Xu Cai and his companions walked into the Zhizhishi Yamen. When they saw that no one was talking, they couldn't help but be cautious. When they arrived in the backyard, they saw a newly built shed and a group of officials busy.

Inside the shed, there is a table in front. In front of the table, there are rows of square tables, and behind each square table there is a chair. There is a small sign on the table with the name written on it. After finding his name, Xu

Then he sat down carefully.

A public official placed teacups on each table, and a publican behind him brought hot water to make tea. Xu Cai took the teacup and looked at it. The brew in it was the best Xinyang Maojian. He would not drink it unless he was entertaining guests.

That kind of Xin Dao Zhi Zhi Si is really rich, using such good tea.

After a while, Wang Xiaolie came in with Chen Yuyi and Wang Ruohai and sat down at the table in front.

Looking at the crowd, Wang Xiaolie said: "You people are recently recruited, and what you do is different from others. In my opinion, what you do is pragmatic, while other officials do pragmatic things. However,

, I heard someone say that you are all sinecures."

Having said this, Wang Xiaolie smiled and said: "It is wrong to say that you are idlers. The government is not that rich and supports so many idlers. But what you do is indeed different from ordinary officials. This point needs to be explained.

clear."

"Since ancient times, Chinese politics has had a tradition of recording history. In ancient times, there were Zhu Xia Shi and Yu Shi, and now there are also Ju She Ren and Ju Lang. This mainly records the affairs of the central court, especially the emperor. In addition,

There are also records of folk affairs. However, since the Qin Dynasty, folk affairs have not been paid attention to, and gradually no officials are doing these things. How can this be done? You officials are specially recruited to record folk affairs. Speaking of which

, is a kind of historian."

"In various official examinations, those in charge of administration will take an exam on "Book of Rites", as well as "Book of Rites" and "Spring and Autumn Annals"; those in charge of criminal law will take an exam on "Book of Rites" and "Book of Rites"; those in charge of etiquette and law will take an exam on "Book of Rites" and "Book of Rites"

Examine "Book of Songs" and "Book of Songs". And you mainly examine "Book of Songs" and "Spring and Autumn". All this has just begun and will be gradually improved. Many people are not clear about it, so I will explain it here."

"The Book of Songs is the first of the Five Classics, and its importance is self-evident. But there are always divergent opinions about what the Book of Songs actually writes and what issues it explains. Regardless of the debates among classics scholars, in my opinion, the Book of Songs is

The history of the people. Let us know what the people were like in that era in addition to the important events in the court. What emotions did ordinary people have, what yearnings they had, what hopes they had, and what dissatisfaction they had. For our descendants, "The Book of Songs"

" is not only beautiful in words, but more importantly, it leaves behind the style of that era. You people are doing the things of those officials who recorded the content of "The Book of Songs" in the pre-Qin Dynasty. I hope you can do a good job and preserve this

The style of the times.”

Having said this, Wang Xiaolie took a sip of tea and said nothing, letting the officials below collect their thoughts.

From the "Book of Songs" in the pre-Qin Dynasty, to the poetry of the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, to the tunes and lyrics of the Tang Dynasty, to the scripts of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, to the novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this is a development line, and it is the description of folk history by Chinese literati. And the Han Dynasty

Fu, Tang poetry, and Song poetry are the expressions of literati. It can be clearly seen that after the Han Dynasty, the court did not pay attention to such folk history and did not have dedicated personnel to do it.

It is wrong to place Ming and Qing novels after Han Fu, Tang poetry, and Song poetry. They do not belong to the same system. After the Song Dynasty, if Yuan opera still has some literati color, the Ming and Qing novels have little to do with literati. Strictly

Generally speaking, novelists are not considered literati, they just read, read, and write novels. This is why their works contain the most vivid people's livelihood.

From the experience of the previous life, Wang Xiaolie knew how important the people were to the country. If the history of a country lacked the vivid lives of the people, a large part would be missing. For the political power, this part must be made up.

stand up.

Of course, setting up such a large group of officials is not just to record people's lives. Their more important role is to provide power support for the regime. Only by knowing clearly what the people think can we know what the regime is going to do.

There is such a relationship between the political power and the people. The people provide the source of power for the political power, and the political power educates and guides the people. Changes in the people's thinking promote the reform of the political power. This is a mutually reinforcing relationship, and neither side is missing.

whole.

Putting down the tea cup, Wang Xiaoxing said: "The history of the world is not just the history of the court, but also the history of the people. Without the history of the people, the history we record is incomplete. Of course, your job is not just to record the history of the people.

History, more importantly, is to understand the people's thoughts. The people's thoughts determine how we should govern and how the government should do its work. You are the source of ideas for the government's governance and the feedback of the government's governance. The government can only be closely connected with the people

Together, things can be done well.”

"We don't have many ancient books. Many things about the Yu, Tang, Xia and Shang Dynasties cannot be explained clearly. Starting from the Zhou Dynasty, it was said that the emperor received the mandate of heaven and pastored the people on behalf of heaven. What is the mandate of heaven? In fact, there was not much discussion in the pre-Qin Dynasty. By the Han Dynasty,

Emperor Wu deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism. One of the important contents was about the destiny of heaven. From natural disasters to man-made disasters, from earthquakes to nursery rhymes, to prophecies, there was a whole set of theories. This set of theories was impacted from the time of Wang Mang to the Han Dynasty.

It was basically lost after the Later Han Dynasty. In our era, what is the Mandate of Heaven? It is actually very vague. But how can a political power operate if it does not know the Mandate of Heaven? As a person in power, we cannot use ghosts and gods to falsely claim the Mandate of Heaven and deceive the people. Instead, we must use various means to

You must find a way to understand God's will and make your administration conform to God's will. In addition to recording history, you also have an important function, which is to find out God's will."

"How to find God's will? The source of this is a sentence in "Shang Shu, Tai Shi", Heaven sees and the people see, and Heaven hears and the people listen. Since Heaven sees and the people hear, then we

We need to know what the people saw, what they heard, and what they thought. So is God’s will the will of the people? No. If it’s so simple, what else should the government do? Instead, we need to know the will of the people, and thus the destiny of heaven. How to do it?

It must come from practice. There is nothing in the world. The result is determined before doing it. No matter how accurate your estimate is, it will only be very different."

"When we recruit you officials, firstly, we must remember the history of the people, and secondly, we must know the public opinion. On the basis of knowing the public opinion, we analyze what the destiny is. After analyzing the destiny, the political power governs according to the destiny. Instead of relying on this

If an official is virtuous, he is smart enough to govern. Officials are the executors of destiny, so the government's orders are sacred."

Having said this, Wang Xiaolie smiled and said to everyone: "Things about ghosts and gods are illusory and illusory. We don't know whether they exist. Since we don't know, how can we rely on ghosts and gods to guess destiny? The sky is high, what does it look like?

, we mortals don’t know. We can’t guess what we don’t know, as it will be wrong. Instead, we must try our best to find out using the methods we can think of. How to find out? The most reliable way is,

It is the people. Only by correctly understanding the people and paying attention to the people can we grasp the clues of destiny."

"The people we are talking about are living people, but they are not just ordinary people. A man is smart and brave, and a woman is virtuous and beautiful. Everyone who comes into contact knows that they get married and form a family. What does this family look like?

, cannot be known just by the appearance of this man and this woman. For a political power, the destiny is roughly the same. We not only need to know what the people think individually, but also what the family thinks, what the clan thinks, and various collectives.
Chapter completed!