Hai Rui and Zhang Ju are two representative figures, but among the incorruptible and corrupt groups, they are not the only two. Therefore, if we only look at the deeds of the two of them, it will be a partial generalization, which will eventually lead us to the wrong conclusion.
First, the question of right and wrong of incorruptibility and corruption
Fairness and justice are the ultimate goals pursued by our society. Although we know that there can be no absolute fairness, it is relatively easy to achieve in some specific scenarios and conditions.
For example, the college entrance examination, for the admission of candidates, it should be carried out under the rules recognized by everyone. Another example is the bidding of the project, which should also be selected according to the needs and rules.
At this time, is it easier to deal with honest people, or is it easier to deal with corrupt people? I'm afraid it goes without saying. Corrupt people profit for themselves by undermining fairness and justice. Therefore, incorruptibility is definitely an excellent quality worth advocating and promoting.
Second, the incorruptible Yu Qian saved the Ming Dynasty
If it is said that the incorruptible Hai Rui did not have the corrupt Zhang Juzheng to make a great contribution to prove that incorruptibility is useless, we only need to cite a counter-evidence, which is enough to overturn the thesis that "incorruptibility is useless".
After the tumu fort, Ming Yingzong was captured, and the leader of the Wallachians also led a Large Mongol army to surround the city of Beijing. In the face of national difficulties, Yu Qian stepped forward and took advantage of the inferior troops to repel the attack of Ye Xian and win the defense of Beijing.
Without Yu Qian, I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty would have entered the Southern Ming Era in advance, and there would not have been Zhang Juzheng's reforms a few generations later, ushering in Wanli Zhongxing.
I am afraid that no one will deny Yu Qian's incorruptibility. After his death, the family had no remaining wealth, and the only valuable items were the armor and sword weapons given to him by Zhu Qiyu, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
So why is the incorruptible Hai Rui inferior to the corrupt Zhang Juzheng?
Third, a person's ability and the direction of efforts determine the achievements achieved
Hai Rui's ability compared to Zhang Juzheng's, of course, is not a little bit worse. The reason why their achievements in life are very different is because of the problem of personal ability and direction of efforts, not the problem of incorruptibility and corruption.
The process of the two men's debut
Hai Rui is relatively "stupid". He did not pass the exam for more than ten years, until he was 28 years old, he was admitted to the county school and became a student. Then, at the age of 36, I won the examination. Then I was admitted to the academy, but I failed the exam repeatedly. In the end, Harry could only do a county priesthood as a lifter and at the age of 40. Teaching, similar to the principals of county-level schools that now have teaching tasks.
Looking at Zhang Juzheng again, he is simply a "prodigy". He was a 12-year-old student in the examination; at the age of 13, he was a student in the examination, or the main examiner Gu Xuan deliberately sharpened him and deliberately let Zhang Juzheng fall off the list. However, in the next exam, Zhang Juzheng successfully made the list again, and at the age of 16, he won the second lift. Seven years later, the 23-year-old Zhang Juzheng was admitted to the middle class, and he was the ninth in the second class and the twelfth in the country, and he was honorably selected as a Shu Jishi and became the training object of daming's first assistant.
Although Zhang Juzheng was 11 years younger than Hai Rui, when Hai Rui was still struggling for Zhongju, Zhang Juzheng had gloriously entered the central institution of the Ming Dynasty.
JiajingChao's helplessness
In 1553, Hai Rui started from the Nanping Teachings, and under the promotion and protection of his nobleman Zhu Heng, he successively served as Chun'an Zhi County and Xingguo Zhi County. It was not until 1564, 11 years later, that he was promoted to the head of the Yunnan Division of the Hubu And became a Beijing official of Zhengliupin.
Then, Hai Rui, who was honest and honest and self-disciplined, prepared a thin coffin for himself, and with the determination to die, he gave the Jiajing Emperor a famous article "Public Security".
We will not repeat what Hai Rui wrote, in short, Hai Rui scolded the Jiajing Emperor with a seven tricks of smoke and dark clouds and lightning on his head. Originally, Jiajing, who was furious, wanted to put Hai Rui on the spot to correct the Fa, but when he heard that Hai Rui had prepared a coffin for himself, he looked at The Zazi several times. This time, Jiajing saw Hai Rui's loyalty and integrity, and then ordered Hai Rui to be locked up. Until Jiajing's death, Hai Rui could not take another half step out of prison.
What about Zhang Juzheng at this time? Everything went smoothly.
Zhang Juzheng used his superb means of communication to get along very well with Yan Song, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and even the eunuchs in the palace who belonged to different factions.
Zhang Juzheng also gave the Jiajing Emperor a letter of "Chen Liushi", stating his views on the reform of current politics. Although Jiajing, Yan Song and others did not pay attention to it, they did not bring any trouble to Zhang Juzheng. After that, Zhang Juzheng remained silent.
This is the difference between Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng. Again, it gave us a lot of tips. If you want to do things well, it is best to do things, not to people, otherwise, if you anger people, you can't do things.
Zhang Ju was in the Jiajing period, although he did not do anything, but found a patron, that is, Zhu Zaiyuan, the king of Yu, who was the later Longqing Emperor. Zhang Juzheng became Zhu Zaiyuan's attendant and reading companion.
The rise of the Longqing Dynasty
After the death of the Jiajing Emperor, Hai Rui was finally released and served in the Hubu, Bingbu, Dali Temple, and Tongzheng Department. In the third year of Longqing, he was promoted to the position of Right Governor Yushi, became a member of the Zhengsi Pin Dynasty, and was sent to the Heavenly Patrol. At this time, Hai Rui did some practical things to control the flood in the south, and he had quite a good achievement.
It was when he was serving as an inspector that Hai Rui did not care about Xu Jie's old feelings of saving him, and demanded that Xu Jie return the fields occupied by more than 100,000 mu in exchange for a title of "Hai Qingtian".
Looking at Zhang Juzheng again, in order to achieve his goal of reforming the maladministration, he overthrew Yan Song, forced Xu Jie away, and together with Gao Gong, entered the cabinet and became the Great Ming Zaifu.
Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng were obviously running in different directions.
The fruit of the Wanli Dynasty
Zhang Juzheng during the Wanli period became a real courtier. He first joined forces with the eunuch Feng Bao, expelled Gao Gong, and ascended to the throne of The First Auxiliary of Daming himself. Then, the variations are implemented.
Zhang Juzheng successively introduced the Examination Law to rectify the administration of officials; then, he introduced a whip law to clear and measure land and reform taxes. In order to strengthen his rule, he also banned the destruction of many famous mountain academies and strictly forbade criticism of current politics. In addition, it also vigorously dismissed redundant officials, reused famous generals such as Qi Jiguang and Li Chengliang, and strengthened border defense.
What about Harry? It's cold.
At the beginning, Hai Rui also held real power, fully supported Zhang Juzheng's reform of the law, and vigorously promoted a whip law. Hai Rui's incorruptibility has won him a very great reputation among the people. However, it also offends the interests of some people. However, due to Hai Rui's reputation, no one dared to mess with it.
In the tenth year of the Wanli Calendar, Zhang Juzheng died of illness. By the thirteenth year of the Wanli Calendar, Hai Rui was overhead.
Hai Rui was recommended to be the Right Attendant of Nanjing, and then promoted to The Right Attendant of the Nanjing Bureaucracy. The Ming Dynasty had two sets of official teams, one in Beijing, which had real power, and one set in Nanjing, which was basically a decoration. Therefore, from then on, until Hai Rui died, he was a "living Yama King" who was enshrined and no one dared to provoke.
The direction of the effort is important
Sometimes, a slight difference in ability is not enough to make a huge difference in the contribution of two people. However, if the direction of effort is different, the difference can be great.
Since Zhang Juzheng joined the army, he has been observing the maladministration of the Ming Dynasty. Although there have been setbacks in the middle, they have never changed the original intention of reforming maladministration. Whether it is his temporary forbearance or the fierce competition in the court, it is to achieve this goal. When Zhang Juzheng ascended to the position of the first assistant of Daming, he put his goal into practice.
And Harry? His vision has always been on the real thing, and all he sees is someone, a specific thing, a hard-working and self-disciplined old scalper, oh, or rather, a stubborn little donkey.
Zhang Juzheng's way of doing things is to reform the maladministration and formulate new systems and rules to restrain people, improve execution and efficiency, and then change society. The system can affect the overall situation, and after success, the benefits brought by it are naturally very huge.
And Harry's way of doing things is through his efforts to solve a specific problem; or through his supervision, let someone comply with the existing system. Hai Rui solved the flood in Jiangnan and benefited one party. He targeted specific people such as Jiajing, Xu Jie, and Hu Zongxian. Harry tries to change society and bring benefits to the people by making people obey the system. However, the benefits are limited, after all.
However, it can also be seen from here that one is a decision maker, a system maker and a leader; the other is an executor. In any case, the merits of the executors are difficult to surpass the leaders.
conclusion
Incorruptibility is a very good quality.
After all, few people can have the opportunity to carry out reforms at the national level. Most people still have to do screws and do the specific things they are responsible for.
At this time, fairness and justice are very important. Incorruptible people, relatively more selfless, are easier to do. Corrupt people, who are mainly centered on personal interests, can easily become social silverfish. When there are so many silverfish, the whole society will probably get sick and collapse.
The achievements of Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng depend more on their personal abilities and goals. As long as corruption does not affect the ultimate goal, it will at least not have much negative impact on this matter, and naturally it will not affect the achievements after the goal is achieved.
However, Zhang Juzheng's corruption may have an impact on a specific person and a specific matter. For example, because Zhang Lun of Tongzhou Zhixian had bribed his mother, he promoted Zhang Lun to the rank of foreign minister of the household department. The household department is in charge of finances, and I am afraid that this Zhang Lun will intensify his efforts to return the greed that was sent out.
Because people have different abilities and personalities, they will have different careers and achieve different achievements. Hai Rui is suitable for supervision, while Zhang Juzheng is suitable for institutional reform. As for the size of the achievements, do your best, have struggled, struggled, at least worthy of this life.
And the theory of the uselessness of incorruptibility, and the achievements of incorruptible people, are not as great as the achievements of corrupt people, which is completely wrong.