Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 34: Some Thoughts on "Literature and Officialdom" and an Explanation of the Background of the Book
Regarding this political struggle in the 14th year of Kaiyuan, as well as other central struggles that took place during the Kaiyuan period, there is a view called the struggle between literature and administration.

Many people summarize and explain the central political situation during the Kaiyuan period from this perspective, but some people also raise doubts and objections.

To put it simply, I think this view is neither accurate nor comprehensive.

This view holds that the dispute between literature and official administration originated from a conversation between Wu Zetian and Di Renjie during the Wu Zhou period. Wu Zetian asked Di Renjie to recommend talented people, and Di Renjie replied that if they were looking for literary men, Li Jiao and Su Weidao would be enough, but if they were looking for outstanding talents, Zhang Jianzhi, the chief officer of Jingzhou, would be qualified to be a prime minister. This laid the groundwork for the dispute between literature and official administration.

This struggle then emerged in the early Kaiyuan period, primarily manifested in the suppression of Zhang Shuo and others from the literary school by Yao Chong, a representative of the civil service faction. The problem arises here: how should literature and civil service be defined? What are the standards?
Zhang Shuo's literary talent is undeniable, and this is his greatest attribute. However, other people who were marginalized and exiled during the same period included Guo Yuanzhen, Liu Youqiu, and Zhong Shaojing.

Guo Yuanzhen, a Jinshi (Jinshi) graduate, presented his "Sword" to Empress Wu Zetian, clearly a literary figure. Liu Youqiu, a Jinshi (Jinshi) graduate, drafted hundreds of imperial edicts in a short period of time after the Tanglong coup. Such a talented writer, clearly a literary figure. Zhong Shaojing, not a Jinshi (Jinshi) graduate and a lowly official, nonetheless knew how to write and his calligraphy was excellent, clearly a literary figure!
As for Yao Chong, although he entered the officialdom to show his filial piety to the emperor, he was later asked to write poems in response to the imperial examination. Although the title sounds like a poetry subject, it is not important. Yao Chong is famous for his administration, so he is an official!
In fact, Zhang Shuo, Guo Yuanzhen and others, in addition to being linked by a far-fetched concept of "literature", have a very unified identity, that is, they are the heroes of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's coup.

Putting aside the so-called "literary" concept, if we compare these people to the Five Dragon Kings, things will immediately become smooth. After the coup, these people also took control of the government and showed their arrogance and desire to influence Emperor Xuanzong.

In order to get rid of the constraints of meritorious officials, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang brought Yao Chong into the court. This idea was probably similar to that of his uncle Emperor Zhongzong of Tang who retained Wu Sansi and killed the Five Kings of Shenlong.

The difference is that Tang Xuanzong appointed Yao Chong, a capable minister who not only dealt with a group of meritorious officials who were bullying the emperor but also rectified the chaotic politics of the early Kaiyuan period. Tang Zhongzong, on the other hand, chose Wu Sansi, a troublemaker who, after dealing with the Five Dragon Kings, went his own way.

According to this view, it's fortunate that Wu Sansi wasn't particularly talented, and it's difficult to connect him to Zhang Shuo. Otherwise, the so-called "debate between literature and officialdom" would have erupted as early as the reign of Emperor Zhongzong. This is because most of the Five Kings of the Shenlong Dynasty were introduced by Di Renjie, which fits the definition of officialdom.

This also shows that the concepts of literature and officialdom are inherently vague and broad, more like fabrications than definitions. Furthermore, these concepts can easily lead to literal misunderstandings, such as the idea that literature is all about empty talk and officialdom is all about hard work. These concepts already presuppose praise and criticism, losing objectivity.

Let’s take the dispute between Zhang Jiuling and Li Linfu during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, which best fits this characteristic. Zhang Jiuling was about literature, while Li Linfu was about administration.

This was specifically manifested in the disdain and contempt that Zhang Jiuling and his followers showed towards Li Linfu and his accomplices. One of the more famous incidents was that Zhang Jiuling prevented Niu Xianke, who had made outstanding contributions in guarding the border areas of Longyou and Shuofang, from entering the court.

The incident ended with Zhang Jiuling being dismissed from his post and Niu Xianke being appointed as the prime minister, leaving behind the impression that "Jiuling was a scholar who didn't understand the big picture." But then came the exciting part: what did Niu Xianke do when he was appointed as the prime minister?
After Niu Xianke entered the court, he widely promoted the advanced work experience he had accumulated in Longyou, especially the core "Helian".

The so-called "Helian" means that the government spends money to buy the surplus grain in the homes of the people. The government obtains abundant money and grain reserves, and the people also obtain cash for consumption.

According to historical records, the implementation of the Helian Law was a huge success. The food crisis that had plagued the Tang government for a long time was solved perfectly, so much so that the government issued an imperial decree that year to the Jiangnan region to "redeem rent in exchange for cloth." A rough translation means: there is no need to transport rented rice, just pay directly!
But many things that seem beautiful are actually not worth looking into in detail.

The first thing that needs to be made clear is that Helian is not the same behavior as the Changping Warehouse, where the government buys in good years and sells in bad years, to maintain grain prices to prevent low grain prices from hurting farmers. Instead, it is a policy of the government to purchase and expand material reserves, which is an important part of political achievements.

How to demonstrate political achievements? Spend less money and buy more grain! If this work is done well, you can directly enter the court and become the prime minister!
With such performance indicators, what official wouldn't be tempted? When market behavior is tied to career prospects, how can the interests of the people on the other side of the transaction be guaranteed? You don't sell? Where will you get the money to pay taxes if you don't sell? Spending your money to buy your grain, how dare you say no?
Another advantage of the Helian system for rulers was that it allowed them to sidestep a fundamental contradiction in feudal society: land annexation. Since I only needed to collect taxes to buy grain, it didn't matter who cultivated the land. Large landowners could accumulate tens of thousands of dan of grain, while ordinary households could only manage a few dou. So whose land was more convenient to buy from?

Before Niu Xianke became prime minister, the Tang government had implemented the practice of "He Lian" (a type of grain-graining system), but it was a temporary, small-scale initiative, not a regular decree. He Lian was not necessarily a bad practice; at least during Niu Xianke's tenure in Longyou, it achieved excellent results in expanding military supplies and bolstering border defense.

But oranges grown in the south of the Huai River are oranges, while those grown in the north of the Huai River are tangerines. You have to look at it dialectically, my friend! No matter how good Helian is, it is not a panacea. But in Niu Xianke's cognition, Helian is the best, and he can't do anything else besides this.

Thus, Niu Xianke, a down-to-earth and hardworking man, achieved the feat of "collecting grain for the treasury and gaining the wrath of the people throughout the country" shortly after his appointment as prime minister. This incident also raises the question: can literature be divided into top students and bottom students, and can civil service be divided into good and bad officials?

As for Li Linfu, Zhang Jiuling's mortal enemy and Niu Xianke's close comrade-in-arms, is he a good official or a bad official?

Who was Li Linfu? His uncle was Jiang Jiao, a close friend of Emperor Xuanzong, with whom even the deposed empress would whisper. His maternal uncle was Yuan Qianyao, who served as prime minister for over nine years, second only to Yuan. His great-grandfather, Li Sixun, was a member of the imperial clan and a minister buried alongside Emperor Ruizong of Tang in Qiaoling Mausoleum.

If there really were any so-called "Tianlong people" in this era, Li Linfu was one of them. For him, if there was any dark moment in life, it would be when he didn't dare to turn on the lights when playing games with Pei Guangting's wife.

Li Linfu's resume was worthy of his background. He had held various court positions in the capital for a long time and had almost no experience of serving in local areas or governing prefectures and counties for a long time. In addition to being proficient in the rules and regulations of the administrative management of various departments in the court, he had also heard and witnessed many political struggles, and was even present at the scene many times.

Li Linfu lacked academic scholarship, meaning he drew little nourishment from the political experience of the ancients. All he amassed was based on what he heard, witnessed, and personally gleaned. The term "administration" might be misinterpreted as misapplying it to him; it should be more accurately described as "managing officials." While Li Linfu's ability to solve specific problems may have been limited, his forte was solving the problems faced by those who raised them.

If it were only this, would Li Linfu have been able to stay in the position of prime minister for so long?
All we can say is that the Tang Dynasty had a strong foundation and could withstand the test. You have to know that the time from the death of Emperor Gaozong to the Shenlong Revolution under Wu Zetian, the female ruler, was even longer than that of Li Linfu, and the difficulty and intensity of the game were much higher than that of Li Linfu's period.

Li Linfu only needed to unconditionally cater to the emperor, who was in his later years and incompetent, to temporarily cover up some worries and contradictions, while at the same time dealing with those potential and emerging opponents. If this is considered an outstanding ability, then many kings who lost their country were surrounded by capable ministers who protected the country!

A long time and strong ability are two different concepts and cannot be directly equated.

For example, before Li Linfu, his uncle Yuan Qianyao was the person who served as prime minister the longest during the Kaiyuan period, for more than nine years. He had worked with prime ministers such as Yao Chong, Zhang Jiazhen, Zhang Shuo, Li Yuanhong, and Du Xian, and could be called an unshakable figure in the political arena in the middle and early Kaiyuan period.

But is this enough to show that Yuan Qianyao's ability was so high that it was irreplaceable, and that other prime ministers were inferior to him? If we carefully examine what Yuan Qianyao left behind during his more than nine years as prime minister in the Kaiyuan political system, it is probably only himself who left behind.

Yuan Qianyao was modest and cautious, seeking to protect himself. He refrained from competing for state affairs, waiting to be rewarded for his contributions. To what extent was he cautious? His brother-in-law and his adviser, Jiang Jiao, was targeted by Prime Minister Zhang Jiazhen, who punished him with caning and exile, leading to his death during exile. Yuan Qianyao, then a minister of state, was also a chancellor, yet he dared not contest the matter.

On the contrary, Zhang Shuo, who returned to the court later, felt sorry for Jiang Jiao, believing that Jiang Jiao "had only been a third-rank official and had made some minor contributions. If he was guilty, he should be put to death or exiled", but he should not be flogged and humiliated.

Yuan Qianyao's caution is also reflected in his evaluation of Li Linfu, which is the sentence "A Langguan must be a person of good conduct, talent and high reputation. How can Ge Nu be a Langguan?"

Some people think that Yuan Qianyao's words were meant to cover up his lack of say in personnel matters at the center, and to deliberately belittle Li Linfu. After all, Li Linfu's achievements and presence in the political situation of the prosperous Tang Dynasty were much greater than Yuan Qianyao's, so how could he be considered a mediocre palace attendant?

First of all, I have to explain that Yuan Qianyao did not refuse to promote Li Linfu, but only rejected Li Linfu's request to serve as Sima Langzhong, but a few days later he appointed him as Prince's Tutor.

The Sima Langzhong was a fifth-rank official under the Ministry of Justice, while the Prince's Tutor was a fourth-rank official in the Eastern Palace. It wasn't that Yuan Qianyao didn't have the ability to promote Li Linfu; he simply looked down on him at the time.

Li Linfu's deeds in his youth were not very prominent, but various records can roughly outline his image. He was born in an aristocratic family, was proficient in music and enjoyed pleasure, had a low level of education, behaved indecently, and probably had a bad reputation. He was a typical playboy.

Such a petty thief like Cao was assigned to serve as a palace attendant in an important department of the Southern Province. Who can guarantee that he will not fail?

It is important to note that if an official made a mistake in the Tang Dynasty, his recommender would also be punished. Countless high-ranking officials in the Tang Dynasty fell into disgrace because of this, including Yao Chong, Song Jing, and even Zhang Jiuling, who were all deprived of power because the people they recommended were found guilty.

Yuan Qianyao was cautious by nature. Would he place his political fate on someone like Li Linfu? Therefore, he would rather assign Li Linfu a higher-ranking position away from central government affairs than recruit him to the Southern Province and increase the chances of mistakes.

Yuan Qianyao will also give great promotion and support to those who are truly talented and trustworthy, such as Yuwen Rong.

When Yuan Qianyao was serving as the prefect of Jingzhao, he had already expressed deep admiration for his subordinate Yuwen Rong and recommended him to the court. After that, Yuan Qianyao also supported Yuwen Rong in several major promotions.

It can even be said that recommending Yuwen Rong to the court was Yuan Qianyao's greatest contribution to the Kaiyuan politics. However, Yuwen Rong himself was so talented that Yuan Qianyao's presence was not very strong.

Of course, people will not remain unchanged, including Li Linfu, who also grew up. When he was serving as the director of the Imperial College, his reputation had already become good.

But it's hard to say there was any radical change. After all, only when professional skills are truly lacking will they focus on administrative management, something that anyone who has attended school or worked can probably understand. Another important point: Did Emperor Xuanzong of Tang have high standards for his prime ministers in his later years? He even used Yang Guozhong! What was Yang Guozhong's talent? He showed off his big butt, and all his remaining poor foundation was exposed! Even because of this top-notch person, Li Linfu became mature and capable of statecraft.

The fact that Li Linfu was able to serve as prime minister for a long time during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years was certainly related to his qualified personal qualities, but they were merely qualified, not excellent, and this was not the fundamental reason.

The fundamental reason is that the period when he served as prime minister was basically a garbage time when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was complacent, incompetent and lazy in his administration, and he had shifted his energy from dealing with state affairs to tending to family ethics.

During this period, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang did not need the prime minister to have outstanding governing abilities. As long as he could suppress personnel conflicts, prevent them from arising in front of him, and be able to obey and cater to him without any bottom line, he would be a qualified prime minister.

The dispute between Zhang Jiuling and Li Linfu cannot be said to be a victory of officialdom over literature. Zhang Jiuling's demotion was more due to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's own choices.

For example, Pei Yaoqing, who was dismissed from his post together with Zhang Jiuling, took the boy's examination when he was young. Later, he was employed because of his old colleague in the palace of Emperor Ruizong of Tang. He served in prefectures and counties. He was recommended to the court by Yuwen Rong, and later proposed and presided over a systematic reform of the grain transport system.

Such a resume, by all rights, should not be classified as a literary one. If interpreted from a very narrow perspective, it could be that Pei Yaoqing was simply unlucky, clearly a bureaucrat by nature, yet he flirted with the literary giant Zhang Jiuling, ultimately becoming an innocent victim. This is clearly inappropriate and even ridiculous.

Pei Yaoqing's demotion actually had its roots in his own career. He oversaw a reform of the Grand Canal that saved 300,000 strings of cash (approximately 1,000 strings of cash) in shipping costs. Someone suggested "handing this money over to the emperor to demonstrate his achievements," but Pei Yaoqing retorted, "Is this using state funds to curry favor? Is that even possible?" Therefore, he reported the money as market expenses.

This point alone distinguishes Pei Yaoqing from those financial officials who exploited others to gain favor during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years. It is difficult for them to get along well with each other.

Niu Xianke, who came to power later, promoted grain sales and made the Tang government's demand for grain transport no longer as strong as before. It was natural for Pei Yaoqing, who was unable to adapt to the times and unwilling to follow the crowd, to fade out of the current situation.

Therefore, Pei Yaoqing's resignation was not about literature and official administration, but about official administration and official administration.

There was also Yan Tingzhi, who was regarded as Zhang Jiuling's literary follower. Because Xiao Jiong, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue recommended by Li Linfu, misread the word "Fu La" as "Fu Lie", Yan Tingzhi informed Zhang Jiuling and demoted Xiao Jiong from the court. This is also often regarded as a manifestation of the dispute between literature and administration.

Before explaining this matter, let me first introduce who Yan Tingzhi is.

Yan Tingzhi was a Jinshi graduate, and during the Shenlong period he was selected to serve as an official, and was appreciated by his superior Yao Chong. After Yao Chong became prime minister, he recommended Yan Tingzhi to the court to serve as the Right Picker of Remnants.

During the Xiantian period when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had just ascended the throne, Yan Tingzhi submitted a memorial to the emperor, arguing that one should not "waste the manpower of tens of thousands of people to raise funds for various performances", for which he was commended. This shows that he was a man of integrity and courage to give advice.

Yan Tingzhi's uprightness was no sham; he was truly daring. He even dared to speak out and rebuke the Imperial Censor, who was in charge of discipline, for his inappropriate words and deeds. Even powerful prime ministers like Wang Maozhong, a Tang and Yuan Dynasty hero and the foremost official in the Northern Court during the Kaiyuan period, and Zhang Shuo dared not challenge him. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was cautious in dealing with Wang Maozhong, but Yan Tingzhi still dared to refuse his illegal demands.

Now that we understand who Yan Tingzhi is, and then look back at his dissatisfaction with Xiao Jiong, should this be considered a party dispute?
Shouldn't it be a basic quality for an official to be literate, especially for a minister of a prestigious ministry? If this is also a dispute between literature and officialdom, where is officialdom manifested? Is it that the minister of the Ministry of Revenue only needs to know numbers and not words?
The Tang Dynasty has been established for more than a hundred years. The system has been standardized and there is a rich talent pool. The quality requirements for officials in important central departments have been improved. Isn't this a normal thing?
In other words, Li Linfu was also uneducated, but he was able to serve as prime minister for many years. Why should scholars discriminate against academic qualifications?
As discussed in the previous article, Li Linfu's family background made him come into contact with these people and things since he was born. These people and things were even part of his daily life. After being influenced by them for many years, if he couldn't even handle basic government affairs, then it was not because of his lack of ability, but his lack of intelligence!

During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods, a large number of financial and administrative talents were promoted, with Yuwen Rong being the most iconic. The saying "the Kaiyuan era saw the rise of officials who spoke highly of their own interests" began with Yuwen Rong. Subsequent financial officials such as Yang Shenjin, Wei Jian, Wang Yu, and Yang Guozhong are also considered to have followed in his footsteps.

Coincidentally, during the Kaiyuan era, a group of scholars, led by Zhang Shuo and Zhang Jiuling, were extremely active in the political arena. It was inevitable that these two types of people would clash in interests and power. However, the deep-seated and fundamental reasons for their conflicts and struggles were definitely not so-called literature and officialdom.

Among these so-called administrative talents, Yuwen Rong and Pei Yaoqing were the only ones whose reforms and initiatives truly touched upon fundamental social issues and had a holistic impact on national strength and society. The others, one by one, had gone further and further astray, relying on exploitation and bribery to curry favor. They were not worthy of being compared to Yuwen Rong and Pei Yaoqing.

Introducing these people into the concept of officialdom to discuss the dispute between literature and officialdom is both an insult to literature and an insult to officialdom!
Let’s talk about literature. This school of thought believes that during a peaceful and prosperous era, monarchs are fond of ostentation and often want to whitewash their literary governance.

This is undoubtedly very narrow-minded, as it regards civil governance as a cause promoted by the monarch's personal desire for achievement, and makes no mention of the improvements that civil governance brings to society as a whole and its irreplaceable role in promoting ideological construction.

We must first understand what the term "Golden Tang Dynasty" means. The term was first used to describe the rich cultural achievements of the Tang Dynasty, including poetry and literature, and later gradually became a historical concept.

Before the formation of the unified empire of the Sui and Tang dynasties, there was a period of great chaos during the Southern and Northern Dynasties that lasted for hundreds of years. Society was in a state of division and turmoil for a long time, so there was naturally no such thing as so-called civil governance.

The so-called classics and historical doctrines were merely family matters for the aristocracy, and culture was not widely disseminated, making it difficult for ordinary people to access it. Of course, given the enormous pressures of survival at the time, acquiring culture was not an urgent issue.

However, with the unification of the Sui and Tang empires, the tracing of cultural origins, the integration and widespread dissemination of cultural knowledge became an unavoidable responsibility of the political center. During this period, the book-editing activities exemplified by the Jixian scholars during the Kaiyuan Period of the Tang Dynasty were the longest and most fruitful. This period held extraordinary significance not only for the Tang Dynasty but also for the entirety of ancient history, truly making the family affairs of the aristocracy a universal discipline.

Zhang Shuo, who served as the leader of the Jixian Scholars for a long time and possessed a profound cultural literacy, undoubtedly made outstanding contributions. However, the view of the struggle between literature and officialdom deconstructs Zhang Shuo and his actions as simply recruiting scholars of ci and engaging in factional struggles, failing to adequately address the core and fundamental aspects of the flourishing Tang Dynasty's literary governance.

Compared with the old theories such as etiquette and laws advocated by the ancients, later generations undoubtedly have a deeper and more direct understanding of the changes and influences that culture and ideology bring to a group or a regime.

In later generations, the social unrest and even wars caused by the deconstruction and collapse of ideology have almost never stopped. Therefore, we must have a deeper understanding of Kaiyuan literature.

The Kaiyuan era of civil governance was an achievement achieved through collective efforts, including but not limited to these central literati. People in the opposition, such as Li Bai and Meng Haoran, also made enormous contributions, which were even not inferior to those in the system.

Zhang Shuo's contribution may not be irreplaceable, and Li Shuo or Wang Shuo could also be his. But no matter who said it, as long as he guided and promoted the glory of Kaiyuan's cultural governance, he is undoubtedly worthy of praise.

Just as there are good and bad officials in government, there are also those who are quick-witted and adaptable, and those who are stagnant and inflexible. There are always those who talk big and fill the gaps, but what makes them so ugly is neither literature nor government, let alone any inherent contradiction between the two.

Therefore, literature and officialdom are only a very superficial way of grasping and expressing identity characteristics. It is not enough to explain the nature of the central political struggle during the Kaiyuan period, and it also involves very little about the impact and influence of the central struggle on the society at that time. It is a relatively narrow way of expression.

In fact, if this kind of struggle really existed, we can all put ourselves in Emperor Xuanzong's shoes and think from the perspective of ordinary people: I want all of them, is that illegal? Who made that rule?

The closer the power struggle is to the top of the central government, the more obvious the emperor's will becomes.

Not to mention a strong emperor like Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, even if the eunuchs and the Shen Ce Army in the middle and late Tang Dynasty wanted to make trouble, they had to go to the Sixteenth Prince's Mansion to pick a little piglet from the Li family and hold it in their hands. Perhaps the imperial power during this period could no longer be said to have any independent will, but you can't be absent!
In the mind of the emperor, the most central and crucial figure in the power struggle, there is probably no concept of literature and administration.

Similarly, if we want to systematically and comprehensively understand the political changes and social evolution during the Kaiyuan period, we should not limit ourselves to this perspective and use the relatively vague concepts of literature or officialdom to deconstruct and summarize the complex human affairs during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

Of course, this is just my own opinion and random thoughts after reading. My experience and accumulation are not enough to conduct any serious academic discussion.

What I am sharing with you today is just an explanation of the historical background of the book I am writing, so that you can understand the plot events and character behaviors, so some of the views are only applicable to this book.

There's a lot of information about people and events involved, and it might be hard to digest it all at once. That's okay, it's just an introduction to the historical context, and the main story will cover it in more detail later. If you have any questions, feel free to go back and read it again.

I wish you all good work and a happy life. Please give me some support by reading this! ! !
Since publishing this book, I've noticed that some readers are still unfamiliar with the events of the mid-Kaiyuan period, as described in this book. I'd like to briefly explain the political landscape of the central government during this period. I'd also like to recommend a popular science article. Unlike other dry historical popular science articles, this one is lively and engaging, especially its exploration of social customs and anecdotes, which will help you gain a more comprehensive understanding of the Tang Dynasty.



(End of this chapter)