unclear

Chapter 313 Is it better to have clear water or muddy water?
"During this period, send more people to the gates of various prefectures in the capital to write down the names of those who are being welcomed and sent away. It would be better if you can find out what was sent and how much was sent, but don't make a big fuss."

This time Hong Tao still chose to strike later. Naturally, when tribute envoys from other countries came to Beijing, they would be received by the Ministry of Etiquette. It would be a guilty conscience for the emperor to ask more.But foreign inspection is a national matter, and it is not normal for an emperor to ask less than a few questions.

"... I understand, my servant, but long live my lord, will this cause public anger?"

The specific executors are of course Wang An, who controls the East Factory, and Wang Zhizhen, the commander of the Jinyiwei.The two men took orders one after another. Wang Zhizhen left, but Wang An stayed. He still had something to say.

He knew why the emperor issued such a strange order. He was trying to catch the officials again.During every inspection, some of the palaces of Beijing officials will be more lively than during the Chinese New Year. There will be an endless stream of people coming and going from morning to night, and many officials from other places will come in and out.

Whether you are visiting a colleague’s house, walking around in a fellow department member’s home, or chatting with an old leader, you must not go empty-handed.What gifts to bring and how much to bring are all college questions.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, the external inspection is presided over by the Ministry of Personnel and the Metropolitan Inspection Yuan, and all officials in the establishment who are not serving in the two capitals are evaluated for their work.

The results were divided into three categories: competent, ordinary, and incompetent. Incompetence also included eight categories: greedy, cruel, impetuous, incompetent, old, sick, quit, and careless.Once the assessment results are announced, incompetent officials will be punished by being dismissed from their posts, demoted, or left idle to serve the people.

External inspection was a rule established by the Hongwu Dynasty, which was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang.I don’t know if he is too optimistic, has a simple nature, or is stupid. He actually believes that officials can evaluate officials fairly. He is stunned to use the system to investigate the system, and he plans to play a game of left-hand and right-handed fighting.

The result is naturally predictable. There are many problems among officials. The unspoken rules in the officialdom are improving day by day. This is equivalent to finding a reasonable and legal excuse for power-seeking rent, allowing officials who do not want to be corrupt to have a lot of opportunities without any effort. made money.

No one is a saint, and real money is walking around in front of their eyes all day long. As long as one person reaches out and takes it without being severely punished, other officials will eventually reach out.This is human nature, it’s unavoidable.

By the time of the Wanli Dynasty, the external inspection was no longer an assessment of officials by the court, but had become a arena for various factions in the court.Whichever faction controls the voice of the foreign police will 100% use its power to raise a butcher's knife against the hostile faction.

Officials from hostile factions, the better their character, the higher their official reputation, the more qualified they are at work, and the more things they do to benefit the country and the people, the more tragic their end will be.If we don't get rid of this kind of officials, wouldn't it mean that all of us are extremely idiots, extremely stupid, and extremely unqualified?

Li Zhi and Yuan Keli were all frustrated in this way, including Shen Yiguan, Shen Li, Li Tingji, Hu Guifang and others, who also suffered such losses when they first entered officialdom.

It's just that their choices are different. The former is unwilling to compromise and would rather give up the power in his hands and go home to be idle; the latter is good at adapting and changes his original intention in order to become an official and gain power, turning from a victim into a perpetrator.

And for those officials who do not have obvious factional positions, the external inspection cannot play a role in selecting virtuous people.Do you want to be rated as a competent official and have a prosperous career?Do you want to turn ordinary into competent?Do you want to avoid the fate of being demoted for being incompetent?
Take money. If you give enough money, as long as you are not treason or are not caught for treason, you can transform from a corrupt official who is causing harm to the local area to a role model in the officialdom with a stroke of a pen.When it’s time to rise high, when it’s time to get rich, don’t delay anything.

Even if the emperor knew about it, there would be nothing he could do. After all, the emperor could not examine thousands of officials one by one. He did not have so much energy, manpower, and effective supervision methods.

In this way, it will be much easier for officials to serve as officials. They do not need to learn new knowledge, strengthen their own abilities, and work hard to do practical things. They only need to serve the superiors comfortably, get good reviews, and find ways to save more money. When the critical moment comes, don't be short of money, and you can get promoted step by step.

In this kind of environment, who among the officials is willing to consider the people under their rule?Love whether you have enough to eat or not, love whether you have a place to live, love whether you freeze to death, love whether you have any grievances.

The common people are comfortable, but it is hard for officials to do their jobs.Managers want more tax, the better, and the people want not to pay a penny of tax. Managers want more power, the better, and the people look forward to Bao Qingtian. Their positions are completely opposite.Now it's okay, you can legitimately not treat the people as human beings, bully them if you want, harvest them if you want, as long as you can get money, you can still be considered competent if you rule all the beggars.

Of course, the principle is this, but there are still many routines to implement.For example, cheating and brainwashing. After all, if the people under the rule rise up and turn into bandits every day, it will not end well if the matter becomes big.

Is this a good rule?Wang An knew it was not good, but since it was an official rule, no one could change it at will. For more than 200 years, tens of thousands of officials in the Ming Dynasty, including millions of their relatives and friends, all relied on this set of rules to eat and drink.

In addition to officials, these people were gentry from all over the country. They were either powerful or rich, and they were the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.Anyone who wants to change the rules will destroy these people's jobs.

This is not comparable to the extension of grace orders and new disaster relief laws. It is not even comparable to the opening of the sea and the New Deal.It was really a fight to the death, and even the emperor would not be spared.

"..." The emperor said nothing, and touched his chin with his hand, lost in thought.

"Long live my lord, if the water is clear, there will be no fish!" Seeing that it was effective, Wang An quickly made his tone more distressed and his expression more sorrowful, trying to show that his position was not on the side of the officials, but for the sake of the emperor. .

"If the water is clear, there will be no fish; if the people are careful, there will be no disciples! I haven't read much since I was a child. I can't remember where it comes from, but I know its meaning. You can't be too harsh in life, and you can't be too harsh in treating others. It's right. . As long as you are a human being, you will have shortcomings. Whether you are an official or a friend, you must be able to tolerate the shortcomings of others and make good use of the advantages.

But using this sentence in officialdom is not only inappropriate, but also has ulterior motives.Is the current Ming Dynasty officialdom a little turbid?Are all officials required to be saints?I just don’t want the water of the Ming Dynasty to turn into mud and the officials to become rats.

If I can't even do this, how can I have the dignity to pretend to be the emperor?God has entrusted me with such an important task. Could it be that I came to the Ming Dynasty to indulge corrupt officials and harm the people? "

From Wang An's point of view, this persuasion is 100% correct.But Hong Tao was annoyed by these wise sayings, because they were copied by officials of all dynasties in order to shirk their responsibilities, and used the words of the ancients to silence future generations.

What the ancients said is correct, but if used in the wrong place, it will be misinterpreted.Similar to the saying that if the water is clear, there will be no fish, it sounds reasonable, but it is used to require personal morality, that is, private morality.Using it to measure public morality is not only inappropriate, but also has ulterior motives.

As a ruler, when setting goals, you cannot go to the lower limit, because it is impossible to be perfect during the execution process, and you must leave room for it.

In other words, if the best is 10 and the worst is 1, when setting a goal, it should be set to 10 and strive for perfection.In the end, it can't be perfect, but I can make do with an 8, which is considered good.If I had made an 8 when setting the goal, I would estimate that a 6 would be good in the end, barely passing.

If you think about it when setting goals, there will be no fish if the water is clear. In order to save trouble, worry and safety, mix right and wrong with each other, turn a blind eye and pretend not to see, and the result may not even be 5, which is completely wrong. Pass.

"...This slave is shallow, long live the Lord to calm down!" These words directly made Wang An lie down, kowtowing like garlic.

The power of God is truly unpredictable. The emperor who usually ignored secret operations in exchange for benefits suddenly became righteous and righteous. This thing made his subordinates think hard, and his personality changed faster than menopause!

(End of this chapter)