Chapter 1065 I don’t believe it anymore (two updates combined into one)

The essence of a feudal country is that the most violent people make the rules.

The core of it is Han Feizi's words, "When the ruler is over the people, he will sacrifice himself when there is trouble, and when there is peace, he will do his best."

The king and the people are a whole, and if they go up to conquer Han, they will follow down. If the officials insist on doing this, and the people cannot resist, then the people have another option, which is to lie down.

Buddhism and Taoism are the studies of lying down.

There is no doubt that the weak party must have more choices than the strong party.

Those who are more afraid of the country's demise are those with vested interests, not the people. Therefore, those with vested interests will eventually choose to give in and transfer more benefits to the people.

This is the essence of ‘Fali Confucianism’.

So some people say that Confucianism is hypocritical, because they don’t know that the world is governed by two sets of rules.

One set is light and the other is dark.

Calling officials parents comes from the allusion of Zhao Fu and Du Mu, which refers to Zhao Xinchen in the Western Han Dynasty and Du Shi in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Both of them were governors of Nanyang and had great political achievements in the local area. Therefore, they were called Zhaofu in the front and Du Mu in the back. From then on, they were called "parent officials".

This title lasted until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

Zhang Yue praised Cao Yi's theory of servants, but as a parent, I dare not.

I am just hired by the common people to do things, how dare I call myself my parent? Not even officials, the same is true for the emperor.

Mencius's student Wan Zhang asked, was it Yao who gave up the world to Shun?

Mencius said no, it was Heaven that granted the world to Shun, not Yao who gave it to Shun. It’s just that Heaven couldn’t speak, but Yao knew what Heaven meant, so he granted the world to Shun.

Mencius also emphasized that "the emperor cannot give the world to others."

Mencius also emphasized what is the Son of Heaven? That is, Heaven is with him and the people are with him.

At the same time, the Son of Heaven is the parent of the people and the parents of all peoples. Mencius believed that this is not the case. The Son of Heaven is only the leader of all peoples. Although you are the greatest, you are only one of them and are not qualified to be above them.

So what is ‘people-based’? Mencius’ thought is people-based.

Gu Yong once said that I heard that the people were born in disgrace and could not govern each other, so I wanted to establish a king to rule them.

Therefore, the emperor is also a servant of the people.

The sixth son of the emperor is the eldest son of an official. Of course, the official family looks up to him as the crown prince, and takes the word servant as his name.

Is it useful to advocate for domestic helpers?

it works.

Let the people be disenchanted with power.

For example, Filipino maids in later generations are favored for being obedient to their employers, so why can’t local nannies do the same? That means dissatisfaction. Even if I was hired by your family, it’s because of my bad luck, not because I was born inferior to you.

What about the officials? If you have to fight, you have to fight.

Legalism advocates treating officials as teachers and officials as parents of the people. We common people will not accept your tactics. Starting from Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, you have made my life difficult, and I have made your life difficult.

Zhang Yue once again lamented the official family.

Zhang Yue believes that the word "meritor" comes from the official's sincerity.

Cao Yi made this truth clear to himself when he came up, and of course he also said good things for the officials.

Zhang Yue said to Cao Yi: "Your Majesty's heart is really like that of Yao and Shun!"

Cao Yi said: "Mr. Zhang, don't let down the great empress dowager and your majesty's respect for you."

At this point, Zhang Yue ended the conversation. Cao Yi saw that Zhang Yue had no intention of changing the situation, so he had to say goodbye and leave.

Cao Ji returned to his mansion and wrote a letter to the Empress Dowager Cao.

However, Empress Dowager Cao has been unable to get out of bed since autumn. The filial piety shown by the officials to Empress Cao is almost better than that of Empress Dowager Gao. She would visit Empress Dowager Cao to attend to political affairs and sit there for a while before returning to her bedroom.

On this day, the official personally served the soup and medicine to the Queen Mother Cao. The Queen Mother Cao said: "I don't have much time left. These soups and medicines are very bitter. It doesn't matter whether you eat it or not."

The officials were very filial and tried to persuade me again and again.

Empress Dowager Cao had only finished half of the drink. The official took the candied fruit box from the maid and presented it to Empress Dowager Cao.

Empress Dowager Cao had a taste and said: "Han Jiang and Zhang Yue did a good job in Zhongshu. They changed the recruitment law to serve as a sergeant, and the people's praises came to the ears of a woman in the palace like me.

"

"Now that Han Jiang is sick, why does Zhang Yue also claim to be ill? Zhang Yue is a minister entrusted by the late emperors of the two dynasties, and your majesty should treat him with courtesy."

The official's expression was solemn when he heard this. He handed the box of preserves to the palace maid and said, "Grandma, how can I take what I heard from outside the palace seriously? I have heard a lot about the drawbacks of military service."

"Every word in the world has two sides."

Empress Dowager Cao said: "Now that Han Jiang is dying, he is no longer lying down. Zhang Yue is also called sick. The Zhongshu only has one reference and one reference. It is better to add a few other ministers to the Zhongshu. What do the officials think?"

The official said: "I haven't thought about the candidate for the government yet, but now it's very appropriate to work together. Wang Gui handles things properly, is mature and prudent, and Yuan Jiang is loyal and reliable. He is an honest official and never seeks personal gain. I plan to let him go first."

These two will take care of things first."

The official implication is that it is not bad for Wang Gui and Yuan Jiang to set up Zhongshu's airs.

Empress Dowager Cao said: "Your Majesty, Wang Guinai is in power and has no foundation in the court. Yuan Jiang has never set out to stand out and is certainly a reliable person. However, he entrusts the two of them to preside over the affairs of the court. But if something big happens, who can your Majesty turn to?"

What about discussion?"

Empress Dowager Cao made it very clear that the reason why the officials employed Wang Gui and Yuan Jiang was because they had weak foundations in the court, so they just obeyed the emperor in everything.

However, these two people have mediocre abilities and do not have the ability to deal with major and urgent matters. They can deal with them on a daily basis, but they will be in trouble when they encounter major problems.

The official knew it well and said with a smile: "I still have my grandmother to discuss it!"

Empress Dowager Cao said: "I am just a woman. Besides, I still have many days left. If you listen to me, you should invite Zhang Yue, Sima Guang and other ministers back."

The official said: "Wang Anshi also complained about it back then, because he was bullying me into not being able to take charge of the affairs of the court. But I am no longer the emperor ten years ago, and I am very effective in handling politics now."

Empress Dowager Cao said: "I know that Your Majesty is hard-working and has worked hard to seek governance since he came to the throne. He is afraid that his performance is not good enough, so he must do everything himself, no matter how big or small it is."

"We don't take a break even on New Year's Day. Sometimes the sun has set and lunch has not yet been eaten. The Queen Mother and I have to send people to urge Your Majesty again and again."

"But Your Majesty, governing the world is not about doing everything by yourself, but about appointing people on their merits. One wise person is not enough, but a group of wise people must support each other. Officials must not do everything by themselves, and only have ministers who respond to their orders."

The official said: "It's not that I don't use Zhang Yue, I just use his absence to do a few proud things!"

Zhang Yue's influence in the court was indeed great. In addition to Cai Jing, Cai Bian, Xu Xi, Lu Shengqing, and Shen Kuo, who all came from Zhang Yue's court, there were also Zhang Yue, Zhang Zhi, Zhang Heng and other relatives as well as Huang Lu, Wen and Fu. , Lu Gongzhu and other in-laws, as well as allies such as Xu Jiang, Zeng Bu, Han Zhongyan and so on.

That's why he had the confidence to disobey himself.

Seeing that the official finally spoke from the bottom of his heart, Empress Dowager Cao said: "As long as the official understands."

When he arrived at the palace, the chamberlain handed him a document.

This document was sent by two people, one was Lu Huiqing and the other was Zhonge.

It turned out that when the officials asked the two of them about the construction of the city on Jingyuan Road, Lu Huiqing and Zhong E unanimously opposed it.

Lu Huiqing believed that Jingyuan Road was the heart of Xixia, and the city must be defeated here. He once again advocated building up troops on Yanyan Road, so that if something happened to Xixia, he could send troops to attack Xia.

Zhonge, on the other hand, advocated taking Hengshan. He believed that by sending troops from Hengshan, even though there was a dry sea blocking them, as long as they occupied the Yinyan Prefecture, they would have a favorable advantage.

At that time, Xixia will cross the Dry Sea to attack the Song Dynasty, instead of the Song Dynasty crossing the Dry Sea to attack Xixia.

The officials asked Wang Gui and Yuan Jiang to discuss the matter.

Wang Gui had been an official for forty years and had been involved in internal and external affairs. He was not very good at military affairs. However, the officials were unwilling to discuss with the Privy Council. Feng Jing and others' attitude was that the officials should not ask, but asking would not do. So the officials had no choice but to discuss with Wang Gui. Gui, Yuan Jiang language.

Wang Gui said: "Your Majesty, Zhang Hong is a virtuous minister. Your Majesty thinks that Zhang Hong is not virtuous because he listened to slander. I am afraid that the virtuous ministers in the government and the public will not be able to advance."

"As the prime minister, I recommended Zhang Hong as a Hanlin scholar three times, but your Majesty recommended him three times and failed to use it three times. This is a dereliction of duty. I implore you to stop recommending him."

The officials were surprised. They didn't expect Wang Gui to attack him first.

I still don’t know why Wang Gui recommended Zhang Hong three times but I didn’t. Do you think I don’t know how much gold and silver Zhang Hong gave to Wang Gui?

During this period of time, the officials used Wang Gui and Yuan Jiang as prime ministers, without Han Jiang and Zhang Yue to control them. All affairs were governed by themselves, whether they were done to their satisfaction or not.

But I didn't expect that Wang Gui would also do this.

Yuan Jiang relied on Wang Gui and said: "Your Majesty, Zhang Hong is indeed a virtuous man, and I think he can be used."

When the official heard this, he knocked out his teeth and swallowed it in his stomach. He said to Wang Gui: "The prime minister is like this. Let me test you. You are so virtuous, so I should not worry about it."

Wang Gui was overjoyed.

When Wang Gui and Yuan Jiang acted like this, the officials were not in the mood to discuss it with them.

The official looked at the map of Shaanxi and thought, without Zhang Yue and the Privy Council, I can still win this battle.

I don't believe it anymore.

…

It's the end of the year.

Zhang Yue complained about his illness at home for more than a month.

There were indeed many important events in the court, and the appointment of Zhang Hong as a Hanlin scholar really made Zhang Yue feel the chill of early spring.
To be continued...