The Complete Collection of Ice Books

Chapter 31 Mood (5)
Tense is the state of mind in the momentary state of a person. It is classified based on forward and backward changes and movements, and is closely related to the environment. It is of great significance for investigating the microcosmic inner world of characters, and it complements the macroscopic examination of constant state.

Combining the macroscopic investigation of the constant state with the microscopic inspection of the tense is of great significance for the investigation and identification of characters.Using this as a sharp tool to observe people, it is hard to escape the sharp eyes of the well-trained "Bole".In order to deal with the Taiping Army, Zeng Guofan changed from a scribe to a commander-in-chief, all thanks to his ability to observe and employ people.His skill in examining characters is indeed much better than ordinary people.

There are great individual differences in human nature and quality, so it is difficult to sum up a uniform method, but Zeng Guofan's grasp of the two aspects of constancy and tense can be regarded as an outline, a restraint, and a simple control of complexity.This is because although there are great individual differences in human nature and quality, human nature is the same regardless of the past and present. Although the appearance of time differences is inevitable, its essence cannot be changed.Specifically, "Bingjian" divides the constant state into weak state, mad state, lazy state and circling state, and there are few differences between ancient and modern people.Let's analyze it concretely.

The "weak state" in the constant state will be introduced first.

The basic feature of a weak state is "weakness", with a gentle and docile temperament, and is approachable.The disadvantages are indecision, lack of confidence and decisiveness, and inability to insist on personal opinions. Because they often act as assistants and often obey their words, they lack a backbone.Weak state plus some literati temperament will add another layer of sentimental and daughter-like attitude.If this kind of person does not completely reform his lack of self-confidence, he can only be used as a prey for others, and it is difficult to achieve great things alone.

The advantage of weak people is that they are delicate in heart, have keen and profound feelings, and can often notice things that ordinary people don't notice, and discover details that ordinary people can't.This kind of person is shrewd and capable, considerate in doing things, reassuring, especially in handling many details very skillfully and creatively.It's a pity that he lacks arrogance and is not suitable for pioneering work on his own.However, if such people are engaged in literary and artistic work, they can often make great achievements.

There is a saying in the traditional Chinese philosophy of life called "to protect oneself wisely, but to seek no faults", that is, to protect oneself from harm and attack.The best way is to retreat to advance, hide invisible, put yourself in a weak posture, not attracting attention, and naturally you will not be framed by the jealousy of the villain.This kind of weakness is actually a very high level in the wisdom of the ancients.Many ancient people used this method to protect themselves.

Sun Bin in the Warring States period, after being framed by his classmate Pang Juan, pretended to be crazy to survive.When Pang Juan tested his sanity with food and stool, he chose stool.As a result, Pang Juan relaxed his vigilance, and Sun Bin was able to escape from Pang Juan's palm and return to Qi.Later, according to Sun Bin's design, ten thousand arrows pierced Pang Juan under the big tree.

Sima Yi in the Three Kingdoms period, in the power struggle with Cao Shuang after Cao Pi's death, first pretended to be old and faint, and even dressed, ate and met guests like a dementia, thus deceiving Cao Shuang and making him relax his guard.Then find an opportunity to launch a sudden attack, attack him unprepared, and succeed in one fell swoop, paving the way for Sima Zhao and Sima Yan to seize the power of Wei and create the Jin Dynasty.This kind of weak state is not out of sincerity, but carefully planned and prepared for a certain major purpose. It is really a kind of courage and wisdom, which is very different from the weak state mentioned above.

Weak states can be divided into true weak and false weak.The son of Liu Bei, Liu Chan, the empress of the Shu Han Dynasty, was really weak, and was called "A Dou" by later generations.His weakness has been known since before he took the throne.The weakness of Sun Bin and Sima Yi, including the weakness of King Wen of Zhou in the imprisonment of King Zhou of Shang, is a temporary expedient measure.They pretend to be crazy and foolish in order to protect themselves, which is fake "weakness".Watching with a calm mind, anyone can see the mystery, but Pang Juan, Cao Shuang, and Shang Zhou didn't notice it, probably because there was no calm person to speak out and the three were headstrong.Therefore, to distinguish between true and false weak states, we must not only examine a person's consistent behavior before and after, but also comprehensively consider various factors.

There is another kind of weak state, which is mostly the affection of a daughter, who acts like a little bird and clings to others. The affection is tactful, soft and kind, which makes people feel loved.Xi Shi is like this, Lin Daiyu is even worse.If the former weak state is characterized by scheming, the latter weak state embodies aesthetic significance.

Natural weakness is easy to identify, but not all weak people who are common in life are born weak, some weakness is for the needs of life, this situation requires careful consideration.

Utilize the world
"Showing weakness" is a kind of wisdom.why?Quite simply, the weak and the strong are interchangeable.This is true in Chinese dialectical philosophy, and it is also true in the West.

William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, was born in a small town.When he was a child, he was a quiet and shy child. People regarded him as a fool and often liked to tease him.They would often throw a nickel and a dime in front of him and let him pick one at will.William always picked the 5, so everyone laughed at him.One day a kind-hearted person asked him, "Don't you know that a dime is worth more than a 1 cent?" No interest in throwing money at me anymore."

Some people look mediocre, and even give people the feeling of being "cowardly" and "useless", but such people should not be underestimated easily.Sometimes, the more such a person is, the more lofty ambitions are hidden in his chest.And his superficial "incompetence" is just a manifestation of his arrogance, patience and strategy.This kind of people can often be high and low, can go up and down, and have foresight and profound city skills that ordinary people don't have.Zeng Guofan is such a person.

The master is overwhelmed by meritorious deeds, and the rabbit is dead.As a courtier, Zeng Guofan knew the dangers of being in a high position.During Zeng Guofan's life, he was repeatedly appointed by the imperial court.In this regard, apart from occasionally showing complacency in some letters from home, he is more wary and fearful.For example, only eighteen days after Cixi came to power, he ordered Zeng Guofan to be the imperial envoy and the governor of Liangjiang, in charge of the military affairs of the four provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang. The standard inspector who registered the name "rewarded the head product Dingdai".

For this special encounter, Zeng Guofan's feelings are complicated and contradictory.On the one hand, he expressed his gratitude, as he said in a letter to his younger brother: "In the past, Luo, Hu, Wang, and Xue were all rewarded by the governor, and now my brother has received this special favor as a registered official. How should I be grateful for the illustration?" On the other hand, he was deeply afraid that he would encounter unexpected disasters, or even kill himself.He wrote: "From the 22th to the [-]nd of (November), I have sent fourteen edicts from the court. The reliance is too heavy, the power is too high, and the hope is too high. It is frightening!" The fortune of the family is too prosperous, the reputation is too great, and things must decline when they are extreme. There is no reason to be afraid of it. Reading Tao's poems "Drinking Wine", I am heartbroken." Tao Yuanming said in the poem "Drinking Wine": "Decline Glory is not fixed, but we share it with each other... There is metabolism in cold and heat, and human nature is always like this." This Tao Yuanming, who "lives in a human environment" and is leisurely and relaxed, has aroused the attention of thousands of people after thousands of years. The resonance of Zeng Guofan.

However, Zeng Guofan was not like Tao Yuanming, "so he divided his clothes and returned to the field", but he was still dispatching troops and generals, exhausting his brains, planning day and night for the "great cause" of besieging Tianjing.He stared at the Taiping Army with one eye, and had to stare at the Qing court with the other.Therefore, he sent a letter on November 25th and said: "Since I took office in Liangjiang, Huizhou has fallen and Qimen has been trapped." There is no merit to say, and the guilt of the merit is deep." "As for the victory of Anqing, it is all thanks to the contribution of the Hubei army. Hu Linyi planned and planned ahead, and Duolong'a fought hard in the rear. It is beyond the power of the minister."After he scolded himself, he attributed the success of conquering Anqing to Manchu Duolong'a, and never mentioned Zeng Guoquan. This is really well-intentioned.Then he said that Zuo Zongtang "can take charge of his talents alone", and the imperial court can make him supervise the military affairs of Zhejiang Province, while he himself "doesn't have to control Zhejiang Province at the same time".On the one hand, he certainly trusted Zuo Zongtang in this request, but it was indeed difficult for him to "remotely control the Zhejiang army, thousands of miles away", and on the other hand, it was also a test of the attitude of the new rulers in the imperial court. .Of course, Cixi and others also saw through Zeng Guofan's scheming. In the imperial edict on December [-], he was ordered to restrain Zhejiang's military affairs, "no more resignation", and said that he was "humble and obedient, with great sincerity and sincerity." , has the style of an ancient minister", he was really praised.

Naturally, this did not make Zeng Guofan let go of the hanging and hanging heart of "accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger".So just after the Spring Festival, he went to Shu on the tenth day of the first month of the first year of Tongzhi and resigned from the order to control the military affairs of the four provinces.He wrote in the memorial: "Those who don't want to restrain the four provinces and repeat the blasphemy are really because the chaos has not been settled. There are more than ten provinces with troops. All the way out of the army, the generals are together, and the position of the minister is too heavy. This is the trend of power and power competition in the world, and prevent him from overemphasizing the outside world and neglecting the inside." He put on a posture of compassion for the world, in order to prevent the outside from talking about the inside and dispel the doubts of the court.In fact, since the rise of the Xianfeng army, regiment training has sprung up everywhere, and the power rests with the governor. The Qing Dynasty has already formed a situation where the outside is more important than the inside, and the Hunan Army was particularly important at that time.This point, the court is clear, Zeng Guofan is even more clear, but the thin window paper does not need to be pierced, because one side wants to use the other side to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the other side wants to use the other side's power to protect the entire landlord class that "prospers all, and loses all". interests, and seek for themselves to enter the ranks of profit-seeking.The imperial edict on the 23rd of the first lunar month said: "At this time, when military affairs in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are tight, if it weren't for Zeng Guofan's sincerity and sincerity, how could he lighten the power of affairs?" The Qing court even named Zeng Guofan a co-organizer.

However, the cautious Zeng Guofan did not relax his constant observation of the Qing court's attitude because of these few comments from the court.After the city of Tianjing was broken, the prestige of the Zeng brothers reached its peak.Zeng Guofan not only has a lot of titles, but actually commands more than 30 Hunan troops, and also controls the Huai army under Li Hongzhang and the Chu army under Zuo Zongtang; In addition to the three provinces of Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, and Fujian are controlled at the same time, and even Guangdong, Guangxi, and Sichuan are also under the control of the generals of the Hunan Army;Half of the Qing Dynasty has fallen into the hands of Zeng Guofan.He also controls the lijin in Jiangxi, Anhui and other provinces and the copays in several provinces.At that time, there were already ten generals of the Hunan Army who had become governors. Anyone recommended by Zeng Guofan, whether it was a Taoist government or a town, would be bestowed by the imperial court.At this time, Zeng Guofan was really a dignitary, with power in the government and the public, and every move of his hand and every shot made the mountains shake.

At such a moment, in such a situation, Zeng Guofan's political direction in the future is all guessed, conceived and planned for him.The Qing Dynasty, which has ruled the Central Plains for more than 200 years, naturally does not allow tigers and leopards to snore under the high bed, but it has not been tolerated for a while; Those who criticized Lilu tried their best to encourage Zeng Guofan to do more and set up a new emperor so that he could get a spoonful of the soup.The question of where to go, of course, has long been in the thinking of Zeng Guofan, who is familiar with history.

He has three methods: one is to call Zeng Guoquan, the "first minister" who conquered Jinling, who has [-] troops in direct lineage, who was denounced by the Qing court as "proud of a sudden victory" and who has the "name of gluttony", to be crowned return home.He said: "My younger brother returned to his hometown, and I thought it over and over again. I can't go back to my hometown unless there is a vacancy. Usually, I think it's sudden, and I retire after success. The sooner the better." More than [-] people from Jiang Zhongyuan's and Xi Baotian's two departments and more than [-] people from Bao Chao and Zhou Kuanshi's two departments that aided Jiangxi were allocated to Shen Baozhen's jurisdiction.In this way, there are only a few thousand people left in the department under Zeng Guoquan's jurisdiction.The third is to stop releasing part of Lijin to Jinling Daying in Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan and other provinces to reduce your own rights.Looking at these three items, they are all Zeng Guofan's "hidden" tactics.Before the conquest of Jinling, he also "planned to resign from the imperial envoy and Jiangdu in the new year (the second year of Tongzhi), and dictatorship of military affairs with scattered ranks, just like the image of the minister and governor in the past, with slightly divided power and less criticism."

Although Zeng Guofan did not resign the imperial envoy and the governor-general of Liangjiang later, the above-mentioned three measures hit the Qing court's arms and made the Qing court suddenly reduce its worries about the end of the year, so they immediately approved them one by one.

Zeng Guofan knew very well the truth that "if a tree is beautiful in the forest, the wind will destroy it; if it is piled up on the shore, the current will be turbulent".At the same time, after the ups and downs since the end of the second year of Xianfeng, his position is high enough and his power is large enough, and he hopes to live a stable and comfortable life from now on.That's why he thought about conceding power and responsibilities, and trying to stay away from the unpredictable political vortex.

Zeng Guofan's superficial "weakness" is a very clever way of dealing with the world.When you have an advantage, doing so can avoid being too eye-catching, and when you are at a disadvantage, it is more of a protection for yourself.

In order to achieve development, we should first protect ourselves, and self-protection is the first step to gain a foothold in the world.However, from ancient times to the present, many people do not know how to protect themselves, especially those who are powerful, talented, and wealthy. They are confused by their own dazzling light, and do not realize that this is the beginning of the disaster.

Throughout history, looking at the heroes of the past dynasties, there are very few people who can achieve great achievements without doubting the master, being extremely courtiers without being jealous, and being extravagant and lustful without being wronged.The most important reason is that they don't know how to show others "weakness", and they don't understand that lowering their posture is the best way to protect themselves.On the contrary, people who know this way, no matter how high they are, how much power they have, and how many jealous people around them, can reserve a place for themselves in a crisis-ridden environment.

Guo Ziyi was an important minister in the late Tang Dynasty. After he made many military exploits and was named King of Fenyang, the palace was built in Chang'an.Since the completion of the palace, the gates of the palace have been opened wide every day, allowing people to come in and out freely.

One day, a general under Guo Ziyi's account was about to be transferred to another place, so he came to the palace to bid farewell.He knew that there were no taboos in Guo Ziyi's mansion, so he kept walking into the inner house.It happened that he saw Guo Ziyi's wife and daughter dressing up, while Guo Ziyi was serving them.They asked the prince to hand the handkerchief for a while, and asked him to fetch water for a while. Ordering the prince is like ordering a servant.The general didn't dare to ridicule at that time, but he couldn't help but tell his family about the scene when he went back.So it was passed on to ten, ten to hundreds, and within a few days, people in the whole capital talked about it as a joke after dinner.

When Guo Ziyi's sons heard this, they felt that the prince had lost face. They made an appointment to find their father together, and asked him to order that the gates be closed like other palaces, and no one else should be allowed to enter or leave.

A son said: "Father, you have made great achievements. People all over the world respect you, but you don't respect yourself. No matter who you are, you let them come and go in and out of the inner house at will. The children think that even the sage Yi of the Shang Dynasty Neither Yin nor Huo Guang, a great general of the Han Dynasty, can do what you have done."

Guo Ziyi restrained her smile, called her sons to get up, and said earnestly: "I open the door of the house and let people in and out, not for the sake of fame and fame, but for self-protection, to protect our property and lives."

The sons were all very surprised, and hurriedly asked the reason for this.

Guo Ziyi sighed, and said: "You only see the prominent status and power of the Guo family, but you don't see the danger of losing this power. I am the king of Fenyang, and I have no more wealth to ask for. The moon is full and eclipsed, It is an inevitable truth to flourish and decline. Therefore, people often say that the rapids will retreat bravely. However, the imperial court still wants to use me, how can they let me go into seclusion? It can be said that I can neither advance nor retreat now. , if we close the door and do not communicate with the outside world, as long as there is one person who has a grudge with our Guo family and falsely accuses us of having two hearts towards the court, there will inevitably be villains who are dedicated to making trouble and jealous of the virtuous and talented. At that time, our Guo family's nine clans, old and young, will all die without a place to bury them."

People who know how to show weakness are often able to survive more powerfully.Such examples are too numerous to enumerate: Xiang Yu was strong and heroic, domineering and domineering, but in the end he was defeated in Gaixia, the hero was at the end of his life, and he killed himself in Wujiang.However, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, was good at showing weakness, and ended up dominating the country, sitting on the world, and becoming a generation of emperors.Han Xin was proud of his merits, and his achievements overwhelmed the Lord, but he was killed in the end.However, Xiao He, another minister in the same dynasty with him, knew how to avoid his sharp edge, won unanimous praise from the government and the public, and ensured his status and safety throughout his life.

This method of showing weakness is very effective.When the great writer Goethe met the carriages and horses of the Weimar royal family on the road, he would retreat to the side of the road and bow his head.No wonder the Weimar royal family fed him for decades.Beethoven, the great musician, did not take this very seriously.He stood there with a bullish stiff neck, never bowing to the Weimar imperial family.As a result, Beethoven lived in poverty all his life.Although most people appreciate the talent and integrity of the musician Beethoven, Beethoven did not understand the reason why the writer Goethe showed weakness.In fact, Beethoven didn't think deeply, but just acted rashly.Beethoven is not willing to bow his head, who is willing to bow his head to others?Ordinary people don't like others to stand upright, they like you to be lower than them, and Beethoven is no exception.

(End of this chapter)