Chapter 95 Three mirrors to learn from others——Tang Taizong and Wei Zheng

In the first month of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, at the beginning of the new year, the ice and snow on the royal road outside the Taiji Palace (the imperial city of the Tang Dynasty) had not disappeared, and the envoys and servants who came and went looked at each other on the road.They sent something to a person's home under the order of Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty.The things they send are various and varied, ranging from cassia seed (a traditional Chinese medicine that can improve eyesight), wolfberry, chrysanthemum, ginseng and other medicinal supplements to meals such as roasted deer tail, stewed duck with wine, and roasted goose. , these things are all sent to the same person's home, the emperor will think of one or two things every few minutes, and will send his internal officials to send things to this person's home, the emperor is not bored, these courtiers Naturally, he did not dare to slack off and complain.In fact, they had nothing to complain about. It is said that General Li Anyan, the dignified Qianniuwei Zhonglang of the imperial court, was even more unlucky. He was ordered by the emperor to stay at this person's house every night so that he could report the situation of this person to the emperor at any time.

In the first month of this year, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty from the three provinces and six ministries to the nine temples and twelve guards were all in a state of anxiety. On the one hand, it was because the crown prince Li Chengqian, who had been the crown prince for seventeen years, was in shambles. After suffering from illness and dying, Wei Tuo, the protector of Zhenguan rule, is about to pass away... In Chinese history, Wei Zheng is a well-known figure. The story between him and Tang Taizong Li Shimin has been regarded as a model of the relationship between emperors and ministers by emperors and ministers for more than a thousand years.Confucianists who believe in loyalty, filial piety and righteousness seem to have intentionally ignored this person's personal history of Li Mi, Dou Jiande, Li Jiancheng, and Li Shimin, just because this person's name is closely associated with the reign of Zhenguan that has shined through the ages.

After Wei Zheng's death, Tang Taizong Li Shimin, who was full of sadness, said something like this to Fang Xuanling, the famous minister of Zhenguan: "Using copper as a mirror can straighten people's clothes; using history as a mirror can understand the reasons for the rise and fall of dynasties; By using people as mirrors, you can understand your own gains and losses. Now that Wei Zheng is dead, I have lost a mirror!" (Shang Sizheng is endless, saying that Liang Gong said: "People use copper as a mirror to straighten their clothes, and ancient times as a mirror , you can see the ups and downs, use people as a mirror, you can know the gains and losses; Wei Zheng is gone, I am dead by a mirror!")

Later people's understanding of Wei Zheng was generally from the perspective of his "offensive face and direct remonstrance".In fact, it is generally not wrong to say that Wei Zheng is an "admonishing minister". He did have the official position of "advising doctor", and he did uninterruptedly exercised the position of bluntly speaking to the emperor in the last seventeen years of his life. However, if Wei Zheng is defined as an "admonisher" based on these two points alone, he will be blinded by Mount Tai. Wei Zhengsheng was in the era of the end of Sui Dynasty and the beginning of Tang Dynasty, when there were many heroes in the world. He followed four lords with different backgrounds, knowledge and dispositions. His experience was quite representative among the intellectuals of that era.And such a figure can be set up as a model of the scholar-bureaucrat class in the hundreds of years after that, at least it shows the fact that in that era, Chinese intellectuals generally believed that their contributions to the country (the world) were far higher through personal loyalty to the monarch.Wei Zheng once said this very frankly to Tang Taizong after paying homage to the prime minister: "Good ministers are not only famous themselves, but also the monarch can be famous all over the world, and even their descendants can pass on the same. Loyal ministers are different. They Facing the imperial court and offending the Son of Heaven, they were killed as a result, and their monarch was also given a bad reputation as a foolish monarch. In the end, the country was destroyed and the family was destroyed, leaving only the name of honesty. Everyone is a cautious gentleman. Prosperity is difficult to guarantee, so I would rather be a good minister of His Majesty than a loyal minister of His Majesty."

The era in which Wei Zheng lived was an era in which the gentry clan system was gradually declining.In this era, the traditional clan political system is gradually disintegrating, and the system of Sangong Jiuqing, which has been used for more than 800 years, needs to be reformed urgently.The situation that the gentry and the royal family ruled the world together in the heyday of the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties is facing an unprecedented challenge.Yang Jian, the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty, was the first real dictator in Chinese history. He not only completely abolished the separation of palaces and palaces since the pre-Han Dynasty, in which the emperor owned the world’s prime ministers and opened the mansion to govern the world, but also creatively established the influential The foundation of China's 799 Three Provinces and Six Ministries System.

The emperor, known for his diligence in Chinese history, was not only to be the chairman of the family business in the Sui Dynasty, but also to be the general manager in person, combining the ownership and management rights of the world.We also have to admit that his pioneering work required extraordinary courage and diligence. In fact, this emperor who rejected the restriction of imperial power by relative power was a ruler with extremely strong self-discipline. In the past few decades, the world has gradually moved from a disintegrated north-south confrontation to unification, from the plight of people's livelihood to a prosperous economy and a strong military.Yang Jian does not need any constraints and restrictions from the outside world, because his self-control is extraordinary and extraordinary.

However, this kind of restriction based on individual self-discipline is not an institutional restriction after all. If it can be prospered according to people, it can naturally be abolished according to people.The successor of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, was just a national leader with high talent but extremely poor self-control ability. It took almost no effort to completely destroy the situation of the country that had already entered a virtuous circle. From a historical point of view, Yang Guang himself may not have the potential to become a wise monarch. He himself does not lack experience in governing the country and conducting military struggles, and his qualifications are also excellent.However, these innate advantages of the emperor gradually turned to the opposite after he took over the country because of the lack of necessary constraints.In ancient times, as the supreme leader of the government, the prime minister was highly respected and his power was protected by the system itself. Unless extremely special circumstances occurred, the monarch could not interfere too much with the prime minister's administration; while in the Sui and Tang dynasties In the past, the position of prime minister was often held by the patriarch or an important member of a certain big family who enjoyed high prestige among the gentry in the world, which ensured the power base of the prime minister on the other hand.However, this power model was basically deconstructed after the unremitting efforts of successive dynasties to expand the monarchy and restrain the prime minister's power and the earth-shaking political system reform of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty.Therefore, when Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty began to implement his whimsical but costly military plan, there was no mechanism or group of scholar-bureaucrats within the regime that could effectively restrict his power.

It can be said that the demise of the Sui Dynasty was not accidental. When the imperial power took over the government's management of the country, and the imperial power itself did not have enough strength to exercise this management power normally, what appeared in this country would be a fact Anarchy on the ground.The fact that the Eighteenth Routes of the Sui Dynasty rose up against the queen was precisely the inevitable result of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty's large-scale strengthening of imperial dictatorship.The reforms of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty completely deconstructed Xiangquan as the core component of the central government, but in fact greatly weakened the decision-making ability and operational efficiency of the central government, which led to local officials becoming de facto princes.This point was not fully reflected in the Yang Jian era. The emperor covered it up with his own excellent decision-making ability and operational efficiency. However, after Yang Jian passed away in the Daxing Palace, the situation in the world began to quietly go in another direction. go……

Wei Zheng was born in such an era. He witnessed how Yang Jian gained power by weakening the prime minister, and he also witnessed how Yang Guang lost his country due to lack of effective restraint.It can be said that the life of this future Zhenguan celebrity experienced the whole process of the Sui Dynasty from troubled times to prosperous times, and then from prosperous times to troubled times.Today we can no longer determine how much these turbulences that occurred in that era brought about a great ideological shock to this traditional scholar from Julu, Hebei, but we can confirm that when Wei Zheng came to Chang'an and was taken by Li Shimin's side to serve Afterwards, his almost inhuman "high standards and strict requirements" for this eternal sage may not be aimless.

Wei Zheng was appreciated by the new chairman of the Datang family business after the Xuanwumen Incident, but this new boss, who was a bit impatient from his personal resume, did not directly appoint him as the prime minister, but instead appointed him as the prime minister. Pin's Prince Zhan is in charge.This position belongs to the Eastern Palace system, and it is insignificant in terms of rank or real power. However, for Wei Zheng, who lived from June to August in the ninth year of Wude (AD 626), this position was indeed an important position with great weight. In the Tang Dynasty, the organization directly serving the crown prince in the East Palace of the Tang Dynasty was Prince Zhan Shifu, whose highest leader was Prince Zhan Shi of the third grade.The Prince Zhan Shi’s master book is actually the full-time assistant of the Prince Zhan Shi in copywriting, and it can also be understood as the office director of the Prince Zhan Shi’s mansion. All documents related to the prince are kept or even directly handled by him.This is a position similar to that of the prince's confidential secretary.When Wei Zheng was in office, it happened that Li Shimin had just launched the Xuanwu Gate Change, killed the former prince Li Jiancheng, and hurriedly assumed the position of crown prince. Wude Emperor Li Yuan had not officially abdicated.From Li Shimin's becoming the prince to Li Yuan's formal abdication, in more than two months, Li Shimin took over the military and political power of the country as the prince, and actually exercised the power of the emperor.Therefore, almost all the work that Wei Zheng, the prince Zhan Shizhu, came into contact with was closely related to military affairs.

After Li Shimin ascended the throne, he promoted Wei Zheng to be an "advising doctor" in the province. This is a real position of admonishing officials. It can be said that it is right and wrong, and it is a bit similar to the later generations of censors.This is also the fundamental reason why the vast majority of people in later generations regard Wei Zheng as an "admonisher".However, in fact, his "advising doctor" is concurrently the official of Shangshu Youcheng. Shangshu Youcheng is a fourth-rank official. Shoot both leaders.This is a position that needs to be on duty at the government center in accordance with the system to handle daily affairs. The work this position is responsible for is also related to the country's major policies. Therefore, it is not Wei Zheng's main job to advise the emperor as a "advising doctor". It was just a "part-time job", and Wei Zheng's time in this position was actually not very long. In the third year of Zhenguan, he was promoted by the emperor as secretary supervisor and allowed to "participate in government affairs". There was a fixed number of prime ministers in the Zhenguan year. According to the official positions of the country, only the chiefs of the three provinces of Shangshu, Menxia, ​​and Zhongshu were counted as true prime ministers.Among these three provinces, Shang Shuling, the chief minister of Shangshu Province, was no longer granted to ministers after Tang Taizong ascended the throne because he had previously served as the minister.Shangshu Province is headed by two deputy chiefs, left and right servants; Menxia Province has two chiefs, called Shizhong; Zhongshu Province has two chiefs, called Zhongshuling.That is to say, in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, all officials could only be regarded as real prime ministers if they held one of the positions of Shangshu Zuopushe, Shizhong, and Zhongshuling.At that time, in order to make it easier for the governors of the three provinces to discuss the country's major affairs together, the emperor specially opened a special meeting room in Menxia Province in the imperial city, called "Zhengshitang".Since only six chiefs from the three provinces are eligible to enter the political affairs hall to discuss military and state affairs, and these six chiefs are all actual prime ministers, this place is naturally regarded as the place where the prime ministers discuss politics by default. Although Wei Zheng's "Secretary Superintendent" is nominally the chief of the Secretary Province, one of the six provinces of the inner court, his actual rank is only four ranks, and his status is far from comparable to the three provinces of Shangshu, Menxia, ​​and Zhongshu. According to the system, he has no Qualified to enter the political affairs hall to discuss national affairs with the prime ministers.Fortunately, however, he met a boss who was endlessly innovative in systems, and with a single order, he solved the problem without any effort. Soon after Li Shimin ascended the throne, in order to allow more important court officials to participate in the discussion of national affairs, he added terms such as "participate in government affairs", "discuss gains and losses", "inform political affairs", and "balance the national economy" to some trusted ministers. They are allowed to enter the political affairs hall to attend the prime minister's meeting and express their views and opinions on military affairs.Therefore, although Wei Zheng's position as secretary and supervisor is not a real prime minister, he can enter the political affairs hall to participate in the prime minister's meeting in the name of "participating in government affairs".These different titles developed to the end of Tang Dynasty and the beginning of Song Dynasty, and gradually formed a unified regulation. For example, in the Song Dynasty, the post of "Shenzhizhengshi" was the de facto deputy prime minister.The author believes that Wei Zheng's time to pay homage to the prime minister should not be counted from May of the sixth year of Zhenguan when he was appointed as a servant, but from the third year of Zhenguan when he participated in the government as a secretary supervisor. The Secretary Province in the Tang Dynasty was actually an institution in charge of important documents of national archives. Although it did not have direct intervention power in the country's affairs, it was also an important functional department that had direct contact with the government's central work.Wei Zheng worked in the position of secretary supervisor for about three years. In the sixth year of Zhenguan, he was ordered by Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty to inspect the school servant (that is, to temporarily exercise the power of servant), and has since officially become the chief of the province, a veritable prime minister. In March of the following year, Li Shimin officially worshiped Wei Zheng as his servant.In the eleventh year of Zhenguan, Wei Zheng resigned because of his eyesight, but Li Shimin refused. Although he was dismissed from the post of servant, he was ordered to "know the door and save trouble" by special admission.That is to say, from May of the sixth year of Zhenguan to the death of Wei Zheng in the first month of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, this minister who prided himself as a good minister was in charge of Menxia Province for a full ten years and eight months, and during this period, there were six years and three months. He alone served as the governor of the province under his door. In the early Tang Dynasty, the three provinces of Shangshu, Menxia, ​​and Zhongshu had a very clear division of functions.The so-called decree from the Zhongshu, refutation from the door, and implementation by the Shangshu have actually formed a standardized process for national policy documents from drafting to review and approval to implementation.Among the three provinces, the function of the Zhongshu Province is to draft the imperial edict according to the emperor's opinion or the resolution of the political affairs hall; the function of the Menxia Province is to review the edict drafted by the Zhongshu Province. The dissent sent the imperial edict back to be rewritten; and the function of Shangshu Province, which was originally the most powerful and respected among the three provinces, was rigidly limited to the word "execution". In fact, the functions of the Menxia province during the Zhenguan period were much broader than the word "false refutation". The author summarized the main functions of the Menxia province as the following three items: Examination, refutation and issuance; second, review and refutation of the six ministries of Shangshu Province; third, in charge of the emperor's royal treasure. It can be said that the three main functions of the Menxia Province during the Zhenguan period of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty were all closely related to the ultimate power of the country.The imperial edict issued by the emperor to the six ministries of the imperial court had to be reviewed by Menxia Province, and the edict would only come into effect after being counter-signed and sealed by the servant. As long as he disagrees with the content of the edict, he can refuse to countersign it. Without his countersignature, Li Shimin's edict is just a piece of waste paper that cannot take effect.If the officials of Menxia Province think that the content of the edict is inappropriate during the review process, they can directly alter the edict and send the altered edict back to Zhongshu Province. This process is called "painting and returning". Before the Year of Zhenguan, the core of the system of three provinces and six ministries was Shangshu Province, which governed all six ministries. After the Year of Zhenguan, since Pei Yan became prime minister, Zhongshu Province gradually became the core of the three central provinces.During Li Shimin's administration, the Menxia Province, which was in charge of the transfer of documents and held the power to deny and review, was the core of the Tang court. The chief of Menxia Province became the de facto Prime Minister of the Tang Empire. The Zhenguan period was actually an era in which famous ministers came forth in large numbers, whether it was Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui who were known as "Fang Mou Duan", or Li Jing, a generation of war god who was in general and prime minister, or a leader who had a close relationship with Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty. The eldest grandson Wuji, the head of the twenty-four heroes of the Yan Pavilion, can be regarded as an unparalleled figure of a generation.However, in the history books, it was Wei Zheng, the "remonstrant minister" who kept talking about Taizong's blunt crimes, who accompanied Li Shimin in the history books and became the model for the ruler and ministers of Zhenguan.In fact, we should have realized that behind this strange fact, the truth is by no means as simple as a certain Youdao Mingjun who is open-minded and open-minded. Regardless of Wei Zheng's uprightness or Wei Zheng's "loyalty", in fact, neither of them is the real reason for him to be among the ranks of eternal fame as an "admonisher". Behind the will, there are actually extremely strong institutional factors at play.Since ancient times, there have been many admonishing officials, and there are not a few who dare to offend Yan Zhizhi and criticize Longlin. Why is it that only one old master Wei has achieved his eternal fame? The malicious conjecture is as follows: On a certain day of a certain year in Zhenguan, His Majesty Emperor Taizong had a big dispute with Prime Minister Wei. I just don’t listen to you!” Prime Minister Wei bowed silently, stroked his beard, turned around, and started walking... The provincial official seal tied around his waist with a straw rope swayed leisurely with the Prime Minister’s duck steps. Unspeakably relaxed and endlessly leisurely, the left servant of Shangshu She Liang Guogong Fang Xuanling remonstrated with a bitter old face: "If your majesty does not accept Wei Zheng's words, he will definitely not sign the imperial edict. The official seal is fingerprinted, and the seal under the door is missing, how can the Minister of the Ministry of Finance receive the imperial edict?" His Majesty the Emperor heard the words, pondered for a long while, and sat on the table like a deflated ball... To be bound in a cocoon, to be self-defeating by the law, to be forgiven by the heavens, to be self-inflicted, not to be able to live... A generation of sages screamed in their chests... So we say that Wei Zheng during the Zhenguan period was by no means just an "admonisher", and his influence on the government and even the entire Tang Dynasty was far greater than that of several other famous prime ministers of the same era.Among the prime ministers during Li Shimin's period, the only one who can be compared with Wei Zheng in terms of influence is Changsun Wuji, who ranks first among the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion. Cheng Si's role in such matters is far beyond Wei Zheng's.Despite this, Wei Zheng is still the first person on the list of famous ministers in Zhenguan, and the reason for this is quite intriguing. Wei Zheng was an intellectual who came from a family. Although his family background was not very prominent, it was by no means lowly. Wei Zheng changed his master four times in his life. From the perspective of "loyal ministers do not serve two masters", his loyalty and integrity as a Confucian scholar are actually unbearable. It is no wonder that he keeps saying that he does not want to be a loyal minister. As far as he is concerned, he can't be a loyal minister at all. Wei Zheng's knowledge is average. He has never had any popular poems handed down from generation to generation, nor has he formulated a "Tang Law Shuyi" like Changsun Wuji. ", the length of which can probably be included in the shortest of the twenty-four histories.As a literati, Wei Zheng did not have extraordinary talent. Wei Zheng's military achievements are mediocre, and his dazzling achievements have never been included in the credits of the founding of the Tang Dynasty and the pacification of the world.Before starting to follow Li Shimin, the only thing he could bring up was that he recruited Li Shiji at the beginning of Wu De... The personal friendship between Wei Zheng and Emperor Taizong of Tang was mediocre, and the "fate" between them happened precisely during the battle for the throne in the last years of Wude. … Wei Zheng's appearance is really not pleasing to the eye, at least the Son of Heaven who has been extolled by later generations once publicly mocked his famous goat nose... So, what did Wei Zheng use to impress Li Shimin, and why did he conquer so many scholars in later generations? In fact, we can find this reason from the ideological and cultural background of the Sui and Tang Dynasties and even the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. In feudal society, the monarch is the master of the four directions, and the ministers are the servants of the world.However, Chinese scholars can be servants of the world, but they are never willing to be slaves of the royal family.Governing the world and making the people happy is not only the responsibility of the monarch alone, but also the mission of the world's scholars and sages.The relationship between the Son of Heaven and the scholars is one of master and assistant rather than master and slave.It was the duty of ancient scholars to assist the emperor in governing the country well. Wei Zheng is just such a traditional scholar who upholds the concept of "the people are the most important, the community is second, and the king is the least".Born in troubled times, a hero should be loyal to the world, but the monarch who rules the world can choose. Wei Zheng was never ashamed of being a "family slave with three surnames". A large number of scholars of that era represented by him actually didn't bother to be ashamed of it. In the face of the interests of the people in the world, the monarch has the right to choose his subjects, and the subjects also have the right to choose the monarch. Wei Zheng is a traditional scholar who firmly believes that he has this right. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang had no way, and the world was in turmoil. Wei Zheng followed Li Mi as a child of a wealthy family in Hebei. From a legal point of view, he was "a follower of a thief".If his father's refusal to serve in the Sui Dynasty was due to his loyalty to the Northern Qi royal family, then Wei Zheng followed Li Mi, Dou Jiande, Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin and other monarchs successively from the end of Daye to the beginning of Zhenguan. Who was he loyal to? After the incident of Xuanwu Gate, the soldiers of Qin Palace tied Wei Zheng to Li Shimin. Li Shimin asked him: "Why do you persuade the prince to kill me and drive a wedge between our brothers?" Wei Zheng answered him without fear: "If the former prince had listened to my persuasion, what happened today would not happen!" So Li Shimin was relieved, not only did not kill him, but also kept him by his side as the master of Zhan affairs. There are many incomprehensible aspects of this story today. If Li Shimin thinks that Wei Zheng is a "loyal minister" who is loyal to his subject and retains him because of this, then Wei Zheng's resume has clearly shown that he is by no means a "loyal minister". Why can't Li Shimin, who is so smart, even understand this simple truth?If it is said that Li Shimin did this in order to win over the courtiers to calm people's hearts, then later on, the people's hearts have been stabilized and the court has been stabilized. Why did he insist on entrusting such an old master with no loyalty and integrity to be the prime minister?If Wei Zheng was really worried about the murder of Prince Li Jiancheng, why did he try his best to assist Li Shimin in the next seventeen years to forge the rule of Zhenguan that will stand for thousands of years? The author believes that behind the fact that Wei Zheng persuaded Li Jiancheng to kill Li Shimin, there may be another meaning behind it. In the last years of Wude, the brothers of Prince Qin and King Qin competed for the heir, which lasted as long as three years.During this period of time, the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty were either inclined to the prince or the king of Qin, and Li Yuan, as the emperor, was also vacillating between the two heirs.This matter has become the focus of national attention for several years.However, such a major national event as the end of the world war and encouraging farming to resume production has never been the focus of the ruling and opposition parties.This situation has lasted for three years, and the impact on the people's livelihood and the national economy should be quite serious.In fact, during the period before and after the Xuanwumen Incident, rare natural disasters occurred all over the country, and the Tang court headed by Li Shimin spent nearly two years dealing with this catastrophe. During this period, Li Shimin, who was always proud and good at military affairs, even had to sit back and watch the Turkic cavalry who invaded Chang'an withdraw to the grassland in August of the ninth year of Wude.Due to the lack of historical data, we cannot clarify the connection between this incident and the brothers' struggle for the throne in the last years of Wude, but if there is no relationship at all, even if we can believe that Wei Zheng and others who were in the whirlpool of struggle at that time must have I don't believe it. Wei Zheng persuaded Li Jiancheng to kill Li Shimin as soon as possible, and it is likely that he also quickly resolved this trouble and turned the court's attention back to normal work. That is to say, in Wei Zheng's eyes, whether the brotherhood between the Li brothers or the imperial power struggle between the Li and Tang royal families should not have an impact on the national economy and people's livelihood of the entire country. So after Li Jiancheng's death, he took refuge in the former prince's enemy without pretense, and worked meticulously and conscientiously for the new boss as always. The author believes that in Wei Zheng's heart, there is no king, only the world. He can betray his master several times, because the only master in his heart is the world; he can persuade his master to kill his own brother, because it is beneficial to the world; he can take refuge in the first time after his master dies The younger brother of the master, because although the master is dead, the world still exists.In Wei Zheng's eyes, no individual in the world can or is qualified to receive his whole-hearted allegiance. Wei Zheng was a man without a king or a father. Scholars should take the world as their own responsibility, and there is nothing else other than that. This is Wei Zheng's political philosophy. It can be said that this is a kind of enthusiasm for official career, and it can also be said that this is a kind of nostalgia for life, but there is no doubt that neither the enthusiasm for official career nor the nostalgia for life is enough to explain Tang Taizong's trust in him and reuse. Therefore, when Wei Zheng, the emissary of the Shandong Propaganda and Consolation Commission, did not avoid suspicion and released the two former members of the East Palace without hesitation, regardless of his status as an "old man in the East Palace", Wei Zheng, who was an admonishing doctor, stared straight at him. When he splashed spittle on Tang Taizong's face with his neck down, when the prime minister Wei Zheng blatantly refused to countersign the emperor's edict, he probably never had the slightest fear of the emperor's supreme authority in his heart. It is just a sense of mission to be responsible for the affairs of the world. In Wei Zheng, we will never see the servility of courtiers to the king, but what we see in ancient Chinese intellectuals is something far more valuable than loyalty and integrity, which is the most primitive concept of equality. The emperor and the ministers are only different in the division of labor. In front of the world, we are equal! Of course, in a monarchical society, it is far from enough for the existence of this primitive concept of equality to rely solely on the traditions of the scholars and the social status of the powerful. In fact, although the ancient feudal emperors were similar in terms of strengthening the power of the monarch and rejecting the power of the prime minister, it did not mean that these rulers did not need the help of the aristocratic class or the scholar-official class to govern the world.The reason why the most primitive concept of equality held by Wei Zheng was widely recognized in that era and passed on to later generations is inseparable from Tang Taizong Li Shimin's recognition and support of this concept. In fact, there have always been two concepts of governing the country in ancient China. One is the so-called "arbitrary policy", that is, the monarch decides all major policies by himself, and the prime minister and ministers are only staff and aides for consultants. This model, we It can be referred to as the "independent rule" model. Typical examples are Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and several famous emperors since Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty; The prime minister and ministers not only have the power to implement the country's major policies, but also share decision-making power with the emperor in the name of assisting the emperor in making decisions. This model can be referred to as the "co-governance" model of monarchs and ministers. A typical example is Tang Taizong Li Shimin. In fact, judging from Li Shimin's redesignation of the division of labor among the three provinces and the lack of appointment of the ministerial order as a vacant position, Li Shimin himself has a strong vigilance against Xiangquan, which has repeatedly posed a subversive threat to imperial power since the pre-Han period. This kind of vigilance is by no means less than that of Sui Wendi Yang Jian.The difference is that Yang Jian used the method of suppressing the power of the prime minister or even completely abolishing the power of the prime minister (phase vacancy) to prevent the prime minister from getting involved in the highest power, while Li Shimin was completely different. potential threats. The system of three provinces and six ministries during Li Shimin's period was a political system with a relatively sound operating mechanism and a relatively clear division of labor and cooperation.This ancient and modern feudal ruler adopted the model of lowering the qualification threshold of prime ministers to divide the power of prime ministers.As we have mentioned before, according to the custom, the country has six veritable prime ministers, and Li Shimin made the group of prime ministers more extensive through the name of "studying political affairs" and so on. The situation of state affairs is not uncommon.Among the many prime ministers, the highest-ranking left and right servants are only from the second-rank official rank. As for Zhongshuling and Shizhong, they only have the third-rank rank, let alone those informal prime ministers.The advantage of this kind of group system is that the decision-making power is controlled by multiple people, and the final drafting, rebuttal, and execution powers belong to the three provinces. They restrict each other and involve each other. Not only is the decision-making process more scientific and less prone to mistakes, At the same time, it also eliminated the possibility of the prime minister becoming a powerful minister and threatening the monarchy. Although Li Shimin and Yang Jian have roughly the same thinking on the issue of preventing the power of the prime minister from threatening the monarchy, they are quite different in terms of the concept of governing the world.Yang Jian does not trust his ministers from the bottom of his heart. The only thing he believes in is himself, and his suspicion of his subjects is no less than that of some famous dictatorships in later generations.However, Li Shimin believes that no matter how powerful the emperor himself is, it is far from enough to govern such a large country.He clearly realizes that he is by no means an omnipotent superman. The world can be owned by the Li family, but it can never be ruled by the Li family.In fact, during the nearly 800-year reign of dozens of monarchs in the Han, Three Kingdoms, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, this kind of understanding was common within the imperial power.The rulers are not all megalomaniacs, the vast majority of people still have self-knowledge, so although there have been constant regime changes and powerful ministers usurping the throne during this period, the rulers still have to rely on the government led by the prime minister to rule world.It's not that the rulers don't want to control the power alone, just like some famous dictatorships in later generations, but that they can't actually do this with their abilities. It is precisely because of this that the power of powerful families and scholars will gradually rise, and gradually become a political force that can dominate the rise and fall of the world during the Jin Dynasty.In fact, the truth is not difficult to understand. The monarch needs to govern the country through officials at all levels, large and small, and these officials must have a corresponding level of education and education. In that era when there were no schools and the cost of studying was relatively high, only these powerful families The children can afford to read and have relatively high cultural literacy. Before the rise of the imperial examination system, the rulers actually had no choice. Li Shimin lived in the same era as Wei Zheng. They also experienced the Sui Dynasty’s rapid transition from prosperity to decline and even the turbulent period of the kingdom. Regardless of the harm to the world caused by the lack of checks and balances of monarchy, the tragic ending of Sui Yang’s death in Yangzhou is undoubtedly It made Li Tang's rulers even more horrified.Li Shimin himself was born in the family of the Guanlong clan, and the political ideas of the nobles used to be his own family's political ideas, and he clearly saw the dire consequences of running counter to this political idea, so after he became the throne, he adopted It is not surprising that the emperor's political philosophy of co-government by the monarch and his ministers is not surprising. It is also under the influence of this political idea that Wei Zheng's almost rude concept of equality can be recognized and accepted by Li Shimin.This is not to say that Emperor Taizong of Tang was an emperor with ancient ideas of democracy and equality, but in Li Shimin's view, the unpleasant characteristics of the scholar class represented by Wei Zheng were beneficial to the rule of the Li and Tang Dynasties .Of course, if one day this sense of equality really threatened the dominance of the Tang family, Li Shimin would also turn his back and use strong means to suppress it.Fortunately, however, during the twenty-three years that Li Shimin ruled China as emperor, such a crisis seems to have never occurred. In fact, the reason why Emperor Taizong of Tang was able to become a generation of Mingjun respected and respected by later generations is not that Li Shimin's ability is much stronger than other feudal emperors (at least in terms of diligence, he is obviously Not as good as Sui Wendi Yang Jian), but because he has a little more self-knowledge as a monarch than others. At the beginning of Zhenguan, Li Shimin, who had just taken charge of state affairs, was ambitious, not only to make the country prosperous and strong, but also to eliminate serious external threats.It is hard for Li Shimin, who had been leading troops to fight abroad as a military commander before this, to have the ability to govern the country and handle trivial civil affairs. Under such circumstances, what kind of decision-making mechanism and political Ideas become important. 大概因为“隋炀帝情节”的存在，使得年轻的新皇帝变得异常谦虚谨慎，他不仅允许鼓励大臣在朝堂上指出他的错误，还制定了一套以“五花判事”为核心的决策流程，不惜以降低决策效率来保证国家大政方针的谨慎出台。隋文帝分三省六部，虽然名义上也赋予了门下省相应的制约职权，但却从未让这一职权真正变为现实过。李世民却实实在在强化了这一省权，因为他意识到，这是能够避免国家出现“乱政”的最后一道拦截索，一旦这道拦截索失效，国家就失去了安定和发展的保障。 然而这道拦截索毕竟是死的，需要一个能够尽职尽责的人来掌握。 贞观朝名臣辈出，李世民的左膀右臂房玄龄、杜如晦，两朝重臣、《唐律疏议》的执笔人长孙无忌，才兼文武、出将入相的李靖，白身入京布衣拜相的马周，无一不是一时之人杰。然而李世民却都没有用他们来执掌这条拦截索，至于原因，我们不得而知，如果非要列举一个原因的话，我们只能说，大概李世民觉得他们都不合适。 最终掌握这条拦截索的人是魏徵。 如果把贞观政府比作一辆汽车，李世民就是这辆汽车的油门，而魏徵就是那紧急关头能够救命的刹车。 大业年间的隋朝，就是一辆刹车失灵的汽车，将一个庞大的帝国彻底拖入了万丈深渊。 也难怪后世的君王们很难理解唐太宗与魏徵之间的关系，这种古怪的君臣关系在中国历史上极为罕见。皇帝人为地在朝堂之上树立起一个对立面，而且赋予重权，为的就是要这个人时时刻刻警醒刻板地指出自己的过失，且不给自己留半分颜面。无怪乎史家言三代之下最贤不过唐太宗，能够具备这种远见卓识的君主，在中国历史上确实是凤毛麟角的。 读史者往往爱争论李世民是否真正信任魏徵的问题。有人认为终唐太宗一生，对魏徵都尊崇备至信任有加，依据是根据史书记载对于魏徵的谏言李世民几乎无有不纳；有人认为李世民对魏徵的信任从不曾超过秦府心腹出身的房杜长孙，理由是直至魏徵病故李世民都未曾让他染指尚书省的行政系统，他这个“宰相”十几年间一直是在门下省内打转转。 其实二者说的都不无道理，从人情世理而言，李世民对魏徵的信任不应该超过对长孙无忌和房玄龄杜如晦的信任，但是李世民如果真的猜忌魏徵，又怎么会将制约自己的大权赋予这个东宫旧人？ 在笔者看来，李世民是否信任魏徵这个命题根本就是一个伪命题，没有任何探讨的价值。 两者争论的信任与否，实际上本无所谓什么意义。对于唐太宗而言，魏徵存在的意义即不是“亲朋故旧”也不是“能臣干吏”。这两个人除了在“求天下大治万民乐道”这一点上是共同的以外，在其他方面差异都相当大。 这一点，历事四主的魏徵不可能不明白，在隋末唐初十八路反王间辗转杀戮通过血腥的军事政变登上皇帝宝座的李世民更不可能不明白。 所以唐太宗与魏徵之间的关系，并非寻常的“君臣从属关系”，也不是略显平等的“亦师亦友”关系。这两个人之间，实际上是一种默契的“同志关系”。 李世民知道魏徵想要什么，魏徵也了解李世民为什么要用自己。 这是一种超越了尊卑礼仪的关系，是两个杰出人物之间惺惺相惜的战友情谊。如果说在大业武德年间的李世民与长孙无忌房玄龄等人之间的关系是战场上的战友关系，那么贞观年间李世民与魏徵之间的关系就是一种治国上的战友关系。两个志同道合的人共同为了一个目标以不同的方式进行努力，不是“同志关系”又是什么？如果说李世民是大唐这支军队的总司令，那么魏徵，就是这支军队的总政委。 后世对魏徵的评价很多，而且绝大多数都是褒扬赞美之词，很少有人去揭他“三姓家奴”的短，即使是思想相对保守秉性方正志虑忠纯的司马光，在写的时候似乎也下意识地忘却了这一点。大概是在古代士大夫眼里，抓住一个贞观名臣的历史问题小辫子大做文章是一种很不厚道的行为吧！ 其实魏徵这个“三姓家奴”，和吕布这种人还是有着本质区别的。魏徵所追随的第一位主公就是李密，李密投唐后很快就被不那么厚道的李氏父子设局砍掉了脑袋，写史书的人写到这里只记得那位领兵在外一面向唐室效忠一面为故主李密发丧的李世勣，却往往忽视了那个亲自动笔为李密撰写碑文并且在碑文当中满含悲愤含沙射影地指斥李唐朝廷屈杀忠臣的古板文人，而此人，不巧正是未来的帝国宰相魏徵。 魏徵在后来的李唐皇室储位之争当中选择了太子李建成，将战功赫赫声望勋业如日中天的天策上将军弃如敝屣，李建成在李密问题上手上不曾染血大概是一个相当重要的参考因素。 在魏徵所追随过的四位主人当中，其中三位都是很不幸的短命鬼，只有李世民与他君臣始终。然而也正因为如此，我们在史书的记录中实际上看不到魏徵“背主”投靠别人的恶劣形迹，在他投靠别人的时候，他的旧主人往往已经死掉了。 所以如果我们因为“四易其主”问题而否定魏徵是个“忠臣”，论据实际上并不充分。有人说忠臣的定义是方孝孺那种在斧钺之下梗着脖子高叫“成王死，其子尚在”的偏执型学究，对这种说法，起码我不能认同。 那么魏徵是个什么样的人呢？ 这个人，是一个典型的中国式知识分子。 他是胸怀天下的乱世豪杰，是腹藏经纬的治世名臣，是明慧若愚的智者，是权重一时的宰相。 他是贞观之治的护法真神。 贞观朝有着众臣议政畅所欲言的开放式政治氛围，也涌现出了如戴胄、张玄素，王珪等等一大批敢于指着皇帝的鼻子尖放胆痛骂的诤臣谏臣。在这个独特的历史现象背后，有着更深层次的时代背景和思想内涵。在那个时代，隋炀帝因为独断专行拒绝臣属的谏言劝告而导致国亡身死的残酷现实无情地揭示了君权独治体制的弊端，这一点最终成为了大唐贞观君臣整体的共识，也最终奠定了二十三年贞观之治的政治基础。 历代名相甚至权相，无一不是手握决策行政大权并且在某种程度上凌迫于君权之上令皇帝都有所畏惧有所猜忌的宰相。然而贞观一朝二十几位宰相当中，在历史上留下最显赫声名的却是那个整天在皇帝耳边絮絮叨叨这也不许那也不行的魏老头。如果有人说汉武帝一朝最著名的宰相是汲黯，所有人都会当笑话来听；然而若说贞观朝最著名的宰相是魏徵，恐怕异议者的声音就会低八度——毕竟史书上就是这么记载的。魏徵成为贞观名相群体的表率，是那个时代所独有的一种政治现象，也是两千多年君权专制历史上为数不多的健康表征之一。 唐太宗也畏惧魏徵，有那只被活生生憋死在袖筒里的可怜鸟儿的冤魂作证。然而这种畏惧并非是对一种更加强大的权力和势力的畏惧，而是一种对道德的畏惧，对因犯下错误而即将遭受到的批评的畏惧。贞观朝的政治特色之一，便是天下人都知道，皇帝做事也分对错，皇帝做错了事情，也要像小学生一样接受老师严厉的批评和教育。贞观朝的大臣们，对于质疑皇帝所作所为的正确性报以极高的热忱，因为这是公认的对天下有利的大义之举。 如果说魏徵是唐太宗李世民的一面镜子，那么这面镜子当中所映射出的，恰恰是唐太宗自己。在魏徵这面“镜子”里面站立着的，是一个与李世民本人绝对平等的存在。唐太宗将魏徵比喻为一面可以使自己“明得失”的镜子，实际上就是默认了魏徵所代表的那种最原始的平等观念，那种中国古代士大夫身上所独有的人格精神。 贞观十七年正月，司空特进知门下省事太子太师郑国公魏徵病逝，贞观二十三年五月，贞观天子李世民病逝，贞观之治，便这样随着两个即将相伴千秋的历史名人的离去落下了帷幕。 如果有人问究竟什么是贞观，贞者正也，观者鉴也。贞观，就是一双持正不阿的眼睛，默默地注视着后世：她是清明政治的化身，默默地映照出后世帝王将相们的倾轧纷争；她是和谐社会的灯塔，静静地俯瞰着未来社会的凄惨动荡。水可载舟，亦可覆舟，在众生面前，统治者们必须谦卑，必须敬畏。他们只有将自己置于始终受到监督受到制约的政治理念和文化氛围之下，才能确保自己的地位，才能换来社会的稳定，才能迎取天下的大治。 这就是贞观，李世民与魏徵的时代。