There is also a kind of "loyalty", which is a low-level "loyalty" that is manifested in daily life and is responsible for one's own actions. Specifically, it is manifested in a person's ability to keep his promise and be loyal to his duties. For example, a person does not easily make a wish to others in life, but as long as he agrees to others, he will do his best, even if he can't do it, he can do his best. Another example is that a person likes to change jobs and jump from one company to another at every turn.

So as for Feng Dao, how should he be evaluated?

Personally, I foolishly think that if Feng Dao is evaluated from the perspective of a natural person, then he is a person of very noble character. Because this person is very strict with himself, does not fight for power and profit, does not cause trouble, is not obsessed with beauty, and does not covet money. Just ask, how many people have been able to do this throughout the ages?

In particular, in Feng Dao's decades-long political career, he has never harmed anyone, and this alone is enough to make people respect him. The Confucians of later generations, because Feng Dao had gone through too many dynasties and emperors, so it was shameless to attack him, which was groundless.

Because the Five Dynasties is an extremely chaotic era in Chinese history, if a person wants to survive in this environment, he must first learn to protect himself, so what is wrong with Feng Dao hiding in the court? And at that time, the change of dynasties was very fast, if according to the "Confucian" theory, when a dynasty perished, those loyal people had to be loyal to the country, then wouldn't the people with high moral character have to die?

And what good is this for the country? Or some people say that it's okay not to die, but Feng Dao shouldn't be an official anymore. Instead, you should choose to be the kind of lonely minister, as long as a person has served two monarchs, he is already shameless. What's more, Feng Dao was an official under so many emperors?

If you look at it according to this theory, Feng Dao is indeed very shameless. But it can only be ranked second in Chinese history, because there must be another person who is much more shameless than him, and this person happens to be the ancestor of Confucianism - Confucius. Confucius lived in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and was born in the Lu State, when the Emperor of Zhou was there, and the State of Lu did not perish, so Confucius only had to serve the Emperor of Zhou or the King of the State of Lu, so why did he travel around the world and sell himself everywhere? It's not just the governor who is allowed to set fires. Are not the people allowed to light lamps? Therefore, Confucianism attacking Feng Dao at this point cannot stand any reason at all.

This does not mean that he is disloyal, as long as he can work wholeheartedly for a company every time he changes jobs, then he is a person who can be loyal to his duties and has a noble character. On the other hand, if a person who has worked for only one company all his life, but often sells information about his company to competitors for profit, or simply uses his position to embezzle the company's property, can such a person be considered loyal to this company?

As a matter of fact. In the era when Feng Dao lived, people admired him very much, and his evaluation was also very high. Feng Dao was seventy-three years old when he died, exactly the same age as Confucius. Therefore, the people at that time were not sad, but rushed to praise and rejoice in it. Mingzong Li Siyuan commented on Feng Dao and said: "Don't think of Su Gui. Doctor Shinshi, too. ”

Fan Qian, the prime minister of the Later Zhou Dynasty, said: "Houde Jigu (the same as the ancient sages), great talent." Although the dynasty moved (changed), people had no words. Like a huge mountain, it cannot be turned. "History of the Old Five Dynasties. FENG Daochuan. "Praise" said, "The performance (behavior) of the Tao has the style of the ancients; The amount of words (qi) of the Tao is deep in the body of the minister. ”

Feng Dao sent an envoy to the Khitan in the Later Jin Dynasty, and Yelu Deguang was ready to greet him with the etiquette of the Son of Heaven. And even Chai Rong, who was bumped by Feng Daochong, respected him very much, and immediately after his death, he was posthumously named "King Xuan", nicknamed "Wen Yi", which shows the high evaluation. （

There are six meanings in the Chinese language: one is through heaven and earth, the second is moral knowledge, the third is diligent and inquisitive, the fourth is benevolence and love for the people, the fifth is benevolence and courtesy, and the sixth is the title of bestowing titles on the people. And Yi has the meaning of gentleness and kindness. Feng Dao has lived in the Five Dynasties, and it is impossible to be called "Wenzheng", which is the highest nickname he can get. ）

It can be seen that Feng Dao enjoyed high prestige in the era in which he lived, and there was not a word of disparagement in the court and the opposition, which was inseparable from his own moral cultivation. However, judging from the individual level alone, Feng Dao is indeed a person of high moral character. But to measure him to the level of a politician, Feng Dao's actions are indeed not very competent.

Feng Daoshi has been in the Five Dynasties, has been the prime minister many times, and has great prestige and political influence, but he has done almost nothing in his political career. As a politician, Feng Dao is very tactful, and when he encounters Ming monarchs like Li Siyuan and Chai Rong, he will speak out, because he knows that in the face of such a monarch, even if he goes too far, he will not be blamed.

As for others, Feng Dao often doesn't say a word and blindly pursues the principle of self-preservation.

For example, once Shi Jingjiao consulted him with military affairs, he replied: "The matter of conquest is all due to the discretion of the Sacred Heart, and the ministers are scholars, and it is in vain for you to ask me about things like this." "Among the five dynasties, Ming monarchs like Li Siyuan and Chai Rong are in the minority after all, so Feng Dao in most cases uses this kind of rhetoric to prevaricate the rest of the emperors, and he is ambiguous and copes with things, which is obviously far from enough compared with his duties and status.

In ancient China, there were clear regulations on the job responsibilities of the prime minister, to help the Son of Heaven, to govern hundreds of officials, to reconcile yin and yang, and to soothe the people, Feng Dao obviously failed to do this.

In his political career, there are two main things worth mentioning, one is that he presided over the first large-scale engraving printing in Chinese history, and made a certain contribution to promoting the development of China's cultural undertakings.

Another thing is the conversation he had with Yelu Deguang after the fall of the Later Jin Dynasty, when Feng Dao served as the envoy of the Weisheng Army of the Later Jin Dynasty, and heard that Yelu Deguang hurried back from Dengzhou to meet him after hearing that Yelu Deguang had destroyed the Jin Dynasty.

Then Jerod asked him, "Why did you come back to me?" Feng Dao replied: "No soldiers, no power, how dare not come?" Then Jerod asked him, "What kind of old man are you?" Feng Dao replied: "No talent, no virtue, stupid old man." Yerod laughed and asked, "The world is in chaos, who can save the people?" ”

Feng Dao replied, "Even if the Buddha is born, he can't be saved. Only the emperor could save it. This passage became an important basis for Confucianism to attack Feng Dao in later affairs. called him a servile and humble person, and he had no integrity. But the people of the time. But he thought that it was Feng Dao's words that made the Central Plains region useless.

The above two things can be regarded as two credits made by Feng Dao. But other than that, Feng Dao had done almost nothing, which was very incommensurate with his status.

Feng Dao also has some guilt about this, and he also wrote in "The Self-Preface of Changle Elders": "If you can't unify for the monarch and set the eight directions, you are ashamed of the previous officials." "Of course. This is related to the social environment at the time, Feng Dao just wanted to do it, but in fact it was impossible to do it, and there was no need to be too demanding of him.

All in all, Feng Dao is still a person of noble character, and most of the bad evaluations of him in later generations are unfounded, for example, Ouyang Xiu called him "shameless You",

Sima Guang called him "the most traitorous minister", which was too harsh. Feng Daoyi didn't betray the country, second, he didn't harm the people, and third, he didn't become corrupt, how did he become a traitor? This kind of evaluation can only show that Sima Guang, Ouyang Xiu and others are anxious.

That's why they spared no effort to attack it, and it is not enough to justify it. In fact, the reason why Feng Dao was able to create this strongest official record in history. In addition to relying on his usual sleek style of life, it is more due to his own strong moral integrity. As he said in the last few lines of the poem "Occasional Works": "When did morality pass away, where did the boat and car not get through?" But there is no evil in teaching. The tiger and wolf also stood in the bush. ”

Feng Dao died on April 17 in the first year of Later Zhou Xiande (954), when Chai Rong was sitting in Luzhou to command the Zhou army's northern expedition to the Northern Han Dynasty, so he didn't care about coming back to deal with his funeral. In fact, Feng Dao's death had a limited impact on Chai Rong, because Chai Rong didn't need him very much.

Soon after, Chai Rong withdrew his troops from the Northern Han Dynasty and returned to China, and began to carry out military reforms, and in only a short period of time, the military strength of the Later Zhou Dynasty made a qualitative leap. However, Chai Rong was an ambitious emperor after all, and he once said after his accession to the throne: "I am determined to be the Son of Heaven for thirty years, expand the world for ten years, raise the people for ten years, and achieve peace for ten years." ”

This is a general program of Chai Rong's administration, that is, it will take ten years to unify the country, another ten years to make the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the last ten years to make society stable and harmonious.

This is a very exciting political program, and it is also very clear in this program that Chai Rong's ideal is not only to unify the country, but also to enable the common people to live a happy life. Then military reform alone is obviously not enough, and strong political reform must also be carried out.

Political reform is inseparable from talents, Chai Rong is very open-minded, as soon as he ascended the throne, he issued an edict to seek advice, he followed the example of Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and ordered officials to write a seal and submit it if they have a statement, and if they have a statement on political affairs, they can also ask for a meeting. What is said is wrong, Chai Rong is not guilty.

If the argument is indeed insightful, Chai Rong will be promoted immediately. Moreover, his method of selecting and promoting cadres is straightforward, he will go up if he has the ability, and he will go down if he is not capable, and he will never consider irrelevant factors such as background and resume.

For example, he chose Wei Renpu, who was born as a sword and pen official, as the minister, and the courtiers at that time said that Wei Renpu was from a humble background, not from the imperial examination, and should not be allowed to be the minister. But Chai Rong immediately retorted: "Since ancient times, with the assistance of literary talents and military strategies, how can it all be done by Kodiye? ”

So he overrode public opinion and appointed Wei Renpu as the prime minister, and in the process of using it, he was still very effective. For example, when Chai Rong personally conquered the Southern Tang Dynasty, he saw a person chasing the enemy army in front of the battle, and returned with his own eyes, so he immediately summoned this general to his front and awarded him Jieyue, this general was Gao Huaide, a very famous general later.

The list goes on and on. In addition, Chai Rong also ordered his subordinates to recommend talents many times, and explained in advance that there was no need to avoid relatives when recommending.

However, there is an additional condition here, that is, on the day the person being recommended is accepted, the name of the person who is being recommended must be recorded.

Once the person is an official, "greedy and unresponsible, or cowardly and ignorant", he must weigh the severity of the situation, and even sit down to promote the lord, so the courtiers do not dare to recommend it indiscriminately.

While selecting talents, Chai Rong began to rectify discipline. Chai Rong came from a humble background, and when he grew up, he did his best to achieve Guo Wei's true biography, he was very frugal in life, and he avoided luxury, and he didn't use any floating things in the palace. He is so strict with himself, so he is even more intolerant of corrupt people.

In this regard, Chai Rong still has an obvious innate advantage compared with Guo Wei. Guo Wei was a founding emperor, and there were a group of founding heroes under him, who were proud of their high merits and had no scruples about doing things. Guo Wei is also a benevolent person, although he has the heart to fight corruption, but as soon as he encounters such people, he can't do it. As a result, the anti-corruption work of Guo Wei's era was always loud and rainy, and it was very incomplete.

By the time of Chai Rong, the problem became much simpler.

Chai Rong is the new monarch who succeeds him, and he does not have such a complicated relationship network, and most of the main cadres under him are raised by him, which is very easy to manage.

In addition, Chai Rong's personality is very strict, and he is not emotional, and he must be investigated, and people dare not violate the ban. Therefore, in the entire five generations, Chai Rong's rule of this era can be said to be the best.

However, feudal society always has its limitations, although Chai Rong has never been soft on the issue of anti-corruption, but there is also someone he can't deal with, this person is his father Chai Shouli.

Chai Shouli is the elder brother of Guo Wei's wife, Empress Chai, who is a very scoundrel and interfered in the process of Empress Chai's marriage to Guo Wei. However, after Guo Wei became emperor, he still saw that he was his eldest brother, and named him "Yinqing Guanglu Doctor, Inspector of the School Officials Department and Imperial History Doctor".

After Chai Rong ascended the throne, he was further crowned as "Doctor Jin Ziguanglu, Inspector Sikong, and Guangluqing", and his official position was quite prominent.

But Chai Rong also knew that his father was not a good person, so after he was promoted, he immediately ordered him to retire and moved him to live in Luoyang, refusing to meet him. But after this Chai Shouli arrived in Luoyang, he still acted recklessly, was rampant and domineering, and once killed people on the street.

After Chai Rong knew, he couldn't control it, and it was impossible to kill him, so he had no choice but to pretend not to know, but until Chai Rong died, he didn't admit that Chai Shouli was his father.

Chai Rong spared no effort to implement reforms, and he was very courageous, it can really be said that people block and kill, and Buddha blocks and kills Buddha. Chai Rong got Juntian to Qufu, and even the descendants of Confucius still had to pay taxes.

Confucius is known as the "Hundred Emperors", and even after Guo Wei defeated Murong Yanchao, he also went to Qufu to worship Confucius and bow down. But Chai Rong had no scruples about this, and levied his family's land tax correctly, which is enough to see the strength of his actions. And the most telling thing is his attitude towards Buddhist monasteries.

Although the Five Dynasties were extremely chaotic times, there was no lack of Pure Land, which was in those Buddhist monasteries. The Buddha of Middle Earth has a long history, and in the late Tang Dynasty, Yizong Li Yi did not hesitate to pour the power of the country to welcome the Buddha's bones, known as "cutting the military endowment and decorating Garan, trapping the people's wealth and cultivating pure industry." In the following nearly 100 years, although the land of China was full of wars, no one dared to touch these monasteries because of the guise of religious superstition. Not only did they not suffer any losses, but the momentum became more and more fierce. (To be continued.) )