Zhenguan Crown Prince Li Chengqian

Chapter 54 Merging Provincial Officials (1)

Chengqing Palace the next day

Li Shimin: "The foundation of governance lies in the trial. Appointment of talents according to their ability, and serve as provincial officials. If there are good ones, even if they are few, it is enough; if there are many bad ones, even if there are many, they will be ridiculed?" Confucius said: "The skin of a thousand sheep , not as good as a fox's armpit.' These are all contained in the classics, and cannot be specified.

These days, I have been thinking about some things, whether there is something wrong with the seven ministries and nine temple divisions in the three provinces of the Tang Dynasty, and some people still postpone the execution of the imperial edict.

Take this locust plague as an example. Although so many officials neglected their duties in disaster relief, if the prince hadn't dealt with them with thunderous means, there would be chaos in Guanzhong.

If it is a war, if you are so procrastinated, no matter how many soldiers you have, you will be defeated. Therefore, I decided to immediately save the officials.

Those officials who occupy official positions and have nothing to do, not to mention wasting the court's salary, abolishing the government, making troubles for nothing, and hindering each other, this is to harm the country and the people. "

Everyone in the palace knew that the locust plague in Guanzhong had completely exposed the problem of the imperial court's redundant staff.The prince had to use tough measures to deal with the famine, which also caused many officials to write letters to impeach the prince. In serious cases, they even said that the prince had the intention of rebelling, and they knew more or less what happened in Luoyang.In addition to the wonderful work of Zheng Shanguo, the emperor, who had hesitated for a long time, finally made up his mind to save the officials.

What surprised Li Shimin was that Wei Zheng, an old guy who usually doesn't rub his eyes with sand, didn't say anything. He lowered his head and didn't know what he was thinking, but Cen Wenwen, who had always been calm, was the first to stand up.

"Your Majesty, I think that the matter of merging officials should not be rushed. The locust plague in Guanzhong has just passed, and everything will be ruined. If we merge the officials now, I'm afraid there will be trouble."

"It is precisely because a lot of waste is waiting to be done, and the court has a lot to do, so we must solve this matter as soon as possible,"

Seeing the emperor's stubbornness, Cen Wenwen felt very headache, so he could only explain to the emperor the pros and cons of the provincial officials in detail, hoping to change Li Shimin's opinion, after all, it is not worth offending so many people with a few black hats.

"Since His Majesty insists on merging officials, we must go back to the source and find out where so many officials came from. The evil of redundant officials began in the beginning of Wu De, and it has been more than ten years.

After Emperor Wude raised his troops in Jinyang, in order to win over the officials of the previous dynasty and the local gentry, he had to appoint a large number of officials.According to the archives of the Ministry of Officials, on the way to enter Guanzhong, there was a record of hiring nearly a thousand officials one day.

Because so many people came out to serve as officials, what could have been done by one person now has to be entrusted to three, five, or even more people.

What Cen Wenwen said was true. In order to occupy Guanzhong as soon as possible and strive for hegemony in the world, Li Yuan hired all the officials and gentry who came to vote, and he didn't care about the talents and character of the officials, let alone the issue of redundant staff.

You must know that the Li family was just one of the heroes at that time, and they were not sure that they could defeat them and dominate the world.

However, it cannot be said that Li Yuan made a mistake, but all the princes at that time did it like this. In many places, they were officials under King Xia one day, and King Zheng’s army came the next day, and they immediately became King Zheng. loyal minister of

There are countless examples like this, and this is also the form of officialdom in troubled times, and it has been like this in all dynasties.

On the issue of official loyalty, Li Chengqian once asked Li Gang whether loyal officials are remembered by history because of their small number. Li Gang replied that they should not be used solely because of the clear water, and they should be used only because of the turbidity.

Yes, officials are human beings, and they have selfishness, which is why most officials choose to follow the crowd.

"That's right, it is said that Emperor Wude also had a deep understanding of the harm and had the idea of ​​merging officials." Before Fang Xuanling could finish speaking, Cen Wenwen immediately took over the words: "But Emperor Wude He did not do this matter, why, because Emperor Wude knew very well that conferring an official position is a means of winning people's hearts and consolidating imperial power. But taking off other people's black hat is to offend others.

Your Majesty, Emperor Wude created the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. In addition to his brilliance and martial arts, he also benefited a lot from the matter of conferring officials.It is not easy for Your Majesty to win over this kind of heart, but it is easy to lose it. "

Li Shimin fell into deep contemplation of what Cen Wenwen said. The officials in the DPRK and China are intertwined, and a little carelessness will cause turmoil in the court.

If there is no proper way, then doing what Cen Wenwen said is the only choice, but how can Li Shimin, who has always been strong, feel at ease.

After the meeting broke up, Li Shimin asked Li Chengqian to seek attention from Du Ruhui who was sick at home, while he himself wandered to the brightly lit Hongwen Hall, because the minister on duty at Hongwen Hall tonight was Changsun Wuji.

"Auxiliary machine, you have endured hard enough in the past few years. I have counted, and the documents you upload and distribute are at most 720 five copies a day."

The grandson endlessly smiled and said: "Your Majesty, you still remember so clearly, and I don't want to be like this, but there is no way.

You see that the government is so complicated now, there are so many officials, and many things need to be coordinated.Every day, when the papers and official documents come up to Hongwen Hall, the ministers must try their best to finish them.If I can't finish it until tomorrow, I don't know what troubles will happen. "

"I know that six out of ten of these are useless things, and the officials below use them to deal with the court. But this not only wastes your time, but also wastes a lot of my energy. You say this Can the affairs of provincial officials be accomplished if they are not implemented?" Li Shimin asked Changsun Wuji while looking at the case report.

"Today in the Chengqing Palace, I proposed to annex the provincial officials, but they all disagreed. There are no outsiders here now. Tell me the truth. I want to do this. Is it really wrong?"

Changsun Wuji smiled and then said: "Your Majesty is right, not only the minister knows that His Majesty is right, even the three of them must know that His Majesty is right."

He believes that these important ministers are absolutely loyal to him, and they are not ignorant of the dangers of redundant staff, but what is it for?

Li Shimin couldn't figure it out, so he asked, "If that's the case, why did they either object or keep silent?"

"Your Majesty, I thought that these three people had selfish intentions, and what Cen Wenwen said about Emperor Wude was actually alluding to His Majesty.

Emperor Wude appointed many former Sui officials for his own use, but when His Majesty first ascended the throne, he also appointed many old and old officials from Jiancheng and Yuanji.For example, Feng Li, Zhang Daozun, and Xue Wanche, etc.

Within one year of His Majesty's ascension to the throne, there were as many as a thousand candidates for officials in Chang'an. Liu Linpu, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, had no choice but to invite His Majesty to listen to the selection at four o'clock and to note the official positions.

During that period of time, as many as [-] officials were appointed, and most of these officials came from aristocratic families, and Cen Wenwen had always been friends with them.

Now that His Majesty wants to abolish these people, can Cen Wenwen not stand up and say something.As for Wei Zheng, he himself is a political enemy that His Majesty pardoned with a heart of virtue, so he had no choice but to remain silent on this matter.

As for Fang Xuanling, he has been praising military tactics for many years. If he strongly advocated the abolition of civil servants, the ministers of the court would inevitably say that he was unfair and unkind. "

(End of this chapter)