Secretary Lu heard Ye Ming say that if he couldn't answer, he would be willing to drink two glasses of wine, and was very satisfied with his confidence, nodded slightly, and said, "Okay, then let's start now." When compiling the Zizhi Tongjian, Sima Guang often made his own comments on some historical events or characters for the reference of the emperor who read the book. Many of these evaluations are classic quotes, and three words will be added at the beginning: 'Chen Guangyan', which means 'Wei Chen Sima Guang thinks'. My question is: At the beginning of the "Zizhi Tongjian", what theme is the first paragraph of "Chen Guangyan" talking about? Can you recite a few of the most classic sentences? ”

Ye Ming had read "Zizhi Tongjian" twice and was very interested in some of Sima Guang's views in it, so this question naturally did not bother him. Moreover, he guessed that Secretary Lu wanted to answer this question by himself, which was not difficult, and the purpose was also to teach Secretary Li, Xia Bicheng, and Xu Lizhong to the present by the way, so that they could also know what a gentleman is and what a villain is.

So, he talked eloquently: "Secretary Lu, this is a conclusion about the relationship between virtue and talent that Sima Guang came up with after summing up the lessons of the defeat of Zhibo in the late Spring and Autumn Period. He said: Those who have both ability and political integrity are called saints, those who are both virtuous and deceased are called fools, those who are virtuous and talented are called gentlemen, and those who are virtuous are called villains. Whoever chooses and employs people, if you can't get a saint or a gentleman, you would rather use a fool than a villain. The fool has a low IQ and is not capable, and even if he does evil, he can't make a big difference; And the villain is talented but not virtuous, he coerces talents to do evil, and his intelligence is enough to make his treacherous schemes succeed, like a tiger with wings, and the harm is not shallow. Since ancient times, the rebellious ministers of the country and the defeated sons of the family have more than enough talent, but not enough virtue, so that there are many subversives. This is also Sima Guang's 'concept of virtue and talent': not only pay attention to 'talent', but also pay more attention to 'virtue', respect virtuous saints and gentlemen, and despise villains who are talented but not virtuous. When talking about the idea that it is better to use a fool than a villain, he also used a very vivid analogy, the original text is as follows: 'Although the fool wants to be unkind, he cannot be wise and invincible, for example, if he fights with a dog, he can control him. The villain is wise enough to commit adultery, brave enough to break his violence, and he is a tiger with wings, and his harm is not much! It means: A fool wants to harm people, but his ability is insufficient, just like a dog that wants to bite people, and the bitten person can easily subdue it; However, the villain is very capable, and he wants to harm people, just like a tiger with wings, which is very harmful to people. ”

Secretary Lu listened to him explain this passage very clearly, and recited a paragraph of the original text, and couldn't help but bow his head frequently, took a small sip of the wine glass, and said earnestly: "Xiao Ye explained this Sima Guang's concept of virtue and ability very thoroughly. Comrades, Sima Guang's remarks have a great enlightening effect on how we leading cadres should select and appoint people! When it comes to leaders of our level, there are not a few people who revolve around them. Among these people, I estimate that there are very few saints, but there must be many gentlemen, sages, and there must be many fools and villains. Therefore, we must have the ability to discern everything, have a pair of fiery eyes like Sun Wukong, and always pay attention to distinguishing which are gentlemen and sages, and which are fools and villains. And those villains are often some very capable people, who are usually very good at disguise, opportunistic, and very good at currying favor with leaders and currying favor with leaders. But it is often these villains who are very capable but have poor morals who are the most harmful to our cause.

Take Wang Mang, the most notorious villain in history, as an example. This great careerist and conspirator, before usurping the throne, desperately tried to curry favor with Emperor Cheng of Han and Empress Dowager Xiaoyuan. When the time was not ripe, although he was in a high position, he never respected himself, and was always courteous and virtuous, honest and frugal, and often distributed his money to doormen and commoners, and even sold carriages to help the poor, and was deeply loved among the people, so that the celebrities of the government and the opposition praised and praised him. In order to gain a good reputation for fairness and selflessness, he even forced his two sons Wang Shu and Wang Yu who committed mistakes but did not commit crimes to death to commit suicide, causing his wife to cry and blind because of excessive sadness. is such a hypocritical villain, after the death of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, he immediately turned his face, poisoned his son-in-law Emperor Ping of Han, and borrowed some auspicious rui and diagrams to instigate people to support himself as the emperor, established a short-lived new dynasty, ruined the Western Han Dynasty, and triggered the Green Forest, Red Eyebrows uprising, which made the world turbulent for more than ten years, causing thousands of people to be displaced and their families ruined. Therefore, the harm of villains is very huge, we must always be vigilant, pay attention everywhere, and never let villains achieve their aspirations, and never let villains take power. ”

When he said this, he looked at Ye Ming with his eyes, smiled slightly, and said, "Xiao Ye, I'm going to test you again: there was a great poet in the Tang Dynasty who had a few vivid descriptions of Wang Mang's hypocrisy. Who is this poet? What is the title of the poem? What is the full text of this poem? ”

As soon as this topic came out, although Secretary Li and Xia Bicheng knew a few of the sentences, they couldn't figure out who wrote it and what the original poem was, so they all turned their eyes to Ye Ming to see if he could answer.

Ye Ming thought for a while, and then replied confidently: "Secretary Lu, that poem should be written by Bai Juyi, the title seems to be called "Words", and the whole poem has a total of eight sentences: 'Give the king a law to solve the doubts, no need to drill the turtle and wish the yarrow.'" The test jade should be burned for three days, and the material must be aged for seven years. Zhou Gong was afraid of rumors, and Wang Mang was humble and did not usurp the time. Xiang Envoy died that year, and who knows the truth of his life. The last four sentences are very famous, and I think Secretary Li, Director Xia and other leaders should know about them. ”

Xia Bicheng nodded, and said with admiration: "Xiao Ye, I originally heard Xu Fei say that you are well-read and strong, have a very wide range of knowledge, and have an amazing memory, but I didn't believe it at that time. Now it seems that you are indeed extraordinary. For example, in the poem just now, I only know the last four lines, and I don't know that there are four more jerky verses in front of it. It seems that the local taxation system of your K city has praised you as the first talent in the system, which is not a compliment! ”

Xia Chuchu, who was sitting on Ye Ming's right, saw that his sweetheart was facing the examination of the secretary of the provincial party committee, and he responded fluently, and he also received a kind of praise from his father, he couldn't help but be proud and happy, his eyes were firmly fixed on Ye Ming's radiant face, and he only felt that he was as happy as a fairy now.

As for Secretary Lu, the purpose of his examination for Ye Ming was to verify whether he had real talent and learning, and on the other hand, he also wanted his precious son to show his hand in front of Secretary Li, Xia Bicheng and others, so as to satisfy his pride.

Therefore, after listening to Xia Bicheng's words praising Ye Ming, a smug and satisfied smile appeared on his face, he drank half a glass of wine, and began to think about coming up with a more difficult question to test Ye Ming. If he answered, then he should be even happier.