Why oppose the appointment of Chen Ping?
Zhou Bo, Guan Ying and others said to the King of Han: "Although Chen Ping is as handsome as a jade decorated with a hat, he may not have any real talent in his belly. We heard that Chen Ping had an affair with his sister-in-law when he was at home; When he was working for the king of Wei, he fled to the state of Chu because he could not be accommodated; In Chu, he still couldn't get credit, so he fled again to surrender to Han. Now the king has held him in such high esteem, and has given him a high official position, and has appointed him to supervise the generals of the various departments. We learned that Chen Ping accepted money from his generals, and those who gave more money would be treated better, and those who gave less money would be treated very poorly. In this way, Chen Ping is a capricious chaotic minister and thief, I hope the king will be aware of it! ”
The struggle behind the words
As soon as Chen Ping arrived under Liu Bang, he was reused and favored. The official position is the captain, and the special treatment is the escort officer, who stays by Liu Bang's side, and the authority is to supervise the generals of various ministries. The official position is not high, the special treatment is very high, and the power is great.
Zhou Bo and Guan Ying said that he was not in front of Liu Bang, was it because of envy, jealousy, and hatred? There may be, but fundamentally not. This way of saying Chen Ping's right and wrong in front of Liu Bang is actually slander.
The appearance of slander is for Liu Bang's good, but Chen Ping is not good and cannot be reused. In fact, it is to separate the intimate relationship between Chen Ping and Liu Bang, which is essentially a power struggle. It is necessary to borrow all aspects of slandering Chen Ping to alienate Liu Bang from him and no longer reuse him.
The fundamental purpose of the generals was actually to remove Chen Ping's supervision of themselves. Because Chen Ping was sent to supervise the generals, the power space of the generals was compressed, and Liu Bang's control was enhanced.
The routine of slander, the point of the attack
Zhou Bo and Guan Ying slandered Chen Ping's content with a total of 5 attack points:
First, although he looks good, he doesn't have real talent. This denigrates talent, not learning, and flashy.
Second, he has a bad personal character and fornicates with his sister-in-law when he is at home. This is a denigration of character, and of bad character.
Third, he was disloyal, served the king of Wei, and defected to the state of Chu without being accommodated. In the state of Chu, he fled without being credited, and surrendered to the king of Han. This denigrates loyalty, not from the beginning.
Fourth, they have failed to live up to their respect and trust, have problems in handling affairs, and accept bribes. This slanders loyalty, ability to do things, and official virtue, and is suspected of abusing power.
Fifth, buckle the hat, Chen Ping is a capricious chaotic minister and thief, capricious slander is moral character, and chaotic ministers and thieves show that the consequences are serious, such a person cannot be trusted and reused.
How effective is this statement? Quite significant, because Liu Bang had suspicions about Chen Ping. If this is the end of the matter, then Chen Ping will most likely be alienated, and the opposite is true, why? Because Wei Wuzhi said another set of truths.
Wei Wuzhi's truth
The king of Han then became suspicious of Chen Ping, and summoned his recommender, Wei Wuzhi, to come and question him. Wei Wuzhi said: "What I recommend Chen Ping is talking about is his talent, and what Your Majesty is asking about now is his character. Now, if a person has the character of being trustworthy and filial piety, but has no talent that will help determine the fate of victory or defeat, how can His Majesty have any leisure to use him! Now that Chu and Han are contending, I recommend a person with strange schemes, just to consider whether his strategy is really beneficial to the country, as for fornicating with his sister-in-law and taking bribes, what is there to doubt! ”
Set a separate standard
After Liu Bang suspected Chen Ping, he invited the recommender Wei Wuzhi to criticize. It is inevitable to remain suspicious, and the emperor will be blinded immediately when he loses his suspicion. However, we should not act immediately because we are suspicious, but we must make a decision about our doubts. The way to make a decision is to listen to what is said, first listen to the opinions of all parties, and finally make a decision by yourself.
"Guiguzi · Decisive Chapter"
Whatever is decided, it will be entrusted to those who doubt it.
In the face of criticism, Wei Wuzhi changed his angle, jumped out of the framework of Zhou Bo and Guan Ying's speech, set up another set of standards, and re-evaluated Chen Ping, and he would come to another conclusion: Chen Ping can be reused.
Zhou Bo and Guan Ying's slander of Chen Ping mainly focused on morality, while Wei Wuzhi's principle of employing people mainly focused on talent, which is the problem of appointing talents with unchanging moral integrity and ability.
Wei Wuzhi emphasized the limitations of virtue, currently competing with Xiang Yu for the world, no matter how beautiful virtue is to win or lose, so at the current stage, morality is not the first need to appoint talents, and now Liu Bang needs the most people with strange plans, these people are the most helpful to Liu Bang, in order to defeat Xiang Yu. As for the shortcomings of fornicating with sisters-in-law and accepting bribes, they are not a top priority and can be tolerated.
Talent and Times
When appointing talents, we should also make trade-offs between political integrity and ability, and we should not seek perfection and blame. The criteria for virtue and talent are not one, but can be divided into two. "In troubled times, energy is used, and peace is troubled." The times are chaotic, and competency standards are prioritized; The world is peaceful, we must pursue both ability and political integrity, and take morality as the first.
The truth that Wei Wuzhi preached was the epochal nature of appointing talents, which was more in line with the art of the emperor. "Saints are immortal, and time changes are kept."
As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Bang immediately understood that there must be a trade-off between ability and political integrity in appointing talents. At present, Chu and Han are contending, and they must reuse people with clever plans. Wei Wuzhi's standards are more favorable to himself, and the talents he recommends are more helpful to achieve his career.
In fact, there is a hidden problem here, that is, a person's moral character cannot affect his ability. If the moral character is not good and the ability is very strong, but the moral character restricts the ability to use, causing the person to only seek his own selfishness, such a person can not be reused.
How Chen Ping responds to criticism
The king of Han then summoned Chen Ping to see him again and asked him: "You did not serve the king of Wei with the same intentions, went to serve the king of Chu and left, and now you come to work with me, are all trustworthy people originally so half-hearted?" Chen Ping said: "I serve the king of Wei, and the king of Wei cannot adopt my ideas, so I left him to serve Xiang Yu." Xiang Yu can't trust the use of talents, and the person he appoints and favors is either Xiang's own family or his wife's brother, even if he has a scheming person, he doesn't use it. I heard that the king of Han can use people, so I came to attach myself to you, the king. But I came empty-handed, and I couldn't meet my daily expenses without accepting money. If there is something worthy of my counsel, I hope that you will adopt it, O King. If it is worthless and unusable, then the money is still here, please let me seal it and send it to the government, and ask for my resignation. ”
Self-statement
In the face of Liu Bang's question about whether a person is trustworthy or half-hearted, Chen Ping did not emphasize his loyalty, but expounded his own value. Chen Ping's explanation has six meanings:
First, he left the King of Wei because he did not take advice.
Second, he left Xiang Yu because he couldn't trust reuse. Xiang Yu only reuses people from the Xiang family and his wife's family, and he doesn't need people like himself who have scheming.
Third, I heard that King Han can use people, so I came. After coming, I was really respected and appointed.
Fourth, explain the reason for accepting bribes to meet daily expenses, because you came empty-handed.
Fifth, explain your own value, whether the strategy is useful to Liu Bang, if it is useful, you will stay, if it is useless, you will leave.
Sixth, the aftermath arrangement, even if he wants to leave, he will seal all the money, resign from his official position, and leave empty-handed.
In short, serving every leader is to do their best and contribute value, and they can come empty-handed and leave empty-handed, so why not loyalty?
Liu Bang's decision
The king of Han then apologized to Chen Ping, rewarded him heavily, and appointed him as a lieutenant in the army, supervising all the generals of the army. The generals did not dare to make any more irresponsible remarks.
The art of the emperor
Liu Bang is proficient in the art of the emperor and is good at listening to words, which is vividly shown here. Zhou Bo and Guan Baby's words must be listened to, if they refuse, they will block their own news channels, and they will close their voices, which is very dangerous and can easily lead to congestion.
Wei Wuzhi's point of view should also be adopted, because it will help the current struggle. Chen Ping showed his own value, but did not hide his lack of morality. Because of Chen Ping's moral qualities, it has little impact on Liu Bang's career, and his talent has a huge impact.
Zhou Bo, Guan Ying, Wei Wuzhi, and Chen Ping listened to the views of the three parties comprehensively, referred to each other, and finally made a decision.
"Han Feizi · Inner Reserve Says"
If you don't listen to it, you don't hear it, and if you listen to it, you will be congested. The husband and the candle are in the world, and one thing cannot be used; The king is also a country, and one person cannot have it.
Liu Bang has a super tolerant ability, and the evaluation of talents' moral misconduct is not enough to interfere with his determination to appoint talents. In reality, many leaders can't tolerate shortcomings, because their subordinates have a small flaw, and they don't want to appoint him, even if he is capable.
There are also such kings in history. Zisi recommended Gou Bian to Wei Guojun, and Wei Jun also knew that Gou Bian was a handsome talent, just because when Gou Bian was a tax collector, he once ate two eggs from the people for nothing, so he didn't need him.
Liu Bang, on the other hand, not only apologized to Chen Ping, but also rewarded him and promoted him, which established Chen Ping's authority at once, and the generals understood that the situation had been decided, so they would no longer make irresponsible remarks.