Chapter 24 Chapter 24 The Law of Instinctive Pleasure in Officialdom

What do people rely on to gain a foothold in the officialdom? In the officialdom, what do you rely on to get straight up? Some say it's luck, some say it's background, some say it's ability, and some say it's nepotism.Are these answers correct? At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Peilun took the imperial examination, and Li Hongzhang happened to be the chief examiner. After the results were released, Zhang Peilun went to Li Hongzhang's home to meet the teacher.Li Hongzhang liked Zhang Peilun's talent very much, and blurted out a sentence without paying attention: "Your talent is the same as my daughter." Just after saying this, Zhang Peilun fell to his knees and called him father-in-law.Li Hongzhang could no longer refuse, so he really recruited Zhang Peilun to be his son-in-law.

Let's take a look at Zhang Peilun's path to success, which has his own talent and ability, as well as luck, but his social background and nepotism are brought about by his talent, and even more because of this The thick skin of a person is beyond Li Hongzhang's expectation, so he has his "luck".But what played a decisive role in Zhang Peilun's success was something else. If Zhang Peilun's talent was a little bit worse, Li Hongzhang would not have said, "Your talent and learning are comparable to my daughter's".Similarly, if Li Hongzhang's daughter didn't like reading, but only liked shopping, Zhang Peilun would not have such good luck.

In this way, the reason for Zhang Peilun's success is his talent? Anyone who analyzes it this way is wrong.That's right, the reason why Zhang Peilun successfully embraced the beauty was his talents, but his talents were only an appearance, not an essence or a law. So, what is the essence or law of officialdom reflected in Zhang Peilun's case? This law is the law of instinctive pleasing in officialdom.The manifestation of this law is: the higher the level, the more professional the ideological knowledge, the rarer the confidantes; the lower the level, the lower the content of thought and knowledge, the wider the market .

To give a simple example, a group of people get together, if you talk about love between men and women, everyone can participate in this topic, and everyone has a strong interest.But if you elevate the subject of the conversation and talk about the great love between Lu Xun and Xu Guangping, then the number of people who can participate in this topic will be significantly reduced.If you raise the topic of conversation to a higher level and talk about the eternal love story in "The Peacock Flies to the Southeast", then you will find that it is difficult for you to find a conversation partner.

For another example, if you talk to people about how powerful and rich people enjoy themselves, you will easily find an audience.But if you want to talk about the hard work of getting rich, the audience for this topic is significantly reduced.And when you talk about economics, you have no audience. As we have repeatedly stated, whether it is the workplace or the officialdom, it is the sum of interpersonal relationships. In these two occasions, the high-ranking people must be few, the spring is white and snowy, there are very few people who make peace, and the people who are low-level people are eager to listen.People who don't understand this truth are easily isolated in the workplace, and even more dangerous in the officialdom.And those who understand this truth can easily discover the secret door in the officialdom that has never been closed, and they can leave their colleagues who are still talking about the world's major events, and quietly embark on the road to success alone.

Looking back at Zhang Peilun's success, all of his success rests on the faint hope that Li Hongzhang's daughter must happen to be a talented woman.But we know that the number of talented women in this world is much rarer than that of beauties. Beauties don’t need to pay anything. As long as the time of her birth is smooth and the genes of her ancestors are not too bad, basically she has passed the test.But if you want to become a talented woman, you need to have extraordinary interest and hard work in books. Everyone may have the interest, but not everyone can do this hard work. To put it bluntly, even if you are as talented as Zhang Peilun, the probability of meeting a talented woman in your boss's family is very low.It is precisely because of this low probability that Zhang Peilun outwitted Li Hongzhang and became a good story in the officialdom.

In reality, it is more likely that you cannot find a talented woman around you, not to mention talented women, even talented men are very rare.What we see most often in the officialdom are crowds of men, women, and ordinary people. True talent is not appreciated in such an environment. You must rely on other instinctive skills to succeed. . What do these instinctive skills refer to? These skills are explained thoroughly, and they are guaranteed to brighten your eyes and refresh your ears.This secret door to success in the officialdom is some of the most favorite entertainments of human beings, including singing and dancing, playing ball and chess, and elegant hobbies such as fishing and calligraphy, so there is no need to consider it.

No consideration is given to elegant arts such as calligraphy and painting, because this type of social activity requires a lot of effort, and it is not something that the working people can enjoy.For activities such as singing and dancing, playing ball and chess, the barriers to entry are not so high. It is easy for you to be preconceived and attract everyone's attention. To put it in detail, singing and dancing, playing ball and chess are included in the category of "recreational and sports activities". Few people would regard this type of hobby as a serious matter, but in the officialdom, this type of hobby is precisely the most important thing. up.

This is because the entry threshold for cultural and sports activities is relatively low, so whenever there are any group activities, most of them are based on these games.When a karaoke competition is held, all colleagues will excitedly pick up the microphone, open their throats and shout non-stop, but if any unit organizes a calligraphy and painting competition, there will be very few people who can participate. Therefore, if someone works secretly on these inconspicuous cultural and sports activities, then he can easily get along well in the unit, and his name will enter the sight of the leader or superior, even if the leader has done something bad to him before. The impression of him will also suddenly change at this time.This opened up a unique promotion ladder for him. Since no one can match him in this respect, his position in the eyes of his superiors is also difficult to be constrained by his colleagues.

If we must find an example for this rule, then Gao Lian in the novel is the most powerful proof—just because he played football well, he achieved the high position of the captain of the palace.In addition, the example of Cai Jing, a power minister who was a contemporary of Gao Qiu, is more convincing to us. In the history of the Northern Song Dynasty, Cai Jing was known as the head of the six thieves. Although he had a bad character, he had an amazing skill, and his calligraphy was particularly good.As I said before, calligraphy belongs to the class of elegant art, but we should not forget that the emperor Song Huizong in Cai Jing's era was also a master of painting and a master of art.There are very few opportunities for us to meet masters in officialdom, so we don’t need to compete with others in calligraphy at all——Before Song Huizong became emperor, he was extremely obsessed with Cai Jing’s calligraphy, and he did not hesitate to pay high prices to buy Cai Jing’s calligraphy everywhere The works are collected in Fuchu.When he became emperor, this habit became more serious. At this time, Cai Jing's calligraphy works had been collected by him in the national treasury. As the most precious authentic works of art, they were kept secret.

Before Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty became emperor, there were two people who voluntarily came to serve Cai Jing and took care of Cai Jing in every possible way.Cai Jing was very sorry, so he asked the two people if they had any requests, and the two pleaded: "I only want one of your authentic works, and I have nothing else to ask for." few words.After many days, Cai Jing met these two people again, only to find that they had already put on luxurious clothes and lived in a magnificent mansion with a cloud of servants in the mansion. It was sold to the emperor, and the money they got was enough for them to last a lifetime. It is obvious that Song Huizong is a fan of Cai Jing, and if Cai Jing does not sit in the position of prime minister, who is qualified to sit? However, an elegant emperor like Song Huizong, whether in history or in reality, is hard to find even with a lantern.Most of the people we can meet who have influence on our future are people like Emperor Xiaowu of the Liu Song Empire. Emperor Xiaowu of the Liu Song Empire was a lover. He fell in love with his cousin, so he couldn't help but carry her into the palace and named her a noble concubine.Although the imperial concubine is a noble concubine, she is a family after all, and awkwardness in love is always inevitable.So Emperor Xiaowu made a plan and gave her cousin the surname Yin, which removed her psychological barriers and fell in love with each other wholeheartedly. Unexpectedly, the concubine was unlucky, Emperor Xiaowu was indulging in this strange love, but Concubine Yin died of a sudden illness.Emperor Xiaowu was heartbroken, and after burying Concubine Yin, he led his ministers to his cousin's tomb several times to lay flowers and sweep the grave.Every time he came, he was very sad. Once he suddenly saw the calm expressions of the ministers, and he was a little unhappy immediately, so he told the minister Liu Dehou to say: "Come and cry, cry for my cousin. If you cry with the truth, I will cry." I'll give you a high-ranking official." Liu Dehou threw himself on the tomb, crying loudly, crying until the sky and the earth turned pale, and the clouds were gloomy, as if the one who died in the tomb was his lover.Emperor Xiaowu was overjoyed when he saw it, so he gave Liu Dehou the governorship of Yuzhou. Liu Dehou cried, but Emperor Xiaowu was still not satisfied, so he called the imperial doctor Yang Zhi, and said: "You cry too, and if you cry out your feelings, I will give you a high-ranking official." Yang Zhi burst into tears when he heard this, and cried Grabbing the land, crying so much that Emperor Xiaowu was overjoyed, and also gave the imperial doctor Yang Zhi a high-ranking official. Afterwards, someone asked Yang Zhi: "You have no relationship with Concubine Yin, and you cry whenever you want. Where did the tears come from?" Yang Zhi replied, "What do you know? That day I was thinking of my concubine who died not long ago..." It seems that Emperor Xiaowu's brain is obviously a little abnormal. How can others cry out for the woman he likes?If other people really have feelings for his woman, wouldn't this be a troublesome thing?However, Emperor Xiaowu's state of mind reflects the psychological illusion of those in power. After a long time, the high-ranking people will mistakenly think that they are the center of the world. The people they like are also liked by others; I also like it, so Emperor Xiaowu will give generously to the weepers. The law of instinctive pleasing in the officialdom is based on this psychological illusion of those in power.The specific operation essentials are: neither can be as elegant as Cai Jing, nor be as vulgar as Emperor Xiaowu. It is between human instinct and rationality, basically there is no problem.