Yao Chong, a famous minister of the Tang Dynasty, went through the four dynasties of Wu Zetian, Zhongzong, Ruizong and Xuanzong, during which he served three times as prime minister, was the founder of the Kaiyuan prosperous era, and was an excellent feudal scholar.
(Yao Chong)
In the eyes of many people, most of the excellent feudal scholars and doctors are models of benevolence and morality, can be superior in wisdom, can be righteous and awe-inspiring, but have little to do with power plots. Because the plot is a fraud after wrapping up the truth; it is a conspiracy and means to achieve the goal, full of unscrupulous means, how can this be linked to a good person like Yao Chong.
In fact, the plot is not the patent of the villain, and the gentleman will also. Liu Xiang of the Han Dynasty once commented: "There are good and evil conspiracies between husbands and wives. He who is righteous, his power is righteous, so he is dedicated to the people. Those who are sincere and evil are good for selfish interests, so they are also deceitful for the people. And Yao Chong is the one who uses power to do his best for the people, such as the famous locust eradication incident during his tenure.
At the beginning of the new century, Tang Xuanzong exerted great efforts to achieve The Tang Dynasty Zhongxing, and he used Yao Chongwei as a minister, determined to carry out reforms in all aspects of the empire. However, things were not smooth sailing, and heaven created many obstacles for the two of them, either floods or droughts, and more serious plagues of locusts in the three years of the new century (715), which affected the three main grain-producing areas of Shandong, Hebei and Henan.
(Xuanzong)
In ancient times, science and technology were backward, and people could not have an objective understanding of locusts. And the power of locusts is enormous, like dark clouds covering the earth, where they pass, fields and green mountains suddenly have no grass, turning into loess and bald mountains.
Faced with this situation, the people could only burn incense and pray for the blessing of the heavens; the feudal masters firmly believed in the theory of heaven and man's induction, believing that this was a warning from heaven and requiring the emperor to reflect on himself; the emperor was worried and uneasy, investigated the deviations in policy, or dismissed the ministers and pardoned the world. Pieces of grain, fruits and vegetables are ravaged by locusts, and large numbers of people will face the threat of starvation and death.
In the face of all this, Yao Chong wrote to Xuanzong and asked the people to be mobilized to collectively exterminate the locusts. However, Xuanzong did not dare to take a stand easily, and there were great concerns. Because the plague of locusts is a warning from Heaven to him, once the locusts are exterminated, is it not to offend Heaven!
The reason why Yao Chong proposed this is not that he has the ability to cross and master scientific knowledge. Rather, he did not classify the locust plague as a column of heaven and man induction, but classified it as a kind of pest, and if the pests are not eliminated, the people will have no harvest, and if they act, there is hope.
Yao Chong's concerns about Emperor Xuanzong showed a wise side, and he did not carry forward the spirit of the death advice of the feudal master, either threatening to resign or spill blood on the court. Instead, two points were made to Xuanzong:
First, the Book of Verses records: "Bing Pi Thief, Pay for the Fire." "It was to burn the pests to death; Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Han Guangwu, also issued an order to eliminate the pests that encroached on the Zhuang family." This provides a basis for the extermination of locusts, the induction of heaven and man is the theory left by predecessors, and the Book of Poetry is a Confucian classic, which is irrefutable.
Second, in the matter of exterminating locusts, even if the heavens want to punish, it has nothing to do with the Son of Heaven, and it is also a matter for the prime minister to ask questions by hundreds of officials. This solved Xuanzong's worries.
Yao Chong thought of everything he thought, and with such wisdom, Xuanzong agreed to his request.
(Xuanzong stills)
However, Lu Huaishen, the prime minister who had always been subservient to him, also objected to Yao Chong's appearance, believing that killing so many locusts would hurt people.
It can be seen that Lu Huaishen is a righteous doctor with compassion. For such people, persuasion is only a lot of tongue-in-cheek, and Yao Chong resolutely adopts the art of power and strategy, and persuasion is not as good as agitation.
Yao Chong said, "You can't bear to kill locusts, but do you have to bear to starve people?" If you are afraid that the locusts will bring disasters, I will do things alone and do things alone, and I will not have to take responsibility for you! After Yao Chong's words, he Lu Huaishen became a selfish and selfish person who did not know how to think about the people. This was morally unacceptable, so Lu Huaishen had to agree.
After the order was issued, many local officials resisted, and the most fierce was the assassin Shi Ni Ruoshui in Bian Prefecture. He said: "The plague of locusts is a natural disaster that needs to be repaired by the emperor to avoid disasters." The Later Han Emperor Liu Cong also exterminated locusts, and the result was more and more exterminated. Eventually, the destruction of the country, the lessons of the past, the prime minister such an order I can not carry out. ”
Yao Chong said to him unceremoniously, "First, Liu Cong of the Later Han Dynasty is a Xiongnu and has no victory over demons, while the current emperor is the Holy Lord, and demons are invincible, so how dare you compare Liu Cong with His Majesty?" Are you suspicious of His Majesty's virtues? Second, if virtue can be spared from disaster, and you are also a person of high morals, why do you have locusts in your state? Is your morality despicable? The two hats were bigger than the other, and Ni Ruoshui was silent and quickly organized to extinguish the locusts.
In this way, Yao Chong, almost single-handedly, changed the entire court. The locust plague has minimized the damage done to the people, and there has been no widespread famine and displacement.
In the matter of killing locusts, Yao Chong's wisdom was reflected in his pragmatic spirit and courage to take responsibility. He knew that people's livelihood was the foundation of the country, and soberly drew a clear line between locust plague and heaven and man induction. What is even more valuable is that he also shouldered the responsibility with all his might, showing the arrogance and demeanor of the great rectification family, and is a great wisdom for the country and the people.
In the process of implementation, Yao Chong flexibly used the strategy, according to the different psychology of each person, targeted the use of countermeasures, very efficient solutions to the problem.
Yao Chong's scheme is completely based on his great wisdom, which not only embodies principle, but also embodies flexibility, so the name Yao Chong's name is the perfect combination of power and wisdom.
Text: Bearfish laughs to themselves
Shallow and ignorant, just right in the Fang family.
References: New Book of Tang, Old Book of Tang, Zizhi Tongjian.