<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="1" > prefer to use ordinary officials with ordinary conduct than to follow the wrong way of doing things - Yongzheng has a different view of the way of employing people</h1>
Guo Chengkang
Since the ancient emperor ruled the world, the first to use people and administration. As far as employing people is concerned, rulers often have lamentations such as "talent is rare" and "there are not many all-round talents in the world". It should be said that in reality, the vast majority of people are indeed "middle-class". In view of this, the ancient Chinese thinkers put special emphasis on distinguishing the wise and the able, and paid attention to the optimal combination from the allocation of talents, and Mencius said that "the sages are enabled" and "the sages are in power, and the capable are in office" and so on. (1) From the original meaning, "sage" is often symmetrical with "unshao", referring to a person with high moral character and outstanding talent, which contains both moral and talent meanings. Confucius said: "See the sages and think together" (2), Mozi said: "Lede and Shangxian" (3), the Book of Great YuMo said: "Wild and untouched sages, all states Xianning", and so on, for a long time people used the word "sage" in the above sense.
When Sima Guang arrived in the Northern Song Dynasty, he had a different explanation. He believes that the world's indiscriminate confusion of talent and virtue as "sage" has led to the "loss of people", that is, the serious problem of the wrong identification of talents. Therefore, he particularly stressed that the concept of virtue and ability should first be clearly distinguished. What is Talent?" Satoshi "Yes also; what is virtue?" Integrity neutralizes "yes also." Compared with virtue, virtue is the first, that is, the so-called "talented person, moral capital also; moral person, talent handsome also." Sima Guang also did not approve of simply dividing people into two categories: the wise and the able, but should be subdivided into four categories: "saints," "gentlemen," "villains," and "fools" -- "the exhaustion of talent and virtue" is called "saints," "talent and virtue are both dead" and "fools," virtue is better than "gentlemen," and virtue is better than virtue. (4) Thus, the leader of the righteous gentleman solemnly and resolutely made the following famous assertion:
"Whoever takes man by virtue of saints and gentlemen is not to be with them, and it is better to be a fool than a villain." Why? Only when a gentleman thinks it is good can a gentleman think it is good, and only when a villain thinks it is evil. Only those who think they are good will be good, and those who are threatened will be evil, and those who are threatened will not be evil. Although the fool wants to be unwholesome, the intellect cannot be thorough, and the strength cannot be overcome, such as the milk dog beating people, and the people can control them. The villain is wise enough to commit adultery, brave enough to decide his violence, is the tiger and the wing also, its harm is not much! Those who are virtuous are strict, and those who are talented love them; those who love are easy to kiss, and those who are strict are easy to neglect, and those who are observant are more hidden from talent and left behind by virtue. Since ancient times, the rebellious subjects of the country and the defeated sons of the family have only surplus and insufficient morality, so that there are many subversives!" Therefore, those who serve the country and the family can judge the distinction between talent and virtue and know the order, and why should they lose the feet of others?" ⑤
This passage is not only Sima Guang's painful summary of historical experience, but also an allusion to Wang Anshi's transformation method that he was not comfortable with. After Sima Guang's analysis and exertion, the idea of the pre-Confucian "sages are in power, and those who are able to serve" has become the most incisive classic expression of the ancient Chinese way of employing people, and its influence on traditional politics is extremely far-reaching.
Unlike Sima Guang's art of "rather than being a villain than a fool," the Yongzheng Emperor advocated in political practice a line of emphasizing talent over morality and preferring morality to "preferring to use ordinary officials with ordinary conduct than to follow the wrong things."
Yongzheng does not generally erase the importance of morality. He believes that "the way to establish oneself in an official is to regard integrity and honesty as the basis", but "the people of the people are observant, and the advantages and disadvantages are eliminated, and the way is multi-faceted", "The integrist is only one of the officials." (6) "Etiquette, righteousness, and honesty" is what Song Ru talked about as the "four dimensions of the country," and Yong Yong explained to Xinke Jinshi what he understood as the meaning of "honesty": "Eating bean soup and not taking a single one" is only a subsection of honesty, and "the use of financial management, the worship of thrift, so that the people of the world will give people enough, the road will not be left behind, the thieves will not be born, the lawsuits will not be done, and the corrupt officials will not be able to tolerate themselves -- the greatest of this honesty." ”⑦
Yongzheng was also generally opposed to Qing officials, but he concluded that "a Clean Official who cleanses himself and does not serve the public will do more harm than ordinary people" (8). In July of the fourth year of Yongzheng (1726), he issued a long edict comprehensively expounding on knowing, employing, and observing people, which roughly has the following meanings: First, a clean official who cleans himself and does not serve the public official" is "but he is arrogant in his conduct, wins fame, and neglects, and cannot rectify the manager in local affairs, and is reckless and blamed, tolerates and raises adultery, and does great harm"; second, "those who are ordinary in conduct do not dare to be self-righteous, their hearts are afraid, they are quite able to rectify their managers, and when they are not good, they are punished, and the officials of the court and the officials under The Yi subordinates are punished, and so on. Those who observe their transgressions and refuse to conceal them are those who are in this way, and those who are tired of the locality are still light"; the third is "if the integrity is better than that of others, but also can do things in a down-to-earth manner, straighten out the officials and the people, and do not avoid resentment, so that they are dissatisfied with the will of the people." (9) In short, in Yongzheng's view, the highest official of the feudal frontier has good conduct, can do things in a down-to-earth manner, and does not avoid resentment, and the second is the ordinary person, and the lowest and most hateful person is the clean official Qiao eunuch who cleans himself and invites himself. In Yongzheng's mind, Tian Wenjing, Li Wei, Nuo Min, and other well-known officials were the highest of them, while the typical examples of Qing officials and eunuchs were Yang Mingshi, Cha Yina, Zhang Kai, and Wei Tingzhen. ⑩
As for how to distinguish between a competent official who is honest and a clean official who is clean and honest? Yongzheng's key is not to believe in public opinion, or to listen to public opinion. (11) The reason is very simple, Yongzheng explained: "These clean officials, who have nothing to gain from the people and are kind, cannot forbid the people from doing wrong and praise them, so the people's virtuous and unscrupulous are called; those who have nothing to take from their subordinates and cannot be forbidden to belong to their subordinates are all safe; the sons and relatives of ministers who violate the law and do not participate in the revolution, and the strong and inferior gentry of the locality are lenient and unchecked, so the ministers and gentry all say that they are peaceful and hope that they will stay for a long time; even the xu officials who commit adultery cannot be punished, and the thieves cannot be detected. Therefore, as for the thieves, they all enjoy their quietness and do not want them to go. When affairs were abolished, the imperial court visited and rebuked them, and the local officials and people sighed, thinking that they had gone to a clean and honest superior and were praised for it, which was also the result of the usual ambiguity and disobedience to the reputation of the people." However, those ministers and officials who are conscientious in their duties and straighten out the localities often offend the interests of people in all walks of life, but on the contrary, contradictions are clustered, "or slandering them harshly, or discussing their paranoia, or ridiculing their pride, and deliberately blowing their claims," but the result is intolerable to public opinion. (12) Because of the immovable prejudice in his chest, Yongzheng always made a judgment according to an unconventional way of thinking: those who are all good in public opinion must be those who sell fame and invite fame and deceive the world; those who are attacked by everyone and are isolated and helpless should be taken care of. The former can take Hui Shiqi as an example, and the latter is the most typical li wei. (13)
Of course, Yongzheng's use of energy is not unaware of the dangers lurking in it. He is well aware that "people's hearts are in danger", and it is extremely difficult to employ people, "what do credible people ask for if they are not people?" What about the untrustworthy, the inhuman?" It is the treasure of employment hidden in his chest, and it is never lighter than showing people. It can be seen that the premise of his use of capable personnel is actually "usable but not credible", but unlike Sima Guang, he is not afraid of talents who are capable enough to be evil, but he cherishes and relies on them to do useful things. YongZheng earnestly instructed his close associates Ortai and Tian Wenjing to say: "The ministers of feudal territory only want to pay attention to the use of talent," "All talented people should be taught with regret," and "those who are mediocre and peaceful, and who clean themselves and sell their fame, although they are less laborious and afraid of mistakes, but those who use their talents and affection must take pains to do so." Yongzheng was extremely confident, saying that talented people could be used freely, that is, "The charm of the rays cannot escape my range, why be afraid?" If you teach but do not listen, and if you have real evidence, why should you deal with it according to the law, and if you take it upon yourself?" (14) Yongzheng was also deliberately plotting ways to prevent capable personnel from committing evil. This method is very unique, that is, through the secret folding system, to observe the words and deeds of ministers and officials, and every move.
Ertai, a scholar and governor of Yungui, obeyed the "sermon" of Yongzheng Jianheng's employment of people, and in response to the emperor's teachings, he described himself as having the best of heart, saying: "Among the large and small clerks, it is difficult to get more than one who is good at both good and good, and it is necessary to first take their talents and then discuss their conduct" (15). He also said: "Those who are loyal and old and have little materials are credible but not usable; those who are clever and clever and move out of scope are available but not credible." The court set up officials and divided their duties, which were originally used to help affairs, not to hide for the people. But if it can help things, it is available, although the little people should also be taught with pity; but if they cannot help things, they are useless, that is, the good people should also be transferred to them. "It is really difficult to get many people who have talents and those who have no keepers, and those who have talents and no guards are slightly neglected, that is, they are not used for right." Only he can move his conscience, control his evil heart, make him well aware of the stakes, gradually love his name, and then he can help. (16) This figure, who was praised by Yongzheng as a "governor and posterity" (17), asserted: "The evils of corrupt officials are easy to get rid of, the evils of clean officials are difficult to get rid of, and the bad things of corrupt officials are really rooted in corruption, and everyone is resentful and willing to correct them; if a clean official misleads things, people still believe in them, and it is difficult to be more open." (18) On the whole, it is self-evident that in the idea of employing people, Ortai does not go out of the scope of Yongzheng; it is only that Yongzheng uses it to judge and balance, use the so-called feudal officials such as supervision, care, cloth, and press, while Ortai uses it to promote and extend it to the subordinate provinces, provinces, prefectures, and counties of the governor. In a sense, the way of the Manchu Han Dynasty at that time was to establish oneself as an official was gradually shaped by this kind of guidance. The disadvantage is that the qing officials are not allowed to live in the world, but they can do their own thing.
Yongzheng's way of employing people was actually in line with his father Kangxi, while later generations mostly believed that although the Qing officials during the Kangxi period were not timely, they were often consistently supported and protected by the Kangxi Emperor. There is undoubtedly a certain basis for saying this; however, the other side of Kangxi's contempt for clean officials and his heavy ability and light on merit has rarely been mentioned, and this side is precisely the true thought in Kangxi's heart, and its influence on his descendants and even the politics of the entire Qing Dynasty is also extremely far-reaching.
The appraisal, appraisal and use of Zhang Boxing, the so-called "first Clean Official in the World" at that time, can probably reflect Kangxi's idea of employing people in a concentrated way. In the fifty-first year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1712), the governor of Liangjiang, Gari, and the governor of Jiangsu, Zhang Boxing, cross-participated in the case for a major event that shocked the government and the opposition at that time. Kali was Manchu and experienced, but his ethics, namely Kangxi, also meant "not to believe" (19). However, this time, Zhang Boxing impeached him for bribing and selling people and obtaining 500,000 taels of silver, but there was no solid evidence, and the judgment of the Minister of Chincha who went to the trial of the case was extremely unfavorable to Zhang Boxing, and finally Kangxi personally decided that the case was dismissed by Ka Li and Zhang Boxing was dismissed from his post, and zhang Boxing was dismissed from his post, and then Zhang Boxing was transferred to the chancellor of Beijing. This matter is very beautiful in the world, and it is said that the holy will was issued, "Sergeant Wu was full of joy and thunder, and the people of Wu were full of joy and thunder, and they were listed in the door: 'Son of Heaven Shengming, return my world's first clean official', burn incense and color, and go to the Dragon Pavilion to prostrate to thank the Emperor for long live the tens of thousands of people" (20). In fact, Kangxi did not have a high appraisal of Zhang Boxing as a whole, and he repeatedly said to his subordinates: "Although Zhang Boxing's conduct is clean, he is confused and has no talent for handling affairs" (21), "(Zhang) Although his conduct is clean, he is always unable to do things, and the cases of Yamen have piled up and have not been closed for many years, so that many people have been dragged down, and after being detained from time to time, the people have complained." Even if you don't love money, what is the benefit of the place?" Zhang Boxing said to Zeng, "The subject has no way to repay, but the customs are easy to change, and the family gives people enough. It has been fu Wu for several years, the customs have not changed, and it has been heard that the business of the people of Suzhou has gradually become consumed, the price of rice was only seven dollars at the beginning, and now it has grown to one or two six seven dollars, and the people's food is difficult, so where is the Yun family giving people enough? The inspector is a feudal official, and when he sincerely serves the imperial court and is beneficial to the locality, he should not speak out of the truth in order to deceive the world and steal his name. (22) Kangxi also said of the Qing officials who were valued by the world, such as Inspector Tang Bin: "Ministers have the body of ministers, and when they do things that are beneficial to the local people's livelihood, they are not just practicing morality." Even if the conduct is ordinary, the people still forgive it, and if they do not pride themselves on being honest, they will be even more tired of the locality. For example, the puppet clay man, the spoon of water does not enter, ann uses it?" (23) He also commented on the problems of Qing officials in general: "Qing officials are carved many times, and carvings are embarrassing to subordinates" (24). In short, Kangxi fully affirmed the honest and honest side of Zhang Boxing, Tang Bin, Zhao Shenqiao, Zhang Pengfei, Shi Shilun, Peng Peng, and other well-known officials, but in Kangxi's mind, they were not ideal ministers, especially not the ideal supervisors and chief officials who managed the military and political affairs of a province or several provinces, because such people were conservative and conservative, shorter than directors, and harmful to localities, and they were inevitably paranoid, suspicious, mean,and hypocritical, and often contradicted their words and deeds when things happened. For Kangxi, the selection of feudal officials naturally focused on being able to keep, but when talent and integrity could not be combined, he preferred to abandon the Qing officials who could not do things, and use the ordinary able officials, because he believed that the Qing officials who could not do things were "not as good as the unclear officials" (25).
However, Kangxi was more proficient in the art of governance than Yongzheng, and he rarely denounced Qing officials in public, and the above-mentioned words of contempt for Qing officials were spoken in the very small scope of discussing state secrets with university scholars when listening to the government, and the publicly promulgated edicts mostly expressed how he cherished and protected Qing officials, such as "Qing officials do not tire the people, they become the lords of the world, and they have learned books such as nature and reason since childhood. (26) It can be seen that although Kangxi was dissatisfied with the Qing officials who followed the rules, he deeply understood the value of "Clean Officials" as a symbol of social justice, and indeed hoped to advocate an honest official atmosphere by supporting, protecting, and praising such Qing officials. In addition, Kangxi lamented that "he had repeatedly used the excuse to deceive the integrists" (27), and to Yongzheng it had developed into "public opinion is completely untrustworthy" (28). In this regard, he seems to be more biased than Kang Xi's thought, and he has gone further.
Yongzheng's heavy ability and light talent and light talent had begun to show some worrying signs in his later years, and the famous historian Quan Zuwang at the time of Yongqian called it "a person who was able to be a harsh government of Wu Jian" (29). At the beginning of the Qianlong Imperial Pole, in the atmosphere of reviewing and reflecting on the advantages and disadvantages of the administrative advantages and disadvantages of employing people since Kang and Yong, especially since the Yongzheng Dynasty, Yushi Cao put forward sharp criticism of the problems existing in the employment of personnel at that time. He thought that the crux of all the problems was that the virtuous and the able to be confused in people's minds, so it was first necessary to clarify it conceptually: "What is a sage?" Those who hold the general body and rest with the people are also; what is it? Those who tend to do things to work and comprehensively check the name of the truth are also. Regarding the division of talents, it should be "those who are able to be both capable and superior; those who are virtuous and insufficient are secondary; those who can have more than enough and those who are insufficient are secondary." "But the harsh truth is that the Overseer cannot distinguish between true ability and meritocracy. Their orders to recommend the title of guarantee are nothing more than "being young and strong," "being understandable," and "being diligent in handling affairs," and their political achievements are "no debt of money and grain," "reclaiming many fields," "being good at catching thieves," and so on. If there is a deviation in the employment line, it is inevitable to regard the true sages as incompetent, and Cao Yishi said: "If the sages of the husbands and officials are not, they are only sympathetic to their lovers, they are only ashamed of their own affairs, and they are not just obedient in matters, and the officials are not bothered by the same voice, and these are all regarded as incompetent by the overseers, but the sages must come out of it." It is not difficult to see that although it is not the same as the vocabulary of the ancestors, the ideas expressed by Cao Yishi and the traditional way of employing people expounded by Sima Guang are meticulous and in tune with each other. It must also be pointed out that in the recital of Cao Yishi's "Please Distinguish the Virtuous and the Virtuous", the sentence that most rewarded the scholar was "Greedy and cool officials, all out of the ability of officials -- He is talented to help his evil ears!" (30) In this way, it is obvious that there is also a taste of extremism, but revisiting the "Zizhi Tongjian", people once again feel the deep meaning of Sima Junshi's warning that "the wisdom of a villain is enough to commit his adultery, the courage is enough to decide his violence, and he is a tiger and a winger, and his harm is not much."
It should be said that this was originally an opportunity to adjust the deviation in employment that began to appear in the late Yongzheng period, but looking at Qianlong's sixty years of employment practice, he did not change the established way of employing people established by his father and ancestors.
Most of the governors of the Qianlong Dynasty, especially those who played a pivotal role, selected capable officials among the flag bearers. History says that Li Shiyao, who served as the governor of Huguang and Yungui, was "short and delicate, and his eyes were recited." Seeing subordinates, a few words means to distinguish whether they are talented or not, and a few high seats, and the fat and barren interests of the language, or their yin affairs, if you see it with your own eyes" (31), even Qianlong openly praised "Li Shiyao has successively been feudal and has been the most outstanding among the governors" (32). That is to say, the flag officer in the inspector can be cited as an example of Fusong ( 33 ) , who "makes a clear decision in governing affairs, and the imperial subordinate officials have the degree of law" (33); that is, Shandong Inspector Guotai, not only his subordinates call him "talented and able to do things", Qianlong also said that he was "small and talented" (3 4). In fact, he is at least worthy of being a shrewd financial expert, who can handle royal affairs skillfully, and also understands a little bit of "foreign Yi" matters, and the British envoys who came to China for the first time at the end of Qianlong praised him as "worthy of being a mature politician" (35). Generally speaking, Qianlong not only strengthened the tendency since the Kang and Yong dynasties to emphasize ability over meritocracy and emphasize talent over obedience, but he also never praised clean officials and honest officials, but instead devoted himself to the integrity of a scholar and doctor, and skillfully used the anti-"false Taoism" to punish, attack, and ridicule those who used Taoism to encourage themselves. Therefore, the Qianlong Dynasty Qing officials were not called to the world, and the Mo officials were invincible out of the ability of the people.
Qianlong's reliance on capable people and contempt for Qing officials was based on his unique views on the different worlds of meritocracy and ability. In Qianlong, there was a yushi named Liu Tiancheng who was not satisfied with the imperial court's way of employing people with light talents and heavy abilities, so he said that "xian and neng belong to two disciplines, and they can manage state affairs, while sages are based on cultivating national connections." This kind of play is absolutely in line with the ancient Confucian admonitions of "the wise are in power, and the able are in office" and "the wise are enabled", but Qianlong thought that this language was absurd to the extreme, and specially sent down the instructions to Shen Rao:
"The wise and the able are the same, but how can they be confused and two?" If an official is set up to raise the people, that is, the name of Qiangu's punishment, why not pay attention to the important business of the people? The capable one draws Yuru, and Lu Yanyin is blessed by it, but what is not virtuous?" If, as Liu Tiancheng said, he is an incompetent person, and the officials have no expression, and they have turned to self-proclaimed self-esteem, and they do not know that they have been abolished a lot in local official affairs, and if they are called sages, the people's livelihood is also relied on?" 」 The Governor-General and the two prefectural governments also choose those who can manage civil affairs and use them, and if they can all be used in their posts, then the law is small and incorruptible, and the officials have their own results, that is, they are virtuous. "Liu Tiancheng's intention is, but it is for the vulgar cowards to circulate their ugly inferiority, and to force the judgment of the wise and the ability to be two, to deviate from the reason and mistakenly attack the words of the predecessors, and to turn the pen head away, in order to get away with his obscene views." (36)
Theoretically speaking, Qianlong said this passage so well! For officials large and small who preside over local government affairs, such as meritocracy, moral character, and ethics, it is not only a matter of subjective cultivation and moral exemplaryness; in the final analysis, it is also necessary to judge their political achievements, and the highest criterion for testing political achievements should be, and can only be, whether the economy is developing, whether the localities are stable, and whether the lives of the common people have improved compared with before.
From the above description, it can be seen that Kangxi, in evaluating local governors and other ministers and officials, went out of the traditional opposition between "Qing" and "greed", and introduced and emphasized another criterion of value cognition, "can", but gave the meaning that "can" and "Qing" are incompatible. This may have been unconscious in Kangxi, but in Yongzheng, the theory that "ability" is more important than "Qing" and that the Qing officials who follow and clean themselves are even more harmful, so that the talent standards that could have been compatible - "can" and "Qing" - are implicitly opposed. Although Qianlong made theoretical integration of neng and xian, in fact he still adhered to the employment line of his father and ancestors who emphasized ability over merit and emphasized talent over morality. In this way, in the prosperous era of Kangqian, which lasted for more than a century, there was a political phenomenon that attracted people's attention and was very different from the traditional way of employing people.
So what is the reason behind this particular political phenomenon?
Merit and virtue reflect people's expectations for social justice, embody the moral pursuit of Confucian idealism, and its highest state is to achieve social stability; ability and talent are the call of the times for efficiency, which adapts to the needs of social change and pays attention to promoting social development from the level of implementation. The way of employing people, which has been regarded as orthodox by successive rulers, tends to the former, while the way of employing people in the prosperous world of Kangqian, represented by Yongzheng, tends to favor the latter. The differences between the two were influenced by the cultural differences between the Manchu and Han dynasties, as well as the background of the Manchu and Han ministers and officials in striving for the greatest possession of power resources (37), but fundamentally speaking, it was determined by the pursuit of efficiency, development, or the pursuit of a just and stable political line, and was determined by the situation faced by the rulers at that time. "Governing Ping Shang Virtue, Having a Reward Function" (38), Cao Cao's summary of these ten words is probably a truth that is not easy in ancient and modern times.
Throughout ancient Chinese history, the employment of people who emphasized ability over meritocracy and light talent over obedience was not only seen in ancient China in the Shengqing era. Cao Cao's "meritocracy" (39) and Tang Taizong's "only is the same" (40) are inseparable from the special era background of the great clans controlling and employing people's power from the late Han Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty. After the two Song Dynasties, especially after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with the advent of the era of world navigation, more and more obvious changes began to brew within the Chinese traditional social economy, and the employment of personnel was not only a major issue in the peaceful rule of the world, but also an important prerequisite for economic development and social stability. As for whether the employment of personnel is the most important talent or whether the importance of virtue and light talent, the conflict between these two opposing lines of employing people has also become increasingly fierce.
The changes presided over by Wang Anshi of the Northern Song Dynasty and Wang Anshi's people have always been highly criticized by orthodox people, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that they gradually changed. The new law promoted by Wang Anshi can be called the first reform and change method of social and economic innovation significance in ancient China, and his implementation of the new law has always regarded talent as the foundation. (41) Wang Anshi believes that the biggest obstacle to changing the law is that the ministers who uphold state affairs are not "mediocre people" who are "accustomed to the past and ignorant", that is, "adulterers" who are "evil, straight, ugly, and jealous". (42) He begged the court to depose those who were "old, sick, dirty, and unworthy," especially "the unworthy are better than the dirty" (43). In this positive sense, it is natural to prefer to be a man of good moral character and wisdom rather than a mediocre person who follows the rules. In fact, in order to carry out the cause of reform, he broke the old rules of selecting scholars and promoting them, and promoted some talents who were keen on innovation and were young and capable, but in the future they did expose certain moral and quality problems, so that the old party slandered him for "deposing almost all the old adults at home and abroad, and using more of the wise young people under his door" (44).
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the discipline was not strong, the lord was less suspicious, Zhang Juzheng did not shy away from suspicion, took the state society as his responsibility, ruled for ten years, used iron fist means to correct the accumulated shortcomings, and concentrated on the country's wealth and strength, and the Ming Dynasty showed a trend of rising in the middle. Like Wang Anshi, in the way of employing people, Zhang Juzheng also belongs to the "meritocracy" faction, he said: "This dynasty has no way to establish a virtuous, only to use." (45) Deeply aware of the difficulties of getting rid of the old and the importance of talent, he asserted: "There must be extraordinary people in the world, and then there will be extraordinary things; there will be extraordinary things, and then there will be extraordinary merits." (46) Therefore, most of his reform ideas and plans were directly communicated with those who were entrusted with heavy local responsibilities through letters, and many of them included the literary and martial talents of the time who had left their names in the history of Qingshi, such as Li Chengliang of The Town Guarding Liaodong Province, Qi Jiguang of the Town Guarding Jimen, Pan Jitao who ruled the river in the Qingkou area, and so on. Zhang Juzheng seems to have felt that after the policy of governing the country and the art of selecting people have been determined, the success or failure of reforms aimed at enriching the country and strengthening the army will ultimately depend on whether they can be effectively implemented at the local level, and the senior officials with heavy responsibilities in various aspects will also be able to provide all kinds of information from the bottom on which the decisions of the imperial court are based.
Compared with the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, although China before the Opium War and the Qing Dynasty did not fundamentally shake the basic structure of the traditional agricultural society on the whole, in the past two hundred years, China's ties with other countries in the world have become increasingly close, reflected in the country, the population has doubled, a large amount of silver has flowed inland, the price of rice has continued to rise, and social turmoil has been turbulent. The industrial structure and inherent class relations of commerce have led to an intensification of the imbalance between the economic and cultural development of the east and the west, the interior and the frontiers, and the traditional political system and the economic, fiscal, and financial systems are facing unprecedented and severe challenges in history. All in all, the reform pressure encountered by the Qing emperors at that time was incomparable to that of any ruler of any dynasty in history. Fortunately, the three emperors of Kang Yongqian, who reigned for more than one hundred and thirty years, did carry out many reforms to the old system in line with the trend of the times. Today, Yongzheng's reform has been recognized by the people, but in fact, this period of sound and color traces its origin to Kangxi and focuses on Qianlong, but it is only a climax of the entire reform process, and its fruitful result is to create the last and most brilliant prosperous era in ancient China - the prosperous era of Kangqian. The three emperors of Kang Yongqian also finally got rid of the bad fate of all advocates of reform in Chinese history, and they used their martial arts to stand in the annals of history. I am afraid that this can be attributed to the fact that objectively the times have a relatively strong need for reform, and they have adapted themselves to the changes of the times and have made timely adjustments to the traditional governing principles and employment methods.
If the times change, then one of the most important and prominent social problems in the Kang Yongqian era was the sharp increase in population. Around the beginning of the Qianlong Dynasty, the population had reached the highest peak in China's history, that is, 150 million in the Ming Dynasty, and by the end of the Qianlong Dynasty, the population had doubled again in only half a century, exceeding 300 million, and many social problems had followed. Therefore, the Kang Yongqian era is undoubtedly a prosperous era from one point of view, and from another point of view, it is also an eventful autumn that has never been encountered in ancient times and makes people worry. Yongzheng seemed to be keenly aware of the change in the pulse of the times, and he sincerely said to his subordinates: "Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, the rule of shi xi officials should not be asked! He tried his best to save this decadent wind of thousands of years, and Er and others should also do their best to encourage it. (48) "If this wind is not changed, it will cause the feudal officials to be suspicious of their duties and the rectification of the localities, and they will act as a measure of proportion, so why should the officials rely on them?" (49) The traditional state-governing policy of taking the pursuit of social stability as the ultimate goal and the corresponding way of employing people have been full of abuses in Yongzheng's view, and if the ruler wants to steer the ship of the times and thus achieve some extraordinary great deeds, he should respond to Zhang Juzheng's sentence that "there must be extraordinary people in the world, and then there will be extraordinary things; there will be extraordinary things, and then extraordinary merits." The three emperors of Kang Yongqian recognized this point, and in the way of employing people, they resolutely discarded the skillful eunuchs who were honest and honest and did not do practical things, and boldly used "extraordinary people," that is, capable officials who were really talented and insightful and had the courage to forge ahead in a pioneering spirit, placed them in the most critical part of implementing the New Deal, and paid special attention to the selection of local dignitaries such as the governor of the military and political affairs of a province or several provinces. Probably only by looking at it in this way can we understand Kangxi's irritation when he said that the Qing officials who could not do things were "not as good as unclear officials"; we could understand why Yongzheng hated the Qing officials of the township style of "asking for their faults, but their hearts are false"; and we could understand the deep meaning of Qianlong's remark that "the governors and ministers who are simple and the two divisions, the provinces, and the governments of the two clans and provinces also choose those who can manage the civil affairs and use them" (50).
Of course, none of the three emperors of Kang Yongqian possessed the conscious consciousness of grasping the pulse of the times, and they simply felt that at present, the population was growing, rice prices were rising, social turmoil was in turmoil, and some of the old ways of governing the country and employing people had obviously failed, and for the sake of the long-term peace and stability of the Qing Empire, they had to make certain adjustments to the traditional principles and policies. The opening of the sea ban and the lifting of the mining ban in the Fujian-Guangzhou region may best test the new ideas of the three emperors of Kang Yongqian in employing people, and the hesitation and wavering of different degrees they have experienced. At that time, the greatest pressure on the Chinese was in the Fujian-Guangzhou area on the southeast coast, where there were few mountains and fields, and the surplus population either drifted overseas or ate in Jiangxi Lake, Guangchuan, and Shaanxi. In his later years, kangxi, from the political height of national security, ordered that merchants on the southeast coast be forbidden to trade in nanyang, and gao Qi, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, was invited to open the foreign ban on the grounds that "the five provinces of Fujian, Xing, Zhang, Quan, and Ting, with increasingly rich teeth, many fields to cultivate, and the flow of thieves is inevitable" (51), and he asked for the opening of the foreign ban to broaden the road to making a living. Yongzheng Zhungao asked for it to reopen trade with Nanyang, thus driving the development of export-oriented handicraft manufacturing in the southeast coastal area, absorbing part of the surplus population, and alleviating social contradictions to a certain extent. Let's look at the mining ban in Guangdong. Since the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties, Guangdong's mining ban has been relaxed and prohibited, the imperial court's policy has been wavering, and the controversy in the early Qianlong period has re-emerged, and Zhang Tianjun, the viceroy of Guangdong, has vigorously advocated the continuation of the prohibition of mining "for the sake of the security of the sea frontier" in the name of mining and gathering crowds to cause trouble. The flag officer of the Governor of Liangguang, Ou Mi Da, refutes it, saying that now eastern Guangdong is summoning merchants to mine copper mines, that there is plenty of copper and gold, that the money is flowing out of the cloth, that it is convenient for the people, and that it is beneficial to the use of the country. Moreover, there are few mountains in eastern Guangdong and few fields, and the livelihood of small people is difficult, if the nearby recruitment of mining and smelting, countless displaced people who have lost land in the coastal area can find a livelihood, which shows that mining copper mines in eastern Guangdong not only has a drum casting, but also benefits the people's livelihood. The courtier Zhang Tianjun asked for a ban on mining, but in the name of "Anjing Haijiang", he achieved the purpose of shirking responsibility and preserving his official position. Emida also pointed out in a tit-for-tat manner: "The sea frontier should be peaceful and tranquil, but the so-called peaceful people must be sorted out in the local areas, the people are happy, and the clouds can be peaceful, and if they do not try to steal peace, they will be ruined, and they will be lucky, and they will put the imperial court's heavy work outside the membrane and call it peace and tranquility." Qianlong supported Emida and said, "This is very much done." The local magistrates originally regarded local tidying up and the people's happiness as their peace, so how could they try to steal peace and put the imperial court's heavy work outside the membrane and call it peace and tranquility?" Therefore, he ordered Zhang Tianjun to be handed over to the ministry for discussion. (52) Emida, a manchurian official who was very intelligent, actually clarified that the so-called "stability" actually has two different meanings: passive stability that is conservative and positive stability at a higher level on the basis of development. In this way, we will theoretically unify the contradiction between stability and development, which is not easy to reconcile. The lifting of the mining ban in Guangdong marked a major adjustment of the qing dynasty's state industrial policy of a certain brand-new significance, and its impact far exceeded that of Guangdong Province. World history shows that the tension between population and resources often pushes traditional society to take a difficult first step towards modern society, and the strong need to lift the sea ban and the mine ban that first appeared in the Fujian-Guangzhou region of China under the pressure of population in the early 18th century can be regarded as the first faint dawn of industrial civilization ushered in by china in the ancient agricultural society. If we understand in this way the decision of Yongzheng and Qianlong to lift the ban on the sea and the mining ban on the Fujian and Guangzhou regions, and if we understand in this way the role played by the able personnel Gao Qiqi and Emida appointed by Yongzheng and Qianlong, we cannot but highly appreciate the advanced ideological essence contained in the three emperors' art of governing the country and the way of employing people, and the positive role of promoting the progress of China's history.
In ancient China, there was a very precious cultural tradition, that is, herders should always have a sincere and respectful heart that values the people's heaven and cherishes the people's livelihood. Proceeding from this, Sima Guang of the Song Dynasty gave play to the stable and conservative side of ruling the country with benevolence and righteousness, not rejuvenating the revolution, avoiding disturbing the people, and attaching importance to morality over talent, while the three emperors Wang Anshi, Zhang Juzheng, and Kang Yongqian emphasized the pragmatic and efficient side of seeking development through reform, improving people's livelihood with development, and emphasizing the pragmatic and efficient side of employing people over meritocracy. The former adapts to the era of agricultural society with relatively slow development, and pulls up the way of Confucius and Mencius as the banner, so it has always been in an orthodox position, and the latter should be born of social changes and develop by the trend of the progress of the times, and it is not difficult to find a basis from the three generations of Saint Emperor Ming in theory, which naturally gives people a sense of vitality and refreshment. But after all, ancient China has never left the basic framework of agricultural society, and the forces that follow the tradition are deep and deep, and the lineup is strict, so, as the Qianlong Emperor said, the latter is ultimately nothing more than a "expedient handling" (53). But don't underestimate this strategy of changing power according to the conditions of the times; in the 18th century, China saw the world-renowned prosperity of Kangqian, for many reasons, and the three emperors of Kang Yongqian, in line with the trend of historical development, bravely raised the banner of criticism (although this criticism sometimes adopted another interpretation of Confucian dogma) to follow the conservative traditional Confucian concept, thus adjusting the art of governing the country and the way of employing people to a certain extent, which is really one of the most important reasons.
Proceeding from the pragmatic cultural traditions of the Manchus, the Three Emperors of Kang Yongqian worked hard to shake up the evils of the traditional way of standing in government and establishing themselves, and boldly used them as officials who were loyal to the lord and had the ability to do the work and insights, so they were politically vigorous and made a lot of achievements. However, the extremes of things must be reversed, and their tendency to emphasize the light of the virtuous and the heavy talents and the light of the guards will slowly move to the extremes, and it will inevitably breed new abuses.
To be fair, the shortcomings of the times that Yushi Cao yishi denounced, "all of whom are greedy and cool officials, are out of the ability to be officials" is really something that Yongzheng and Qianlong did not expect, and it was also something they did not want to see. If we look deeply into it, the reasons may be manifold, but an important reason that cannot be ignored is that the supreme ruler's public opinion has led to a certain deviation, which has begun to appear from the time when the Kangxi Emperor despised the Qing officials, and when it reached the hands of Yongzheng and Qianlong, it was impossible to control the harm. When criticizing the abuses of heavy power and light meritocracy, Cao Yishi once said: "The lord of man is good and obedient, and the subordinates choose different things, so the opportunity to transfer must not be careless." (54) The words spoken by this square imperial historian may not be correct, and may not be without bias, but he has grasped the point after all.
As an individual Qing official, there are very few perfect and perfect people, he may have all kinds of problems, such as being shorter than the director, being conservative, being rigid and paranoid, being jealous and mean, being hypocritical and good-named, and contradicting words and deeds, etc. The criticism of a certain person who is called a clean official by the three emperors of Kang Yongqian may not be bad for "this" clean official, but this kind of criticism is more, and it comes from the mouth of the emperor, the problem becomes serious, and it seems that as long as it is a clean official with honest conduct, such a common disease is inevitable, so that as a whole, the clean official, Or the abstracted Qingguan's body was poured with sewage. What is even more serious is that qingguan is a phenomenon worthy of attention in China's political culture; in the hearts of the Chinese people, a perfect image of honesty, impartiality, impartiality, impartiality, and asking for the people's lives has long been erected; in the minds of Chinese intellectuals, they have pinned their expectations for social justice, especially their yearning for the fair distribution of social wealth; in the minds of Chinese intellectuals, being a clean official is also an ideal they have pursued all their lives Although there is a difference between the two, officials are all serious about being clean and clean, and they are able to live up to what they have learned, and there is always a healthy atmosphere in them, and this is the spirit of confucian idealism that is extremely precious, and the so-called capable people who do not learn anything learn less and have a little less control, that is, they will inevitably let go of evil and extravagant, and they will not be able to compare with them. To be fair, the Kangxi Emperor was not ignorant of this, but out of a bias for efficiency and development and for the political reasons mentioned below, he said that some Qing officials who could not do things were "not as good as unclear officials", "even if the conduct is ordinary, the people still forgive them, and if they are not honest, they are even more tired of the localities." For example, the puppet clay man, the spoon of water does not enter, ann uses it?" Such deliberately or unintentionally oblivious remarks that detract from the qing officials have laid the root of the confusion of non-standards in thinking in the future.
Let's look at the criticism of false Taoism by the three emperors of Kang Yongqian. Taoism takes inheriting The "Taoist system" of Confucius and Mengmeng as its vocation, and those who preach Taoism pay attention to practicing what they preach, and their virtues, ethics, and political affairs are all fascinating, that is, they are not pure enough, and they can also be good officials. However, the standards hung by Confucian idealism are too high, so it is inevitable that the scholars will be hypocritical and broad-minded, and the lowest ones will even deceive the world and steal their names, which will be criticized by the people of the world. The Kangxi dynasty's "chewing signs" by Xiong Zhilu, Li Guangdi's "negative friends" and "seizing affection" are the most prominent examples. Kang Xizhi's honorable Taoism has political considerations, so he can be superior to Xiong and Li's generation, but he has his own views in his heart, and he once said privately to the scholars: "A person who preaches Taoism sits in danger at home, but he can gossip about composition, and once he has a position, he cannot do anything." If you don't use this generation, and you don't use people to complain, why should you make people resentful? That is, such as Tang Bin, Geng Jie and Zhao Shen Qiao generation, they were all used as ministers. (55) When I went to Yongzheng and Qianlong, I didn't pay so much attention to the art of healing. They seemed to have a hatred of Taoism, and the usual trick used against the scholars was to expose his bald scabs. When Yang Ming, the inspector of Yunnan, encouraged himself with Taoism and was called a leader of the scholars, Yongzheng scolded him: "False Taoism, it is really a true bare stick!" Sincerely for the name of the sinner, the country's poison!" (56) Deliberately creating a persecution of Yang Mingshi's unjust imprisonment, during the interrogation, the criminal officer asked him according to Yongzheng's instructions: "You said that you did not want a single piece of money for many years, why did you accept the gold cup of satin from your subordinates?" He also asked him, "Seeing that what you have done does not match what you say, and seeing that your actions are all fake things that you have pretended to be, so it seems that there are naturally still things that you have not done well in your term of office, and you will confess them one by one!" (57) Qianlong was even more domineering than Yongzheng, and the false Taoists of Yin Huiyi, the son of the theorist Yin Huiyi and the secretary of the Dali Temple, were sentenced to hanging "leniently" after being ridiculed extensively. During the Qianlong period, whether it was true Taoism or false Taoism, they were all despised and ridiculed by the people of the world, and Ji Xiaolan saw the political trend and went out of his way to pick up the pigtails of false Taoism, and even Qingwen teased and said, "Attacking people?" More and more Taoist, alone in the wall of the house. (58) It can be seen that Taoism was not tolerated in the officialdom and society at that time. When the dirty water of the false Taoism was spilled, the good baby of the Taoist study in the basin was also spilled, and the moral and spiritual degeneration of the scholar is probably not unrelated to this.
The harsh rebuke of the three emperors of Kang Yongqian to the Qing officials and Taoism was both a question of the absolutization of ideological methods and political prejudices. They all hate the workers and form a party, and they are especially evil in selling their reputations. Why is selling a name worse than forming a party? Inspector Tang Bin of Jiangning issued a notice in Suzhou that "loving the people has a heart, and there is no skill in saving the people." (59) What kind of taboo did a provincial-level official violate when he uttered a few words such as "loving the people with a heart, but having no skill in saving the people"? It's hard to understand today. However, in the era of dictatorship, when it is said in this way, it implies that the world is dark and the people are in deep trouble, and how can an emperor who likes to listen to good words feel comfortable in his heart? Moreover, all acts of loving the people and saving the people should be done by the emperor, what qualifications do you Have to talk about "saving the people"? Inspector Yang Mingshi of Yunnan was also a Qing official who did not know the current affairs of the times, and did a lot of good things to lighten the peasants' burdens, and the common people said that he was good, but he forgot to give credit to the emperor, and as a result, Yongzheng rebuked him for "only trying to sell his own false name, but not knowing the great righteousness of Gang Chang, and his heart really wishes his father to be blind, to become filial piety to himself, to be a filial piety to himself, to be loyal to himself", "The father of the king does not care, does he still take into account the people's livelihood of the officials?" The husband, with the evil thoughts of stealing names, wants to become himself in the name of the king's father, and at home he is a contrarian son, and in the kingdom he is a rebel, and Heavenly Reason can still tolerate it, but his sin can still be punished?" (60) The reason why the lord of man deeply hates the Qing officials' "asking for the people's lives" is probably that there is no one more exhaustive than Yongzheng's expression. The intertwining of cognitive prejudices and political stereotypes has undoubtedly made the deviation of public opinion orientation even greater.
The stagnation of a generation of officials and the atmosphere of a generation of officialdom have a lot to do with the orientation of the supreme ruler. Although there are many reasons for the laxity of moral self-discipline of scholars and doctors after the middle of the Qianlong Period, tracing back to the source, the misleading that lasted for a hundred years since the beginning of the Kangxi Dynasty should bear certain responsibilities. When summing up the historical lessons that caused the rapid corruption of the bureaucracy in those years, Cao Yishi's remark that "the lord of the people is good and obedient, and the subordinates choose differently, so the opportunity to transfer must not be careless" is really worthy of our deep consideration.
Merit and ability, virtue and talent, righteousness and profit, belong to the important category of value cognition and value evaluation system. The former is more inclined to pursue the realization of social justice, and social justice should be regarded as the basis of the eternal value system of human beings, if justice and justice are not obtained, it is possible to shake the foundation of the entire institutional system and undermine social stability - Confucianism has always emphasized merit, morality, and righteousness, and its rationality is related to this; its disadvantage lies in conformism, which may hinder the development of society. In the era of change, only development can achieve social stability at a higher level -- the reformers of ancient China, including the Three Emperors of Kang Yongqian, emphasized talent, emphasized that they cannot hide their interests, and their rationality lies in this; and their abuses may lead to people's spiritual and moral loss, and eventually cause irreparable harm to reform and development. Historical facts show that the ancients had some one-or-or absolutization tendencies in their understanding of virtue and talent, and between merit and ability, leaving behind many experiences that are worth seriously summarizing. When choosing the values of virtue and talent, merit and ability, we should try our best to avoid unity and absolutization, and strive to achieve the unity of multiple value goals and opposites, so as to establish an inclusive and diversified value cognition and value evaluation system that embodies "efficiency and justice, and efficiency first". This is determined by the pluralism of value orientations that existed in the reform era, and it is also determined by the inherent complexity within society. Maybe the right balance is sometimes hard to find, but we shouldn't give up on that effort anyway.
exegesis:
(1) "Mencius Gongsun Ugly".
(2) The Analects of Li Ren.
(3) "Mozi Shangxian".
(4) See Zizhi Tongjian Volume I, "Zhou Jiyi".
(5) Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 1, "Zhou Jiyi".
(6) Records of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 46, Yongzheng 4th year of July.
(7) Records of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 58, Yongzheng 5th year, June 2016.
(8) "Yongzheng Dynasty Han Wen Zhu Batch Folding Compilation", vol. VIII, p. 51.
(9) See Records of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 46, Yongzheng 4, July, 2007, and Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty Zhu Pingzhu Compilation, vol. VIII, p. 51.
(10) Compilation of Zhu Batch Folds of the Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty, vol. VIII, p. 51.
(11) Yongzheng had the following admonition on the Akdon Secret Fold: "Public opinion is not credible at all, do not do a good job" (Yongzheng Dynasty Han Wen Zhu Batch Fold compilation, vol. VIII, p. 796).
(12) For all of the above, see Volume 46 of the Records of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng 4th Year of July.
(13) Yongzheng has the following Zhu Criticism on the Guangdong Scholar-Politician Yang Erde's Secret Fold: "Xiang Wen Huishiqi's reputation is really good, and now he sees that his people are very ordinary, and he must have followed the waves, greeted everywhere, and invited the reputation of stealing his name." Such deceitful and treacherous deeds are not to be punished. Although the false name is stolen, the real disaster follows, so what is the benefit?" (Yongzheng Dynasty Han Wen Zhu Pi Folding Compilation, vol. VIII, p. 44) Press: Hui Shiqi, the father of the sinologist Hui Dong, was a Guangdong scholar. As for Li Wei, Shi Liha, the inspector of Guizhou, whom he had never met before, said to Yongzheng: "The courtiers heard that Li Weizhi was in Yunnan, arrogant and indulgent, and Wei Fu was self-indulgent, disregarding public opinion and full-timely serving private feelings. Whoever has a civil and military official who has his own door is to do his best to protect him, and those who are not in harmony with him, he will seek to get rid of them in many ways. Every word is known to people: 'Yongshun Chu Yao and other town general soldiers are what I have folded. Another example is that in Yunnan, according to Zhang Qian, the minister read the residence copy, and after the governor Gao Qi's performance of his decay, he was transferred back by order, and Li Wei said to the people: 'How can old Gao be willing to join him?' It was I who played the fold, and the fold had been gone for three or five days, and told him that he had played it. All these things are like the handle of an official's advance and retreat, in the hands of Li Wei. When the subject was in Weining, he was no different from the near Guiyang, and the words spoken by all the people were no different. (Yongzheng Dynasty Han Wen Zhu Batch Fold compilation, vol. 5, pp. 237-238) Yongzheng did not give any instructions on this extremely heavy secret fold. When commenting on Li Wei's subordinate in a secret compromise, The Governor of Yungui, Gao Qiqiu, said that he "despised his fellow officials" and "often was arrogant and domineering," while Yongzheng criticized him: "This person (Li Wei) has a good heart and skills, and he is thinking about him, expecting to be self-motivated, and he should not bear the intention of regretting his talents." (Yongzheng Dynasty HanWen Zhu Pingquan Compilation, vol. 3, p. 24)
(14) Compilation of Zhu Batch Folds of the Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty, vol. VIII, pp. 452-453.
(15) Compilation of Zhu Batch Folding of the Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty, vol. 15, p. 590.
(16) Compilation of Zhu Batch Folds of the Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty, vol. VIII, p. 453.
(17) Compilation of Zhu Batch Folds of the Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty, vol. 14, p. 858.
(18) Compilation of Zhu Batch Folds of the Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty, vol. VIII, p. 453.
(19) Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 251, Kangxi 51 September.
(20) The Complete Collection of Tablets of the Qing Dynasty, vol. XVII, "The Title of Guanglu Dafu Libu Shangshu Plus the Second Grade Gift to the Crown Prince Taibao Yu Qing Ke Jing An Zhang Xiansheng Deeds".
(21) Notes on The Living of the Kangxi Dynasty, vol. III, p. 2134.
(22) Notes on The Kangxi Dynasty, vol. III, pp. 2146-2147.
(23) Notes on The Living of the Kangxi Dynasty, vol. III, pp. 2215-2216.
(24) Notes on The Kangxi Dynasty, vol. III, p. 2135.
(25) Notes on The Living of the Kangxi Dynasty, vol. III, p. 2138.
(26) Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 251, Kangxi 51 September.
(27) Notes on the Living of the Kangxi Dynasty, vol. III, pp. 2215-2216.
(28) Compilation of Zhu Batch Folding of the Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty, vol. VIII, p. 796.
(29) "Compilation of the Outer Collection of The Pavilion of the Gong Dynasty", vol. XI, "Jiangyin Yang Wending Gongxing".
(30) (54) Qing Jing Shiwen Edition, vol. XIX, "Please Distinguish the Virtuous and The Wise".
(31) Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 323, Biography of Li Shiyao.
(32) Selected Archives on the Punishment of Corruption in the Qianlong Dynasty, Vol. 1, p. 1067.
(33) Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 338, Biography of Fu Song.
(34) Selected Archives on the Punishment of Corruption in the Qianlong Dynasty, vol. III, p. 2404; Vol. IV, p. 2867.
(35) [English] Stendon: The Account of the British Envoys Seeing Qianlong, p. 363.
(36) See Records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 763, Qianlong 31 June 201.
(37) Due to cultural differences and other reasons, Han Chinese generally emphasize ethics, while Manchus are mostly known for their ability. Yongzheng deposed the prestigious Qing official Yunnan Inspector Yang Ming on trumped-up charges, but he was also worried that the people of Yunnan Province would make trouble because of this, and Ertai secretly told the emperor that the situation was not serious, because "the Han people who pushed the rise to fame were not able to uphold the integrity section", and now they have recognized the true face of deceiving the world and stealing their reputations when they made a name. (Yongzheng Dynasty Han Wen Zhu Ping Fold compilation, vol. 11, p. 862) This statement comes from the manchu leader Ertai, which shows that ethics and talent are different in the minds of Manchu and Han officials. Of course, it cannot be absolutely said that "the Qing officials in the Kang Yongqian era were all Han Chinese, and the capable members were all Manchus", but the "nominables" and "Qingguan" were roughly divided into different ethnic groups of the Manchu Han people, which is closer to the fact of that era. The most famous Qing officials in the Qing Dynasty were almost concentrated in the Kangxi Dynasty, and the famous Qing officials of the Kangxi Dynasty were almost all Han Chinese. The governor of Liangjiang, Ka Li, was a capable official, Zhang Boxing was a recognized Qing official, the two were the same official and one province, they were not able to each other, they both secretly used secret folds to expose each other's shortcomings and infidelity, Ka Li said that Zhang was "faint" and "a statue of civil engineering" (Kangxi Dynasty Manchu Zhu Pingquan Folding Complete Translation, p. 739); Zhang Boxing said that Ka bribed and sold his son to get half a million taels of silver. When The case was concluded by Ka Li and Zhang Boxing, Kangxi confessed to the Manchu minister the truth of preserving the Qing officials, and the Han officials listened to it very well, but the Manchu officials were unhappy, and Kangxi specially enlightened the Manchurian ministers to say: "It is not necessary to be partial to the Han people, but to the selfless heart of the public, and to see the world together" (Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 251, Kangxi 51 September 1st). This shows that the Manchu and Han ministers were very concerned about the emperor's tendency to employ people according to standards. Ethics first, or talent first? In their view, this is directly related to the share of power distribution. It was precisely because the cadre line advocated by the emperor, "Prefer to use ordinary officials with ordinary conduct than clean officials who follow the rules of abolition," was in a strong position, so the early government of Qianlong appeared an unfair political phenomenon that Hang Shijun accused of "the inspectors of the world are still full of Han and han, and the governor is han and has no one." As far as the human resources of ethnic minorities are concerned, the Manchus are difficult to compare with the Han nationality, and those who want to pass the imperial examination are even more inferior to the Han scholars, whether from the perspective of the Manchu family and even the ordinary people's maximum possession of power resources, or the supreme rulers from the narrow political considerations of controlling the power center and key departments, they all need to have a different revolution in the way of employing people, and they must have a different way of saying something, so as to promote their ability and avoid the shortcomings of their usual conduct What follows is naturally a misguided path of degrading the virtuous and despising the clean officials.
(38) (39) Cao Cao's Collected Works, Vol. II.
(40) Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 194, Tang Dynasty X.
(41) The Collected Writings of Wang Wen, Vol. 1, The Book of Ten Thousand Words of the Emperor.
(42) The End of the Chronicle of the Chief Chronicle of the General Jian, Vol. 59.
(43) The Collected Writings of Wang Wen, Vol. 1, The Book of Words of Emperor Shangrenzong.
(44) The Biography of Song Shi Wang Anshi.
(45) The Collected Works of Zhang Taiyue, vol. XVIII, Miscellaneous Works.
(46) The Collected Works of Zhang Taiyue, vol. XXII, Reply to Viceroy Fang Jinhu.
(47) The Collected Works of The Scrolls of Shi Ge Wenjia, Vol. 1, Yiyan.
(48) Yongzheng Dynasty HanWen Zhu Batch Folding Compilation, vol. VIII, p. 944.
(49) Records of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 46, Yongzheng 4th Year, July.
(50) Records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 763, Qianlong 31 June 201.
(51) The Biography of the Qing Dynasty, Vol. XIV, Biography of Gao Qi.
(52) Mining in the Qing Dynasty, vol. 1, pp. 39-40.
(53) Records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty, vol. 70, Qianlong 3rd year, June 201.
(55) Notes on The Living of the Kangxi Dynasty, vol. III, p. 2408.
(56) Compilation of Zhu Batch Folds of the Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty, vol. XI, p. 860.
(57) Compilation of Zhu Pi Folds of the Yongzheng Dynasty, vol. 11, pp. 73-74.
(58) "Dream of the Red Chamber", the sixty-fourth time.
(59) Notes on The Kangxi Dynasty, vol. III, p. 2215.
(60) Compilation of Zhu Batch Folding of the Yongzheng Dynasty Han Dynasty, vol. XI, p. 861.
Source: Qing History Research, No. 4, 2001
![Old Guo Cheng's hot discussion does not need to say crosstalk at all, or even open his mouth, one photo is enough[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)