Don't be stuck in the successes and failures of the past

When Zeng Guofan examines the history of China in the past, especially at major historical junctures, he finds that success and failure often coexist, and there is no inevitability of certain success or failure. Therefore, he put forward the important judgment that we should deal with major matters and resolve big doubts, and not stick to the success or failure of the past. He gave three typical examples.

The first thing is that the princes and kings of the Han Dynasty were extremely powerful, and the minister Chao Cuo suggested "cutting the feudal domain", that is, weakening the power of the local feudal states, and Emperor Jing adopted this suggestion, but soon provoked a rebellion in the seven princely kingdoms such as Wu and Chu, and they rebelled in the name of Zhu Chaocuo, and Emperor Jing sent the imperial lieutenant Zhou Yafu to quell the rebellion. At this time, Ang, who had been the prime minister of King Wu, suggested to Emperor Jing: As long as Chao Cuo is killed, the rebels will quit. Emperor Jing adopted this suggestion because of the accident, and Chao Cuo was killed. But the rebels did not quit and continued to attack, Emperor Jing knew that he had been fooled, and hurriedly strengthened military deployment, and finally put down the rebellion.

The second thing is the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, his eldest grandson Zhu Yunhuowen ascended the throne. He adopted the suggestions of the ministers Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng and implemented the "cutting of the feudal domain". However, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, in the name of punishing the "traitorous ministers" Qi and Huang, raised troops to resist. At this time, some people also suggested to Emperor Jianwen that Qi and Huang should be killed in exchange for King Yan's dismissal. Emperor Jianwen did not adopt. After 4 years of war, King Yan captured Nanjing, and Emperor Jianwen did not know what to do. Qi Tai and others were punished. This is an example of failure to follow the recommendations.

The third incident happened in the Qing Dynasty. During the Kangxi period, Wu Sangui and others sat in the southwest and other places, and the minister Mi Sihan suggested that Kangxi withdraw the domain. Mingzhu was also in favor, but another scholar, Suo Etu, was against it. Kangxi believed that "withdrawing is also opposed, and if not withdrawn, it is also opposed", so he decided to withdraw the feudal domain. Wu Sangui and others really rebelled. At most, it has occupied most of the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. At this time, Suo Etu suggested killing those who proposed and supported the withdrawal of the feudal domain, but Emperor Kangxi disagreed. After 8 years of war, the rebellion of the three feudatories was finally put down.

Zeng Guofan believes: "These three cases are the most similar, either punished or punished, successful or defeated, and uneven. Scholars deal with major matters and are suspicious, but when they think about right and wrong, they should not be obsessed with the success or failure of the past, so as to accommodate the interests and disadvantages of the moment. ”

Zeng Guofan also observed that the king of the fallen country could be seen from some of his practices. In his opinion, the example of Tang Zhaozong is the most revealing.

During the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the royal family declined, and the local military commanders each had heavy troops to fight against the central government. Zhaozong wanted to make a difference, wanted to send troops to crusade against Li Maozhen, and instructed the prime minister Du Rangneng to preside over military affairs. Soon, Li Maozhen entered Xingping, the imperial court forbidden army was defeated, and the capital was shaken. Maozhen is sparse, please let him be. Let Neng say: Chen Gu is the first word. Zhaozong couldn't stop crying, and said: With the secret. It was a day of depreciation to allow the history of Wuzhou to stab, and soon he committed suicide. Zeng Guofan believed: "Si Ze was punished for no reason, and his injustice was worse than Chao Cuo, Qi Tai, and Huang Zicheng." Zhaozong is both strong in the front and reinstated in the back, so he is the king of the dead country. Through reflection on history, Zeng Guofan broadened his mind and regretted the past, he said: "When Guofan was in the army, he made a decision with others for a while, and then he was defeated, sometimes blaming others for his faults, and sometimes showing dissatisfaction, all because he was unreasonable. ”

Zeng Guofan also came to the conclusion that "the mastermind is to blame for the failure, but he is a mediocre person" through Shi Jingjiao's anti-Tang incident. He said: After the Tang Dynasty, King Lu considered Shi Jingjiao's generals, Li Song and Lu Qi persuaded the emperor to make peace with the Khitan, but Xue Wenyu stopped him. The emperor wanted to move Shi Jingjiao Town to Yunzhou, and Wen Yu fully agreed. After the seizure, Jing Jiao rebelled, led the Khitan to break the Tang soldiers, and the Tang King saw Xue Wenyu and said: I saw that this thing trembled, and I almost wanted to stab it with a sword. Zeng Guofan came to the conclusion that most of the failures were attributed to the masterminds, and the perseverance of mediocre people.

Zeng Guofan is good at absorbing historical experience, and it is precisely because he has drawn beneficial nourishment from the successes and failures of ancient and modern heroes that he has been saved from such a tragedy as "great merit after great success". But Zeng Guofan is not rigid about anything, not dogmatic, but seeks truth from facts. This realization of his is valuable even today.

There are two key words to measure the acquisition of successful personalities: success and failure. But today's success doesn't mean tomorrow too; Today's failure does not mean that tomorrow will be the same. Zeng Guofan is not confined to temporary success or failure, and after all kinds of hardships, he finally became a great event, because he was not willing not to achieve success, and his character determined that his final result was always "invincible and invincible".

Skillfully turn disadvantages into advantages

What happens to a person who is contaminated with a passive disposition? Of course, there will be continued errors and continued failures. In fact, anyone's passive situation is caused by themselves. Below, we might as well explore the influence of the ideas of right and wrong, success and failure on a person's personality.

A person's life is a life of right and wrong, success and failure, and everyone is struggling in the harsh competition for survival, just like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge, and if they are not careful, they may be eliminated. Success and failure are the two extremes of life, and they are only within reach. Some people call them the gateways to live next to each other, while others say that they are just steps forward and backward, and the results are so far away and so closely connected, that the transformation of success and failure is only instantaneous, and there are no eternal losers and no eternal successes. Only those who can withstand success and even more so failure are truly successful people. When we encounter failure, we might as well say to ourselves: "Failure is just a temporary stop to success!" ”

Whenever something goes wrong, our usual reaction is, "Really, it's wrong again, what's wrong this time?" Creative thinkers, on the other hand, understand the potential value of mistakes and say something like, "Look at this! What does it make people think of? He would then take advantage of the mistake and use it as a stepping stone to generate new ideas. In fact, the entire history of invention is full of people who use false assumptions and failed perceptions to generate new ideas. Columbus thought he had found a shortcut to India. Kepler came up with the concept of interplanetary gravity by chance, and he got the right assumption from the wrong reasons. Besides, Edison knew tens of thousands of ways not to make a light bulb filament.

When something goes wrong, or suffers some kind of setback, which causes some loss, the successful person will learn the lesson and try to remedy it, so as to turn the unfavorable situation and change from passive to proactive.

Passive, is a temporary disadvantage or lightweight failure. In the difficult period of suppressing unfavorable conditions, Zeng Guoquan did not know the current affairs, did not know the stakes of things, and the impeachment of the official document brought great passivity to the Zeng brothers.

Why did Zeng Guoquan participate in the impeachment of the powerful Manchu aristocratic official documents? The cause began when Zeng Guoquan came out of the mountain and served as the governor of Hubei.

Guanwen sits in Huguang and is a nail inserted by the Qing government in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The rise of the Hunan and Huai armies in the Yangtze River valley was not at ease for the Manchu magnates of the Qing Dynasty, and the use of official and cultural control to strangle the Yangtze River was a bargaining chip for the Qing government to deal with Hunan and Huai. When Hu Linyi was the governor of Hubei, he knew the reason, and he had always adopted a policy of encompassing the official documents, supervising the same city, and the relationship was harmonious, and the official documents were also responsive to Hu Linyi's needs. After the death of Hu Linyi, the contradiction between the official and the Hunan army was exposed, when the Hunan army attacked Anqing, he did not send troops, did not provide pay, Zeng Guoquan troops stationed in Yuhuatai, and when he was in urgent need of rescue, he played Duolonga to go to Shaanxi and Gansu to "suppress back". But at that time, the Qing court could use the Hunan army, and the Zeng brothers had little to do with him, so the conflict did not break out openly. However, now that Zeng Guoquan has become the governor of Hubei, and has formed the "New Hunan Army" there, coupled with Zeng Laojiu's sharp edge, his eyes are empty, and he does not look at him, a Manchurian nobleman, he is determined to think of this invincible Zeng Guoquan.

The official document discussed countermeasures with Tang Jisheng, the envoy of Hubei, and Tang gave advice to the official, and asked the official to come forward to give the emperor a recital, and Bao Zeng Guoquan as the "assistant to handle military affairs", so that he could lead the army to northern Hubei to "suppress the twist", leave Wuchang, garrison Xiangyang, and pull out this thorn in the eye. The official document acted according to the plan, and the edict was quickly approved, as requested by the official document.

Zeng Guoquan didn't know what the plan was, and he didn't know how big the official title of "assistant in military affairs" was, so he had to write to his eldest brother. Zeng Guofan replied that the assistant in charge of military affairs was an empty name with no real power, such as Li Zhaoshou, Chen Guorui, and other generals, and Liu Dian, Wu Tang, and other low-level titles, all of whom had been given the title of "assistant in charge of military affairs." Therefore, there is no need to be grateful, but there is no excuse or anger, there is no such thing, and this title will not be signed on the public in the future, otherwise it will make people laugh.

At this time, Ding Shoucun, the Hubei grain road, played with Zeng Guoquan, saying that the "New Hunan Army" in Hubei was formed, and the grain and grass needed were raised by the grain platform, but the official document did not allow the "New Hunan Army" to supply grain. It turned out that this Ding Shoucun had been discovered by the official document for embezzlement of public funds, and he did not participate in the impeachment of most of his family property, and he wanted to take revenge on the official document by the hands of the Zeng brothers this time. Zeng Guoquan considered these two things together, was very annoyed, and decided to report the official document to the emperor.

There were no scribes in Zeng Guoquan's curtain, and it was at this time that Zeng Jize, the eldest son of Zeng Guofan, came to Hubei and discussed the draft with his nephew. Zeng Jize was 27 years old at the time, and due to his father's influence, he knew the sinister officialdom and the recklessness of his uncle. Therefore, he immediately proposed that the official document was a Manchurian nobleman, favored by the empress dowager and the emperor, and it was not a trivial matter to impeach him, and it was best to discuss it with his father before deciding. However, Zeng Guoquan thinks that since Xianfeng's comeback in the eighth year, his brother's courage has become smaller and smaller, but he can't do big things, and this time the impeachment of the official document should not let his brother know, so as not to be obstructed. Zeng Jize had no choice but to draft according to the content provided by Uncle Jiu, and the final draft was completed, listing many crimes such as official corruption and arrogance, deception and favoritism, favoritism, delay in military and political affairs, entrapment of the military aircraft department, and subordination of the party.

Zeng's uncle and nephew did not understand the benefits and disadvantages of the impeachment of the official documents, and the level of writing the memora could not be compared with that of Zeng Guofan, so the memorization was too hasty, although the text was thousands of words, but the language was not well considered, and although the content of the impeachment was mostly true, the sparse performance was not pertinent. When Zeng Guofan heard that the ninth brother Gu Shu had impeached the official document, he was deeply afraid that this move would be a catastrophe, so he hurriedly asked for the draft from Zeng Guoquan to see if the speech could stand up, or he could try to remedy it. After reading the draft, Zeng Guofan immediately wrote a letter to the ninth brother, asking him to endure concealment, self-denial, self-cultivation and self-preservation, not to "seek strength in the place of victory", and not to "defeat because of strength".

Zeng Guoquan read his brother's letter and knew the stakes of the matter, but it was too late to regret it, so he could only wait for the development of the situation. Zeng Jize was responsible, and quickly left Wuchang to avoid the circle of right and wrong.

Just as Zeng Guofan expected, Zeng Guoquan's twists and turns caused an uproar in the Qing court, especially the compromise implicated the Military Aircraft Department, saying that the official document was encircling the Military Aircraft Department, and the Military Aircraft Department "deliberately made things difficult with Hubei Fu", which immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the Military Aircraft Department. Hu Jiayu, Minister of Military Aircraft, said to the Empress Dowager Cixi that Zeng Guoquan had falsely accused the military aircraft of having bad intentions, and that there were many things that were inconsistent, and asked to refute it. He also said that Zeng Guoquan pointed out that the official document was "surging the party iniquity", which was even more sinister, and demanded that he sit back as usual and be punished for the crime of being framed. This impeachment brought great passivity to the Zeng brothers.

Cixi had no choice but to ask the Military Aircraft Department to send someone to Hubei to investigate, and give the investigator the title of Qincha. When the Qin Cha, who investigated the dispute between the governors of Hubei, returned to Beijing to replay, he rejected all the articles listed in the recital and asked the imperial court to issue an edict to punish Zeng Guoquan's crimes. Cixi was quite embarrassed by this, and as soon as she saw the twist and turn, she knew that there was a reason for the governor, ostensibly it was the dispute between Zeng and the official governor, but in fact it was a conflict between the Manchurian magnates and the leaders of Hunan and Huai. There were a large number of Hunan and Huai warlords behind Zeng Guoquan, and behind the official documents there were a large number of Manchurian nobles who hated Han officials. She was unwilling to punish the officials, nor did she want to exonerate these warlords when she needed the Hunan and Huai armies to fight for her.

When Cixi hesitated, Zeng Guofan, in order to save the passive situation, came to the strategy of a younger brother singing black face and his brother singing white face, and folded the official document secretly.

When the Empress Dowager Cixi was thinking about how to deal with it, she suddenly received two twists and turns from Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang; A fold of secret official documents is on the Zeng State Domain; It is said that Zeng Guoquan's book on the impeachment of official documents is the first good article today, which is evidenced by what he has seen in Huguang for many years, accusing the official literature of all kinds of bad deeds, and asking the empress dowager and the emperor to punish the official documents to show the justice of the imperial court. It turned out that after Zeng Guoquan impeached the official documents, the Hunan and Huai officials frequently exchanged views, and most of them thought that Zeng Guoquan was reckless and should not offend the powerful. Li Hongzhang made a plan for Zeng Guofan, asking him to fold the official document at this time, and asked the Qing court not to investigate the crime of the official document, which could restore the hatred of the Manchu Gui towards Xianghuai, or calm the matter. Zeng Guofan also hated official documents, but due to the situation, he had to do so. However, Zuo Zongtang, who was far away in the northwest to suppress the Hui uprising, held military power and was in a position that the Qing court had to pay attention to.

Cixi saw that the generals of Hunan and Huai had expressed their attitudes, so she had no choice but to maintain the "peace situation" and deal with it according to the practice of supervising and appeasing the discord in the same city: the official documents were transferred to the Beijing Division, and the university scholars were in charge of the criminal department, and the Mongolian capital of the White Banner was also in charge. The official document was transferred away without any punishment. Zeng Guoquan was still the governor of Hubei, and he did not accuse, so the case was closed. After the official document was transferred, the governor of Huguang was held by Li Hongzhang, because Su Fu's post could not be separated for the time being, his brother Li Hanzhang was transferred to temporarily serve as the governor of Hu, so that the Li brothers, the leaders of the Huai army, picked up a big advantage. Through Zeng Guofan's move, this crisis was temporarily overcome.

A person's acquisition of successful personality is to turn passivity into initiative, and restraint into control. That's what Zeng Guofan did.

Borrow the people who can borrow, borrow the power that can be borrowed

In the face of a powerful opponent, you should learn to use the power of others to suppress him and defeat his arrogance.

In real life, the strategy of "borrowing the power of others" is commonly used, which means to induce peers or friends to defeat each other in order to preserve their own strength. This is the method of "losing the lower and gaining the better", that is, retreating oneself and achieving one's own goals by borrowing people, things and things other than oneself. For example, take advantage of the "celebrity effect" and take advantage of various opportunities to make a difference.

"Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed", this sentence means that the time and place are favorable, and it refers to the opportunity. In the process of doing things, seeing the opportunity, seizing the opportunity, and using the existing conditions or ready-made opportunities to achieve the goal is the wonderful use of "skillfully borrowing the east wind".

"Borrowing the east wind" and "borrowing the ladder to ascend" have the same thing, both rely on external conditions to achieve success, but the two are not the same. "Climbing by ladder" emphasizes the use of others to achieve the goal, the important thing is to create opportunities by yourself; The emphasis of "borrowing the east wind" is to use external objects, such as natural conditions, money and other material conditions, to facilitate the use of ready-made opportunities to achieve goals.

In the process of doing things, it is very effortless to succeed in one fell swoop with the help of existing conditions and ready-made opportunities.

The trick to using this trick is the following:

(1) The opportunity must not be missed, that is, we must first seize the opportunity. Opportunities are rare, so there is a good advice not to miss the opportunity. Like Cao Jun in the Battle of Chibi, because he didn't seize the opportunity, there was no hope of victory. Therefore, if you want not to lose the opportunity, you should carefully observe and analyze the opportunity before it is lost, and be ready at any time.

(2) Take advantage of the east wind, that is, know the opportunity and grasp it skillfully at any time. Napoleon, who had always wanted to be a marshal, saw that with the help of Josephine's power he could win an expedition to Egypt, and he seized the opportunity tightly, which laid a solid foundation for his future achievements and even for the French Empire.

A person's strength is always limited, if you want to achieve career success, you should be good at using various favorable conditions for my use, so as to enhance your own strength and lay the foundation for the final success.

It is not a reckless move to obtain a successful character, but to skillfully use power to save one's physical strength, intelligence, and financial resources to achieve unexpected results. This is the method that Zeng Guofan often adopts: borrow those who can borrow, borrow the power that can be borrowed.

In the previous section, we talked about the fact that it is not reckless to obtain a successful character, but to skillfully use power to save one's physical, intellectual, and financial resources to achieve unexpected results. This is the method that Zeng Guofan often adopts: borrow those who can borrow, borrow the power that can be borrowed.

As the saying goes, the stones of other mountains can be used to attack jade. Zeng Guofan's handling of things really talks about borrowing the authority of others and becoming his own.

The Qing emperor was always wary of the Han Chinese, and after Hu Linyi, the main leader of the Hunan army, became the governor of Hubei, the Qing court ordered the Manchu official Wen to be the governor of Huguang to monitor him. Guan Wen and Hu Linyi have very different family backgrounds, experiences, talents, and personalities; In extraordinary times, they are divided into governors, who are in the same city, do the same thing, and most of the things they do are not ordinary routine affairs, or there are no rules to follow, or there are rules that cannot be followed. In this way, the two sides are bound to have contradictions and conflicts, and even break up. In normal times, this was mostly a grudge between individual bureaucrats, but at that time, it meant that the Hunan army group was subject to supervision and whether the Qing court's policy of controlling and using the Hunan army could be implemented. If the two do not get along, Hubei will all fall into the hands of the official document, and Hunan will also be controlled by the official document. In this way, not only will it be difficult for the two lakes to become the territory and strategic rear of the Hunan army group, but the further development and growth of the Hunan army will also become an empty word; Moreover, the existing strength of the Hunan army will also be damaged, which will endanger the security of the two lakes.

Under very critical circumstances, Zeng Guofan sent a letter to Hu Linyi, asking him to give the official document "face", if it is not important, he must obey, and in the name of his authority, he can carry out his own will. Under the pressure from above and persuasion, Hu Linyi finally understood that the status of the official literature could not be shaken, and the only way was to have a good relationship with the official documents, so he changed his style of work, and in view of the characteristics of the official documents, he exerted great power techniques, and strived to respect the dual power of the ministers and governors of the official documents, and did not tie his hands and feet, and his methods had the following three points:

First of all, we strive to establish an intimate relationship with the official text. There are many records of the Qing people in this regard. Hu ordered his mother to recognize the concubine of Guanwen as a righteous daughter, so that the relatives of the two families were intimate; He also visited his official mother from time to time; In the usual private correspondence with the official text, he omitted the officialdom etiquette and called him "brother" and "brother in the middle hall". Some records also say that Hu and the official swore as brothers. Secondly, in official affairs, it is "to focus on the inside and pay attention to it, and not to occupy people's face". That is, grasping real power, insisting on burying one's head in handling military and political affairs according to one's own will, and whenever one encounters a good reputation or an invitation to be rewarded, such as "taking over the city and defeating the enemy", etc., the first credit is given to the official documents. In the letter of recital, he vigorously praised the official text as "generous, benevolent and broad", "benevolent and loyal", and "those who can be honest and proclaim justice are the only ones in the middle hall". Thirdly, not only did he ignore the corruption of official documents, but also used 3,000 gold per month as the public expense of the Supervision Office. This money actually went into the private pocket of the official.

From the spring of 1857 to 1861, Hu Linyi fell ill and died, and although there were contradictions between the two, Hu Linyi still adhered to the policy of using the outer circle and the inner square of the official documents. The official document naturally knew this, but still responded positively. It is said that Hu Linyi's mother came to Wuchang, and Guanwen personally led the civil and military officials to the riverbank to greet her. In fact, before Hu's transformation, the officials dealt with Hu and Zuo Zongtang's offensive actions with a tolerant attitude. For example, in the fifth year, the official sent people to Hunan to persuade donations, but the result was refused, and the message was very unkind. The official document did not compare with it, claiming that "at that time, if you fought with pen and ink, or even played the holy precepts, you would lose the elegance of harmony and mutual assistance", and even said that Luo Bingzhang and Zuo Zongtang would not be blamed for this, "not only do you not blame the writer, but also the person in charge of the government is not to blame", as if he was "a great duke, and the one who sees is great". Hu Linyi was even more cautious and weighed it repeatedly. Just as the official said to the staff, "The talents of my generation are inferior to them", "I can't resist the enemy without them". This shows that he knows very well that once Hu Linyi's status is shaken, there will be no one to command the Hunan army to defeat the enemy, and his various positions and honors will be in vain, and even his life will be in question. Because of this, he has always refused to play Hu Linyi. Now Hu Linyi has changed his old attitude towards him, he has merit to live, reputation to invite, and silver to make, so he relies on Hu wholeheartedly. As Xue Fucheng remembered, the official Wen was happy to "draw Nuo Yangcheng, and there was no objection". In this way, Hu Linyi is generally as Zeng Guofan said, "It is the only way to do less", "there is no big or small thing, the talent is promoted, and the government is mostly governed by the Fu Agency". This situation is like Zuo Zongtang in Hunan, which was a secret that was "known all over the world" at that time.

However, the official text is not Hu Linyi's puppet, as Zeng Guofan said, the official text "is very deep, when Hu Wenzhong is there, he pushes his face very much, but he must fight for his position, and each other is just perfunctory, not sincere friendship."

Change the old road and take the new road

Harvard University professor Pierux once said: "People with conservative personalities only believe in the old rules of the past and are not good at breaking new ground, so they always repeat the past." Further, a conservative character is not beneficial to great things, because you can't stick to the rules, because all roads lead to Rome.

Breaking the routine is one of the essential traits for those who achieve great things. Without this, on the one hand, it will prevent you from succeeding, and on the other hand, you can only be a pathetic worm!

When it comes to the disadvantages of imitation, it is obvious: many people are accustomed to imitation, and do not dare to innovate, or are unwilling to innovate, because the standards of value judgments in their minds about gains and losses, right and wrong, safety, and risk-taking have been fixed, which makes them often unable to think about problems from the other side.

For example, suppose there is a person who has a 100% chance of winning $80 and another person who has an 85% chance of winning $100 but a 15% chance of winning nothing. In this case, this person will choose the safest way - choose 80 dollars instead of risking a little to win the 100 dollars. But if you set this question on another side, there is a 100% chance that a person will lose 80 dollars, and another possibility is that there is an 85% chance of losing 100 dollars, but there is also a 15% chance of losing nothing. At this time, people will choose the latter, gamble and maybe lose nothing.

This example makes us understand that the reason why we can't innovate or dare not innovate is often because we start from habitual thinking, so that we are worried and timid. And once we look at the same problem from a different perspective, we will find a lot of new opportunities, new successes.

In fact, many of the most creative solutions come from thinking about the problem from a different side, and solving the problem from the opposite side of the same thing, even the most cutting-edge scientific inventions. So Albert Einstein said, "Taking an old problem from a new perspective requires creative imagination, and this has led to real advances in science." It's a true story, in which Mike was trying to find a new job for himself to avoid his annoying boss. But his wife taught him to think differently and find a new job for his boss instead of himself, and as a result, not only did he still do the job he loved, but he also got an unexpected promotion from the boss who bothered him.

How do you overcome the habit of imitation? Here we would like to ask the question of "changing faces":

Some experts are looking at how a car's safety system can protect passengers from injury in the event of a crash, and ultimately benefit from a different side of the problem. The problem they wanted to solve was how to prevent passengers from moving inside the car in the event of a crash – an injury that is often fatal. After all these failed attempts, they came up with a creative solution, which was to no longer think about how to tie passengers to the car and not move, but how to design the interior of the car so that people could minimize injuries in the event of a car accident. As a result, they not only managed to solve the problem, but also opened up a new fashion for car design.

In real life, when people solve problems, they often encounter bottlenecks, which is caused by people only staying at the same angle, if you can change the perspective, that is, we have been talking about thinking about the problem from a different side, the situation will change, and creativity will become flexible. Remember, any idea that can be changed will generate something new.

Zeng Guofan tried to avoid imitating other people's ways of governing the army, and often sought to change the military system. Regarding the war, Zeng Guofan was very outstanding in the management of the army: (1) he was not a talent in battle, but a talent in managing the army; (2) He was not a successful front-line commander, but a brilliant strategist; (3) The basic tactical guidelines he formulated were effective.

In June of the second year of Xianfeng (1852), Zeng Guofan was sent as the examiner of the Jiangxi Township Examination. On July 25, he traveled to Taihe County, Anhui Province, picked up the obituary of his mother's death, and immediately changed his clothes to return to his hometown. Arrived home in August. At this time, the Taiping army was besieging Changsha. In October, the Taiping army was unable to conquer Changsha, so they lifted the siege and went north, connecting Keyue Prefecture and Hanyang, and then became a prairie fire. In November, the Qing court issued an edict to the governor of Hunan, sending an edict to Zeng Guofan, "ordering him to help the villagers in the province and search for bandits." In December, Zeng Guofan was ordered to go to Changsha to create and train the Hunan army.

At that time, it was well known that the Green Battalion of the regular army could not fight. Therefore, he made up his mind to break the bad habits of the old army, change its course, and create a new type of army with one heart and one mind. In the second year of Xianfeng, when Zeng Guofan was ordered to hold group exercises, all provinces successively held group exercises, but Hunan Province was the most successful, which cannot but be said to be Zeng Guofan's personal will and methods played a great role.

Zeng Guofan's military training lasted more than a year from December of the second year of Xianfeng (1852) to the first month of the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854). His Hunan army is particularly different.

First of all, the Hunan army was a combination of scholars and farmers. Its generals, most of whom are scholars. Scholars can lead soldiers to fight, and no one can help but doubt it. However, scholars have been influenced by Confucius and Mencius for a long time, and they are honest and shameful, dignified, and able to defend the Tao to the death, which is the focus of Zeng Guofan's selection of scholars as generals. The conditions for his selection of generals are: first, he can govern the people, second, he is not afraid of death, third, he does not care about personal fame and fortune, and fourth, he can endure hardships. And these four points come down to having loyalty and righteousness, otherwise, "you can't be trusted." The soldiers of the Hunan army were all farmers, and its recruitment system stipulated that they must be simple and rustic farmers. The peasants endured hardships and stood hard work, and the Hunan army dug long trenches and set up hard villages, and they were not allowed to wear colored clothes, only straw sandals, and all kinds of regulations were easy for farmers to do. At the same time, the peasants were simple, and the peasants who had not been inspired by the revolutionary spirit were easy to accept the indoctrination of feudal ideas, which was the focus of Zeng Guofan's recruitment of peasants into the army. It was these scholars who did not know the war and led the poorly trained farmers to defeat the powerful Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This was seen as a miracle at the time and later.

Second, the Hunan army attaches special importance to spiritual training. Zeng Guofan claimed to be "above training, not a talent in battle". His training was mainly ideological education and military discipline education with the three outlines and five permanent committees as the core. It's called "Discipline of the Family". Declare "use grace as benevolence, use power as courtesy". Every March and 8th drill day, he would personally go down to the school ground, "repeat and speak to a thousand words", "every time he spoke to the soldiers for a few moments, although he did not dare to say the law to the head of the stubborn stone, he also sincerely wanted to drip the blood of the cuckoo with a bitter mouth" to inspire the soldiers to "conscience". The Hunan army barracks has almost become a big school, with the "Four Books" and "Filial Piety" as textbooks. And from time to time he repeats the doctrine of righteousness, and if a loving father admonishes his beloved son, the listener weeps."

With this kind of ideological education as a foreshadowing, it is easy to form an atmosphere of "respecting the superior in the dead" and "distinguishing between the wise and the wise." Therefore, people believe that the Hunan army is an army with strong Confucian colors and an army with ideas and propositions. Such an army, coupled with the incentive to be promoted and made rich, will naturally win more and lose less, and it will move forward.

During the training in Hengzhou, the situation developed violently. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has set its capital in Tianjing, known as more than one million people. Jiang Zhongyuan died in Luzhou, Wuchang was in danger, and the Qing court urged Zeng Guofan to send troops every day, but Zeng Guofan repeatedly delayed because of the failure to train the sailors. As it turned out later, the sailors trained at this time played a key role in the war to suppress the Taiping army.

On the 28th day of the first month of the fourth year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan led 20,000 people from Hengzhou with 20,000 sailors. As soon as they arrived in Changsha, the Taiping army swept in, the Hunan army was defeated in Ningxiang first, and then in Yuezhou. Fortunately, Taqib and others won a great victory in Xiangtan and saved the desperate situation. The Hunan army added artillery and shipbuilding, regrouped, captured Yuezhou in July, and took Wuchang and Hanyang in one fell swoop on August 23. At this time, it was less than a year before Hengzhou left the school, and Hunan and Hubei returned to calm.

Zeng Guofan was high-spirited, floating the river to the east, seized Tianjia Town on October 13, burned 4,000 Taiping warships, and arrived at Jiujiang City on November 15. At that time, it was Lin Qirong, a famous general of the Taiping Army, who was guarding Jiujiang, and Shi Dakai, who led his troops to reinforce, attacked twice, cut off the Hunan army's naval division into two sections, and even Zeng Guofan's ship was captured. Soon, the Taiping army recaptured Wuchang, Taqib died of illness in the army, Luo Zenan died in battle when returning to Wuchang, and the Hunan army fell into a trough.

The three years of holding each other in Jiangxi were the most difficult period for Zeng Guofan. He called it "Yan Yan walks Jiangxi", "when he hears the anger of the spring breeze, his heart is broken; When he sees the thief sailing, he wanders around the house." Coupled with the conflict with the local governor, he felt that he could not survive, Xianfeng returned to his hometown for seven years to mourn, and kept filial piety at home for 1 year and 4 months.

In May of the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858), Shida entered Zhejiang, and the southeast shook. Zeng Guofan came out of the mountain again. In the leap March of the tenth year (1860), the Jiangnan camp was destroyed, and the Qing court began to appoint Zeng Guofan as the governor of Liangjiang to oversee the military affairs of Jiangnan. Zeng Guofan ordered Zeng Guoquan to besiege Anqing and supervise Qimen himself. In August, the city of Anqing was destroyed by filling explosives in tunnels, and a key victory was achieved. As a result, Zeng Guofan set a three-way strategy of marching troops, and after three years of hard fighting, he captured Tianjing on June 16, the third year of Tongzhi (1864), and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed. Zeng Guofan was awarded the title of Marquis of the First Class at the age of 54.

Why Zeng Guofan was able to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is a thought-provoking question. In terms of soldiers, the Taiping army has always been more numerous than the Hunan army, and in the siege of Tianjing, only Li Xiucheng and Li Shixian's reinforcements amounted to more than 100,000 people (claimed to be 600,000), while the Hunan army under Tianjing City only had more than 30,000 people on land and water. Later, the besieging Hunan army increased to 50,000 one after another, and the Taiping army was killed by more than 100,000 people. In terms of equipment, Li Xiucheng had more than 20,000 foreign guns, and his "flowering cannons flew sideways into the camp" were terrifying, so that Zeng Guofan sighed many times after the war, "The way to win lies in the people who are not in the instrument." On the commanders of the war, Yang Xiuqing and Shi Dakai in the early stage of the Taiping Army, and Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng in the later period were not idle people.

So what is the reason for the victory of the Hunan army?

Judging from the mobilization of the war, Zeng Guofan called for the defense of famous religions, and mobilized the scholar class and "honest people in the countryside" to join the army to fight. The scholars and generals of the Hunan army all believed in Cheng Zhu Lixue and had a stubborn feudal worldview, while the soldiers who were born in peasants did not contradict feudal etiquette and religion, so they easily became one under the slogan of "swearing to defend the road to the death". What Hong Xiuquan used to mobilize the masses was the Catholic doctrine heard from Western missionaries, which had no foundation in China in the first place, especially when Yang Xiuqing, the spokesman of the Heavenly Father, was killed, and the people's religious enthusiasm suddenly became cold, the kings turned away from morality, and the masses were like a plate of scattered sand, and this battle could not be fought.

Judging from the command of the war, Zeng Guofan was originally a literati and did not know how to fight, and Wang Yun's "Hunan Army Chronicles" also said that he "feared the priests, feared the march, and used the generals to win, and the generals themselves were defeated." Several major defeats of the Hunan army, such as the defeat of Jinggang, the defeat of Jiujiang Lake, and the siege of Qimen, were all directly commanded by Zeng Guofan. However, there are a few points about the war that Zeng Guofan is very remarkable:

(1) He is not a talent in battle formations, but he is a talent in managing troops, and as mentioned above, it is a rare example in ancient and modern times to conduct ideological education among officers and men and to turn military barracks into big schools. In addition, the Hunan army's training skills, shogunate system, logistics supply, and so on are all impeccable.

(2) He was not a successful front-line commander, but a brilliant strategist. For example, the general strategic line of the Hunan army was to seize Wuchang first, take the two lakes as the "foundation of foothold", take advantage of the advantages of the naval division, build a fortress down, seize Tianjiazhen and Jiujiang in turn, storm Anqing, and go straight to Jinling. This was the only correct route at the time. For another example, for Tianjing's three-way advance plan, Zeng Guoquan led the main force down the river; Zuo Zongtang patrolled Zhejiang and restrained Li Shixian; Li Hongzhang went to Shanghai to face Li Xiucheng; Zuo and Li formed a large-scale encirclement of Tianjing at the same time. This strategy of attacking one way and responding to two ways is undoubtedly correct.

(3) The basic tactical guidelines he formulated were effective. For example, hardening the village, fighting in a daze, digging a long trench to trap the enemy, besieging the city and sending reinforcements, static braking, anti-guest, and so on.

△ Decryption of Zeng's changeable personality:

Adapt to change, seize the opportunity Zeng Guofan is good at adapting to change, never fixing himself within a certain limit, but using his brain in time to find the possibility of change. Zeng Guofan believes that the change in life is nothing more than the grasp of opportunities, because opportunities are always erratic and difficult to fathom. Therefore, Zeng Guofan is particularly good at using the method of change to obtain opportunities, and has won again and again. From Zeng Guofan, we find that some people can't seize opportunities with variation, but just believe in the arrangement of fate. This kind of person often attributes success to luck, but in fact, life is full of opportunities, and successful people can recognize it and grasp it firmly. Therefore, if you can challenge fate in your character, it proves that you are strong!

Jim Stewart, who believes that his success is due to the use of change methods, grasping opportunities and using them as a breakthrough to open up the situation in life, he describes his fighting character and an experience as follows:

Not long after the establishment of the "Narrative Television Network", how to seize the opportunity to open up the business situation has become a problem. But I think if you use your eye for change to find the problem, you can succeed. Soon after, I was told by our PR agency that I had to personally thank the co-screening agencies that broadcast our show and attend promotions and promotions for personal public appearances. The PR agency set up a party in advance, gave its own presentations, and then invited local channel providers and system operators as our VIPs.

This approach serves two purposes at the same time. It also allowed me to meet more than one operator of the channel and system operator, and it allowed many people to know about the broadcast of the "Narrative TV Network" program. This is a very good opportunity!

The traditional way to get sighted people to tune in is to insert a 10-second commercial announcing "Tune in to this show tomorrow at 7 p.m." But blind people rarely watch TV regularly, so the interstitial method of advertising is not suitable for us, and I have to find a way to let many people know that the "narrative television network" has been launched, and to be able to preview some of the program. Public speaking is a great way to multiply the effect.

One of the lessons I learned at Narrative Television Network is that it takes the same amount of time and effort to conduct a visit, whether it's through 100 broadcasts or through 1,000 broadcasts. But you have to seize the opportunity to find the factors that change and find yourself the way to succeed.

As a result, we immediately changed the way we ran the Narrative Television Network, and we chose the right approach to succeed. I don't know what your dreams or goals are, but I do know that you can use the technique of change to multiply the results of your efforts. This is the basic principle of success, think about it!

There are certain rules in life, and there are rules to follow in the planning of every job and career. Whether I call the laws techniques, laws, procedures, or principles, they ultimately change according to the laws of life.

In 1865, the American Civil War ended, and the northern industrial bourgeoisie defeated the southern planters, but President Lincoln was assassinated.

The whole United States was immersed in joy and sorrow, both rejoicing at the victory of a united America and mourning infinitely at the loss of a venerable president.

Later, the American steel magnate Carnegie saw the other side, because his character was to fight against fate - he wanted to adapt to change, seize opportunities, and challenge himself.

Carnegie foresaw that after the end of the war, the economic recovery would inevitably come, and the demand for steel for economic construction would increase day by day.

He resigned from his well-paid job in the railroad sector and merged the two major steel companies he presided over, Metropolitan Steel and Cyclops Steel, to form United Steel.

At the same time, Carnegie had his younger brother Tom start the Pittsburgh Locomotive Manufacturing Company and operate the Superior iron ore mine.

God gave Carnegie the perfect opportunity.

The United States defeated Mexico, seized California, and decided to build a railroad there. At the same time, the United States planned to build a transcontinental railroad.

There are few investments that are more profitable than railways.

The federal government and parliament first approved the Union Pacific Railroad, and then approved three other transcontinental rail lines, with the railroad it had built as the central line.

But everything is far from simple, and the applications for the construction of various interconnected railways have been submitted one after another, as many as hundreds of thousands, and the era of railway revolution on the American continent is approaching.

"The American continent is now the age of railways, the age of steel, and it is necessary to build railways, locomotives, and steel rails, and steel is a huge profit." Carnegie thought.

Soon, Carnegie launched an offensive against Steel.

In the United Iron Works, a 22.5-meter-high melting furnace, the largest in the world at the time, was erected, and investors were worried about its construction, fearing that they would lose their money and gain nothing.

But Carnegie's efforts have made those fears unfounded. He hired chemical experts to be stationed in the factory to inspect the quality of the ore, limestone and coke he bought, so that the inspection of products, parts and raw materials was systematized.

At that time, from the purchase of raw materials to the sale of products, it often seemed very chaotic, and the profit and loss situation was not known until the checkout, and there was no scientific way of doing business at all.

At the same time, Carnegie bought the patent of the British engineer Dows "Brother Steel Manufacturing" and the patent of the "coke washing reduction method".

He was prescient in doing so, otherwise Carnegie's steel business would have been a casualty of the Great Depression in the near future.

In 1873, the Great Depression struck.

Banks collapsed, stock exchanges closed, payments for railway projects were abruptly interrupted, and on-site construction came to an abrupt halt. Iron ore mines and coal mines closed down, and the fires in Pittsburgh were extinguished.

Carnegie asserted:

"Only in the years of economic depression can you buy building materials for steel mills at a cheap price, and the wages are correspondingly cheaper. Other steel companies have closed down one after another, and entrepreneurs from the east and west who have challenged steel have also withdrawn their troops. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that must not be missed. ”

In the most difficult of circumstances, Carnegie went against the odds and set out to build a steel fabrication.

He walked into the office of shareholder Morgan and talked about his new plans:

"I plan to make a million-dollar investment to build two Bejamer 5-ton converters and one rotary furnace. Plus two sub-gate 5-ton furnaces......"

"So, what will happen to the production capacity of the factory?" Morgan asked.

"When work began in January 1875, the annual production of rails would reach 30,000 tons, and the cost of manufacturing per ton would be about $69 ......"

"The average cost of rails is about $10 right now, and investing in new equipment is more profitable than investing in stocks." Carnegie added.

The shareholders agreed to issue corporate bonds.

The work was slightly behind schedule, and on May 6, 1875, Carnegie received its first order for 2,000 rails. The furnace was lit.

The cost of manufacturing labor per ton of rigid rail is $8.26, raw material is $40.86, right limestone and fuel is $6.31, and royalty is $1.17: the total cost is only $56.6.

This is much cheaper than originally anticipated. Carnegie was excited.

In 1881, Carnegie and the coke magnate Ferick reached an agreement to invest in the formation of the F.C. Frick Coke Company, each holding half of the shares.

In the same year, Carnegie established Carnegie with his three own iron and steel companies as the main body, and many small coke companies.

The Carnegie brothers, whose steel production is one-seventh of the United States, are gradually moving towards monopolies.

In 1890, when the Carnegie brothers acquired the Dickson Iron and Steel Company, the company increased its capital to $25 million and changed its name to Carnegie Steel. Soon after, it was renamed US Steel Group.

Carnegie's successful personality is tied to his ability to seize favorable moments.

Some people call opportunity luck, no matter what the title is, there is one thing that is absolute, and it is more beneficial to be good at taking advantage of opportunities with change than to complain. Everyone who wants to build a successful character should know this.

Many people are extremely successful in running one industry or doing one job, but fail to run a new industry or do another. Why is that? Clemmont Stone believes that this is because they have gained skills from experience and climbed to the top in one line, but when they enter another industry, they are reluctant to seek new knowledge and experience in a new industry. In the same way, it is the same reason that a person will succeed in one action and fail in another. Therefore, it is quite important to seek opportunities and direction in the changing mindset.