Zeng Guofan's "Secrets Of Employment"

Zeng Guofan does not employ others. Advocate Profound, but only plain. After he served as governor of the two rivers, he grasps the personnel power of three provinces (actually the four provinces), and personnel matters the livelihood of the people in the four provinces of the Yangtze River. At first, he summarized the standards of civilian officials who presided over financial affairs into four items.

On the day of Xianfeng ten years, a piece of material was reported below, saying that Xiangxiang humanities assistant director was very good and creative in raising funds. Zeng Guofan said, "to employ people is to use orderly people without bureaucratic airs. If he does these two sentences, he will not be changed even if he is an official in the future. If there are talented people like Wen Hui Qing, I hope you will have more. Recommend A few better.

In July, Xianfeng wrote letters to Li Huan and Li Hanzhang who presided over financial affairs in Jiangxi. They talked about four criteria: ten.

"Guo fan" is not known to many gentlemen in Jiangxi. That is to say, the gentleman in Hunan is not like Hu Linyi, who is widely educated and widely informed. I am still looking for you to take a close look at it, or to write a letter of intent (Guo Kuntao, who hosted the gold medal business in Hunan), and borrowed one or two people from the most powerful member of Hunan's C. C., who will be the official of Jiangxi in the future. If you have not yet been in charge of the Bureau, you can imitate the example of Hubei, but you can't use the same talent. But when the rites of Jiangxi and the gentry enter and accept, you should not show too much emphasis, so that Yu Zhang (Jiangxi) is talented and talented. Those who come from Hunan should be polite and courteous without having to pay attention. If you want it to be extensive, you must use it carefully. There are about integrity and no bureaucratic airs, and many words are not enough. The four are to balance people and to think twice. In order to be timely, I should also be interviewed. "

The four article put forward here is still limited to financial personnel, and later it has been applied to civilian officials and promoted everywhere. He still wrote to two Li:

"Before sending a letter to the law and seeking the law of others, we must have integrity and no bureaucratic airs, be more coherent and speak less. In the days of advertising, I was not able to catch up with others. Two do you look for a gentleman? There are about two kinds of talents: one is more bureaucratic and more angry, the other is more townships and more officials. If you lose your mind, you will never breathe. When you encounter a thing, you can say it by book and family. You can not write, write, write, write, read, or read. Many people in the countryside are good at showing their talents, making new things good, acting without knowing their own friends. Both of them are blamed for their failure. A man is not a virtuous man, but he can not get rid of these two losses. I want to teach people with the four words of "labor and humiliation". Therefore, those who quit the official atmosphere and use the rural spirit should take things from the mind to the body, to the heart, to the mouth, and to the eye. Zhao Guanghan is good at using new youth. Liu Yanhao uses scholars. Conduct financial transactions The thief. Please two gentlemen imitate this format, each recommend two or three people. "

It is mentioned here that "Zhao Guanghan is good at using new young people, and Liu Yanhao is managing money with scholars". The former does not have a smooth habit, dare to act, has no frame, is bold in exploration, and is determined to forge ahead; the latter takes strong self-respect of the scholars, and does not do anything extraordinary, especially honest, and is more important to those who deal with money everyday. Later, he also put forward:

It is good to have a large number of members of the government, such as the use of talent in the card, and the advantage in the end of the business. It is also advantageous to build the post office, but it is easy to do so. Recently, the habit is still shallow. Therefore, the order is easy. The use of Jiangxi Cape card is much less than that of the two lakes.

Explain the meaning of these four sentences below.

The first is integrity.

In the past, there was a saying: "civil servants don't want money. Military officers are not afraid of death." There is also a saying: "the country is troubled by the good will of the poor." These two statements are all the same, that is, the importance of ability. Integrity is a bottom line for a person, especially an official, and is a red line that can never be crossed. From early time, at least from the Three Kingdoms period, China has formed three standards to restrict officials, that is, three words: "Qing", "prudence" and "diligence". Therefore, Zeng Guofan defined the first standard of civil servants as "integrity".

Integrity has two meanings. The first meaning is "to be honest" and not to be honest. How can ordinary people be convinced? The second implication is that there is a moral integrity, a solar term, and a kind of fear and difficulty. He said his subordinates were occasionally favored by their superiors, but they had problems with their integrity, and they could not last. Their people would not really admire you. Even if your power can push him down, he will not accept you in his heart, so Zeng Guofan emphasized that leaders should have integrity.

Second, there is no official spirit.

Zeng Guofan suggested that no matter what extent to which a person develops, if the official spirit is very heavy, the development of this person has been limited, and there will be no further development. All speeches are written by secretaries, speaking Mandarin, saying bureaucratic airs. Such people can not be used at all. "Officialdom" is what we call "bureaucratic and Mandarin" today. He said that bureaucratic spirit is "smooth and clever, too much mind, perfunctory responsibility, great difficulties and great difficulties". The hard things came, withstood. test The time has come, but you can not stand such a test, how can such a person take the responsibility?

There is no official spirit. In Zeng Guofan's own words, it is to use people for simplicity, but not for talent. Though the servant only uses his talent, other roots need not be studied deeply, but they must be sufficiently controlled so that they can be used for our purposes without being involved. There are many differences in human talent, but only simplicity can last long. In inquiry, it is only ten of the negligence of the human being that is based on simplicity, but only two or three of them use talent alone.

In June, Xianfeng nine, Zeng Guofan told Guo Songtao such a joke:

It is said that in the past there was a robber specializing in the casket for stealing rich family members. One day, he found tools, so he could not easily open the coffin. Then, suddenly, a man sat up from the coffin and said to the robber, "I am Bo Yi. Do you have anything to ask for?" The robbers were scared to death and ran away at once. A few days later, he went to another hill to excavate. When he opened the tomb door, he saw the man who had sat in the coffin followed. He said to the grave robber, "this is my brother Shu Qi tomb." The robbers ran away. Zeng Guofan then played and said: "we now put the huge rates and baits into the deep cold water, just like jewelry and jade boxes to Bo Yi and Shu Qi's grave." Zeng Guofan said, "this joke can be understood in a variety of ways. One understanding is that Boyi and Shu Qi were originally upright people. The grave robbers found the wrong people. The other explanation was that the tomb robbers only recognized gold and silver treasures and were afraid of such talents as Bo. It tells us that we must be honest and sincere, we can not shout enough people everywhere, but we can not turn a blind eye to real talent.

Third is more organized.

In Zeng Guofan's "Xiang Ren pithy formula", there is "if we want to look at the arrangement, it is all in the language". He made a parable of the fact that Pao Ding Jie Niu looked at a layman. Such a complicated ox could soon be solved. clear It was very clever and very clever because Pao Ding found the knack. We do anything like this. We can't use too much everyday. Two sentences are enough. A book is also good, the ancient people handed down the classics, or, in summary, may be a few words, you must not make it complicated. In short, it is Zeng Guofan's "orderliness" to change many complicated things into simple ones.

"More organized" is not only a work method, but also an ability.

In October nine, Xianfeng said to Li Rong:

It is not suitable for all languages to be deep. It is not the same as the various languages, that is to say, our hearts and minds are not too much to be understood, nor can we be too complicated to understand. There are only one or two sentences that we need everyday.

The "keeping promise" here is organized. Zeng Guofan acted as governor of Liangjiang in April 20th ten years in Xianfeng County. This is also his first time to become a powerful official in the frontier. He also has military power, financial power and personnel rights. On the twenty-eight noon of the month, Zeng Guofan learned from his official message that he was acting governor of the two rivers in the Ministry of military affairs. After lunch, he immediately discussed with Li Yuandu and others about how to start the current affairs. In the following days, he went to great lengths to discuss with his aides, and communicated with Hu Linyi and others to consider the overall situation. After more than a month of reflection and research, especially after listening to suggestions from all sides, Zeng Guofan summed up ten aspects that should be done at present. In his diary of July 29th, he formed the main point of becoming a powerful official in the frontier. He divided the "governance" into four categories: military affairs, paying taxes, official affairs, and literary affairs, and summed up the "way of governing" into three parts: analysis, summary and comprehensive review. He explained in detail:

Analysts, such as those who cut corners, such as those who deal with jade. Every thing, first, it should be split into two pieces, two slices and four slices, and four slices and eight slices. The short story is a long story, but it needs only one or two words. If the human body is large, and the needles of the veins are few, there are many volumes, but the outline is only a few sentences. The way to teach people is easy to learn, easy to understand, easy to follow, and difficult to do. For example, if you know the way of learning, you will not forget what you know. Once a month, we will have a comprehensive review once a month. Military affairs and official affairs, there are classes in the month, examinations at the age of years, and the number of water on weekdays. Overall, the future is better than the former. These two are the ones who study their minds day and night, and think of them as a way to supervise them.

He listed "Anatomy" as the first method or work. step 。 Actually, it refers to how to start, how to catch the main problem and find the crux of solving the problem. He puts forward the method of "Pao Ding Jie Niu", such as idiom and allusion in daily life. To sum up, it is to make a detailed analysis and concentrate all kinds of affairs to distinguish the primary, secondary, heavy, difficult and urgent.

Zeng Guofan said: generally, there are often twists and turns in one thing. If a place is blocked, it will be tied down everywhere.

This record is very precious. It is also the best way of guiding Zeng Guofan's working methods and efficiency. The main point is still organized.

The fourth is a few words.

Big words are empty talk and big talk. He said that this is a literati habit, or the true colors of a scholar. Books are read more. People who have some ink in their chest often think that things are easy in the world. So they often talk high and low. He said that such a person must not be able to use the word, but to speak the truth and tell the truth.

In the eleven year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan wrote a famous "decree" for his education staff, demanding that he obey it and later he was called "exhortation". In exhorting four of the provincial gentry and other provincial tourists, third are "prohibiting big words and being pragmatic".

With Zhu Geliang's wisdom and bravery, he could not make one of Wei's cities; Fan Zhongyan and Han Qizhi could not subdue the Western Xia in a corner. Therefore, knowing what is going on in a military career is a matter of heaven. In recent years, scholars have been wasting their time talking about military affairs. Confucius said, "attack the evil, do not attack the evil of man." In recent years, scholars have made great mistakes in attacking others, ignoring them and criticising them. Those who are good at talking about military affairs will have a very long experience. Today, with the gentlemen, we must prohibit the great beginning of the study of pragmatism.

In reply to Fang Zi Bai's letter, he said, "in ancient times, two things were equally important. Inquiring is to examine the opinions and solutions of talents. Examination is to investigate the language ability, logic and orderliness of talents. All talents are high, depending on their interests, and those who are humbled by the vulgar rules are gradually polluted. The higher are those who admire Sheng Longzhi, while the sun is wise. A wise man is wise and foolish. And the conduct of conduct is more important.

The most important thing is to see the way of human being. Simplicity and honesty are qualitative and qualitative.

Zeng Guofan also summed up talents as two categories: brilliant and humble, and different ways of dealing with these two groups of people. He said:

There are about two kinds of talents. The prize is loyalty, but it is loyalty, and it is cheap. If it is, if we take the law of our former letter, that is, if the salary is slightly superior, we may say that one or two talents are out of the question. Those who are humble have no ambition, but they have nothing to do with it. To control is to be strict and to be afraid. If you are, you should follow the rule of "two kings". On the basis of official rank theory, many prefectures of prefectures and prefectures are more self loving. According to the theory of affairs, the big card and the general administration must seek for those who love themselves. There should be no shortage of staffs in small cards and staff members. Shao's intention is the same as the two kings. And we must say that we should not waste it.

A wise man is enterprising and does not want to be surpassed. Therefore, for this kind of person, Zeng Guofan proposed positive guidance and positive guidance. Can be summed up as a positive employing method, there are three: first, the salary should be higher than the general staff, generally more than doubled; second, the promotion and praise of him is more than that of the ordinary people; third, he should put more power on him, and can not do as the ordinary people do.

It is different for those who are humble. In Zeng Guofan's view, the humble people do not have lofty aspirations. What they see is only the present. When they are strict with this kind of person, they will be afraid. When they are a little wider, these people will be more and more aggressive every day, and finally do something extraordinary. What should we do about this kind of person? Zeng Guofan said, let him follow the rules, and discipline them every day with rules and yardsticks, draw them bars, draw strips, and frame boxes.

Zeng Guofan said that according to official rank, people from prefectures and counties mostly love themselves and belong to wise men. All these people are "calculating", that is, every day they are careful and careful in calculating their interests.

Li Hanzhang was Li Hongzhang's brother, who was the finance minister in charge of finance at Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan once wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang. He said that according to the theory of "Jin Jin", the big card and the general administration should seek for those who love themselves. These honest people require themselves to be very honest and should use their methods. For some clerks, such as the small card, the sub staff, etc., they should be "careful" for them, that is, using the rules and regulations to keep him away from the thunder pool. Zeng Guofan repeatedly stressed that he would like to follow Zhao Guanghan and Liu Yan. Zhao Guanghan uses "New Youth", these people usually have their ambitions, but they do not have their own stage. Zeng Guofan gave them a stage to enable them to fulfill their ambitions and develop their skills to make them different. Zeng Guofan said, "I am willing to follow the two of them. Zhao Guanghan's new youth has no bureaucratic air, no smooth spirit, bold action and no frame, so the situation created at that time is full of vitality. Liu Yan uses financial management of scholars, and scholars must have their own self-esteem, a conscience, a red line that they can not overtake, so scholars will not do anything special and greedy.

Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei are three places with the same manpower and material resources. The two lakes raise more money than Jiangxi. Zeng Guofan wrote to Li Hanzhang and asked him to reflect on it. He said, "when you presided over the financial affairs in Jiangxi, why did the money raised by the two lakes not flourish? Where is the truth? I think perhaps the most important thing is to use the new youth or scholars to manage finances in the two lakes. But what kind of people do you use in Jiangxi? All of them are officials above the government. These officials are too bureaucratic and have their own little abacus. After that, you should learn from this aspect.