Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1328 Letter

"Mr. Qiongshan Haigong Gangfeng Taijian:
It is a pity for this student that I have admired Mr.'s fame for a long time but have not met so far.Although the students are late learners and underachievers, Mr. Suzhi has a loyal and bright heart, and he has the integrity of the bones, and the world believes in him.However, Mr. Yikao's politics are mostly not clear, which is really a strange thing.The former uncle Xinzheng Gao Wenzheng once privately said: "Qiongshan should sit in the elegant and vulgar town, and should not bother with civil affairs, and be honest and upright, and be the department of discipline."The world is very fortunate to have his position now.

Mr. Wen is the master of Nancha, and the upright people of the Manchu Dynasty are encouraged by hearing this.Although students send private letters, they dare not speak privately.

Today, the northwest is safe and the world is troubled.All the vassals waited and watched, doubting the cost of the imperial court's opening of the vassal; all places hesitated, tying the private interests of wealthy businessmen to resist taxes.

The former students seldom said: It is a tax that is neither owned by the court nor owned by His Majesty. This money is taken from the people and used for the people.

The students are stupid, thinking that there is no distinction between north and south in the world, no distinction of household registration, and every household is responsible for paying taxes.Those who think about their poverty may give less or not; those who look at their rich will pay more.This is not contrary to the foundation of those who can get more, and it can also equalize the huge gap between the rich and the poor. Isn't it the one that the ancient sages never forget?

Sir, you should know that the students have gained a lot by practicing the practical knowledge of the world, so over the years, they have asked themselves to pay taxes several times over the years, more than ten times that of others.However, among the officials in the court today, there are not many people involved in business in their families, but how many people are willing to pay this business tax?

In the northern provinces, students are lured by Jinghua, and now more than eighty-nine out of ten are willing to pay business taxes.In the Jiangnan provinces, the students were beyond the reach of the whip, and they were forced to do what they couldn't do. Instead, they were slandered for slandering the emperor, and they were imprisoned several times.

Students Suxin: An official should not only be respected by being a dignitary, but should be proud of his contribution; a scholar should not be proud of his knowledge, but should be proud of his virtue.

Since Mr. Jin mainly observes in the south, he only wants to be cautious in the area. He not only observes whether he is greedy or not, diligent or not diligent, capable or incapable, but also observes his virtue or immorality.

There is no room for debate on the existence of the constitution.But although legislation is good, there may not be enough for those who follow the law.Mr. Wang's voice has been heard all over the country. For this grand plan, it is expected that he will work hard to prevent the honest and traitor from escaping the law of the country, and not to depose the hardworking and virtuous.Although such a student is far away thousands of miles away, he should pay homage to Mr. Nan for his great virtue of the country.

I remember this, and I am sincere and fearful.I don't know what to say.

Gengchen, a late-school underachiever, is on the list, Zheng Xiaozi Gao Wushi. "

This private letter written by Gao Yushi to Hai Rui was sent to Nanjing very quickly, not only fast, but also arrived at an extremely accurate time - Hai Rui had just learned that he would be in charge of Nancha, and Gao Yushi's private letter followed. It was sent in.

Even though Hai Rui is famous for his uprightness, he knew that this letter was by no means ordinary.This means that Gao Wushi not only has a delivery channel comparable to the speed of imperial documents, but also knows exactly when and where each official letter he wants to know will arrive.

However, Hai Rui didn't care about these things.

In Hai Rui's eyes, Gao Yushi, a junior, probably had a relatively positive image.Hai Rui's evaluation of a person's good or bad may sometimes go to extremes, but generally speaking, he can still adhere to the "dichotomy".

Highly pragmatic "study achievement" aspires to the top of the dynasty, but Hai Rui takes it lightly; highly pragmatic military achievements are the best in the world, and Hai Rui is unmoved.Of course, Gao Yushi is often vilified as "using wisdom to pursue private interests" and "struggling for the interests of the people relying on the grace of God", and Hai Rui also dismisses it.

The reason is not complicated: although the highly pragmatic Jinghua is rich in the world, Hai Rui has never heard of any tricks and plunders from him, and he has always done business in an orderly manner.What's more commendable is that, as he said in this private letter: "Over the years, I have asked for taxes several times by myself, and it is more than ten times that of others."

Hai Rui knew very well that Gao Yushi's words were not exaggerated at all, and was even a little modest - judging from what Hai Rui learned from his inspections of various private ports in Nanzhili in the past few years, Gao Yushi was really "coercive". Wisdom is dedicated to the private sector" and "relying on the grace of the saints to strive for the interests of the people", he can at least pay nearly 8 to [-] taels of tax a year.

This is already the case in the southern Zhili region, and the high-pragmatic people in the whole country are notorious for paying high taxes, and even set up special taxes for themselves (in Guangxi). This is enough to prove that high-pragmatic "different "Are.

Therefore, Hai Rui basically believes that Gao Pragmatism has practiced the principle in his letter that "if you think of the poor, you will pay less; if you look at the rich, you will pay more."

This was in stark contrast to Xu Jie back then, and naturally he could gain Hai Rui's favor.

But Hai Rui is well aware of his reputation after all, and his every move may cause huge waves in the government and the public, so he is also very cautious about Gao Pragmatic's letter.

He knew that such a major event in Nancha was extraordinary to the imperial court, especially for the princes of the current dynasty, it had a huge impact.To put it simply, whoever counts the rewards and whoever counts the codes will definitely have an impact on the situation between the DPRK and China.

Of course, Hai Rui doesn't care about these things. He is a person who insists on "a gentleman is not a party member". Although he has been an official for many years, he has neither backers nor helpers. This is why he was so ups and downs in his early career.

No matter how you change the situation in the court, what does Hai Gangfeng have to do with me?

What he is really cautious about is that he is worried about being taken advantage of by Gao Pragmatic.

Everyone in the world said that Gao Yushi was able to achieve today's situation, firstly because of the political shadow left by Gao Gong, secondly because of the emperor's unlimited trust in him, and thirdly because he himself did well in the exam back then.As for side skills and so on, it's just icing on the cake.

But Hai Rui never sees it this way. No matter how good the political resources obtained by high pragmatism are, they will be for nothing if they cannot be used effectively; Has his official career been as smooth as his?
Back then, Yang Shen was the son of Yang Tinghe, his political resources were high and practical, and he was also the number one scholar, so what?It's not that he was demoted to Yunnan and died in the frontier.

But after Hai Ruizai carefully read the letter three times, he finally let go of his frown that had been wrinkled for a long time.

In Gao Yushi's letter, it seems that there is no hint at all. Everything he said seems to be for the consideration of the court. He just hopes that Mr. Hai, who is in charge of Nancha, will be more strict and consider virtue more.

Pay attention to virtue, Hai Rui fully agrees with this statement, after all, he himself is a person who pays great attention to virtue.

However, Hai Rui also knew that this highly pragmatic suggestion seemed to be somewhat troublesome in terms of the system.

There are detailed rules for the punishment of officials in the Ming Dynasty, including the so-called "Eight Orders" and "Four Divisions".

The so-called "Eight Eyes" refers to the dismissal of officials who are incompetent in the assessment.

And the "Four Sections" are divided into divisions based on the content drawn up by the "Eight Eyes", "greedy, cool, and serving the people; unscrupulous, let go of softness, and stay idle; old, sick, and official; talent Insufficient, impetuous and superficial (i.e. superficial, probably a pseudonym), downgraded to foreign office".

There is no accurate record for reference as to when the "Eight Eyes" under investigation began; however, it was finally formed in February of the first year of Hongzhi.

In the 22nd year of Chenghua, before Li Yu became Minister of the Ministry of Officials, there was no name of "eight eyes" in the investigation of the Ming Dynasty, but "four eyes".Historical records: "The story has four purposes of investigation: it is old and sick, it is soft, it is greedy, and it is not serious. (Li) Yu said that people are different in quality, paranoid is cool, dull is soft, and begging for talent is not as good as one way. , in order to express the meaning of cherishing talents, the emperor is kind, so it is an order."

It is not difficult to see from here that the so-called "Four Eyes" is actually the predecessor of "Eight Eyes". And added the two eyes of "insufficient talent" and "impetuous and shallow".

The article of "insufficient talent" was set in the thirteen months from October 22, 23nd year of Chenghua to November [-]rd year of Chenghua, when Li Yu was appointed Minister of the Ministry of Officials; On the occasion of the Beijing inspection, Wu Tai, the imperial censor of Henan Province in Nanjing at that time, and others petitioned, and Wang Shu, the official minister at the time, reported to Emperor Xiaozong for approval, and used it in real time at the time of the Beijing inspection that year, dismissing the minister of Taichang Temple. Li Shen.

Shen Defu once said about the general principles used in the "Eight Eyes" and "Four Branches": "Common officials below the fifth grade in Beijing are old and sick, let go of softness and inaction, are not cautious in their conduct, impetuous and superficial, and have insufficient talent. , where there are five items; and another inspection of officials below the fifth rank, they are old, irresponsible, and impetuous".This is also recorded in the application examples in various articles related to Jingcha in "Mingshilu".

However, because the regulations on "Eight Items" are extremely simple, there is a certain degree of arbitrariness and ambiguity when determining "Eight Items", and there are even some cases where the name does not match the actual situation.

For example, "greedy, cool, for the people".Corruption can be determined according to the facts of official corruption, but in the Ming Dynasty, the punishment of corruption was relatively strong. Although it was stipulated that "the corrupt are for the people", in fact, those who committed major corruption were often punished severely. Only officials with a relatively small amount of corruption.In addition, once corruption is discovered, there is often no need to wait for Beijing to investigate, but to deal with it immediately.However, the "cool" behavior itself is difficult to determine. If you are "cool" due to official business, the punishment is often lighter;

Speaking of which, the reason why Hai Rui himself was impeached many times was "cool".However, "cool" doesn't sit well with the emphases of the highly pragmatic letter.

As for "old, sick, and official".Aging and illness are two items that are relatively easy to determine the standard, because both have accurate standards to measure, and have nothing to do with the main point of view in Gao Yushi's letter, let alone mention it.

Followed by "Don't be cautious, let go of softness, stay idle with the crown and belt".Resignation usually refers to an official who has done nothing or has a slightly bad character during his tenure. ", which means that the incumbent does nothing;
Another example: "Mr. (Zhang Mao) said: The ancients stood upright and set up the court, so it is too soft to give up." It means that there is a lack of conduct.Compared with the previous number of "items", imprudence is more difficult to characterize. Although the Ming court has some characterizations of imprudence: "Those who beg for entrustment will be dismissed with imprudence", but in fact " The scope covered by the word "unrepentant" can be greatly expanded.

It can be due to the lack of care in the conduct of officials, or the lack of care in the administrative process. Therefore, the title sometimes exerts its normal effect to punish officials who are not careful in words and deeds; sometimes it is used as a means of attacking political opponents.

For example, "Tutian Gengxu Examination. The branch school official Tang Binyin wanted to privately Han Jing, and then quarreled with the Zhigong Ju Wu Daonan in a prosperous manner. ... and investigation, the death note Bin Yin is not sincere."The imprecise note here is for the sake of practicality. It is imprudent to cover up students by a branch school official; it is even more imprudent in words and deeds to slander the superior.With this note, the name is justified.

Another example is Xu Dahua, "Using Beijing as an official, he rose up again and became the head of the Ministry of Industry. Sun Piyang ruled the Beijing, and he didn't care about leaving his post."According to Jingcha's common sense, once he was deposed, he would not be reused. Xu Dahua's relegation and resurgence is obviously the result of Bafu's strong support, so it is not an exaggeration to sit down.

However, there are also cases of attacking dissidents in the name of being unreliable. Take Ding Yuanjian (a Jinshi in the 14th year of Wanli) as an example. Criticized, the party is in harmony with it, and the court is full of turmoil. Those who can't solve it, the husband rises up and resists.... Stay in the middle and don't report it. Yimao returned to the book, and the words are too strong, and they don't report it. Ding Sijing inspected, So I cut my job because I didn't care."

Ding Yuan's imprudence in recommending him was not due to any fault of moral character, but because he offended the powerful, he was imprudent.Moreover, the punishment of dismissal is more important than "idle residence with crown belt". It can be seen that "Eight Orders" and "Four Divisions" are not closely related, and they can still vary according to the wishes of those in power.

Hai Rui thought about this point carefully, and felt that it could be related to virtue, so he couldn't help making a secret note in his heart.

As for "insufficient talent, impetuousness and superficial exposure, downgrade foreign appointments."Similar to "unrepentant", the two terms "insufficient in ability" and "impetuous and superficial" are also easily used by those in power because of their ambiguity in meaning.

As far as "talent is not enough", Feng Qi said: "I have never looked at it, and those who are not enough have two ends. Short talents cannot be overwhelmed, and strength is weak and cannot be shouldered. This is true for those who are not capable. There are also people who can do it." Being frivolous in nature, eager for speed, not proficient in things, and involving Zhou Zhang, this is not true talent and power, it is just talent but not good use of ears."

Because of its vague meaning, those in charge can use the "less than" clause to indulge officials within a reasonable range.Therefore, the term "insufficient ability" actually has a dual function.On the one hand, it is an important measure of the Ming court to protect talents. "The country cherishes talents, so among the few funds, those who are not enough are the most. ... If the person concerned wants to keep them, it is really a mistake; if he wants to abandon them, it is a pity. The talent is not enough, and the amount is not enough. Add and drop".On the other hand, the project is also often used as a means of crowding out political dissidents.

Hai Rui thought about it, and felt that this was not what he wanted to use, so he shook his head and gave up.

In this way, Hai Rui had a bottom line in his mind.He didn't care about Gao Wu's plans in Beijing, as long as his proposals were in line with his ideals of being an official, Mr. Hai was willing to fulfill them.

Moreover, Hai Rui felt that his body was not as good as it used to be. In the past two years, he had asked for a retreat, but was persuaded by the emperor's gentle words, so he had no choice but to persevere until today.If you can take this opportunity to correct your morals, it will be the best footnote for you to retire after success.

However, just as Hai Rui put down his pragmatic letters and was about to gather people to discuss specific matters in Nancha, another letter arrived.Mr. Hai took a look, and immediately narrowed his eyes.

"Wang Taicang?"
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(End of this chapter)