How did Zeng Guofan, the "stupid bird flies first", succeed?

There is a joke circulating in Xiangxiang that Zeng Guofan is studying at home and can't recite a short article aloud. A thief tried to steal after falling asleep. But waiting left and right, just can't see him sleeping. The thief couldn't bear it, jumped out and shouted, "What are you looking at with this stupid head?" ! "

He is an outstanding strategist and strategist. When the Taiping Army was launched, the whole country was at a loss. Only he found his own way and founded the Xiang Army with superhuman courage. From the emperor to the minister, they are either eager for success or pessimistic and desperate. The dynasty is like a headless fly with no fixed plan. Zeng Guofan put forward the strategy of "controlling Taiping Army from top to bottom", that is, "fighting for Wuchang, controlling the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, pointing directly at Jiujiang and Anqing, and then attacking Tianjing".

He has a deep understanding of officialdom, and officialdom kung fu is like a master of Tai Chi, and he is good at solving various problems invisibly. Zhao Liewen, Zeng Guofan's secretary, recorded such a detail in his diary: When Ceng Guoquan could not attack Nanking, the court ordered Li Hongzhang to assist in the attack. On the one hand, Li Hongzhang didn't want to take the first credit from the Tseng brothers, so he bought the credit from the Tseng family. On the other hand, he tried to pass on the responsibility of resisting the decree to Zeng, so he explained it everywhere in private and made a lot of small moves.

Zeng Guofan was able to pass the imperial examination by sheer stupidity. His father told him not to understand the last sentence and not to read the next one. Don't touch the next book until you have finished reading this one. Never go to sleep until you finish your study task for one day. He doesn't know any "skills" or "shortcuts". He only knows one way to darkness, and he won't look back until he reaches the south wall. This "clumsy" way of learning has cultivated an extraordinary spirit of diligence, hardship and sureness in him.

Although Zeng Guofan has been a scholar for nine years, once he is enlightened, the road behind him will be smoother and smoother. In the second year of being a scholar, he won a scholarship and worked as a scholar in high school for four years. And those students who entered school early and didn't even come out with a juren later. He summed up his experience and said many times that it was because he had a good foundation, so he "should study hard."