Chapter 27 1. The world is for the public

The system of the empire is determined by the nature of the empire. What is the nature of the empire?Some people say that "the world is for the public".Liu Zongyuan's "On Feudalism" said that Tang and Wu's feudalism was "not a big one" because it was "a last resort".During the Tang Dynasty, three thousand princes (in fact, most of them were just tribes) helped King Tang defeat Xia Jie.After victory, can they also be abolished?Of course not (the soup can't be abandoned).During the time of Zhou Wu, eight hundred princes (in fact, most of them were just tribal countries) helped King Wu defeat Yin Zhou.After the victory, can they also be changed?Of course it can't (Wu Wang can't change it).But in the final analysis, this kind of "last resort" is also due to selfishness-both "selfishly benefiting oneself" (with credit), and "privately defending for children and grandchildren" (with hope), so the "non-public" By".

The county system (imperial system) established by Qin Shihuang was different.As far as its system is concerned, it is "public" (it is the system, and the public is the most powerful); as far as its purpose is concerned, it is "private" (its affection is private), and it is for the sake of dominating oneself (private Its own prestige), and treats all the people in the world as its own slaves (privately doing its best as a subject to me).In this way, the Qin system can only be regarded as "half public and half private".But Liu Zongyuan believes that, anyway, the world has been public since the Qin Dynasty (the end of the public world is from the beginning of Qin Dynasty).

So we have to ask: Is that so? It is undeniable that the county-based empire does have the nature or meaning of "public world".This nature or meaning is mainly reflected in three aspects, namely, the "state-owned system" of resources, the "centralized system" of management, and the "appointment system" of officials.The so-called "under the sky, is it the land of the king" was not really realized until the age of the empire (states were feudalized by the princes), this is the state-owned resources; What is really realized (the state is decentralized to the princes), this is the centralization of management.The resources are state-owned, and the management is centralized, which means "one big and two public" - integrating the world's resources into one is for the big; collecting the world's power into one is for the public. The advantage of "one big and two public" is that it is easy to mobilize and concentrate manpower and material resources, so that they can be condensed into a powerful force when building water conservancy, fighting against natural disasters, and resisting foreign enemies.It is no accident that national defense projects like the Great Wall, water conservancy projects like Dujiangyan, and construction projects like the Afang Palace were all built in the imperial and quasi-imperial era.

But what is more important is the "appointment system" of officials, because this is what distinguishes the empire from the states and reflects the nature or meaning of its "public world".We know that in the history of China's national system, there are three crucial turning points-the abolition of the abdication, Qin's destruction of the six kingdoms, and the Revolution of 1911.The meaning of Qifei abdication is to start to implement the hereditary system, and the country is born from this.The significance of the Revolution of 1911 was to completely abolish the hereditary system and move the country towards a republic.It can be seen that whether it is hereditary or not is very important.Yet it is precisely at this juncture that empire is ambiguous.Qin destroyed the six countries, abolished feudalism, and established prefectures and counties. The result was that the head of state was still hereditary, and government officials were no longer hereditary, that is, "the emperor is hereditary, and officials are appointed."The emperor's heredity is still "the world is the family"; but the appointment of officials clearly has the nature or meaning of "the world is the public".

This change is also related to the "state ownership" of resources and the "centralization" of management mentioned above.Because once resources are state-owned, they seem to belong to the "public"; once power is centralized, they also seem to belong to the "public".This feeling can be obtained through comparison with Bangguo.What was the system in the age of states?home has.The world belongs to the emperor's family, the country belongs to the prince's family, and the family belongs to the doctor's family. This is called "family ownership" (family ownership system), that is, "the world is a family."Since resources (property rights) are owned by the family, rule (government power) naturally also belongs to the family, and public power can be "passed on to the sons but not to the virtuous."This is "hereditary", that is, "family world".Hereditary sons of heaven, feudal lords, and great officials belonged to the country from their families, and passed down from generation to generation. The king is the head of the family, and the ministers are the family members, so there is no need for appointment. How the "family" is doing (qi family) is a matter for the parents (doctors), and the monarch does not need to worry about it; how the "country" is doing (governing the country) is a matter for the monarch (vassals), and the emperor does not need to worry about it. It doesn't matter, so there is no need to centralize power.

It can be seen from this that whether to centralize power or not to appoint or not depends on who owns the resources, that is, property rights determine governance power, and even determine governance laws (ruling methods).In the era of the state, the world is a family (resources are owned by the family), and public power is hereditary (the family is the world).On the contrary, if "the world belongs to the public" (public world), it can no longer be managed by "retainers", but must be replaced by "civil servants" who are appointed by the state, directly obey orders from the highest authority, and are not subordinate to any private person, that is, "court officials". Commander".The court officials are not "private family members", but "public family members".Their work is called public affairs, their documents are called official documents, their official uniforms are called public uniforms, the departments and offices are called courts, and the normal channels for reporting problems to their superiors or the central government are called "roads" door", that is, to distinguish the "back door" from the "front door").In short, officials must safeguard the interests of the country, otherwise it is called using power for personal gain; they must obey the will of the state, otherwise it is called forming a party for personal gain.Officials of the empire, in theory, are such people.That being the case, isn't the nature of the empire more or less a "public world"?In other words, in name or concept, it is "the world is for the public"?

In fact, the reason why officials became the backbone and pillars of the empire, and even when the dynasty was on the verge of extinction, they were able to keep the land and the people safe and persist in working was because they were "public family members" and had the concept of "the world is for the public."They don't even belong to themselves (officials can't help themselves), but belong to the country.Therefore, once the country is in trouble and loyalty and filial piety cannot be achieved, they will often choose to be loyal to the country.This is "the one with the greatest righteousness", the "big festival" of officials, and it can also be said to be the "professional ethics" of officials.An official may be fatuous and ignorant, he may be sloppy, he may amass greedy ink, he may waste his life, but in the face of the "big right and wrong" of "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism", most of them will not be ambiguous, and they dare not be ambiguous.Because once there is a loss in the festival, even if you will not be punished, you will not be able to stand on your own in the officialdom, and you will even be infamous through the ages, so that future generations will not be able to hold their heads up.

Similarly, on the premise of not involving their own interests, most officials can basically act impartially.This is also the result of his "public family" status.In the past, when we talked about officialdom, we always thought it was a dark place.This is neither fair nor objective.The actual situation is that most of the officials in the history of the empire were good or relatively good.This is especially true in the early and middle periods of the dynasty.Not all officials use power for personal gain, let alone all officials use power for personal gain as soon as they take office.There are people who are self-denying and devoted to public affairs, there are also people who enforce the law impartially, and there are even more people who are both impartial and self-serving.It is not difficult to imagine that if all the officials are corrupt and pervert the law at all times, engage in malpractices for personal gain, commit crimes, kill people without blinking an eye, eat people without spitting out their bones, how can a dynasty last for hundreds of years?

This is also due to the concept of "the world is for the public".Since state property is publicly owned and state affairs are public affairs, officials (civil servants) who handle public affairs on behalf of the public must "act out of the public heart", otherwise it will violate the original intention of the state to establish officials.This is what the so-called "officials can't help themselves".That is to say, once a person becomes an official, he is no longer a "private" (individual), but a "public man" (official), and is an integral part of the "public family". ) interests as interests, and the will of the "public" (country) as the will, and cannot be left to one's own selfishness.This point is the general rule of officialdom.Even the emperor is no exception.On the contrary, since the emperor is the biggest official (he is sometimes called "official family"), he is even more involuntary.Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty once said that "Liangui is the son of heaven, but not free", because "the heavenly family has no personal affairs", and the emperor's housework is state affairs.His every move must be based on the highest interests of the empire.

Of course, not all emperors and officials can do this, and the contradiction between public and private also runs through the history of the empire.For example, on the issue of establishing a reserve, whether to establish a chief, establish a descendant, or establish love, is the contradiction between public (prince) and private (love).Incorruptibility and corruption are also public and private struggles.But neither the willful emperor nor the greedy officials dared to openly oppose the principle of "the world is for the public".They can only use various "improper" means to realize their selfish desires, and they often fail to succeed. They are either resisted on the spot, or investigated afterwards, and finally lose their reputations.Such cases are also endless in history.In this sense, the concept of "the world is for the public" is indeed deeply rooted in everyone's hearts.

The evolution of the official system also proved this point.In fact, from the hereditary titles of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States (former empires), to the semi-hereditary official positions in the Qin, Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, to the selection of officials through imperial examinations after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was a process of continuously strengthening public awareness and the agency system.The reason why feudal states, fiefdoms, titles, and official positions can be hereditary is that they are privately owned, so they can be handed down privately.On the contrary, the selection of officials through national unified public examinations and fair competition proves that the state power is indeed "the public weapon of the world."As long as you are willing to be loyal to the king and the country, and have a certain ability, you can participate in the management of the country through various legitimate channels, regardless of whether you are high or low, and whether you are north or south. Mutually.The people of the world, the people of the world rule the world, and the people of the world are naturally governed.This is exactly what the concept of "public world" dictates. Of course, more importantly, only officials selected in this way will truly recognize the identity of the agent and be loyal to the empire. The hereditary system and the recommendation system cannot be achieved.Hereditary officials would only be grateful for the shelter of their ancestors, and recommended officials would only be grateful for the recommendation of others. Only those who have reached the sky because of the imperial examination can sincerely feel the "magnificence of the emperor's grace" and swear that they will die after death.Of course, they will also know very well that they are just agents of the empire.What he owns is nothing more than the power granted by the empire.Once the empire cancels the authorization, he will have nothing.Therefore, they have no other choice but to devote themselves to their duties, and they will not have any "unreasonable thoughts". However, everything has advantages and disadvantages. The concept (a concept, not a fact) that "the world is one for all" has brought many benefits to the empire, but at the same time caused it many troubles, such as corruption. Generally speaking, there is no corruption in the state, because the resources and wealth of the state were originally the princes and officials themselves."Qi Family" is to manage one's own fief, while "governing the country" and "peace the world" is to fulfill one's obligations. There is no salary (but there may be rewards), and there is no talk of using power for personal gain.Because everyone's territory is clearly divided, you can't seek other people's fiefs and fiefs, can you?There are also cases of annexation of other "countries" and "homes", but most of them are caused by wars, not by corruption.In short, whether it is a home or a country, it is all your own. How can there be any reason to embezzle your own property?At best, it is extravagance, extravagance, squandering, sitting on nothing, and being a prodigal.So the state has corruption but no corruption.Of course, things were different later when the state got bigger and became a quasi-empire.But no matter how corrupt it is, it cannot catch up with the empire. The reason why the empire engages in corruption is because the resources and wealth belong to the "public"; but in the eyes of us Chinese, the so-called "public" means "everyone's", and naturally everyone has a share, and anyone can eat a bite (Please refer to my book "Gossip about Chinese people").What's more, the empire has a vast territory and rich resources, with one large and two males.If it's big, you can't finish it; if it's big, you can have a share.Therefore, as long as there is an opportunity, many people will confidently use public power for personal gain, turn public power into selfishness, and use power for personal gain. Not only can the empire's resources and wealth be "shared by the world", but even the emperor can take turns doing it.This point, at least after the Han Dynasty, has been tacitly accepted.Of course, acquiescence does not mean acknowledgment, and the "change of dynasty" in the empire era cannot be confused with the "rotation of leadership" in democratic countries (please refer to Chapter 6 of this book), but it is always acquiescence.Without acquiescence, all regime changes will lose their legal basis.But if it is admitted, it is tantamount to encouraging rebellion.The only way is to only talk about "the world is for the public", not "everyone has a share", and assume that the authorization of this dynasty will not be changed by heaven.The embarrassment of the imperial system can be seen from this. In fact, the deepest internal contradiction of the empire lies in this, that is, in name it is "public world", but in fact it is "family world";why?Because the emperor is hereditary.Moreover, this hereditary emperor also represents the entire imperial system.Therefore, it is impossible for the empire to truly achieve "the world is for the public" no matter what, and even the appointment system for officials cannot be implemented to the end.For example, methods such as hereditary and hidden seals continued until the end of the imperial system.However, the empire must hold high the banner of "the world is the public", because if "the world is the home", how can the emperor be the sole agent of "the way of heaven"?If "the world is private", how can the emperor have the right to life and death? Apparently, the empire advertised that "the world is for the public" precisely to cover up its "extreme selfishness".Just think, is it not extremely selfish to honor one person with the humbleness of the world, to support a family with the poverty of the world, and to defend a family name with the pain of the world?What's more, even the so-called "officials are not subordinate to any private person" must be discounted, because they all have to be subordinate to the emperor.Therefore, even Liu Zongyuan, who believed that "it is a system, and the public is the big one", had to admit that "his love is private."It can be seen that the "public ownership" nature of the imperial system is very suspicious, and it can also be seen that "the world is public" may not be good. It depends on whether it is a real public ownership system and how this public ownership system was formed.In other words, it depends on whether the property rights issue has been reasonably resolved. It is precisely on this issue that the imperial system cannot justify itself, because its property rights are not clear at all.