Revealing the secret: the figure who made Zeng Guofan and his son "bow down"

1864, Zeng Guofan led the Xiang army to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and save the crumbling Qing Dynasty after years of fighting. For the pillar and savior of the Qing dynasty, the Qing dynasty did not hesitate to give him a reward and gave him a very high reward. At this point, Zeng Guofan was extremely honored. However, this did not bring much comfort to Zeng Guofan. On the contrary, he has a thrilling feeling. In a poem dedicated to his brother Ceng Guoquan, Zeng Guofan revealed his situation and mentality at that time:

Multiplication and division are everywhere in the world.

Bow your head and worship the sheep and say everything about space.

Coincidentally, twenty years later, his son Ceng Jize wrote poems with similar images in Britain thousands of miles away:

No, he will get old if he stays for a long time, and his temples are gray.

Knowing that I love empty beans in the stack, I really want to go to the furnace to refine sand.

Le Shu, the old country, is much vexed, and middle-aged poems are half-wounded.

Bow their heads and worship Tao Pengze, and ask the restaurant about everything.

What kind of person is Tao Pengze talking about slaughtering sheep in the poem? What kind of words and deeds made the famous Zeng father and son worship?

Tu Yang is said to be a character in Zhuangzi. The story is that during the Spring and Autumn Period, King Zhao of Chu lost his throne, and Tu Yang said that he fled with Zhao Haoqi. Later, Zhao Haoqi returned to China and won the throne. He wanted to reward those who fled with him, including Tu Yang. The sheep butcher said, "the king lost his throne, and I lost my career of slaughtering sheep;" Now, the king has resumed the throne, and I have resumed my previous career. Since the salary has been restored, why should we give it again? "

From the late Qing Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, various political images appeared, and people living in them often felt precarious. 1864 Zeng Guofan reached the peak of his life. However, the so-called fame is big, and slander also follows. When he was revered, the voices of criticism flocked to him. "Left column bells rang and right column slandered books." In this case, he could only escape and protect himself, and looked down on everything.

Zhao Haoqi insisted on rewarding him. Tu Yang said, "It's not my fault that your majesty lost his country. I can't accept punishment; It is not my credit that the king restored the country, so I can't accept the reward. " Zhao Haoqi had a problem with Tu, who said, "According to the Chu method, the successful person can only see the king. I am not wise enough to save the country and brave enough to kill the enemy." When Wu Jun attacked Du Ying, I ran away for fear of difficulties, so I didn't have to follow the king. Now the king wants to meet me against the law. I have never heard of this practice. "

Zhao Haoqi thinks that the theory of slaughtering sheep is humble, but "Chen Yi is very high", and he is going to be appointed as the "Three Fair". Tu Yang said: "I know that these three positions are much more prestigious than slaughtering sheep in the market, and the salary is much more generous. However, how can I covet high officials and high salaries and give the king the reputation of recklessness! I don't deserve it Let me go back to the market and continue my career of slaughtering sheep! " In this way, Tu Yang said that he had never been paid by Zhao Haoqi.

As a model of valuing righteousness over profit, the theory of slaughtering sheep is highly respected by later generations. The Book of the New Tang Dynasty records the deeds of a man named Li Bo, showing the same mental outlook as the theory of slaughtering sheep:

Li Bo is a descendant of General Wei Yangzi and Shen Guogong. Your father, a counselor in the temple, can't adopt a mother and waste it in the world. Ashamed of being an official, he refused to be an official, carved his ambition in learning, and lived in seclusion with Brother Zhong in Lushan Mountain. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Li Xun, assistant minister of the Ministry of Finance, and Wei Kuang, an admonition officer, recommended it, and the son of heaven took it. Therefore, Henan Shaoyindu also sent officials to urge them to send letters and coins to the mountains. Bo wrote a thank-you letter: "There was a saying about slaughtering sheep:' It is more expensive to know that slaughtering sheep is more expensive than killing sheep, but we must not make our king do it rashly." He is very cheap, but he can still forget that he loves you. Although I want to steal glory and do whatever I want, do I have a clear conscience to slaughter sheep? "Don't worship.

As for Tao Pengze in Ceng Jize's poems, it was Tao Yuanming, a native of Xunyang Chaisang (now Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province) in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, who was named Pengze County Order. The story that he didn't bend over for five buckets of rice is often talked about by people. He once said to himself, "Be quiet and talk less, and don't worship Li Rong." "regardless of gains and losses." His unconventional mentality and behavior won great praise in later generations. Song Shu said that he was "rarely interested in high school". "Old Tang Book" praised him for "relaxing his fame, letting go of his emotions, enjoying the spring stone, and having no intention of the source". Hong Mai, a Song Dynasty man, praised it as "the first generation of Jin and Song Dynasties" in his masterpiece "Rong Zhai Essays".

From the late Qing Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, various political images appeared, and people living in them often felt precarious. 1864 Zeng Guofan reached the peak of his life. However, the so-called fame is big, and slander also follows. When he was revered, the voices of criticism flocked to him. "Left column bells rang and right column slandered books." In this case, he could only escape and protect himself, and looked down on everything.

Both Zeng Guofan's theory of slaughtering sheep and Ceng Jize's yearning Tao Pengze have one thing in common, that is, they don't care about personal fame and fortune, so that people who feel unhappy in life can telepathize with them.