Chapter 59 persevere to succeed

Choosing the right path in life is like achieving half the battle.The success of the other half depends on their own unremitting efforts.Many people give up halfway because they can't stand the test.Zeng Guofan's success, in his own words, is due to his diligence and perseverance.Li Hongzhang is lazy by nature, if it is not tempered in Zeng Guofan's shogunate, it is almost impossible to succeed. When Li Hongzhang joined Zeng Guofan's shogunate, Zeng Guofan taught and tempered him comprehensively.In daily life, he was forced to get up early and eat breakfast, and to be honest with others.Under strict supervision, Li Hongzhang's laziness was finally cured.Li Hongzhang once said to Zeng Guofan's son-in-law Wu Yong: My teacher is really good.I used to work for him in his big camp. He got up early every morning and had breakfast at six o'clock.I had no choice but to hurry up, wash my hands indiscriminately, and went to Mao, I couldn't bear it.After a long time, I barely got used to it, got used to it, and gradually felt that I didn't suffer much.So later I did things by myself, and I was able to get up early, so I realized that I have benefited endlessly. This is all brought up by my teacher.It can be seen from this that he changed his habit of being lazy and afraid of suffering, and laid the necessary foundation for Li Hongzhang to undertake the arduous mission later.

In terms of military affairs, Zeng Guofan believed that Li Hongzhang lost more than he won when he was training in the Anhui regiment. The law of self-reliance and invincibility.Moreover, Zeng Guofan also successively asked Li Hongzhang to run the cavalry team and train the Huaiyang Navy, providing him with opportunities to practice and exercise.Li Hongzhang once said: I thought the Hunan Army had strange skills, but I found out today, nothing else.It's just that I heard the long hair come and stand in front of the wall.It was this kind of defensive tactics that prevented the Huai army from being defeated by the Taiping army in the crucial battles of Hongqiao and Beixinjing. Instead, it turned defeat into victory and took the initiative in the war.

Zeng Guofan appointed Li Hongzhang to train the Huai Army to rescue Shanghai. He was only forty years old at this time.Li Hongzhang shouldered heavy responsibilities as soon as he came out of the mountains. After he arrived in Shanghai, he faced a severe situation. As he himself said, the islanders were suspicious of slander, officials were fooled, they fled against the crowd, internal troubles and foreign aggression forced them to come.When the Huai army first arrived in Shanghai, they looked like a group of beggars entering the city in ragged clothes. No matter if they were local officials or foreigners, they were all ridiculed.This situation can only be described as bitter.

Li Hongzhang knew that his success, failure, honor and disgrace were at this juncture. Only keeping Shanghai and then capturing Su and Chang was the key to turning the crisis into safety, and it was also his only chance to achieve fame.To achieve this, only follow the teacher's instructions.When Zeng Guofan came out of the mountain, he advertised that he didn't need money and was not afraid of death. Li Hongzhang took these six words, engraved on his own lawsuit, tried his best at the expense of his salary, was not obsessed with glory and profit, broke through difficulties and obstacles, and broke through a new situation.He was in the camp day in and day out, from dawn to night, he kept covering his hands, talking and doing things, and his heart never stopped.He had almost no time to communicate with friends and letters from all over the world, but he always kept in touch with Zeng Guofan.For matters big and small, he almost always asks his teacher for advice, and Zeng Guofan also answers every question and gives careful guidance.In just two or three years, the two left hundreds of letters.With teaching and practice, Li Hongzhang's ability improved by leaps and bounds, and he himself embarked on a direct train to his official career.A year later, the Huai army grew rapidly, and its number surged to more than 50,000. It withstood Li Xiucheng's many large-scale attacks, grasped the favorable situation, and finally recovered most of Jiangsu.

Later, when Li Hongzhang suppressed the Nian Army, he encountered a more dangerous situation.Due to repeated failures and heavy losses, he was severely criticized by the court.At this time, he made a major strategic adjustment and proposed a plan to defend the canal instead, defending the west bank of the canal and preventing the Nian army from returning.Although Zeng Guofan was far behind, he also wrote to warn Li Hongzhang: There is no good strategy other than guarding the canal, and a plan should be made as soon as possible. After a hard fight, Li Hongzhang finally suppressed the Eastern Nien Army and completed the mission that the teacher had not completed.