In his previous life, Gao Pragmatic once heard a sentence in a movie that made him love and hate him: Children only distinguish between right and wrong, while adults only look at pros and cons.
This sentence is loved because it is truly true; it is hated because it makes many people feel embarrassed.
Gao Pragmatic himself is one of them.
After hearing this sentence, he once reflected on himself: Am I only looking at the pros and cons?
Later, he came to the conclusion that he did not "only look at the pros and cons." But to be honest, when faced with things, he would indeed analyze the pros and cons first. As for right and wrong, most of the time, only when the "pros and cons" have less influence -
—At least you won’t persist until it’s a matter of life and death.
This made him quite frustrated, but he had nothing to do. After all, a pure view of right and wrong cannot guide people to success. Only proper compromise with interests can do it.
In particular, he is a political person, and politics is the art of compromise.
Acton said: "Compromise is the soul of politics, if not all of it". Dahl also said: "Political politics depends on compromise."
This is true at all times and in all countries.
Otherwise, why would Gao Gong compromise with Xu Jie's party? It would be over if he were simply killed.
But behind the political struggle, there is no doubt that it is not driven by interests. It is just that some of these interests are more focused on individuals, and some are more focused on the country.
Gao Pragmatism never thinks that anyone should completely abandon personal interests to satisfy the country. It is almost impossible - even if you are as pure as Hai Rui, who knows if you don't value money but only love reputation? Reputation is also a benefit.
However, he agreed with another point of view that seemed to be completely opposite: if the basic interests of the country are completely eroded by many personal interests, these personal interests will eventually be unable to be saved. Isn’t this how the Ming Dynasty in history was destroyed by the Donglin Party and its people behind the scenes?
Were they tricked by interest groups?
Therefore, if you really want to "do things", you can only compromise when you need to compromise.
How long has it been since the death of Daode? There is no way for boats and carriages to pass through. But there is no evil in the teachings, and one can stand in the midst of tigers and wolves.
Keep the bottom line in your heart and use your methods to the world. This is the rule Gao Pragmatic has set for himself in this life.
One of the methods is to find opportunities for some elderly ministers to win the privilege of serving as public servants in the Forbidden City.
Because the trip to the Hanlin Academy just now made him realize that as a little kid who was "lucky" to study with the prince without passing the imperial examination, even with the background of "Long Wen Whip Shadow", his reputation may not be much better.
If you go, you will probably be like Liu Wei, who will be regarded as a "dandy" by the orthodox scholars.
Of course Gao Jingshi wanted to take the imperial examination. This was something he had to do in his plan, but it would take time after all. Although he was somewhat confident about the success of the imperial examination for some reasons, no matter how confident he was, he didn't feel that
I am now capable enough to take part in the examination and get on the gold list.
So during this period of time, the title above my head has always been that of a "lucky minister" and a "dandy". What is great is that I am a dude with a certain level.
Therefore, we must take a multi-pronged approach. First, as Sanbo said, take the scientific examination next year. As long as you take the exam yourself, this kind of controversy and contempt will be greatly reduced, because it is impossible for others to say that you are pragmatic and not direct.
It's rubbish to pass the entrance examination in one round, right? The exam also has rules, no matter how good you are, you have to take the test step by step.
Second, we must try our best to gain a good reputation for ourselves, especially among scholars and civil servants. This is also very important. The tiger skin of reputation is sometimes better than the diamond shield in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, just like the
Hai Rui was impeached by various conspirators some time ago. The Secretary of General Affairs received a memorial to impeach Hai Rui and received a roll of his eyes. However, not a single person among those impeached was accused of corruption and accepting bribes.
So the next question is, what kind of reputation does high pragmatism require?
Before today's "soft boycott" incident at the Hanlin Academy, he was only making a fuss about "youth and talent". What's remarkable is that through Liu Xian's "pacification" of Bailixia, he also gave himself a hint of fearlessness and upholding justice.
color.
But through today's events in the Hanlin Academy, he discovered that this was far from enough. He also needed another camouflage color - a camouflage color that could complement San Bo's high arch.
In other words, it is what Gao Gong is good at. You don't have to work too hard, because in the future, as long as you become famous and continue along Gao Gong's route, no one will question it - what is the origin of family education?
How strange? In this era, as a descendant, you have to take the opposite route from your predecessors, which will really arouse doubts.
As for the areas that Gao Gong is not good at, it is what he has to put effort and effort into doing well.
For example, Gao Gong is impatient and demanding. If the officials below him do something bad, he will not care about the occasion. If he scolds him, he will scold him.
When you do well, if you are asked to praise, you will be praised; if you are asked to be promoted, you will be promoted.
The former is obviously a character that easily offends others, and there is no need to explain this. Even the latter can easily cause controversy, because you cannot promote everyone. Those who have not been promoted will see their colleagues around them yesterday being demoted today.
How can you not feel jealous when entrusted with important responsibilities? Over time, Gao Gong may get a bad reputation as "whether he is punished or not depends entirely on happiness and anger."
This is only one aspect. The other aspect is to act with a high profile. Although the starting point is based on the principle of doing things for the country, due to his unusual relationship with the emperor, many positions seem to be directly standing next to the emperor.
As we all know, from the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty to the present day, the emperor and the civil servants have been in the process of fighting for power.
That would be troublesome. Because this is equivalent to Gao Gong seeming to be fighting against the civil servant group in many cases - it was also for this reason that Zhang Juzheng later in history was liquidated by Wanli after his death. Most civil servants around the world supported and applauded him.
It is not easy to be the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, and this is one of the reasons: you are the hub of adjustment. If you are too close to the emperor's position, you will offend all officials, just like Zhang Juzheng in history; if you are too close to all officials, you will offend all officials.
He would offend the emperor, just like Xu Jie before.
Although Gao Gong is not the chief assistant yet, he is already the same as the chief assistant. Secondly, it won't be long before he becomes the chief assistant. So he is also in this awkward position. It's just that his personality is there. Let him go.
There is no hope of being a complete ball bearing - he has the world in mind and is determined to reform.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic found that it is necessary for him to act as a lubricant during this period to ease the relationship between Gao Gong and many non-high-level civil servants. First, it is to make Gao Gong's various decisions less open-minded.
The secret resistance, secondly, also forged some good relationships for myself.
