is that parents should be diligent in words and deeds. Zeng Guofan said these things, he can take the lead and do them meticulously, and do them well. For example, the eldest son likes western sociology and once liked mathematics and physics. Although Zeng Guofan knows nothing, he can try his best to understand and study hard. Such a father is the real "diligent" father. Under the influence of Zeng Guofan, Ceng Jize always personally taught children to learn English, mathematics and music, and also taught them to practice calligraphy, write poems and explain classics and laws. No matter how busy he is, he always takes time out to spend with his children and family every day. This is the best family education. Therefore, there are many scientists, educators and social activists among Zeng Guofan's descendants, great-grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. Character cultivation is helpful to his career.
First of all, honesty, consistent appearance and appearance, everything can be made public.
The second is respect, awe, no evil thoughts in my heart, dignity and dignity.
The third is silence. Mind, qi, spirit and body should be in a state of peace and relaxation.
The fourth word is sincerity, no boasting, no lying, no empty talk, truth, one is one, and the other is two.
The fifth word remains the same, with regular life, moderate diet and regular daily life. The highest state is "cautious independence", with a god holding his head three feet high.
He kept a diary every day, checked and reflected on his words and deeds every day, and in his later life, he constantly put forward more requirements for himself: to be diligent, modest, kind, honest, to know life, to cherish happiness, and so on, in an effort to make himself a saint at that time. Many people think that personality cultivation is an empty thing, that cultivation is an illusory thing, even a pedantic thing, but Zeng Guofan's lifelong career and cultivation are the most important reasons for his career success.
Zeng Guofan thought: "there are about five things in the method of keeping in good health: first, always sleep and eat;" Second, punish anger; Third, abstinence; Fourth, wash your feet before going to bed every night; Fifth, walk three thousand steps after two meals a day. " The four words "eyesight", "rest", "sleep" and "diet" are the most important ways to maintain health, and you should know how to recuperate when you are recovering from illness.
Thirteen methods of self-cultivation in early years
First, the Lord respects (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 still (at any time every day, sit still for a while, restore benevolence, and be in a solidified position, such as Ding Town. )
Get up early (get up at dawn, don't fall in love after waking up. )
Reading is not the only thing (don't read a book until it is finished. Reading from the east to the west is biased. )
5. read history (circle ten pages every day, although some things are uninterrupted. )
Be careful what you say. )
Seven, nourishing qi (gas reservoir dantian, everything can not be said to people. )
Eight, keep fit (abstinence, labor, diet. )
Nine, keep a diary (must be open, all the days, heart, mouth, have records, life-long uninterrupted. )
Ten, the day knows death (I will tell one in every diary after tea, which is divided into the door of morality, knowledge, economy and art)
1 1. Don't forget what you can do in the next month (write a few poems every month to test the accumulated amount and the prosperity of invigorating qi). )
Twelve, write words (write words after breakfast. Any pen and ink entertainment is regarded as your own homework. )
Thirteen, don't go out at night )