Chapter 2 Iron law of officialdom: bad money drives out good money

As the saying goes, a famous teacher produces a good apprentice, Lu Qi was the best at flattering people back then, and now Pei Yanling is naturally good at flattering people.Once, Emperor Dezong planned to rebuild the Shenlong Temple in the capital, and needed 50-foot-long pine wood, but he couldn't find it everywhere. As a result, Pei Yanling immediately said: "Recently, I found pine wood in the valley of Tongzhou (now Dali County, Shaanxi Province). Thousands of big pine trees, eighty feet high!" Dezong was very surprised and said: "During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years, I tried every means to find large timber near the capital, but I couldn't find it. Why do I suddenly find it now?"

Pei Yanling replied: "Treasures born with natural treasures often don't appear until the Son of Heaven is in power. During Kaiyuan and Tianbao years, how could they be found!" The implication is that today's emperor is more holy than Xuanzong who created the prosperity of Kaiyuan. When Dezong heard the words, although he was calm on the surface, in fact his whole body was numb, which was extremely beneficial. Of course, the reason Dezong liked Pei Yanling was not only because he was good at talking, but also because Pei Yanling was very good at helping the court make money, especially for the emperor's small treasury.

In July of the ninth year of Zhenyuan, Pei Yanling, who had just been the Minister of Finance for a year, said: "Since I took office as a judge, I have found out that the taxes owed by all the states in the world are more than 8 million yuan. The transaction tax is 3 million yuan, and the various tributes collected are equivalent to 300,000 yuan in cash. The minister suggested that a separate "seasonal warehouse" should be set up in the Zuo Zang treasury, and the accounts of arrears, depletion and surplus should be checked every three months Once; set up another 'Monthly Treasury' to manage all kinds of silk tributes and check them every month."

Pei Yanling's memorandum is equivalent to his work report for one year since he took office. It not only found the problems left by his predecessor, but also summarized his work achievements since he took office, and put forward reasonable suggestions for the next step. It seems that he is indeed a shrewd and capable man. financial expert.Dezong was very satisfied after reading the memorial and approved it immediately. However, is Pei Yanling really a master of financial management? No, he's a fake. The huge tax arrears he discovered are actually not news.Successive Chancellors of the Exchequer knew about this, but no one was able to collect the money.Because the objects of tax arrears are all poor or bankrupt farmers, this huge amount of arrears has long been a bad debt (existing in vain).Everyone in the finance department knew about this matter, but Pei Yanling trumpeted it as if he had discovered a new world, and regarded it as a major achievement after taking office.Apart from fooling the layman Dezong Li Shi, this incident can only be regarded as a laughing stock by insiders.

Then there is the transaction tax of 3 million min.In fact, the money was collected in the left hand and spent in the right hand (it was used up). By the time Pei Yanling reported his political achievements, the money was probably gone, but he still set up some "seasonal treasury" in a serious way, like a treasury in the national treasury. It seems that the money is too much to manage. Finally, there is the so-called "Yueku" that manages the tribute.This is also purely boring to take off your pants and fart.Because the silk tributes were originally a regular item in the Zuo Zang treasury (all Zuo Zang authentic items), why bother to set up a separate management department?

Obviously, the reason why Pei Yanling took off his pants and farted was to "bluff his name to confuse (Dezong)".It’s like a person who is about to lose all his hair to take a blind date photo. In order to hide the embarrassment of being bald, he had to comb his only hair to the left to take a picture on the left, and then comb all his hair to the right to take a picture on the right In this way, no matter how he looks from left to right, he looks very handsome. In fact, he only combs a few strands of beautiful hair. It was with such "blind date photos" that Pei Yanling won Dezong's favor and favor. "The emperor believed in it, thought it could enrich the country and favored it, but in fact it did not increase." (Volume 234)

In order to repay Dezong's kindness, Pei Yanling not only tried his best to "enrich" the national treasury, but of course also tried his best to enrich Dezong's small treasury. However, Pei Yanling was actually a doctor of Taichang, and it was not bad to write a few articles praising virtues. When it comes to expanding tax sources and increasing fiscal revenue, he has no idea at all. How can he make Dezong's pocket bulge? It's very simple, just transfer the money from the treasury to the pocket of the emperor. How to move? Of course, you can't move blatantly, and you must have appropriate reasons and explanations.

As a "semi-bald man" who is good at moving Dafa, Pei Yanling would never say that the hair on the right is combed from the left, but that the hair on the left is very surplus.Besides, even if it is Sanmao, when people get a haircut, they can get a "30-70" cut. Even if they lose another hair, they can still get a "middle cut". So although Pei Yanling's hair is not much, but It's also enough for him to toss around. In the autumn of the tenth year of Zhenyuan (794 A.D.), Pei Yanling told Dezong: "The management of Zuo Zangku was chaotic in the past, and a lot of property was lost. I recently cleared the warehouse for inspection and re-registered it. I found 130,000 yuan in the dust. Two, there are also a large amount of miscellaneous goods such as silk, satin, cloth, etc. Roughly estimated, the value should be more than one million yuan. These money and goods have been lost, but now they are found, of course they are surplus materials (Xianyu), and they should all be allocated to the palace. The inner library is exclusively for His Majesty's use."

Dezong laughed. It seems that Pei Yanling is really a master of financial management! However, it is basically nonsense to say that 130,000 taels of silver and more than one million property can be found in the dust of Zuo Zangku.In other words, Pei Yanling's behavior is no different from an open fire robbery!A courtier couldn't bear it anymore, and immediately went to the shuffle to argue, saying: "These are all state properties officially registered, and they are reported in a list every month. How can they be called 'Xianyu' money? Please send someone to check immediately."

Lu Zhi also suggested that the three law departments (Yushitai, Xingbu, Dali Temple) should be asked to investigate this.But, will Emperor Dezong agree to a review? Certainly not.What fool would spit out money already in his pocket?The thing is obvious, although Dezong will not be so stupid as to really believe that money can grow out of dust, but he will never go to find out the truth. Because the truth will do him no good. Pei Yanling knew this very well, that's why he dared to brazenly concoct such a big lie. In fact, as early as a few years ago, when Emperor Dezong was about to appoint Pei Yanling as the Minister of Finance, Lu Zhi once denounced Pei Yanling as a "bad villain" and resolutely opposed it, but Emperor Dezong turned a deaf ear and insisted on appointing Pei Yanling.

Now, although all civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty knew that Pei Yanling was a villain, everyone knew better that he was a celebrity in front of the emperor, so almost no one dared to provoke him.Only a few ministers, such as Zhang Pang, the salt and iron transfer envoy, Jing Zhaoyin Li Chong, and Sinongqing Li Li, often dealt with Pei Yanling due to their positions. They knew all the tricks he played, so they often reported to Dezong. However, Zhang Pang and others only reported privately, and never dared to publicly impeach.In the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, the only person who repeatedly impeached Pei Yanling was Lu Zhi. In November of the tenth year of Zhenyuan, Lu Zhi continued to go to school, enumerating Pei Yanling's crimes, denouncing him as a treacherous villain, and at the same time pointing the finger at Dezong.He said: "In order to protect Pei Yanling, Your Majesty didn't even ask about his crimes. He must think that everything can be concealed, so moving things from the east to the west is regarded as his political achievement; transferring the property here to there , dare to call it "Xianyu". Fooling the court is like a child's play! In the past, Zhao Gao referred to a deer as a horse, and deer and horses were of the same kind; The ministers, down to the common people, are all discussing this, but how many of the hundreds of millions of officials and people are able to speak to His Majesty? Although the minister is not talented, but the prime minister, even if he is unwilling to speak, he still cannot keep silent in the end. "When the memorial was presented, Dezong was very displeased. From then on, he gradually alienated Lu Zhi, but favored Pei Yanling even more. Pei Yanling was obstructed by Lu Zhi when he was promoted, and he hated him for a long time. Now that he has been impeached by him repeatedly, he can't swallow the bad breath, so he quickly launched a counterattack, exerting influence on Dezong frequently, encouraging him Depose Lu Zhi. In this contest between Lu Zhi and Pei Yanling, Lu Zhi was obviously at a disadvantage because Dezong was not on his side. In December of the tenth year of Zhenyuan, Dezong finally made up his mind to dismiss Lu Zhi from his position as prime minister and demote him as a guest of the prince. In fact, Lu Zhi had expected this day a long time ago.The only thing he didn't expect was that he would fall into the hands of a villain like Pei Yanling. There is a well-known law in economics called "bad money drives out good money", which means that when bad money below legal weight or fineness enters the circulation field, people tend to collect good money (full value money), Use bad coins to trade.Finally, as the circulation of bad money increases, good money will be driven out of circulation. In the field of politics, the same law actually applies.When a gentleman and a villain are in the same officialdom, the gentleman only considers the public interest in everything, so he must not be good at self-protection, and he is easy to offend others, and the worst thing is to offend the leader; while the villain pursues the maximization of personal interests no matter what he does Therefore, if you are more familiar with the principle of benefit exchange, it will be easier to like people, especially leaders.Over time, the power of the villain will become more and more powerful, and the space for the gentleman will become smaller and smaller.In the end, the gentleman can only be expelled by the villain. After successfully overthrowing Lu Zhi, Pei Yanling made persistent efforts, and turned his target to Zhang Pang, Li Chong, and Li Li, planning to get rid of all those who had sued him.He told Dezong that these three people had formed a party with Lu Zhi, and they should be wiped out. Although Dezong favored Pei Yanling, he didn't want to make the blow too big, so it was fine if he heard about it, and he didn't take it seriously. Of course Pei Yanling would not let it go. In the spring of the eleventh year of Zhenyuan (795 A.D.), there was a severe drought in Guanzhong. The fiscal revenue of the imperial court suddenly became tense, and some expenditures had to be reduced.Pei Yanling took the opportunity to reduce the army's food and grass, and then said to Emperor Dezong: "After Lu Zhi, Zhang Pang and others lost power, they harbored resentment. The soldiers and horses in the palace have nothing to eat, what should we do?' Lu Zhi and others spread such remarks, not only to slander the courtiers, but also to shake the morale and the hearts of the people!" When Dezong heard the words, he was skeptical.A few days later, when Dezong went hunting in the Forbidden Garden, the soldiers of the Shence Army escorting him happened to complain to him, saying: "The Duzhi envoy has not distributed food and grass recently." Upon hearing this, Dezong was convinced that Lu Zhi and others must have spread demagogic rumors. Speech, suddenly flew into a rage. In April of this year, Emperor Dezong issued an edict to demote Lu Zhi to Zhongzhou (now Zhongxian County, Sichuan), Zhang Pang to Tingzhou (now Fujian Changting County), and Li Chong to Fuzhou (now Fuzhou). Today's Fuling District, Chongqing) was the chief historian, and Li Yu was demoted to Shaozhou (now Shaoyang City, Hunan) as the chief historian, and all these people whom Pei Yanling hated were expelled from the court. From then on, Lu Zhi stayed away from the court and spent the rest of his life in the remote Shu area, never returning to Chang'an. Pei Yanling was very proud.He felt that in this way, the position of prime minister must belong to him. However, man's calculation is not as good as heaven's calculation. Although Pei Yanling tried his best to get out of the position, he would die if he did many injustices. In the autumn of the second year, he fell seriously ill. When Pei Yanling died, the ruling and opposition parties rushed to congratulate him, but Dezong was the only one who was deeply saddened. There is no doubt that if Pei Yanling survives, he will definitely become Dezong's most favored prime minister after Lu Qi.Fortunately, God opened his eyes and took this rotten and scumbag villain early. Otherwise, this person would definitely be like Lu Qi, making the imperial court into a miasma and restlessness, and eventually causing harm to all directions and the world. In this sense, Dezong was really lucky. In fact, even if Dezong Li Shi is viewed in the entire history of the Tang Dynasty, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a lucky emperor.Although from the moment he came to the throne, the Tang Empire had long been mired in the quagmire of feudal separatist regimes, and what he was facing was a historical predicament of slack discipline and fission of mountains and rivers, but in fact, Dezong Li Shi did not lack the ability to play games with history. capital.In other words, the capital he owns is entirely possible to make him the master of revival of the Tang Empire. His capital is talents - civil servants such as Li Mi and Lu Zhi, military generals such as Li Sheng, Ma Sui, and Hun Yan.However, Li Shi failed to rejuvenate Li Tang after all. The problem, of course, was his own. The only thing worthy of praise in Li Shi's life is his great ambition at the beginning of his ascension to the throne. However, the reason why this ambition was frustrated and quickly died down was because of his narrow-mindedness, suspicion, What they use is inhuman and obsessive.For example, reusing Lu Qi was the biggest failure in his life, but it was not until the fourth year of Zhenyuan (788 A.D.) when the rebellion among the feudal vassals had already been quelled, when the gains and losses, successes and failures of the previous employment were relatively clear, Li Shi Once I had a conversation with Li Mi, but I still emphasized: "Lu Qi is loyal and honest, strong and honest, everyone says he is a traitor, but I don't think so." Li Mi's answer at the time was: "Everyone says that Lu Qi is a traitor, but your majesty does not think he is treacherous. This is the proof of Lu Qi's treachery. If your majesty found out that he was treacherous, how could there be any conflicts among the feudal vassals during the Jianzhong period?" Chaos? Lu Qi poured out his personal anger, falsely murdered Yang Yan, pushed Yan Zhenqing to death, and finally angered Li Huaiguang, forcing him to rebel. Fortunately, His Majesty exiled Lu Qi far away, otherwise how could the catastrophe be stopped!" Li Shi said disapprovingly: "The chaos in Jianzhong was prophesied by the sorcerers long ago, and it was the destiny to say so. How could Lu Qi have such great power to cause disasters!" Li Mi said bluntly: "If everything is attributed to the destiny, then education, administration, and justice will all be useless." This conversation obviously did not change Li Shi's views on Lu Qi, otherwise Li Shi would not have reused Pei Yanling, who was of the same breed as Lu Qi, and would not have expelled Lu Zhi, a virtuous minister who was loyal to the country and possessed both ability and political integrity. imperial court. If a person stumbles over a stone by chance, it is bad luck, just get up and walk around.But if this person insists that it is not the stone that tripped him, but God, then he will stumble on this stone a second time, a third time... A person like this can only be described in four words - hopeless. What can a hopeless emperor do even if he is surrounded by fierce generals like clouds and advisers like rain?No matter how many generals and counselors there are, they can only become "good money" to be expelled one by one.