Chapter Three Homework
Tan Yanqian's success in becoming a Xiucai made Tan Zhonglin extremely happy. Although it was only the first step in the imperial examination, it was still a head start, and at least better than those old Xiucai who were 40 or 50 years old. Moreover, examiners throughout history liked young scholars to stand out, so much so that 30-year-old Xiucai would shave their beards clean to appear younger. As for the 40- or 50-year-old old Xiucai, they didn't do this because they had already lost the qualification to pretend to be young.
Softly blows the flute, softly blows the wind, The water of Xiang River is green, and the sky of Chu is vast. Pointing to someone, I indicate the depth of the mountain, My home is in the misty rain of bamboo and orchids. Tan Zhonglin held a poem paper in his hand and read it lightly, this was one of the homework that Tan Yanke wanted to hand over, but compared with prose, it's not easy to produce a masterpiece of poetry, otherwise Qianlong Emperor wrote 100,000 poems in his life, but none of them are well-known.
At this time, Tan Yanxin was very pleased: "I didn't expect that I would also write poetry! This is probably rarer than giant pandas among Chinese people a hundred years later, but it's also thanks to this kid having a solid foundation. When seeing certain scenery, the poem lines would suddenly appear in his mind, haha, this can be considered original!"
"Good! Good! This poem has a strong flavor of 'Chu Ci'!" Tan Zhonglin said with a smile, sitting in the armchair.
Tan Zhonglin put down the poem boat in his hand and asked: "This time staying in Changsha, have you visited Mr. Xiang Qi?"
Tan Zhonglin's Mr. Xianggui was a very unusual figure in the Xiang Army, from Xiangtan, Hunan Province, and also a famous scholar named Wang Kuanyu, because his residence was called "Xianggui Building", so scholars called him Mr. Xianggui. Talking about this Xianggui Building is still a beautiful story among the Hunan celebrities - Wang Kuanyu was the son of a carpenter, from a poor family, but he had the style of a great scholar, at the age of 19, he became a student, and deeply got his teacher Cai's appreciation, although his family was poor, but he won Miss Cai's heart secretly, so they formed this perfect marriage, and their residence was "Xianggui Building". Wang Kuanyu passed the imperial examination at the age of 25, later he didn't have good luck in the imperial examinations, then he sought a new way for development, although he studied hard, but he liked to "travel around, persuade officials, and look for heroes with a keen eye", he once suggested to Zeng Guofan to unite with the Taiping Army, to overthrow the Qing government together, it was not adopted and he was cold-shouldered by Zeng Guofan.
Wang Xianyun and Tan Zhonglin were extremely close friends. Tan Zhonglin named several of his sons Yanxian, Enxian, and Zexian, which shows the respect he had for Wang Xianyun. Wang Xianyun's academic achievements made him one of the top three Confucians in Hunan Province. Tan Zhonglin had his sons study under Wang Xianyun from a young age.
Because of their close relationship, Tan Zhonglin knew about Wang Xianyun's experiences in the Xiang Army. In Tan Zhonglin's opinion, although Zeng Guofan seemed to be cold towards Wang Xianyun on the surface, this may not have been his true intention. If it were, he would have simply killed Wang Xianyun instead of taking care of him. Even now, Wang Xianyun and several leaders from the Xiang Army remain closely connected, showing that Zeng Guofan was genuinely trying to be a loyal minister, but may have had some reservations about Wang Xianyun's proposals.
Tan Zhonglin admired Wang Xizhi's learning, but what he valued most was his "horizontal and vertical tactics". He had reached this point in his life, but his descendants still had to survive in this chaotic world. He sent his own son to study under Wang Xizhi, mainly to learn these "horizontal and vertical tactics". Unfortunately, Tan Zhonglin was extremely disappointed that his several sons were not promising, except for Tan Yanke, all of whom were rejected by Wang Xizhi and returned home, only symbolically studying academic knowledge at his door. What comforted him was that Tan Yanke was one of Wang Xizhi's favorite disciples, who had already entered the inner chamber in a short period of study, with increasingly refined skills, and might have been secretly designated as Wang Xizhi's successor.
Tan Yanjin is now naturally unaware of Tan Zhonglin's current true thoughts. Tan Zhonglin has been cultivating him as the hope of the future Tan family, and as long as he can continue to make progress in the imperial examination and become a jinshi, Tan Yanjin will discover that his father has already cultivated him into a seasoned official. The historical knowledge that Tan Yanjin possesses is not enough to fully grasp this era. In this era, apart from speaking of power and relying on powerful connections, the power of one's clan is also unimaginable. In the imperial court, whether it was the two-generation emperor's teacher Weng Tonghe or the currently popular Zhang Zhidong, their rise to prominence could not be separated from the power of their clans. Of course, their clans also brought them unnecessary trouble, but overall, their influence cannot be overstated. The Tan family's clan power in Hunan and Hubei is not weak either. Even Tan Jixun, who was a governor in Hubei, had some kinship with him. However, this is still not enough, and it is not sufficient to rise to the top. The clans of Weng Tonghe and Zhang Zhidong have already interacted multiple times at the level of Grand Councilor.
Tan Yanqin stepped forward and said: "This time, being by Mr.'s side for three months, although the time is a bit short, but I feel that I have gained a lot. Mr. has three subjects..."
When Tan Yanqian said this, Tan Zhonglin's eyes suddenly sparkled with interest. He straightened his back slightly and asked hastily: "Xiao San, which subject did you choose?!"
"It's the third one!" Tan Yanqin said.
"Good! Good!" Tan Zhonglin laughed and said, "My Tan family finally has a talented person who can get the attention of Qian Qing, your two older brothers don't even qualify to choose the first subject!"
"Did Father know about these three subjects long ago?" Tan Yanqin asked.
"Hmph, as a father, I have known Wang Rensheng for decades. If you don't even know this, then it's really useless! These three subjects are the study of officialdom, poetry and literature, and the study of emperors! When Wang Rensheng was in his 20s or 30s, he was a staff member under Zeng Guofan in the Xiang Army. In fact, many people know about the unverified rumor that has been circulating in Hunan, but it's actually Wang Rensheng himself who clearly confirmed to me that he had indeed advised Zeng Guofan to establish his own faction. Wang Rensheng is a reckless and boastful person, but his foundation is really too weak. People like him must rely on people like Zeng Guofan to survive!" Tan Zhonglin sneered slightly as he stroked his white beard.
"Wang Renqiu can impart to you the emperor's learning, which is also your good fortune. In this officialdom, relying solely on Confucian sincerity and respect is far from enough. The dangers of officialdom are beyond what you can imagine. This emperor's learning is a technique for navigating complex situations. If one applies it without great greed in their heart, they can ensure a lifetime of peace and stability. Zu An, be careful not to be like Master Xianggui, who overestimated himself. A person's abilities are still limited by their foundation, beware of being overly ambitious!"
"Son humbly remembers father's teachings!"
After listening to Tan Zhonglin's evaluation of Wang Xianqian, Tan Zhonglin suddenly thought of a famous figure in the late Qing dynasty - Yang Du. He wasn't very clear about Yang Du's life, but he knew that Yang Du had claimed to be the last person in China who was well-versed in the study of emperors. In the end, he defected to Yuan Shikai's camp and did many things. It seemed that Yang Du was also a disciple of Wang Xianqian, and if nothing unexpected happened, Yang Du might even have been his own junior fellow apprentice!
However, Tan Zhonglin did not expect that his son had undergone a fundamental change. Feng Wenyu himself was over 30 years old and had rich social experience. Tan Zhonglin's various arrangements for Tan Yanxin felt extremely contradictory in his eyes. The only explanation is that Tan Zhonglin instinctively realized that the future direction of China would be very complex and changeable, and he hoped that his son could navigate through this change with ease to preserve the safety of his family.
For Tan Zhonglin's contradictions, Tan Yankai was very understanding. After all, he knew the direction of China's history in later generations. Tan Zhonglin didn't know, but after being in officialdom for decades, especially since most of his political career was spent holding high-ranking positions as governors and viceroys in various regions, he had a very clear understanding of the situation in the Qing dynasty's officialdom and among the people. Perhaps Tan Zhonglin wouldn't have thought that the Qing dynasty would perish due to the uprising of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary party, but he already vaguely felt that the Qing dynasty's fortunes were almost exhausted. Although Tan Zhonglin was still very loyal to the Qing court, it didn't mean he wanted to tie his entire family's fate tightly to the Qing court!
Tan Yanxin returned to Fuzhou and assisted his father in handling government affairs at the Governor's Mansion. Tan Zhonglin attached great importance to his studies, inviting Tan Ming San, a learned scholar, to the mansion to tutor his sons, with Tan Yanxin being the focus of cultivation. Compared to Tan Mingsan's Confucian ideology of sincerity and respect, Tan Yanxin was more interested in helping Tan Zhonglin handle various government affairs at the Fujian-Zhejiang Governor's Mansion. Although he did not expect to make a name for himself in the future turbulent world or dance with great men and heroes, learning about governance allowed him to better understand the era.
It's not that Tang Yanqi is unpatriotic, it's just that the future decades of China's turmoil have scared him off. The best choice would be to leave the country at an appropriate time to avoid being implicated in the war disaster. However, he doesn't want to just walk away like this either. He still hopes to do something beneficial for this land, even if it can't change the overall situation, but can alleviate some of the suffering of the people, which is also a matter of course.
"Try it out, don't take the last step unless absolutely necessary!" Tan Yanqin's mind wandered inexplicably while handling official business.
Tan Yanqian was not interested in the imperial examination system, but he did not neglect Tan Ming San either. After all, this old scholar was invited by his father with great effort. In a sense, Mr. Tan's most important work after moving into the governor's mansion was to supervise his own study. As for his several brothers, Tan Yanqian had already seen that Tan Zhonglin had lost confidence in them, and it was estimated that in the future they would just buy an official position with money and make do.
What delighted Tan Zhonglin and Tan Ming was that although Tan Yanqian spent most of his time in the governor's office with those staff members handling government affairs, Tan Yanqian's homework was improving at a visible rate. Perhaps his poetry skills were slightly weaker, but his calligraphy and test-taking abilities had greatly improved. Tan Zhonglin also found that Tan Yanqian's recent calligraphy practice focused more on the Hall of Classics style, and as a famous scholar, he still practiced cursive script without putting it down. His skills had become increasingly profound, and at least in Tan Zhonglin's heart, he felt that his son indeed had an innate talent for calligraphy that he could not match. It wouldn't take long before Tan Yanqian's calligraphy level would surpass his own.
Tan Yanjin's progress seemed a bit sudden to outsiders, but as his father, Tan Zhonglin knew that his son was very diligent in both his studies and calligraphy, truly achieving the goal of getting up at three o'clock in the morning and going to bed at five o'clock in the evening. The number of characters he practiced every day had also doubled since before the examination for xiucai. Adding Tan Ming's assignments, considering Yanjin's work schedule in the government office, this was no ordinary diligence.
Tan Yanxin's efforts were seen by Tan Zhonglin, who was very happy about it. He was worried that his son would overwork and damage his body, so he specially instructed the kitchen to make some nourishing soups for his son every day, especially at midnight. As a governor for many years, Tan Zhonglin's wealth had little significance to him, but as someone who grew up in poverty, he was very frugal with his children's education expenses. However, seeing his son working so hard, Tan Zhonglin was very generous in spending money on nourishing food and medicine for his son, even setting aside 100 taels of silver every month to buy medicinal materials.
Tan Yanqian's significant progress in calligraphy and daily homework over the past two months is due to his exceptional memory and ability to recover energy with extremely short sleep, allowing him to learn daily homework in a very short time and greatly extend his working hours, but no adverse effects have been found on his body.
Due to Tan Yanqing's special status, Tan Zhonglin's son entered the government office to help his staff with official duties, which was not a big deal. Many officials who were good at governing their families adopted this method to train their sons, and some high-ranking court officials even used their positions to secure a lucrative position for their sons, achieving both training purposes and making money, all of which were common occurrences.
The place where the staff worked was called the "Mufang Tang", located in a spacious hall on the west side of the Governor's Mansion, surrounded by over a dozen small rooms. This was where the staff of the Fujian-Zhejiang Governor-General worked. The term "staff" originally referred to military strategists and secretaries who lived in tents during battles in ancient times. Later, due to the limited number of officials in local government offices, they adopted the practice of hiring people to handle documents, legal cases, financial matters, etc., which was learned from the military. These staff members were not appointed by the imperial court but were hired by the head of the office to handle affairs. They could stay or leave depending on their relationship with the head, so they were politely referred to as "Mufang".
In the late Qing dynasty, due to frequent internal turmoil, local officials were burdened with heavy military and administrative responsibilities. As a result, the practice of hiring advisors became very popular, and each governor had a large team of staff members. However, the most famous among them was still the team of advisors under Zeng Guofan when he served as the Governor-General of Liangjiang - where hundreds of top talents in military affairs, science and technology, finance, administration, and other fields gathered, known as the "Talent Pool of the World". There were even rumors that the imperial court's talent was not comparable to that of Liangjiang. It is no wonder that Wang Xianqian would secretly advise Zeng Guofan to establish his own regime at that time.
