I asked: "So how do you think we can use the right people under the current system?"
He sighed and said: "It's very simple. Those who employ people must have a sense of historical responsibility and a conscience. You can use your own people, or you can use people who spend money to buy officials, but you must use capable people."
I couldn't help but smile bitterly, "Your point of view is quite novel. But you seem to be right. After all, it seems that this is the only way under the current system, and it is already very good to be able to do this."
He said: "In fact, spending money to buy officials has been around since ancient times. In Chinese history, the first person to donate officials was Qin Shihuang. According to Sima Qian's "Historical Records", in the fourth year of Qin Shihuang's fourth year, locusts came from the east and covered the sky. The world was plagued and the people were infected.
This is probably the earliest written record of donating officials. Because the country suffered a severe natural disaster at that time and there was a food shortage, the rulers solved the food crisis by accepting grains of grain and worshiping them.
By the Western Han Dynasty, a system of official donation had been formed. The famous political commentator Chao Cuo's masterpiece "On Guisu Shu" can be regarded as a famous article that systematically elaborated on the official donation system. Due to the recovery of social economy during the reign of Emperor Wen,
With the development, commerce also developed, and many businessmen, large and small, appeared in the society.
Businessmen hoarded goods, manipulated prices, and made usury loans; while farmers sold their fields, homes, and children to repay debts. Chao Cuo believed that to change this situation, we need to change the current policy and formulate a new policy, which is the policy of valuing millet.
, the essence of which is to accept millet to worship the nobility. He said: "Millet is of great use to the king, and is the basic duty of government."
As soon as the policy was implemented, obvious results were achieved immediately. Businessmen competed for titles, the country's grain reserves increased significantly, and farmers' lives were greatly improved.
The same system, in different eras, has different functions and effects in the hands of different people. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty adopted Chao Cuo's ideas. The implementation of this policy and its beneficial effects had a profound impact on the tax and servitude policy after the Western Han Dynasty.
, had a significant impact on the Huns' policies. Emperor Ling, who was admonished by Zhuge Liang as a negative example to Liu Chan, also vigorously promoted the official donation system, but he mainly wanted to build a small personal treasury.
When he was twenty-three years old in the first year of Guanghe, he began to sell his official position in Xiyuan. For this reason, the history book writes: When Emperor Ling was a prince before he came to the throne, he often suffered from lack of money. After he became emperor, he often couldn't do it for Emperor Huan.
It was a pity to add to the family property, so he sold his official position to accumulate private money.
In fact, the system of donating officials has existed in almost all dynasties. The most popular and largest system was in the Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, a wide range of officials could be bought through donations. Beijing officials could buy doctors, and local officials could buy Taoist priests who were higher than the prefects.
There are no restrictions on those who buy official positions, not to mention landlords and merchants, but also gangsters, thieves, etc.
According to the donation system, scholars and people can not only donate official positions, but also donate titles, false titles, and the benefits of wearing official uniforms. In this way, the rich spend money to sell their officials, and the small officials use money to sell big officials. As a result, these large and small officials
Once the official positions are filled, they will intensify their efforts to encroach on the working people. Satirical novels such as "The Appearance of Officialdom" and "The Strange Current Situation Witnessed in Twenty Years" vividly expose the disasters caused to society by the Qing Dynasty's official donation system.
History has proved that the donation system of officials in this dynasty was extremely dark, with an air of decadence and decay everywhere. From this, it can be seen that the donation system has played a positive role in history, but no matter how great its role was,
It is an emergency strategy that politicians have to adopt under specific historical conditions. In its essence, it combines money and power and is an external manifestation of power-money transactions. It is closely related to advocating fairness and justice.
It is incompatible with the concept of political civilization in modern society.
In fact, thinkers in feudal society did not fully affirm the donation of officials that had played a positive role. For example, Wang Fuzhi in the Qing Dynasty took a vague attitude towards Chao Cuo's proposal to accept grain and worship him. He said: "If you buy millet and worship a noble, you will be exempted from crime."
, Chao Cuo's plan did not fail. Obviously, Wang Euzhi did not completely agree. As for the harm caused by the donation system to society, it is really difficult to describe, even a child with a yellow mouth is familiar with it.
However, the influence of such a decadent system has not disappeared in modern society. On the contrary, it often appears quietly in front of us in various forms: The first type follows the unspoken rules of officialdom and uses bribery in exchange for official positions, which should be a more civilized promotion.
way;
The second type is clumsy, that is, using the power of personnel in one's control to openly buy and sell; the other type is preferential policies in the form of government documents. For example, I recently saw a message: if you invest more than 10 million yuan, you will pay an annual tax of 8
Legal representatives of industrial enterprises with more than 100,000 yuan will be paid a basic salary equivalent to the fourth level at the deputy county level. This is the most eye-catching investment policy issued by a certain county in a certain province.
The first two categories are transactions of money and power between individuals, which are behind-the-scenes operations and shady activities; the third category is under the banner of the government and accompanied by policy support, and is an aboveboard and aboveboard behavior that benefits the people. However, its deceptive nature
This is where the danger lies. Even a great slogan like "attracting investment and developing the economy" can hardly cover up the true face of donating officials, because it is full of the smell of copper. Feng Xiao, in fact, today's society is like this, you should
Know better than me.
It's just that you are a member of the system. To put it bluntly, you are also a beneficiary of the current system and part of an interest group, so you are unwilling to face these problems. But I think for you
For the beneficiaries of such a system, it is understandable that you are unwilling to admit this reality verbally, but you should understand it in your heart, especially when employing people. Otherwise, you will definitely be stigmatized in the future.
.I don’t need to say more about this, because it is inevitable.”
I deeply agreed, "Yes. You said it very well. It's a pity that I am just a small executive deputy mayor now. I only have the job of doing things but no decision-making power. I think, if I can be in charge
Although one party will inevitably consider some relationship issues, it will never be so foolish as to put a dull and incompetent person in the most important position."
He nodded, "I completely believe you on this point. For example, after we talked for so long, you didn't rush to ask me about the winery. This shows that the overall situation is the first thing on your mind. Of course, you also know that we will definitely meet today.
Speaking of that issue, it also shows that you have become much calmer than before."
I felt a little embarrassed and said, "Uncle Lin, you thank me."
He smiled slightly and said: "I don't have to say good things about you. In fact, that's it. Judging from what you said earlier, your Secretary Chen is about to make major adjustments to your cadres in Shangjiang City. This
It was not a decision made to hire talented people, nor was it made solely for the sake of subsequent reforms, but rather an inherent routine in officialdom.
When many local officials first arrive in a place, the first thing they do after getting familiar with the situation is to make a major adjustment of cadres. In fact, the same is true for the adjustment of cadres in the province this time. There are two purposes for doing this: one is to
In order to fully control the power in his own hands.
The second is to carry out a new distribution of benefits. Your mayor Wen doesn't understand this in his heart. He is too confused. He thinks he is the former governor and thinks he is great. Don't you know that he is now allowed to
Staying in his original position is already his greatest blessing. People in official circles nowadays still pay great attention to each other's face. Although the former governor has left, you still have to give him some face, right? So he won't treat him as originally.
People are making big moves. But if you are not sensible, no wonder others want to punish you."
I was suddenly stunned, "Uncle Lin, what do you mean?"
He smiled faintly and said: "Obviously, Secretary Chen's concession this time is just to ease the temporary conflict. This is called benevolence and justice. After the incident at the winery, if Mr. Wen still behaves like that, then Secretary Chen will definitely
Give him a thunderous blow so that he no longer has any room to stand up, and more importantly, he can speak easily in front of the provincial leaders, and the leaders in the province can also take this to the next level: Who makes him know how high the sky is and how high he is?
"
I was immediately horrified, "Is this really happening?"
He nodded, "I have seen a lot of things in the officialdom, and I am an outsider, so I can see it much more clearly than you insiders. And the most important thing is that when I analyze the affairs of the winery, there will definitely be problems, and Secretary Chen
You just have to make it cause problems. Even if there is no problem, you have to find a way to make it happen. This is the most effective way to make Mr. Wen obedient. So, you must pay attention to it at the executive meeting of the city government tomorrow.
.By the way, did Secretary Chen say something like, 'You can figure it out'?"
I nodded and said, "Yes."
He lit the cigarette and said, "Think about it, aren't his words very meaningful? Feng Xiao, you must pay attention in the future. Some of the words of this leader are very meaningful. The key is
It depends on whether you can understand it thoroughly. Because as a leader, there are some things that he cannot say out loud. If he says something like this to you, he is already treating you very well."
I was immediately confused, "Uncle Lin, do you mean that his sentence has actually given me a message? It's what the city government asked me to pay attention to when they study the winery project tomorrow, right?"
"
He looked at me and said, "Isn't it? I've said it so clearly before, don't you still understand? Think about it carefully, I don't want to remind you again, because this is an ability you must possess."
I frowned and thought, and after a moment I suddenly understood, "Uncle Lin, I know what I should do in the meeting tomorrow."
He looked at me and smiled, "Really? Let me hear what you say." (To be continued)