Tang Taizong once asked the ministers Fang Xuanling , Xiao Yu , Sui Wendi How is it like a generation of monarchs? Everyone replied that Emperor Wen was diligent in governing the government affairs. Every time he was in charge of the court, sometimes when the sun set, officials above the fifth rank sat around to discuss matters, and the guards could not be laid off and passed on to food. Although their character was not kind, they could still be called a monarch who worked hard to govern.
fang Xuanling and the others said it well. In Chinese history, Emperor Wen of Sui was also a great emperor. He is kind and friendly to the people, simple and frugal, and deeply hates corruption and corruption, and is determined to forge ahead and open up new situations. His image of diligent politics and long-term struggle and slackness in the night is also impressive. For example, Emperor Wen of Sui not only was busy listening to politics until sunset, but also often brought documents back to his residence to review in the middle of the night. In history, emperors did not attend court every day, such as the Qing emperor, who had been dying for about ten days. But Emperor Wen of Sui actually achieved "every day, he will never tire of the day."
Li Shimin has his own opinion on this. He believed that this was because Emperor Wen liked to be harsh in observing him. If you are not wise, you will not be able to understand everything; if you are harsh, you will be suspicious of things and do not trust your ministers. The world is so big that every day, it is difficult for all your efforts to get tired of your body, and everything may not be as good as the point. At the same time, since the ministers knew the opinions of the Lord, they could only accept them unconditionally; even if the Lord made mistakes, no one dared to argue and suggest, so The Sui Dynasty perished in the second generation.
Li Shimin's way of thinking is indeed unique. He did not start from the virtues of Emperor Wen of Sui, but from the fact that the Sui Dynasty "deceased the second generation" was considered. Although the main responsibility for the demise of the Sui Dynasty lies in Emperor Yang of Sui , Emperor Wen of Sui could not say that there was nothing to do with it.
Like many powerful emperors in Chinese history, Emperor Wen of Sui only allowed himself to seize the world from others, but did not allow others to imitate himself. When I had such an idea in my mind, I was always on guard against my ministers, as if I suspected that my neighbor had stole his axe, and looked like everyone was about to rebel. To this end, he often secretly sent people to the local area to investigate the gains and losses of officials' administration, and adopted the method of "fishing law enforcement" to secretly set up traps, lure officials to commit crimes and then severely punish them, without any lenient loans.
In his later years, he was even more suspicious of people, "I like to be a decimal, but I don't understand the general, so no loyal minister or righteous man can tell me his heart. His founding heroes and meritorious generals will be punished and retreated, and there are few who survive." The danger seemed to be lifted for a while, but not many people could use it. At the same time, he made another biggest mistake, which was to abolish the eldest prince who was upright and generous but had luxury, and to establish Yang Guang as the prince who was good at disguise, cunning, fickle and fickle, and addicted to alcohol. Therefore, from the perspective of obtaining people, employing people, and treating people, Emperor Wen of Sui was not as good as Li Shimin.
Li Shimin criticized Emperor Wen of Sui and learned from his lessons. The gap between the two in this regard is still clear. Emperor Wen did everything himself and often interfered in the specific matters of the local government; Emperor Taizong selected talented people from all over the world to serve as civil and military officials, allowing them to perform their duties, and the final decision-making power and reward and punishment power were in the court, which was quite similar to our democratic centralism today. Emperor Wen had the only one who had the idea in front, and the ministers did not dare to raise objections; Emperor Taizong clearly ordered all the officials to report the matter and not to flatter and obey. The example of Li Shimin's humble acceptance of advice is already common sense, so don't mention it.
From the comparison between Emperor Wen of Sui and Emperor Taizong of Tang, many useful inspirations can be drawn. For example, the trust relationship between leaders and teams is important. Without trust, there is no understanding, and there is no high degree of unity. As the saying goes, "Brothers who fight tigers, fathers and sons who fight to fight" is essentially based on trust. If you trust others, there are people who are available everywhere in the world; if you don’t trust others, there will be no people who are available in the world.
For example, we need to exert the enthusiasm of superiors and subordinates. Superiors and subordinates each have their own responsibilities and are indispensable.The superiors should be good at decentralizing power to the subordinates and give them space to create. This aspect can make you more detached and better concentrate on thinking about important things that concern the overall situation. On the other hand, giving power means giving responsibility, which can better urge subordinates to do their work. Decentralization of power is not a big deal, but a combination of scattering and concentration, and do what you do and what you don’t do. Control big things and let go of small and trivial matters.
For example, leaders should pay attention to brainstorming issues. Generally speaking, because leaders have a high position, more information and rich experience, they often have a broader vision and better planning. But as Emperor Taizong of Tang said, the world is so big that no matter how smart the ruling person is, he cannot guarantee that everything is an expert and every decision can hit the point. Therefore, he must be good at concentrating the wisdom of everyone. It is important to mobilize everyone's enthusiasm through the process of humbly accepting advice and democratic decision-making. If you were like Emperor Wen of Sui, if you put your ideas first, others would not be able to say anything. Over time, everyone's enthusiasm will be undone.
There are methods problems, but more importantly, the mindset problem.
(Author: Qi Jinli, Deputy Director of the United Front Work Department of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China; Source: Frontline)
