Have you ever heard of an official who drinks all day and doesn't do his job? The protagonist of this article: Cao Shen, the second prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty, is such a person, and what is even more peculiar is that this unprofessional person was later deeply loved by the people. Let's explore the topic:
Cao Sang Image
Cao Shen, the second prime minister of the Han Dynasty, drank all day after taking office, why is he still loved by the people?
1. The famous general has become the prime minister of Qi State
Cao Shen turned out to be a general who followed Liu Bang to gallop across the field. When Liu Bang was crowned king, his eldest son Liu Fei was the king of Qi and gave more than 70 cities to the king of Qi. The famous generals who led troops to fight in the past now have to govern the country, and Cao Shen has no way at all, so he found a group of scribes to ask for advice.
The scribes said this and that; This person talks about the Three Emperors, and the other person talks about the Five Emperors, so that Cao Shen is at a loss. At this time, a subordinate said that there was a Gai Gong in Jiaoxi, Qi State, who was very knowledgeable, so why not consult him? Cao Shen drove to Jiaoxi and humbly asked Gai Gong for advice. Gai Gong said that there is no better way to govern the country than Huang Lao's skills. The Yellow Emperor hung the arch, and the world was governed, which was the quiet inaction summarized by Lao Tzu later.
Gai Gong's words to Cao Shen are deep and easy to understand, and the six three lines of the Book of Changes "Lingua" say: "Willing to come, there is no benefit, and there is no blame for worrying." "Gan" means to coerce; "Worry" is explained by the "Shuowen" as "the line of harmony", that is, the way of forgiveness. This is to say that there is no benefit in the use of coercive and severe rule over the people below. But if it is accompanied by a way of forgiveness, there will be no calamity.
Interpretation of the hexagram
2. Famous figures in the early Han Dynasty who ruled Huang Lao
Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and established the Han Dynasty. Faced with the sequelae of the Qin Dynasty's strict torture rule, the early Han Dynasty implemented the rule of Huang Lao and adopted a policy of resting with the people to correct the shortcomings of the Qin government. To put it bluntly, it is to let the people develop freely, and those who are in power will go less or not to interfere meaninglessly. And the famous figure in the reign of Huang Lao in the early Han Dynasty was Cao Shen, the second person who replaced Xiao He as the prime minister. Here's how he did it:
Continuing from the above, Cao Shen listened to the words of Qi Guojiao Xi Gaigong. On the second day after he returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, he issued an order for officials at all levels to allow peasants to cultivate land freely and merchants to buy and sell freely, and not to disturb the people without reason.
After receiving the order, officials at all levels thought that Cao Shen had further decrees, and they waited left and right, but did not see the decree come down. Someone went to the Prime Minister's Mansion and asked him, why didn't he see the specific decree come down? Cao Shen said: You just follow the rule of Huang Lao, what other decrees do you need? The rule of Huang Lao is my decree.
The famous general Cao Shen of the Western Han Dynasty
At that time, in the era of the Qin Dynasty, the people were careless, and they were sentenced to capital punishment without any personal freedom; Today, the government sends such a tax, and tomorrow the government will issue that kind of tax, so that the people's livelihood is worse than death. Now that the rule of Huang Lao has been implemented, the people feel that everything is relaxed, and the society has become peaceful and quiet by working hard and buying and selling with the hearts of businessmen.
In this way, Cao Shen used Huang Lao's technique to govern the Qi State for nine years, turning the previously war-torn Qi State into a prosperous place where everyone lives and works in peace and contentment, the society is peaceful, and the people are rich and the country is strong. Therefore, after Xiao He's death, Cao Shen became the minister of the central government.
After Cao Shen took office, he continued to implement the rule of Huang Lao throughout the country. In this way, he had nothing to do, so he drank with a few old people all day until he died. It's really strange to say, Cao Shen doesn't do anything. After his death, the common people sang his praises, saying that he had brought peace to the people and a uniform society.
The famous general Cao Shen of the Western Han Dynasty
3. Life inspiration
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Cao Shen implemented the rule of Huang Lao, but after taking office as Xiangguo, he had "nothing to do", the story of drinking all day long, and the enlightenment of the six three lines of the I Ching "Lingua" to future generations is:
In the early Han Dynasty, Cao Shen was the prime minister, and after the Qin "Ganlin", he adopted the tolerant way of "both worries" to let the people recuperate, so he became a virtuous minister in Chinese history.
This historical event enlightens us: We must be lenient in our government and the people, and we must also be lenient in our conduct in the world. Forgiveness is a traditional Chinese virtue that deserves to be learned by every Chinese analytically.
Cao Shen Rong image
In short, the second prime minister of the Han Dynasty, Cao Shen, took office and implemented the rule of Huang Lao, although he drank all day long and did not do business, but he was still deeply loved by the people, because the people compared with the Qin Dynasty in the early stage, enjoyed the dividends of this policy, lived a peaceful and comfortable life, thus promoting the steady growth of the economy, and a good situation of national wealth and strong people.
We should learn from Cao Shen's practice, put the interests of the people first in everything, judge the hour and size up the situation, adopt corresponding policies that conform to the trend of history, and make due contributions to promoting the prosperity and strength of the motherland and the well-being and happiness of the people.
Cao Shen stills
This article was originally written by "Ruri Zhongtian 54", welcome to pay attention, learn together, and improve together!