In order to ensure the selection and promotion of qualified personnel, the state has vigorously developed education on the one hand; on the other hand, it has constantly explored and improved the system of selecting officials. "ZTE is talent-oriented", since ancient times, there are "those who win the people prosper" and "those who lose the sages die". Therefore, conscientiously summing up the successful experiences and failed lessons of the selection and employment of officials in ancient China is still of great practical significance.
The system of selecting officials in the ancient imperial court was more famous for its three major systems: the "Inspection and Examination System", the "Nine-Pin Zhongzheng System", and the "Examination System".
First of all, the establishment time of the "inspection system" is generally considered to be the first year of the Han Wu Emperor Yuan Guang, that is, 134 BC. It can be said that the "inspection and examination system" is different from the "hereditary official system" in the previous pre-Qin period, and its main feature is that the local governors inspect, select talents and recommend them to the superiors or the central government at any time in the jurisdiction, and then after a probationary assessment, they are appointed to their official positions.
Secondly, the "Nine-Pin Zhongzheng System" was proposed by Chen Qun after he improved the "Inspection and Examination System" of the Han Dynasty, and at the same time, it also inherited the foundation of the "Inspection and Examination System", and the recommended talents must have excellent moral character. This system was proposed from the first year of the Reign of Emperor Wen of Wei to the abolition of the "imperial examination system" by Emperor Wen of Sui, and for more than three hundred years, it became the only system for the imperial court to select people.
The so-called "nine products" are divided into: upper and upper products, upper and lower products, upper and lower products, middle and upper products, middle and lower products, lower upper products, lower middle products and lower products. Inspectors are officials selected by the state and county governments to examine the internal personnel of the prefecture and county, and then make an assessment and write a form. The origin of the person being examined is not within the scope of the inspection, but virtue is an important item of investigation.
Because only those who have good qualities can become officials, and after the inspection, the government recruits talents through the letters written by the inspectors. Even, this inspector has the right to suggest that officials be promoted or demoted: officials can be promoted from six to five and five to four because of their good conduct; if their virtue is not correct, they may be reduced from five to six and six to seven.
During Sima Yi's reign, the states set up large and central officials, and elected people from the rich and noble families. In this way, the inspectors began to take sides, talking about origins and relationships everywhere; as for character and ability, they were no longer in the project of inspection. This is clearly contrary to the original intention of the system. The inspectors only recognize the origin of the person being inspected, as long as they are from a prominent background, they are all high-ranking officials.
The result is that people from poor backgrounds with both moral integrity and ability are suppressed and have no chance of achieving their ambitions. People from poor backgrounds in society, after all, occupy the majority, they have resentment, and there are unstable factors in society. There was no way, during the Sui Wen Emperor period, he could only abolish the Nine Pin Zhongzheng system and implement the imperial examination system, so that people from poor backgrounds also had the opportunity to enter the imperial court and serve the country.
In fact, leading to such a situation, we cannot blame Chen Qun, but only Sima Yi.
The Nine Pins Zhongzheng System can run for more than three hundred years, which shows that he is not useless. In these three hundred years, the time for unification was very short, the time of chaos was very long, and the emperor changed very diligently. It is precisely in this environment that the implementation of the nine-product Zhongzheng system does have certain benefits. Through the inspection of officials, the missing officials can be quickly replenished. Officials who have been impeached can also immediately step down and be succeeded by virtuous people. The process of appointing and dismissing officials has been accelerated and the efficiency of work has been improved.
Ten years after the Southern Dynasty Qi Yongming, Xiao Chen and Fan Yun were invited to the Northern Wei Dynasty and were cordially received by Emperor Xiaowen at that time. Emperor Xiaowen admired these two men and told his ministers that there were still many capable subjects in the south. Li Yuankai took over the conversation and said: In fact, the multi-functional ministers in the south are because the monarchs are replaced diligently; the few able ministers in the north are because the emperor has done a long time. In fact, this sentence is satirizing Xiao Chen, Fan Yun and other generations for not being loyal enough to the monarch.
Moreover, in the "Examination of the Rest of the World", it was said that the power of the state should be in the hands of the gentry, not in the hands of the emperor; the change of the emperor, the gentry do not need to be so concerned.
Hongxingzong was a shuren who wanted to join the ranks of scholars, so he asked emperor Wenzong Song, who was pampered by him, for help. Song Wenzong ordered him to go to Wang Qiu's house and find a place to sit down. It was a strange will, but it could illustrate the situation at the time. As long as Hongxingzong found a place to sit down at Wang Qiu's house, it proved that he could already enter the ranks of scholars; moreover, now that it was the emperor's will, I believed that Wang Qiu would definitely give Hongxingzong a suitable position and indirectly recognize his status as a scholar.
Hongxingzong came to Wang Qiu's house happily, trying to find a place to sit down. Hongxingzong just bent his knees, Wang Qiu immediately scolded, and asked Hongxingzong: You can't sit there. In the end, Hongxingzong slipped away. However, for this, Song Wenzong did not give up, and a few days later, he came to Wang Qiu again and asked him to recognize Hongxingzong's status as a scholar. Wang Qiu did not give the emperor face, and said firmly: Unlike the shu people, the scholars are not allowed to sit together. Therefore, he still would not obey the emperor's will.
There was also an official from the cold door who also wanted to enter the ranks of scholars, his name was Ji Monk, and this time he was also looking for help from the emperor. Emperor Xiaowu asked Ji Monk to go to Jiang Shu, and he said it himself. When Ji Monk arrived at Jiang Shu's house, Jiang Xi agreed to let Ji Monk sit down, but it didn't take long for Ji Monk to feel embarrassed and forced him to quit on his own. In this regard, Ji Monk sighed: The scholar really does not obey the emperor's orders.
It can be seen that the scholar does not take the matter of the emperor's replacement in his heart; it doesn't matter who the emperor changes to do it, anyway, he is still a noble scholar!
This kind of psychology is best reflected in Zhang Dai.
Zhang Dai served many kings, and was able to handle the relationship between superiors and subordinates every time, and he was able to satisfy the kings. Zhang Dai's experience is: keep a true heart, no matter which king you serve, you can do things well and handle relationships well. Such a person, in the eyes of the Confucians, is disloyal, and it is certainly disloyal to anyone to serve so many kings.
If people were really examined by such standards, then very few people would have been able to meet the standards, after all, the kings had changed too quickly. Is it because the king abdicates that he is going to end his political career? Therefore, this is obviously unreasonable, and from here we can also see that these Confucian accusations are, in fact, unreasonable.
It is said that in the first year of Qi Jianyuan, Emperor Gaozong of Qi, Xiao Daocheng, rewarded the meritorious ministers who helped him ascend to the throne, chu yuan and Wang Jian. Chu Yuan: Southern Dynasty Song, Qi Zaixiang, foreign relative, founding father of Southern Qi, grandson of Taichang Chu Xiuzhi, son of Zuo Shu Chu Zhanzhi; Wang Jian: Southern Qi courtier, literary scholar, bibliographer, grandson of Wang Dao of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, son of Wang Shengzhong of Liu Song.
These two people are relatives of the previous dynasty, but now they have become the heroes of the new dynasty, and because of this, they have received a lot of criticism. Therefore, someone wrote a special book of Qi to satirize them, saying: These two people can betray even the dynasty of their own relatives, and now, how can they be loyal to our Qi state?
Later, Chu Yuan's eldest son felt that his face was disgraced because of this irony, and after his father's death, he became a secluded man and never became an official again.
Resources:
["The Examination of the Yu Cong", "Book of Qi", "The Pros and Cons of the "Nine-Pin Zhongzheng System"]