In China, a highly centralized country lacking the concept of democracy and human rights, the quality of the top leaders determines the fate of the country.
Li Shimin has the advantages of a wise emperor in history, but the following advantages are unique to Li Shimin.
first, a strong sense of responsibility and crisis for the nation.
Responsibility is the first element that a leader must possess. A leader who has no or a lack of responsibility will bring disaster to the country and the people, even if he is talented, either dereliction of duty or abuse of power. Many emperors in China have ruined or lost the mountains and rivers laid by their ancestors because of their lack of sense of responsibility. As a result, the Chinese nation has fallen into a cycle of catastrophe, and Chinese civilization has also declined step by step, so China has irrevocably declined, from a big country in China to a second-rate country to a least developed country. Li Shimin's sense of national responsibility can be said to be unprecedented. After he sat on the throne of the emperor, he didn't think he was accomplished like most power figures in China feudal society. He could sit down and relax and use his power to enjoy the taste of prosperity. On the contrary, he was more diligent in political affairs than before he ascended the throne, buried himself in his official duties, slept only a little every day, and discussed state affairs, adjudicated cases and handled official business with ministers of civil and military affairs in the golden palace all day, sometimes refusing to stop for hours, so that he often forgot to eat and sleep.
Different from those power figures who are full of ambitions, Li Shimin the Great has a strong sense of crisis, and what he sees is not a powerful empire with a vast territory and a stronger army than Ma Zhuang (as was the case in the Tang Dynasty at that time); It is a new regime that is in danger and may be * * by another popular uprising at any time. His eyes were fixed on the once mighty Sui Empire that had just disintegrated, constantly pondering the lessons of the demise of the Sui Dynasty, reminding himself from time to time not to repeat the mistakes of the Sui Dynasty, and carefully and diligently guiding his empire out of the thorns, onto prosperity and glory. In the middle of Li Shimin's reign, the Tang Empire had become an unparalleled superpower in the known world at that time, and its prosperity and affluence reached the point where even God was jealous. At this time, Li Shimin should be satisfied, but he showed no signs of satisfaction at all. What he saw was not the prosperity and glory in front of him, but the long and arduous future road of the empire, and he continued to make unremitting efforts to consolidate the future subgrade.
Li Shimin's strong sense of responsibility is the concentrated expression of his high wisdom.
second, a frank and aboveboard ruling style.
The rulers of China have endless cleverness, and they are proud of being clever in front of others. Few people think of being honest in governing and being frank with others. As a result, the politicians used tricks to control their subordinates; Subordinates also follow suit and deceive the leaders with tricks. Li Shimin is the only person in the history of China who has truly been honest and in power. When he was in office, he opened his mind to the courtiers and did not cheat. The courtiers are also devoted to their duties and do not engage in traditional officialdom prostitutes who cheat and cajole. At the beginning of Li Shimin's accession to the throne, he made great efforts to rectify the bureaucracy and made up his mind to eradicate the incurable disease of corruption and bribery in officialdom. In order to detect corrupt officials who secretly take bribes and may take bribes in the future, Li Shimin made his cronies secretly pay bribes to officials of various ministries, and as a result, several corrupt officials were really investigated. Li Shimin told his strategy to a relic of Sui Dynasty when he was proud. Unexpectedly, the minister poured cold water on him on the spot: Your Majesty always warned his subjects to treat others honestly, but your majesty himself took the lead in cheating. fish begins to stink at the head, your subjects will repay you by cheating. Li Shimin thought the minister's words had deep wisdom, and readily accepted this harsh advice that made ordinary authorities angry. On another occasion, Li Shimin ordered men who were under 18, but were physically fit, to enlist in the army. Wei Zhi refused to countersign the imperial edict (note that this is Li Shimin's most intelligent masterpiece, and his order has no legal effect without the signature of the minister in charge, and no emperor will take the initiative to limit his unlimited power, except Li Shimin). Li Shimin explained: "This is a traitor who evades military service and deliberately understates his age." Wei Zhi replied: "Your Majesty often says that I treat the world with integrity and ask the people not to cheat;" But you lost your integrity first. You don't treat people with integrity, so you first suspect people of cheating. " Li Shimin's reaction was deeply impressed and immediately retracted.
third, be broad-minded, love talents like life, and have the capacity to accommodate people.
whether a country and nation can prosper or not, in addition to the superhuman qualities of the helmsman, there must be enough talents to carry out the will of the helmsman. Today, the importance of talents has become a common knowledge, because talents determine the fate of a country. But not all the people in power attach importance to talents. The actual situation is that more than half of the people in power ignore or even hate talents. Only those outstanding politicians who are broad-minded and courageous, can recognize the importance of talents, tolerate the weakness of talents without hurting the overall situation, and are not afraid that talents will surpass him can be appointed.
Li Shimin's love for talents is described in many historical books, and the most typical example is his trust and reuse of Wei Zhi. Wei Zhi is an old minister of Li Shimin's brother Li Jiancheng, and the two brothers used to be bitter political opponents. Wei Zhi has persuaded Li Jiancheng to kill Li Shimin preemptively more than once, so Li Shimin should hate him to the marrow. After Li Shimin won the power race, almost everyone thought that Li Shimin would kill Wei Zhi to vent his anger or blame someone else for killing him as a scapegoat; No one could have imagined that Li Shimin's greatest punishment for Wei Zhi turned out to be to appoint him as the prime minister of the empire and to form children's in-laws with him. The fruit of this dramatic ending is: Wei Zhi made an unparalleled contribution to the prosperity of the Tang Empire!
Li Shimin's Zhenguan dynasty was full of talented people, including Wei Zhi, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and Changsun Wuji. Wu has Li Jing, Qin Shuding, Cheng Yaojin and Wei Chijingde. A large number of elites formed a strong and efficient leadership core around Li Shimin. But Li Shimin still felt that talents were not enough, and repeatedly ordered the Prime Minister to recommend talents by sealing Yide, and urged him again and again after a long time of no news. Feng Yide said sadly, "It's not that I don't work hard, it's really that there are no talents in this world." Li Shimin immediately corrected him: "A gentleman uses people as tools, each with his own strengths. Since ancient times, people have ruled by kings. Can we borrow talents from different generations? If you can't visit yourself, how can you be lightweight? " After listening to such insights, Feng Yide was ashamed besides being ashamed.
Fourth, a high degree of self-control, a deep understanding of human weaknesses, and a high degree of vigilance against "good words".
people evolved from animals, and there are more or less traces of animals left on their bodies. As long as people, whether great men or ordinary people, have a human side and an animal side. The real connotation of human civilization is to promote human nature to the maximum extent and overcome animal nature as much as possible. The number of human nature has a great relationship with the level of a person's status. The animal elements in people with high and low status are easy to spread and grow. The former does not bother with means to survive; The latter will wantonly abuse their power. The emperor of China, because of his high position and power, has the conditions to release the long-suppressed animal nature, which will spread everywhere like wildfire in late autumn. It is not a person with strong self-control who can't stop it from hurting the fish in the pool.
The animal nature of human beings is also called the weakness of human nature, and the most harmful manifestations are indulgence, abuse of power and love of good words. The weakness of ordinary people generally does not cause great social harm because of the limitation of conditions; The emperor has the power of life and death, and if his human weakness is not strictly controlled, it will cause great social harm and irreparable serious consequences. Outstanding emperors in history have made many commendable models in controlling their own weaknesses, but Li Shimin the Great did the best and consistently.
It is almost a common problem for human beings to love to hear good words, and the preference of power figures for good words has reached an incredible level. Throughout history, only a few of those kings who perished in the country were defeated by powerful enemies, and most of them were beaten by sweet words around them. Only those rare wise people can not be misled by good words. Li Shimin the Great is one of them. He is fully aware that most good words have ulterior motives, so he is particularly wary of flattery. He often warns officials around him: "If the monarch is headstrong and thinks he is smarter than others, his subordinates will certainly flatter him. As a result, the monarch lost his country, and his men could not save it alone. Yu Shiji, the prime minister of Sui Dynasty, fawned on Yang Guang blindly to save his wealth, but he ended up in born to die. You should take this as a warning. If you have opinions on state affairs, you must tell them frankly, and don't report good news but not bad news. "
Minister Wang Shizhong (the assistant is the head of the provincial government, and his rank is similar to that of the prime minister) met Li Shimin, and when he saw the beautiful concubine of King Lujiang, who was ruined by the country, standing beside the emperor, he gave the woman a meaningful look. When Li Shimin saw something in his eyes, he said, "This is the concubine of King Lujiang. When King Lujiang heard that she was quite arrogant, he killed her husband and forcibly took her as his own. How can he not die if he is so cruel and heartless!" Wang Shizhong asked, "Does your majesty think that King Lujiang is right or wrong?" Li Shimin answered simply: "What is right and wrong if you kill someone to get a wife!" Wang Zhongshi retorted: "Since your majesty knows that King Lujiang made a mistake, why did you take his concubines as your own? Isn't this the same mistake as King Lujiang?" Li Shimin was greatly moved by this impatient "crazy talk": "I almost didn't know it because of your outspoken reminder", and immediately sent the woman out of the court and gave a reward to Wang Shi.
In 623, Wei Zhi criticized Li Shimin's faults in the hall in front of the minister of civil and military affairs, and didn't give Li Shimin face at all, so that Li Shimin's patience finally reached its limit. He immediately returned to the palace in great anger and was cruel to the eldest grandson queen who came to meet him: "I will kill this plowman one day!" " When the eldest grandson asked the farmer who he was, Li Shimin said, "Wei Zhi, of course. He always insulted me in public." Empress Grandson is also an outstanding woman rarely seen in ancient times. After hearing this, she immediately put on her official clothes and paid a solemn visit to the emperor: "I heard that Junming is a straight minister and Wei Zhi is so upright. It is precisely because of my husband's wisdom that I can't congratulate you." In the face of such a wise wife, Li Shimin's anger vanished immediately.
the prosperity of Zhenguan dynasty is unmatched by any dynasty in China. There have been several powerful dynasties in the history of China, and the symbol of prosperity is nothing more than the wealth of the country and the wealth of the people. The wealth of the Tang Empire is evidenced by a poem by the great poet Du Fu, "Recalling the heyday of Kaiyuan in the past, there were still thousands of families in a small town, rice was fat and millet was white, and public and private granaries were rich ...". In line with the high development of productive forces, the international prestige of the Tang Dynasty also reached its peak, and the foreign wars achieved continuous victories. It maintained a continuous offensive posture for more than a hundred years, and its territory expanded extremely. The vast territories of Korea, Mobei and the western regions were merged into the territory of China one after another, and the western territory directly reached the stone country (Tashkent City in Central Asia) on the east bank of the Aral Sea. In addition to the fruitful achievements known by these people, the civilization degree of Zhenguan Dynasty was second to none in the world at that time. The following civilization achievements made the Han nationality the best nation in the known world at that time.
First, the social order is unprecedentedly stable
The social order of Zhenguan dynasty is incredibly good, and it is a whole night without closing the door. In 63, there were only 29 prisoners sentenced to death in China. In 632, the number of prisoners on death row increased to 29. At the end of this year, Li Shimin allowed them to go home to deal with their affairs, and they would die when they came back next autumn (execution in ancient autumn). In September of the following year, all 29 prisoners were returned, and none escaped. At that time, China's politics was civilized, officials carried out their duties, people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and there were few unfair phenomena, and there were not many grievances in the hearts of Chinese people. People who have plenty of food and clothing will not take risks to survive; People with a peaceful mind are not easy to go to extremes, so the probability of committing a crime is very few.
second, open national boundaries.
The Tang Empire was the most civilized and powerful country in the world at that time, and Chang 'an, the capital, was a cosmopolitan city, just like new york in the United States today. At that time, the Tang Empire was the "sunshine zone" in the eyes of people with lofty ideals all over the world, and outstanding talents from all over the world risked their lives to run to the Tang Empire. Diplomatic envoys from all over the world, after seeing the high prosperity and civilization of the Tang Empire, felt that their country was almost like an uncivilized "virgin forest", so they didn't want to return home and tried their best to stay. China's highly developed culture makes most people from all countries who come to China proud of being China (which reminds people of the green card of the United States today). Not only the capital Chang 'an, but also "expatriates" from all over the country have settled in the area, especially in emerging commercial cities. There are more than 2, western expatriates in Guangzhou alone. Zhenguan Dynasty is a rare open dynasty in the history of China. There are no strict restrictions on the entry of foreigners and the exit of China people, that is, they are not worried that China people will forget their roots after going out; I'm not worried about foreigners coming in and usurping the host's role. This alone shows the high self-confidence of Zhenguan dynasty, which is convinced that its country is the most civilized and prosperous land in the world, and it is not worried that foreign cultures will drown it. The national quality of Zhenguan Dynasty is so high that it neither discriminates against nor panders to foreign nationals, nor is it blindly exclusive or "take-away", showing a supercilious national bearing and kingly demeanor. Foreigners in China, like China people in their own homes, enjoy the same civil rights as China people. They can not only get rich, but also become officials in politics. Many expatriates from the Arab Empire and Japan hold official positions in China, and some also serve as senior officials at the ministerial level.
In addition to accepting a large number of foreign immigrants, the Tang Empire also received batches of foreign students to study advanced culture in China. Only Japanese government-sponsored overseas students received seven batches, each with hundreds of people. Private self-funded international students far exceed this number. After returning from their studies, these Japanese students carried out the first modernization movement in Japan-"innovation and modernization", that is, the China movement, all of which imitated the Zhenguan dynasty at that time, making the Japanese nation in the primitive tribal state leap forward for a thousand years.
1,2 years later, the Japanese Empire carried out the second modernization movement, accepted western culture in an all-round way, made itself leap forward for hundreds of years, and trampled on its former teacher, creating two terrible massacres in the teacher's "courtyard".
The Japanese nation is not brilliant, it is just good at learning. This nation, which is half a beat slower than others, has one of the greatest advantages-backwardness but not stubbornness. When foreign civilization invades, it always takes the initiative to accept the culture more advanced than its own, and accepts the advanced achievements of human civilization in the fastest and simplest way, so that it can quickly leap into the ranks of advanced nations.
it is not terrible for a nation to lag behind, but stubbornness is the most terrible thing!
third, the only dynasty without corruption.
The germs of corruption in China officialdom are pervasive, so that the vast majority of Chinese people believe that corruption is.