Kingdom of Heaven and Han

Chapter 714 Officialdom is a Stage

Anzhongfang is located in the south of Luoshui. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a middle bridge connecting the north and the south, but it was damaged at this time.This is the center of Luoyang City, which was very prosperous at first, but it is no longer what it used to be.The location of the school is the former residence of Yin Sizhen, Duke of Tianshui County in the Tang Dynasty, which has already collapsed.

The main entrance of the school is naturally the south gate, but the north gate is more convenient to walk, so everyone came to the north gate.

Mu Ying, Zheng Gangzhong and others came too early, and the door has not been opened yet.Seeing a big willow tree next to it, he walked over.

Under the willow tree, a young man under the age of 30 saw Mu Ying and the others approaching, and hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "I'm on my way to Wei'an, and I've met some brothers."

Everyone hurriedly returned their salutes, stopped under the willow tree, and chatted.

Wei Anxing was on the side, looking at the crowd with a smile, as if enjoying watching everyone talking.

Seeing it, Zheng Gangzhong felt a little sorry, and said to Wei Anxing, "Where is Brother Wei from? I haven't seen him before."

Wei Anxing hurriedly said: "He is from Raozhou, a Jinshi in the sixth year of Xuanhe. He has been recovering from his injuries for the past few months, and he is not with you."

Only then did Zheng Gangzhong notice that Wei Anxing's left arm could only be lifted halfway, as if it was injured.Pay attention again, two fingers are broken on his right hand, there is a scar behind the ear, and his right leg seems to be rotten.

Seeing that Zheng Gangzhong was paying attention to himself, Wei Anxing said embarrassedly: "During the Jingkang Rebellion, I was the leader of Xiping. The city was broken and I was captured by the Jin people and went north. I suffered a lot and left some injuries. Fortunately, the Xuanfu army went north. , came back alive."

Zheng Gangzhong nodded.After a while, he said: "Brother Wei is suffering."

While talking, the door opened and everyone entered the school one after another.Along the way, the trees are like shade, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, and the environment is good.

When we arrived at an open space surrounded by green trees, some officials had already stood here.Everyone stood in the shade, waiting for the officials to arrange.

Seeing Wei Anxing standing alone in the corner, he looked a little lonely.Zheng Gangzhong stepped forward, smiled at Wei Anxing, and stood aside.

Not long after, I saw Chen Qiudao coming over.Just as everyone was about to meet, Chen Qiudao signaled to excuse him.He said in a loud voice: "Today is the first day of school. Let me meet you. My name is Chen Qiudao, and I am the staff officer of the Xuanfu Department. .”

Everyone said hello together.

After saying a few words, seeing Wang Xiaolie coming from one side, Chen Qiudao said: "Xuan Fu is busy with official business, and he took the time to come here today, which shows that he attaches great importance to this matter. Now Xuan Fu will speak to everyone, everyone is welcome."

Everyone followed Chen Qiudao's example and applauded Wang Xiaolie.

In front of everyone, Wang Xiaolie nodded his head.He said: "Many of you have been on Jingxi Road for some time, and you have not been assigned a job. In the past two months, you have looked around, and you should know what is going on on Jingxi Road. If you are willing to stay, we welcome it. No If you are willing to stay, we will give you travel expenses. When you come here to enroll today, you have to do things on Jingxi Road, so you still have to make some things clear."

After finishing speaking, Wang Xiaolie looked at the crowd and paused.Cui Qing who was next to him saw it and hurriedly handed over a water bottle.

After taking a sip of water, Wang Xiaolie continued: "I often ask officials a question. As an official, do you belong to power, or do you belong to more power? Today I still ask everyone to think carefully about this question after going back. You belong to power. The power still belongs to you. If you answer this question clearly, you will understand how to be an official. Here on Jingxi Road, what I want is that officials belong to power, and power does not belong to officials.”

"We know that officials first came from the history of shamanism. That is to say, the earliest officials were to report the affairs of the people to the gods, and then record them. Officials are born with two responsibilities, one is to the gods, and the other is to the people. Or to put it another way, the officials themselves have the responsibility of God, as well as the responsibility of the people. This question, everyone should go back and think carefully about what kind of officials they want to be in the future."

Of course, people in this era did not know what kind of witches the earliest officials were. This is the point of view of later generations.But Wang Xiaolie didn't say much, just raised his mouth.

Wang Xiaolie continued: "I often say that this world is a stage, and we are actors on the stage. Some people are generals, some are soldiers; some are high-ranking officials, and some are low-level officials who are busy. Whatever the role is, as long as we play it seriously, it will be a good show. If you don’t like your role, you don’t have to be on this stage or be an official.”

"Zi said: If the way is not enough, you can float in the sea. There is another saying, if the state has the way, then the official will be in office, and if the state has no way, then the country will be secluded. As a person in power, you must govern with the right way, so that talents can use it for themselves. It is not me who controls If you have power, you want to share some power from me, so you come to be an official. Power is actually meaningless. Only when you don’t take power seriously, can power gain self-interest for yourself.”

"Lao Tzu said that neighboring countries look at each other, the sounds of chickens and dogs are heard, and the people do not communicate with each other until they are old and dead. If it is not necessary, why should we gather together to form a country? Without a country, where is the power? This world It’s different from before. It’s hard for one family to survive. Even the Great Song Dynasty, which spreads across the world and ruled hundreds of millions of people, was ravaged under the power of the Kingdom of Jin. People live together, just like There must be a system to regulate people's behavior, so there is a government. The government is not something that must exist, but only the reality must exist, and the government has it. When we come to the government to be an official, we must understand that this official is What's it like?"

"Now the gold thieves are showing their prestige, the country is broken, and Jingxi Road is temporarily managed by me. If you come to me as officials, I must give you salaries so that you can support your family and live a decent life. If I don't have Money, if I can’t pay the salary, it means that there is something wrong with my governance. It can’t be said that the government has no money, and the salary can’t be paid out. It has nothing to do with the ruler. Blame the officials and the people, but don’t blame the ruler. Is it reasonable? It doesn’t make sense. If you want to sell the iron, I will first ensure that your salary will continue. I can’t let you come to me to be an official, and you still have to go hungry.”

After hearing this, the officials below all smiled heartily, and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

This is a fundamental problem.Officials serve as officials for the court, and the court gives them enough money and food. This is not a transaction, but the responsibility of the court.If a court can't even pay officials' salaries, what's the use of the court?

Officials have power in their hands. If you don't pay them, they will naturally get them themselves.By this time, politics is in chaos.The most frightening thing is not corruption, but that people who take bribes live a very healthy life, while officials with integrity are so poor that they can only eat cabbage and tofu, or even go hungry.In such an officialdom, what kind of officials will be elected and promoted?How can it be strictly required?
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he hated official corruption.The investigation was extremely strict, and the punishment was extremely severe, even the real grass was stripped.Can corruption be eradicated?cannot.Because Zhu Yuanzhang's own life was very luxurious, he regarded the world as his own, and enfeoffed the descendants of the Zhu family to be kings everywhere, which was extremely indulgent.Are all people in this world stupid?Loyalty to such an emperor, public loyalty to the country?
(End of this chapter)