Chapter 1012: What’s wrong with advancing or retreating (two updates combined into one)(1/2)
The officials were so shocked that they looked at Zhang Yue without saying a word.
When the official heard Zhang Yue's words, his face was filled with gloom and his breath could not calm down.
He had been emperor for ten years and felt that the biggest disadvantage in the world was that the civil servants or the entire bureaucracy could not act according to his wishes.
He used to think that Wang Anshi was okay and that he took the world as his own responsibility, even though he contradicted him many times.
But if Wang Anshi is like this, what about his son Wang Yu? What about Deng Wan, whom he promoted? Lu Jia asked?
In particular, when Lu Huiqing left, he revealed that he had scolded all the ministers below Han Jiang and Wang Gui, which really shattered the impression of the officials on these officials. The ministers had two faces on the surface and on the inside, they were all calculating and powerful. More
The important thing is that he realized that the bureaucratic group composed of officials is like a dense network.
Each of them may seem insignificant, but they formed this big network and almost suffocated me.
After Lu Huiqing returned to Beijing, he reported a lot of Wang Anshi's affairs to the emperor. Although his personal integrity was not a problem, he must have had a lack of respect for the emperor.
Many of his private letters to Lu Huiqing contained the phrase "no one is the wisest".
This made him make the final decision to dismiss Wang Anshi as prime minister.
As for Zhang Yue's accusation of his cheating, this is what makes the officials most angry.
Who likes to be criticized all day long? Let alone the supreme emperor.
Officials thought that his kindness to his ministers and humbly accepting advice would make them grateful to him and know that he was a virtuous king who could help them. But what they got in exchange was that his ministers would "sneak their noses in the face" again and again.
, This really chilled his heart. So he made a statement by not allowing Su Shi to return to Beijing, but he still gave Peng Ruli and other ministers the opportunity to speak out and remonstrate.
Let’s talk about Han Qi, Wang Anshi, and Han Jiang who criticized him. After all, they were all ministers left by the late emperor, even Emperor Renzong. He could not control them, but Lu Huiqing and Zhang Yue were cultivated by him.
He originally thought that Zhang Yue would work with him to plan the destruction of Xia, but Zhang Yue also opposed him on this matter.
This time he was actually blamed!
However, after thinking for a while, the official held back his anger and went to accept the remonstrance as usual: "I heard that there is indeed something wrong with what I said."
"But my original intention was to conquer Western Xia as a great cause, and to eliminate this inner trouble, everything is because of it. Regardless of the economy and people's livelihood, or politics and military, we should all take the Western Xia expedition as our guide! At the beginning, you advised me to calm down the Xia Dynasty in five years.
, Now there are only three years left. You have forgotten what you said back then, but I have not!"
And Zhang Yue also knew how the official was feeling at the moment. I replaced Wang Anshi and asked you and Han Jiang to be my husband. But you didn't yell at me like Wang Anshi did.
I didn't expect Wang Anshi to leave. Today Han Jiang contradicted me. So do you?
Zhang Yue felt a little guilty at first, but when he thought about it carefully, what did I have to feel guilty about?
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the king and the horse shared the world, which meant that the emperor and the family ruled the world together.
In the Tang Dynasty, it was also an aristocratic republic between the emperor and aristocratic families.
In the Song Dynasty, the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats jointly ruled the world!
To put it bluntly, you, the emperor, cannot rule this world alone!
This is not the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Wang Anshi can't bear to quarrel with you all day long. Do you think he won't quarrel with you if he changes to another prime minister?
If I don’t criticize you, everyone in the world will criticize me!
Between the two, which one is more important?
Moreover, the official plan to destroy Xia was based on a timetable. If Xia was destroyed in five years, then all the offensive matters against Xia would be completed twelve years ago in [Xining].
According to Wang Anshi's original strategy of "Rebalancing the World", the entire country's resource allocation was to prioritize the "Conquest of Xia" and give in to the rest.
Zhang Yue said seriously: "Your Majesty, there is no conflict between exterminating Xia and benefiting the people, they just have different priorities."
"The troubles of the Song Dynasty are internal, not external, while the problems of Xixia are external, not internal."
"First manage the government and cultivate the people, and then plan the attack on Xia, which is the best move in the world. I hope that your majesty will prioritize benefiting the people and slow down the attack on Xia!"
The official said: "This is wrong. Back then, Renzong was so benevolent that he couldn't bear to exchange his reputation for nothing. He finally negotiated peace with Xia, which led to the humiliation of Qingli."
"Money for reducing military service can benefit the people temporarily, but destroying Xia will benefit the country and the people forever. Otherwise, why did I ask you to capture Xihe? It was also a waste of time to conquer Xia."
Zhang Yue thought to himself, Wang Shao and I proposed the idea of capturing Xihe. When did it become your overall plan?
The official continued: "Being blindly focused on benevolence and righteousness will only lead to weakness and easy play. I have been in charge for ten years, and the national policy should also change. Confucianism should be replaced by law. Now the country should focus on exterminating Xia as urgently as possible, and benefiting the people as slow as possible!
"
"I originally intended to entrust you with the task of conquering Xia, but if you don't agree with me, then go to the northwest and come back for Lu Huiqing!"
Zhang Yue was furious when he heard this, the emperor actually used this trick in front of him.
Is Lu Liu, a big horse monkey, worthy of competing with me, Zhang San?
Zhang Yue's face remained calm and he glanced at Shi Deyi, wondering if he had leaked his reluctance to go to the northwest to the officials.
At this moment, he said calmly: "Your Majesty, Lu Huiqing's talent is ten times better than that of my minister. I am a firefly who is only qualified to swim under the grass. How can it dare to compete with the bright moon in the sky?"
The official was stunned when he heard this, but he was also used to officials using retreat to advance and said: "That's it."
After the official finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Yue's expression, but saw that his expression did not change at all.
Zhang Yue might have been a little angry just now, but now he has understood and digested it.
What about the prime minister? After all, it is just a job.
Of course Zhang Yue knew the disadvantages of the conflict between imperial power and prime ministerial power. In the Ming Dynasty, there was no prime minister in the name of a cabinet scholar. In the Qing Dynasty, there were really no prime ministers, and the quality of officials in the Qing Dynasty was the worst in history.
Compared with being unable to do what one wishes when he was in office or causing major hidden dangers in the future, it would be better to retire early and get started early, thus preserving wealth and not losing the position of county governor.
If you can't find a life, how can you find a country?
Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, although I have been demoted, I must give my loyal words and remonstrate with you."
"Speak!" the official said angrily.
Zhang Yue did not give in at all and said: "The world should be governed with benevolence and righteousness. In recent years, natural disasters have continued, and thieves have continued in all counties and districts. Even the wealthy Huaihe and Zhejiang provinces have people eating each other. Your Majesty wants to conquer Xixia, but you have not seen the suffering of the people.
It's like killing cattle and sheep for food. Those who eat them are beautiful, but the people who are eaten are miserable, and Your Majesty has never seen them."
"The imperial court has raised 100,000 troops, but the people on the road have 700,000 families. Even if we succeed in breaking the summer, if the people cannot be cared for and their hearts cannot be attached to them, what's the use?"
"I always want to do one thing, never do it directly, but first think about another thing. This is the principle that if a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools."
"If you want to cut down summer, you must first benefit the people. Benefiting the people is a tool. Only when the tool is ready can you cut down trees. To say the least, even if you fail to cut down summer, the tool has been tempered and the people's hearts have been planted by your majesty."
"The most difficult thing in the world is to use two things. You must not use one thing to destroy everything. I would like to ask your Majesty to carefully observe it."
"Practice both ends of the spectrum." Officials studied Zhang Yue's words in detail. This sentence comes from "The Doctrine of the Mean": "Practice both ends of it and use it to serve the people. How can you think of it as Shun?"
"If you hold on to one thing, you will lose a hundred." It comes from [Mencius]: "Those who hold on to one thing are evil, they are traitors to the Tao, and if they hold on to one thing, they will do away with a hundred."
[Fighting Xia] and [Benefiting the People] are two-purpose, and those who can [use them] or [use them] are sages.
In fact, as an official, the biggest difficulty is the choice of direction, not the details. Because there are many capable ministers to do the details for him.
The choice of direction often leads to differences in routes, and differences in routes become the origin of party struggles and the rise and fall of power.
And how can we achieve [Chinese use]?
[Zhongyong] has already given the answer, which is [Sincerity].
People who can be sincere are like gods.
"How can you be sincere?" the official said in silence for a while. Seeing this scene, Yuan Jiang knew that Zhang Yue was trying to persuade the official.
Zhang Yue said: "This is the way of the sages, and I don't know it!"
Officials thought that Zhang Yue would argue that reason was on his side, but he said he didn't know.
The official laughed and said, "Zhang Qing doesn't know which is better, [defeat Xia] or [benefit the people]?"
As the official smiled, the tense atmosphere between the two immediately calmed down. Because when people are criticized by people who have different ideas from their own, they will have an idea, why is what you said is right and what I said is wrong?
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Gradually, the atmosphere in the palace where the monarch and his ministers chatted became better.
Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, there are two levels. Those who know from birth are saints, and those who know through learning are sages."
"If you don't even know what you have learned, how can you talk about being a saint? That's why [the Doctrine of the Mean] says that sincerity is like God!"
"Then will you tell me the way of [learning to know]?"
Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, I think you still have to listen to what you are told. You can believe it but you cannot listen to it. If you listen to what you say, you should attack it in reverse!"
Everyone has a position.
Officials have the position of officialdom, and Zhongshu has the position of Zhongshu.
Today, the official position is subjective and at the decision-making level, while Zhongshu's position is objective and at the execution level.
All human suffering comes from the mismatch between subjectivity and objectivity. Simply put, it means ‘not getting what you want’.
My brain tells my body to work and earn money to support me.
The body says to the brain, no, you should restrain your desires (just starve to death) or feel tired today (I want to lie down).
Therefore, the executive level always tends to be conservative. The bureaucracy keeps using Confucian slogans and asking the emperor to "control desires", which is actually protecting itself in disguise.
To be continued...