Text: Humility talks about the style of writing
Editor|Humility talks about the style of writing
Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui both defected to Li Shimin at the turbulent time of the late Sui Dynasty and became strategists. The two of them were originally lower-level officials in the Sui Dynasty.
At the time of Li Yuan's uprising, Fang Xuanling was the county lieutenant of Xicheng, and Du Ruhui was the lieutenant of Fuyang County. And they have political ambitions and want to make a career.
When Li Shimin led his troops to besiege Chang'an, Fang Xuanling "advised the military gate", that is, with the plan he had already thought of, he came to Li Shimin's army to recommend himself. At the same time, Fang Xuanling was also strongly recommended by Li Shimin's subordinate Wen Yanbo for his talent.
At that time, Li Shimin was seeking an opportunity to expand his power, and naturally attached great importance to the virtuous and capable people, and immediately appointed Fang Xuanling as the "Weibei Road Marching Office to join the army".
According to the system at that time, the secretary office joined the army to be in charge of the table, enlightenment, calligraphy, and sparseness, and was the "confidential secretary" who drafted and processed various performance documents for the leader.
Du Ruhui came to Li Shimin's side after Li Yuan's army entered Chang'an. In this way, the famous "golden partner" of Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui was formed. However, Du Ruhui died of illness in the fourth year of Zhenguan (630); Fang Xuanling lived until the twenty-second year of Zhenguan, so although the two are called together, Fang Xuanling's role is obviously more important.
According to the record of "Zhenguan Dignitaries and Ren Xian", one day in the second year of Zhenguan, Tang Taizong feasted with the prime ministers, and asked Wang Qi to comment on the strengths of the prime ministers. The first thing Wang Jue mentioned was Fang Xuanling, saying that he "worked diligently to serve the country and knew everything". This evaluation is quite high, which shows Fang Xuanling's diligence and responsibility.
For the phase: loyal to duty
Fang Xuanling, whose name is Qiao, Xuanling is his character, was born in 579 A.D. in Linzi, Qizhou (now Zibo, Shandong) in a family of eunuchs. His father, Fang Yanlian, was the county magistrate of Jingyang County in the Sui Dynasty. Don't look at the low position, but he is a university scholar, so Fang Xuanling has received a good education since he was a child, and he is talented, diligent and studious, and he has read a lot of books at a young age, which has laid a solid foundation for his future career achievements.
Fang Xuanling does not read dead books, let alone read dead books, but can think deeply about practical problems. When he was still a young man, he came to the capital with his father. At that time, the Sui Dynasty presented a peaceful scene, and some political commentators thought that the Yang family would have a relatively long time. But Fang Xuanling doesn't see it that way.
He said to his father in private: The current emperor has no merit, but he just got the world by deceiving the people. After getting the world, he didn't make long-term plans for his children and grandchildren, and abolished his children without authorization, so that his sons fought desperately for power and profit. And those princes who have no hope of becoming princes pursue material enjoyment without limits, and they are all insatiable.
If this continues, chaos will arise from within. Now on the surface, the world seems to be a peaceful scene, but in fact, the demise of the Yang family is not a matter of time. The young Fang Xuanling was able to have such a profound analysis of the current situation, which really surprised his father.
Not only that, Fang Xuanling was eighteen years old. At that time, Gao Shouji, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, was known for being good at recognizing people, he saw Fang Xuanling, praised him, and said to Prime Minister Pei Ju: I have seen a lot of talents, but I have never seen such an excellent person as Fang Xuanling, this person will become a great weapon in the future.
As mentioned above, Fang Xuanling was a petty official in the Sui Dynasty, and it was naturally difficult for him to fully display his talents, which also made him even more disappointed in the rule of the Sui Dynasty. Therefore, Li Yuan's father and son raised troops in Jinyang, and after Li Shimin captured Weibei, Fang Xuanling immediately rushed to defect.
Since joining the army as the marching office of Weibei Province, Fang Xuanling has been by Li Shimin's side. "Old Tang Book: The Biography of Fang Xuanling" said: "Xuanling has been in the Qin Mansion for more than ten years", in these ten years, Fang Xuanling, as Li Shimin's confidential secretary, "the regular canon, every military book is played, stationed in Ma Licheng, the text is about Li Zhan, and there is no draft at the beginning."
At many important and urgent junctures, Fang Xuanling gave advice to Li Shimin with his superb writing skills and outstanding planning ability to deal with difficulties. At that time, Li Shimin's father, Li Yuan, also praised Fang Xuanling and thought that Fang Xuanling was a rare talent. He once said to his courtiers:
Fang Xuanling is a person who knows how to be clever and has a great responsibility. Every time I tell things for my son, even though he is thousands of miles away, it is as if he was talking face to face. Later, in the "Xuanwumen Change", Fang Xuanling also participated in the planning.
Li Shimin later said: "Xuan Ling used to set the world from me, prepared for hardships, and met a lifetime of ten thousand deaths, so it was difficult to see grass creation." Among them, "fixing the world" includes the "change of Xuanwumen".
After Li Shimin ascended the throne, Fang Xuanling was appointed as the prime minister and became the emperor's "arm", and finally assisted Taizong to achieve the "rule of Zhenguan". For the sake of the country's long-term peace and stability, Fang Xuanling proposed to rectify the rule of officials soon after Li Shimin ascended the throne, and the idea of implementing it was "appointing officials according to their talents, and serving provincial officials." During the Sui Dynasty, in order to consolidate power, a large number of old officials from the north and south were absorbed in the central institutions.
According to the General Dictionary, the Sui Dynasty had "2,581 internal officials (i.e., central government officials)." As a result, the bureaucracy was bloated, officials passed the buck when encountering problems, and officials were corrupt, a problem that was especially acute in the late Sui Dynasty.
During the reign of Tang Wude, in order to support the new regime, a large number of officials were appointed. According to the "Zizhi Tongjian", Li Yuan marched to Guanzhong, "the people are over 70 years old, except for the (appointed) loose officials, the rest of the heroes, appointed with talents, oral inquiry function, hand note official rank, except for more than 1,000 people a day."
The number of appointments and the simplicity of the ordination process have led to a wide range of good and bad personnel and a huge strain on the country's finances. This malaise continued to the early years of Zhenguan and became an urgent problem to be solved.
Fang Xuanling adhered to the will of Taizong and carried out drastic reforms of the central institutions. The civil and military officials in the central court were reduced to more than 640 people. Of course, it is not enough to streamline the country, but what is important is to improve administrative efficiency, which must be guaranteed by systems and laws so that officials "do their jobs."
In the "Tang Law" compiled by Fang Xuanling, there are punishment clauses for officials in charge at all levels for "supernumerary" without permission. The responsibilities of administrative agencies at all levels in the Tang Dynasty and the content of the evaluation of officials were also specified in detail in the "Official Order" and "Examination Law".
In addition, the Tang Law also stipulates punishment provisions for officials who delay "official business", and at the same time, strict and detailed punishment provisions are also made for procrastination in the performance of official duties.
It is precisely because of the guarantee of the system and the law that the rule of officials during the Zhenguan period has improved greatly, the efficiency of the imperial court has been continuously improved, the state expenditure has been greatly reduced, and the politics have gradually moved towards stability and clarity.
Recommend: Recruit talents, know people well
As an important auxiliary minister of Li Shimin, Fang Xuanling has a very key job of recruiting talents and using them for the main purpose. In this sense, Fang Xuanling is Li Shimin's "human resources director", building an excellent team and assisting Li Shimin in his career.
According to historical records, when Fang Xuanling was in Li Shimin's Qin Palace, "the thieves were every level, everyone competed for treasures, and Xuanling was the first to accept the characters and lead to the shogunate." and there are strategists and fierce generals, all of whom are subtly involved in the alliance, and each does his best."
It means that every time Li Shimin's army wins, everyone scrambles to collect treasures and other loot, only Fang Xuanling goes around to search for talents, befriend heroes and heroes from all over the world, and lead them to the Qin Palace.
Every time he met a good minister and a fierce general, Fang Xuanling made friends with all his heart, and he did his best for Li Shimin. Among these talents, the more famous ones are Yu Shinan, Qin Shubao, Hou Junji, etc. Fang Xuanling's painstaking construction of the human resources pool for Li Shimin has laid a talent foundation for the "governance of Zhenguan".
Du Ruhui, another character to be talked about in this article, was also reused by Li Shimin because of Fang Xuanling's recommendation. At that time, there were many talents in the palace of the Qin Dynasty, and Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, at the instigation of the crown prince Jiancheng and the king of Qi, decided to send some of Li Shimin's subordinates to other places as officials, and Du Ruhui was appointed as the governor of Shaanzhou.
Li Shimin didn't understand the importance of Du Ruhui at that time, so he agreed. After Fang Xuanling learned about it, he immediately said to Li Shimin: "Du Ruhui is smart and courageous, and he is a rare talent. If you just want to be a vassal king, you'll be fine without him; If you want to 'run the Quartet,' you have to have the help of this person. It is not a pity that other people are transferred, but Du Ruyan can't give up. ”
After Li Shimin heard this, he immediately played his father Li Yuan and kept Du Ruhui in the house. Since then, Fang and Du have become the core figures in Li Shimin's think tank, and they have also achieved the good story of "Fang Mou Du Break".
Being an official: Don't take credit, know how to retire humbly
Although Fang Xuanling is in a high position, he knows how to be an official. The longer he was in the position of prime minister, the more he knew how to be cautious and cautious, and never regarded himself as a hero. Here are two examples to illustrate.
In the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637), Tang Taizong discussed with his ministers the issue of hereditary titles for high-ranking officials, and planned to seal Fang Xuanling as the Assassin of Song Prefecture and the Duke of Liang Guo. The history of the Song Zhou Assassin is not a real job, but a special reward for the old ministers, in order to allow the children of high-ranking officials to be hereditary officials.
After Fang Xuanling learned about it, he said: "The minister has served as the prime minister, and now he has been named the Assassin of Songzhou, and the son enjoys the title prematurely, the minister thinks it is inappropriate, please allow me to resign from the post of Assassin of Songzhou." ”
Tang Taizong accepted Fang Xuanling's opinion and only named him the Duke of Liang. Fang Xuanling's practice had a positive impact, and meritorious officials followed suit and resigned from the title of deceased.
Seeing this situation, Tang Taizong exclaimed: "The ministers can do this, it's all the credit of Fang Xuanling!" ”
In the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, Fang Xuanling thought that he had been the prime minister for fifteen years, his son married a princess, and his daughter became a princess. However, Tang Taizong did not allow it. It didn't take long for Xuan Ling to enter the sealed house again, and he was still in charge of the government. Fang Xuanling resolutely resigned.
Tang Taizong sent someone to say to him: "Resignation is certainly a virtue. But the country has long relied on you, and if I lose a good man like you, I will lose my right and left hand. If you're not aging, don't put it off. Having said this, Fang Xuanling had no choice but to accept it.
It is precisely because of Fang Xuanling's virtue as an official that Liu Fang, a historian of the Tang Dynasty, praised: Fang Xuanling assisted Taizong to pacify the world, and finally became the prime minister, for a total of thirty-two years, and the people in the world are called virtuous ministers. However, there are no significant political achievements to be found, and his virtue is really too high.
As the prime minister, Fang Xuanling's merit lies in being able to see the advantages of each person, so as to bring people with different personalities and strengths together to form a joint force to promote the development of the country.
In the twenty-second year of Zhenguan, Fang Xuanling, who was seriously ill, was still thinking about state affairs, and he said to his sons: "If it is peaceful today, but the emperor is not going to go east to Goryeo, this is what I am worried about." The emperor's attitude is resolute, and the ministers dare not make a mistake. If I knew and didn't say anything, I would die with hatred. ”
So he wrote a chapter despite his illness, asking Tang Taizong to put the people of the world first and stop the eastern expedition to Goryeo. Tang Taizong read the recital and was very moved. After Fang Xuanling died of illness, Tang Taizong was very sad and dropped out of the dynasty for three days. Fang Xuanling is good at understanding people, and can unite people, in a prominent position, but not arrogant, always modest and cautious, diligent, conscientious.
epilogue
"New Tang Dynasty Book" commented like this: When Xuan Ling was in charge of national politics, he got up early and went to bed late, was diligent and self-reliant, devoted himself to the public, and did his best. Unwilling to leave anything to chance. He has no jealousy of others, but hears that others are good as his own.
He was also familiar with the rule of officials, and when he reviewed laws and regulations, he always followed the principle of leniency. He never uses his strengths to demand from others, he does not seek full blame for employing people, even if he is a person of low status, he can let him do his best. These all emphasize Fang Xuanling's merits.