Zhenguan Dynasty was founded by Li Shimin the Great. Li Shimin was actually the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty (his father Tang Yuan was only nominal). Among all the founding emperors in China, Li Shimin was the only one with a good systematic education and the most noble birth. He is broad-minded, versatile, knowledgeable, conscientious and gives advice. During his reign, he created unparalleled literary martial arts.
In China, a highly centralized country lacking the concept of democracy and human rights, the highest quality determines the fate of the country.
In addition to the advantages shared by wise emperors in history, Li Shimin has the following advantages unique to Li Shimin.
Strong sense of national responsibility and crisis.
A sense of responsibility is the first element that * * things must have. Leaders without sense of responsibility, even if they are talented, will bring disaster to the country and people, either dereliction of duty or abuse of power. Many emperors in China destroyed or lost the mountains and rivers laid by their ancestors because of their lack of sense of responsibility. As a result, the Chinese nation has fallen into the cycle of catastrophe, and Chinese civilization has gradually declined, so China has irretrievably declined, from a big country in China to a second-rate country and then to the least developed country. Li Shimin's sense of national responsibility is unprecedented. When he sat on the throne of the emperor, he didn't think he was as successful as most power figures in China feudal society. He can sit down and relax and enjoy the taste of prosperity with his strength. On the contrary, he was more diligent in political affairs than before he ascended the throne, immersed himself in official business, slept only a little every day, discussed state affairs, decided cases and handled official business with civil and military ministers in the Golden Temple all day, and sometimes refused to stop for hours, so that he often forgot to eat or sleep.
Different from those ambitious power figures, Li Shimin the Great had a strong sense of crisis. What he saw was not an empire with a vast territory and a stronger army than Mazhuang (as was the case in the Tang Dynasty at that time). Is a hanging by a thread, may be another popular uprising at any time * * of the new regime. His eyes were fixed on the once powerful Sui Empire, which had just disintegrated, constantly thinking about the lessons of the demise of the Sui Dynasty, reminding himself from time to time not to repeat the mistakes of the Sui Dynasty, and carefully and tirelessly guiding his empire out of the thorns and onto prosperity and glory. In the middle of Li Shimin's reign, the Tang Dynasty had become an unparalleled superpower in the known world at that time, and even God was jealous of its prosperity and wealth. At this time, Li Shimin should be satisfied, but he showed no signs of satisfaction. What he saw was not the prosperity and glory in front of him, but the long and arduous future road of the empire, and he continued to make unremitting efforts to consolidate the roadbed of the future.
Li Shimin's super sense of responsibility is the concentrated expression of his high wisdom.
Second, the aboveboard ruling style.
The rulers of China are infinitely clever and proud of being clever in front of others. Few people think of being honest in governing and being honest with others. As a result, politicians use tricks to control their subordinates; Subordinates also follow suit and cheat leaders with tricks. Li Shimin is the only person in the history of China who is truly honest and in power. When he was in office, he opened his mind to courtiers and did not cheat. The courtiers also perform their duties, and do not engage in traditional officialdom prostitutes who bully the weak and fear the hard. At the beginning of Li Shimin's accession to the throne, he made great efforts to rectify the bureaucracy and made up his mind to eradicate the stubborn disease of corruption and bribery in officialdom. In order to find out the corrupt officials who secretly take bribes and may take bribes in the future, Li Shimin asked his cronies to secretly pay bribes to officials of various ministries, and as a result, several corrupt officials were really investigated. When Li Shimin was proud, he told his strategy to a veteran of the Sui Dynasty. Unexpectedly, the minister threw cold water on him on the spot: Your Majesty has always warned his subjects to be honest with others, but your Majesty himself took the lead in cheating. Fish begins to stink at the head, your subjects will repay you by cheating. Li Shimin thought the minister's words had profound wisdom, and readily accepted this harsh proposal that made the ordinary authorities angry. On another occasion, Li Shimin ordered 18 years old but healthy men to join the army. Wei Zhi refused to countersign the imperial edict (note that this is Li Shimin's cleverest masterpiece, and his orders have no legal effect without the signature of the competent minister, and no emperor will actively limit his unlimited power, except Li Shimin). Li Shimin explained: "This is a traitor who evaded military service and deliberately understated his age." Wei Zhi replied: "Your Majesty often said that I treat the world with integrity and asked the people not to cheat; But you lost your integrity first. You don't treat people with integrity, so you suspect that others are derailed first. " Li Shimin's reaction was deeply moved and was withdrawn immediately.
Third, be broad-minded, love as life, and be tolerant of people.
Whether a country and a nation can prosper or not depends not only on the superhuman qualities of the helmsman, but also on the ability to carry out his will. The importance of talents has become a consensus in the world today, because talents determine the fate of a country. But not all people in power value talents. The reality is that more than half of those in power ignore or even hate talents. Only those outstanding politicians who are broad-minded, have the courage to take responsibility, can recognize the importance of talents, can tolerate the weaknesses of talents without hurting the overall situation, and are not afraid that talents will surpass him can be appointed.
Li Shimin's love for talents is described in many historical books, and the most typical example is his trust and reuse of Wei Zhi. Yes, my brother's old minister, Li, and the two brothers used to be sworn political enemies. More than once, I persuaded Li to kill first, so I should hate him. After Li Shimin won the power race, almost everyone thought that Li Shimin would kill Wei Zhi to vent his anger, or accuse others of killing him as a scapegoat; No one could have imagined that Li Shimin's greatest punishment for Wei Zhi was to appoint him as the prime minister of the empire and form children's in-laws with him. The fruit of this dramatic ending is: Wei Zhi made an unparalleled contribution to the prosperity of the Tang Empire!
During the Zhenguan period in Li Shimin, there were many talented people, including, Fang, Du Ruhui and Wuji. Wu has Jing Li, Qin Shuding, Cheng He. A large number of elites have formed a strong and efficient leadership core around Li Shimin. However, Li Shimin still felt that there were not enough talents. He repeatedly ordered the Prime Minister to recommend talents in the form of sealing Yide. After repeated urging, there was no news for a long time. Feng Yide said sadly, "It's not that I don't work hard. It's really that there are no talents in this world." Li Shimin immediately corrected him: "Gentlemen use people as tools, and each has his own strengths. Since ancient times, people have been ruled by kings. Can we borrow talents from different generations? How can you be lightweight if you can't visit yourself? " After listening to such an opinion, Feng Yide was ashamed as well as ashamed.
Fourth, a high degree of self-control, a deep understanding of human weaknesses, and a high degree of vigilance against "good words."
People are evolved from animals, and there are more or less traces of animals on them; As long as people, whether great or ordinary, have a human side and an animal side. The real connotation of human civilization is to enhance human nature to the greatest extent and to overcome animal nature as much as possible. How much human nature has a great relationship with a person's status. Animal elements in people of high and low status are easy to spread and grow. The former does not care about the means of survival; The latter will abuse power at will. The emperor of China, because of his high position, has the conditions to release the long-suppressed animal nature, which will spread like wildfire in late autumn. It's not that people with strong self-control can't stop it from hurting the fish in the pool.
The animality of human beings is also known as the weakness of human nature, and the most harmful performance is to indulge in abusing power and love to listen to good words. The weakness of ordinary people, due to the limitations of conditions, generally does not cause great social harm; The emperor holds the power of life and death. If his human weakness is not strictly controlled, it will cause great social harm and irreparable serious consequences. Outstanding emperors in history set many commendable examples in controlling their weaknesses, but Li Shimin the Great did the best and was consistent.
Listening to good words is almost a common problem of human beings, and the preference of power figures for good words has reached an incredible level. Throughout history, only a few of those kings who died were defeated by powerful enemies, and most of them were defeated by sweet words around them. Only those rare intelligent people will not be misled by good words. Li Shimin the Great is one of them. He knows that most good words have ulterior motives, so he is especially wary of flattery. He often warns officials around him: "If the monarch is headstrong and thinks he is smarter than others, his subordinates will certainly flatter him. As a result, the monarch lost his country and his men could not live alone. Yu Shiqi, the prime minister of Sui Dynasty, tried to curry favor with Yang Guang in order to save his wealth, but he ended up dead. You should take this as a warning. If you have opinions on state affairs, you must tell them frankly, and don't report good news without reporting worries. "
Minister Wang Zhongsong (the head of the provincial government, ranking similar to the Prime Minister) met Li Shimin. When he saw the beautiful concubine of King Lujiang who ruined his country standing next to the emperor, he gave this woman a meaningful look. When Li Shimin saw what was in his eyes, he said, "This is the concubine of King Lujiang. King Lujiang heard that she was quite arrogant, so he killed her husband and forcibly took her for himself. He is so cruel and heartless, how can he not die! " Wang Shizhong asked, "Does your Majesty think King Lujiang is right or wrong?" Li Shimin answered simply: "What is right or wrong to kill a person and marry a wife!" Wang Zhongshi retorted, "Since your majesty knew that King Lujiang had made a mistake, why did you keep his concubines for yourself? Isn't this the same mistake as King Lujiang? " Li Shimin was deeply moved by this impatient "crazy talk": "Thanks to your outspoken reminder, I almost didn't know", and immediately sent the woman out of the court and gave Wang Shi a reward.
In 623, Wei Zhi accused Li Shimin of every fault in the hall before the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs, and didn't give Li Shimin face at all, so that Li Shimin's patience finally reached its limit. He immediately went back to the palace in great anger and said to the eldest grandson queen who came to meet him, "I will kill this plowman one day!" " When the eldest grandson asked the farmer who he was, Li Shimin said, "Wei Zhi, of course." He always insults me in public. "Empress's grandson is also a rare outstanding woman in ancient times. After hearing this, she immediately put on her official clothes and met the emperor solemnly: "I heard that Jun was an upright minister and Wei Zhi was an upright man. It is because of my husband's wisdom that I cannot congratulate you. " In the face of such a wise wife, Li Shimin's anger vanished at once.
The prosperity of Zhenguan Dynasty is unmatched by any dynasty in China. There have been several powerful dynasties in the history of China, and the symbol of prosperity is nothing more than enriching the country and the people. The wealth of the Tang Dynasty empire is evidenced by a poem by Du Fu, a great poet, who said, "I recall that in the prosperous era of Kaiyuan, there were still thousands of households in a small town, and the rice was rich and the public and private granaries were rich ...". In line with the high development of productive forces, the international prestige of the Tang Dynasty also reached its peak, and foreign wars won successive victories. It has maintained a continuous offensive posture for more than 100 years and its territory has expanded extremely. The vast territories of Korea, Mobei and the Western Regions have been merged into Chinese territory one after another, and the territory of the Western Regions reaches the stone country on the east bank of the Aral Sea (Tashkent City in Central Asia). In addition to these well-known fruitful achievements, the civilization degree of Zhenguan Dynasty was second to none in the world at that time. The following achievements made the Han nationality the best nation in the world known at that time.
First, social order is unprecedentedly stable.
The social order in Zhenguan Dynasty is incredibly good, and it doesn't close all night. In 630, only 29 prisoners in China were sentenced to death. In 632, the number of death row inmates increased to 290. At the end of this year, Li Shimin allowed them to go home and deal with their affairs, and they will die when they come back next autumn (Guqiu execution). In September of the following year, all 290 prisoners were put back, and none escaped. At that time, China's political civilization, officials performed their duties, people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and there were few unfair phenomena, and there were not many grievances in the hearts of Chinese people. People who have plenty of food and clothing will not take risks to survive; People with a peaceful mind are not easy to go to extremes, so the probability of committing a crime is very small.
Second, open national borders.
The Tang Empire was the most civilized and powerful country in the world at that time, and Chang 'an, the capital, was a cosmopolitan metropolis, just like new york in the United States today. At that time, the Tang Empire was the "sunshine zone" in the eyes of people with lofty ideals all over the world, and outstanding talents from all over the world risked their lives to rush to the Tang Empire. After seeing the high prosperity and civilization of the Tang Dynasty empire, the envoys of various countries felt that their country was almost like an uncivilized "virgin forest", and they did not want to return to China and tried their best to stay. China's highly developed culture makes most people from all countries who come to China proud that they are from China (which reminds people of the green card of the United States today). Not only the capital Chang 'an, but also "expatriates" from all over the country have settled here, especially the emerging commercial cities. There are more than 200,000 western expatriates in Guangzhou alone. Zhenguan Dynasty is a rare open dynasty in the history of China. There are no strict restrictions on the entry of foreigners and the exit of China people, that is, they are not worried that China people will forget their roots after going out; I'm not worried about foreigners coming in and usurping the role of master. This alone shows the high self-confidence of Zhenguan dynasty, which is convinced that its country is the most civilized and prosperous land in the world and is not worried that foreign culture will drown it. The national quality of Zhenguan Dynasty was so high that it did not discriminate against or cater to foreigners, nor did it blindly exclude foreigners or "take out food", showing a supercilious national temperament and kingly demeanor. Foreigners in China enjoy the same civil rights as people in China, just like people in China are at home. They can not only make a fortune, but also be an official in politics. Many expatriates from the Arab Empire and Japan hold official posts in China, and some of them also hold senior ministerial positions.
In addition to accepting a large number of foreign immigrants, the Tang Empire also received a batch of foreign students to study advanced culture in China. Only Japanese students at public expense received seven batches, each with hundreds of students. Private self-funded international students far exceed this figure. After returning from their studies, these Japanese students carried out the first modernization movement in Japan-"Great Change and New Change", that is, the China Movement, all of which imitated the Zhenguan Dynasty at that time and made the Japanese nation in the primitive tribal state leap forward for a thousand years.
1200 years later, the Japanese empire carried out the second modernization movement, fully accepted western culture, and made itself leap for hundreds of years again, stepping on the former teacher and creating two terrible massacres in the teacher's "yard".
The Japanese nation is not smart, it is just good at learning. This nation, which is half a beat slower than others, has one of the greatest advantages-backwardness but not stubbornness. When foreign civilizations invade, they always take the initiative to accept cultures that are more advanced than themselves, and accept the advanced achievements of human civilization in the fastest and simplest way, thus quickly jumping into the ranks of advanced nations.
It is not terrible for a nation to lag behind, but stubbornness is the most terrible!
Third, the only dynasty without corruption.
China officialdom corruption germs are pervasive, so that most people in China think that corruption is an incurable disease of human society, and as long as there are "officials", corruption cannot be avoided. When international students returning from Britain, America and other countries tell their relatives and friends that corruption has been basically eliminated in these countries, few people don't think he is talking nonsense. In fact, corruption is not a common phenomenon in human society, and many countries with high civilization have basically eliminated corruption. Not only the United States, Britain and other modern powers, but also Singapore with China as the main body has basically put an end to corruption.
Basically putting an end to corruption here does not mean completely putting an end to corruption, but it means that corruption is a very rare phenomenon in the whole officialdom. The amount of corruption is not large (the amount of corruption in one year generally does not exceed this person's salary in one year), and it will not last long (few people commit crimes for more than three years in a row), and it will be exposed soon, hell to pay. The Clinton incident is the biggest scandal in American politics, but a China man said: A village head in our country is many times more romantic than Clinton, and the American president is really a coward. ...
Zhenguan Dynasty is the only dynasty in China history without corruption, which is perhaps Li Shimin's most noteworthy achievement. In Li Shimin's China, the emperor took the lead in setting an example, and officials were dedicated to the public, and they did their jobs. Abuse of power and corruption and dereliction of duty have fallen to an all-time low. What is commendable is that Li Shimin did not use harsh laws to warn corruption, but mainly set an example and set up a political system as scientific as possible to prevent corruption. In the face of a shrewd and self-disciplined ruler, officials have little motivation for corruption, and it is not easy for corrupt officials to find hiding places. Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty punished corruption the most severely, and all corrupt officials were punished by peeling, but the number of corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty was rare in history. It can be seen that the prevention of corruption mainly depends on the scientific and civilized political system, and the attack afterwards can only be effective for a while, and the social soil on which corruption depends cannot be eradicated from its roots.
Fourth, the preliminary attempt of decentralization system.
China's feudal system is characterized by a high degree of centralization of power, with local governments obeying the central government and the central government only obeying the emperor. This highly centralized political system greatly limits people's creativity, initiative and flexibility, which can easily lead to tyranny.
The central government organization of feudal society in China implemented the system of "three provinces and six departments", but the division of power among the three provinces in Zhenguan period initially reflected the modern political characteristics-the principle of separation of powers. Zhongshu Province issued an order, Xiamen Province reviewed the order, and Shangshu Province executed the order. The formation of the decree, first of all, the prime minister held a meeting in the government affairs hall in Zhongshu Province, and then reported the resolution to the emperor for approval, and then Zhongshu Province issued an imperial decree in the name of the emperor. Before the imperial edict is issued, it must be submitted to the provincial government for examination and approval. If the provincial government considers it inappropriate, it may refuse to sign. If the imperial edict lacks countersignature, it cannot be promulgated according to law. Only after the "countersignature" of the provincial government, the imperial edict became the official decree of the country and was handed over to Shangshu Province for implementation. This political operation is very similar to the "separation of powers" system in modern democratic countries. The theory of separation of powers, which arose in the west17th century, was applied to China's political system by Li Shimin as early as 1000 years ago, which showed how high the civilization level of Zhenguan dynasty was. The most commendable thing is that Li Shimin stipulated that his letter must be countersigned by the door before it can take effect, thus effectively preventing him from making hasty decisions damaging his reputation when he was in a bad mood on a whim. There are 853 emperors in the history of China, and only Li Shimin has such outstanding wisdom and mind (Washington, the founding emperor of the United States, is a bit like his students).
5. Highly developed business.
The economic characteristics of the feudal dynasty in China were "emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce". The proportion of commerce in the national economy was quite low, and the status of businessmen was several times lower than that of farmers. This is also the main reason why China's feudal economy has not been substantially developed.
Zhenguan dynasty is the only feudal dynasty that does not discriminate against business. Not only is there no discrimination, but it also provides many convenient conditions for business development, which further reflects Li Shimin's foresight. Under the advocacy of Li Shimin government, the commercial economy in Zhenguan period has made great progress, and new commercial cities have mushroomed. At that time, more than half of the world-famous commercial cities were concentrated in China. In addition to JIAOZHOU, Guangzhou, Mingzhou and Fuzhou along the coast, there are also Hongzhou (Nanchang, Jiangxi), Yangzhou and Yizhou (Chengdu) inland, and Shazhou (Dunhuang, Gansu) and Liangzhou (Wuwei, Gansu) in the northwest. The capitals Chang 'an and Luoyang are both international metropolises.
The "Silk Road" of world civilization is the link between the eastern and western material civilizations, but this commercial passage reached its highest use value in the Tang Dynasty. The territory of the Tang Dynasty was unprecedented. Four military towns (four towns in Anxi) have been established in the western regions, and the western border directly reaches the stone country in Central Asia (now Kazakhstan), which provides a stable social order and effective guarantee for business travel between the East and the West. As a result, commercial travel on the Silk Road emerges one after another, and all kinds of commodities pass between the East and the West, making the Silk Road a golden corridor for the whole world.
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Looking back at the glorious civilization history of Zhenguan Dynasty, we can easily draw a conclusion that the Chinese nation was once the best nation in the world, and China people were once the best citizens! What attitude should we take when China people today look back on the glorious past of their ancestors? It is clinging to the "four great inventions" and "ancient civilization" and deceiving yourself with the halo of drifting away; Or should we reflect on ourselves and transform ourselves? Make a decision for everyone in China!
Emperor Taizong, a famous monarch of one generation
The merits of Zhenguan will last forever.
Emperor Taizong reigned for twenty-three years. Although his dominant position in China was far inferior to that of Kangxi and Qianlong in Qing Dynasty, his achievements were the most outstanding in history. Thanks to his efforts, the Tang Dynasty was in a leading position in world politics, economy and culture at that time. The politics and economy of ancient Japanese society are almost copies of the Tang Dynasty. Up to now, the central provinces of Japan (equivalent to the ministries of China) originated from the three-province system in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, later generations used "the rule of Zhenguan" to express their affirmation of Tang Taizong's political achievements, as well as their admiration and yearning for the peaceful and prosperous times in Zhenguan period.
First, sum up experience and lessons, and choose Ren Xian as the official and coachable as the magnanimous one.
After Emperor Taizong acceded to the throne, he adopted new suggestions, mainly focusing on how to deal with people who originally belonged to Prince Dongfang Group. Wei Chijingde said that killing too many people is not conducive to the stability of the country. Therefore, Emperor Taizong treated the people of the former Prince School with a tolerant attitude and entrusted talented people with a heavy responsibility. Wei Zhi is a famous example. Emperor Taizong's tolerance resolved many contradictions, and also gave many people who stood on the opposite side a chance to change and became useful talents in governing the country.
Because Emperor Taizong adopted a tolerant policy, he established a new central decision-making team in the shortest time. In addition to the original subordinates of Emperor Taizong, there are also people from Li Yuan Group. In the new leading group, due to the disappearance of Li, the original contradiction between them was eliminated and a common strategy was planned for the country. Retaining talents to the greatest extent is a very important reason for Zhenguan's rule.
After the successful formation of the leading group, Emperor Taizong and his ministers summarized the lessons of the demise of the Sui Dynasty. Emperor Taizong saw and experienced the rise and fall of the Sui Dynasty with his own eyes. In his eyes, the Sui Dynasty was originally a big empire with strong strength, especially economic strength. Therefore, Emperor Yang Di can show off to the merchants in the western regions, invite them to come, entertain them with excellent material life, and finally reward them with a lot of property. It is estimated that the grain reserves of the Sui Dynasty were enough for fifty years, but it only took Yang Di more than ten years to make this huge and powerful empire fall apart, and he himself came to an end tragically.
In order to maintain the long-term stability of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong earnestly summed up the lessons of the demise of the Sui Dynasty, and he summed up three reasons. First, extravagance and waste cost is high. In order to appreciate the palace, Emperor Yang Di completely renovated it and built a canal to visit the south by boat. Second, life is corrupt. In order to satisfy their greed, let the whole country present rare treasures and a large number of beautiful women. Third, too many wars consume national strength. Yang Di's eastward expedition to Korea was overjoyed, not worth the loss. In addition, other wars made people miserable, which eventually intensified social contradictions and led to the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
Under the contrast of painful lessons, Emperor Taizong made up his mind to carry out thorough governance. With the cooperation of Qi Xin, a subordinate minister, Zhenguan governance unfolded a beautiful and brilliant picture in the history of China.
The selection and appointment of officials is an important link in governing the country and the first starting point for Emperor Taizong to govern the country. At the beginning of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the tradition of valuing martial arts over writing handed down from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties remained unchanged. Many ministers were born in the army and fought bravely and invincible, but governing the country is no longer an industry. Therefore, Emperor Taizong set the criteria for selecting officials in two important aspects, one is talent, and the other is virtue. This fundamentally affected the system of selecting officials and examinations in the Tang Dynasty. Officials below grade six are selected by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Military Affairs. There are four basic criteria: setting an example (rich in physical appearance), distinguishing words (beautiful in writing) and judging (excellent in arts and sciences). In addition, they were selected step by step by virtue, talent and labor. Officials with more than five grades are assessed according to their achievements, and finally the emperor decides for himself. Because of this, the regular script of the Tang Dynasty is second to none in history, producing calligraphers like Yan Zhenqing, and there are so many poets in the Tang Dynasty because the imperial examination relies on poems and songs.
Although Emperor Taizong was hungry when choosing officials, he didn't lower his standards because he wanted talent. He is strictly measured by talent and ability. He has a famous saying, that is, you can't avoid your relatives if you raise them internally, and you can't avoid your enemies if you raise them externally. That was very reasonable, but later some corrupt officials used it as an excuse for their nepotism and nepotism. Under the correct standards, Emperor Taizong brought many talented people into the high-level leadership group, including many people under former Prince Li. After Li's death, many people in the East Palace Group wanted to find opportunities to harm Emperor Taizong, at least psychologically. However, Emperor Taizong treated these people sincerely, regarded them as his own, and appointed officials according to their abilities, thus winning many people to work for them. Wei Zhi's example is the best proof. His direct suggestion shows that he is very grateful to Emperor Taizong. We now have a saying that "beating is kissing and scolding is love, and not beating and scolding is teaching bad." This used to mean that children are educated by the people, but they hate iron for not turning into steel. Compared with Wei Zhi's advice, this seems inappropriate, but it can also explain some problems. Frankly speaking, remonstrance shows that Wei Zhi is a true loyal minister. All he knows is that the ministers who please the emperor but don't remonstrate are traitors, traitors and traitors.
Emperor Taizong also attached great importance to the personal morality of officials, especially to the selection of local officials. He believes that local officials directly manage the people on behalf of the country, and their quality is related to the people's attitude towards the country. He ordered the county magistrate to be recommended by officials with more than five grades in Beijing, while the secretariat was personally selected by him. In order to choose a good secretariat, Emperor Taizong made great efforts. He wrote down the name of the National Secretariat on the screen in his bedroom, and recorded their merits and demerits in time according to various information as an important reference for future assessment. In addition, local officials report to Beijing at the end of each year, and their achievements are completely assessed by the official department. Finally, they decide to upgrade or downgrade according to the appeasement level.
In addition to these selection and assessment measures, Emperor Taizong also made use of the imperial examination system implemented in the Sui Dynasty, increased the way of selecting officials, expanded the scope of selection, and provided good opportunities for ordinary scholars, which was more reasonable than the original recommendation system. On one occasion, Emperor Taizong looked at a large number of people taking the new exam and said happily that all the talents in the world had come to serve me. There are two kinds of imperial examinations, one is held frequently and regularly, and the other is held temporarily by the emperor. In the past, people with official positions can be promoted through examination, and those without official positions can be awarded official positions through examination. Later, during the period of Wu Zetian, there was a martial arts move to test the martial arts of "ma bu" or horse stance just look, which was one of the conditions for selecting military attache. Later, Guo Ziyi, a famous soldier who made great achievements in pacifying the Anshi Rebellion, stood out in this martial arts exercise.
At the same time, Emperor Taizong streamlined the organization. During the Sui Dynasty, there were as many as 2,500 central government officials, and there was basically no change after Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty. The appointed party was responsible for adjusting and streamlining the organization, and finally determined that the number of officials was 640, which improved the work efficiency and greatly reduced the government expenditure.
In order to manage local officials seriously, Emperor Taizong also divided the whole country into ten roads according to geographical conditions, namely, Guannei, Henan, Hedong, Hebei, Shannan, Longyou, Huainan, Jiangnan, Jiannan and Lingnan. Then, from among the senior officials in Beijing, we selected the customs ambassadors, toured the four places, assessed local officials and decided on rewards and punishments.
Emperor Taizong's appointment of talents is also very distinctive. He can know people well and give full play to their strengths. Fang and Du Ruhui, famous in history, are a typical example. They are not good at solving crimes and handling chores, but good at planning and deciding state affairs, so they are used as prime ministers to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses. Dai Zhou, who knew nothing about history, was honest, so he was invited to Dali Temple to be a young official and be responsible for hearing cases. As a result, he was extremely capable and never had a backlog of cases, which won the appreciation of Emperor Taizong.
With the correct and strict criteria for selecting officials and the joint efforts of the monarch and ministers, many talented officials appeared in Zhenguan period. In 643 AD (the seventeenth year of Zhenguan), Emperor Taizong asked the painter to paint portraits of twenty-four heroes in Lingyange. This is the outstanding minister in Zhenguan period, including the familiar Wuji, Fang, Du Ruhui, Chai Shao, Li Jing and Qin, and even some famous painters and painters, such as Yan and Ou Yangxun. These famous ministers jointly contributed to the rule of Zhenguan and the splendid culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
The reason why Emperor Taizong was respected in the history of China is directly related to his extraordinary bearing in coachable, and he is also the most prominent in coachable. He and Wei Zhi became the first famous monarchs and ministers in history.
Wei Zhi famously said, "If you listen to everything, you will know; If you prefer it, you will find it is dark. " This sentence is still frequently quoted by us. At that time, Emperor Taizong kept in mind Wei Zhi's advice. With good guiding ideology, easy lessons have a good foundation and premise. Wei Zhi's reuse by Emperor Taizong also has a lot to do with his tolerance. Emperor Taizong asked Wei Zhi at the beginning: "Why do you provoke our brotherhood?" Wei Zhi did not beg for mercy, but stubbornly said, "If the prince had listened to me earlier, there would not be today's ending." Emperor Taizong appreciated his frankness, so he treated him with courtesy. According to his honest and frank nature, he was appointed as an admonition officer. After three years of Zhenguan, he was appointed as prime minister and became a famous minister of Zhenguan.
Emperor Taizong's generosity was also reflected in his attitude towards Wei Chijingde. It turned out that Wei Chijingde was a general under Liu Wuzhou. In 620 (the third year of Wude), he surrendered to Emperor Taizong with another general. After a short time, they rebelled again. People suspected that Wei Chijingde was going to rebel, so they imprisoned him and suggested that Emperor Taizong kill him. But Emperor Taizong said, "If he wants to rebel, will he still fall behind Xiang Qiu?" At this time, Wei Chijingde was released and comforted: "A gentleman promised. Please don't take this little misunderstanding to heart. I will never listen to what others say to hurt loyal warriors. " Wei Chijingde was deeply moved and later became Emperor Taizong.