Shenshixing - the fifteenth year of Wanli (three)
Hello, I am Yiran, today we will continue to share Huang Renyu 's "The fifteenth year of Wanli".
Yesterday we talked about the reform of the chief minister Zhang Juzheng , which did not conform to the governance logic of this dynasty. After his death, the reform was overthrown and was politically liquidated, and the family was almost destroyed. Today we will talk about the third character: the first assistant Shen Shixing.
Wanli 15th year, that is, in 1587, Shen Shixing had been in the position of chief minister for four years, which was exactly half of his term.
Like most senior ministers, he was born in the government department that was in charge of education and literature. In 1562, he won the top scorer in the palace examination and was awarded the editor of , Hanlin Academy, as usual. After that, he served in the Hanlin Academy for fifteen years and was promoted to Minister of War and Rites. He served for only seven months and was appointed as Grand Secretary.
He is a mature and stable politician who does his best to handle the relationship between the emperor and the bureaucratic group and maintains the stability of the authoritarian system.
He knows that governing the world and etiquette plays a huge role. The main etiquette of this dynasty is the three lectures in a month and the morning court every day. All kinds of solemn and beautiful etiquette and countless kowtows indicate that the emperor ruled the world, had the highest authority, and was the will of heaven. It also shows that the emperor is also subject to the restraint of heaven and is bound by traditional morality, and resolutely seek the most effective method among classics and historical records to achieve great harmony.
So, as a supervisor of various etiquette. Shen Shixing worked diligently to maintain these traditional programs, which made him an unpopular figure in the court.
He knew the way to be a minister. The emperor did not want to participate in the morning court. He lied that he was dizzy and itchy. He knew the emperor's thoughts, but he still asked His Majesty to put the country first and take care of his jade body. He also considered that if the emperor felt it was difficult to get up early, he might as well postpone the morning court and the imperial lectures slightly. It can be seen that he was not as strict as Zhang Juzheng in treating the emperor, and he was still comfortable.
On the one hand, he safeguards the emperor's authority and influences the emperor with morality as much as possible; on the other hand, he shows his moral sincerity to all civil servants and promotes harmony within the civil servant group.
He knew very well that the foundation of this dynasty was the foundation of the founding of this dynasty was the ethics and morality, and the pillar was the civil servant group. Whether a national policy can be implemented and whether it succeeds or not depends on the common habits of civil servants. Otherwise, no matter how perfect or how operable theories are, they are all castles in the air.
The rule of the empire is long-term stability under the so-called "the people are not hungry or cold" of the "Four Books", and all administrative technologies are also produced to maintain the status quo. Therefore, efficiency is not important, balance is important.
Shen Shixing As a member of the civil service group, he knew that people have both sides of "yin and yang", and the "yang" side is people's verbally recognized ideals and morals. The "yin" side is people's irresponsible selfish desires.
It is impossible to eliminate selfish desires. Therefore, the key to harmonizing yin and yang is that Shen Shixing publicly stated that what he expected was "the unfilial person still knows fear, while the wise have something to rely on", that is, villains dare not be unscrupulous, and gentlemen have some support for their spirit. It takes some struggle to meet this low standard. If you set the goal higher, it is not realistic.
The actual situation of the central government cannot be directly known about the remote counties, and can only rely on the reports of local officials. It often takes one month to deliver such documents from the local center. Civil officials use gorgeous rhetoric, but the data they use is compiled without leaving their homes, and may also be counted a hundred years ago.
So how to evaluate the work achievements of officials in more than 1,100 counties across the country? In fact, it is very simple. The area under your jurisdiction is quiet and there is no big debt in taxes. In this way, the people's customs are "simple" and you are a "good official". Once a problem occurs, you have no choice. It is the so-called "no mistake is merit."
Under this system, "stability" is the key, and the fairness of one person and one matter will not be considered at all. Therefore, sacrificing a few people became Shen Shixing's way of showing sincerity. In 1587, only 33 people were demoted or removed from the Beijing Censorship , and none of them came from the most sensitive agencies such as the Ministry of Personnel, the Censorship or the Hanlin Academy.This stabilized the sentiment of the civil servant group and its own position.
Shen Shixing was brought by Zhang Juzheng. He has a close relationship with Zhang and has long been known. In the case of reversal Zhang, he was violently reported and impeached and almost collapsed.
This long-lasting storm gave Wanli a possibility of long-term consideration. He linked all the signs, understood the true intention behind these reports and impeachment, came out to stand up for Shen Shixing, and quickly calmed the storm.
In order to show a broad mind, maintain balance among civil officials, and stabilize his status, Shen Shixing did not pursue any officials who impeached him, and even suggested that several of them advance. At that time, he was praised for being a mature and polite person and had the style of an ancient gentleman.
Shen Shixing's style of peacemaker has gained the trust of the emperor, and his relationship with the emperor has become better and better and closer. At the same time, it has also been respected by some civil servants, but some people have also criticized him for being "head and tail". He has no principles when encountering things, looks around and lacks determination. Shen Shixing did not change because of these criticisms.
Among the eight prime ministers in front of him, six of them were either under house arrest, criminal punishment, or were still pursued after death. Especially since he personally experienced the incident of Zhang Juzheng, the miserable scenes are vivid in his mind.
He saw it very clearly. On the surface, it was because of the emperor's punishment, but in fact it was all because of conflicts with the civil servant group. Either the policy was opposed by the majority, or the personality was too strong and caused jealousy and hatred.
However, the balance maintained by Shen Shixing is illusory. There are various small groups within the civil service group, and fellow villagers have "country friendship". Those who passed the exam in the same year included "year friendship", those who had a marriage relationship were "marriage friendship", etc. These small groups cannot work together, but instead have countless conflicts of interests.
Shen Shixing's painstaking balance was broken because of the "Chief of the Crown" incident in 1591. In October of that year, under the control of Shen Shixing, Wanli agreed to give up the establishment of Chang Xun as the crown prince and enthrone his son Chang Luo. Later, Wanli delayed the matter of establishing a crown prince on the excuse. This action aroused the worries of the ministers, so they jointly requested the emperor to hold a ceremony for the crown prince as scheduled. Shen Shixing did not participate in the joint letter due to illness, but he was still led by this memorial.
This made Long Xin angry. When Shen Shixing learned about the emperor's reaction, he quickly wrote a private message to Wanli and said: Although I was leading this memorial, I didn't know about it in advance.
It was nothing, but by chance, this secret letter was intercepted and published. This one was a big blow. Shen Shixing became a very dissatisfied double-faced person, a villain who sells his friends to mislead the king. The sentiment of the civil servant group is in full swing and unstoppable. The memorials for impeachment of him have come like a tide. His prestige was ruined and he could no longer gain the trust of his colleagues. He had no choice but to resign.
With Shen Shixing's departure, the balance between the emperor and the civil servant group was broken, and the communication bond was never established again. From then on, the Ming Dynasty completely embarked on the road to destruction.
, to sum up, during the eight years he served as the chief minister, he took Zhang Juzheng as a warning, worked diligently, dealing with the emperor and all officials, and struggling to maintain the stability of this empire. Unexpectedly, he was forced to leave in the end as a "villain".
That’s all today, and tomorrow, we will continue to share this book - "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli". If you like it, I hope you can share it with your friends, see you tomorrow.
