Chapter 23 Four things that are difficult to succeed

We might as well compare Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng again. Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui are different people.Zhang Juzheng understands politics and is extremely capable; Hai Rui doesn't understand politics and is a little too emotional.Ordinarily Zhang Ju should not be unlucky.The reason why he was unlucky was that he not only wanted to be an official, but also wanted to do things, hoping to contribute to the empire, which was the same as Hai Rui.It's a pity that the empire doesn't need people to do things.It only wants to maintain the so-called long-term peace and stability under the premise of low levels and low standards of widespread poverty.Therefore, anyone who wants to do something will not be able to get good things from it, and those who are fooling around will have a prosperous official career.However, Zhang Juzheng himself also has a fatal weakness, that is, his moral level cannot be compared with that of Hai Rui.Hai Rui is always the same on the inside and outside, while Zhang Juzheng is duplicity and inconsistency in words and deeds.Although this was not the root cause of his liquidation after his death, it was the direct cause.

The little emperor Wanli respected and feared Zhang Juzheng originally.One of the reasons is that Zhang Ju is a model of morality in his mind.In ancient Chinese education, the most important thing was moral education.To be the emperor's teacher, one must put moral education at an overwhelming height.Our empire is governed by morality and etiquette.If the emperor himself cannot be virtuous and courteous, what will happen to the common people in the world?Therefore, Mr. Zhang attached great importance to the little emperor's moral education, and repeatedly told him that a ruler must be kind, tolerant, thrifty, and diligent, and he should not do whatever he wants, nor play with things and lose his mind.

But what about Zhang Juzheng himself?The whistleblower reported to the emperor: His daily life was very pompous and his life was extremely extravagant.A few years ago, the little emperor heard that Mr. Zhang was going to renovate his house. Considering that the teacher’s official salary was not high, he gave 1,000 taels of silver as a subsidy. Unexpectedly, this renovation actually cost 10,000 taels of silver. Where did the money come from? here?What's more, his luxurious residence is full of jewelry, calligraphy and paintings, and has many stunning beauties. Where did these things and people come from?The little emperor was also told that in the sixth year of Wanli (1578 A.D.) when Zhang Juzheng returned to his hometown to bury his father, he sat in a sedan chair carried by 32 people, which was divided into a bedroom and a dining room, and two children waited on him.The reception along the way is also costly.There are a hundred dishes for each meal, and Zhang Juzheng actually said that there is no room for chopsticks.As for the enjoyment of various other sensual pleasures, it is nothing.

This accusation is very accurate.Wanli's anger was immediately aroused.The young emperor recalled many past events: During Zhang Juzheng's ten years in the country, although he was known as the emperor and rich all over the world, he was actually poor and penniless.Sometimes if you want to reward a court lady with a few small money, you can only give an IOU, just like the most grassroots township cadres in China hundreds of years later.Once he just played a game with a few young eunuchs and asked two court ladies to sing a ditty (actually they didn't sing), so he was almost abolished and replaced by the emperor's younger brother Lu Wang.In order to show his filial piety to his mother, he wanted to decorate the Queen Mother's palace, but Zhang Juzheng stopped him, and he also talked about a lot of principles of loving the people and cherishing things.However, this sanctimonious Zhang Juzheng expanded his own selfish desires while restricting the emperor's selfish desires, and took advantage of it.For this alone, it should be killed by a thousand knives!

Under such a background, Hai Rui's comeback undoubtedly has special significance. Wanli and Shen Shixing must have hope for Hai Rui's coming out again.Because to be honest, in the whole country, I am afraid that there are not many officials who are truly clean and honest like Hai Rui.Therefore, they hope that Hai Rui can become a role model, a role model, or at least a symbol and an embellishment.On this point, shishihang seems to be very clear-headed.He wrote to Hai Rui and said: "Grandfather Wei lived in the mountains and forests for a long time, and he was a que Dian in the holy dynasty." This is obvious: the old man has always lived in the country, and he doesn't know much about the court and officialdom.However, since it is a holy dynasty with clear politics, there cannot be no honest officials like my brother.The subtext is actually very clear: just do the decoration, don't cause any trouble!

Hai Rui also had worries about his third reinstatement.He repeatedly asked himself: After I come out, what can I do, what should I do?Is it like Wei Heng of the Han Dynasty who said something innocuous like "thousands of court ladies can be damaged; tens of thousands of stable horses can be reduced"?Years of experience have made him no longer optimistic about the future. However, Hai Rui is Hai Rui after all.Despite not holding out much hope, he has continued to create a clean government whirlwind as usual.In addition to taking various clean government measures, he once again pointed the finger at the emperor.He wrote to Wanli and said: If the governors of all provinces are corrupt, can corruption be banned?If all ministries in the central government are blackmailing, can the blackmail be stopped?If you can't tell right from wrong at the feet of the emperor, is there any hope for fighting corruption?In this memorial, he also proposed that a clean government should start with the emperor, such as whether there should be so many resentful women (referring to court ladies) and Kuangfu (referring to eunuchs) in the palace.Of course, he did not let go of those corrupt officials.He pointed out that the reason why the dynasty was relatively clean and honest during the founding of the country was because of the severe punishments, corruption and bribery of eighty times, so it was necessary to peel off the real grass.Nowadays, if we really want to eradicate corrupt ink, we must use heavy codes.

This troublesome memorial once again set off an uproar, and the memorials to impeach Hai Rui flew to the imperial court again.It's just that this time the attack has a new trick: accusing Hai Rui of being a hypocrite. Hai Rui, a moral role model who is consistent with what he says and what he says, is accused of being a hypocrite, which is a dramatic thing in itself.At the same time, it also shows how far the morality of the time has fallen. Fortunately, Hai Rui walked upright and stood upright, his integrity was impeccable, and Emperor Wanli was not too confused.After the attackers and defenders debated for a while, Wanli stated: "Hai Rui has repeatedly recommended, so he made a special edict to use it briefly. The recent article Chen Severe punishment said that there is a good government, and it refers to my bow, and the words are too roundabout. Stupid, I've already given you a lot." As for Hai Rui's work arrangement, he also agreed with the Ministry of Officials' opinion: the position should be retained, but there should be no duties.Wanli's instructions said: Hai Rui "is not the director of the government's work, but it is used to suppress elegance and vulgarity and encourage decadence.This is very absurd and funny: people with high integrity can only "repress elegance and vulgarity, encourage decadent style" (to put it bluntly, just make decorations) instead of "doing things for the authorities". Take on this important task?It seems that His Majesty the Emperor himself has lost confidence in the so-called "ruling the country by virtue".

Hai Rui must have been extremely sad when he saw His Majesty's Zhu Zhu.Because this not only means that he himself has become a decoration of the empire, but even the principles of ethics, benevolence, righteousness and morality, which were previously regarded as the foundation of the country, are also regarded as the decoration of the empire.So he submitted his resignation to the emperor seven times in a row, but each time he was rejected by the imperial approval.This is tantamount to hanging him there without dying.There is nothing greater than heartbreak, not to mention that Hai Rui is now an old man in his seventies.It didn't take long for him to die in office depressed and unhappy.

In fact, Hai Rui didn't need to be so sad.Because what he wants to do is originally difficult to accomplish.Hai Rui felt a little bit about this.As early as sixteen years ago, when he resigned from office, he said: "This world has done a great job!" If so, why do he do it! Hai Rui was born in 1515 and died in 1587. After Hai Rui's death, the people of Nanjing rushed to tell each other, as if mourning a concubine.On the day of the funeral, many shops automatically closed to express their condolences.Many ordinary people who were not acquainted with Hai Ruisu and were neither relatives nor relatives also went to attend the funeral.The mourners, dressed in white and crowned in white, could not stop mourning, and the winding procession was more than a hundred miles long.

It seemed that Hai Rui was finally able to go down in history as an upright official and a tough guy.But that wasn't his original intention.His original wish was to eradicate corruption and restore morality.However, the root of corruption and moral degradation lies in the system, even ten thousand Hai Rui will not help.