That Liao Tao can't speak directly, after all, he himself has eaten the so-called "food that comes from the mouth", so why should he force others to abide by this rule of not eating "food from the mouth"? Therefore, if you want others to do it, you must do it yourself first, and you can't have any double standards. And this is also one of the classics of Confucianism, you have to do it yourself, before you can ask others to do it! If you can't do it yourself, then why should you ask others to do it, this doesn't make sense. Therefore, this Liao Tao said that the education of the people is more important than the people's livelihood, which is obviously untenable. If the people's livelihood is gone, then what higher standards are there to say? And Zhang Chao also explained to everyone very realistically about the famous saying that material civilization determines spiritual civilization, that is, the famous sentence of Guan Zhong "Cangqiao knows etiquette and knows honor and disgrace when he has enough food and clothing", which is irrefutable.

If anyone forces the people to abide by the so-called morality when they are not well fed, clothed, and unable to survive, Zhang Chao will be able to spray him in the face immediately, so this will definitely not work. Therefore, Zhang Chao's argument is that material civilization determines spiritual civilization, and material civilization is the foundation of spiritual civilization, and there is no doubt about this.

"Director Zhang, I think that as an official, you must first pay attention to morality, and you, the examination method, cannot assess the character of an official, so how can you show that he can be qualified for this official position? As an official, the first thing to pay attention to is morality, not what ability, as long as the moral character is good, then everything is feasible. And if the moral character is not good, no matter how strong the ability is, it will not be able to assist the community and stabilize the people of Li. Therefore, this examination method cannot assess the moral character of officials, so it cannot be used as a basis. An official came out and replied.

"Who are you and what is your official position?" Zhang Chao asked again.

The man who was about thirty years old took the initiative to say: "I am Zhao Feng, the servant of the Imperial Palace!" ”

The Imperial History is the official in charge of picketing in the Imperial History Tower, and the Imperial Servant is responsible for impeaching the official, and if the official violates the law, he will be impeached, but he has no right to dispose of it. However, the so-called imperial history in ancient times was obviously a dog raised by the emperor or prime minister, which could be released to bite people when necessary, or used to fight outpost wars between major factions in the imperial court. This is also the problem of the ancient supervision system, the so-called supervision system in ancient times, in fact, it was used as a tool for the emperor to clean up the undesirable courtiers, or used to sue before those factional struggles, and then fight a sentinel war. This kind of ancient supervision of the imperial history can really play too little role as supervision and inspection.

However, this guy actually attacked the problem of the loopholes and morality of the test method, but this immediately resonated with everyone. Because the ancients believed that officials should give preference to people with excellent moral character to become officials, and officials with poor moral character could not hold office no matter how good their ability was. This is also the reason for the so-called difference between ancient and modern, in ancient times, morality was valued and ability was despised in ancient times. Later generations valued ability and demanded law-abiding. This is actually the difference between the two kinds of thinking, and the biggest difference between this is the difference between the rule of man and the rule of law.

In ancient times, the situation was the rule of man, and the influence of a person's moral character on the people of a place and even on a country was infinite. If a person's moral character is good, it will definitely be able to influence many people, and then change the country for the better. But if a bad person becomes an official, it will definitely make the national government become a miasma, and then everyone will not be able to govern with peace of mind. Under the ancient idea of rule by man, once there was any problem in the country, it was necessary to find the reason from the character of the emperor and high-ranking officials, and not from the system at all.

So this is also the place of the ancient pit father, because in ancient times, it was a society governed by man. But the future generations are infinitely close to the rule of law society, and the rule of law society will not assess your character too much, because there is no way to assess the moral character. Maybe some people are well-dressed on the outside, but behind them are a bunch of men and women. Prostitution, this is really a speechless result. Therefore, moral character is not reliable, and it cannot be assessed. In the future, the law is the criterion, as long as you abide by the law, then you are a good official. And the law is made by the people in compromise with each other, so that they are indirectly responsible to the people. Therefore, this is also a conflict between the ancient people's rule of law thinking and Zhang Chao's rule of law thinking of later generations.

"Your Majesty, everyone may think that this moral problem is a big problem, then I want to answer it with a poem!" Zhang Chao said.

"Oh? Answer with verses, then please speak! I also want to hear what verses you can make. Li Yuan said.

"Give you a way to solve the doubts, you don't 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 Zhi died at the beginning, who knows the truth of his life? ”

heard the poem read by Zhang Chao, and everyone was silent, and Li Yuan was also silent. Because this poem answers a question of the ministers very well, that is, the problem of morality, and there is no way to test the thing of morality in a short time. And Zhang Chao's misappropriation of Bai Juyi's poem is actually to show that it is not easy to judge morality, and judging a person's character must be tested for a long time, and cannot be judged by so-called superstition or any special means, only through time. And this poem also gives two examples, that is, Zhou Gong and Wang Mang. Duke Zhou was a famous auxiliary minister in the pre-Qin and Western Zhou dynasties, and he assisted his nephew Tianzi and held the power alone. At that time, many people rumored that Duke Zhou was a traitor, a rebel, and a usurper, but later it turned out that he was a loyal minister!

But Wang Mang is just the opposite, Wang Mang was a righteous gentleman before he usurped the throne, and he couldn't see any signs of usurpation at all. But if he really holds the power, then he will unceremoniously usurp the throne, which is also an example of Wang Mang's humble and not usurped it. If these two people died early, then the reputation of the two of them may be completely different, the great loyal minister became the great traitor, and the great traitor became the great loyal minister, what a huge irony this is! And these two examples also prove that the so-called wind criticism of morality cannot be listened to casually, so it is impossible to investigate clearly in terms of morality. Since it can't be investigated, what's the use of talking about morality?

"Zhao Feng Yushi, do you have anything else to say?" Zhang Chao asked.

That Zhao Feng retreated wistfully, and had nothing to say about this.

"Director Zhang, I think your test method is really redundant. I am Chen Feichen, the right counselor of Zhongshu Province, I think there is really no need to get this test method, after all, my emperor is wise, and he can naturally recognize talents. The emperor's gaze is extremely wise, and he will definitely be able to select a large number of outstanding talents to assist him. If the emperor is not wise, then how can he create my Tang Dynasty? Chen Feichen said.

And Zhang Chao secretly scolded in his heart: "Sycophant, you are really blind to your position as a counselor!" ”

Zhang Chao knew that the position of the doctor was responsible for being by the emperor's side, specifically picking faults for the emperor, and then advising the emperor at a critical time. And he, the counselor, not only did not compete to find fault for Emperor Li Yuan, but sang praises here, and then slapped the horse, which was simply an insult to the position of the counselor. And if this guy is in the future, Zhang Chao has to deduct a charge of dereliction of duty to him, this guy not only did not pick fault with the emperor in this position, but sang praises here, what is this kind of not dereliction of duty?

However, Zhang Chao knows that this guy is playing a trick on himself! This guy is actually playing a trick on Zhang Chao at the same time, if Zhang Chao doesn't answer well, I'm afraid it will really be an accident. First of all, he praised Li Yuan as a wise emperor who could select enough talents to assist the emperor. And this also brings two problems, if Zhang Chao follows his words to admit that Li Yuan is a wise emperor, then it is naturally an admission that Li Yuan can select enough talents to assist the emperor. But does this so-called test method of Zhang Chao still have the meaning of existence? If the emperor is extremely wise and can select a large number of loyal and capable officials to serve, then there is no need for this examination method to exist, and it is completely up to the emperor to choose.

However, if Zhang Chao still insists on using the examination method, it means that Emperor Li Yuan is not a "wise" emperor and cannot select enough talents to assist him. And this is simply scolding Emperor Li Yuan in a roundabout way. So Chen Feichen, this old thing, is completely playing a trick on Zhang Chao, no matter how Zhang Chao answers, there is a problem. As a veteran in the political arena, he naturally knows this two-headed method, so no matter how Zhang Chao answers, he will be grabbed by his sore feet and refuted fiercely.

And many officials around were also snickering, obviously wanting to see how Zhang Chao answered. Because this question is problematic no matter how you answer it. And this kind of question, how can Zhang Chao, who has just joined the officialdom for a few days, answer it very satisfactorily? If Zhang Chao made a slight mistake, everyone would come over to "besiege" Zhang Chao, and Zhang Chao would be miserable at that time.

"Hmph, you want to trick me with all this means? It's not that easy! Zhang Chao thought to himself.

Zhang Chao was already familiar with this method, so he quickly thought of a way to crack it.