"In the case of Pei's son Yuan, we should use this matter to verify both his virtue and ability. Whether he has fulfilled his duties and whether his virtue has fulfilled the emperor's kindness, if there is no hindrance, he should leave it alone. If there is any shortcoming, he should speak up.

So, don’t let others use it as an example!”

Sima Yi's remarks seem to sound better than Wei Duan's.

In other words, it goes further than what Wei Duan said.

Probably because Sima Yi was not Pei Yuan's direct superior, he would not shy away from talking about such things.

So was what Sima Yi said completely from Fei Qian’s standpoint?

Obviously, it's not.

After all, the position of Sima Yi's buttocks is different from that of Fei Qian, so after putting aside those things on Sima Yi's surface, what is exposed is also remarkable.

Wei Duan was from Chang'an, and he was older. No one else would think there was any problem when he became the dean of the Council of Laws. However, Sima Yi was different from Wei Duan. Sima Yi was younger, at least better than many people who claimed to be "learned".

Everyone who is a scholar must be young, and in many cases, being young is a sin.

Fei Qian asked Sima Yi to serve as Minister of Dali Temple. Although there is no so-called "three ministers and nine ministers" under Fei Qian, and there is no such hierarchy, but if this position is recognized according to the common practice before the Han Dynasty, it will also It is almost the same as Jiuqing, and the Sima family is not a Guanzhong surname, and it is not a prominent family in the Han Dynasty.

Sima Wenxian really became famous only after all the members of Sima Yi's family became officials in history.

Nowadays, the name of the next Sima Hui and Mr. Shui Jing is not enough to support his position. Naturally, Sima Yi is currently facing a lot of criticism. He smiles in front of him and stabs his back a lot.

So Sima Yi’s suggestion is simply to check!

Not only Pei Yuan must be investigated, but other officials must also be investigated!

Moreover, Fei Qian felt that Sima Yi's suggestion even had a deeper meaning, but Fei Qian could not fully think of it at the moment.

In comparison, although Wei Duan is older than Sima Yi, the extra salt he eats is not that important!

hehe……

Fei Qian smiled slightly.

Therefore, it is simply nonsense for officials to rely on so-called moral character to regulate their behavior. The "rituals" Fei Qian mentioned before are all false unless they are implemented in practice.

Benevolence, justice, etiquette, wisdom and trust are the "Five Constants" of Confucianism. Confucius proposed "benevolence, righteousness, propriety", Mencius extended it to "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom", Dong Zhongshu expanded it to "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trust", expressing these five Xiang is the most basic standard of daily behavior for all Confucian students and gentry disciples who study scriptures. It means that "impermanence" is the minimum moral code for life advocated by Confucianism.

But it is a pity that this so-called "most basic" and "minimum" moral code...

Confucian disciples, those who study the scriptures, keep making "Five Constant Changes" their motto. When students become officials, they often follow their butt instead of their head.

It would be interesting if this kind of problem became "normal", even a "normal" recognized by the ruling class.

Everyone knows that a person's head cannot grow on his butt, but when it comes to those whose heads are determined by their butts, who control the mouth of the court, who are usually sanctimonious officials who actually follow their butts, what they do is often... It will make people sigh...

Fei Qian feels that if the moral level of the entire society is not high enough, appealing to interests is better than appealing to morality.

But sometimes, talking about interests may not necessarily have good results.

The Song Dynasty was the most typical example of "sharing the world with the scholar-bureaucrats". Even the emperor said so himself and did so. The royal family really shared benefits with the officials and scholar-bureaucrats. Therefore, to a certain extent, the scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty maintained the Song Dynasty. To rule is actually to safeguard their own interests.

Regardless of whether the political system of the Song Dynasty was good or not, when the Song Dynasty fell, not everyone recognized this "common interest". For the 328 Jinshi of Song Lizong and Song Duzong who entered the Yuan Dynasty, Statistics on their subsequent whereabouts show that since the outbreak of the Song-Mongolian War, 71 people were martyred, accounting for 21.65%; 174 people went into hiding in the Yuan Dynasty, accounting for 53.05%; 83 people surrendered or served as officials in the Yuan Dynasty, accounting for 25.3%.

It shows that even if they preach all day long, they have indeed achieved a community of interests, but the actual effect is still average. In fact, the number of scholar-officials in the Song Dynasty who were willing to stand up and resist was not more than a quarter, and even most of them chose to hang high.

, indicating that it has nothing to do with something.

By the Ming Dynasty, things were even worse.

The Ming Dynasty tried its best to return power to the royal vassals. The requirements for officials were very high from the beginning, and the punishment system for corrupt officials was also very severe. Morality, especially the character of officials, was respected by everyone in the court.

Officials are required to be self-denial, serve their duties and be willing to live in poverty when their salaries are very low.

But what about the effect?

If you think about it, you will know that how could such a requirement of the Ming Dynasty be achieved under the social background of that time?

Improperly setting moral standards at a level that most people cannot reach will only lead to hypocrites everywhere and will actually lower the actual moral level.

If a society promotes altruism and practices altruism, it is the best society.

When the entire society has a high moral level, everyone is for oneself, and I am for everyone, the ultimate society advocated by Big Beard is probably like this. This kind of society is also the advanced model pursued by human beings.

When the moral level is not enough, then if what is promoted is egoism and what is practiced is egoism, everyone knows that everyone in society is egoist, so a complete restriction mechanism must be established to achieve social cooperation and establish strict power checks and balances and monitoring

The mechanism is complete, always on guard, and everyone is treated as the worst villain to guard against. To a certain extent, such a society, as long as the laws are well maintained, the operation will not be too bad.

The most troublesome social model is one that promotes altruism but practices egoism. This results in the entire society being filled with sophisticated egoistic hypocrites, especially at the official level, which is even more troublesome. Social monitoring and checks and balances

The mechanism has not yet been established, morality is on the lips, and conscience is only on the surface. The result is that as Li Zhi said, "Yang is Taoism, Yin is wealth, the clothes are elegant, and the behavior is like a dog." Officials in the Ming Dynasty were generally like this

.

It’s not that the officials in the Song Dynasty were better than those in the Ming Dynasty, or that the officials in the Ming Dynasty were all rubbish, but looking at the two types of hypocrites and true villains, most people may be willing to accept the true villain.

And hate hypocrites.

So for Fei Qian now, when facing things like Pei Yuan, who should he listen to? What should he do next?

The key is which direction does Feiqian need to point?

Is he a gentleman?
Chapter completed!