At any time, do not think about the times, and leave the vulgar to save the vulgar mind. - "Augmenting the Sages"
Greed is bound to lead people into the abyss, but only incorruptibility may not be able to save the danger. The reason why Qianlong repeatedly tolerated him was because he had the ability to do things that others could not reach. There is no doubt that honesty is an important criterion for measuring the quality of officials, but it is not an absolute standard, such as the famous Ming Dynasty Zaifu Zhang Juzheng, who was half corrupt and half corrupt, but brought Wanli Zhongxing to the Ming Dynasty, continuing the Ming Dynasty for decades. And Hai Rui, who has been clean all his life, has not been able to save Daming until he dies.
Mengziyun: "If you are poor, you are good at yourself, and if you are good, you can help the world", not in his position, he should seek his position. Hai Rui experienced four generations of emperors in his life, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli, and he was known for his honesty and honesty, and under Jiajing's terrible "dictatorship" politics, he dared to slander Jiajing by saying such words as "Jiajing Jiajing, every family is pure", which shows his strength. But such a straightforward person often can't be a high-ranking official, let alone "help the world".
As a pure person, it is difficult not to be recognized as a good official, but a good official is not necessarily a useful official, and examples of good intentions doing bad things abound. Throughout his life, Hai Rui was trapped by "morality", and he was known for not being afraid of adultery and evil, and for being upright and upright, but he wanted to restrain other officials with morality, even the Jiajing Emperor. I have to say that such an idea is too naïve, and it also reflects his lack of political talent.
Therefore, although he has made achievements in his life, it is difficult to stand in the official field for a long time, after all, Hai Rui is a moral example in the eyes of the people, who would be willing to stand up to such a great pressure to coexist with his colleagues. Even if political struggles are put aside, there will always be some villains who are not accustomed to Hai Rui's glorious behavior, and the false accusations against him have not been stopped.
Zhang Juzheng is different, he is not like Hai Rui, "everyone is alone and I am alone", but chooses to integrate into it, and even dominate the storm. Throughout Zhang Juzheng's life, after three generations of emperors, but he can be at ease, Yan Song and Gao Gong can talk to him freely, which is Zhang Juzheng's gentleman's style. On the other hand, he also has a villainous side, corruption, abuse of power, luxury and even violation of filial piety. But compared with its contribution, the "corruption" that is fictitious is insignificant.
The biggest difference between Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui is the way of being an official, Hai Rui is a moral model among officials, a god among the people, although his reputation and status are extremely high, but he also cut himself off from the officialdom. Zhang Juzheng's pattern is much higher than that of Hai Rui, he can be patient for the sake of power, and he can also seize the opportunity to offend people to death, because he knows that what he does is for a purpose, to recreate Daming.
Chongzhen issued a meaningful sigh in the midst of difficult difficulties:
"It is better to be a hundred than to be saved."
The mediocre hundred officials of the Manchu Dynasty were far less useful than a Zhang Juzheng. Although Hai Rui is not mediocre, even if there are hundreds of Hai Rui, it is still impossible to rectify the rule of officials, crack down on the strong and powerful, and seek the interests of the people, and still cannot bring such a magnificent atmosphere as Wanli ZTE.
So-called:
"Thousands of miles do not deceive the lonely, and no one tree does not become a forest."
No official or greed is not a lie, the focus is on how much greed is and whether it has made useful merits. Zhang Juzheng was greedy for less than 200,000 taels in his lifetime, but he continued the Ming Dynasty for decades, and how can the profit and loss benefits of this be clearly explained in one or two sentences.