Chapter 5 On China's Weakness Due to Prevention of Fraud (October 27, 1896)

The former kings were the world's public, so they managed affairs; the later generations were the world's privates, so each guarded against evil.Those who deal with affairs, although they cannot avoid small disadvantages, and the existence of advantages are always enough to cover each other; those who prevent disadvantages, if one disadvantage is not eliminated, a hundred disadvantages have already occurred, such as repairing a leaky house, the more leaks are repaired, the more leaks are repaired, the more leaks are repaired, the more healed Repair broken.Those who manage affairs, use the right people to rule, and those who don't use the right people will cause chaos; those who guard against evils will not use the right people, and there will be many evils, even if they can use the right people, things will not be cured.From the Qin Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, it has been two thousand years since the laws and regulations became more and more secret, the politics and religions became more and more barbaric, the monarchy was respected more and more, and the national prestige was gradually weakened.From the top to the common officials, from the bottom to the billion surnames, wandering in the literary net, how to learn how to be peaceful, how to tame how to disturb, to be quiet but unable to move, to be stupid but not wise.The thieves of the past dynasties, claiming to have a plan, changed their roots and intensified it?And after all, there are two things: those who are not restrained and those who are out of defense: it is called Yi Di, and it is called bandits.Together, like Tang Woxue, they perish.Therefore, those who defended against others in the past were only a tool for self-deprecation.

Liang Qichao said: I have read the historical records of the success and failure of the past and the present, and I am secretly sad.In ancient times, the chief had no assistants, so he exercised his power and dedicated his responsibilities, and it was easy to evaluate his performance. ("Wangzhi", "Gongyang Zhuan", "Chunqiu Fanlu" describe the official system, all of them are the same, only "Zhou Li" states that it is right, and it is second, so there are Zhongzai, Situ, Zongbo, Sima, and Sikou , Sikong, and then there are Xiaozai, Xiao Situ, Xiao Zongbo, Xiao Sima, Xiao Sikou, and Xiao Sikong. All the officials are one person, and all the two are two senior officials. This is the place where one minister and two ministers are made. "Zhou Li" is a fake book, which has been mistaken for all generations.) The Jiuqing of the Han Dynasty still followed the Si system. (There were no Shaoqing in Taichang during the Han and Jin Dynasties, and they only existed in the 15th year of Taihe in the later Wei Dynasty.) Later generations feared the affairs of one department, and one person monopolized his own power. Therefore, there are both ministers and ministers, and the emphasis is on management. Ministry, including one and seven officers, everyone has no right and no responsibility.The defense is sincere and close, but if you don't restrain each other, that is, you can push each other, and there is nothing you can do.In ancient times, there were large countries of hundreds of miles and small countries of fifty, each of which was close to its own people, and was ruled by the Son of Heaven.In the Han Dynasty, the county was still led by the county, and the county guard went directly to the emperor.Later generations feared that the power of officials who were close to the people would be too heavy, so they served as supervisors to prevent it; Prevent it.The defense is sincere and close, but keeping the order and exhausting all your energy to serve the officer, I am still afraid of being improper and have no time to deal with civil affairs; the surname Wan Wan is a fat cream for the officer, although the people are strong and the position is solid.The ancients were appointed officials, and each cited what he knew, and he did not avoid relatives internally, nor did he avoid enemies externally.Between the Han and Wei Dynasties, this idea still exists, so Zuo Xiong is in the Shangshu, and the name of the world is won; Mao Jie and Cui Yan are the Eastern Cao, and the scholars are all famous.Later generations considered the entrustment of candidates and the favoritism of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, so Cui Liang and Pei Guangting made it the method of seniority qualifications, and Sun Piyang made it the method of drawing lots.The sincerity of defense is close, but geniuses cannot advance and mediocre talents cannot retreat, and the performance evaluation will be useless; if you don't choose places for people, if you don't choose people for places, officials will rule poorly.The ancient township officials used the local people, ("Zhou Li", "Guanzi", and "Guoyu" are detailed.) The Han Shiwei, all of them were natives, ("Jingfang Zhuan": Fang Weijun Taishou , Self-invited to get rid of people from other counties, it can be seen that in the Han Dynasty, all the people from this county were used by the genus, and Fang’s request is an exception.) Gai envoys have close eyes and eyes, and the inspector Yi Li.Later generations worried about its fraud, so the Sui Cultural Revolution selected and used other counties, but the southerners chose the south, and the northerners chose the north. (Song Zhenghe Sixth Year Edict, County Magistrate Annotated and Selected, Although it is far away, there is no more than thirty stations. Thirty stations are nine hundred miles away.) The kings and ministers of the Ming Dynasty thought it was not enough, so they created the method of mutual election between the north and the south.The sincerity of prevention is tight, but the person who goes to the post travels thousands of miles and must borrow money before he can go to the official position. There is no way to survive without corruption.I don't know the local customs, the language is difficult to understand, the political power is mostly in the sly Xu, and the official is a slut.In ancient times, the public ministers had their own homes and elders, the three mansions of the Han Dynasty, the opening of the cabinet, the nine ministers and the three auxiliary prefectures, and the officials of the salty government, (Gu Shiyun: Bao Xuan was the shepherd of Yuzhou, Guo Qinzuo made mistakes and was tedious, Replacing the officials of the Erqianshi Office. It is the official of the Zhishi Office that is the post of the Erqianshi. It is still cumbersome to replace it with the state herdsman. Is it appropriate to replace it with the Son of Heaven? Things are troublesome and the office is not promoted.) So the arms point to each other , Friendship.Later generations were concerned about their kindness in planting the party and city, so more than one life was given to the Ministry of Officials.The sincerity of defense is tight, but the chief assistant is not good at it, his eyes and ears are not true, or the chief has good governance, but he is not followed by it, or the small official has strange talents, but he cannot see it for himself.The ancients employed people for a long time in their positions. Regardless of the feudal world, they were appointed for life from the rest of the common officials, or one position, and the eldest sons and grandchildren.As far as the Han Dynasty, this idea still exists, so those who obey the order and are competent, the seal book praises and encourages, or ranks up to Jiuqing, and will not be moved in the end, and the envoys will learn the land, because of their merits.Later generations feared that it would be harmful if it lasted for a long time, so it was set as a law of one term for several years, and they were transferred several times.The sincerity of prevention is close, but if you want to raise a matter, if you leave the official before it is completed, the matter will be abolished; every time you change a job, you must operate for a year, but if you raise another matter, the matter will go as before, so everyone can't do anything.And if they can't get rid of it, those who have their careers in the world are subordinate officials, so the officials have power but the officials have no power.In ancient times, the state had major affairs and sought common people. In the Han Dynasty, there were also Yilang, Yidafu, doctors, and Yicao. They were not related to matters, and they were not straight. So pass the situation and solidify the country.Later generations feared the shame of the people, scorned its system, and abolished its officials.The sincerity of defense is tight, but the upper and lower are isolated, the hearts of the people are scattered, and when foreign troubles come, there is nothing to save them.The ancient Sangongs sat and discussed the Tao, their power was great, and their bodies were dignified. (Three lords are one prime minister and two uncles.) In the Han system, the prime minister employs people for administration, and he governs everything. If you cover the emperor, the world will follow, and the prime minister will pass on the virtuous, and govern with the prime minister, so the poor in the world are saved.Later generations feared that his power would be the enemy of the monarch, and gradually took his power back to the Shangshu, gradually took it back to the Zhongshu, and returned to the servant, and returned to the cabinet; gradually changed its name to the minister, to the servant, to the left and right servants She, the servant of Zhongshu, the servant of the door, is the third grade of Pingzhang's political affairs, and is a bachelor; gradually increase its staff to two, four, or even ten; To co-organize the bachelor's degree.His position was humbled and his power was divided day by day, so the prime minister became the emperor's personal.The sincerity of defense is tight, but the government has nothing to do, there are officials and courts, only offerings and promises, and pushing back and extending the court, all things are busy.In ancient times, all the imperial examinations went out of the school, and those who were taught were teachers, and those who were officials were regarded as emperors. From the Han and Jin Dynasties, it was still a vain hope.Later generations worried about the reputation of scholars and the favoritism of officials, so they wrote poems and Fu to imprison them, imprisoned them, locked them up, searched them, blurred their names, copied them, and avoided them.If a husband is to test an official, the emperor will be close to his trusted ministers, and he will personally test in the court, and then those who come out will be given a mission, and their house will be sealed; If the threshold is heavy prison.The sincerity of defense is close, but groping in the dark, exploring gambling games, driving people to not learn, leading people to be shameless, and the disadvantage of asking for joints is not exhausted.Scholars in ancient times made friends with literature; officials who learned from Confucianism won people with morality.Later generations feared that he would gather a crowd and hold a clear discussion, so he abstained from the name of the party and strictly prohibited lectures.The sincerity of defense is close, but Confucianism does not talk about Taoism, learning alone is shabby, talents are declining, morale is not prosperous, and they only make unscrupulous villains use this name to trap gentlemen, and it is a plan to catch them all.The ancients doubted the prison, and they shared it with the public. They hung up the law like Wei, and the people read it carefully.Later generations are afraid of their people's cunning, they sit upright to tower over them, and display their names to threaten them.The defense is sincere and secret, but the tyrants benefit from this to scare the common people. May the weak kill their lives every time because of this.In ancient times, the Son of Heaven patrolled frequently, made friends with the people of the country, and the ruler was among his ministers, and even the humble ones paid homage to him. The prime ministers of the Han Dynasty paid homage to the Son of Heaven.Later generations are afraid that the division of Tianze will not be strict, and the nine layers will be deeply closed, and it will not be seen at the end of the non-government.The sincerity of defense is close, but if you grow up in the palace, you don't hear foreign affairs, you rarely see wise men and officials, and you spend a lot of time with eunuchs and concubines, then the master's virtue will be fainted.Up and down are lonely, the king regards his ministers like dogs and horses, and the ministers regard him as a countryman.There are hundreds of common governments, and they are not the same. Although there are more servants, they are all in a dilemma.

Two thousand years old, reckless with dozens of surnames, ministers who seek Momo stand shoulder to shoulder, and books of anecdotes are full of stories. The root of legislation is required, and there is no such heart to prevent fraud.The fallacies are spread, and then they become common sense, taking meticulousness and tranquility as a virtue, and taking good deeds and merit as a bad word, those who are tolerant have merit, and those who are generous must be lacking. Officials take maintaining their salary and position as their first righteousness. Straighten yourself to be first class.As soon as the big capital is allocated, the end will follow. Therefore, if you talk about opening railways, you must say that you may hinder the benefits of boats and cars; The wind is also; if the language is used to set up a society, it must be said that it may lead to the habit of advertised; When talking about mining, it must be said that it may be a continuation of the late Ming Dynasty; when talking about changing martial arts, it must be said that people are afraid of chaos with weapons;Sitting here and thinking, Baidu is not open.For example, if you are sick, you will be frightened and self-conscious, and you will lose your sleep and food;Isn't it different!Wouldn't it hurt!

Do you want to prevent fraud?Said: It started from selfishness.Please speak of public and private justice.The Western saying goes: Everyone has the right to autonomy.What is the right to autonomy?Everyone does what he should do, and everyone gets what he deserves. There is no publicity, and if this is the case, the world will be peaceful.Those who prevent evil want to make the rulers have the right, but the governed have no rights, and take everyone's autonomy and give it to one person, so it is called private.Although, those who have the right to do things and speak for themselves.If one person can do what the people of the world should do, then one person can enjoy the benefits that the people of the world should get alone. A gentleman does not think it is peaceful.The former kings knew that it was impossible, so they said: "Don't worry about widows, but worry about unevenness." He also said: "A gentleman has the way of cleanliness, and it is beautiful to say that the public is beautiful." The land is formed by accumulating people, and the country is established by accumulating power. Therefore, a country with full power is strong, a country with no power suffers, and a country without power perishes.What is full power?The people of the country exercise their inherent rights; what is the lack of rights?The people of the country have rights, and there are those who cannot have their own rights; what does it mean to have no rights?I don't know where the right is.Have no right to be evil?Said: At the beginning, I wanted to use one person to seize the power of many people, but the power of many people is so great that it is beyond the power of one person's wisdom and strength. If he can't, his power will be lost. to own.Although, the power lost by the Xiangzhe people cannot be regained as before, so they don't know where the power lies.Therefore, those who prevent fraud start from fighting for power and finally give up power.What is a concession?When there are affairs in the world, the emperor above, the emperor said to discuss and hear, is to give power to the ministry; the ministry can be discussed, and the transfer of documents and officials is to give power to the governor; the governor to award to the subordinate, is to give power to the prefectures and counties; Yu Yousi below the county level is to give power to Lixu.For the affairs of a department, the minister and the servant give way to each other; for the affairs of a province, the governors give way to each other;It is impossible to fight for solidity, and it is also impossible to give way.Those who contend for damage the rights of others, and those who give up damage their own rights.Half of the contenders and half of the givers are called lack of rights; the whole country is given up, which is called no rights.The husband is extremely selfish and even has no right.But what is the purpose of preventing fraud?I would like to sum it up in one sentence: Those who give up eating because of choking will die, and those who stop doing things to prevent evil will die!