#Historical Cold Knowledge##Wei Jin# A few days ago, he sent out "Tao Yuanming's great-grandfather held the heavy troops of the Eight States, the first general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty?" The article, which mentions that after Fan Kui's recommendation, Lujiang Taishou Zhang Kui appointed Tao Kan as a postmaster and concurrently served as the commander of Zongyang County, because of his outstanding talent, he was also promoted to the main book. Don't underestimate the position of the main bookkeeper, in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, he was not a bookkeeper, but a personal official of the chief, a staff officer, a consul general, and very powerful. However, later, Tao Kan was recommended by Zhang Kui as a filial piety, and went to Beijing to become a minor official such as Qizhong, and then was appointed as the commander of Wugang County.
This is a bit of a wonder, the same official, how to go around such a big bend, but also been demoted?
This matter has to start from the Inspection System of the Han Dynasty, and you should not be bothered by the officials, and listen to the following slowly.
Tao Kan was held up as filial piety, which is an important path for students to enter the career since the Han Dynasty. From a literal point of view, "filial piety" refers to filial piety to parents and honesty, which seems to be only the basic principle of being a person, but the actual operation is not so simple.
To examine filial piety and honesty, it is an important task for the counties of the Han Dynasty to select talents for the country.
According to the Book of Han, in 196 BC, Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, once issued a petition for a sage, ordering the selection of "sages and doctors" from the county with the ability to govern the country, thus opening a precedent for the inspection system. A system of selecting officials began with Emperor Wen, who once issued edicts to "those who can speak out and speak to the extremes"; and "princes, secretaries of state, and county sheriffs who can speak out to the extremes." ”
In the early years of the Founding Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion, "ordering counties and counties to raise one person for filial piety and honesty" - each county has a specific indicator, and each year must recommend "filial piety" and "honesty" one person. These people were sent to the imperial court and became the right way to select officials and appoint and promote them.
Please pay attention to the four words "clear stream and right way", which is where you come from for a reader. Originally, Tao Kan's official position was only the appointment of the governor of the prefecture, but now it is the state record, the official department officially approves, the letter of appointment is not the same, the weight is of course different. It's like in our TV station, some people are hired, some people are hired, huh! There is a difference in treatment.
In the Western Han Dynasty, the examination of filial piety was relatively strict, and the rule of officials was still relatively clear. Through filial piety and honesty, the public opinion and fashion of "filial piety at home and being a clean official" have been created in society, which has played a role in social education that changes customs and customs.
For example, Tao Kan's filial piety can stand the test, he is extremely filial to his mother, his mother is also well-taught, and there have been beautiful talks. Until the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the examination was lax, and the detection of untruths abounded, and many jokes were made, so I will not say more.
So is there a criterion for selecting filial piety? Is it a vague concept?
According to Dong Zhongshu's suggestion, it was necessary to "limit it to four disciplines", so Emperor Wu of Han officially issued an edict requiring each county to take the rank of a soldier according to these four criteria:
First: "Virtuous and pure.".
Second: "Studying The Practice of Passing, The Doctor of the Scriptures". He is a learned man, well-behaved, and a learned man who studies the scriptures.
Third: "Ming Xi decree, enough to resolve doubts, according to the chapter of the question, the royal history of the text." The gist is that he is familiar with the law, can decide cases and doubts, and can also write documents.
Fourth: "Be resolute and strategic, not confused by things, clear and decisive, and the three assistants." It means that the character is strong, more intelligent, wise and good at judgment, and such a talent can be given a position in the capital city.
Of course, after these filial pieties who were recommended by various localities came to the central authorities, they did not immediately grant a real post, but first entered the Lang Office as a small lang official, and they also needed to undertake the task of palace guards, in order to make them "look at the ability of the ministers" and become familiar with the administrative affairs of the imperial court. This is the same as when you enter a business in elementary school and have to learn some basic rules first.
Therefore, Tao Kan also had to go through this procedure, and he had to be a guard for the emperor and stand guard with euphorbia in his hand? In fact, let you have an alternate official standing there, mainly to observe, to see how people become officials.
Then there is a selection process, and then according to the results of the assessment, different positions are appointed, some remain in the central government, and the rest are like Tao Kan, who go to the local area to become an official of similar rank such as a county order.
Is there an age limit for the referrer?
Emperor Wu of Han's edict did not seem to be detailed enough, and it is estimated that some counties and counties elected people who were too young to do things reliably.
During the reign of Emperor Shun of the Eastern Han Dynasty, according to the suggestion of Shang Shuling Zuoxiong, it was stipulated that "from now on, the year of filial piety is less than forty, and no inspection should be observed", which seems to be a little too old. As far as I know, the average life expectancy of people in Qin and Han is about 52 years old, and the time to serve the country is running out.
This is not to mention, Zuo Xiong's proposal also formulated the important system of "the law of the examination of the family by all students, and the notes of the literary officials' lessons", and thus, the filial piety section began to transition from a recommendation system of local governors to the central examination system, that is, the central government's filial piety born in Confucianism should be tested for scriptures, and those born of civil servants should be examined.
The meaning of the text is that this group of forty-year-old men who want to get an official and a half-job still have to pass a formal examination. There is an idiom called "White Head Poor Classic", the previous understanding is that when you are old, you are still studying the scriptures, people, you have to live to be old, learn to be old. Now it seems that this group of two-sided white old men are still studying seriously, and it was originally to cope with the exam!
Therefore, by 303 AD, when Tao Kan was invited out of the mountains to lead the troops to fight, he was already forty-five years old.
At that time in Tao Kan's life, the inspection system had basically completed its mission. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the official election system adopted the "Nine Pins Official Personnel Law", that is, the "Nine Pins Zhongzheng System".
Chen Qun
This system was first formulated and implemented in the hands of Cao Pi in the first year of the Huang Dynasty (220), and it was Shang Shuling Chen Qun who made suggestions.
The practical step is: each state and county shall elect one person from each prefecture and county, and the great Zhongzheng must be an official in the central government and a person with high moral standing. Big Zhongzheng then produces small Zhongzheng. Zhongzheng is the official name of the appraisal talent. After the large and small zhongzheng are produced, the central government distributes a talent questionnaire, which divides the talents into nine grades, upper, upper, upper, middle, lower, lower, lower, lower, lower.
This precious form is registered by all the local people who are known to be excellent people, such as age and place of origin, whether they are out of service, etc., and then add comments according to the person's character. After review, Da Zhongzheng submits the form to the officials and selects officials accordingly.
There are still great human factors in this system, for example, the "Biography of Liu Yi in the Book of Jin" writes: "Love and evil at will, honor and disgrace are in hand, there is no cold door in the upper grade, there is no scholar in the lower grade, there is no truth in the public examination school, and there is no intention to tell privately." "But it at least solves the problem of the vague criteria for selecting officials under the two Han dynasties, both in the zhongzheng and in the local public opinion and public opinion, so that the chaotic rule of officials can be clarified for a while."
At the beginning of the establishment of the Nine Pins Official's Law, the criteria for judging characters were equal emphasis on family lineage, morality, and talent. It was one of the three major electoral systems in Feudal Chinese society, which gradually became complete during the Western Jin Dynasty and existed for about four hundred years.
It is said that this is also a relatively fair and reasonable personnel system with mutual checks and balances, but no system is used for tens of thousands of years, the system is not good or bad, the key is that the people who use it are not in the middle, and they are not right.
With the passage of time, the drawbacks of the Nine Pins Official's Law also came out. Later, the right to vote was completely manipulated in the hands of local magnates, and the shijia clan actually controlled the appointment and dismissal of officials in the imperial court, so it was criticized as "no cold door in the upper grade, no scholar in the lower grade", and finally gave birth to the door valve system, which led to the chaotic situation of the Wei and Jin dynasties.
The passage for the lower classes to ascend was basically locked, and at this time, there was no fairness in the official law, and it would soon be over.
When the time came to the Sui Dynasty, the system of door valves and scholars collapsed, the Nine Pins Official Law was abolished, and replaced by the examination system, and the lower-level readers ushered in the opportunity to get ahead.
Reference Books: Book of Han, Book of Jin, Zizhi Tongjian