Zeng Guofan is chatting with Zhao Liewen about the current situation. Zeng Guofan was very worried about the situation in the capital. In front of Zeng Guofan, an important official of the Qing Dynasty, Zhao Liewen told the Governor that the life span of the Qing Dynasty was only 50 years at most, and accurately predicted the whole process of its collapse. First, the imperial court collapsed, and then the local governors took power in their own hands and fell into a chaotic warlord melee situation. Zeng Guofan listened to his words and said bitterly, I look forward to my early death day and night, and I can't bear to see this day. Who's Zhao Liewen? Why can you judge the situation so accurately? Why dare you call a spade a spade in front of the governors of the two rivers in the Qing Dynasty? "The Qing Dynasty is going to die!"

Zeng Guofan, governor of Liangjiang River, has a very large shogunate, and Zhao Liewen is the chief of staff in the shogunate, and he is Zeng Guofan's most trusted chief of staff. In fact, in the Han and Tang Dynasties or even earlier, China officials had the habit of establishing shogunate. For example, Gao Shi, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, is the shogunate general of our time. By the Qing dynasty, this industry was more developed and almost monopolized by people in one place, which is the famous "Shaoxing touting"!

But Zeng Guofan's shogunate is different from all the governors' shogunates in the Qing Dynasty. First of all, the scale is large, reaching about 300 to 400 people, and the general vassal shogunate is only a dozen people. Second, there are many talents. The number of talents is amazing. Many of the seven provinces in the south of the Yangtze River worked as aides in Zeng Guofan's shogunate, from governors to state officials.

The reason why Zeng Guofan's shogunate was so big was that with the development of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Eight Banners of the Manchu Dynasty and green camp were prone to early decay, and their essence was revealed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Manchu dynasty had no choice but to rely on local Han officials to organize Ying Yong to maintain its rule. For example, Zeng Guofan, who served as an imperial envoy and governor of the two rivers for ten years since Xianfeng, had previously served as five imperial envoys, managing military affairs in Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces. Of course, it needs the assistance of a large number of military and political talents.

Zeng Guofan's shogunate is full of talents because Zeng Guofan has mastered a wonderful skill, physiognomy! Don't get me wrong, the physiognomy here is not a set of tricks used by feudal superstitions to deceive people, but a method of selecting and judging talents derived from Zeng Guofan's life-long experience in dealing with people. Zeng Guofan even wrote a wonderful book called Ice Guide!

First, observe what you say, observe what you say: Zeng Guofan said in The Ice Guide that he is full of energy and has two eyes. It means that a person's energy is all reflected in his eyes. Whether a person is smart, capable or ignorant, energetic or decadent and confused, is reflected in whether his eyes are bright or dim. Therefore, Zeng Guofan looks at people and likes others' eyes best, and chooses aides. This is also the method.

Second, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude: Zeng Guofan said in The Ice Guide that real talents are naturally generated, and such talents can be met but not sought, so we should pay attention to selecting middle-level talents, and such talents are cultivated at most. Every time someone comes to defect, Zeng Guofan will carefully test the school and observe it. He is timid and cautious, let him handle salaries, let him handle documents with excellent literary talent, and let him sort out rare books of ancient books. Basically, you can put people in the right position and let the staff make good contributions in the right position.

Thirdly, we should learn from teachers and friends and pay attention to the cultivation of talents. No matter how busy Zeng Guofan is, he spends a certain amount of time talking with his staff every day. On the one hand, he listens to their work experience, on the other hand, he guides them with his own experience. At the same time, he gave employees a list of books for them to read. He often talks about his reading experience and life experience with the staff, and even holds regular examination assignments. Zeng Guofan turned his shogunate into a school. He was both a leader and a teacher.

Although Zeng Guofan was a feudal bureaucrat, his thoughts were very open-minded. In his Liangjiang Governor's Office, you can say anything, and the atmosphere is very open. Zhao Liewen is the most trusted and talented assistant among all the assistants. After a long period of edification around Zeng Guofan, he was able to judge the current situation so accurately and dared to say "the Qing Dynasty is going to die" in front of Zeng Guofan, the governor of the two rivers in the Qing Dynasty and a court official.

Therefore, Zeng Guofan's shogunate is full of talents. There are 47 senior officials who own three or more products, including 33 governors. Even during Guangxu period, five of the eight governors in China came from Zeng Guofan's shogunate. All this is inseparable from Zeng Guofan's knowledge, employment and training.