"The son of heaven is not equal to white clothes" is a classic saying of Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is said that in the 19th year of Jianwu of Guangwu Emperor (AD 43), Liu Xiu's sister, a slave of Hu Yangfei's family, killed people in broad daylight and hid in the master's house in Luoyang, the capital, after committing heinous crimes, so that officials could not arrest him. Later, Princess Populus euphratica went out, accompanied by the murderer. Luo Yang told Dong Xuan to wait in the mansion pavilion, stopped the carriage, loudly criticized the princess's fault, and then executed the slave on the spot according to law.

How did Princess Populus euphratica suffer so much injustice? Go back to Liu Xiu to complain immediately. Liu Xiu was furious and immediately called Dong Xuan, who was also asked to "enforce the law on the spot". Dong Xuan said: "I hope to say a word before I die." Liu Xiu agreed. Dong Xuan said, "Your Majesty restored the Han Dynasty, but he indulged his slaves in killing people. How can he rule the world?" Then he hit the post. Liu Xiu woke up and asked Dong Xuan to apologize to the princess, so that she could find her way down. However, Dong Xuan is also a man of backbone, who would rather die than surrender and bow his head to admit his mistake. In desperation, Liu Xiu had to give up, no longer pursue the matter, and gave Dong Xuan a reward of 300,000 yuan. Princess Huyang was unhappy. She wanted to anger her younger brother: "In the early years, when you were a common people, you harbored fugitives and made officials afraid to come to them;" Since I am an emperor, why can't I be a county magistrate? " Liu Xiu said with a smile: "The son of heaven is not equal to white!" (For details, see Zi Tongzhi Jian, Volume 43)

Liu Xiu's original words, in modern language, smack of "leading cadres can't be confused with ordinary people". Of course, you can't make a mistake. In the same sentence, some people now subconsciously think that leading cadres are smarter and more capable than ordinary people, so they should be professional and should be different from ordinary people in various treatments, otherwise they are demeaning-essentially discriminating against ordinary people. What Liu Xiu meant, according to the situation at that time, was that since he became emperor, he should stress the overall situation and discipline, instead of illegally harboring fugitives and threatening state cadres as ordinary people did in the past. In short, there should be more constraints and responsibilities, and we should not be too arbitrary.