When talking about the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System, one person cannot but be mentioned - Chen Qun. Chen Qun is from Xuchang. Grandpa Chen Shi, who was imprisoned by the Party, asked himself to be imprisoned in order to stop the eunuchs from arresting others. After he was released from prison, he was already 70 years old. In the future, as long as the position of "Three Dukes" is vacant in the court, Chen Shi must be recruited. Chen Shi was a man of noble virtue and had high prestige in the village. There was a saying in the society at that time: It would be better to go to jail than to be despised by Chen Shi.
There once was a thief in Chen Shi's family, crouching on the beam of the house. Chen Shi saw it and said to his descendants: Like this gentleman in Liang Shang, people who are not good are not born. Many bad people are caused by the environment and other factors. Yes!
The first person in Chinese history to call a thief a "gentleman" and the first person to attribute a thief to a person who can become a "gentleman" was Chen Qun's grandfather. He always treated himself and others with a kind heart. , truly implements the Confucian thoughts of "benevolence is loving others" and "education without discrimination"——
This is the essence of traditional Chinese culture, the core of why Chinese Confucian culture is revered, and the soul that distinguishes the Chinese nation from foreign nations.
Chen Shi had six sons, among whom Chen Qun's father Chen Ji was the eldest, and Chen Qun's fourth uncle, together with Chen Shi, were rated as the "Three Gentlemen" by everyone. When Chen Shi passed away, he was 84 years old. "More than 30,000 people from all over the country went to mourn him, and hundreds of people made coriander seeds."
At that time, Sikong Xun Shuang (the uncle of Xun Yu, Cao Cao's first adviser) had lived in seclusion for more than ten years due to the Party's imprisonment. He wrote many Confucian works. He was appointed as a local official when he was presented to the emperor. Only three days after his appointment, he was promoted to Sikong, ranking among the top officials. Sangong) and others came to the funeral in person with the rites of their son and nephew. It can be seen that Chen Qun's family is a famous family in the local area.
The famous Kong Rong was originally younger than Chen Qun's father, Chen Ji, and they sympathized with each other and were buddies with each other. However, after seeing Chen Qun and getting along with him, he felt that even Chen Qun was so great and they were very attracted to each other. Later, whenever Whenever Kong Rong saw Chen Ji, he no longer dared to treat him as an equal, and began to treat Chen Ji with the courtesy of a junior to an elder.
The examination system of the Han Dynasty made the intellectuals of the Han Dynasty pay unprecedented attention to the cultivation of personal moral character. They paid special attention to the evaluation of those around them and carefully practiced self-cultivation for fear of being criticized by public opinion. However, by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the exclusive power of relatives and eunuchs completely changed the actual operation of the inspection system.
Characters with high public evaluation index will not be selected; characters with low public evaluation index may be selected and appointed due to nepotism or bribery. How did that happen? No matter how you deal with it, I will only go all the way.
For eunuchs and relatives, I only appoint people I like, regardless of their talents. In their eyes, they think: If people without talents become officials, won't the country still operate? I just ask the people below to create public opinion for the people I want to promote. I don’t even need to create public opinion. I just appoint them directly. Who cares about public opinion (Qingyi)?
He has the courage to "take care of the flood after I die" - people without a sense of mission (can people with missing limbs have it?) always have this courage. This corrupted inspection system, with no rules for evaluation and disorderly basis, left a deep impression on the young Chen Qun, not to mention the fact that he had his grandfather who was imprisoned by the party!
When Liu Bei was the shepherd of Yuzhou, he recruited Chen Qun as his deputy. Therefore, Chen Qun's starting point was very high. Later, because Liu Bei did not listen to Chen Qun's advice and accepted Tao Qian's Xuzhou, Liu Bei was attacked from both sides by Yuan Shu and Lu Bu. Chen Qun felt that he no longer wanted to play with Liu Bei, so he defected to Cao Cao.
After Chen Qun defected to Cao Cao, he worked as a subordinate of Cao Cao in Sikong West. Except for a period of time as a local official, he has been engaged in personnel management. Although Cao Cao selects and appoints talents in an eclectic way (even if he is a thief whose sister-in-law receives money, as long as he has talent, he will appoint them all). See "The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Emperor Wu Ji", so that Cao Cao's talents are endless, so that "the generals are like clouds, and the advisers are like clouds" "Rain" situation) one cannot help but admire, but as a disciple of an aristocratic family, in accordance with the principle of "emphasis on both virtue and talent, putting virtue first", one cannot help but feel contempt and even disgust at some of the influential figures selected by Cao Cao.
Take Guo Jia for example. Guo Jia is also from near Xuchang. "Fu Zi" records: ...since one is weak, one can remain anonymous... The Biography of Guo Jia in "Three Kingdoms" does not record any prominent life experience of Guo Jia, so it is said that Guo Jia should be a commoner and did not have much reputation when he was young.
This is completely different from Chen Qun's proud experience when he was young, first becoming friends with his father, then becoming friends with himself, and finally calling his father a junior because of the famous Kong Rong. However, Guo Jia entered Taoism early and has always been Chen Qun's boss (Guo Jia is Sikong Military Jijiu, the head of Cao Cao's counselors).
But for young people, what’s the point of entering Taoism early? Who said I graduated from a regular school? I come from a good family, but I just despise you! Not to mention your misbehavior? (No medical examination) So far, no one denies that Guo Jia is a first-class talent in the Three Kingdoms. He can accurately predict that Sun Ce may be assassinated by an assassin, accurately predict the battles between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, etc. He is a strange man and a genius.
It is estimated that weirdos and geniuses always have "different talents" that are different from us mortals. The history books do not explain why Guo Jia did not undergo medical examination. It is probably nothing more than some relationship between men and women? Disrespecting etiquette? Acting wildly? Something like that.
To be honest, families with higher status in the family generally have better tutoring (at least on the surface, benevolence, morality, and public etiquette), while those at the lower levels do not have so many constraints in the surrounding environment, and there are not so many eyes on them. The superficial rules probably don’t take into account a little bit.
People who are not of the same class naturally have many things they dislike about each other. But Chen Qun looked at Guo Jia from the perspective of a standard scholar. He was not satisfied. He believed that his leadership should not be like this. He should not only be talented, but (even) more importantly, he should have the general social ethics that a "scholar" should have to be a "scholar".
Chen Qun wanted to defend the dignity of Confucianism, so he pointed out Guo Jia's "misdeeds" to Cao Cao in public (a Confucian gentleman cannot speak ill of others behind their backs).
However, what kind of person is Guo Jia! What is the relationship between Guo Jia and Cao Cao? Even if Chen Qun pointed out these things, Guo Jia remained the same, neither refuting nor holding grudges. As a result, Cao Cao still valued Guo Jia, and at the same time he admired Chen Qun's gentlemanly style of doing one thing first and two things second.
However, Chen Qun felt uncomfortable with the gathering of heroes around Cao Cao (perhaps a chaotic dance of demons in his opinion). He wanted to establish a real dynasty and select talents who were truly gentle, talented and had a basic moral bottom line. He wanted this person to The troubled times that advocate expediency will end as soon as possible.
The lords of the Eastern Han Dynasty were mixed up, and the ministers were sycophants. They had long ago changed the appearance of fair, just and open inspections and criticisms. The troubled times of the Three Kingdoms completely destroyed this system. Who cares about the criticisms that come slowly? Are you still doing those leisurely reviews?
Let me give you an example of a person who is in a coma. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was established as emperor in 167 AD. He was only 12 years old when he ascended the throne. He reigned for 22 years and was given the posthumous title of Emperor Xiaoling after his death.
The word "ling" is explained in the posthumous law: "Chaos without damaging the spirit". The chaos was really chaotic, and the country was not destroyed in his hands, but it was real and appropriate. It seems that this person has been subject to the eunuch title since he ascended the throne and was at the mercy of others. When he grew up, he was weak and incompetent. He could only act recklessly and sensually to satisfy his personal life.
He was powerless against the autocratic power of the eunuchs, and at the same time, he was also helpless against the fierce resistance of the court ministers. Then, just satisfy a man’s natural needs!
As for power, the state, and public evaluation, I am an ostrich, who am I afraid of? I won't play with you. At a young age, Ling Emperor Liu Hong only played games such as riding around in donkey carts, opening shops in the palace, and leading dogs around (who called me the emperor when he made his pet an official?). In fact, In that way, the emperor is also a human being. The eunuchs and ministers have asked you to take away all the powerful people. There is nothing wrong with me pursuing some personal stimulation and improving my quality of life. The emperor can't be depressed for a long time.
After gradually gaining access to personnel, he stipulated that the maids in the palace must wear crotchless pants, and no underwear can be worn underneath, for the convenience of venting. (Speechless) In addition to the idea of crotchless pants, he also had a whim and ordered the construction of a thousand houses in the West Garden. Outside the threshold of the houses is a canal, and the water in the canal is full of lotus. (The description of the Heavenly Palace in Journey to the West probably comes from Ling. Emperor's inspiration)
In this fairyland-like garden, he and his maids took off their clothes, played and chased each other, and engaged in prostitution during the day. They became loyal practitioners of the Chinese nudity movement. He also named this garden the "Nude Tour Pavilion." In addition, Emperor Ling loved money very much, and especially liked to save private money. He probably thought in his heart: The world is yours and mine, but in the end it is yours, and what goes into my wallet is mine. Spending money like this and loving money so much, I always feel like I don’t have enough money. Together with his cronies, he sold his official position at a clear price. This is also fair. The money gained from selling an official position should go to the emperor, rather than going to the eunuchs or ministers, right?
(Think of Meng Da’s father, who gave Zhang Rang 10 dou of wine in exchange for a governor. The weights and measures were not consistent, and the operation was done in secret. It was neither open nor fair.) For example, Cao Cao’s father, Cao Song, spent 100 million to buy Got a lieutenant.
If you don't have enough money, you can just owe it first, and then gradually give it to the emperor after you take office. The emperor is interesting enough. At this time, the emperor only hated that there were too few official positions in the world, and there were too many monks and too few people. How could you let your village judge, recommend, and appoint officials?
Under such circumstances, the inspection and examination system was in name only and the world was in decline. In the "Three Kingdoms, Chronicles of Emperor Wu" in the autumn and July of the 8th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao's order recorded: "The mourning chaos has come, and for ten to five years, the descendants will not see the trend of benevolence, justice and courtesy, and I will be very hurt." The Qing discussion also became increasingly angry, because there were talents. Virtuous people fall into the dust.
However, the good times did not last long. The sandstorm of the Yellow Turban Uprising immediately destroyed the existing political structure. Local officials fled and were killed. When the crisis really comes, the incompetent people who have nothing to do with their bodies will be naturally eliminated.
Therefore, when Cao Cao was aiming at all directions, there was an extreme shortage of competent cadres at the grassroots level, including the central government.
Cao Cao's cadres mainly came from their hometowns at the beginning, including colleagues, classmates, friends, and relatives. Cadre selection is mainly through mutual recommendation, introduction, and approval by Cao Cao. For example, Xun Yu recommended Xun You, Zhong Yao, Chen Qun, etc. Later, more places were conquered, and people who surrendered from the enemy were admitted. Among Cao Cao's camp, there are very few people who truly rely on Qingyi recruitment.
Because at that time, only a little cultural atmosphere remained in the peaceful Jingzhou area, while wars were frequent in other places, and people had no leisure to talk about people. Cao Cao's men can be said to come from all over the world. This is because Cao Cao is grand.
I mentioned Cao Cao’s employment order before, and I would like to copy it here so that everyone can feel the spirit of thirsting for talents:
"Three Kingdoms" records: In the spring of the 15th year of Jian'an, an order was issued: "Since ancient times, the king who has been appointed to Zhongxing has never been able to rule the world with a virtuous gentleman! Even if he has gained a virtuous man, he has never left the alley. How can we meet him by chance?" Those above do not ask for ears. Today has not yet been decided, and this is a time when people are urgently looking for talents. "Meng Gongchuo is the best if he is Zhao and Wei Lao, but he cannot be Teng or Xue." If he must be honest and honest, then he will be available. Why did Huan Qi dominate the world? Is there anyone in the world today who is lured to Weibin for being pregnant with jade? Is there any robber sister-in-law who receives money without encountering an ignorant person? The second and third sons, their assistants, are mediocre and mediocre, and they are only talented. , I can use it."
"Three Kingdoms" records: In December of the 19th year of Jian'an, the order said: "A man who is well-behaved may not be enterprising, and a man who is enterprising may not be well-behaved. How can Chen Ping practice sincerely, and how can Su Qin keep his faith? And Chen Ping determined the Han industry. , Su, Qin, and Ji were weak to Yan. From this, if a scholar is short and mediocre, he can be discarded! If a minister clearly thinks of this meaning, then the scholar will not be left behind, and the official career will not be wasted."
"Book of Wei" records: In the autumn and August of the 22nd year of Jian'an, the order said: "In the past, Yi Zhi and Fu Shuo were born as bitches, Guan Zhong and Huan Gong were thieves, and they all used them for prosperity. Xiao He, Cao Can, county officials, and Han , Chen Ping has an insulting reputation, and he is ashamed of himself. His death can achieve the king's career, and he has been famous for thousands of years. Wu Qi was a greedy general, and killed his wife for self-confidence. He spent money to seek officials, and his mother died and refused to return. However, in Wei, no one dared to report To the east, in Chu, the three Jin Dynasties did not dare to seek southward. Today, there are no extremely virtuous people among the people, and they do not care about their achievements and bravery, and fight in the face of the enemy. If they are civilized officials with different talents, they may be worthy of being generals. To guard; to bear an insulting name, to act with a smile, or to be unkind and unfilial but to have the skills to govern the country and use military force: everyone should use what they know, and do not leave anything behind."
Therefore, the "Book of Wei" evaluates Cao Cao:... he knows people well and is good at observing others, and he is hard to be dazzled by falsehoods. He is free from the ban and is happy to advance in the procession. He takes Zhang Liao and Xu Huang among the captives. They all serve in orders and perform meritorious deeds. They are listed in the list. He became a famous general; there were countless others who pulled out their subtleties and became herders and guardians.
This reminds me of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Just a simple comparison between the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty’s first year of Yuanguang and the fifth year of Yuanfeng, and we can see what they have in common:
In the first year of Yuanguang Dynasty, he asked the wise edict: "I heard that in the Tang and Yu years ago, the people did not offend the portraits, and everyone was led by the sun and the moon. In the Cheng and Kang Dynasties of Zhou Dynasty, punishments were not used, and their virtues were as good as those of birds and beasts. Their teachings spread all over the world, and they were restrained overseas. Be careful, the canals are searched in the north, and the Di and Qiang are in uniform; the stars are not beautiful, the sun and the moon are not eclipsed, the mountains are not collapsed, and the rivers and valleys are not blocked; Lin and Feng are working in the suburbs, and books are published in He and Luo. Wow, how can you achieve this? And! Now I have been awarded the ancestral temple, which I have been seeking for a long time, and I sleep hard at night thinking about it. I am like wading into the deep water, and I don’t know how to save it. Yi and great and! What can I do to unify the great achievements and virtues of the late emperor? I will refer to Yao and Shun. I am paired with three kings! I am not sensitive enough to be far away from virtue. What this son has seen and heard as a great official is that he is a virtuous person who is clear in the affairs of kings in ancient and modern times. After receiving advice and questioning, I wrote a book about it and wrote it in an article. I have personally read it. Yan."
In the 5th year of Yuanfeng's reign, he issued an edict to seek talents: "If you have extraordinary achievements, you must treat extraordinary people. Therefore, horses may gallop to travel thousands of miles, and scholars may be tired of being unworthy of the customs and gain fame. The horse driven by the husband is galloping (tuò) The people who are relaxed are just in control. The governors, officials and people in the provinces and counties have outstanding talents and talents, and they can become generals and ministers and conquer the country."
It means: "There may be extraordinary undertakings that must rely on extraordinary people to complete them. Therefore, some thousand-mile horses can run thousands of miles in a day, and some capable people can carry the burden of worldly ridicule. Establish a reputation. Horses that are difficult to control and talents that are unruly depend only on how people control and use them. Order the governors of states and counties to inspect and recommend local officials and people who have super outstanding talents, who can serve as generals and ministers, and who can make outstanding contributions. To bring people from far away countries.”
Comparing Cao Cao's orders and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's edicts, they are full of the spirit of thirsting for talents. For thousands of years, it is heart-wrenching to read. Who would not want to serve such a monarch wholeheartedly? Will Chinese monarchs still have such courage in the future? Very few!
The reason why I say so much is because it is extremely difficult to truly be "eclectic". Not to mention that it was in ancient times, not to mention in actual operation, because there are many constraints between ministers due to mutual interests. Even today, even if you and I are outside and have nothing to do with the parties involved, of course When we see a talented person but with all kinds of disgusting bad habits, we will intentionally or unintentionally use them - from this we can better see the greatness of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Cao Cao.
Cao Cao's men were of all kinds, including Jia Xu (from Zhang Xiu), Xin Pi (from Yuan Shao), Chen Deng (from Lu Bu), and so on. He can even tolerate the madman Mi Heng. Some people say that Cao Cao gave Mi Heng to Liu Biao to kill someone with a knife. I don't agree with it, because it is based on results. Looking back, what if Cao Cao killed him?
You are a monarch, can you tolerate a subordinate standing up slowly and performing a strip show in front of foreign guests at a state banquet in Diaoyutai? This eclectic search for talents brought Cao Cao a large number of cadres, many of whom were enriched at the grassroots level, which greatly improved Cao Wei's work efficiency.
However, the problem that comes with it is: the good and the bad are mixed. Some have only false reputations, some only have literary talents and no ability to discuss affairs; some have quality problems (Cao Cao generally tolerates those who are immoral, but many are disloyal, or corrupt and bribery, etc.) Gradually, Cao Cao also discovered Therefore, in "On the Performance of Officials and Orders", he put forward the talent policy of "regarding virtue in order to maintain peace, and emphasizing function in affairs", and the employment policy also began to transform towards emphasizing both virtue and talent.
As the grandson of a national model of spiritual civilization who is famous all over the world, Chen Qun is now the head of the organizational department. When selecting people, he will naturally pay the most attention to people's character. This is really understandable.
Almost no one questions this saying: He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. I don’t deny the value of this sentence, but what I want to say is another very similar sentence: Those who win talents win the world.
Xun Yu once said to Cao Cao in "The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms" That’s it.”
Examine the reasons for success and failure in ancient times: If there is talent, even if you are weak at the beginning, you will eventually become strong; if you do not have talent, even if you are strong at the beginning, you will become weak in the future. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu are good examples. .
Few people blatantly deny the importance of talents to a country and a political power. However, throughout the ages, only great monarchs who take it as their own duty to create achievements can be good at discovering talents, reusing talents, and turning talents from all over the world into their loyal servants and become "private persons" in a narrow sense-loyal to themselves. Geng Geng; while mediocre monarchs only know how to appoint private individuals - their old friends in the superficial sense, but do not know how to select talents extensively, leaving a large number of talents to live in obscurity and remain unknown. Many practical problems have arisen without good strategies to solve them, and even more What's more, the imperial court was dominated by Wen Tian and Wu, and the country eventually gradually declined and even perished. The prosperous countries are all similar, but the perishing countries are all different. Hey... But even promising monarchs have different methods when selecting talents. Cao Cao is a "sunny" person (in my opinion, at least more sunny than Liu Bei). Looking at Cao Cao's famous "The Order of Rangxian Self-Ming" written in 210, he expresses his thoughts directly, aboveboard and sincerely every word; It seems that I have never seen anything like a diary or memoir written by Liu Bei himself. I only see him crying all the time?)
Cao Cao often feels that when it comes to using talents, he relies solely on intuition and impressions. For example, "Book of Wei" says that Cao Cao: "Knows people well and observes them well. He is difficult to dazzle with falsehoods. He is free from the ban and is happy to advance in the procession. He takes Zhang Liao and Xu Huang among the captives. They all served orders and performed meritorious service and were listed as famous generals." There are countless others who have pulled out their tiny branches and become shepherds and guardians.”
During his more than 20 years in power, there were a lot of situations in which people were chosen based on their own consciences and "according to their own kind". Due to the contingency of selecting talents, some mistakes were also made. For example, Cao Cao deplored the ban in his later years; According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Chen Qun: In the third year of Jian'an (AD 198), someone recommended Wang Mo from Le'an and Zhou Kui from Xiapi to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao summoned them both. Chen Qun urged Cao Cao not to do so, mainly because he believed that Wang Mo and Zhou Kui were evil and would eventually do bad things, but Cao Cao would not listen. As a result, Wang Zhou was indeed corrupt and committed crimes and was punished. Cao Cao believed Chen Qun's words and admitted his mistake to Chen Qun.
Judging from this incident, those who threw themselves into Caomen at that time were a mixed bag of mud and sand. As the head of the organizational department, Chen Qun has always believed that the conduct of talents should be placed in a more prominent position. This had extremely important significance at the time: Just imagine that in turbulent years, people's loyalty is even more needed. (A loyal minister is known as a loyal minister.) You must be loyal to the leader, and you must also love the people. Isn't it too much of a joke to use someone like this if you are rebellious?
After the Wei State was established as a country, if we relied on the mutual recommendation of ministers, a group of "cronies" and "protégés" of ministers would definitely emerge, thus endangering the imperial power. However, at that time, when the world was declining, the use of village evaluations still could not get rid of the current situation. The influence and influence of the ministers of the DPRK may even manipulate elections; and the evaluation standards of township parties in various places are not uniform, the quality of assessment is also uneven, and the initiative of work is also different.
Therefore, it is necessary to establish a fair and unified standard selection and evaluation institution in government departments to promote the development of selection work. Therefore, the life and soul of this institution is - Zhongzheng. (Chen Qun certainly did not expect that this name would become inaccurate in the future.) The opportunity for Chen Qun to put forward this suggestion was in the first year of Huangchu. At that time, Cao Pi had just succeeded to the throne.
The villain Cao Pi (calling him a villain is not unfair at all. The Han Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety. The names of the monarchs of the Han Dynasty always had the word "filial piety" in front of them. However, Cao Pi, who inherited the mantle of the Han Dynasty, treated him like an old man. His mother was so bad that she called him a "dog that won't bite"; "filial piety" (respect for elders) and "ti" (love for brothers) are related to each other. Let's look at how he treats his brothers. What is it like?
Seeing that my father was dead and that I was sitting in the position I had dreamed of for a long time, I couldn't help but be so happy that I put my arms around Xinpi's neck and said to the old man with a smile: Look, I really succeeded! Huhu! ! Everyone was stunned. )
Those who are close to a villain must also be a villain. When a villain succeeds, he reveals his villain's heart. The villains around Cao Pi rushed to suggest to Cao Pi that you must use the people around you and no one else! At this time, Sima Yi's younger brother Sima Fu (who was also from the East Palace) said something fair: You have just succeeded to the throne, and you should appoint talents from home. How can you take this opportunity to recommend each other to us? How to organically combine rural evaluation and court selection? What about insisting on having both ability and political integrity, regardless of family status? Chen Qun did not directly remonstrate like Sima Fu, but came up with a method, which was later called the nine-level Zhongzheng system or the nine-level official system: each state has a Grand Zhongzheng, each county has a Zhongzheng, and the Zhongzheng system. It is usually the second grade among the nine grades, which is the top grade.
At the beginning, the county Zhongzheng was elected by the chiefs of each county. In the Jin Dynasty, it was changed to the recommendation of the state Zhongzheng, who was appointed by the Situ Mansion. Zhongzheng makes a distinction based on the family background, morals and talents of educated people, which is called "character". The products are divided into nine grades, namely upper-upper, upper-middle, upper-lower, upper-middle, middle-middle, lower-middle, lower-upper, lower-middle and lower-lower. But there are only two categories: top grade and low grade. No one can obtain the first grade and it is in name only, so the second grade is actually the highest grade. The third grade could be considered high grade (upper grade) in the early Western Jin Dynasty, but later it was reduced to low grade (lower grade).
The comments on morality and talent are called "statements", which directly affect the future and destiny of the person being evaluated. Important figures are reviewed by Zhongzheng himself, while ordinary figures are reviewed by Zhongzheng's subordinates.
The results of the Zhongzheng evaluation are submitted to the Situ Mansion for review and approval, and then sent to the Ministry of Personnel as a direct basis for selecting officials: the grade obtained by the evaluated person corresponds to the grade of the official position to be awarded, and the higher the starting point for becoming an official is also higher, and vice versa.
The evaluation figures of Zhongzheng are adjusted every three years. Those who perform well within three years will be promoted at any time, and their official positions will also be promoted accordingly. Otherwise, they will be demoted. At the same time, Zhongzheng’s evaluation is final and does not allow changes, so it has high authority.
Although the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System standardizes the selection of talents, Chen Qun, as a high official for many generations, has family background in addition to his political integrity and talent, so he cannot be said to be impartial and selfless. At that time, there was a strict hierarchy between the gentry and the common people, with different public services, and they did not intermarry or sit together. As a descendant of the gentry, Chen Qun must have understood the weird behavior of the common people selected by Cao Cao and did not understand the rules. Have you already had an opinion?
Those who had vested interests in the past will always be resentful of their lost privileges and benefits, and may be full of disappointment. Therefore, the establishment of this system itself contains the flavor of suppressing the common people. Perhaps, in his mind, if all classes follow their own path and go their own way, the world will be stable and harmonious, right?
But having said that, existence is reasonable. Any system and policy is coded according to the background of that era. At least it adapts to the social production relations and productivity at that time. Although we, as future generations, criticize and criticize the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng system, which is cruel and cruel. The reality is indeed that it is the choice of the historical trend. It has chosen history, and history has also chosen it.
Under the productivity and production relations at that time, our so-called three provinces and six ministries system in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, as well as the cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty, and now the people's democratic system, although excellent, are not in line with that era, and are destined to be abandoned by history. History Our choice was to choose a product that we thought had huge problems but was suitable for that era.
Don’t you see Wang Mang? Many of the systems reformed by Wang Mang are advanced in today’s society, but they are not in line with the trends and development realities of that era. Therefore, Wang Mang was abandoned by history, and history chose Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu to make corrections.
The same problem faced Taizong Xuanwu Emperor Yuan Xi. Some things cannot be done by manpower and require time. Therefore, what Taizong Xuanwu Emperor Yuan Xi can do is to optimize the nine-level Zhongzheng system to the extreme, just like Guangwu Emperor Liu Like a show, the original system is highly optimized without completely overthrowing it.
The efforts of Taizong Xuanwu Emperor Yuan Xi were not in vain. Two hundred years after the founding of the Jin Dynasty, that is, in more than 400 AD, Xianzong Daowu Emperor Yuan Chun revived the Jin Dynasty and inherited the will of Taizong Xuanwu Emperor Yuan Xi. The prototype of the system of three provinces and six ministries was created, two hundred years earlier than its original history.
You see, history always follows a gradual and spiral development. It took the Yuan family’s Jin Dynasty two hundred years to transform from the nine-level Zhongzheng system that was highly optimized by Emperor Taizong Xuanwu and Yuan Xi. The system of three provinces and six ministries evolved.
Therefore, some systems and policies take time and need to adapt to that era and the production relations at that time. It is not something that can be accomplished in a day.
Moreover, Emperor Taizong Xuanwu Yuan Xi, in order to further optimize the nine-level Zhongzheng system, adopted the deathbed strategy of his teacher Zhang Hong, which was to move the capital to reduce the constraints of the great families on the Jin Dynasty. This is why Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty repeatedly The reason for patrolling and moving the capital to Luoyang was that Emperor Sui Yang was the same as Emperor Taizong Xuanwu Yuan Xi. He wanted to entrust the restrictions of the Guanlong Group, but he was too hasty and was strangled by the alliance.
The reason why Taizong Xuanwu Emperor Yuan Xi succeeded was because he was the same as Taizong Emperor Li Shimin. Sixty to seventy percent of the world's wealth is his own. No one in the world dares to touch his tiger's beard.
Thanks to Emperor Taizong Xuanwu Yuan Xi's fame and his hard and soft approach, it was not easy to optimize the nine-grade Zhongzheng system. However, the credit does not lie with oneself. Some things cannot be accomplished in one generation. From Emperor Taizong Xuanwu Yuan Xi, in the two hundred years since Xianzong Daowu Emperor Yuan Chun.
It took the joint efforts of successive emperors of the Yuan family to complete the transformation of this great system. It was really difficult.
