Looking at Chen Yuyi who was sitting under the window drinking, his wife Zhou said: "You are not a drinker, why are you drinking there endlessly today?"
Chen Yuyi sighed: "Today, Counselor Wang returned to Xiangyang, observed the banquet there, and talked a lot. I heard what he said, and the political affairs in Xiangyang will be very different from before. I thought that doing this would be too different from the changes in the government of the imperial court. A little annoyed."
Zhou said: "I heard someone say that today the king has said that in the future, officials' salaries will be more than before. The world is not peaceful now, and people don't have any money in their hands, which always makes people feel uneasy. For the sake of salary calculation, You shouldn’t say that either.”
Chen Yuyi nodded: "Yes, the observation has increased everyone's salary. From next month, my monthly salary will be one hundred and twenty. Xiangyang has always paid real money without deductions. This is a lot of money. We just If you live here with your children, you will have endless money to spend.”
Zhou said: "You have been working under Wang Kuan for more than a year. Your salary is sufficient and your affairs are not very busy. What else are you dissatisfied with? Have you forgotten the time we were running around here and there in the past two years?"
Chen Yuyi said: "A few days ago, Ji Shen was in Yuezhou and moved to Zhongcheng, the imperial censor. He has an old relationship with me, and a letter came from him, saying that the current emperor really appreciates my poems. The emperor valued me, and Ji Shen advised me not to stay in Xiangyang. If you are wasting time, you should go to Yuezhou as soon as possible."
After hearing this, Mrs. Zhou didn't know what to say for a moment.
Fu Zhirou, whose courtesy name was Ji Shen, was the grandson of Fu Bi and a native of Luoyang, the same hometown as Chen Yuyi. Chen Yuyi became famous at a young age and was known as the "Poetic Master" among the Eight Talents in Luoyang. He was friendly with Fu Zhirou when he was young. Now Fu Zhirou is following Zhao Gou and is highly regarded. Within a few years, he has become an important minister in the court. I heard that Chen Yuyi was still working for Wang Xiaolie in Xiangyang. He felt that there was no future and asked him to come to Zhao Gou as soon as possible.
Chen Yuyi is known as "Poetry Master" and his poems are famous all over the world. He is a famous poet at this time. In the fourth year of Xuanhe's reign, a poem about plum blossoms was praised by Emperor Daojun, and he was promoted. But later, the political situation in the DPRK changed, and he was demoted to Chenliu prison for drinking. In this era, Chen Yuyi should be the best poet in the world. It's just that Wang Xiaolie doesn't pay much attention to poetry, so he doesn't take it seriously.
After drinking a glass of wine, Chen Yuyi said: "I heard the meaning of the observation: pity the people and think about the people in everything. This is right. But once you go too far, you can't help but treat the scholar-officials harshly. After all, the government of the world still relies on scholars. How can I be treated harshly?"
Zhou said: "Why do you say that? You are a scholar. When you found Wang Kuan's door in Xiangyang, you were immediately arranged to become an official. Your salary is generous and you have always been treated with great courtesy. Why do you say that Wang Kuan treats scholars harshly?"
Chen Yuyi said: "What do you know about women's education? Observation means that those who are good officials will be valued. The selection of officials is no longer the same as before, either based on the imperial examination method or through kindness. Instead, it is to Schools were set up widely, and those who excelled in their studies were admitted to the higher-level schools, and finally became officials after passing the examination. In addition to the imperial examination, officials are all drawn from here. In this way, aren't scholars the same as common people?"
Zhou thought for a while and said: "You scholars, were you different from the common people in the past? You are from a family of officials, with few literary names, and you were a Jinshi in your twenties. Before you were a Jinshi, you were a person who knew poetry and prose. They are just children of officials. Once they are demoted, there is no preferential treatment. The Jin people went south and wandered around, how are they different from the common people?"
Chen Yuyi shook his head: "You have lived in Xiangyang for more than a year, how come you think like this?"
As he spoke, he poured another glass of wine. Drink it and look at the moonlight outside the window.
In fact, this kind of thing cannot be explained clearly. It can only be understood but not expressed in words. Listening to Wang Xiaolie's words today, Chen Yuyi could tell that Wang Xiaolie didn't have a good opinion of scholars. It’s not that they look down on scholars, but that they no longer value scholars as much as the imperial court did in the past.
In Wang Xiaolie's plan, scholars are only one type of talent, perhaps the most important one. But as long as people from other backgrounds are truly capable, their status will not be lower than that of scholars. If you are a Jinshi, you need to be trained before you want to be an official. Only after you pass the training can you become an official. If you are not qualified, you can only do other writing things and you will not have real power.
From these words, Chen Yuyi could sense that in Wang Xiaolie's mind, scholars no longer had the exclusive status they had before.
Seeing that her husband didn't say anything, he just sat there drinking. Zhou said: "At the beginning of this year, when the Jin army crossed the river, the officials were chased and fled into the sea, and all the officials dispersed. Since the king observed Xiangyang, several battles have gone through, and Xiangyang has not been affected in any way. Officer, you have to think clearly and don’t do stupid things! It’s finally settled and you don’t want to live that kind of wandering life again!”
"I don't want to either!" Chen Yuyi sighed helplessly. "A few months ago, the Observer wanted to build a headquarters in the army and asked me to take charge of it. However, I really didn't know much about the affairs in the army, and the Observer was not satisfied, so I transferred Counselor Wang back to Xiangyang. Today I was told to do it. Supervise and fill the vacancy of the transfer envoy. Don’t care about other things, just supervise the officials.”
Zhou said: "Isn't this a good thing? The supervisor is a noble official. In the past, in the capital, he was always nobler than others."
Chen Yuyi said: "This supervisory officer, as the observation said, is in charge of too many things. This is not the supervision of the past."
At this point, Chen Yuyi turned around and said: "The supervision in the observation eyes is very different from the supervision we think of. I will tell you about it and you will know."
After finishing speaking, Chen Yuyi counted his fingers and told his wife one by one.
"The officials mentioned in Observation are different from the officials in the past. The government governs the people, and in the future, laws must be clearly issued and things must be managed according to the laws. Only when there are matters that are unclear between the laws and regulations, the officials will decide. According to Observation, the laws and regulations No matter how detailed the promulgation is, it cannot comprehensively cover everything in the world. The most important thing for officials is to make their own decisions on these unclear areas."
Zhou said: "Isn't this a good thing? By doing this, officials will have less to do."
Chen Yuyi smiled bitterly: "In the past, an official was the head of a government office. As long as it did not violate the laws of the court, he could do whatever he wanted. For general government affairs, he could arrange for his officials to do it, and he did not have to do everything himself. It is different now. The officials under my command have their duties, and the officials have their duties. They are completely separated. If the officials do not do it themselves, they will be considered lazy and will be punished!"
What Wang Xiaolie means is that most government affairs have regulations, and the regulations are approved by higher authorities. Matters within the regulations shall be handled by the respective functional yamen without the need to seek the opinion of the chief official. If there is a conflict or ambiguity between the reality and the regulations, the judgment shall be made by the supervisor. The most important thing for a chief officer is this act of judgment. Supervision needs to monitor all behaviors of officials. How can we supervise this if it is so unclear?
In Wang Xiaolie's previous life, there were often debates about rule by man or rule by law. The vast majority of people believe that the rule of law is advanced and the rule of man is backward. The rule of man should be replaced by the rule of law. It should even be the rule of law.
It is wrong to think so. In life, there are countless things. People form a society with each other, and there are countless things in society. People and society cannot actually be completely regulated by laws and regulations. In theory, a society ruled by law does not actually need officials, but only some mechanical civil servants.
Which ones are governed by law and which ones are governed by people are actually determined by the regime in accordance with its own governing concepts. Typical in the United States, if a person does not have a lawyer, he actually does not even know what the rule of law is. In some small authoritarian countries, everything is decided by the rulers.
A normal society should have both the rule of law and the rule of man. And this moderation is not fixed, but constantly changing with changes in society. Many people believe that there should be rule of law, partly because they are affected by public opinion, and partly because they have a bad impression of officials.
If officials are unqualified, the problem of unqualified officials should be dealt with. The rule of law is not in place and should be strengthened. This is the right attitude.
The most important role of officials in the political power is to make decisions when there are no provisions in laws and regulations. If officials make wrong decisions, they must bear the consequences. Rather, as long as there are no regulations, officials do not have to bear the consequences. Supervision of officials is very important. What troubles Chen Yuyi is that with this kind of power, the requirements for supervisory officials are very high.
Sighing, Chen Yuyi said: "According to observations, if it is really implemented, a lot of officials will be punished in the next one or two years. In the extreme, most officials will be dismissed or demoted. This But what should we do?”
