Zeng Guofan, the best diaosi: low IQ, poor face value, counterattack depends on these two times.

In an era when diaosi is rampant, counterattack is a never-ending topic. And if we want to say that the most successful diaosi in the history of counterattack is Zeng Guofan.

In the history of Manchu rule in the Qing dynasty for hundreds of years, there were very few Han Chinese officials who were named as university students. During the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi listened to politics and was more alert to the Han people, so 90% of the cabinet university students were Manchu.

Zeng Guofan shines brightly in this crowd.

From the first year of Tongzhi to his death, he served as co-organizer, Tijen Hall and Wuyingtang. During this period, he was also awarded the first-class Yi Hou Yong and was awarded the hereditary replacement. After his death, posthumous title became Zheng Wen.

Note that Wen is the highest honor of civil servants under the feudal system in China. Just look at other literary works in history.

For example: Li Zhi, a writer and mathematician in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, posthumous title Gong; Northern Song Dynasty writer and historian, Sima Guang, editor-in-chief of Zi Tong Zhi Jian, Gong Zheng, Paulus Johannes, posthumous title; Fan Zhongyan, a statesman, writer, strategist and educator in the Northern Song Dynasty, was a public official in posthumous title.

In the environment of the late Qing Dynasty, it was almost more difficult to get such a high honor than to ascend to heaven. It can be said that the achievement is staggering. What excites all diaosi is that Zeng Guofan's starting point is really low.

Let's start with IQ.

In feudal times, scientific research was almost the only criterion to test IQ. People who have achieved great success in history are all masters of exams. For example, Zhang, the capital of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang is a 12-year-old candidate, 16-year-old candidate, and a 23-year-old scholar. Especially because of his outstanding talent, he was appreciated by Gu Lin, the examiner of Hunan Province and governor of Huguang. They have been friends for many years, calling them "children", praising them as "national musical instruments" and giving them to each other.

Look at Zeng Guofan again. Zeng Guofan 16-year-old Jinshi failed the exam six times in a row. 23-year-old, the seventh exam, finally passed, the results are average. At the age of 23, Zhang had graduated from college, while Zeng Guofan had just graduated from junior high school. You can imagine how big the gap is and how anxious it is.

Further discussion on face value.

If you only pay attention to IQ during school, the importance of Yan value will gradually appear after being an official. Zeng Guofan's two IQ bottlenecks took turns to go into battle, which was really a collection of thousands of frustrations.

Fortunately, Zeng Guofan was attracted by Zhang Mu and became his favorite pupil.

Zhang Mu, the military minister in Daoguang period, was a former red man, so he spared no effort to recommend Zeng Guofan. However, Daoguang's instrument is very important, and Zhang Mu's recommendation was defeated by Zeng Guofan's instrument several times.

Zhang Mu had reluctantly told zeng guofan:

Zeng Guofan in the mind a cool, this belongs to force majeure! Interestingly, Zeng Guofan, who grew up like this, eventually became a master of physiognomy. I don't know if it is because the psychological shadow is too deep.

Although he looks pale, Zhang Mu always pays attention to seize the opportunity to recommend Zeng Guofan and praises Zeng Guofan for being "cautious and careful".

Get out of here! /Really? ! In order to verify the authenticity, Daoguang deliberately set up the next game, and this IQ became a major bottleneck. It's really impossible to prevent!

Here's the thing. One day, Daoguang sent Zeng Guofan to hall of mental cultivation for an audience. After Zeng Guofan arrived, he waited for an hour and a morning, but Daoguang never came. Zeng Guofan has been as stupid as a log, turning a blind eye to a room full of calligraphy and painting. Finally, I waited for three hours, and what I waited for was a word from the eunuch: The emperor is not coming today, so go home.

Zeng Guofan was so stupid that he was confused when he got back, so he had to ask Zhang Mu for advice. Zhang Mu was tearing his hair out when he heard that no one read a room full of calligraphy and painting. Later, someone secretly copied the calligraphy and painting of Yangxintang to Zeng Guofan. Tell him this is the emperor's exam.

At this time, Zeng Guofan suddenly realized that he was ashamed to death. Zhang Mu had a hard time sticking this pile of mud on the wall. After Daoguang, Xianfeng cleaned up the old staff, and Zhang Mu resigned and went home. Zeng Guofan's official career has just begun.

It is such an older young man with low face value and low IQ that he finally got mixed up with the height of life mentioned above, and later generations were juxtaposed with Confucius and Wang Yangming. How is this done? This has to be said that Zeng Guofan's two ultimate tricks of practicing life: fortitude and introspection.

There is a lyric called: love should be more bumpy and brave, and love should be persistent. There is no love in the official workplace, only life and death.

Zeng Guofan's two congenital defects have created countless opportunities for him to practice "hard" kung fu. What is rigidity? Zeng Quotations: Knock out teeth, promote blood circulation and swallow, and insist on nothing.

What the hell is this? Not angry at all, are you? But in a calm and peaceful time, this statement sounds out of step with the times; But when life encounters ups and downs, "fortitude" is definitely Du Jie's prescription for diaosi.

South China in the late Qing Dynasty was turned upside down by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The imperial Qing army was weak and incompetent, unable to resist the attack of the Taiping Army, and the territory continued to fall. At this time, the people were organizing Ying Yong, and Zeng Guofan was also involved. They began to form the Xiang Army and became the official bandit leader.

In order to improve the combat effectiveness, Zeng Guofan not only practiced military courage, but also attached importance to ideological education, and asked the local green camp Army (loyalist) to participate together.

Green camp army does not belong to Zeng Guofan's leadership, and it is in midsummer, and the heat is unbearable, and the resistance is getting stronger and stronger. In the end, the personal conflict between the soldiers of both sides turned into a military coup. Green camp army directly into zeng guofan's office.

Zeng Guofan escaped into the home of Luo, the governor of Hunan Province, after being injured. Luo Zhangbing did not punish the perpetrators, but untied them himself. This incident once became a joke in Hunan officialdom, which made Zeng Guofan feel great shame.

Friends and subordinates all hope that Zeng Guofan will show some prestige. But Zeng Guofan thought for a long time and said: Heroes can knock out teeth and promote blood circulation.

Zeng Guofan knew that Xiang was not strong enough at present and would shoulder the heavy responsibility of pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the future, so he could not act rashly. Moreover, he was just a "bandit-fighting person in charge" with no real power, just like today's project manager. In the future, he will rely on this army to see the light of day again.

To this end, he is willing to endure all humiliation, that is, to knock out his teeth and promote blood circulation.

At that time, Zeng Guofan was attracted by Zhang Mu's indomitable spirit. In the words of Zhang Mu:

Zhang Mu really hit the nail on the head. Zeng Guofan suffered unbearable pressure and depression in the battle to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the future. He was loyal to the liver and courageous, and devoted himself to serving the country, but he was repeatedly suspected and made things difficult by the court. Sincerely being a man, I recommended Zuo Tang Zong all the way, but he was stabbed in the back and criticized mercilessly. Really heart to the moon, according to the ditch. It breaks my heart to think about it.

People have ambition, but they can't bear the hardships of adversity.

I once did a consulting project, and the whole process was repeatedly made difficult and reprimanded by customers, but I was not satisfied. After that, it is useless for our boss (director-general) to personally participate in the report. After that, the boss has given up this point, but I insist on customer satisfaction, so I crustily skin of head to continue.

Finally, through the customer's audit, the project was completed and all the money was recovered. Made friends with customers. This project case was praised and boasted by the boss for a long time. In fact, as far as personal intelligence and ability are concerned, I am only below average. And sometimes, the extent to which one thing can be done depends on how long you can carry it. There is a saying that the workplace, in the final analysis, depends entirely on physical strength.

The physical strength here actually includes the ability to resist stress in the heart, that is, the ability to be stiff.

Zeng Guofan's perseverance not only made him, but also gained experience. The book "Tingjing" is all Zeng Guofan's experience in this respect. Interested friends, you can look for it.

Introspection belongs to the basic skills of Neo-Confucianism, also called self-denial. In fact, since the time of Confucius, the role of introspection has been emphasized.

In The Analects of Confucius, Ceng Zi said:

Later, it was carried forward by Zhu Ming Neo-Confucianism. Wang Yangming wrote Biography, followed by Self-denial and Reciprocity, saying: Preserve justice and destroy human desires.

Zeng Guofan's self-denial diligence and thoroughness are unparalleled in ancient and modern times. Coincidentally, Zeng Guofan happened to be Zi's 70th grandson. This is really a legacy that spans thousands of years.

The growth and transformation of life comes from introspection again and again. The speed of growth depends on the frequency and depth of introspection. In these two aspects, Zeng Guofan is a model for the world.

When Zeng Guofan was young, he was very lewd except for his high heart. He can't take his eyes off beautiful women, even his colleagues' wives. When he found his own problems, he began to sit quietly and denied himself every time he read a book together.

Not only reflect, but also write feelings and take notes. He turned self-denial into finding fault with an axe and chopping one at a time. And those written words have also become the best-selling family precepts of Zeng Guofan in ancient and modern times.

Being an official in Beijing for more than ten years, the most important thing Zeng Guofan did was to thoroughly remould himself. During his tenure in imperial academy, Zeng Guofan offended countless people because of his insolence. Because of the habit of introspection, Zeng Guofan spent three years transforming himself from a terrapin into a member of the capital circle.

What really made Zeng Guofan become the first of the four famous ministers in Yixian is this kind of introspection kung fu, which enabled him to be calm and unmoved in the face of all kinds of great humiliation. Under the premise of unsatisfactory personal endowment, long-term introspection gradually improves a person's system ability, which is becoming more and more obvious in the future.

In his later years, Zeng Guofan has gradually formed a perfect and powerful personality through introspection. In the face of Zuo's repeated good for evil, Zeng Guofan was always patient and unwilling to confront him.

In Zeng Guofan's way of making friends, there are four important words:

These are dry goods that are introspective all the year round. So that such a stupid and ugly person has friends like clouds all his life, and the shogunate is full of talents. He can do this because he is considerate of others everywhere.

Senior officials recommended by Zeng Guofan in his life are all over the ruling and opposition parties. Even if he finally broke up with Zuo, he still invited his family to make friends with him and praised him as a rare talent for the great cause of the country in the future.

British historian Bao once said:

Comparatively speaking, Zuo's intelligence is superior, and his ability to fight and be an official is several times that of Zeng Guofan. However, the left lacks introspection, few friends and few aides. Everyone couldn't stand his arrogance, arbitrariness and selfishness, and most of them broke up in discord.

Zuo eventually became one of the four famous ministers of Yixian, which did have its advantages, but the most important thing was that Zeng Guofan spared no effort to recommend and maintain it. The Qing court wanted to divide Zeng Guofan with his political intentions, which was also caused by the same effect.

History is both accidental and inevitable.

Most successful people who are familiar with today's business circles have made achievements in the above two aspects. Li Ka-shing, the richest man in Asia, emphasized honesty all his life; Huawei people have made great efforts in self-analysis and reflection. Ma Yun, who was rated as a rat's head and tail by Lei Jun, was hailed as the richest, more frustrated and braver spirit after success.

This is an era when diaosi is rampant. The essence of counterattack is to make yourself go all the way up and never stop. If you feel that the starting point is very low and the situation is too bad, then think about Zeng Guofan, and maybe you can gain new strength.