Chapter 113 You are all lawbreakers (Third update, thank you to the leader of '0 Not for Sale 0')
What?
The disaster of redundant...redundant officials?
There was silence in the hall.
In fact, the disaster of redundant officials has been mentioned constantly since the Renzong Dynasty, and no one dares to say that redundant officials are not a disaster.
This is a consensus.
Everyone knows its disadvantages, but precisely these disadvantages are the core interests of officials.
And officials control the decision-making power, so in terms of human nature, no one wants to get stabbed at themselves.
This is why everyone knows about the disaster of three redundancies, but is still unable to solve it.
However, no one has ever dared to blame Taizu Taizong for this disaster of redundant officials.
Saying this is tantamount to asking for death!
At this moment, even Fu Bi, Han Qi and others had to admire Zhang Fei's courage.
Even Wang Anshi, who shouted "the ancestors are not worthy of the law", is also ashamed of himself.
Everyone is stupid.
You've gone too far!
Liu Shu really didn't expect that Zhang Fei would dare to bump into it. He was stunned for a long time before he realized what he was doing and asked excitedly: "According to your words, the disaster of redundant officials is all due to the actions of Taizu Taizong."
Bad government?"
This time Zhang Fei didn't need to read it, Xu Zhiqian had already placed the article in front of Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei opened it and read it.
The officials sitting here felt inexplicably panicked when they saw Zhang Fei's article.
They originally thought they were well prepared, but little did they know that they were still dwarfed by Zhang Fei.
There's no comparison at all.
They asked them casually, and Zhang Fei could find the answer from the essay he had prepared.
How well prepared this is.
This is even suspected of cheating.
Zhang Fei looked at it for a while and then raised his head, "The source of this bad government lies with Taizu Taizong, but it cannot be blamed on Taizu Taizong. Instead, it should be blamed on future generations who are unworthy and violate the laws of their ancestors...
.!”
Having said this, he glanced at the article again before confirming: "As a result."
Liu Shu was puzzled by what he heard and snorted: "What you said is obviously self-contradictory?"
He could say such nonsense, obviously he was panicking.
"No contradiction at all."
Zhang Fei asked: "Can you please be clear about the number of officials during Taizu and Taizong's time and the number of officials today? If not, I have the specific numbers here."
Liu Shu hurriedly said: "Don't make any more fuss, we all know this."
This issue has been debated so many times that they can recite the number of officials in each dynasty.
"That couldn't be better."
Zhang Fei read the article and said: "In the Taizong Zhenzong dynasty, the number of officials was about 8,000, while in our dynasty it was 24,000, which tripled the number. The gap between them was almost fifty years. This is very scary.
increase."
Liu Shu interrupted him and said, "Stop rambling here. I want to ask you now, is the disaster of redundant officials caused by Taizu Taizong?"
"Please be patient, Mr. Liu, and I will explain this clearly."
Zhang Fei said, and then said to Xu Zhiqian: "Send them the text with the section number."
Xu Zhiqian was stunned, "So this article is used here?"
Zhang Fei nodded.
Still want to send it?
Many of the jurors were depressed. This fight was not fun at all!
Zhao Xu outside the door was already sweating profusely. He needed to take a breath. For him, the emperor, this lawsuit was getting more and more serious.
If he is like this, let alone Sima Guang and Wang Anshi.
At present, no one knows the direction of this lawsuit.
Because this has begun to launch a debate against Taizu Taizong.
In the feudal era, this was actually very fatal.
After getting the article, they started reading it immediately.
Just looking at it I got lost in the lake!
"The Tang Dynasty's Jiedu Envoy?"
Zhao Xu looked at Liu Zhao in confusion.
Liu Zhao also shook his head.
Liu Shu was also confused and asked directly: "Why are you involved in the Tang Dynasty Jiedushi again?"
He thought Zhang Fei was deliberately avoiding the fatal problem, but he obviously would not let Zhang Fei succeed. He could not escape that problem even to death.
Zhang Fei explained: "This article is about the origin and decline of the Jieduzhi system in the Tang Dynasty. Although everyone knows the harm that Jieduzhi did to the country. But everyone must not forget that in the initial stage of the Jieduzhi system,
It once helped the Tang Dynasty expand its territory and resist powerful foreign enemies.
It was precisely because of the benefits brought by this system that the Tang Dynasty continued to delegate power to Jiedushi, leading to the Anshi Rebellion.
We cannot put aside the efficacy of drugs and talk about toxicity. This will make it impossible for me to understand the essence of the matter.
What is the essence? There is an old saying: when the sun is at its midpoint, it will be wilted, and when the moon is waxing, it will be eclipsed. It can be seen that once any matter goes to extremes, it will inevitably backfire on itself. Just like rice, rice can satisfy hunger and has many benefits for people, but if you eat one a day
Even if you eat a hundred bowls, you will die, but can you say that the rice is poisonous? This is the essence of bad government, and the Jiedushi system itself is not bad government."
Zhao Xu nodded when he heard this: "That's it!"
Fu Bi said with admiration: "You are really better than the old!"
Don’t you like to play with allusions? Today I will play with you to the end. Zhang Fei said again: "Taizong divided the powers and prevented the separatism of feudal towns. This fully reflects the core idea of ancestral law, which is the policy of preventing fraud.
.At that time, the disaster of redundant officials did not occur. Taizu Taizong's arrangement was very appropriate.
Why did it evolve into the current disaster of redundant officials? The reason is just like Lu Zhongcheng and others misquoted the ancestral law.
They mistakenly believed that the ancestral laws were not unique. They cited the policies of Taizu and Taizong as the ancestral laws. This led to the new emperor coming to the throne, and being advised by ministers, he further promoted the wrong ancestral laws, so he continued
The division of power leads to the growth of officials, which is like a sow giving birth to piglets and constantly reproducing, thus leading to today's disaster of redundant officials."
"Wonderful!"
Zhao Xu exclaimed excitedly, but immediately stopped his voice. He glanced inside with a guilty conscience, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that no one cared.
This suddenly returns to the essence of the problem, the uniqueness of the ancestral law.
This example is enough to adjust the ancestral law.
Wang Anshi muttered: "He is referring to horses as pigs!"
Sima Guang snorted: "He is clearly turning a stone into a pig."
Liu Shu's face was ashen, and he was not as arrogant as before.
Zhang Fei continued: "Let's go back to the true ancestral law, which is to prevent and control everything. We must formulate a comprehensive and perfect system to prevent possible hidden dangers.
It can be seen that what Taizu and Taizong were guarding against was not the Jiedushi system, but the Jieduzhi system that would become the cause of bad governance. Policies must be formulated carefully, tortuously, and to know when to stop."
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
As he spoke, Zhang Fei suddenly held up a picture and said, "Everyone, please take a look. This is the picture of the annual changes in the number of officials in our dynasty."
It's a diagonal line with a very large angle.
As he said that, he picked up another piece of paper, and it was written on it, "Prevent things from happening, and make mistakes from time to time."
"Do you think this picture matches these eight characters?" Zhang Fei asked, looking at the officials.
Awkward!
How embarrassing it would be to match these eight words with this picture! How embarrassing!
"There are no twists and turns at all, no thoroughness at all, and no restrictions. Anyway, it just keeps going up."
With that said, Zhang Fei put down the two pieces of paper, looked at the text again, paused, and continued reading: "If you think that the disaster of redundant officials is not a bad policy set by Taizu Taizong, then you must admit that the ancestors
The uniqueness of the law. Otherwise, the disaster of redundant officials is due to the bad government of Taizu Taizong. Liu Langzhong, what do you think?"
"My officer...!"
The rake hit him back, and big beads of sweat flowed from Liu Shu's temples.
This problem can be very fatal.
Zhang Fei cleverly explained the "law of the ancestors" as preventing the causes of bad government, but this is obviously more in line with the core idea of "preventing things and controlling them", which is to prevent bad government.
Policies to prevent malpractice focus on prevention. It is best not to allow maladministration to occur. Then we should correct the maladministration in the process of its formation.
Zhang Fei also used the example of Jiedushi to illustrate that the cause of bad government is often pushing a policy to the extreme, which will lead to its opposite, rather than the policy itself.
The same goes for dividing power.
It is a good policy in itself to prevent the country from being divided again. It is you guys who do not understand the laws of your ancestors and have made it a bad policy now.
You have to take the blame.
If you don’t recite it, only Taizu Taizong will recite it.
What do you choose?
How to choose this?
No matter what you choose, you will die!
Liu Shu originally thought he was throwing a fatal question to Zhang Fei, but it turned out that the clown was himself!
Wang Anshi was ecstatic when he heard this, which undoubtedly broke the ancestral law's support for dividing power.
If you know how to speak, just speak more. Even if you talk forever, I, Wang Jiefu, will stick with me until the end!
Everyone knows that the disaster of redundant officials lies in the great policy of dividing administrative powers by Taizu and Emperor Taizong. If one yamen is divided into four, it will naturally lead to the disaster of redundant officials!
But the problem is that this is the tone set by Taizu Taizong, who dares to change it.
He, Wang Anshi, was the only one who dared to shout that "the ancestors are not worthy of the law."
But he had no choice. If he didn't deny this, he wouldn't be able to carry out reforms, but this would also cause him countless troubles.
Officials who originally supported him chose to stay away because of such remarks.
And now Zhang Fei has provided him with a double certification of legal and ideological justice.
Reform means following the laws of our ancestors!
These officials didn't even prepare a single document. They were improvising and couldn't get it out of the way!
This explanation left them helpless.
For a moment, it was really impeccable.
However, Zhang Fei skillfully passed the blame for redundant officials on to the ministers, and at the same time he flattered Taizu Taizong.
Seeing that Liu Shu didn't dare to speak, Sima Guang asked Wang Anshi, "Do you have anything else to ask?"
Wang Anshi glanced at him, "Don't you have anything to add?"
"...!"
This time they have learned a lesson and cannot ask random questions. If they ask questions, they may become heinous.
Wang Anshi smiled and said, "I have nothing to ask this question."
Sima Guang looked at Zhang Fei and smiled: "You seem to have done a lot of homework."
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "It concerns the laws of our ancestors, and ordinary people dare not speak nonsense."
"Very good!" Sima Guang nodded in praise and said: "By the way! You also mentioned binding and extensiveness."
"yes!"
Zhang Fei turned out the first document and read: "As for the binding nature, it is clearly written in the edict that the discipline has been established and things have their own course. We must abide by it and dare not exceed it. Just rely on it.
I believe no one doubts these four sentences. This law will override all laws and is the fundamental law of the country.
As for the broadness, it is actually easy to understand. The ancestral law must set the tone for the entire country, so it must be broad and can cover all aspects. Any policy must respect this law.
In the past, many officials took a sentence or an edict said by Taizu Taizong and regarded it as the law of the ancestors. This is pure nonsense and does not understand the law at all."
Han Qi and Fu Bi blushed.
Who are you scolding?
Sima Guang, Lu Hui, Tang Jie and others are no exception.
They often do this kind of thing.
Zhang Fei looked at Xu Zhiqian again.
Xu Zhiqian immediately stood up and sent them a copy of the document.
At this time, these officials did not dare to look.
Even the look in Xu Zhiqian's eyes was gradually filled with malice.
It’s okay not to look at it.
When they opened it and looked at it, Zhang Fei said: "This contains some of the policies and words of Taizu Taizong. If it is used now, do you think it is appropriate?"
Everyone was silent.
The article also mentioned Taizu's policies towards Hou Shu. Now that Hou Shu is gone, can those policies be appropriate?
You are playing a word game!
It's so shameless.
Zhang Fei, however, said seriously: "The law is very strict and cannot be given by just opening your mouth. If you can arbitrarily quote the policies of Taizu and Taizong as the laws of the ancestors, then according to the legal system, all policies of Taizu and Taizong will become the laws of the ancestors.
This is obviously not allowed."
Sima Guang nodded and asked again: "According to your words, preventing things and controlling them are the core ideas of the ancestral method."
Zhang Fei corrected: "This is the only ancestral method."
Sima Guang did not argue, but simply said: "Can you explain these two sentences?"
"sure!"
Zhang Fei took the small note handed to him and read: "This sentence is quoted from the ancient Chinese classic "Hanshu, Rites and Music". The original words are, things are controlled, music is used to prevent, the general meaning is that no matter what
Systems must be established for all matters big and small, and precautions must be taken.
And the things in Taizong's edict, "prevent things and control them," generally means that everything must be prevented in advance, and comprehensive and detailed regulations must be formulated to control it, to guard against minor mistakes, and to prevent malpractice."
The "qu" above means "little things". The "qu" below means "comprehensive".
Sima Guang nodded and asked: "If the system is promulgated without preventing hidden dangers, does it violate the laws of the ancestors?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "Of course it's a violation."
Sima Guang asked again: "Does the promulgation of a system without comprehensive regulations violate the laws of our ancestors?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "Of course it is a violation."
Sima Guang nodded and asked no more questions.
Zhang Fei glanced at Sima Guang and said to himself, he is indeed my brother Guang, he is still so awake now.
Liu Shu thought to himself, it's time to stop here and don't delve deeper. This guy was too well prepared. Using Sima Guang to change the topic, he immediately said: "I almost forgot, today you are complaining about the historian Erlang and think that the imperial court punished him.
Violated this edict."
edict!
It is not the ancestral method.
In other words, they are unwilling to acknowledge the tone set by Zhang Fei.
But his tone was also softened. Violating Taizong's edict was of course also a violation of the ancestral law.
Just as Zhang Fei opened his mouth, he suddenly saw Sima Guang, an old man, holding a tea cup and taking a sip.
Is he drinking tea?
He was actually drinking tea.
I want to drink too!
Zhang Fei coughed a few times and opened his mouth, "Ah oh uh! Huh uh uh!"
Liu Shu wondered: "What are you doing?"
Zhang Fei pretended to be hoarse and said: "My throat feels uncomfortable."
Sima Guang whispered: "It's your turn again!"
Wang Anshi was a little unhappy, but he still reprimanded his subordinates: "How did you do this? You didn't even prepare a pot of tea for Zhang San. If this were to spread, wouldn't it make people think that the imperial court was victorious without force?"