People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 547 Power is always the most tempting!
In the past, Captain Liu and Wang Dahai only thought that some scholars were particularly pretentious.

They don't focus on studying at all.

Sometimes they even use sweet words to curry favor with higher-ups or classmates with good connections.

At that time they were particularly aware of this phenomenon.

They also don't understand why this is happening.

They are all reading the books of sages, and clearly they are all doing so for the purpose of self-cultivation, governing the country and bringing peace to the world.

You scholars should keep yourselves clean and not bow to the powerful for the sake of good morals.

This is what people like you with good moral character should be like and this is the quality they should possess.

But why do we have to do this?
Today, from this scholar, they finally got an answer that was more in line with what they wanted to hear.

That is just as this scholar said.

Even the imperial examination system was considered relatively fair and just.

However, during elections, or in the entire process, there are many unfair phenomena.

That is, even if you become a small official, you still have to admit that there are people above you who have set a limit for you through their network of connections.

This limit cannot be seen or touched.

But he really exists.

This net is very strong.

Occasionally, a fish may slip through this net.

But how amazing must the talent of this fish be to be able to escape from this net?
Only then can we truly attract the attention of those at the top?

Even if this kind of person slips through the net and reaches the top level of officialdom, he has to accept such constraints.

He also had to work hard on this network.

Even have to integrate with them.

Because even if you use your talent as a spike, pierce the net, and then break free from it.

You will also find that your talent, which is like this awl, will always hit a wall.

After you hit a wall, you will find that sometimes you have to face the ways of the world.

This is not only a barrier in Sanfuqi, but also a barrier in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why the Duke wanted to carry out reforms and bring together channels for becoming an official from all aspects was to break these monopolies.

Because Chen Han knew very well that the reason why this kind of thing happened was because some officials became officials.

He forgot the pain he felt studying hard in his study, and he lost his empathy.

Because power is sweeter than any honey. After tasting this sweetness, he doesn't want to live those hard days anymore.

Similarly, he didn't want his descendants to live such a hard life.

Therefore, in order to preserve this right, he would do so even if he could not become emperor and even if he could not inherit these rights.

But they have ways to allow their descendants to obtain rights faster than others, and those things are their real trump cards.

So no matter how you reform, in the end the power will belong to them. This is their most powerful means, and other means are just child's play.

It is inevitable that powers will collude and form alliances with each other.

Even when this scholar himself said these words, there was a voice deep in his heart asking himself the same question.

If we have such a right, would we seek benefits in this way for the sake of our descendants?

His answer is yes.

Because this is human nature, and there is no way to change human nature.

Even the scholar who just said this immediately went to ask the scholars next to him.

“May I ask all the scholars present here, we are all colleagues, we are all scholars at the lowest level.

We once put in a lot of effort in order to pick the highest pearl above our heads.

We have studied hard among those broken bricks and tiles for more than ten years. I would like to ask all of you present here from the bottom of my heart.

Ask yourself, if you were given those rights, would you give them up easily?
Will you let go willingly?

Can you be as magnanimous as Buddha?
We can give up all these rights and allow more people from the bottom to come up.

It can allow those who are not as good as oneself to come up, and it can allow those poor people to come up.

And then you are willing to live a life of poverty?"

This question is really heartbreaking.

Because no one can do it, no one is a saint.

This is how the world is. When you are suffering, you can have empathy and resonate with all those who are suffering like you.

We can become hostile to those who are feeding on the blood of ordinary people and share the same hatred for the enemy.

But once you get involved in these rights, you will enjoy the convenience that comes with them.

After obtaining the benefits brought by those rights, or even the enjoyment that those powers bring to yourself, can you resist the urge to hold on to them tightly?
impossible.

It is human nature that it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. How can you go against your own heart?

It’s not because my heart is not firm enough.

It’s because life after gaining power is so good.

It's not just about self-esteem that can be maximized.

The people below would kneel down when they saw him.

Colleagues should be polite when they see you.

Even those people who were once high and mighty no longer dared to look down on me as they did before.

Maybe he still has to be polite to himself.

That kind of satisfaction of self-esteem is irresistible to anyone.

Except for the saints.

Moreover, even saints sometimes become confused because of the slight capriciousness of power that satisfies their vanity to a certain extent.

This is human nature.

After this scholar said this, all the scholars below fell silent.

Because as the speaker said, who can not think this way, who can bear it?
Who can be like a saint?
No.

So after the scholar saw this silence, he got the best answer.

So he looked at Wang Dahai and Captain Liu who were standing above him, and said slowly: "Generals, this is the answer, do you see it?
Why do we say that?
Why do we always find this a difficult task?

What would happen even if the imperial examination reform was successful?

Even if we all go to study for the imperial examinations, we take the exams for scholar, juren, and jinshi.

We take the exams one level at a time, but can we really achieve the ideal that our descendants can escape our current fate as you two said?
I don't think that's possible.

Because even ordinary people like us think that if we get power, we must let our children and grandchildren inherit it.

Then, will those powerful people who once firmly controlled these rights and those who have long enjoyed the convenience brought by power let go easily?

Perhaps now they are forced to give up their rights due to the military might and the strong measures of the Ming Dynasty. But once this kind of reform is implemented, I dare say that in ten years, no, let's say a little longer, fifteen or twenty years, they will fall into the same situation again.

At that time, those who once had money and power will still retain the right to hold official positions.

Even if they have to take the same exam, they have more means to ensure that their descendants have a better chance of passing and becoming officials than us.

When they become officials, they will be more familiar with using these rights than we are.

They can once again form factions in an instant and firmly hold on to their power as officials.

Even during the examinations, they might have officials who would directly charge the scholars, juren, and jinshi according to their previous networks of relationships.

It seems that even if there is peace and even if there have been reforms, the result is still the same. "

When he said these words, it was like a nail piercing the hearts of all ordinary people.

What a cruel reality.

What an unacceptable reality this is.

But this is such a bloody reality.

This is not something that can be brushed aside just because you don't want to accept it. This is the biggest rule of this cruel world.

The rule is that power and money can penetrate each other.

In the final analysis, it is because if you gain power you can get everything. The temptation is too great, and the rewards are too great, which will distort everyone's mind.

No matter how fair and just the official selection system is, there will always be a certain degree of official monopoly.

So this is the current situation that forces these scholars to compromise in the end.

At the same time, even after hearing about the Ming Dynasty's reforms that made it so powerful, they were still wary of it.

Because this is the reality they will face in the future.

After hearing this, Wang Dahai and Liu Baihu fell into silence.

Because it's not their problem.

This is not a problem with the place of Sanfuqi.

This was the biggest problem ever faced by the Central Plains dynasties.

This was the case with the Central Plains dynasty at that time.

Those officials collude with each other, and their children can become officials through various means.

You don't even need to bury your head in study like ordinary scholars.

When they thought of this, they actually felt some resentment deep in their hearts.

Fortunately, Chen Han's reforms not only prevented corrupt officials from rent-seeking power in the process.

What made many corrupt officials despair was that Chen Han directly broke the sacred and inviolable principles of saints.

It even directly caused Mr. Kong's family to disappear from this world.

It also proposed multiple channels for officials to make decisions.

Because this is the only way to avoid monopoly.

When this pool of water has other sources, it will definitely not become stagnant water.

When different sources flow into the same pool of water, they will compete with each other in order to make the pool of water the color they represent.

And the reason why they can't integrate.

On the one hand, it is because they represent different classes.

On the other hand, the biggest difference lies in their promotion systems.

If you want to get promoted as an administrator, you have to maintain peace in the area and make the economy prosperous.

What would you do if a craftsman became an official?

You have to complete decent projects and have technological breakthroughs.

These are two different levels of things.

One is concept administration and the other is technology.

Even if the two sides want to merge together, it is not only because their competition channels are different, but what makes them even more desperate is that even though their channels are different, the position is fixed.

Then they can only compete with each other.

They can only achieve success for each other and squeeze each other out, instead of colluding with each other.

Because they are in collusion with each other, they have no way to infiltrate each other.

We cannot allow those who are good at technology to become administrators. They will not be able to handle the situation well and they do not know how to manage.

It is impossible to let people who understand the principles of officialdom, human relationships, and administrative procedures engage in technology.

He doesn't know the difference between an adze, a chisel, an axe, and a saw.

He also didn't know where to use those things.

This is equivalent to the reason why two different technical jobs cannot penetrate each other.

This is the catfish effect.

Of course, Chen Han cannot guarantee that this catfish effect will continue forever.

The implementation of policies will always make different judgments as the situation changes.

It is absolutely impossible for a policy to remain unchanged for a thousand years.

It is possible that after hundreds of years, it will be discovered that the new policy has become rigid again, and then the imperial examination system will be restored.

After a few hundred years, things returned to Chen Han's new policy.

Adapting to changes in the environment, rather than letting the environment adapt to policy changes, is a flexible decision-making strategy.

This is also the experience that Chen Han must tell the younger generations.

So after Wang Dahai and Liu Baihu heard what the scholar said, they agreed with what he said.

Because the rigidity of a policy will lead to general interests, the vested interests will support this policy in order to protect their interests.

But why do they support this policy?

It's not because this policy benefits the country and the people, but because it benefits themselves.

Once a policy benefits only a few people, it becomes a bad policy.

So Wang Dahai didn't keep the suspense any longer and listened to the scholar's complaints.

Especially after listening to the general readers complaining about the bottlenecks that this policy would encounter, he said:
"What you said is so reasonable. What you can think of has actually happened countless times in our Central Plains Dynasty over the past thousands of years.

Just as the scholar said, the temptation that power brings to people is too great. After gaining power, everyone's mentality will undergo a drastic change.

They no longer empathize with those scholars who are still studying hard, they only think about how to protect their own rights.

So they will try every possible means to use the power in their hands to find a better path for their children and grandchildren.

The people who suffer the most in this process are ordinary scholars without any background.

So our Duke has also thought about this problem, and he has come up with a solution early on, which is currently the most reliable solution."

After hearing this, the scholars below immediately looked forward to it...

(End of this chapter)