Chen Fan of celebrities: Why sweep the world without sweeping a house

If you are a person with a high school education or above, you must have a relationship with Chen Fan because you want to study and recite the head-catching "First Passage of the Ages" "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion", because there is a sentence in it: "People are brilliant and spirited, Xu Wei is under Chen Fan's bed". If you are a young person with lofty ideals who has a lazy life and does not have the good habit of tidying up the room in time, then you and Chen Fan must be in a relationship with Chen Fan, and you must be taught by the teacher or the elder with his ears to educate "why sweep the world without sweeping a house".

Chen Fan (陈蕃) was a famous courtier during the Eastern Han Dynasty, a native of Pingyu County, Henan Province, and was collectively known as the "Three Juns" along with Dou Wu and Liu Shu.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the selection and appointment of officials was mainly through inspection and conscription, to put it bluntly, the family and people with various relations with them, who did not need examinations to rely directly on their own good reputation or nepotism to be officials. Chen Fan's grandfather was the Taishou of Hedong, which can be counted as a leader at or above the department level in modern times, and Chen Fan's father is not clearly recorded in history, so it is not easy to define whether Chen Fan is an official for three generations. After Chen Fan became an adult, he first served in the county, and was elected as a filial piety and a langzhong. It can be seen that even if Chen Fan is not from a family family, he is also a good family, and it is not too much to say that he was born with a "golden spoon".

According to the "Book of later Han", Chen Fan had a house of his own at the age of fifteen, how big this house is, whether it is a villa or a duplex We do not know, the only thing that can be affirmed is that this house is at least "the first floor with a courtyard". Because Chen Fan did not clean when he released himself in this independent space, brooms and mops were thrown all over the garden, and weeds were not cleaned, resulting in "the garden is dirty".

One day, Chen Fan's father's friend and fellow villager Xue Qin came to visit, estimated that as an elder, he could not look at this messy room, and said with a reproachful face: Big nephew, why don't you clean up in advance before coming to the guests, this is very impolite, this is contrary to the traditional hospitality of the Chinese nation! (Two thousand years later, Chairman Mao demanded that "clean the house and then invite guests", which shows that it is indeed the traditional hospitality of the Chinese nation to clean up and clean up in advance.) ）

As an ordinary person, he would definitely blush after hearing this reprimand, but Chen Fan didn't care, and replied with a proud face: When the eldest husband is in the world, when he takes it as his duty to sweep the world, how can he be limited to tidying up a room? (Fan Yue: "When the eldest husband is in the world, when he sweeps away the world, he will be safe and tidy?") Xue Qin knew that he had great ambitions to rectify the world at a young age, and he was very surprised and shocked.

The ending of this story is said to have two kinds, one is that Xue Qin admires the ideal ambitions of the young Chen Fan and takes the initiative to help him tidy up the house; the other is that although Xue Qin is surprised, he still scares: why sweep the sky without sweeping a house. In the end, Chen Fan was still picked up by the elders to clean up and sanitize. Which is true, no one knows, and that's not what we need to discuss.

Through this story, we can make a basic evaluation of the young Chen Fan, the positive is to have high ambitions, have great ambitions, be good at grasping big things, and disdain trivial matters, and the opposite is that the eyes are high and low, so high and far, do not measure up, only look at the starry sky and do not pay attention to the road under the feet, such people are not good at planting big heels in some details. And Chen Fan's uninhibited personality also affected the final outcome of his life.

"What is the most important thing in the twenty-first century?" talent! "Not only in the twenty-first century, people of insight in all dynasties and generations attach the same importance to talents, but the same is true for Chen Fan.

According to the "New Language of the World", after Chen Fan took office as The Taishou of Yuzhang, he first did not go to check his office and dormitory, but hurriedly visited Xu Zizi like King Xi of Zhou Wu who did not have time to visit Shang Rong (the idiom "Xi bu warm" comes from this). In order to show respect for Xu Zizi, Chen Fan set up a special bed for Xu Zizi, he came to put this "special seat" down for him to sit, he walked and then hung up the "special seat", others can not touch. The Later Han Dynasty Book of Chen Fan records that Chen Fan was too punctual in his appointment as Le'an, and also set up such a "special seat" for Zhou Xuan. Later, for the high-standard reception guests, a proper noun was formed called "stay".

Xu Zizi (徐孺子), a young man with the name of a child and a widow, was repeatedly recruited by the imperial court and localities, but he had never been an official in his life and was a hermit. Xu Zizi is respected by the world by virtue of the philosophy of "being respectful and frugal, and indifferent to Mingzhi", and it is not clear how to work. As for Zhou Xuan, he was also a hermit who had never been an official and was a proper hermit. There is also a person who is highly valued by Chen Fan, who is Zhou Cheng, zi ju. Chen Fan praised him as a "true ruler", like the "AK47" in the automatic rifle and the "Dongfeng 41" in the missile ("For example, the sword of the world"). Zhou Cheng, who had been a magistrate such as Taishan Taishou, was talked about and said that he was good at learning and self-improvement. He often sighed: If I don't see Huang Shudu for a while, my vulgar and greedy heart will grow again ("When I don't see Huang Shudu in the moon, then my miserly heart has been revived"). This is very similar to a saying by Chairman Mao -- "You can't catch up with Liu Shaoqi without studying for three days." There are very few historical records of Zhou Cheng's ability to govern the country, but it is said that he has moral governance and has a great reputation.

It can be seen that although Chen Fan attaches great importance to talents, his ability to identify talents is actually very general. In his eyes, the famous celebrities and hermits with false names are high-end talents, while the business talents and the capable officials around him do not see the eyes or dig up the recommendations. His "emphasis" on talents varies, and he actually divides talents into three, six, and nine grades. He should treat talents like Zhou Gong, "one mu three hairs, one meal and three spits", rather than "only feelings for you" like men and women in love.

The presence of the Eastern Han Emperor was generally very low, and even the popularity of liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Guangwu Emperor, was not high. The most well-known is the last emperor, Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han, thanks to the novel and TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Why were most of the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty lonely and nameless? This has a lot to do with their average age. The average age of the 13 emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty who could be examined was only 12.3 years old, of which as many as 10 were less than 16 years old when they ascended the throne, namely The Han and Emperor Liu Zhao, who took the throne at the age of 10; Liu Long, the Emperor of Han, who took the throne at the age of 13; the Han Shun Emperor Liu Bao, who took the throne at the age of 11; the Han Chong Emperor Liu Bing, who took the throne at the age of 1; the Han Emperor Liu Qiang, who took the throne at the age of 8; the Han Huan Emperor Liu Qian, who took the throne at the age of 15; the Han Ling Emperor Liu Hong, who took the throne at the age of 13; the Han Shao Emperor Liu Bao, who took the throne at the age of 14; and the Han Xian Emperor Liu Xie, who took the throne at the age of 9, and they accounted for 76.9% of the Eastern Han Emperors %。 Among the 13 emperors, as many as 10 were under 40 years old when they died, accounting for 76.9% of the eastern Han emperors, and as many as 11 were under 50 years old, accounting for 84.6%.

These little emperors have not yet reached adolescence, the world outlook, outlook on life, and values have not yet been formed, and it is impossible to make any achievements in the major affairs of the state; when they grow up, they have the ability, and the major affairs of the state are decided, and there are no days to live. This led to the situation in the Eastern Han Dynasty in most cases in which foreign relatives and eunuchs alternated dictatorships in the name of the emperor: the young "old emperor" died, the younger emperor took the throne, and the empress was promoted to the empress dowager. These young "little widows" lacked experience in governing the country after they had been promoted in a hurry, and coupled with the fact that they had been "raised in the deep boudoir without anyone knowing" since they were young, they could only rely on their own mothers and families, so their foreign relatives as "uncles" and "fathers-in-law" began to monopolize power. When the little emperor grew up, he naturally wanted to seize power, but he was also "unfamiliar" with the ministers of the court, so he had to rely on his "people around him" eunuchs to seize power. When the victory of the seizure of power was won, the eunuchs who had successfully taken sides began a new round of dictatorship. In this way, the changes in the Eastern Han Dynasty became a dead cycle, just like the human body is getting worse and worse every day. Because neither foreign relatives nor eunuchs would govern the entire Eastern Han Dynasty as well as their own families, but would take advantage of the power in their hands to frantically "scrape the ground."

The sad thing is that Chen Fan is living in this chaotic era in which the dictatorship of foreign relatives and the dictatorship of eunuchs alternate, and what he wants to clean up is also these groups of foreign relatives and eunuchs who do nothing wrong.

Liang Ji was the most arrogant and powerful foreign relative of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and he arbitrarily ruled the government for nearly twenty years, successively establishing the three emperors of the Han Chong Emperor, the Han Quality Emperor, and the Han Huan Emperor. Emperor Han was directly poisoned by him just because he scolded a "general" behind his back. When Liang Ji was in power, he sent someone to send a letter to Chen Fan and ask him to do some personal affairs. With Chen Fan's personality, Liang Ji's request was definitely not done, so he simply did not see this messenger. The messenger had no choice but to pretend to ask chen fan to see him. After the meeting, Chen Fan found that he had been deceived, and Liang Ji not only did not do what he asked for, but also killed the messenger in a fit of rage. Because "beating the dog did not look at the owner", Chen Fan was convicted and demoted to xiuwu county order. Thinking that this messenger is also pitiful, the task of sending the letter can not be completed to go back to be punished, it is difficult to find an excuse to complete the task of sending the letter, and the result is to send his life. With Chen Fan's personality, the messenger's problem was basically unsolvable. At the same time, this incident also reflects Chen Fan's excessive straightness, his brain will not turn, he will offend people at the first opportunity, and things that could have been delayed and not done must cause human life.

In the early stage, Chen Fan offended Liang Ji, and the result was only to degrade the official, which was his good luck. But good luck always runs out one day, and fate will not always favor a person. In the later period, Chen Fan directly offended the eunuchs, and he really even took his life.

When Emperor Huan of Han wanted to make Litian Gui empress, Chen Fan firmly advocated the establishment of the Dou clan, and the result was successful. Emperor Huan of Han died and Emperor Ling of Han ascended the throne, and Empress Dou began to take charge of the imperial government, reusing Chen Fan under the two-tiered idea of repaying favors and governing the country. At that time, Chen Fan and Empress Dowager Dou's father, the general Dou Wu, stood in the same team and used celebrities to participate in national politics and actively prepare for the elimination of eunuchs. At this time, Chen Fan's political naivety, low vision in work planning, and disunity in life and other shortcomings struck together, and finally brought Chen Fan into a place of no return.

Chen Fan discussed with Dou Wu to destroy the eunuch, but his idea was very strange! Chen Fan thought that he had merit for the empress dowager, so he asked the empress dowager to execute Cao Jie, Wang Fu, Zheng Sa, and other members of the eunuch clique as soon as possible; if they were not executed, they would show them the song zhang and let them know that they hated them. As a result, Empress Dowager Dou did not take his advice, and the hundred officials were shocked to learn of this, and the eunuch clique was ready to take action against Dou Wu, Chen Fan, and others.

Chairman Mao once said, "Revolution is not a dinner party, not an article, not a painting and embroidery, not so elegant, so calm, so polite, so gentle and condescending." "The same goes for political struggles! Cutting out the eunuch group requires lying down and trying to be bold, needing to be low-key and patient, and needing to try to be poor at key moments, instead of standing on the street all day and shouting "I'm going to kill you!" ”

As a result, Cao Jie and others forged Empress Dou's orders and killed Dou Wu and others. Chen Fan was more than seventy years old at the time, and when he heard about the chaos, he led more than eighty subordinate officials and students to draw their swords together to attack the Chengming Gate, only to be killed on the same day, his family members were exiled, and his protégés were dismissed from their posts and imprisoned. (Later generations shouted "Sima Zhao's heart is known to everyone" and the noble township gong Cao Xian was very similar to Chen Fan's ending.) ）

Chen Fan, a generation of famous courtiers, died before he was paid, and died in "why sweep the sky without sweeping a house". Cai Dongfan commented that "Dou Wu's death, his loss is playing; Chen Fan's death, his loss is foolishness", which is stupid and pedantic.