Zeng Guofan's Population Strategy

Zeng Guofan usually observes people carefully and puts forward the famous "five arrivals". Among them, "Eye Dao" puts special emphasis on "seeing people intently", and "Hand Dao" puts forward "the pros and cons of people, the importance of things, take notes at hand, in case of forgetting."

It can be seen that Zeng Guofan pays attention to "comprehensive" when in contact with people, and has accumulated a lot of experience in his daily military and political career. There are many rumors about it, and he claims to have "Bing Jian" and the like. The most credible thing is that he wrote in his diary on November 13th in Tongzhi four years: Recalling the way of looking at people in the past, he made a formula. This formula is the knowledge of the population, which can also be said to be Zeng Guofan's summary of the physiognomy. Some of the contents obviously exceed the scope of the traditional physiognomy and incorporate some new methods of investigating and observing people. When China began in the Tang Dynasty, the selection of talents was based on the standards of "body, speech, writing, and judgment". "Body" means that a person wants to be beautiful, and the side of the body is the best face . We usually say that if this person is a Chinese character face, he can become a great weapon. For example, if the shoulders are uneven, one high and one low, one cannot bear the arduousness. His diary is recorded like this:

Xiezheng looks at his eyes and nose, and his lips are true or false.

Fame depends on spirit, wealth depends on spirit.

The idea is to look at the fingers, and the storm to look at the hamstrings.

If you want to look organized, it's all in the language.

The first sentence is "Xie Zheng looks at his eyes and nose." Loyalty and traitor are the two most important aspects of Chinese people's view of people. If even good people and bad people can't be distinguished, then there is no use of people. Therefore, Zeng Guofan defined the first sentence in the knowledge of population tactics as "seeing the eyes and nose with evil righteousness." If the nose and eyes are not right, that is, the common saying goes, the eyes are slanted and the nose is crooked. In Zeng Guofan's opinion, this person is definitely not right in mind. Just like when watching a Beijing opera, as soon as the facial makeup comes out, you will know whether this person is a traitor or a loyal minister. In physiognomy, a body of seven feet is not as good as a head of a foot, and a head of a foot is not as good as an inch of eye. So to look at a person, in addition to the whole, the first thing to look at is whether the nose and eyes are upright. This is also the most basic aspect of looking at people.

"Human Relations Datong Fu" says, "If you want to observe the magic, you must first see your eyes." The eye palm is the palace of virtuous, noble, clumsy, courageous, and evil. Mencius said: "Regular in the chest, the eyes are dazzling." The eyes are long and deep, followed by the tail slightly raised, and again the hidden god. Therefore, "the two eyes hide the god, the rich and the noble, the fishtail, the position is in the country." Triangular eyes are usually cunning. For another example, the pupils should be like lacquer, black and white. Elephant eyes belong to the rational thinking type, yellow eyes are longevity type, bulging eyes belong to the irritable personality, and turbidity belongs to the premature death type. Observing the types of people from the eyes, Zeng Guofan recorded the most examples. For example, "looking up and looking at the same person" is the best, "wandering eyes are the eyes of thieves," which is detrimental to others, and "innocently hurts oneself." The nose is located in the middle of the five mountains. According to the photo book, the nose is the judge. It is located in the center and stands tall. It is known as Tianzhu Mountain. It is connected to the heaven on the top and the water ditch (in the human). "The nose is based on the quasi-head", and the two sides are "golden armor".

The second sentence is "true or false look at the lips". The mouth is a teller, not too big. Mouth morality and mouth thief are completely different polarities. Square, wide, and thick are the most important things in the mouth. There is also "great desire for openness but less desire for cohesion". Lips: The two lips are similar. If the upper lip can't cover the lower lip, the man will be more deceitful, and the woman will be better. The mouth is like a bird's beak. Fan Li assisted the king of Yue Goujian and decided to break up with him after he succeeded. He saw that he had a long-necked bird beak and could not share in peace. According to historical records, the old woman of the Han Dynasty promised that she would starve to death based on Zhou Yafu's mouth: Xiangfa said that if there are horizontal stripes deep in the mouth, she will inevitably starve to death.

The third sentence is "Fame depends on spirit." Whether a person has fame or not, Zeng Guofan said it depends on the person's spirit. Some people move everyone up as soon as they come out, like falling in love at first sight when they are in a relationship, being overwhelmed by the other's temperament, and having a feeling of following. At the beginning of the fourth year of Xianfeng, Guizhou Liping prefect Hu Linyi led three hundred people into the city through the tune of Huguang Governor Wu Wenrong, and learned that Wu had died in Huangzhou. Zeng Guofan didn’t know that Wu was dead when he was fashionable, and wrote a letter saying that he came, "I am happy for Master Zhen (Wen Rong Wu), and happy for the two lakes. Then he received the letter of Luzhou’s fall and the death of Minqiao (Jiang Zhongyuan), which is worrying for the world and for me. Party worries". Then he went to the Qing court and praised that "Hu is only ten times better than his ministers, and it can be useful." Hu Sui became Zeng's subordinate. But later Hu was the first to be appointed to the territories, "Be respectful of things and be honest and respectful (official), and promote the United States and make merit." "Zhongxing is based on this!" After Hu died, Zeng Guofan privately talked with his confidant Zhao Liewen. Say: Hu Linyi is a hero. In May of the tenth year of Xianfeng, Hu Linyi wrote to Zeng Guofan, saying that Shaoquan, like the bone art, must be great, talented and ambitious. Zeng and Hu both met Li Xiang and said that Li Hongzhang was a rich and noble minister and a blessed general.

The fourth sentence is "Wealth depends on spirit." The "spirit" here means spirit and energy. Can a person enjoy wealth forever? Zeng Guofan said that even if you cultivate some talents, but because they can't enjoy wealth forever, you may end up with nothing. In a private conversation with Zhao Liewen, he said with great regret that Hu Linyi was the first hard-working man in the Hunan Army. Xue Fucheng also pointed out that Hu Linyi has a bitter face. Although he has extraordinary heroism, it is a bitter appearance, that is, lack of energy and energy, so it cannot last for long. We usually say that people live a breath, long life is long, short life is short. This qi is the spirit of spirit. Essence is a tangible thing, and qi and god are intangible things, but intangible things like qi and god are supported by essence, whether it is a man or a woman . Essence comes out of the kidney again, so a person has kidney failure, and the essence of the person is gone, and the qi and spirit are dispersed. Kangxi had a famous saying in his later years, he said that he worked hard for the Qing Empire, "The heart consumes its blood for the world, and the god disperses its form for the world" is the best expression. So Zeng Guofan said that wealth depends on spirit.

The fifth sentence is "Look at your fingertips". If people have any ideas, he said that they mainly depend on their fingers. Actually, it's comrades. Ancient books say that the limbs are like four times and the five bodies are like the five elements. The hands are thick and soft. The fingers are long, the man is clever, and he has ideas, and the short and thick man is stupid. Zeng Guofan said, "Those with clear and shallow lines on the palm of the hand and palm, the heart is set." This decision is to decide, not to be flustered at the moment. "Those with shallow and chaotic palm lines will make people confused and floating."

The sixth sentence is "the storm looks at the hamstrings." It is a thousand-mile horse, we say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The photo book says that if you have enough, you can upload one body and move down all the bodies. The foot represents a good horse and represents a land. It is expensive enough to be flat, thick, upright and long. In the Qing Dynasty, when there was a big war , it was necessary to choose a good horse, mostly from Mongolia and the northwest. One criterion for distinguishing the good and bad of a horse is that at a certain time, the horses that arrive at this place first are the good horses, and those that do not arrive are eliminated. When people age, they also start with their feet, so he said, "You should look at your hamstrings in a storm." Some people have no wind, no waves, no disasters and no difficulties to reach San Gong, and their position has risen very high; while some people have a life of ups and downs before they finally achieve success. This is the kind of person who has trouble.

The last two sentences are "If you want to be organized, it's all in the language." These two sentences are not relatives, but observing people. Zeng Guofan pays special attention to orderliness and regards it as one of the four most important aspects of employing people. He said that there is no organization, which can be seen through words. The language mainly includes two aspects: one is written language, including various reports and reports. In everyone's life, perhaps the most inseparable thing is our words. Many texts belong to reports, and whether the reports are organized or not is very important. Zeng Guofan's language here mainly refers to spoken language. He often said that the ancient people's hearing is very applicable, that is, if two people talk, whether they can hit the point and be clear, and grasp the other party, you can show whether they are organized.

There is a good example in modern times. Zhang Xueliang was imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek because of the Xi'an Incident. By the time of Chiang Ching-kuo, he still did not gain complete freedom. At that time, too many major figures involved in the Xi'an Incident died, and only he could tell the truth, but he has remained silent on this for many years. All visitors were turned away, but the famous American historian Tang Degang did it. In one sentence, he asked Zhang Xueliang to tell the secret hidden deep in his heart:

Without the Xi'an Incident, your status in Chinese history would not even be as good as your father. Your father is the king of the Northeast, and he would not succumb to the Japanese. Although you have been in jail for 30 years because of the Xi'an Incident, you have changed China. What you have done is worth it!

This sentence made Zhang Xueliang immediately agreed to Tang Degang's interview. Later, all of Zhang Xueliang's memoirs were kept at Columbia University, which should be attributed to Tang Degang. Whether a person speaks in an orderly manner and whether he can impress the other person in the shortest time is one of Zeng Guofan's secrets.

"Zeng's Xiangxiang Documents" also retains the specific records of Zeng Guofan's relatives. For example, looking at a person's face, Zeng Guofan would say what kind of face is a wing type. People often say that they can’t communicate with people who are ying 顸 because they can’t make sense. Zeng Guofan also said that they would not make friends at all, saying that such people would avoid them for fear. The countenance of a person with a wing is "the face is quick but big, and there is no clear air", that is, the face is very big and there is no clear air.

surface:

Those who are quick to face but have no clean energy are called 黟顸, cheekbones are towering, and the corners of the earth are wide, the master has the right to age; the color is yellow and black and the moist is good, and the dumb and white and withered are fierce.

mouth:

Those whose lips are too thin to tremble are unreliable, and those whose lips are square are more expensive. Those who speak flicker and wandering are unreliable, those who are easy to speak will find it hard to get through, and those who are troublesome will not be able to do things.

head:

Those who have a head like a mountain are valuable, and those who are biased and active lose.

body:

Those who have a waist longer than others are more expensive, and those who stop uniformly in three stages are more expensive to live. The head, the first section; the section from the shoulder to the pubic area, and the following section.

Item:

If it is right, the chest is right, and if it is right, the stomach is not right.

Those with black beads and yellow have the courage, and those with light yellow and deep yellow have clear lines: bold and wise.

The one who looks above is proud, the one who looks down is proud.

Worry is treacherous (looking sideways), those with fixed eyes such as meteors and lightning are noble, and those with swaying eyes and unbridled words are abominable.

nose:

Liang Zheng's heart is right, and the crooked heart is not right.

Those who are quasi-long and round and beautiful as beads are expensive, those who are quasi-cut and crooked are not righteous, those who cross the top are more expensive (if they are more expensive than others), those who are like a bee-shaped waist are inferior.

hand:

Those with strong nails are scheming, referring to the clever elders, those with fine and shallow palm prints, the more complex ones, the thick and deep ones, and the less concentrating.

foot:

Prudent ones are more expensive, and frivolous ones are cheap.

"Those who say bad things" refer to those who speak loudly. "Post-difficulty" means that everything is very simple, and the big things are trivial to him. Such people are unreliable in doing things. Zeng Guofan often said that people who speak loudly but have no real mind are the most vulnerable.

"Those who are annoyed by words will never do things" means that they don't like others to talk and talk, and they are usually upset. Annoyance is an annoyance of annoyance, that is, impatience. Zeng Guofan has one thing in employing people, "It can't be reused if there are too many giants." It's just not being practical, you can't do everything in detail, and you can't achieve "five accomplishments".

He said about the "head", "the head is as valuable as the mountain", and "the one who is biased and active loses." He talked about the human body. "Those who have a longer waist" are expensive, especially "the ones who stop uniformly in three stages are more expensive to live." The so-called three paragraphs, the first is a paragraph, the head down to the dantian is a paragraph, and the dantian is a paragraph below. These three very well-proportioned people are the face of great wealth and nobleness.

In fact, some of Zeng Guofan's self-consumed methods of dating people come from Chinese Confucian classics. "Mencius" contains: the pupil, the pupil of the human eye. A person with a straight chest has bright eyes. Zeng Guofan said that "the black pearl and the yellow have the courage", which means that they have the courage; "the light yellow and the deep yellow have clear lines, the bold and the more wise". Sima Qian's "Historical Records" described Han Gaozu as "Longzhun Longyan". "Long Zhun Long Yan" is his very big nose, like a dragon.

Zeng Guofan especially talked about the posture of walking, "the one who walks steadily is more expensive, and the one who is frivolous is cheap." Therefore, he repeatedly taught his son Zeng Jize in correspondence that he must walk steadily. The so-called standing, sitting, and sitting, besides focusing on posture, it also contains a lot of principles about health preservation for the ancients.

face