Chapter 31 4. Blind spots in officials' self-cultivation

Earning money is not a disease, but relying on crooked ways to earn money is really terrible.Strictly speaking, officials are state machines, and they should use their wages to seek happiness for the people. However, ancient education emphasized that "the book has its own golden house", pointing out the way for scholars to make a fortune.This incident can be traced back to the famous "Cupping wine to release military power" in the early Song Dynasty.Regarding Zhao Kuangyin's question of how to achieve long-term peace and stability, Zhao Pu gave the answer: "It's not because of him. Fangzhen is too heavy, and the monarch is weak and the minister is strong. If you want to rule it now, you have to seize its power a little bit, control its money and grain, and recruit its elite soldiers." , then the world will be at peace."Zhao Kuangyin adopted Zhao Pu's opinion, and through the most brilliant wine game in Chinese history, he gave the generals money, land, and beautiful women in exchange for three hundred and nineteen years of Guozuo.

Under the influence of this political environment, it is difficult for officials not to accept bribes. The world is as black as crows, and the emperor pretends not to see each other.At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Pu, the prime minister, was famous. At that time, Qian Chu, king of Wuyue, gave him ten bottles of seafood and put them under the eaves.It happened that Zhao Kuangyin came to Zhao Pu's house and asked what it was.Zhao Pu said it was seafood brought by someone.Zhao Kuangyin said that this sea food must be good, open it and taste it.When he opened it, Zhao Pu's scalp exploded, and he knelt on the ground and pleaded the death penalty. The ten bottles of so-called "seafood" actually contained gold, silver and jewelry.Zhao Kuangyin comforted Zhao Pu and said, accept it!Those courtiers of Wu Yue really think that you, a nerd, have the final say on world affairs.Repeatedly told Zhao Pu not to think too much, not to disappoint others' wishes.The emperor acquiesced in the acceptance of bribes by his courtiers. Of course, there were leadership considerations, but it encouraged a certain amount of unhealthy tendencies.Song Zhenzong was even more evil. In his later years, he suffered from mental illness and had no cure. He could only rely on gods. After Ding Wei and others persuaded him, he desperately hoped to go to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen, but was opposed by many ministers headed by Prime Minister Wang Dan.Song Zhenzong was embarrassed to express his thoughts, so he invited Wang Dan to drink, and at the end he sent a jar of imperial wine.When Wang Dan got home and opened it, he was stunned. It turned out to be a jar of gold, silver and jewels.As the saying goes, taking advantage of others, Wang Dan immediately expressed his support for Feng Chan.

Through these two stories of the emperor, we can see that: First, giving and receiving bribes is a symbolic phenomenon of feudal officialdom in some undetermined ages, and has become an integral part of officialdom, and sometimes even the emperor needs to use this trick to achieve his own goals.Secondly, the emperor's acquiescence in the gray income of officials was also out of political considerations.Third, Zhao Pu and Wang Dan are both the prime ministers of the dynasty. They accept a large amount of bribes, but there is still a bottom line in the officialdom. , but the character and morality of officials.For example, "Song History Criminal Law Records" records that in the fourth year of Kaibao (971), the prince Xima Wang Yuanji embezzled and accepted more than 700,000 bribes within one month.What is the concept of this number?There are seven financial records in the Song Dynasty. The earliest one is from Song Taizong to the end of Taoism.It can be seen that the amount of more than 700,000 guan is extremely huge.Ordinarily, it is understandable that the court governor insisted on so much money. Wang Yuanji's prince Xima is an official of the prince. Counting the candidates for the next imperial court, many politically astute people bet on him, so Wang Yuanji There is so much energy.After the incident, kill him directly to shock Chao Gang.Why do people hate corrupt officials?The reason is that the officials, under a high-sounding banner, did some tricky things to deceive the feelings of the broad masses of the people.Then again, if a corrupt official was sacked, the next one would probably not be as good as the previous one. The official environment in the Song Dynasty created this vicious cycle of corrupt officials succeeding one after another.

The moral cultivation of officials includes a wide range. No matter which one an official makes a mistake, once it causes bad social impact, it is inevitable that the official will lose his position, and the key is to save his life. "Song History Criminal Law Records" also recorded a criminal case, illustrating the importance of officials' moral cultivation.In the sixth year of Taiping Xingguo (981), Li Chengxin, the governor of Guide Jiedu, once went to the vegetable market to buy green onions, but for unknown reasons he flogged the seller to death on the spot.After this incident happened, the ruling and opposition parties unanimously criticized it, causing extremely bad social impact.As an official, representing the image of the imperial court, you cannot expect every official to be high-spirited and uphold the dignity of the imperial court everywhere, but at least don't discredit the imperial court.Because the moral corruption of individual officials will lead to a decline in the credibility that the court has worked hard to establish among the people, and the consequences of breaking trust with the people are quite dire.

Li Chengxin served as the official of Guide Jiedu, and his official position was not small.The administrative region of the Song Empire is a three-level organizational system. At first, the country was divided into six financial regions, called "roads", which gradually evolved into provincial-level administrative regions. County-level administrative districts.The Tuiguan is a member of the governors of the prefecture-level administrative districts such as the Jiedu Envoy, the Observation Envoy, the Tuanlian Envoy, and the Defense Envoy. His status is second only to the judge. How can he have an affair with an ordinary onion seller and a small businessman? conflict?It is very incomprehensible.Li Chengxin is politically incompetent. From the perspective of "no business, no rape", even if the peddler cheats you, onion, ginger and garlic are not valuable things. As for fighting?It is entirely possible to deal with small traders in another gentle way.If two civilians had a fight in the process of buying and selling, it would be a criminal case caused by a civil dispute at most. Now the problem is serious. Officials beat the hawkers who sell green onions to death. In what era, this is a serious official morality issue. .The officials gave the common people an image of bullying others, and those who bully are still vulnerable groups, and the problem is even more serious.Because the official's personal behavior has damaged the face of the court, the only way to survive is to pray for the sudden death of the emperor and the enthronement of the new king to give amnesty to the world.Li Chengxin was not so lucky. Song Taizong ordered him to be executed to return justice to the society.

Compared with Zhao Pu and Wang Dan, Wang Yuanji and Li Chengxin are low-level officials.Li Chengxin's moral problems are extremely obvious, and the influence is bad, so he has to be killed, which is not as simple as losing his official position.Probably Li Chengxin has a misunderstanding, thinking that officials and people are two classes, the relationship between the ruler and the ruled.In the consciousness of many officials like Li Chengxin, I am in charge of you, so you have to do what I say, ignoring social factors other than governance.Entering such a misunderstanding, conflicts are inevitable, and tragedies will happen sooner or later.Wang Yuanji made money, everyone made money, no one said anything, the problem was that the amount of money Wang Yuanji made exceeded the political energy of the official position he held.It's like it's okay for a county magistrate to embezzle 100,000 yuan, low official position, low salary, and low official status. It is not too much for the "three lows" personnel to make some gray income.If a county magistrate embezzles tens of millions, something will happen.Even if the place protects you, the officials of the imperial court will have to deal with you. Judging from the amount, it is obvious that you have "overstepped".

In the first year of Song Renzong Jiayou (1056), Zhang Fangping served as the third envoy.In the Song Dynasty, there were three envoys in the central government, which were the highest financial institutions.The three divisions consist of the Salt and Iron Division (management of prohibited commodities, commercial tax, mining tax, etc.), the Duzhi Division (management of the statistics and adjustment of national finances), and the Household Division (management of land taxes, two taxes, etc.). Yitan, which is equivalent to the current Ministry of Finance, is parallel to the Ministry of Finance and the Privy Council, and is called the "Ministry of Planning".There are transshipment envoys in the local area, the chief transshipment envoys, soldiers, helmets, business taxes, etc. in prefectures and counties, forming a complete financial system.

Su Shi commented that Zhang Fangping was comparable to Kong Rong, but not as stupid as Kong Rong.Zhang Fangping has the ability of photographic memory, he can memorize all books after reading it once, and he was recommended as an official by a child prodigy.Zhang Fangping himself likes military strategists, and his speech is often at odds with orthodox Confucianism. He has a bold and upright personality, has no attachments to the court, and often conflicts with court officials.For example, during the Qingli New Deal, they had different political stances from Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu, and they opposed Wang Anshi during the Xining Reform.We know that academic family status is an important part of officialdom politics. After the revival of Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, several major schools formed, and these people formed different political factions after entering official careers.Zhang Fangping is not a Confucian scholar, so it is expected that his situation in the court will be very difficult.Zhang Fangping was a man of "fairness and righteousness". He used to be an official in Sichuan. He paid special attention to the "Three Sus" and worked hard for them.When Su Shi was imprisoned for the "Wutai Poetry Case", Zhang Fangping went to rescue him.He has been an official all his life, and he puts loyalty first, so he has a good reputation, but he made a moral mistake in the fourth year of Jiayou.

Zhang Fangping served as the third envoy, and spent three years without incident, but in the fourth year, a chance came suddenly to make a fortune and take advantage of it.Liu Baoheng, a commoner, opened a liquor store in the capital. Because private brewing was prohibited in the Song Dynasty, the liquor store could only go to the official capital liquor office to buy wine koji. It may be that Liu Baoheng did not manage well, and he owed the government more than one million yuan for wine koji. This amount is enough for him to It's a miracle that the wine shop is still alive after so much money is owed.The department in charge of wine affairs in the capital of Kaifeng is the Sansi, and the department responsible for the payment of debts is the Liaison Department of the Sansi Duli. Wang Qinruo, a famous traitor in the Zhenzong Dynasty, once served as the head of this department. .Liu Baoheng had no money to pay back, so he had no choice but to sell the property.Zhang Fangping, the envoy of the third division, saw that the opportunity was rare, so he bought Liu's real estate cheaply and moved into the new house grandly.Zhang Fangping didn't live there for a few days, and was sued by Liu Baoheng's aunt to the Kaifeng mansion.Said that Liu Baoheng was not a descendant of the Liu family, and had no direct blood relationship with the old Liu family, and demanded to take back the property that Zhang Fangping bought cheaply.Chen Shengzhi, who knew about the affairs of the Kaifeng government, filed a case, and Aunt Liu presented evidence that the situation was true.

This ordinary civil dispute suddenly escalated into a moral issue. Because the person who bought the house was the Minister of Finance, and the transaction process inevitably involved "stealing and robbery" with technical content, the censor also intervened in the investigation.Bao Zheng, who was then Yushi Zhongcheng, was sixty years old and had been an angry youth all his life. There was nothing he didn't dare to take care of, let alone it was his job duty.Bao Zheng wrote to impeach Zhang Fangping, accusing him of "being the third envoy, but taking advantage of others' dangers and buying the houses of the rich people under his jurisdiction at a low price. It is shameful and shameless. It is really appalling. Such a villain, the court cannot entrust him with a high position, but put him in a high position."In Bao Zheng's eyes, this case was an official's moral issue. Zhang Fangping used his own advantages to seek happiness for himself, completely disregarding his own image.Therefore, Zhang Fangping was kicked out of the power center and demoted to the prefect of Chenzhou.

Morality, the biggest landmine in officialdom, deserves careful consideration by every official.Fires in the backyard and pampering children are indirect effects. The personal moral cultivation of officials has a direct impact on their official careers, and the result of losing their posts is quite straightforward. Zhang Fangping, who is "advocating righteousness", has studied military strategists all his life, talking empty talk about sleepless nights, and hates peace and nothingness the most.People who should have been born in war years were born in peaceful times, and became officials of the imperial court through the ups and downs of official career.He lost his official position within less than four years after working for three years, which shows that Zhang Fangping does not understand the general environment of officialdom, and there is a blind spot in his understanding of officialdom ethics.Anyway, everyone will take action when it is time to do so, and I will also come here once. If you don't step on a landmine this time, the next time it will be a dynamite bag.The censors also hate that officials have nothing to do, and they are looking for faults with officials with a magnifying glass.Even if the official is fine, he still dislikes you and tries every means to make you lose the official.Censors are an important part of officialdom, and they are usually used as a tool for political struggle. Their means of attack are usually based on morality as a breakthrough point. For example, Ouyang Xiu encountered similar attacks.