In his previous life, Gao Pragmatic once heard a sentence in a movie that made him love and hate him: Only children can distinguish between right and wrong, while adults only see pros and cons.
This sentence is loved because it is true; it is hated because it makes many people feel embarrassed.
Gao Pragmatic himself is one of them.
After hearing this sentence, he once reflected on himself: Am I only looking at the pros and cons?
He later concluded that he didn't think he was "just looking at the pros and cons." But to be honest, when faced with things, he will indeed analyze the pros and cons first. As for right and wrong, most of the time he will only insist on it when the "pros and cons" have little impact - at least when it is not a matter of life and death.
This made him quite frustrated, but he was helpless. After all, a pure view of right and wrong cannot guide people to success, only proper compromise with interests can do.
In particular, he is a political person, and politics is the art of compromise.
"Compromise is the soul, if not the whole, of politics," Acton said. Dahl also said: "Discipline relies on compromise."
This is true at all times and in all countries.
Otherwise, why would Gao Gong compromise with Xu Jie's party? Just press it to death and it's over.
But behind the political struggle, there is no doubt that it is not driven by interests. It's just that some of these interests are more focused on individuals, and some are more focused on the country.
Gao Pragmatism never thinks that anyone should completely abandon personal interests to satisfy the country. That is almost impossible - even if you are as clear as Hai Rui, who knows if you don't value money but only love reputation? Fame is also a benefit.
However, he agreed with another point of view that seemed to be completely opposite: if the basic interests of the country are completely eroded by many personal interests, these personal interests will eventually be unable to be saved. Isn’t this how the Ming Dynasty in history was destroyed by the Donglin Party and those behind the scenes? Were they tricked by interest groups?
Therefore, if you really want to "do things", you can only compromise when you need to compromise.
When did Moralism pass away, there was no way for boats and carriages to pass through. But there is no evil in the teaching side, and one can stand in a jungle of tigers and wolves.
Keep the bottom line in your heart and show your skills to the world. This is the rule Gao Pragmatic has set for himself in this life.
One of the methods is to find opportunities for some elderly ministers to win the privilege of being a public servant in the Forbidden City.
Because the trip to the Hanlin Academy just now made him realize that as a little kid who was "lucky" to study with the prince without passing the imperial examination, even with "Long Wen Whip Shadow" as a background, his reputation may not be much better. go. Most of them can only be regarded as "a playboy" by orthodox scholars like Liu Wei.
Of course Gao pragmatically wanted to take the imperial examination. This was something he had to do in his plan, but it would take time after all. Although he was somewhat confident about the success of the imperial examination for some reasons, no matter how confident he was, he did not feel that I am now capable enough to take part in the examination and get on the gold list.
So during this period of time, the title above my head has always been that of a "lucky minister" and a "dandy". What's great is that he is a dude with some level of proficiency.
Therefore, we must take a multi-pronged approach. First, as Sanbo said, take the scientific examination next year. As long as you take the exam yourself, this kind of controversy and contempt will be greatly reduced, because it is impossible for others to say that you are pragmatic and not direct. One round of entrance examination is rubbish, right? There are rules for exams, and no matter how good you are, you have to take the test step by step.
Second, we must find ways to gain a good reputation for ourselves, especially among scholars and civil servants. This is also very important. The tiger skin of reputation is sometimes more useful than the diamond shield in Ming Dynasty official circles. Just like Hai Rui was impeached by various conspirators some time ago. The Secretary of General Affairs received a memorial to impeach Hai Rui and received a roll of his eyes, but there was no such thing in those impeachments. Even if a person is accused of corruption and bribery.
So the next question is, what kind of reputation does being highly pragmatic need?
Before today's "soft boycott" incident at the Hanlin Academy, he was only making a fuss about "youth and talent". What's remarkable is that through Liu Xian's "pacification" of Bailixia, he also smeared himself with a hint of fearlessness and upholding justice. color.
But through today's events in the Hanlin Academy, he found that this was not enough. He also needed another camouflage color - a camouflage color that could complement San Bo's high arch.
In other words, it is what Gao Gong is good at, so I don’t have to work too hard, because in the future, as long as I become famous and continue along Gao Gong’s route, no one will question it - what is the origin of family education? How strange? In this era, if you, as a descendant, have to take the opposite route from your predecessors, you will really arouse doubts.
As for the aspects that Gao Gong is not good at, it is what he has to put effort and effort into doing well.
For example, Gao Gong is impatient and demanding. If the officials below him do something bad, he will not care about the occasion. And when he feels that the officials below him have done a good job, he will praise you if he says praise, and he will give you a promotion if he says he wants a promotion.
The former is obviously a character that easily offends people, and there is no need to explain this. Even the latter is likely to cause controversy, because you cannot promote everyone. Those who have not been promoted, how can they not feel jealous when they see their colleagues around them yesterday being entrusted with important tasks today? Over time, Gao Gong may get a bad reputation as "the punishment of Zhi or not depends entirely on happiness and anger".
This is only one aspect. The other aspect is to act with a high profile. Although the starting point is based on the principle of doing things for the country, due to his unusual relationship with the emperor, many positions seem to be directly standing next to the emperor. As we all know, from the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty to the present, the emperor has actually been in the process of fighting for power between the emperor and the civil servant group.
That's trouble. Because this is equivalent to Gao Gong seeming to be fighting against the civil service group in many cases - it was also for this reason that Zhang Juzheng later in history was liquidated by Wanli after his death, and most civil servants around the world supported and applauded him.
It is not easy to be the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, and this is one of the reasons: you are the hub of adjustment. If you are too close to the emperor's position, you will offend all officials, just like Zhang Juzheng in history; if you are too close to all officials, you will offend all officials. He would offend the emperor, just like Xu Jie before.
Although Gao Gong is not the chief assistant yet, he is already the same as the chief assistant. Secondly, it won't be long before he will actually become the chief assistant. So he is also in this awkward position. It's just that his personality is there. Let him go. There is no hope of being a complete ball bearing - he has the world in mind and is determined to reform.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic found that it was necessary for him to act as a lubricant during this period to ease the relationship between Gao Gong and many non-high-ranking civil servants. Firstly, it would make Gao Gong's various decisions less open and covertly opposed, and secondly, it would also create some good relationships for himself.
