①
" The World of the Long River " is really annoying and funny.
Yu Zhenjia was the poorest official in the world at that time. He was very unlucky and was assigned to the poor county Taoyuan County as the county magistrate.
Taoyuan County is in locust plague , the people have no rice to put in the pot, Yu Zhenjia is also so hungry that he is dizzy, and he can only eat a little sweet potato leaves every day to satisfy his hunger.
At this time, Chen Huang is here. He persuaded Yu Zhenjia to rob official grain, one of the reasons was that corrupt officials falsely reported the number of migrant workers who built the river embankment, and the official grain allocated from the imperial city would be swallowed up by corrupt officials; the second reason was that if they could not get the food, the people would starve to death.
Yu Zhenjia is a person who wants to be a saint and a clean official, so he naturally will not agree.
However, after many hesitation and entanglement, he convinced himself on the grounds of "for the people", and decided to take the risk. He colluded with Chen Huang, under the banner of water thieves, robbed official grain, and solved the problem of hunger among the people.
Yu Zhenjia and Chen Man thought that the emperor was far away and this matter would not reach the emperor's ears.
but Kangxi still knew about it, but he did not punish the two. Maybe it is believed that Yu Zhenjia is not a robber for self-interest, but for the people.
Judging from this matter, Yu Zhenjia is indeed a real good official. Because he has always regarded his reputation as greater than heaven, but in order for the people to survive, he actually gave up his reputation.
②
Yu Zhenjia, who had no choice but to be a "robber", did not throw his reputation away because of this, but continued to hold on to his reputation.
One year, the autumn flood of the Yellow River came. Considering that the downstream dam had just been repaired, he was worried that he could not withstand the impact of the flood, so he decided to blow up the dam in Taoyuan County for flood discharge.
So he found Yu Zhenjia and asked him to order all the people in Taoyuan County to move away, and told him that if the dam is not blown up, three provinces will be flooded if the dam is collapsed downstream.
But Yu Zhenjia refused to agree. In desperation, Le Fu asked Kangxi to send out the Shangfang Sword , and Yu Zhenjia was forced to accept it.
However, at the last moment, seeing that all the people were about to move away, Yu Zhenjia brought the people back because his mother was unwilling to leave, and sweared to protect the embankment to stop Chen Huang from blowing the embankment.
When the two sides were fighting, the Yellow River flood peak came. Le Fu and Chen Huang watched the flood peak pass by, angry and anxious, and fainted on the spot.
In this way, all the houses and farmlands of the people in the three downstream provinces were flooded, and countless people were killed or injured.
Afterwards, Kangxi angrily scolded Yu Zhenjia:
"It is rare for people like this to be ethical and ambitious. I have read the book of sages and do it seriously, not just one thing on your lips and one thing behind your back. I will not kill you with your heart."
" (but) you disobey the berth, but It's a big mistake. "
" Local officials only have the duty of helping river affairs, but have no management responsibilities. Should the embankment on the river be scattered or built? You should listen to Jin Fu."
" It makes sense in your opinion. But the laws of the court are considered to be in your eyes. What? "
" It is a good thing to regard yourself as honest, but you can be considered to be superior to others if you regard yourself as honest. Life and death can be taken away by your heart. If you are stubborn and lawless, that is a big mistake. "
" Officials refer not only to be honest, but to make things clear and fair. "
"People like you (also worthy of being called) honest officials? You are far from qualified."
When Kangxi scolded Yu Zhenjia, Yu Zhenjia was still dissatisfied. Because in his opinion, as the head of a county, he should do his best to protect the people of the county. As for whether the downstream will burst, that is what the river governor needs to consider.
In the eyes of the people, Yu Zhenjia is a first-class official and a good official, because it is his life-demanding that he has saved their homeland and the people will not leave their hometowns.But how could they know that because Yu Zhenjia's stubbornness and detoxification caused countless casualties in the downstream provinces, and all the farmland and houses were flooded.
Moreover, the dam they protected at that time was a tofu project built by corrupt officials, which could not withstand the invasion of floods in minutes. It was not collapsed at that time, and it was just a blessing in disgrace.
③
In many people's cognition, the standard for distinguishing good people from bad people is very simple. It is either black or white. Those who hit and rob things are bad people, those who say good things, do good things, and those who think about others are good people.
, including Yu Zhenjia, the same is true for the definition of good and evil and integrity. It is also very simple, believing that sacrificing oneself and safeguarding the interests of the people is integrity and good. And this so-called interests of the people, he only focuses on what is in front of him and does not look at it longer or broader.
So, how to define good and evil?
"The Four Lessons of Life" says: "If you do good and do not go through the principles, you will think that you are doing things. But you don't know that it will be useless to commit evil and waste your hard work."
Do good deeds without delving into the reasons and consequences of doing good deeds, and think that you are doing good deeds, it is likely that you are committing evil and waste your hard work, but there is no benefit.
Yu Zhenjia thought that protecting the people from being displaced is doing good deeds, but he didn't know that it killed more people. Doing good deeds turned into evil, which is really sad.
"The Four Lessons of Life" also says: "When a person does good, no matter what is present, no matter how bad it is; no matter how long it is, no matter how long it is; no matter what one body, no matter how good it is."
judging whether people do good or not should not just look at the behavior itself, but also whether this good deed has disadvantages. You should not only see the present, but also the long-term. It depends not only on personal gains and losses, but also on the impact on the public.
Yu Zhenjia robbed official grain, which damaged his reputation, but brought benefits to the people. This is something that looks like an evil deed, but is actually a good deed. And he tried his best to protect the berth, because he did not consider that the people who protected the berth with him might be washed away by the flood, nor did he look at it, listen to other people's advice, and consider the impact it might have on more people.
It seems that you cannot do good things in a daze, but you must study the reasons and results of doing good things, consider whether there are disadvantages in the good things you do, and consider the impact on the public and the long-term impact.
