04.2020 Story
Seeking truth from facts and discussing matters according to the facts -- Zeng Guofan's life and work
Yuan ding industry (Shanghai) / Liu Zuliang
When I was in middle school, I read Zeng Guofan's book of Zeng Wenzheng's family. Frankly, I began to doze off within 20 minutes. The article is full of admonitions to study and study persistently, to lay a solid foundation for learning, to treat people and things with modesty, not bureaucracy, and to abstain from luxury and arrogance Wait, young I think these are platitudes, eight share mess. It's amazing that Zeng Guofan used these self-cultivation and academic work to fight in the army and deal with people, and he was very successful.
The army led by Zeng Guofan was recruited during the regiment training in Hunan Province, mainly with Hunan as the backbone, so it is called the Hunan army. It is characterized by plain tactics, well-trained and prudent use of troops. To sum up, there are six words: "forge a strong stronghold and fight a dead battle.". What is "zhajianzhai"? When the Xiang army marches to any place, even if it stays for one night, it will build a stronghold. The wall of the stronghold must be eight feet high and one foot wide, and there must be an observation post on it. Outside the stronghold wall, there must be a two foot deep trench with bamboo sticks and other sharp and tough things. It took a lot of time to arrange these defensive measures, which led to the slow progress of the Hunan army, but also because of this, the Hunan army was seldom attacked successfully by the Taiping army.
The so-called "fight in a daze" means not to act rashly and never to launch an attack before gaining an absolute advantage. In the Second World War, British Field Marshal Montgomery made the most of the tactics in North Africa. Montgomery's opponent is Rommel, the German military prodigy. When it comes to the quality of soldiers, armor tactics and clever strategies of both sides, Montgomery may not be cheap. But the advantage of the British army is that there is a huge supply and resources of American materials behind it, while Nazi Germany is trapped in the mud of the eastern front battlefield, which can provide the supply of Rommel's African Army is very limited. When Montgomery took over the eighth British Legion, in the confrontation between the African Legion in the alaman region of North Africa and Rommel, they only kept defending but not attacking at the initial stage, and kept accumulating strength until their own side had an overwhelming advantage, then they broke the deadlock and defeated Rommel, the fox of the desert.
In the eighth year of Xianfeng, the war between Hunan army and Taiping army, there were fewer and fewer areas where Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could control taxes and grain. Wuhan and Anqing, the important towns in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, were lost successively. Although Li Xiucheng, the valiant loyal king, Li Shixian, and so on, they still defeated the Qing army in large and small battles, and could not recover the strategic and political failure of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom The Lord's Qing army began to grasp the absolute superiority of material strength. At this time, Zeng Guofan's tactics of "staying in battle" began to play a role. With the Hunan army's step-by-step advance to Tianjing City (Nanjing), the territory of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was constantly limited, and the space to give full play to Taiping Army's advantages in field and sports war was gone. The Hunan army, like a boa constricting its prey, narrowed its encirclement little by little, and finally failed to win a significant battle In addition, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which had shaken 18 provinces, was ended.
In fact, it is a precise practice in Sun Tzu's art of war that "the first is invincible, and the second is invincible" (Note 4). Because of his advantages in human and material resources, Zeng Guofan adopted a steady strategy to bring pressure to his opponents step by step and wait for his mistakes. This set of strategy is plain and plain, but it is practical and realistic. It is not restless and vain. It effectively transforms its own advantages into the final victory.
Shortly after the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Tianjin's teaching plan shocked China and foreign countries. This case was caused by the fact that the people did not know the western culture at that time, and some foreigners and their compradors and missionaries bullied the people with strong support for the people. In addition, at that time, there were rumors of infanticide and infanticide in Western churches, which led to the outbreak of xenophobia. In the conflict, France's Church (wanghailou Catholic Church) and French consulate were destroyed, France's Consul fengdaye, three consuls, nuns, priests, and more than 40 Chinese parishioners were killed, including three Russians and four Christian churches run by British and American missionaries. The incident triggered protests from France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, the United States, Belgium and the west, as well as the dispatch of warships to Tianjin port.
At that time, ten years before the end of the burning of yuanmingyuanfu by the British and French allied forces, and only five years after the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing government had no ability to deal with a war at all. However, the domestic Qing government sympathized with the rioters and thought that the foreigners were too deceiving to fight at all. When Empress Dowager Cixi was in a dilemma, she had to launch "trump card" - Zhili governor Zeng Guofan to deal with this hot potato.
Zeng Guofan put the case to rest for more than three months. His method is simple: discuss the matter on its own. First of all, we found out the cause of the incident and confirmed that there was no infanticide or infanticide in the church. We executed the 16 people who took the lead in the trouble and dismissed and exiled the improper officials. Then, he reached an agreement with six other countries besides France to settle the case with silver as compensation, so he had to deal with France alone, avoid the disadvantage of one to many negotiation, and narrow the impact. Finally, an agreement was reached on punishing the murderers, making reparations, and sending special envoy (Chonghou) to France to apologize.
Zeng Guofan suffered a great deal of pressure and criticism when dealing with the religious case in Tianjin, and the court and the Qing Dynasty thought that he had lost his power and insulted his country. However, after 150 years, regardless of the national mood, if you look at the case again, you will feel that Zeng Guofan's handling of the case was in line with the rules and regulations, which was the best result in the context of time and space at that time. It's not wrong to kill and pay for one's life. It's also reasonable to punish the improper officials. It's a clever negotiation method to reach an agreement with the other six countries first. After all, it's necessary to damage their churches, hurt their missionaries, and compensate and comfort them and rebuild them. Some people may think that the compensation for 490000 liang of silver is too high, but weigh the national strength at that time, plus their own losses, It's the best way to spend money to eliminate disasters and avoid war. To send a special envoy to apologize can not be said to be humiliating our country. After all, we have made a mistake. If we make a mistake, we can get an understanding. We hope to get along well in the future. What's the difference between this and that of the children in our family who hurt their neighbors and their parents who come to apologize and make a red envelope? Although Zeng Guofan was described as a "traitor" in the national mood and xenophobic atmosphere at that time, judging from his orderly handling of the incident, he did deal with the matter as it is.
The two spirits of seeking truth from facts and discussing matters from the facts are equally useful in today's workplace. If we are practical and realistic, we will not be delusional and do as many things as we can. In my 30-year career experience, I have seen many enterprises that have failed due to excessive financial leverage operation. Only seeking truth from facts is the hard truth of enterprise development. If an enterprise has no technological advantages, no innovation environment, no channels for talent exploration, no solid organization and finance, then all the success of "turning around" may be just a flash in the pan. This is especially true in the relationship between the government and the industry. Don't expect to have a meal and participate in several activities to establish deep feelings with the other party. When the other party has difficulties and crises, it's the opportunity to build true friendship to compare heart with heart and send coals in time.
It is very important for managers at all levels of an enterprise to have a matter-of-fact attitude. Without a matter-of-fact attitude, they cannot focus on the event itself and are prone to over Association. When a subordinate does something helpful to the company, he will guess: "is he robbing me and trying to replace me?" if the subordinate is different from his own opinion, he will wonder: "does this kid have a different mind and wants to beat me with a negative voice?" the supervisor who can't talk about the matter often follows the suspicious mentality. Except those who bow to the ear, they are all regarded as We must go to the enemy who is fast. We don't know that there are countless rebellions in Chinese history. Seven or eight out of ten are forced out! Without Cao Shuang's coercion, Sima Yi may not be able to fight back; without Yang Guozhong's suspicion, Anlushan may not be able to fight. Without any scale of suspicion, people with ability and principle are forced to leave one after another, cutting off the blood of enterprise sustainability development.
In the late Qing Dynasty, China was faced with unprecedented changes in history. The Western gunpowder and the European and American industrial technology made the Qing government, whose technology was lagging behind and whose ruling power was declining, unable to cope. In such an environment, Zeng Guofan was able to fight with the foreigners and the rebels of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at the same time, and finally turned the tide of the tide. He continued the throne of the Manchu government for more than 50 years, which was inseparable from his spirit of seeking truth from facts and his attitude of dealing with the matter.
Note:
1. Zuo Zongtang thought highly of himself. When he taught in the countryside of Hunan Province in the early years, he called himself "Jinliang" (Zhugeliang of today's world), and wrote the couplet of "the two SIMAS of the Western Han Dynasty and the Wolong of Nanyang". But he does deserve it.
2. After conquering Nanjing, Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, began to pursue pleasure and lost his initiative. As a result, the main force did not swing its troops to the north, which gave the Qing government a chance to breathe. This was a strategic mistake. The struggle for power among the eastern King Yang Xiuqing, the northern King Wei Changhui and Yiwang Shida led to serious internal strife and weakened the strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which was a major political failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
3. There is always a key battle between the left and the right when China competes for the world. For example, the battle of Kunyang determines the rise of Guangwu, the battle of Guandu promotes Cao Cao Cao's unification of northern China, the battle of Chibi determines the Three Kingdoms, and the battle of salhu confirms the rise of Manchu. But in the more than ten years of confrontation between the Hunan army and the Taiping army, the Hunan army did not fight a great victory in annihilating the main force of the Taiping army. Instead, the whole army was almost annihilated in the battle of Jinggang. Zeng Guofan even drowned himself in the water. Fortunately, he was saved by the left and right.
4. See the military form chapter of the art of war of Sun Tzu.
