Keywords Taizhou epitaph, translation, kneeling,

Alas, thirteen years after my father and mother were reburied in Taiwan Province, my unfilial son Frant Gwo carved a table and erected a monument in front of the grave. My father's name is Uncle Lin, and his name is Zhu Ting. He has been stuck in the examination room all his life and has been a Mongolian teacher for more than 20 years. Frant Gwo is an idiot. Since he was eight years old, he has been studying with his father at home, giving lectures in the morning and evening, and asking for help. If he doesn't know anything, he will teach it again, sometimes three times. Even when I'm walking on the road, or I'm already lying in bed, my father still has to ask me about the lessons I usually accumulate, and I can't learn them firmly until I fully understand them. The same is true of other schoolchildren. Later, I also educated my brothers in this way. My father often says that I am a stupid person, so I never find it boring to teach you stupid students. My father was tired of studying politics when he was a child, and later he took Frant Gwo to have a try. The father and son walked to the county seat with their bags on their backs, earning both fame and fortune for a long time. It was twelve years before Daoguang was compiled as a scholar. At that time, his father was 43 years old, and it was the seventeenth time he took the scholar exam. It has been five or six hundred years since our Zeng family moved from Hengyang to Xiangxiang, and no one has achieved fame and talent in the imperial examination. Father is the first in our family, which shows how difficult the road to the imperial examination is. Since my family moved to Xiangxiang in the early years of this dynasty, I have been making a living by farming. It was not until my grandfather Xing Gangjun was ashamed of his lack of culture that I began to pay attention to etiquette, make friends with intellectuals, educate and urge my father to study hard, work hard in poor years, and earnestly expect to achieve something. My grandfather's weather is awesome and inviolable. The supervision of his father is particularly strict, and he often scolds loudly in the crowd. Even when he is unhappy with others, he takes it out on his eldest son and growls all day, blaming him for his historical mistakes. Sometimes he will say something extremely fierce, saying that he is redundant in the whole family, which makes the whole family tremble. Father, as always, began to respect filial piety, afraid to go out, stood with his back against the wall, and then walked slowly towards his grandfather with trepidation, his face still as happy as ever. Grandfather was seriously ill in his later years, paralyzed in bed, thirsty and unable to speak, unable to take care of himself in daily life, and inseparable for a moment. He won't be happy when he doesn't see his father for a while, and he will make a scene when he needs it. Therefore, it can be seen that grandpa's severe criticism of his father is really out of high expectations and deep love for his father, which is difficult for ordinary people to understand. In the second year of Xianfeng, thieves from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fled to Hunan and besieged Changsha. Father led the villagers, formed a group, disciplined the children, taught the method of marching and arranging, and learned the skills of using firearms. Soon after, I came home from my mother's funeral and was ordered to supervise Yingyong, Hunan. In the second year, he was ordered to form a water army to reinforce the bandits in Hubei. Although my father is in the backcountry, he is determined to engage in military affairs. At first, he ordered his youngest son, Bao Guo, to recruit soldiers and beg thieves. Later, the third son Guohua and the fourth son Quanguo recruited troops to invade Hubei in the north and Nanchang in Jiangxi in the east, which was fruitful. However, my father died suddenly on the fourth day of February in the seventh year of Xianfeng. A year later, my brother Guohua was martyred in sanhe town, Shucheng, An Wei, and four years later, my brother Bao Guo died in Jinling (now Nanjing). The court gave him a reward and a pension, and gave him a good reputation. Frant Gwo and Quanguo subsequently recovered An Wei and Jiangsu provinces. Although it was providence and luck, it was also the teaching of predecessors that made all the scholars go to the enemy. At first, the princes lived in the capital with Daoguang and met Yan En respectfully. Grandfather and father are both famous doctors in Zhongxian county, and grandmother and mother are respected people. During the Xianfeng period, he met Yan En four times and was sealed for three generations, all of whom were doctors of Guanglu and first-class ladies. Today, after he succeeded to the throne, he was awarded the title of Count Marquis four times. Therefore, his great-grandfather Rusheng, his grandfather Yuping and his father were all awarded the first-class marquis, while his great-grandmother Shi Peng, his grandmother Wang Shi and his mother Chiang Kai-shek were still awarded the first-class lady. Alas, the courtesy and honor received by my family is really extreme. My mother, Mrs. Jiang, is Mr. Wang's daughter, a native of Xiangxiang. She married the Zeng family and served her in-laws for more than 40 years. She washes clothes and cooks, treats her elders personally, shows respect and filial piety, and makes every effort to make allowance for relatives and friends and sacrifice ceremonies to make them the most reasonable. My mother has five sons and four daughters, and all her clothes are knitted and sewn by her mother. Some people are worried about the financial difficulties of our huge population. Mrs. Tai said, I want a son to study, a son to grow crops as a farmer, a son to engage in industry and commerce, and a son to work outside. Why should I worry about being poor? Mom also said some self-improvement words, or humorous jokes, to ease the excessive hard work. My mother died in Xianfeng on June 12, 2002, and was buried behind my house in Xiayao on September 22nd. Father was buried in Zhoubichong on May 3, 2007, and was reburied in Maomiannao, Taiwan Province on August 1 2009. The father has two younger brothers, and the elder brother is called to the stage. He died when he was only 24. My father sought medical treatment for this for more than a year, often hesitated all night, and finally died. My brother's name is Ji Yun. He can put his ancestors before himself, and he is full of humility. He is obedient to his father, and the older he gets, the more respectful he becomes. No biological son, with his brother Guohua as his stepson. Died three years after his father. Four daughters, two died first, and the other two died later. The only sons left in the world are Frant Gwo, Guo Huang and Quan Guo, as well as seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Now briefly, as mentioned above, the future will last forever with the virtue and demeanor of a famous ancestor, while I, Zeng Guofan, a thin, talented and incompetent person, am ashamed of my high position. Although I am conscientious, I am still afraid of taking responsibility myself.