Zeng Guofan entered imperial academy in the 18th year of Daoguang (1838). Later, he was promoted to Bachelor of Cabinet, Assistant Minister of Ministry of War and Assistant Minister of Ritual. In the second year of Xianfeng (1852), he was ordered to go south to preside over the provincial examination. On the way, his mother died and was allowed to go back to her hometown. Zeng Guofan was good at talking about "morality" and "benevolence and righteousness" and praised Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism.
In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), he was ordered to form Xiang Yong, Hunan Province, namely "Xiang Army". The following year, Tianjia Town defeated the Taiping Army in the Northern Expedition. Three years of Tongzhi (1864) captured Tianjing. The following year, he was ordered to go north to suppress the Nianjun uprising. Tongzhi for five years (1866) was awarded the title of "Volunteer Army" by the Qing court, and he was also the first civil servant to receive this title. In the same year, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was established. During this period, Zeng Guofan also set up an official school-running bureau in Anqing Daying to reprint the classics.
Anecdotal allusions
When Zeng Guofan was born, his grandfather dreamed that there was a python wrapped around the pillar of his house, so he thought Zeng Guofan was the reincarnation of a python. After Zeng Guofan was born, a dead buttonwood tree in his family was actually resurrected, which made his grandfather more believe in the dream of python reincarnation. Coincidentally, Zeng Guofan had a skin disease similar to "psoriasis" (saying "fire python moss"), and his body was covered with tinea like snake scales, so Zeng Guofan also believed in the dream of python reincarnation.
Zeng Guofan also has a strange hobby-he loves to eat chicken, but he is most afraid of chicken feathers. At that time, emergency official documents often had to put chicken feathers on the envelope, commonly known as chicken feather letters and chicken feathers. Whenever Zeng Guofan sees this kind of letter, he always gets creepy. If he sees a snake and a scorpion, he must ask someone to help him take off his chicken feathers before he dares to open it. There is an ancient saying: "When chicken feathers are burned, poisonous snakes smell them and die, and dragons and snakes are also afraid of the smell." Zeng Guofan is so afraid of chicken feathers that it is inevitable to be understood as the reincarnation of a python.