Rebirth of Wu Ba Spring and Autumn

An admonition official, also known as a speech officer or a wall official, is responsible for satirizing and discussing, and is used to guide the ruler. The main methods of supervision are admonishing and refuting, and reviewing edicts and chapters.

This group reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty.

According to the Ming system, the total number of people in this group is generally kept at around 200, which is the highest in history!

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty endowed the officials with extensive and important powers from the system.

Such as admonishing the emperor, controlling the way of speaking, impeaching hundreds of officials, inspecting localities, etc., generally all levels of yamen from the middle of the court to the local government.

From the emperor to hundreds of officials, from state affairs to people's livelihood, they are all within the scope of supervision and speech of speech officials.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty spokesperson had a unique identity and special powers, which could have a deterrent effect on the government and the opposition.

It's a pity that in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the nature of Yanguan changed greatly.

All kinds of speech officials risked their lives to give advice, and they were proud of being subjected to the imperial staff. If they were executed, they could still live forever...

Isn't this deformed?
Qingji had to take it as a warning.

After all, the authority of the speech officer is too special. Rumors and gossip, gossip, trivial things will be reported to the monarch, wouldn't it make Qingji busy to death?
Could it be that Qingji has to find fault for himself?

He's not a masochist!
"good."

Sitting on the Majesty's altar, Qing Ji waved his hands and said, "There is no need to discuss the matter of setting up a drum of remonstrance and a tree of slander!"

"As a ruler, one should be good at accepting advice and following good advice. There are so many virtuous ministers in the court, and there are thousands of scholars in Jixia Academy who dare to speak out. Why do you worry about being blocked?"

Hearing this, all the ministers could not help but kneel down one after another, shouting: "The Great King Mingjian! Great King Wannian!"

However, Zhi Su Nei Shi once pointed out that he did not intend to let Qing Ji go.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the drum of daring to remonstrate and the tree of slander need not be set up. However, beside the King, there should be admonishing ministers in the court, that is, officials who speak out!"

Zeng Dian obviously came prepared, held the Yahu, bowed to Qingji, and said loudly: "Whoever chooses an admonishing minister, you should put three things first: one is not to love wealth and honor, and the second is to cherish fame and integrity. , secondly, know how to rule the body!"

"A minister who is advocating for the country will forget his family, a man who is loyal but forgets his own body!"

"My minister agrees!"

"The minister waits for the second opinion!"

Ministers from the Confucian school such as Confucius, Ran Geng, and Zilu all knelt down one after another, begging Qingji to set up "official ministers".

The so-called admonishing ministers are actually exactly the same as speech officials.

In Yan Ying's memorandum to Qingji, he also proposed to set up "advocate ministers" to give advice to the monarch, so that the monarch can distinguish right from wrong, right from wrong, gains and losses, and then make corrections...

The starting point is good, but how can Qingji agree?

According to Zeng Dian, the selection criteria for this admonishing minister can be described as very harsh.

An admonishing minister must be upright and upright, outspoken and outspoken, without worrying about gains and losses, loving his body and securing his salary.

Thirdly, he has outstanding academic ability, not only familiar with the government affairs of all parties in the imperial court, insight into the pros and cons of trends, but also able to learn about ancient and modern times and draw lessons from history.

In addition, you must have a certain amount of official career experience and experience stability.

There are also specific requirements for age, origin, and ability in essays and speech defense...

All in all, character and talent are indispensable.

Those who can become admonishing ministers (speech officials) are a group of ruthless characters who are notoriously famous, such as Wei Zheng, Hai Rui and other famous ministers through the ages.

Can Qingji set up "official ministers" to correct the gains and losses of himself or future kings?

It's not impossible.

However, this made Qingji, who has always been proud and arrogant, slightly dissatisfied.

Compared with this system of admonishing ministers and officials, Qingji would rather set up a drum for remonstrance and a tree for slander.

Why?

The "Drum of Dare to Remonstrate" and the "Tree of Slander" have different forms but the same function.

"Admonition drum" and "slander wood" are the channels established by Yao and Shun to communicate with the people.

In modern terms, it is to open up the way of speaking, listen to public opinion, encourage the public to actively speak and advise, and consciously accept the supervision of the public.

The so-called Drum of Dare to Remonstrate means that Emperor Yao specially set up a drum in the court. If someone beats the drum to offer remonstrance, he will come out to receive remonstrance.

But the word "dare" in it also reveals its deep meaning:

One is that admonishers need to have the courage to speak out in person.

The second is that those who accept advice need to have the benevolence and mind to accept advice.

If one of the two is missing, the "remonstrance drum" will be reduced to a ostentatious decoration...

After Emperor Yao, Emperor Shun succeeded to the throne, and he made people set up a "slander tree" in front of the court.

The so-called "slander" here does not mean spreading rumors, slandering or malicious slander.

To speak out is to slander, to speak in a small way is to slander.

Expressing dissatisfaction publicly is called slander, and expressing dissatisfaction privately is called slander.

Therefore, the word "defamation" still has the meaning of admonition.

Shun set up "slandering wood" in order to let the people of the world express their criticisms and suggestions for improvement on it.

Compared with "remonstrance drum", the rise of "slander wood" shows that Li Shu's courage to beat the drum to speak out in person has faded, and he only dared to speak indirectly on "slander wood".

He even dared to offer advice in an anonymous form...

"inappropriate!"

This time, it was not Deng Xi who stood up to refute, but Yu Shi Zhong Cheng Bo Tong.

After seeing Qingji's delay in making a statement, Bo Tong knew that his monarch needed someone to stand up and "conquer the fire", so he stepped forward without hesitation.

I saw Bo Tong shouted righteously: "The king is the honor and disgrace of the rise and fall of a country, and the king is the country. What a noble status!"

"How can you make people criticize?"

"If there are pros and cons, there are pros and cons, you have your own judgment, and my king makes his own decision, so why do you need others to correct you?"

Upon hearing this, Zeng Dian couldn't help snorting, and said disdainfully: "Yushi Zhongcheng's words are wrong!"

"Everyone has no faults, and the faults can be corrected. There is nothing good about it!"

"Although your majesty is a king, he is also an ordinary person. Why can't there be admonishing ministers who dare to speak up and speak out from the sidelines to correct mistakes?"

"Ha ha!"

Bo Tong sneered and said, "To govern millet internal history, if you insist on letting the king set up a 'critical minister', my Bo Tong has no objection."

"It's just this admonishing minister, please let Bo Tong take up the post!"

"..."

What a dog!

The expressions on the faces of all the ministers and officials above the court can be described as very exciting.

Who is Bo Tong?
For a flattering and flattering minister, let him serve as the Adviser and Adviser, which means that this position is useless...

"Whether it's a drum of remonstrance, a tree of slander, or this admonishing minister, it doesn't matter if we don't set it up for the time being!"

Qingji waved his big hand and said, "If I have made any mistakes, the courtiers and officials should have the responsibility to speak up and speak out!"

"promise!"

Seeing that Qingji had made up his mind, it was inconvenient for the ministers to speak again.

Is Qingji acting self-willed like this?

Yes, no.

The speech officer system may be able to correct the faults of the monarch to a certain extent, allowing the monarch to distinguish right from wrong and make corrections.

However, if the official system develops to be as "deformed" as the Ming Dynasty, how can the king of Wu deal with himself in the future?
Furthermore, Qingji is currently dealing with a lot of affairs. As the monarch of a big country, he has a certain ability of self-discipline. There is really no need to add such a group of officials to make himself upset and uncomfortable...