Charming, ready to preach all the way: it should refer to the officials of Tiaodian Prison on Jiangnan East Road (referred to as Tiaodian Jiangdong Prison for short). This position is equivalent to the current provincial judicial supervisor. According to Gong Yanming's "Revision of the Official History of the Song Dynasty", the original text of the Song Dynasty: "Supervising the prison proceedings of his department, making its contribution, ... and criticizing officials", it can be seen that the duty of this official rank is not only to supervise judicial justice, but also to supervise the inspection of integrity.
Lu: The names of administrative divisions in the Northern Song Dynasty are roughly equivalent to the present provinces. Wang Anshi was a scholar of Song Renzong Li Qing in the second year, that is, 104 1. After that, he successively signed books for the official duties of Huainan East Road Our Mission Office (equivalent to staff officer and secretary), and delivered punishments in Yinxian, Zhou Shu, Changzhou, Jiangdong and other places in Mingzhou, among which only the last position was a road-level official position.
Today, I have been called back to Kuiting by grace and appointed as a subordinate: In October of the third year of Song Renzong Jiayou, Renzong appointed Wang Anshi as the judge of the third division. According to Professor Deng Guangming's speculation, Wang Anshi didn't think of taking office in Beijing until the turn of the spring and summer of Jiayou four years (see page 28 of Wang Anshi, a political reformer in the Northern Song Dynasty).
When this matter is reported to your majesty, you should report the situation of the local post.
Dare to make things happen: try to be based on the situation you are exposed to.
Comment arrogantly and boldly.
Choose one: choose the right part.
[Original] I think that your majesty is polite and frugal, intelligent and wise; Sleep all night without a day off; Sound, color, dogs, horses, watching and playing with good things, without cover; The significance of caring for people and loving things is rich in the world; And those who openly choose the will of the world as the auxiliary phase belong to things, not to evil and clever ministers. This is the original intention of the two emperors and three kings, but that's all. It is desirable that the family should give people enough things and the world should be ruled, but the effect will not be like this. If you care about your country, you don't have to worry. If you don't care, you can't be afraid of barbarians. The world's financial resources are getting poorer every day, while customs are getting worse. People with lofty ideals in all directions are often afraid of the long-term unrest in the world. What is the reason? Suffering from ignorance of laws and regulations.
Wang Anshi first made a very necessary compliment to today's emperor, including:
1, having both ability and political integrity; 2. make unremitting efforts; 3, swimming is not good;
4. be thrifty and love the people; 5. Ren Xian and avoidance.
We call this compliment very necessary, because under the premise of autocracy, the speaker does have the primary obligation to protect his own life. This reminds me of Erasmus's praise of Charles V in On the Education of Christian Monarchs: "the wise monarch Charlie", "your kind nature, your honest mind, your talent, and your upbringing under those extremely noble teachers". Such praise creates favorable conditions for the praised person to accept the praised suggestions.
Wang Anshi completed the turning point of the discussion with a sentence "but the effect is not this", and the compliment of retiring immediately became a realistic criticism, and it was very sharp. Including:
1. Internally, the governance of the country is difficult to be optimistic;
2. From the diplomatic point of view, the military prospect is worrying. At that time, the northern border was threatened by Liao; There are challenges from Xixia in the northwest; There is cross-toe occupation in the southwest (see Wei Zusong's interpretation of the living environment of the empire). It is difficult for the Northern Song Dynasty imperial court to win a decisive victory, so it can only take the defensive in diplomacy and military affairs.
The economic situation is embarrassing. It is said that during the period of Song Renzong, 5/6 of the annual fiscal revenue was used for armament and training (see the preface of Song Shenzong and Wang Anshi's Reform), and only 1/6 of the fiscal revenue could be used for government expenditure;
4, the social atmosphere is corrupt;
People with lofty ideals are deeply worried about the future of the country.
From Wang Anshi's words, we can already imagine that the political environment in the Northern Song Dynasty was relatively relaxed. Such sharp criticism can be called "vicious attack" and "deliberate degradation". We should not forget the ending of Peng's tens of thousands of words. In contrast, Wang Anshi's situation is much more comfortable.
So, what caused the "weakness" and "poverty" of the dynasty? Wang Anshi believes that the fundamental problem lies in not paying attention to the rule of law and system construction-for the record, this explanation is temporary and we won't know whether it is appropriate until we read it.
If Wang Anshi's "ignorance of statutes" really means not paying attention to the rule of law and system construction, then Wang Anshi is really brave. Because not paying attention to the rule of law and system construction is a common problem of China's autocratic political system, as it was before and after Wang Anshi. We can even say that this common fault is actually determined by the authoritarian political system itself. Wang Anshi pointed out the disadvantages of this system, which actually shook the foundation of this system to some extent. Of course, Wang Anshi himself didn't know that his views were "revolutionary" or that his ideals would be realized after the Millennium.
Nowadays, the imperial court has strict laws and regulations, and everything is all-encompassing, but what should I do if I can't spend it all? Fang's statutes today are not in line with the political reasons of the former king. Mencius said, "Before Wang Zhidao, it was politically illegal to have benevolence and virtue without adding them to the people." According to Mencius, this is the only reason for the loss of this view.
Wang Anshi went on to write: Now the imperial court has strict laws and regulations, and I, Wang Anshi, said that there is no law (I don't pay attention to the rule of law and system). Why?
Wang Anshi's turning point again should be thinking of the accusations that opponents are most likely to make. Wang Anshi's intention in this passage is to set up his own banner of administrative reform by countering this accusation: Wang Zhidao before French. He said: I said there were no statutes because most of them did not conform to the ruling philosophy of the former king.
Wang Anshi quoted Mencius' remarks from the sentence of Mencius. The original text should be: "stay away from Lou Zhiming and lose your son. This is cleverness. If you don't follow the rules, you can't be a party; Shi Kuang's cleverness is not based on six laws, let alone five tones; Yao and Shun are not benevolent and cannot govern the world. Today, those who are kind-hearted but the people are not affected by it and cannot be punished by law cannot go to Wang Zhidao first. Therefore, it is not enough for politics to have good deeds, and the law itself cannot do it. " Although there are differences in words and sentences, Wang Anshi has no mistakes in semantic understanding and evidence.
Today, those who have a kind heart and a kind reputation cannot be punished by it or by law. It means that some governors have the desire or reputation of benevolent governance, but their people have not benefited, and their behavior cannot be an example for future generations. This is because they did not carry out the principle of the former king's rule.
Using Mencius' viewpoint to analyze the politics of later generations is, of course, "Wang Zhidao can't be the first", which is defined by Wang Anshi as "ignorance of statutes". So, is this view of Mencius correct? I don't think it's logical.
Li Lou's eyesight is very good, and his skill is as high as that of public transport, but they can't draw Fiona Fang without compasses and rulers. Shi Kuang's hearing is very good, but without the six tones pronounced by the school, he can't adjust his pitch. From these examples, we can see that you have desire, ability, need to use tools and need to respect objective laws, and then you can fulfill your ability and realize your wishes. But then Mencius' reasoning went wrong, because the way of Yao and Shun, benevolent governance and the rule of the world are actually the same thing, but they are just different. These are all wishes, but the question is where are the tools? Is benevolent government a tool? Of course, it is not a tool, because this "benevolence" cannot be measured and standardized, so it cannot be actually operated.
So we need to find tools for benevolent governance, such as legal construction. Then, Mencius' words can be changed to: "The rule of Yao and Shun cannot be cured. There is benevolence today, but the people are not affected by it and cannot be punished by law. Therefore, doing good is not enough for politics, and doing good is not enough for benevolence. " In other words, administration and legal construction are complementary and indispensable. Mencius' reasoning conclusion is just the opposite: disciples can't go their own way. Although it is not enough to have laws, the practical effect of this concept is that we have always ignored the role and construction of laws.
The truth that "there are benevolent people today who are not treated by them, and future generations cannot be punished" is actually very simple: just talk and don't do it. Benevolence is just a tool for princes to dress themselves up, so where do ordinary people benefit from it? Then didn't Mencius know such a simple truth? I think Mencius knew it, but he couldn't say it. Mencius acted like an adult coaxing a child: eat quickly. Look, my sister is almost finished over there. If you pass her, you will be the champion! Confucian wishful thinking is to raise three emperors and five emperors, and then coax those princes: you see, these ancient saints have been praised so far. Do you want to be such saints? Yes, let's advocate benevolent governance.
So, does Wang Anshi know Mencius' ulterior secret? I think Wang Anshi also knows. Only compared with Mencius, Wang Anshi's political environment has not fundamentally changed-or worse: Mencius can still travel around the world, but Wang Anshi can absolutely only serve one emperor-so Wang Anshi can only adopt Mencius' old method: coaxing children. This is the sorrow of Wang Anshi, and what is even sadder is that our descendants can't understand the sorrow of Meng and Wang.
[Original] In this world, the husband went to the former Wang Shijie far away, and the changes and situations encountered were different. However, stupid as he is, he still knows it is difficult. However, I believe that today's loss is due to the illegal administration of the former king, when the law says it. Husband, two emperors and three kings have been covered for thousands of years, and their ups and downs have been gone. The changes and situations they encounter are different, and the implementation methods are different. But also the meaning of the country in the world, there is no difference between beginning and end. Therefore, I say this is only a legal issue. I went my own way, and if I changed it, I changed it. I was not afraid of shocking the eyes and ears of the world and quarreling with the world, but it was already in line with the administration of the former king.
Wang Anshi continued to write, while continuing to turn, as follows: Now it is too far away from the previous dynasty, and the changes and development are very different. Even the most stupid person knows that it is impossible to restore the politics of the former king. What I'm talking about now is politics without wang qian's taking the law, which means wang qian's intention and principle of taking the law.
Thanks to Wang Anshi's frankness! He seemed eager to provide evidence for my above speculation, and soon explained that the so-called rule of the king before the law was just the meaning of the law. And I guess again here: the meaning of the so-called former king of France is actually the name of the former king. Why do you say that? Because no one can say clearly what the former king means, and there is no way to verify and prove it, then "the meaning of the former king of France" is actually a slogan and a flag.
Wang Anshi said: From Yaoshun to Yu Xia, Shang Tang and Zhou Wenwang, it lasted more than a thousand years, and the chaos was controlled alternately, and the ups and downs alternated. The national conditions are very complicated, and the ruling measures vary from time to time. However, there is no difference in the priorities and sequence of their principles and measures for governing the country, so I say we should follow their principles and intentions. As long as they are based on their principles and intentions, the reforms and changes to be carried out now will not upset the country and panic the people, because these reforms follow the principles and intentions of the former king.
Wang Anshi proved my guess right again. Under the banner of "the will of the king before the law", the reform will be relatively smooth, and opposition and criticism will be minimized. Wang Anshi fully estimated the reform he was going to carry out, the social reaction it would trigger, and the resistance and struggle it would encounter. Therefore, Wang Anshi's words here can be described as killing two birds with one stone: First, set up the banner of "the meaning of the French king" to escort his own great cause of reform; Second, win the support of the highest decision-making level, so that "the meaning before the law" becomes "the meaning of respecting the present", and the great cause of reform will be smooth and unimpeded.
Although, in the present situation, your majesty wants to change things and the world, which is in line with the wishes of the former king, but it is doomed to be impossible. Your majesty is polite and thrifty, intelligent and talented, and has the intention of caring for people and caring for things. If you really mean it, why not? Why not? However, what I care about is that although your majesty wants to change things and change the world, it is impossible to conform to the wishes of the former king. Why not? Israel is short of talents now, and so is it.
Wang Anshi found a banner for the political reform: the significance of law before the monarch. However, he believes that even so, the reform is still difficult to succeed. Why? Because he thinks there is a shortage of talents.
Wang Anshi once again complimented Song Renzong's virtue to show that the failure of political reform is not the responsibility of the top decision makers; Whether there is a problem with the political system itself, Wang Anshi did not mention it; So, who should be responsible for the failure of the reform? There aren't enough freaks. The so-called talents here refer to people with both ability and political integrity. In short, there are not enough gentlemen and saints.
Wang Anshi attributed the failure of reform to the lack of talents. I think there are two reasons:
First, we must find a realistic reason to be responsible for the failure of the reform, otherwise we can't explain it to history.
Secondly, Wang Anshi's thinking logic does not go beyond the category of Confucian benevolence, righteousness and morality, and still thinks that gentlemen are the guarantee of social progress and villains are the fetters that hinder reform.
Is Wang Anshi's statement that "Israel is short of talents today" correct? I think it is right or wrong.
The appropriate place is: 1, and professionals who know the economy and can manage the state finances are extremely scarce; 2. Although they don't understand the economy, there are very few talents who are capable, talented and support the reform.
What is wrong is that Wang Anshi can't understand: 1, compared with the actual demand, the supply of talents is always scarce; 2. People who do not benefit the country but only benefit themselves are also talents; 3. Improve the judiciary, establish a market system, and rely on the market to train talents.
I tried to spy on people in power in the world, and there were many of them at this time. If a lady lacks talent, there will be people who are hidden at the bottom and unknown at that time. I also inquired in the grass and fields, but I didn't see much. Is it not right to be uncultured?
If I think there is a shortage of talents in Fang's current position, I can tell him that I can make things happen with my ministers. Today, thousands of miles away, there are very few people who can implement the court decrees and know the priorities. There are people who can do their jobs, and there are countless people who are insatiable. It is often unique between Gaihe counties to tell the meaning of the former king who was in line with the changes at that time. Every time the court orders, although its intention is good, the incumbent still can't execute it, so that the paste is added to the people; And officials need to be traitors to disturb the people. So the minister said: there are not enough official talents, and there are not many huts and hutongs.
Madam is not satisfied, so although your majesty wants to change things to comply with the wishes of the former king, although I want to be your majesty, Kyushu is as big as the world, which can be called your majesty's finger. Does everyone get one or two? So, I said, it will definitely fail. Mencius said, "You can't respect the law alone". Is that what you mean?
However, what is urgently needed now is talents. Sincerity can achieve many talents in the world, and then only those in power can choose their own people and get enough. The incumbent gets his talents, and then observes the situation a little, but because of the suffering of human feelings, it is necessary to have the will of the king first and change the evil laws of the world easily. Today's world is also the world of my late king. When the king was first, people tasted the crowd. Why isn't today enough? Therefore, the practitioner is not the Tao.
Wang Anshi said: I have tried to examine the talents in official positions, and I have never been so short. Since there are very few people who have held official positions, there should be many people who oppose it. However, I have visited the people, and the talents in the field are also very scarce. Maybe education is illegal, so talents are so scarce?
I have analyzed the definition of talents implied in Wang Anshi's exposition, namely: 1, having both ability and political integrity; 2, understand the economy or regulations; 3. Support political reform. Those who have these three things are talents, and those who don't have these three things are not talents. Otherwise, I can also say: the shortage of talents is more serious now than in Wang Anshi's time-do we have Wang Anshi? Do you have Sima Guang? Are there Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhongyan and Su Shi?
So Wang Anshi spoke very seriously, but we can't forget that it was an era of bright stars. This bright star is closely related to the political enlightenment in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Wang Anshi then took his own experience as an example: within thousands of miles under the jurisdiction of "Lu", there were very few officials who could implement court decrees and clarify policy priorities, thus promoting the people to live and work in peace and contentment; On the contrary, there are countless officials who are incompetent, sloppy, greedy and immoral. Officials who can adhere to the former king's ruling philosophy and combine with today's reality are almost extinct. Although the decrees promulgated by the imperial court were well-intentioned, the officials did not implement them and the people could not get the benefits they deserved. Grassroots officials, on the other hand, use these laws to deceive people and harm the people.
After reading Wang Anshi's words, how can you not be emotional? We have been away from Song Renzong for nearly a thousand years now, but the political situation has not changed much. We often say that the central government's policies are good, but local implementation has deteriorated. There is another saying: the top floor is good, the bottom floor is good, and the problem lies in the middle floor. Are these statements correct?
Wang Anshi discussed the fact that most officials were unqualified. So what's the problem? Of course, it is on the inspection system for the appointment and removal of officials. Therefore, to change this situation, we must first change the appointment and inspection system of officials. We have always been the emperor's visit to the central government and the central government's visit to places, while the people are only controlled and oppressed; Has it ever occurred to anyone that ordinary people can inspect local governments?
Our political thinking on Han Fei's law has actually ended. The so-called "things are everywhere, and they must be in the central government; Sages insist that all directions will make the trip "(see" everything is done wrong "article 8). This basic concept of centralization has not changed for thousands of years, and there has never been an idea of "decentralization", and there is no plan to decentralize to the bottom people. I didn't know that power and responsibility were so unequal in this system. The appointment, removal and inspection rights of officials are superior, but the direct result of official dereliction of duty and mistakes is borne by the following people. However, who will appeal for the basic rights of the people at the bottom?
Wang Anshi went on to say: even if the central government has the ability to help your majesty carry out reforms, how can the people benefit from its vast territory and large population? Therefore, Mencius said that "the law cannot be done for it", which means that the implementation of the law still needs a lot of talents, otherwise the law is empty.
This sentence by Wang Anshi is also the idea of many of us now. They believe that although the legal system is good, it needs to be promoted by virtuous people and implemented by talents with both ability and political integrity, otherwise the legal system can only fail.
Why do people think so? I think this is because people don't understand the origin of law. According to the traditional concept of our country, the source of law is statute law (constitution and other laws), administrative regulations (policies and documents), local regulations, departmental or industrial regulations, international treaties and practices. In other words, the documents issued by the administrative department are also mandatory legal texts, so the legislative power is scattered and the law enforcement power is scattered. Therefore, so many people who have the power of legislation and law enforcement should, of course, have both ability and political integrity. However, our sorrow lies in the fact that the opposite is true.
So what should we do? Are you waiting for a large number of gentlemen with both ability and integrity to appear? Or promote the improvement of legislation and law enforcement mechanisms? From Wang Anshi's article, we can find the answer: once in a thousand years, we can't wait for the mass production of that gentleman and saint! So, what if there is no talent? We need to cultivate ourselves into talents (please note: we don't "regard" ourselves as talents! What if the legislation and law enforcement mechanisms are not perfect? We promote their perfection through study, observation and discussion.
Mencius said that "the law cannot be self-imposed", and only the law cannot be self-imposed, which is quite right. So how to solve it? It should be solved by legislation. If legislation is made by the highest decision-making level or by the central government, then of course this law cannot be made by itself, because this kind of law only reflects the intention of legislators, not the interests of law-abiding people. Legislation needs to reflect the interests of all law-abiding people, so as to achieve no order. Of course, the forces of legislation and law enforcement need to be separated, so as to ensure the justice of legislation and law enforcement.
Wang Anshi concluded: The most urgent thing now is the shortage of talents. If there are enough talents, then there is a choice in appointing officials. When the officials go all out and the time is ripe for reform, it will be easier to reform the old law with drawbacks according to the situation reflected by the people and gradually approach the former king's ruling philosophy. The present world is the same as the previous king. There were many talents in the former king's time. Why are there so few now? Therefore, I said: this is an illegal education.
This view of Wang Anshi is indeed beyond the times. Wang Anshi believes that it is impossible to recruit practical talents who understand the economy and have experience according to the method of selecting scholars in imperial examinations and poems at that time. We know that the imperial examination system was officially abolished in the late Qing Dynasty, which shows that the relationship between autocratic imperial power and imperial examination is as close as lips and teeth. However, Wang Anshi saw that the imperial examination of selecting scholars by poetry and fu actually hindered the highest authorities from absorbing real talents to serve themselves, which could not but show Wang Anshi's calmness and courage beyond the times.
Although the reform of education mode and imperial examination system can't change the essence of autocratic imperial power, abandoning the dogma of traditional theory and advocating the practice of helping the people through the world will change intellectuals' attitude towards economic affairs, thus changing their narrow understanding of credit, contract, rules and rights. What a great change this will be, and it will also greatly promote social progress. In other words: the driving force of society comes not from morality and theory, but from market and contract.
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