Anzhongfang is located south of Luoshui. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a middle bridge connecting the north and the south, but it was damaged at this time. This is the center of Luoyang City. It used to be very prosperous, but now it is no longer what it used to be. The school is located on the site of the former residence of Yin Sizhen, the Duke of Tianshui County in the Tang Dynasty, which had long since fallen into disrepair.
The main entrance of the school is naturally the south gate, but the north gate is more convenient to walk to, so everyone came to the north gate.
Mu Ying and Zheng Gangzhong arrived too early and the door was not opened yet. Seeing a big willow tree next to it, he walked over.
A young man under the age of thirty under the willow tree saw Mu Ying and others arriving and hurriedly raised his hands and said, "Wei Anxing, I have met several brothers."
Everyone hurriedly returned the greeting and stopped under the willow tree, chatting.
Wei Anxing stood aside, looking at everyone with a smile, as if he was enjoying watching everyone talk.
When Zheng Gangzhong saw it, he felt a little sorry and said to Wei Anxing: "Where is Brother Wei from? I've never seen him before."
Wei Anxing said hurriedly: "I am a native of Xarao Prefecture and a Jinshi in the sixth year of Xuanhe. I have been recovering from my injuries in the past few months and have not been with you."
Only then did Zheng Gangzhong notice that Wei Anxing's left arm could only be raised halfway and seemed to be injured. Look carefully, he has two broken fingers on his right hand, a scar behind his ear, and his right leg seems to be rotten.
Seeing Zheng Gangzhong paying attention to himself, Wei Anxing said sheepishly: "During the Jingkang Rebellion, I was the leader of Xiping. When the city was broken, I was kidnapped by the Jin people and went north. I suffered a lot and left some injuries. Fortunately, the Xuanfu army went north. , came back alive."
Zheng Gangzhong nodded. After a while he said: "Brother Wei is suffering."
While they were talking, the door opened and everyone entered the school one after another. Along the way, there are green trees, birds singing and flowers fragrant, and the environment is quite good.
When we arrived at an open space surrounded by green trees, there were officials standing here. Everyone stood under the shade of the trees, waiting for the officials to make arrangements.
I saw Wei Anxing standing alone in the corner, somewhat alone. Zheng Gangzhong stepped forward, smiled at Wei Anxing, and stood aside.
Not long after, Chen Qiudao came over. Just as everyone was about to greet them, Chen Qiudao signaled that they would be excused. He said loudly: "Today is the first day of school. Let me get to know you. My name is Chen Qiudao. I am the staff officer of the Xuanfu Department. I have been ordered to take charge of this school. The Xuanfu Conference will say something to everyone in a while. Everyone should remember it firmly. .”
Everyone said it together.
After saying a few words, seeing Wang Xiaolie coming from the side, Chen Qiu said: "Xuanfu is busy with official matters, so he took the time to come here today, which shows that he attaches great importance to this matter. Now Xuanfu will speak to everyone, everyone welcomes it."
Everyone imitated Chen Qiudao and applauded Wang Xiaolie.
When he arrived in front of everyone, Wang Xiaolie nodded in greeting. Said: "Many of you have been here on Jingxi Road for some time and have not been assigned any duties. In the past two months, you have looked around and you should know what the situation is like on Jingxi Road now. If you are willing to stay, we welcome you. No. If you are willing to stay, we will provide you with travel expenses. If you come here to enroll today, you are going to work on Jingxi Road, so you still need to make some things clear."
After speaking, Wang Xiaolie looked at everyone and paused. Cui Qing next to him saw it and hurriedly handed over a kettle.
After taking a sip of water, Wang Xiaolie continued: "I often ask officials a question. When you become an official, do you belong to power, or do you belong to more power? Today I still ask everyone to think about this question carefully after you go back. You belong to power. The power still belongs to you. Once you answer this question clearly, you will understand how to be an official. Here on Jingxi Road, what I want is that officials belong to power, and power does not belong to officials."
"We know that officials first came from the history of witchcraft. In other words, the earliest officials were responsible for reporting people's affairs to the gods and recording them. Officials are born with two responsibilities, one is to the gods and the other is to the people. . In other words, officials themselves have divine responsibilities and responsibilities to the people. On this issue, everyone should think carefully about what kind of official they want to be in the future."
Of course, people of this era do not know what kind of shamans the earliest officials were. This is the view of later generations. However, Wang Xiaolie didn't say much, he just mentioned it.
Wang Xiaolie continued: "I often say that the world is a stage, and we are the actors on the stage. Some people are generals, and some are soldiers; some are high-ranking officials, and some are busy low-level officials. No matter Whatever the role is, as long as we perform it seriously, it will be a good show. If you don't like your role, you don't have to go on this stage or be this official."
"Confucius said: If the Tao is not up to standard, one can ride on a raft and float in the sea. There is another saying, if the country has Tao, then it will be official, if the country does not have Tao, then it will be hidden. As a person in power, it is necessary to govern with Tao and let talents be happy for their own use. It is not my control. If you have power, you want to take some power from me, so you become an official. Power is actually meaningless. Only when power is not taken seriously can power obtain personal gain for itself."
"I said that neighboring countries look at each other, hear the sounds of cocks and dogs, and the people will not interact with each other until they grow old and die. If there is no need, why should we come together to form a country? Without a country, where would the power come from? In this world It is different from before. It is difficult for one family to survive. Even the Song Dynasty, which covers the whole world and governs hundreds of millions of people, was ravaged by the power of the Jin Kingdom. People lived together and lived together. To have a system and regulate people's behavior, there is a government. The government is not something that must exist, but it is necessary for the actual situation to exist. When we go to the government to be an official, we must understand that this official is What does it look like?”
"Now that the golden thieves are showing off their power and the country is in ruins, Jingxi Road will be temporarily managed by me. If you come to serve as officials under me, I must give you a salary so that you can support your family in Hukou and live a decent life. If in my hands If there is no money and the salary cannot be paid, it means there is something wrong with my governance. It cannot be said that the government has no money and the salary cannot be paid. It has nothing to do with the people in power. It is reasonable to blame the officials and the people, but not the people in power. Is that right? It doesn’t make sense. If you are trying to sell iron, I will first ensure that your salary continues. I can’t let you come to my place to be an official and go hungry."
After hearing this, the officials below all smiled and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.
This is a fundamental problem. Officials work for the court, and the court gives them enough money and food. This is not a transaction, but the responsibility of the court. If a court can't even pay officials' salaries, what's the use of the court?
Officials have power, and if you don't provide them with salaries, they will naturally take it themselves. By this time, politics was in disarray. The most terrifying thing is not corruption, but that corrupt and bribed people live a very prosperous life, while upright officials are so poor that they can only eat cabbage and tofu, or even go hungry. In such an officialdom, what kind of officials would be selected and promoted? How can we impose strict requirements?
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he hated official corruption deeply. The investigation is extremely strict and the punishment is extremely severe, even skinning and killing. Can corruption be eradicated? cannot. Because Zhu Yuanzhang himself lived a very luxurious life and regarded the world as his own, he made the descendants of the Zhu family kings in various places, which was extremely indulgent. Are all people in this world fools? To be loyal to such an emperor and to be loyal to the country?
