Chapter 18 Integrity Seventeenth

At the beginning of Zhenguan, there was a letter to invite the courtiers. Taizong said: "Everyone I appoint is considered a virtuous person. Who is the one who knows the courtiers?" To test the ministers, if they are not afraid of thunder and speak out, they will be a gentleman, and they will be a sycophant." Taizong said to Feng Deyi: "The water is clear and turbid at its source. The king governs The source, people are like water, the king is deceitful, and he wants his ministers to go straight, it is like a turbid source and hope that the water is clear, and it is unreasonable. I often think that Emperor Wu of Wei is so deceitful and despises him as a person. How can this be regarded as a teaching order? "The person who wrote the letter said: "I want to make great faith prevail in the world, and I don't want to prescribe deceitful ways. Although your words are good, I will not take what I have."

In the tenth year of Zhenguan, Wei Zheng said: The minister heard that the foundation of the country must be funded by virtue and courtesy, and the protection of the king lies in honesty.Integrity stands for unambiguous hearts, and virtue and etiquette make people far away.However, morality, courtesy and integrity, the outline of the country, lies in the monarch, ministers, father and son, and it cannot be discarded as needed.Therefore, Confucius said: "The king envoys his ministers with courtesy, and the ministers serve the king with loyalty." He also said: "Since ancient times, there has been death, and the people will not stand without faith." To act, sincerity lies outside orders.” However, if you don’t believe your words, you won’t have faith in your words; if you don’t follow orders, you won’t have sincerity in your orders.Words of unbelief, orders without sincerity, if you are superior, you will lose your virtue, and if you are inferior, you will endanger yourself.

It has been more than ten years since the reign of kings and kings, Vega has joined overseas, all nations have come to court, warehouses and granaries have accumulated day by day, and the land has been expanded day by day, but morality has not been enhanced, benevolence and righteousness have not been enriched, so what?Because the feeling of waiting for the next is not based on integrity, although there is diligence at the beginning, the beauty of restraining the end has not been seen.At the beginning of Zhenguan in the past, it was Wen Shan who was amazed, and during the 1980s and 1989, he was still happy to follow his advice.Since then, I have become more and more outspoken. Although I can barely tolerate it, it is not as open as when I returned.Those who are stingy avoid the dragon's scales a little; those who are flattered are free to argue.Calling those who are of the same mind is arbitrariness, and calling those who are loyal is slander.To call it a crony is to be suspicious even though it is loyal;

Straight people are afraid of opinions about power, and loyal people are especially worried about slander.The ministers are not allowed to speak their minds, and the ministers cannot compete with them.Confused by the audiovisual, depressed by the avenue, hindering the government and damaging morality, what does that matter? That's why Confucius said, "Those who overwhelm the state with evil and sharp mouths" are for this reason. And gentlemen and villains have the same appearance and different hearts.A gentleman hides people's evil, promotes people's goodness, in the face of difficulties, there is no escape, and he kills himself to become benevolent.The villain is not ashamed or benevolent, and he is not afraid of injustice. He only seeks benefits and endangers people's self-safety.If the husband is in danger, why not?Today, if you want to achieve governance, you must entrust it to the gentleman; if there are gains and losses in the matter, you may visit the villain.It treats gentlemen with respect and neglect, and when it meets villains, it will treat villains with contempt and affection.If you are in love, you will talk endlessly, if you are sparse, you will not be able to communicate.If it is, the bad reputation lies with the villain, and the punishment is imposed on the gentleman. It is really a place for mourning, so it is careless!This is what Sun Qing said: "Let the wise seek it, discuss it with the foolish, make the virtuous practice it, and doubt it with the filthy. If you want it to succeed, can you get it?" ?However, talents are not based on the country, and you can't think too far. Although you try your best to be sincere, you are still not immune to defeat;Husband stands on a straight tree and suspects that the shadow is not straight. Although he exhausts his energy and thinks hard, it is already clear that it will not work.

If a husband can be courteous and a minister can be loyal, he must be selfless inside and outside, and believe in it from top to bottom.If the superiors do not believe, then there is no way to make the inferiors work; if the subordinates do not believe, then there is no way to advance things. Belief is the way.Former Qi Duke Huan asked Guan Zhong, saying: "I want to make wine rot in the jue and meat in the zu, so that I can get a harmless tyrant?" say: "How do you harm a bully?" Guan Zhong said: "If you don't know people, you harm a bully; if you know but don't allow yourself, you get a bully; " In the middle of the Jin Dynasty, Mu Bo was attacking the drums. After many years, he could not go down. He fed Jian Lun and said: "The drum is a coward, and Jian Lun knows it. Please don't tire the scholar-bureaucrats, and the drums are available." Mu Bo should not, left and right said: " Don't break a halberd, don't hurt a pawn, but you can get a drum, why don't you take it?" Mu Bo said: "Jian Lun is a man, but he is not benevolent. If you let Jian Lun go down, I don't want to reward him. If you reward them, you are rewarding sycophants. The success of sycophants is to make the people of the state of Jin give up their benevolence and become sycophants. Although they are rewarded, how will they be used?" Zuo, you can still be cautious about trusting and avoiding sycophants. The same is true. What's more, as the king of the world, you should be the saint of thousands of years, and you can make the towering and virtuous flourish, will there be a difference?

If you want to keep a gentleman and villain from right and wrong, you must treat them with virtue, treat them with faith, be strict with righteousness, and behave with courtesy.Then the villain will never be selfish and flattering, the gentleman will continue to strive for self-improvement, how far is the rule of inaction?Those who are good and good cannot advance, and those who are evil cannot go away, the punishment does not go to the guilty, and the reward does not go to the meritorious, then the period of peril is in danger, and it may not be guaranteed. Yongxi Zuoyin, what is the hope?

Taizong Lanshu sighed and said: "If you don't meet your father, how can you hear this word!" Emperor Taizong said to Changsun Wuji and others: "At the beginning of my ascension to the throne, there were not only one who wrote a letter, or said that the leader must be authoritative and alone, and should not be appointed by the group; "Yan Ge prospers the text, Bu De Shi benefits, China is safe, and people from afar are self-contained." From this I say, the world is peaceful, and the rulers and rulers of the absolute domain all come to pay tribute, and the nine barbarians re-translate and look at the Tao. Everything is due to the power of Wei Zheng. Is it not good for me to appoint people?" Zheng worshiped and thanked him: "Your Majesty is sagely, and pays attention to political skills. In fact, it is mediocre and too short to bear. How can it be beneficial to the sage?"

In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong said to his courtiers: "The "Biography" says 'go eat and keep faith', and Confucius said: 'The people cannot stand without faith.' In the past, Xiang Yu entered Xianyang and ruled the world. Yeah?" Fang Xuanling said to him, "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith are called the five elements, and one cannot be abolished. It is very beneficial to practice them diligently. Yin Zhou insulted the five elements, and King Wu seized them; The letter was taken by Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, just like the imperial decree."