Xu Cai and his companions walked into the Zhizhishi Yamen and saw that no one was talking, so they couldn't help but be cautious. When I arrived in the backyard, I saw a newly built shed with a group of officials busy.
Inside the shed, a table was set up in front. In front of the table are rows of square tables, with a chair behind each square table. There is a small sign on the table with the name written on it. After finding his name, Xu sat down carefully.
A public servant placed a tea cup on each table, and a public servant behind brought hot water to make tea. Xu Cai took the tea cup and looked at it. It was brewed with fine Xinyang Maojian, the kind that he would not drink even if he was not entertaining guests. Xindao Zhizhi made Si really generous and used such good tea.
After a while, Wang Xiaolie came in with Chen Yuyi and Wang Ruohai and sat down at the table in front.
After looking at everyone, Wang Xiaolie said: "You people are recently recruited, and what you do is different from others. In my opinion, what you do is pragmatic, while other officials do pragmatic things. However, , I heard someone say that you are all sinecures."
Having said this, Wang Xiaolie smiled. Said: "It is wrong to say that you are idlers. The government is not that rich and can support so many idlers. But what you do is indeed different from ordinary officials. This must be made clear."
"Since ancient times, Chinese politics has had a tradition of recording history. In ancient times, there were Zhuxiashi and Yushi, and now there are also Jisheren and Jilang. This mainly records the affairs of the central court, especially the emperor. In addition, There are also records of folk affairs. However, since the Qin Dynasty, folk affairs have not been paid attention to, and gradually no officials are doing these things. How can this be done? You officials are specially recruited to record folk affairs. Speaking of which , is a kind of historian.”
"In various official examinations, those in charge of administration will take the exam of "Book of Rites", and also "Book of Rites" and "Spring and Autumn Annals"; those in charge of criminal law will take the exam of "Book of Rites" and "Book of Rites"; those in charge of etiquette and law will take the exam of "Book of Rites" and "Book of Rites". Examine "Book of Songs" and "Book of Songs". And you mainly examine "Book of Songs" and "Spring and Autumn". All this has just begun and will be gradually improved. Many people are not clear about it, so I will explain it here."
"The Book of Songs is the first of the Five Classics, and its importance is self-evident. However, there have always been different opinions on what the Book of Songs actually writes and what issues it explains. Regardless of the debates among the classics, in my opinion, the Book of Songs is The history of the people. Let us know what the people were like in that era except for the important events in the court. What emotions, yearnings, hopes and dissatisfactions did ordinary people have. For our descendants, "The Book of Songs" " is not only beautiful in words, but more importantly, it leaves behind the style of that era. You people are doing the things of those officials who recorded the content of "The Book of Songs" in the pre-Qin Dynasty. I hope you can do a good job and preserve this The style of the times.”
Having said this, Wang Xiaolie took a sip of tea and said nothing. Let the officials below collect their thoughts.
From the "Book of Songs" in the pre-Qin Dynasty, to the poetry of the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, to the tunes and lyrics of the Tang Dynasty, to the scripts of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this is a development line and a description of folk history by Chinese literati. Han Fu, Tang poetry, and Song lyrics are the expressions of literati. It can be clearly seen that since the Han Dynasty, the court has not paid much attention to such folk history and has no dedicated personnel to do it.
It is wrong to place Ming and Qing dynasties after Han Fu, Tang poetry, and Song poetry. They do not belong to the same system. After the Song Dynasty, if Yuan music still had some literati elements, the Ming and Qing dynasties had little to do with it. Strictly speaking, the family is not considered literati, they can only read, write and write. It is precisely for this reason that their works contain the most vivid people's livelihood.
From the experience of his previous life, Wang Xiaolie knew how important the people were to the country. If a country's history lacks the vivid lives of its people, a large part of it will be missing. For the government, this part must be made up.
Of course, setting up such a large group of officials is not just for recording people's lives. Their more important role is to provide power support for the regime. Only by knowing clearly what the people think can we know what the government will do.
This is the relationship between the government and the people. The people provide the source of power for the regime, and the regime educates and guides the people. Changes in people's thinking led to political reform. This is a mutually reinforcing relationship, and neither side is complete without it.
Putting down the tea cup, Wang Xiaoxing said: "The history of the world is not just the history of the court, but also the history of the people. Without the history of the people, the history we record is incomplete. Of course, your job is not just to record the history of the people. History, and more importantly, is to understand the people's thoughts. The people's thoughts determine how we should govern and how the government should do its work. You are the source of ideas for the government's governance and the feedback of the government's governance. The government can only be closely connected with the people Things get better together.”
"We don't have many ancient books. Many things about the Yu, Tang, Xia and Shang dynasties cannot be explained clearly. Starting from the Zhou Dynasty, it was said that the emperor received the mandate of heaven and pastored the people on behalf of heaven. What is the mandate of heaven? In fact, there was not much discussion in the pre-Qin Dynasty. By the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism. One of the important contents was about the destiny of heaven. From natural disasters to man-made disasters, from earthquakes to nursery rhymes, to prophecies, there is a whole set of theories. This set of theories has been impacted since Wang Mang came to Han Dynasty. It was basically lost after the Later Han Dynasty. In our era, what is the Mandate of Heaven? It is actually very vague. But how can a political power operate if it does not know the Mandate of Heaven? As a person in power, we cannot use ghosts and gods to pretend to be the Mandate of Heaven and deceive the people. Instead, we must use various means to You must find a way to understand God's will and make your administration conform to God's will. In addition to recording history, you also have an important function, which is to find out God's will."
"How to find God's will? The source of this is a sentence in "Shang Shu, Tai Shi", God sees me and the people see me, and God listens to me and the people listen. Since God sees me and the people see me, and God hears me and the people hear me, then we We need to know what the people saw, what they heard, and what they thought. So is God’s will the will of the people? No. If it’s so simple, what else should the government do? It’s about knowing the will of the people, and thus knowing the destiny. How to do it? It has to come from practice. There is nothing in the world. The result is determined before doing it. No matter how accurate your estimate is, it will only be about the same."
"When we recruit you officials, firstly, we must remember the history of the people, and secondly, we must know the public opinion. On the basis of knowing the public opinion, we analyze what the destiny is. After analyzing the destiny, the political power governs according to the destiny. Instead of relying on this If an official is virtuous, then that official is smart enough to govern. Officials are the executors of destiny, so the orders of the government are sacred."
Having said this, Wang Xiaolie smiled. He said to everyone: "Things about ghosts and gods are illusory and illusory. We don't know whether they exist. Since we don't know, how can we rely on ghosts and gods to guess destiny? The sky is high above. We mortals don't know what it looks like. I don't know. We cannot guess, as the first guess will be wrong. Instead, we must try our best to find out using the methods we can think of. How to find out? The most reliable way is the people. We must understand the people correctly and value the people. , can we get the clue of destiny."
"The people we are talking about are living people, but they are not just ordinary people. A man is smart and brave, and a woman is virtuous and beautiful. Everyone who comes into contact knows it. They get married and form a family. What does this family look like? , cannot be known just by the appearance of this man and this woman. For a political power, the destiny is roughly the same. We not only need to know what the people think individually, but also what the family thinks, what the clan thinks, and various collectives. What do you think? Only when we put it all together can we understand the destiny of heaven. Only when we understand the destiny of heaven can the government know how to govern. Governance is not to satisfy the people personally, let alone to satisfy officials, but to comply with the destiny of heaven." Mobile users please visit the Kingdom of Tianhan , a better user experience.
