My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 816: The People Get the King’s Virtue
Ma Su's articles are indeed strong in terms of logical reasoning and plausible reasoning.

Zhuge Jin also realized that after the unification of the world in the future, there would be a great need for theoretical scholars who could help promote his political philosophy theories.

Because to correct a wrong one must go too far.

The Han Dynasty had been practicing traditional Confucianism of Dong Zhongshu for hundreds of years, which had always required the emperor to fear heaven, and the fear of the people had to go through the intermediary of heaven. Therefore, the emperor's emphasis on the people and benevolent government was ultimately slightly inferior to that of Mencius in later generations after his status was elevated.

In addition, natural disasters and other calamities are irregular. Over time, the emperors all knew that "even if I do a good job, as long as there is a natural disaster, I still have to issue an edict of repentance", or they knew that "natural disasters have regular patterns, even if I do not do a good job, natural disasters will not come anyway". In this way, Dong Zhongshu's theory became increasingly weaker in its constraints on imperial power.

After all, Dong Zhongshu's theory is based on feudal superstition, while people's understanding of natural science will become more and more advanced.

Later, during the time of Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, both sides openly said, "We know what comets and solar eclipses are, and we also know that these things can be calculated, but we can only continue to pretend that we don't know, and take the opportunity to persuade the emperor to reduce taxes and levies/reduce penalties. We also know that this is deceiving ourselves, but this kind of deception can sometimes make the emperor restrain himself a little."

The brothers Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang will inevitably lead to the advancement of science and technology in China, as well as a general improvement in the level of understanding of nature. If the part of the theory that matches political philosophy with natural science is not upgraded, there will be very serious disasters in the future.

If the emperor knew more about the laws of nature but still adhered to Dong Zhongshu's theory, the emperors of later generations would most likely be more self-destructive than in history, because they knew that it was all a lie.

Zhuge Jin had to take responsibility for the side effects of his constructions, and the specific means of this guarantee was to replace "the interaction between heaven and man, and being responsible to heaven" with "respecting Mencius and advocating that the monarch be directly responsible for the overall interests and well-being of the people" as soon as possible.

At times like this, he desperately needed a theorist who could strike hard and attract hatred. Even if this person was a double-edged sword and might hurt people if put in a political position, Zhuge Jin would not miss it.

Just like when Darwin first promoted the theory of evolution, because it was so different from the traditional social cognition, there was huge resistance to opposition. At this time, he needed "Darwin's fighting dog" like Huxley to help him bite people.

Of course, Zhuge Jin also needs "Zhuge Jin's fighting dog".

At worst, we can just not put them in a practical political position, and let them do theoretical research for the rest of their lives. Similar to the liberal arts researchers in political philosophy schools in later generations. At worst, we can give them a more noble "rank/title".

It is still the work of a researcher, but it is possible that this researcher can eventually reach the administrative level of a ministerial/nine ministers.

……

Since he had made up his mind to employ Ma Su, Zhuge Jin took it upon himself to go to Liu Bei in person to plead for Ma Su.

Liu Bei did not understand writing very well. After Zhuge Jin gave it a rough look, Liu Bei just felt that this person's writing was too shocking, and he did not have the slightest respect for the mystery of authority and imperial power.

How come, in this person's opinion, imperial power, orthodoxy, and moral fortune can be measured just like money and grain accounts?
Most of the time during the Han Dynasty, the rule was a mixture of kingly and hegemonic ways. The Legalist ruling methods were also used, but the Legalist methods were not considered acceptable in public. Everyone just did it without saying anything, and everyone understood it in their hearts.

The Legalists believed most in “if punishment is unknown, then power is unpredictable”. If orthodoxy and virtue can be calculated, then how can power be unpredictable?

Of course, Liu Bei was already considered a very benevolent monarch. He only understood and used the Legalists' ideas, but he did not advocate them.

Even so, he still couldn't help but comment:
"This person is exaggerating. He should not be used for important tasks! Otherwise, he will inevitably cause trouble, and in the future, it may lead to disagreements and conflicts among several factions in the court."

Zhuge Jin had expected this, and said sincerely: "My opinion is to let Ma Su study for his whole life. Although he can be ranked higher this time, he will never be allowed to be a prime minister.

This has an additional benefit, which is that it does not leave the impression on people that "if you want to be a high-ranking official, you should get the best score when you first enter the government." This first imperial examination will have a huge reference value for future generations.

If Your Majesty can allow the first batch of candidates to be noble and dedicated to academic research instead of taking power and governing, then future candidates will not be too obsessed with their exam rankings. Those with good academic knowledge may not necessarily be the best officials. After all, academic knowledge is just a threshold. Lifelong achievements ultimately depend on subsequent training, experience, and whether one has the talent for governing. "

Zhuge Jin carefully considered his words and explained his design in detail.

He disliked the practice of "mostly university scholars come from the first class" in the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty. Because Zhuge Jin, as a modern man, knew very well that in order to do things well, one must have a high IQ and a high learning ability, but one does not need to be the best in learning. It is not that learning well is not important, but that people's talents and gifts have their own focuses. If one must learn well to the level of being among the top few in the country, then the selection range is too narrow, and there may be shortcomings in other aspects of ability.

It is enough to study to the level of a few hundred people in the country three years ago. Those who pass the exam have good learning ability. Later, we should look at other abilities to decide who should be in power in a realistic way.

One of the important reasons why the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty ended up like that was that after a long period of unification, the country also lacked a touchstone for assessing the practical ability of officials. Anyway, no matter who was the cabinet minister, the things that could be accomplished were the same, and it would be the same no matter who was replaced.

When encountering a Tartar invasion, if the Grand Secretary in power cannot defeat the enemy, and another Grand Secretary comes to organize and dispatch resources, he still cannot defeat the enemy. There is no difference between the actual administrative abilities, so the only thing left is pure learning.

It is like the 90s, when college graduates had good enough diplomas, they could find jobs anywhere. But later, as social channels became more numerous, startups became more numerous, and iron rice bowls became less common, academic qualifications became less important. At this time, to select talents, we need to relax the learning requirements a little bit, and then test other abilities and multi-dimensional assessments among those who can generally learn more than 90 points.

Having Ma Su rank among the top but never becoming a high-ranking official in his lifetime seems to be a good example.

Liu Bei thought about it and was finally convinced by Zhuge Jin's ideas.

"Since Ziyu has made up his mind, I have no objection to keeping him from ruling for the rest of his life. Selecting virtuous and capable people should be the responsibility of the prime ministers. The emperor should rule the country with ease. Now that the imperial examination has finally been held, I don't want the result to be affected by my personal likes and dislikes."

Liu Bei was very generous and magnanimous and adopted an attitude of "professionals do professional things". As a ruler, he should be a gentleman who does not use tools as tools and trusts the people he employs.

"I would like to thank Your Majesty on behalf of Ma Su for accepting my advice."

"Please bring the other lists here as well. I will just take a look and will not interfere."

Liu Bei added at the end that he was also helping Zhuge Jin to relieve his worries. As long as he had seen the results of all subsequent personnel appointments, the emperor could say "Si Tu has reported it to me", and no one could accuse Zhuge Jin of monopolizing power.

Zhuge Jin respectfully presented the name list and the selected papers. Liu Bei read them carefully, approved them all, and handed them over to the Situ Mansion to continue the announcement process.

……

A few days later, it was the day for the results to be announced.

The results of the imperial examination were posted at the entrance of the Imperial College. It is not quite appropriate to say that they were posted, because they were not posted at all. Instead, they were written directly on a stone tablet with a red pen, and people were asked to read the words on the stone.

Luoyang Imperial College had stone scriptures carved during the Xiping period of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty in the early years. They were written by Cai Yong, and then craftsmen were asked to carve them according to Cai Yong's handwriting, making the "finely edited version" of the Confucian Thirteen Classics available for scholars all over the world to copy. In those days, Zhuge Jin had not yet invented woodblock printing, and books were all passed down by hand copying. But later, during the Dong Zhuo Rebellion, Luoyang was burned down, and many stone tablets with scriptures were destroyed in the chaos of war.

Zhuge Jin certainly would not use a stone tablet with cultural value to write the list, but after years of destruction, there are some abandoned steles in front of the gate of Taixue with all the inscriptions completely erased, as well as empty steles left over from the time when the stone scriptures were carved.

Zhuge Jin asked someone to pick a stone. He did not need to carve any words, but wrote directly on the stone with vermilion lacquer. This made it appear solemn and could last longer than writing on paper, so that people all over the world would pay more attention to the imperial examination.

The words written in red lacquer will certainly be washed away in a few years or at most a dozen years, so that Ma Su's death will not last too long. By then, the purpose of promoting the imperial examination will be achieved, and it doesn't matter if the words are washed away.

The scholars who took the exam naturally came to see the list first, and the place outside the Imperial College was bustling with activity early in the morning.

"What? This first name is actually Ma Su from Xiangyang? Who is this person?"

"I heard that his brother Ma Liang was a capable subordinate of General Guan and came from Jingzhou. It seems that he has been with Your Majesty for some time."

"Alas, we scholars from Si, Ji, Yan, Yu and other states are really not valued! It turns out that the scholars from the south have won the championship! There is nothing we can do. It has not been a year since we returned to your majesty's rule. Your majesty must prefer to use the old people who have been with you for a long time!"

After seeing the results of the exam, some scholars from the Central Plains began to complain, and things did develop a little in the direction of regional corruption.

Fortunately, there were some knowledgeable people in the crowd who immediately refuted: "I heard that before the examination, Situ Du suddenly notified all examiners that the names on the papers would be covered. I also heard the news after the examination. This fairness is to prevent people from being selected based on their reputation. You are actually attacking the good government of the court without any evidence and making false statements!"

Most of the people who were making a fuss were reasonable. Moreover, the system of selecting officials through imperial examinations had not yet been abolished. Everyone was used to the environment where "if you have a good reputation and connections, you can become an official", so they didn't think it was unfair.

Many people just don’t know that Zhuge Jin adopted the anonymous name system, and have not heard any relevant news yet.

There were many people talking at the moment, and after someone helped to explain the situation, most of the troublemakers calmed down.

To be honest, Situ’s idea of a anonymous name system can at least shut up more than 80% of the people who would otherwise feel it’s unfair.

Of course, since we have mouths on our bodies, there will always be one or two people who just don't accept it and want to criticize, which is also human nature.

There are over a hundred people of all kinds and among thousands of candidates, there are always dozens of troublemakers among them.

For a while, the situation could not be said to be completely under control.

……

Of course, everything that happened when the list was being read outside the Imperial College was immediately reported to the Situ Mansion and the Shangshu Terrace, and to the ears of the Zhuge brothers.

Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang met urgently to discuss countermeasures.

Zhuge Liang thought: "Brother, if you are not afraid that Ma Su will be hated by more scholars, why not publish the papers of Ma Su and several other candidates with higher rankings, so that people in the world will naturally know what is good about them.

Although Ma Su's article is a bit shocking, since we dare to accept it, we must dare to publish it, because sooner or later it will cause people all over the world to debate about orthodoxy, virtue, and whether the people are more important than the monarch. Even Your Majesty has read the paper and accepted Mencius's view that the people are more important than the monarch, so what do we have to worry about?
Once the test papers are published, we can take strong measures to maintain order. If there are still people causing trouble, the number of people will definitely not be large, and we can completely punish them for spreading rumors and slandering the government."

Zhuge Liang still respected openness of speech and knew that he could not prevent scholars from speaking out, but there was a limit to this, that is, you could not spread rumors. If you said that the court had done something that it clearly had not done, and it was not a rumor based on subjective judgment but a rumor based on objective facts, then you would definitely be severely punished.

Just like this time, you can speculate that "Si Tu and Shang Shu Ling may be more inclined to use the children of the old subordinates who have followed them for many years."

But you cannot say that the court did not implement the anonymous name system when the court clearly did, or say things like "the court only pretended to implement the real-name system and actually made other marks" without any evidence.

This is a fabrication from an objective implementation perspective, where the court is said to have done things that they did not do, and anyone caught will be severely punished.

Zhuge Jin thought about it and agreed with it, so he accepted his second brother's suggestion and immediately sent someone to carry it out.

So the papers of Ma Su and others were displayed at the Imperial College on the same day. Of course, this display did not prevent Ma Su and other admitted scholars from entering the palace to meet His Majesty and accept Liu Bei's banquet and interview.

This shocking paper really caused a huge uproar, shocking many stubborn and corrupt scholars who were superstitious about the connection between heaven and man. There was constant controversy in the court for a while.

Many people jumped out and even wanted to criticize Zhuge Jin and Ma Su to Liu Bei, but in the end they were rebuked by Liu Bei himself at the grand court meeting:

"I also think that the movement of the sun, moon and stars can be calculated. The Minister of the Interior and the Minister of the Chancellery have calculated for me that solar eclipses, comets and other so-called disasters will occur on the date and month of the year, regardless of the existence of Yao or the demise of Jie.

If this is the case, it can be seen that Dong Zhongshu's theory at that time was due to his poor mathematical skills and his lack of understanding of the algorithms for the movement of the heaven and earth. Now that he knew the accumulated problems, he naturally had to get rid of them.

I think Mencius's words, 'The people are the most important, the state is second, and the ruler is the least important,' are correct. Whether a ruler is virtuous does not need to rely on celestial phenomena or auspicious signs. It only needs to be calculated whether the people have benefited. If the people have benefited, then the ruler is virtuous, and there is no need to say more about this matter."

Since Liu Bei said this himself, those who criticized him were naturally speechless. It seemed that there was nothing else they could do except to praise Your Majesty for his benevolence which far surpassed that of his predecessors.

But many people still feel that Liu Bei’s son had no regrets about selling his father’s land: so many emperors before him relied on playing mysterious, making the emperor become a vague state of "the power of heaven is hard to predict, and the virtue or not is hard to estimate."

Now, Your Majesty actually allows the use of mathematical and financial algorithms to measure the morality of the dynasty. Isn't this throwing away the ambiguity of your own power? Will your descendants be restrained from doing bad things in the future?
I guess in the future when our descendants want to live a life of luxury, do bad things and spend money like crazy, they will resent the ancestral teachings.

Many people do not hesitate to speculate with the greatest malice: Liu Bei did this just to support Zhuge Jin's philosophical proposition, emphasizing that "Han had the original virtue and the original virtue of the position of emperor. Because Qin did not conform to what Zhuge Jin said, it became without virtue from the beginning."

But in order to obtain Yuande, Liu Bei was willing to restrict the actions of future emperors when they spent money lavishly. This price was high and cruel enough.

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PS: Sorry, maybe because the book is almost finished, I let myself go again. I was afraid to write about political philosophy for a long time for the sake of grades, fearing that the public would find it boring. But now that the book is finished, it doesn’t matter if it affects the subscription grades later, and there are only a few chapters left. So I just want to say whatever I want to say, sorry.

(End of this chapter)