Chapter 7 5. The hidden identity of the county magistrate

(Ming) Longqing three years (1569), Hai Rui wrote down a major discovery.If we apply the metaphor of Mencius, "It is enough to see the end of the autumn without seeing the salary", then what Hai Rui found was just the carload of firewood.However, people are not familiar with it, use it every day but don't know it, and no one continues to analyze it, so this discovery has been buried until now. In order to avoid contempt for this car "firewood", please forgive me to go around in circles and start with the origin of this discovery. In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing (1555), Hai Rui worked as a teacher in Nanping County, Fujian Province (similar to the director of the county education bureau and the principal of the official school), and wrote "Yi Chuan Shen Wen" and "Yi Chuan Lun".Yichuan is similar to the current guest house and post office, and has nothing to do with education, but Hai Jui couldn't bear to see those officials and their relatives and friends eating and drinking in the guest house, using their husbands and horses, and forcing the people to throw themselves into the river and hang themselves because of the huge burden. not talking.He wrote on the line that local officials made ordinary people throw themselves into the river and hang themselves in order to flatter others. This is killing people for the sake of flattery.

Hai Rui said that judging from the official regulations and practice in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic, the burden on the common people was not that heavy at all.He appealed to the retro and strictly followed the rules.He said that magistrates think that if they follow the rules, they will be "uneasy" and they will lose their hats. This is not correct.He also cited two examples to prove that cutting some hospitality expenses may not affect career advancement. When I wrote these words, Hai Rui was 43 years old and had only been in the officialdom for two years. He didn't have a deep and comprehensive understanding of this issue, and he was even suspected of "standing up and talking without pain in his back".Three years later, Hai Rui became the magistrate of Chun'an County, Zhejiang Province. He had the opportunity to practice his ideas and acted strictly according to the rules.

What does it mean to follow the rules?For example, according to the prevailing practice at that time, when important officials passed by Chun'an, they would spend about twenty or thirty taels of silver in reception fees, which would be around six to seven thousand yuan when converted into grain prices.If the governor (similar to the secretary of the provincial party committee) passes by Chun'an, the reception fee will cost three or four hundred taels of silver, nearly 100,000 yuan.According to the regulations that Hai Rui followed, the food expenses of general officials, the food expenses on the way down, and the crew on the boat for the next journey, totaled no more than five or six renminbi, about one hundred forty-five yuan.If the boss arrives, add a goose and a ham, the market price is two renminbi, and add vegetables for five or six fen, the total is no more than 200 yuan.Retired cadres at the central ministerial level passing by are also handled according to the standard of 200 yuan.Hai Rui said that this standard is enough to ensure that the guests eat deliciously.Later, Hai Rui became the governor himself, and set an example, only accepting the reception standard of 145 to 50 yuan for ordinary officials.

Cut from 6,000 to 7,000 yuan to 145,000 yuan, from 100,000 yuan to 200 yuan, and cut down the vested interests of the boss to only a fraction. This is Hai Rui's work according to the rules.Anyone who read this kind of regulations would know that there would be troubles. Sure enough, Hai Rui frequently caused troubles during his four years as the county magistrate in Chun'an, and two of the stories were included in the official "History of Ming Dynasty". the first year.The son of Hu Zongxian, the governor (similar to the secretary of the provincial party committee and commander of the military region), passed by Chun'an, and was angered by the way Chun'an Yicheng (similar to the director of the guest house) received him, and hung the director upside down.

This story is written very briefly in "History of Ming Dynasty·Biography of Hai Rui", and there is no record in the main text of "Hai Rui Ji".According to the regulations that Hai Rui insisted on, the son of an official is not eligible to enjoy the public post service at all, but the Chun'an post office may not have the courage to refuse the service, he probably received Mr. Hu according to the standard of 140 to 50 yuan.The standard of 200 yuan is for the Governor-General. Mr. Hu may not be able to enjoy it, and even if he does, he will inevitably get angry.It is said that Mr. Hu carried thousands of taels of silver that the local officials honored all the way. Judging from the quantity and distance, all localities received them according to the old rule of one or two hundred taels of silver at the sub-provincial level. And out of town to see you off.When he arrived in Chun'an, Hai Rui, the seventh-rank sesame official, not only did not greet him or entertain him, but the expected one or two hundred taels of silver was also downgraded to five or six taels of silver. How could a self-respecting person not be angry?

The young master was furious, and Hai Rui was also furious. He ordered Mr. Hu to be imprisoned, the money was confiscated, and reported to Governor Hu, saying that you clearly instructed in the notice not to make big arrangements for hospitality, but now someone is pretending to be your young master to deceive you.Hai Rui asked for instructions on how to deal with it, which made Governor Hu feel distressed. the second year.The magistrate of Yanzhou, who directly leads Hai Rui, approved the application from the neighboring county, asking Chun'an to help share some post fees, but Hai Rui refused to accept the order.

Hai Rui said that Jiande County's post-transmission burden is indeed heavier than ours in Chun'an. Our county pays four or five taels of silver per Ding, while Jiande County pays nine taels per Ding. It is reasonable for them to want to "divide the damage".However, Hai Rui said, I have reduced Chun'an's original four or five taels to two cents and five cents. This is the undivided income of the boss and passers-by. We can reduce it, but why can't Jiande reduce it?If Jiande County wants to reduce the burden, it should start here first, instead of reaching out to us first without making efforts.

After rejecting the neighbor, Hai Rui returned the boss's regular apportionment. Chun'an County is under the jurisdiction of Yanzhou Mansion, and the mansion receives visitors and presents favors, all of which end up in the counties, and the number of them naturally far exceeds the standard stipulated in the written text.However, Hai Rui chose to be serious with the superiors, and followed the formal standards to the letter.After sending it to the mansion, the magistrate of Han refused to accept the silver taels, which were less than the usual amount, and at the same time quoted Mencius' teaching that "those who follow the sky will survive, and those who go against the sky will perish" to persuade Hai Rui to give in. Hai Rui sent the returned silver to the The government refused to increase the slightest.He said, what Mencius said about submitting to power was the situation in the Warring States period. Now that the sages are superior, and we are all scholars who know propriety and righteousness, your power and talent are enough to be the mainstay. The righteousness of propriety and injustice"?Do you want to create a "day of no way"?

In good conscience, Hai Rui questioned the prefect of Han with "the sage is above", which is a bit forceful.At that time, Emperor Jiajing had not been in court for more than ten years, and the famous treacherous minister Yan Song was in power, and bribes were messed up. How could there be any "sage above"?A few years later, Hai Rui scolded the emperor, saying that the people of the world did not think that His Majesty was right, and even persuaded the emperor to change his past, which shows that he is not ignorant.Knowing that you still have to pretend to be stupid, and block the prefect's mouth with words praising the supreme leader, this is not the attitude of discussing and discussing, and it is difficult to convince others.Of course, it was understandable not to discuss with the magistrate. If they lost the argument, they should pay more. Hai Rui refused to pay more.

By the way, what Hai Rui borrowed from Mencius's words, "the etiquette of injustice, the righteousness of injustice" to describe what I tried to describe is the unspoken rule.At this time, Hai Rui already understood that what he was resisting and fighting against was not some shady criminal act, but another set of righteous etiquette system that regulated the rights and obligations of the parties and was recognized by both parties.Hai Rui emphasized the difference between this set of rules and formal rules, but he has not yet found a concise concept. The third year.In March of the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing (1560), Yan Maoqing toured the south as the Prime Minister of Yanzheng, the capital censor, and was about to pass by Chun'an.Du Yushi's status is similar to that of the First Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Minister of Supervision, and the Premier Yanzheng means that he also has the special mission of Deputy Minister of Finance.It is rare to see such a head of the central government in the local area, but everyone understands that this is both an opportunity for promotion and an unlucky pass, so a competition to curry favor begins.

Before the tour, Yan Shouchang specially sent a notice to the stations ahead, saying that he is "simple in nature and does not like to be welcomed. All food and beverages should be frugal and simple. Don't be too extravagant and waste Lijia." He also said He said: "Nowadays, the people are poor and rich, and if they are lenient, the people will receive a reward. You should be considerate." The words are very sincere.However, our ancestors did things in private, always judged people according to the standard of unspoken rules, and did not believe in benevolence, righteousness and morality.The magistrates seemed not to have heard the sage words of Chief Yan at all, and held banquets everywhere, with wild animals and wild animals, and each table was worth three or four hundred taels of silver (about 100,000 RMB). .And Yan Shouchang lived up to expectations, as if he never said those sage words at all, and he came all the way to eat one hundred thousand yuan per seat.The local officials are very well-informed, and they sent people to find out the reception standards and dishes in various places. On their own side, they first advanced a sum of money from somewhere, and planned new ways to please them. At this time, Hai Rui reported to Chief Yan that the chief's instructions were very good, but the reports we received were completely opposite.Now the prefectures and counties are afraid of being offended because of insufficient supply, and they are trying their best to comprador, which makes the people scream. I am afraid that you will regret it because you do not understand the situation, so I hereby report. Chief Yan received a letter from Hai Rui and decided to bypass Chun'an temporarily. Seeing the sudden change in the chief's whereabouts, the leaders of the Yanzhou Prefecture hurriedly inquired. When they found out what was going on, they were terrified and summoned Hai Rui to scold him: "You little official, How bold!" Later, the head of the central government seemed to have said nothing, but the head's subordinate, Yuan Chun, the censor of Yanyan, couldn't stand it anymore, and expressed that he wanted to speak out for the leader, so he found a fault and read Hai Rui's book.As a rule, officials exposed by Yushi (similar to the director of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection) have to avoid their positions and step down temporarily, but Hai Rui will not step down. He wrote a request for instructions, saying that he is worthy of the king and the people , there is nothing wrong with it, if I need to resign and wait for processing, please send someone to go through the official handover procedures. ——If it wasn't for the cheeky refusal to give up his seat, Hai Rui would have been a step down. In the 40th year of Jiajing (1561), Hai Rui was 49 years old and reached a threshold of promotion.In July of this year, he once again offended Yuan Chun, the censor of salt inspection, because the reception was not far away, the supply was not abundant, and he did not respond to orders.Yuan Yushi hated Hai Rui's lack of enthusiasm for the leadership, and scolded: "It's too early for you to want to be a school official now! It's too early!" Yuan Yushi wrote in Hai Rui's "Give You Shenwen" Criticized that just after submitting the case, he put on a posture of being promoted, "arrogant, disrespectful, and not law-abiding."The inspection is not passed. Originally, it had been agreed that Hai Rui would be promoted to the general judge of Jiaxing Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, and his official rank would be promoted from the seventh rank to the sixth rank. After Yuan Yushi made such a fuss, Hai Ruiping was transferred to Xingguo, Jiangxi Province, and continued to be a county magistrate in a poorer place. I take the trouble to narrate these old stories, because these stories reflect the real boundaries of passer-by rights in different ways.The rights and interests of passers-by can not only be directly manifested as their demands and extortion, but also indirectly manifested as the flattery and competition of peers or colleagues. It can even be expressed as a philosophical debate about the Confucian classics. In these specific one-on-one relationships, any non-cooperation, any indifference and evasion, any offense may offend a powerful person, and may lead to resentment and revenge.Conversely, the unexpected respect and supply may bring better official luck.This is the real "Skynet is fully restored, sparse but not leaky", "Good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil".There is no such close and multifaceted retributive relationship between county magistrates and farmers. Therefore, amidst the situation, the real identity of the county magistrate is bound to change, becoming something he shouldn't be.So what is a county magistrate if he is not a magistrate?Hai Rui's conclusion is: "The county magistrate has really become a Yi Cheng (the director of the guest house)". This is the big truth that I refused to say directly for a long time because I was afraid of being despised. Since the Qin Dynasty established prefectures and counties, who doesn't know what a county magistrate is?The so-called people-friendly officials, parents' officials, county magistrates, county leaders, etc., but who has said in a down-to-earth manner that "the county official is really a postman"?Hai Rui's words revealed the real body, thus overturning a common sense and truncating a fixed thinking: Even the constant identity of the county magistrate will change its meaning according to the real position in the network of interests, and we can still think about it without thinking. Accept what?To me, this sentence is like Hong Zhong Dalu, deafening. Hai Rui's sentence is not an abrupt emotion, but a complete description of the identity changes that accompany the system changes.Before proceeding to elucidate the discoveries of the sages, here is the original text of Hai Rui's "Governor's Treaty" as follows: "The prefectures and counties manage civil affairs, and the post office manages the passers-by, and the ancestor system is also. Flattery is a figurine, and it has been practiced so far. The county magistrate has really become a post office, and the magistrate is also half of the post office, but he has lost the original system." Being the director of a guest house is no joke, it takes a lot of time and money, where do these things come from? Let's talk about time first.Hai Rui said in a private letter that today, in an official position, he abandons his duties and runs around every day to meet and see those passers-by.In "Being Discussed from Chen Buzhi Shu", Hai Rui directly reported to the emperor that the four prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang were important roads, and the magistrates of the prefectures and counties It is a matter of welcoming and seeing off guests every day.When Xiaomin had grievances, although he wanted to resolve them for them, "when he had no time, he often ignored them." As a result, there was a large backlog of cases. It can be seen that the time that county magistrates spend serving passers-by is dug from the common people.From the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" which first created "Hundred Officials" to describe the duties of officials, to "History of Ming Dynasty: Official Records", there are only two aspects of the imperial mission of the county magistrate.In terms of the relationship with the higher-level government, it is mainly about paying taxes and sending talents.In terms of relations with the common people, there are four old items established since the Han Dynasty: 1. Propagating and advocating moral laws and regulations; 2. Maintaining social order; That is to say, for more than a thousand years, county magistrates have not had the task of receiving visitors.But in real life, so much working time is spent unexplainably, for neither public nor private purposes.Without a name, let's call it the "grey period". Let's talk about money.Hai Rui said that Chun'an County paid for the past, the boss, and the county's various expenses. In the past, it used to pay as little as three taels of silver per person, and as much as four taels of money.Since I took office, I have only collected two cents and five cents of silver per person, which is about nine hundred taels of silver every year.Among them, the cost of the county is less, and the cost of supporting the past and the boss is more.If the boss is sympathetic to the poverty of the people, does not use the poor to help the rich, and pays attention to saving, it is enough to collect 2 cents and 5 cents of silver per cent, but there are no people who pay attention.I am in charge of a county, so I can't ask the leaders to reduce the congratulatory gifts for the husband, and I can't strictly enforce the law to reduce the reception expenses, and I have to continue to collect the two cents and five cents of silver. Hai Rui gave three standards: In the past, three or four taels of silver were collected per diced, but now 2 cents and 5 cents per diced, ideally, 2 cents and 5 cents per diced.The amount of ding in Chun’an County fluctuates around 3,700 to 4,000. Based on 3,700 ding, Hai Rui collects 925 taels a year after taking office. In the past, he had to collect 12,950 taels. The ideal figure is only 92.5 taels, a difference of 140 times.Which of these three criteria is justified? If I look after your home and receive a salary of 10 yuan per day, and a monthly salary of 300 yuan, according to the current market price of 850 yuan per month for security guards and 3,000 yuan per month for private bodyguards, 300 yuan is less. This can be said to be a relative relation.If the increase is ten times, the monthly salary is 3,000 yuan, which is also within the scope of fair trade.What if it is increased by 140 times?1,400 yuan a day, 42,000 yuan a month?At this time, there is a good reason to doubt, am I the housekeeper or the one who robbed the house?If it was someone who robbed a house, then from what point did I change from a security guard to a robber?From a monthly salary of 4,000?Five thousand?Ten thousand? If the taels of silver collected by Hai Rui after he took office are taken as the boundary of legitimate standards, of the 12,950 taels collected each year, only 925 taels should be appropriate, and the remaining 12,025 taels are ill-gotten gains, accounting for about 93%. The legitimate share is only 7%, but the actual amount collected is 14 times of the legitimate amount.This large sum of ill-gotten wealth is mainly used to support passers-by and honor the boss.The part that respects the boss has a large amount of money that is transferred to the higher-level government to support the passing expenses.So, what should the passer-by group that divides up this ill-gotten wealth be called?Unjust group?Loot group?Mafia?Similarly, what should the magistrates and magistrates who searched and participated in dividing up this ill-gotten wealth be called?Is it just the director of the guest house?Should it be considered a gangster? I was a little surprised.In order to pursue and define an identity, a huge fee without a positive name was pulled out, and a group of "passers-by" who didn't know how to call it was involved.For an exact name, pull out two things that need to be named. After careful identification, Hai Rui's predecessor expropriated more than 10,000 taels of silver. Although it violated the regulations of the central government, although it was a bit dark, it was not stolen money, nor was it purely ill-gotten gains.According to the standard of unspoken rules of "righteousness beyond righteousness and etiquette beyond propriety", this money is in line with the "righteousness" within the bureaucratic group, and has been distributed in accordance with the unspoken rules.Therefore, this money is not "black money", but "grey money".Therefore, those who search for and divide up this gray money should not be labeled as gangsters, but can only be counted as "gray gangs". If the gray level of county magistrates is calculated based on the proportion of gray taxes and fees in all corvees, then Hai Rui's former county magistrates in Chun'an are 93% as gray gang members, and less than 7% as county magistrates.Less than 7% does not mean it is close to 7%. I estimate that its actual quality will be discounted in half to around 3.5%—we need to discount the "grey period". If we hire a public servant, during the eight-hour working day, he spends three or four hours drinking and playing mahjong with the passing public servants. How good is it?It doesn't seem harsh to make a half fold.When discounting in half, we admit that public servants have done some public welfare things after all.If the calculation is harsher, considering that the drinking money and gambling money of the passers-by are shared on our heads, and considering the time and money conflicts between the common people and the passer-by group - the hotter and more popular on the passer-by side, the colder it is on the common people's side The darker it is, there is an inverse relationship between the two, so the "public welfare" provided by public servants should be wiped out by "public nuisance". In short, "the county magistrate really became a postman", the deeper meaning is: the county magistrate has really become a "grey gang member". Hai Rui fought against the Gray Gang on his own. In the long-term practice of class struggle, he also had a unique discovery of the advantages of the Gray Gang and the realization mechanism of the Gray Gang. In the third year of Longqing (1569), Hai Rui served as the "Governor of Youqian Capital Censor, Governor of Grain Storage and Governor of Yingtian Shifu" (similar to Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee).After writing the conclusion in the "Governor's Treaty" that "the county magistrate has really become a postman", he issued a series of bans in a tit-for-tat manner and strictly followed the rules.Hai Rui even used torture tools to personally interrogate the person who borrowed the Ministry of Industry Kanhe (the Ministry of Construction uses the letter of introduction) to force him to explain the source of the letter of introduction.Soon, complaints and discussions from the bureaucracy spread. Under the attack of the crowd, Hai Rui had to write to the cabinet ministers (similar to members of the Politburo) to appeal for help.He said that what I did was not impossible or impossible. "There are so many people talking about it, where did it come from? Where did it come from?" He said, look at these things now, really Disappointing. Hai Rui "contests with the small group every day" and feels that "it's hard to commit crimes in a swarm of bees."His new rules have harmed the vital interests of thousands of officials, as long as one or two can't help but bite him, it is enough to make him seriously ill, let alone a swarm of bees.Within a year, Hai Rui was forced to resign, which once again verified the historical law of "a gentleman can't beat a villain" expounded by Su Zhe.In a private letter after resignation, Hai Rui sighed: "It's a matter of betrayal, what's the matter, what's the matter! Manager Baifan, it's a pity, it's a shame!" In his resignation application to the emperor, Hai Rui raised these emotions and doubts to a theoretical level.He appealed: I wish the emperor, and order my successor not to change the policies I formulated easily because of my slander, "Don't say that the township officials are passing by, and they must be generous; , but not for the common people." This is again the standard Hai Rui style: a thorough understanding of the crux of the problem, but refuses to admit the truth that "the situation is stronger than people", hoping to resist the general trend with personal moral strength. Hai Rui's so-called "big mouth and small mouth" clearly explained the institutional roots of the gray gang.As early as ten years ago, in the "Chun'an Political Affairs Xingge Regulations", Hai Rui described the information advantages of bureaucratic groups or passing groups in this way.He said: Everyone says that people should be pity for the common people and save people's energy, and they also say that it is absolutely necessary to receive visitors.However, "the people's mouths are small, and they can't be self-satisfied if they have public opinions. Passers-by talk big, and if they don't like it, they will confuse right and wrong, and slander their words and deeds." That is to say, it’s okay to bully the people, but the higher-ups won’t hear it; if you offend passers-by, you will incur slander.This is how to choose the cadres who pursue progress?Although their power is given by the leaders, everyone understands the principles of "three people become tigers" and "Zeng Shen kills people", and understand that their power is actually given by the information transmission group.In order to make progress, the county magistrate had to curry favor with the "big mouth" group and sacrifice the "small mouth" group.In this sense, gray gangs are the natural result of the system where leaders have the final say and the information monopoly of bureaucratic groups.Although the status of the Gray Gang is not officially determined, it is "determined". More precisely, it is "determined" by all parties interacting in the political situation relying on their respective strengths. The merits of personal morality have nothing to do with the overall situation. What's more, treating passers-by generously without paying for it is completely "taken from the people".This is very simple again, "it's just an opening, it's just a deal".The cost of going this route is so low, the risk is so small, and it is a bit naive and romantic to expect other results.Hai Rui also seemed to have realized something when he stepped down, and scolded: "This is such a world, what a career you can do!" The gray gang or gangsterization of the Ming Dynasty regime has gone through a process of peaceful evolution. In the early Ming Dynasty, the management of post delivery was very strict, and only a few military and imperial envoys could use the public post.As a marquis, Lu Zhongheng violated the regulations by using the horses of the public post, so he was punished by Zhu Yuanzhang to go to Yanmen to catch the robbers.The general was finally forced to join the conspiracy gang.This was before the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380). In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing (1558), after Hai Rui became the magistrate of Chun'an County, he conducted a survey among the local elderly. According to the elderly, the people in the past 20 years have suffered more than the previous 20 years, and the burden has been heavier.In the past forty or fifty years, the burden has been heavier than in the previous forty or fifty years. This is because the entertainment expenses of officials have become more and more generous. (Ming) A record in Volume 4 of Chen Quanzhi's "Peng Chuang Ri Lu" more precisely supports this folk feeling.He said that the disadvantages of post-transmission can be said to have gone to the extreme.Officials borrow customs without "guan" (certification letter using the post system), and they can borrow customs, so they borrow indiscriminately.Local officials took the opportunity of entertaining guests to enrich themselves.For example, Huaiyang post office, in the early years of Jiajing, received about 3,000 certification letters every year.But twenty years, now tens of thousands.The boats used are also larger than in the past, requiring three times as many trackers to pull them.From this we can see the speed of the process of graying: the gray scale has increased by more than three times in the past twenty years. What proportion of the tens of thousands of passers-by this year is true? (Ming) Hu Zongzong's "Yuan Xuebian" (Part 2) said: "The law should be entered in the post, and there are no two or three out of ten. The law is not suitable for the post, and the ten out of ten. Land travel is not the same, and water travel is even worse.  …Now The people in the sea are destitute and have no means of living, which is probably the result of post-post transmission." After Hai Rui's resistance efforts failed, more than 60 years later, Mao Yujian reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "The post delivery incident is the most harmful to the people." Also changed hands. "The guards are as powerful as tigers, and the lives of ordinary people are like paper. It is miserable to see and hear." He called on the emperor to offer a reward for arresting those who use false certificates. The proliferation of certification letters is essentially the expansion of the right to extortion.Take the famous Xu Xiake as an example.In the autumn of the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637), Xu Xiake was traveling in Guangxi, and he had no right to use the public post system for free.However, with the horse card presented by the magistrate (using the letter from Yichuan), Xu Xiake ordered the villagers to carry the sedan chair for him and his servants on the road.The master and servant plus the luggage often need seven or eight servants.When there are not enough people in the village, they also use "two wives on behalf of the father"-letting women carry the sedan chair for him.In addition, he had to eat and drink, including fish and meat, "boiled eggs and offered syrup". In "Diary of a Journey to the West of Guangdong III", Xu Xiake recorded his experience in late November of the tenth year of Chongzhen.The gentleman with a horse card drove the servants all day long, and at dusk they saw the next village. The servants began to flee. Xu Xiake quickly grabbed a bundle and led him into the village.The men in the village had fled into the mountains, so Xu Xiake led his servants to search from house to house, found two women, and ordered them to find someone to carry their luggage and cook.The tied hostage and his companions also yelled and let the villagers take over.After a while, the old man in charge of post-transmission affairs came. Xu Xiake said that the old man had to come because he was afraid that I would whip his descendants.The old man's son was lame. After eating, he got into the bed made for him by the old man and the woman, "I ordered to find a husband quickly, and then I lay down (I ordered to quickly find a husband who carried the sedan chair and luggage for me, and then lay down)." Xu Xiake is our cultural elite, but it is also unavoidable to condense our unspoken cultural traditions.Much of his travel expenses were passed on to the peasants in violation of central regulations by virtue of the power of the government that bound and flogged him.In the eyes of the fleeing farmers, such passers-by who eat and drink are no different from gangsters. Of course, Emperor Chongzhen was willing to rectify, but he ordered many times to no effect, and finally realized that there were these problems in the station, which could not be solved at all.So, he came up with a one-size-fits-all approach, cutting off one-third of the post station, and there is no post station to see where you go to knock the bones and suck the marrow.In this layoff, a large number of postmen were laid off, and one of them was Li Zicheng. In Li Zicheng's call for war against the Ming Dynasty, there is such a passage: The emperor is not too bad, but he is always deceived.All the ministers form cliques for private interests, and few are just and loyal.As a result, bribes and benefits have entered the pockets of the bureaucracy, and the people's fat has been squeezed dry. Li Zicheng's accusation of forming a party for personal gain is exactly what we call gray gangs.In ancient Chinese, "Party" is a derogatory term, and "private party" has a double derogatory meaning, so it has the meaning of gray and black.My question is: Is there a clear line between gray and black, between gray gangs and gangsters?For example, 10,000 taels of extra charge is bad money, but what about 20,000 taels?What about 100 million?Even if you squeeze out all the people in the county, you still can't make up 100 million yuan. Isn't it considered a gangster if you squeeze out all the people?So, at what point between 10,000 and 100 million, between draining one person and draining the entire county, does gray money turn into black money, and gray gangs turn into gangsters? I am not sure where this turning point is, but I know that the Ming Dynasty founded by Zhu Yuanzhang is the same as the Yuan Dynasty overthrown by Zhu Yuanzhang, and its ruling group was eventually regarded as a gangster by the people.The famous article "Drunk Taiping Untitled" in Yuanren's Xiaoling puts it very clearly: "A dignified Yuan, a traitor and a sycophant monopolize power,...thieves become officials, officials become thieves,..." directly confuse officials and thieves. From a distance, the identity of the county magistrate is always changing, and in different historical periods, it appears in different shades of gray between black and white.As for how gray can be called black, and how gray can still be regarded as white before, those are the labels put on by those who have the right to name them, reflecting their balance of pros and cons, which is different from the real identity "determined" by the real pattern of interests and interests .