In November of the first year of Chongzhen (1628), Huke gave Han Yiliang a "Persuasion to Be Honest and Punish Greedy" to the young new emperor. In the middle of the song, the new official said:
Today, where money is not, no official is not a person who loves money. It takes money to buy officials, money to get promoted, money to make friends among officials, money to ask for money for examination classes, "this gold does not fall from heaven, it does not come out of the earth", where it comes from, everyone knows it.
Han Yiliang also gave an example: he was only a seven-pin sesame official, and he was usually not good at communication, but the gift money he had refused to accept in two months was also five hundred taels. By analogy, high-ranking officials can be imagined. It will be too late to promote anti-corruption and clean government, and we must start from the "big tigers."
Chongzhen's words deeply touched chongzhen, and he was greatly pleased, praising his "great broken face, loyal and praiseworthy, when broken, can be added to the right yushi and the official Shangshu".
Han Yiliang is not a royal history, and he did not mention how to promote the work of fighting corruption and promoting clean government. This problem was handed over to the 18-year-old Chongzhen.
Chongzhen asked Han Yiliang, who is the corrupt element?
This question asked the common voice of the people of the imperial court for thousands of years, and asked the voice of the emperor.
However, this question also breaks a person's heart. This person is Han Yiliang.
It's a chilling "heavenly question." Not only did Han Yiliang feel wronged, but even the later counselors had to shut up because of this.
This question Han Yiliang could not answer, nor should he answer, he was not a professional, nor did he have evidence, how dare he speak indiscriminately?
Chongzhen retreated to the second place: Then you can tell me who gave you five hundred gold.
This is a more silly and naïve question than the previous one.
At this time, Han Yiliang realized that he had fallen into a pit under the system. Saying it or not, it really became a problem. If you don't say it, you can't realize your original intention; it is a group of small flies that are unlucky to say that it will not help. Seeing that the emperor kicked the ball back, he thought about it with great fear, can this truth still be true?
Faced with Chongzhen's question, Han Yiliang had to choose to shut up. As a result, not only did he not promote the work of fighting corruption and promoting clean government, but he was even stripped of his post and returned to his hometown to study.
Han Yiliang's frustration was deeply imprinted in the hearts of his latecomers. Chongzhen's six times of self-criticism (the following sin of his own edict) and hundreds of times of encouragement to everyone to make suggestions could not change the regular disregard of the members of the people, and the speeches were also empty words.
The last assistant of the Ming Dynasty, Wei Zaode, was born in The Yuan, and it took only four years for him to be promoted to the first assistant by the rocket, and in times of crisis, Chongzhen had high hopes for him. Three days before the destruction of Beijing, Chongzhen asked him what countermeasures he had and said: As long as you open your mouth, I will immediately do it. However, Wei Zaode knelt on the ground, his ass poking high, and did not say a word. Chongzhen was mad, kicked over the dragon chair, and went away with hatred.
We do not ask where the ministers' original IQ and emotional intelligence have gone, we just want to ask, what can be decided in one sentence, why do the ministers never say a word? There is no good way to retreat from the enemy, and a good idea can also come up with one.
However, no one has come up with the idea. Everyone was completely cold-hearted, iron-hearted, and did not play with Emperor Laozi.
Chongzhen took over the country for seventeen years, appointed fifty cabinet chief assistants, each serving for an average of less than three months, and each one was either expelled or demoted, and none of them died well. As for the officials below the first assistant, the frequency of replacement is like a marquee, "changing with each passing day". Generals who fought abroad were either executed or preferred to die on their own initiative.
The former first assistant Chen Yan sighed and said: In front of Chongzhen, every sentence must be thought before and after, and a slight mistake is said, which frightens the back spine. Chongzhen hated it, his hair was already gray in his twenties, and the tail of the fish was on the top of his eyebrows. Not only scolding the courtiers, but also hating. The only people he trusted were ministers who were good at reading his mind and bending his mind. During the seventeen years, the frustration of the monarch and his subjects was like a shadow, and it could not be said that it was closely related to Chongzhen's question.
Some people say that Chongzhen died poorly; others say that Chongzhen was killed by his subordinates. In fact, he was killed by his own question.
Chongzhen is not unaware that there are many corrupt officials in the world, but as for who is a corrupt official, even as an emperor, he may not know.
Chongzhen's question is also Chongzhen's dilemma, more accurately Han Yiliang's dilemma. In order to avoid Han Yiliang's kind of ending, the ancients designed a "system" called "wind and rumors". To put it simply, "rumors" conceal the names of whistleblowers in order to protect whistleblowers, which is not pure hearsay, and there should be a certain basis for catching wind and shadows.
Han Yiliang's advice was obviously a "rumor", but it was not his duty, nor was it to impeach someone or something, but purely out of concern about political corruption, he asked the emperor to take measures to carry out the construction of a clean government.
Some people today have suggested adopting "rumors and rumors" to strengthen the fight against corruption and promote clean government, and some people have even proposed that "rumors and rumors" are the most powerful means of fighting corruption. This is actually a misreading of the original meaning of "rumors".
If we take "rumors and rumors" as a measure to broaden the channels of speech, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages; but if we use it as a means of fighting corruption, it is obvious that the disadvantages outweigh the benefits, and the biggest drawback is that it is easy to cause officials to attack each other and undermine the legal system.
The so-called "prosperous life of Kangqian" is by no means the result of "rumors and rumors." What "rumors and rumors" accomplish is to open up the way, so officials will naturally be in awe.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, the advisor Wang Su heard that the military general Wang Deyong had presented two beautiful women to the emperor. Wang Su criticized Emperor Renzong for his beauty on this matter at the imperial meeting.
Emperor Renzong scolded him, "This is a matter of the Inner Palace, how did you know that?" ”
Wang Su said: "I am a counselor, and it is my duty to advise, even if it is for the matter of wind and news, I can know everything." If Your Majesty has changed it, and if he has not, he will be encouraged, so why ask how to know it? Wang Su's answer revealed the true meaning of "rumors and rumors": to broaden the path of speech, to encourage criticism, and to encourage those who have changed what they have not done.
Song Renzong could not be picky, and he smiled and said: "It is true, the two beautiful women are around the yuan, quite close, how about staying for the time being?" ”
Wang Su replied, "If you are distant, it doesn't hurt." All I am worried about is that I am afraid that His Majesty will be close to them. ”
After hearing this, Song Renzong woke up and sent three hundred yuan each to dismiss the two beautiful women from the palace.
Wang Su's encounter with Han Yiliang is very different, not how clever Wang Su is, but he grasps the specific facts of Renzong, does not involve the system, so he can withstand Renzong's interrogation. Han Yiliang is different, he raises a system problem. The problem of the system has been a big problem since ancient times, Han Yiliang did not think about it and foolishly brought it up, Chongzhen naturally did not think of it, so he also foolishly threw out the heavenly question of "who is a corrupt official".
Excerpt from | "Leadership Digest" October 2021
Source of the manuscript | "History Only Shows Half of The Face"
The author of this article | Liu Xuyi
Responsible Editor | Xiao Yuan
WeChat Editor | Late note