In his later years of Zhenguan, when summing up his experience in employing people, Emperor Taizong once said The so-called destruction of the public is not necessarily all evil. If you know that you can't lift it, it will be a loss of material; Knowing the evil is the beginning of the disaster, and the talents are long and short, so it is not necessary to know both. It is because the public is superior to the old of a big country, and the good children are the phase of a small country. When the princes are dull, they will be the ancestors of the Liu family, and the misers will not be allowed to take advantage of the forest. Then, for the sake of beauty, they must first know people, but it is not so easy to really know people, as Emperor Taizong said. The so-called destruction of many people may not be all evil
It is not necessary to deal with these two problems properly. One must have dialectical thinking. One must not be opinionated, and one may have oversight. The other is that one person may have one-sided words. This is exactly what Emperor Taizong did, so his comments on assisting ministers are all inappropriate and pertinent. In his evaluation of Changsun Wuji, his advantage is that he is good at avoiding suspicion and responding quickly, while his disadvantage is that the general commanders attack the war, and the non-director also < P > comments on Gao Shilian. His advantage is that he dabbles in ancient and modern times, has a keen understanding of the mind, does not change his mind when he is in trouble, and has no cronies, but what he lacks is bone, rules and advice. Emperor Taizong also emphasized knowledge in the process of use. He said: knowing that you can't lift it is a loss of material; If you don't know evil, it's the beginning of a disaster.
If you have talent, you should use it. After using it, if you find bad deeds, you must retreat. Whether a person is a true sage or a false sage, a complete sage or a partial sage, you can only know exactly after using it. In this regard, Wei Zhi emphasized that it is difficult to know people since ancient times, so it is difficult to evaluate their merits and demerits
It is more difficult to know people, but it is more difficult to choose people, and it is difficult to be good at their duties. In order to make everyone in his place, he must master the truth that it is not necessary to know both strengths and weaknesses.
At the beginning of Emperor Taizong's accession to the throne, Feng Deyi recommended talents, but it was very difficult. Emperor Taizong retorted: Gentlemen use people like utensils, each taking its own advantages. In ancient times, when the country achieved great governance, did they borrow talents from other times? You should blame yourself for not being able to identify talents. How can you slander your contemporaries?
In the twenty-first year of Zhenguan, he once again stressed: people can't be omniscient and omnipotent, and I often emphasize the need to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses.
In the process of employing people, Emperor Taizong followed the policy of fostering strengths and avoiding weaknesses, which is evidenced by his appointment of Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Dai Zhou and others. Fang and Du's shortcomings are that they are not good at managing prisons and handling chores, and their strengths are resourceful and decisive. Emperor Taizong makes full use of their strengths and avoids weaknesses. Xuanling, a historian, never blames others with his own strengths. He always hires or rewards people according to their talents or merits. He is called a virtuous prime minister by Emperor Taizong, and Du Ruhui plays his strong points of cutting off the flow, and cooperates with Fang Xuanling tacitly. The scale of the central organization, laws and regulations, etiquette, etc. are all formulated by the two of them, which won the praise of people at that time. Dai Zhou's shortcoming is that he is not academic and has no general history. Emperor Taizong refused to let him take the post of scholar in the library. According to his merits of loyalty and impartiality, he was once appointed as Dali Shaoxi. Dai Zhou's skillful handling of life, no detention of the case, daring to violate the law and enforce the law, can save Taizong's sentencing mistakes, and make Taizong send out a praise
After Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, everything needs to be done. In order to overcome all kinds of difficulties and rule the world, a large number of talents need to be selected and used. However, in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the literati went through too many things. It has been very common for the monarch to select the gentry landlords since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and even formed a situation in which the gentry monopolized the political power, which became a major malpractice to imprison talent exploration. Emperor Taizong tried his best to save the loss of employing people in the previous dynasty, and he took the policy of putting scholars and ordinary people at the same time. As early as in the Francisco government, he paid attention to finding talented commoners landlords such as Fang Xuanling, Sean and Hou Junji. At the same time, they also trusted Gao Shilian, Changsun Wuji, Du Ruhui and others. After he acceded to the throne, the conditions of Luo Zhi's ordinary landlords were even better. Wang _, Wei Ting, Wei Zhi and Ma Zhou were outstanding representatives among them. He also expanded the imperial examination system, allowing more talented commoners landlords to enter the official career, while not excluding the use of talented gentry landlords, including Shandong gentry landlords
2. In April of the third year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong wrote a letter saying: Within the white house, there are people who are awkward, but they have military and cultural talents, so it is desirable to burn them; Or be faithful in words and deeds, and be reasonable in current affairs, but also record the name and apply with the official.
The selection of Ma Zhou is a typical example. Ma Zhou was originally a Shandong cloth. When teaching in the state, he was repeatedly reprimanded by local officials, so that he had to resign; Traveling in the state, and being insulted by the county magistrate on the way; Living in a post house, the person in charge of the post house saw that he was in rags and looked down on him, leaving him in the cold. It was such a man of humble origin that Emperor Taizong made him a big official. It was the third year of Zhenguan, and Emperor Taizong issued a letter to let officials discuss state affairs and make suggestions. At this time, Ma Zhou happened to be a guest at Chang He's house, a corps commander. Chang He was a military commander. He didn't read a book and couldn't make any suggestions. Ma Zhou wrote twenty suggestions for him. Emperor Taizong felt very strange when he read Chang He's memorial! How can you write the memorial so well and make such clear suggestions when you don't know much about literacy? He asked Chang He what was going on. Chang He had to truthfully say that his friend Ma Zhou wrote it for him. After listening to it, Emperor Taizong was very happy and immediately summoned Ma Zhou. Ma Zhou didn't arrive at the moment, and Tang Taizong fidgeted for four times. After talking with Ma Zhou, he found that he really had the talent to govern the country, and he was even more happy. He was appointed to supervise the empire, and later appointed him to be the official in charge of major government affairs. Emperor Taizong's criterion for employing people is talent. As long as talents are old or new, they are treated equally. He trusted some of the confidants of the former Qin Palace, such as Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji and Gao Shilian, and he also reused the men of insight in the hands of the hidden prince Li Jiancheng, that is, the so-called old enmity. Take Wei Zhi as an example: Wei Zhi was lonely and poor when he was young, and became a monk, and joined the Wagang at the end of Sui Dynasty. After Dou Jiande's failure, he entered the Tang Dynasty to wash the horse for the prince, and once offered a secret strategy to get rid of the king of Qin. After the change of Xuanwu Gate, Wei Zhi became a prisoner. Emperor Taizong admired his outstanding talent, regardless of personal grievances, and set out from the overall situation of governing the country. Instead, he became more and more close, and repeatedly let Wei Zhi enter the bedroom, asking about political gains and losses, giving advice to doctors at the beginning, and then serving as a servant. In less than seven years, Wei Zhi didn't live up to Taizong's high hopes, and frequently added loyalty and admonition to persuade him to do good and not to do wrong, so as to maximize his talent in governing the country. Emperor Taizong said: Wei Zhi always admonishes and corrects things, and many things touch my fault. Just as a clear mirror looks at my body, beauty and ugliness are bound to be obvious.
Emperor Taizong also attaches importance to relatives and friends, and the mediocre and incompetent don't have to. He often said: the monarch must be selfless in order to convince the world, and officials, big or small, should choose talents. The size of an official position should not be determined by the distance of the relationship and the depth of qualifications.
Li Shentong, the uncle of Emperor Taizong of Huai 'an, was unconvinced by Fang Xuanling, Changsun Wuji and Du Ruhui, who were rated as the first class. He said to Emperor Taizong: When Taiyuan started to fight, I was the first to respond, and I went through fire and water and took pains. Fang and Du are just wordy, and they have never taken the lead, but their contributions are greater than mine and their official positions are higher than mine. This is really unfair! After listening to this, Emperor Taizong laid out one by one the fact that Li Shentong was defeated by Dou Jiande, wiped out by the whole army, and later lost to Liu Heita, and fled hastily, saying: My uncle is a close relative of the country, how can I not trust him? However, governing the country can't waste the public with private! Such a pendulum, Li Shentong had to defy spirit. There are also some generals who were originally the old subordinates of Emperor Taizong when he was the king of Qin in his early years. When Emperor Taizong became emperor, they were not promoted, and they were very dissatisfied. They said noisily, "We people have been fighting for years, but today we are not as good as Li Jiancheng's people!"! Tang Taizong said: in selecting talents, we can't distinguish between the old and the new, one after the other. Newcomers are wise and old people are stupid. I can only use new people, not old people. You complain because you don't think about your country.