Master Kong Zhongni

Chapter 107 The Way of Being a Minister
As soon as Confucius finished speaking, Zi Gong asked again: "Master, I have doubts."

Confucius said with a smile: "Then say it."

Zi Gong stood up slightly, and asked respectfully, "Just now you said that in order to govern the country, we must select the capable, distinguish the loyal and the evil, and save money, but these alone may not be enough to make the country run properly, right?
Guan Yiwu lives extravagantly, which is not considered economical, but he can still assist Duke Huan to dominate.

When Duke Wen of Jin was in exile, he was about to starve to death without food. Jie Zitui secretly cut off the meat from his thigh to satisfy his hunger.

However, after Wen Gong returned to the country and succeeded to the throne, Hu Yan, Zhao Shuai, Jia Tuo, Xian Zhen, and Wei Ji who followed him in exile all received rewards, but Jie Zitui did not receive rewards.

Jie Zitui asked Feng Shang to live in seclusion in the mountains. Duke Wen wanted to force him to go down the mountain, so he set fire in the mountains, and Jie Zitui was burned to death instead.

Wen Gong's approach can't be called identifying loyalty and traitors, but he can still order the princes.

When Qin Mugong was buried, he ordered as many as a hundred of Qin's virtuous ministers to be buried with him. This is not respect for the virtuous, but he was still able to open up the territory, break through the strong Jin in the east, and dominate the barbarians in the west.

The reason, why is this? "

Confucius heard the words and replied with a smile: "Ci! You don't understand the fundamental way of governing!

How can we only see one side of the country's political affairs and not the other?

Guan Yiwu has the talent of managing the world, so although he lived extravagantly during his lifetime, he made Qi rich and dominated Zhuxia.

But it is precisely because of his extravagant life that he planted the source of disaster for the prevalence of extravagance in Qi, making Huan Gong unable to distinguish loyalty from traitors.

Since his death, villains such as Shu Diao, Yi Ya, Kai Fang, and Chang Zhiwu have been reused by Duke Huan successively.

Shu Diao castrated himself to win Duke Huan's trust.

Yi Ya cooked and killed his own children to make meat soup to please Duke Huan.

As the son of Wei, Kai Fang abandoned his father Wei Yi and his motherland to serve Huan.

Chang Zhiwu used witchcraft to intimidate and induce Duke Huan.

These people formed cronies, colluded with each other, deceived the emperor, and harmed the people.

As a result, Duke Huan died of illness and no one cared about him in the palace. His body was put on the bed for 67 days, stinking and rotten, his torso was covered with corpse insects, and no one restrained him.

As a result, Qi State fell into civil strife, and the five sons fought against each other, making the hegemony left by Duke Huan and Guan Zhong no longer, and Qi State could no longer regain its former power.

However, Jin Wengong did not distinguish between loyal and evil, so Jie Zitui was burned to death on Mianshan.

The people of the state of Jin lamented the fate of Jie Zitui, so they agreed that no fire would be lit for cooking on the day Jie Zitui died, and the Cold Food Festival came from this.

And the officials of the state of Jin also felt sorry for Jie Zitui's death, and no longer dared to use Jie Zitui as a model to educate their children.

So after the death of Jie Zitui, in the court of Jin, fewer and fewer people acted loyally, while more and more people deceived the monarch with evil words.

The decline of the Duke of Jin began with Duke Wen!
As for Qin Mugong, he was able to dominate Xirong, annex twelve countries, and open up thousands of miles of land, precisely because he valued virtuous ministers!
He followed the advice of the young master, and exchanged five pieces of black sheepskins for Bailixi, and Bailixi recommended Uncle Jian to him.

Yu Yu, the envoy of the King of Xirong, came to visit Qin, and Duke Mu treated him with courtesy, so he was assisted by Yu Yu.

Qin Mugong listened to their advice, defeated Jin in the east, and conquered Xirong in the west.

However, after his death, he was buried with these good ministers, so the power of Qin State has also declined since then.

Therefore, what is wrong with governing the country, choosing the worthy and appointing the capable, distinguishing the loyal from the traitor, and saving money? "

After Confucius finished speaking, the students were thinking about the truth in the words, when Zaiyu suddenly stood up again.

"Master, Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, and Duke Mu of Qin all have their own shortcomings in governing the country, so is there a perfect object worth emulating?"

Confucius heard this, stroked his beard and said, "The perfect match is probably only a sage like Yao and Shun?"

Zai Yu frowned and said: "But Yao and Shun's era is too long, and their policy of administration can no longer be verified. Is there anything closer?"

Confucius heard this and said with a smile: "If they are closer, probably only Zheng Guo's Zichan can get a little closer to them."

"Then what is Zichan's method of governing?"

Confucius said, "Zichan's power lies in his magnanimity.

If the policy is lenient, the people will be negligent, and the negligence must be corrected with vigorous policies.

However, if the policy is strong, the people will be harmed, and if the harm is excessive, it is necessary to use lenient policies to appease them.

It is said in "Poetry": The people are also tired, and they can be well-off.Benefit this China and benefit the Quartet.

This is about using generous policies to make the people peaceful and happy.

"Poetry" says: No competition, no money, no rigidity, no softness, good administration, and a hundred careers.

This refers to the prosperous scene of the people living and working in peace and contentment when the leniency and fierceness are reconciled with each other! "

Hearing this, Wu Mashi stood up and asked again: "But, master, don't you often teach us to stick to the way of 'benevolence'?
Since we stick to the way of "benevolence", how can we use tyranny to the people? "

Confucius shook his head and said, "Shi! You have misunderstood me! Vigorous government and tyrannical government are not the same thing!
Zichan used the law as a powerful government to deter treacherous people among the people.

Use benevolence as a lenient government to appease the good people among the people.

If we blindly use violent government, it will only harm the good people.

If we blindly use leniency, those treacherous people will escape punishment.

Before Zichan died, he called Zi Taishu, the next ruling minister of Zheng Guo, to his bedside, and told him the principle of combining leniency and fierceness in government.

However, after Zichan's death, Taishu Zi couldn't bear to punish the people, but just indulged their behavior blindly.

As a result, within a few years, thieves and thieves were rampant in Zheng State, and these people gathered in Fuzhize to harm the country and harm the people.

Uncle Zi Tai could only dispatch troops to attack them and execute all these thieves.

If Uncle Zi had handled political affairs according to Zichan's teachings, he would have only needed to execute a few culprits to reverse the unhealthy atmosphere in the country.

Why wait until they gather together to form a disaster before sending troops to attack?

The original intention of Taishu Zi to use lenient government is out of benevolence and love, and he wants to cherish the people.

However, the result he obtained was that he killed more people because of the use of leniency, which caused the greatest inhumanity.

With the lessons of Zi Taishu in front, how can politicians abandon Zichan's good words and blindly adopt lenient politics to govern the country? "

Speaking of this, Confucius felt a lot of emotion in his heart, thinking of Zichan's death, he couldn't help but shed tears.

He raised his sleeve and wiped the tears from his eyes, and sighed, "When Zichan passed away, all the people of Zheng State were weeping bitterly in the street.

The man took off the jade pendant, the woman took off the earrings, and the old man cried like a helpless child.

They said: Zichan has left us, who can we rely on from now on?

The people of the state of Zheng cried for three full months, and during these three months, the instruments of the state of Zheng stopped playing.

Zichan met the standards of a gentleman in four aspects: he was careful in his words and deeds, he served the monarch respectfully, he was kind to the people in protecting them, and he recruited and used the people fairly and reasonably.

Some people say that he is a heartless person, but I don't believe it.

Zichan is the cornerstone of Zheng Guo's strength, and his benevolence is simply the legacy of the ancient sages!
How could he be unkind?If he is not benevolent, is there anyone in the world worthy of the word 'benevolence'? "

　Voters, legacy lovers.

　　——Excerpt from "Zaiyu's Diary"

　　
　
(End of this chapter)