Miscellaneous talk| Huaxin"'s refusal to bribe

Text/Shen Qi Photo/Liu Changhai

When it comes to huaxin, a famous scholar in the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, people will naturally think of the allusion that Guan Ning and him "cut off diplomatic relations". According to Liu Yiqing's "New Sayings of the World", "Guan Ning and Hua Xin hoe vegetables in the garden, and there is a piece of gold in sight, and the pipe is no different from the tile stone, and Hua catches and throws it away." I also tasted reading at the same table, and there were people who passed through the door by XuanXuan, and they would rather read as before, and the books were discarded to see. From this, Guan Ning believes that "the son is not my friend" and "divides the seats and sits separately". Hua Xin's "catching" of Jin did not hide his heart, "going out to see" was also curious, there was no involvement in personality, Guan Ning's "cutting off the seat and cutting off diplomatic relations" was obviously a bit of a fuss, and this allusion obviously left a prejudice of praise and depreciation of Hua.

In fact, the historical Hua Xin was a praiseworthy courtier. During the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, he was promoted to filial piety, and was later recruited by the imperial court, successively serving as Shangshulang, Yuzhang Taishou, Yilang, Shangsikong Military, Shangshu, Shizhong, and Shangshu Ling, until Cao Pi ascended the throne, worshiped Hua Xin Xiangguo, and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Anle Township. Hua Xin was an official, made a difference, and lived a clean life, and was known as "Yuanqing Jade Clean, Courteous and Law". Here, it is worth citing an anecdote of "refusal to bribe".

The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms states that Hua Xin was once an official under Sun Ce, and after Sun Ce's death, the imperial court ordered him to go to Beijing to take up his post. When his friends and former colleagues learned of it, they either gave them calligraphy, paintings, antiques, or gold and silver treasures. Hua Xin was inconvenient to return in person, but secretly marked the property. Before leaving, he laid out all the hundreds of gold and treasures he had received, and said to the sender: "I am alone on this long journey, I was innocent, but I am at risk of being robbed and killed, and I hope that everyone will think of a perfect solution for me." The people looked at each other, and each of them took back his gifts and admired his high spirits and bright festivals.

In the long feudal society, although clean and honest officials were rare, it was not uncommon to refuse bribes. Huaxin's refusal to bribes has its own unique features. He was different from the "Four Knowledges of Shock and Fear"--Yang Zhen, a famous minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was transferred to Taishou of Donglai County, passing through Changyi County, and after Yang Zhen recommended Wang Mi to become the county commander, Wang Mi "Night HuaiJin Twelve" came to the door to pay respects to Xie Enshi, and was angrily reprimanded by Yang Zhen "Heavenly Knowledge, Earth Knowledge, I Know, and Zi Zhi" and was expelled from the door; it was also different from "Hanging Fish Taishou" -- soon after the Later Han official Yang Continued to take office as Taishou of Nanyang County, Fu Cheng sent the local specialty Baihe carp, and the sheep continued to be accepted and hung under the eaves to dry dried fish, so that Fu Cheng could stop when he sent fish again. In the Ming Dynasty, Yu Qian felt that he had given a poem to this: "There is no greeting in front of the door of the leftover, and there are hanging fish in the kitchen." Breeze under the south window, idly reading a few books in front of the bed. "Hua Xin's refusal to accept bribes has its own methods: First, the method is appropriate, those who come to the door to send money and gifts have their own intentions, not all of them are for the sake of running for official positions, and there are also purely out of friendship, so Hua Xin accepts them first to avoid hurting feelings; the second is to act carefully, register all the property sent one by one, and return them to the original owner; the third is to choose the time, gather everyone before leaving, and completely return the bribe; fourth, the words are witty, and the things are skillfully handled seamlessly with "thinking of a comprehensive strategy".

The official ethics demonstrated by Hua Xin's refusal to accept bribes stem from prudence and independence. The word "caution" consists of a combination of a "heart" and a "truth." "Chinese Zhou Yu" Yun: "Cautious, toku no Shouya." "Prudential independence is a self-cultivation law with national characteristics created by the ancient Confucian school, which was first seen in the Book of Rites and Zhongyong: "Those who are Tao also must not be separated from the Tao, but can be separated from the non-Tao." It is therefore the gentleman who is wary of what he does not see, and who is afraid of what he does not hear. Mo sees hidden, Mo is microscopic, so the gentleman is cautious and independent. "Officials, especially like Hua Xin, can consciously be strict with themselves when living alone, be cautious about what they think and do, and be disciplined, so that morality will accompany them all the time.

If you want to be cautious and independent, you must first resist the temptation of money. Cao Zhi said that Hua Xin was "pure and widowed", and Hua Yu called him "less than the desire for wealth". Lao Tzu said it well: "Seeing desire and stopping is virtue." Once faced with the weakening of bribery self-control and the misplaced concept of honor and disgrace, not only can not "see the desire and stop", but indulge in excessive desire, and eventually slide into the abyss of discredit. As Leo Tolstoy said, "The man who puts on the new shoes will carefully walk around the mud, but as long as he stumbles and soils the shoes, he will no longer cherish them so much." When the shoes are completely dirty, he will stop worrying about the mud, and as a result, the shoes will become more and more dirty. When you first stepped into a leadership position, you are still wearing "new shoes", you may wish to learn from Huaxin to refuse bribes, because our ancestors have long asserted: "Once the bribery road is opened, it will turn around." (Don Lu Yan)