Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 257 The True Ruler of the Empire

"As the sage said: 'If you govern the people by laws and regulate them by punishments, they will avoid punishment but have no sense of shame. If you govern them by virtue and regulate them by rites, they will have a sense of shame and moreover become good.' If kings and nobles emphasize the power of laws and regulations, the people may be temporarily subdued under harsh punishments, but where will their hearts be? Where will their sense of shame be? If this continues, I fear we will lose the foundation of the people's hearts and shake the very foundation of the nation!"

Seeing his elder brother speak up, Cheng Yi couldn't help but speak as well, directly pointing to the moral and ethical risks that Wang Anshi's ideas might bring.

"That's rather impractical!"

Wang Anshi frowned: "The accumulated problems of today are far greater than in the past! If we talk about benevolence and morality while watching the country become poor and the people suffer, such 'virtuous governance' is nothing but hypocritical empty talk. The authority of the law is precisely to clear the world and pave the way for true virtuous governance!"

“If the people do not know the law, they are easily deceived by the powerful and cunning; if officials do not fear the law, they will surely exploit and oppress the people. Only by strictly enforcing the law can we protect the livelihood of ordinary people and make them feel ashamed and upright. If the law is neglected and the basic principles of discipline are lost, then virtue and propriety will become empty words!”

Wang Anshi's rebuttal was blunt, directly pointing out that Cheng Yi's theories were divorced from reality, and even labeling them as "hypocritical empty talk."

The two argued sharply, one emphasizing moral principles and the other emphasizing the effectiveness of laws, clearly revealing a significant ideological gap.

The atmosphere inside the warm pavilion was extremely tense.

Lu Beigu sat quietly at the lower end of the table, listening to the conversation.

Whether it was Wang Anshi's emphasis on "legislative standards" or the Cheng brothers' advocacy of "guiding with virtue," in the eyes of this time traveler who deeply understood the course of history, they both overlooked a crucial yet extremely realistic aspect.

—The executors, namely the numerous but lowly clerks who permeate the empire.

They are the true rulers of the empire!
Lu Beigu's mind was clearly echoing the assertion that Jiang Xinghuo had repeatedly emphasized when discussing the successes and failures of reforms throughout history.

"No matter how good the laws or how high the moral education, they will ultimately fall into the hands of clerks and runners! Laws are dead, and moral education is empty. Only these petty clerks who handle specific affairs, control the circulation of documents, and occupy the bottom of the government office are the living beings who can truly determine the direction of policies and affect the livelihoods of the people. If they cannot be governed, then everything will be in vain!"

Lu Beigu looked at Wang Anshi, who was full of vigor and wanted to use swift and decisive means to clean up the world, and spoke.

"What the prince said about the power of the law is indeed a timely and accurate assessment of the current problems."

"However, I believe that whether one wants to establish 'enlightened laws' or to carry out 'education,' the key to success or failure lies not in the exquisiteness of the legal provisions, nor in the profoundness of the sages' teachings."

Seeing everyone's eyes on him, Lu Beigu paused and said, word by word.

"But it lies with the clerks and officials!"

"It lies with the countless clerks and officials scattered throughout the prefectures and counties, handling documents, collecting taxes and levies, and adjudicating lawsuits!" Upon hearing this, Zhang Zai, who had been gazing at the starry sky as if no one else was around, turned his head slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

These words brought to light a crucial real-world issue that might have seemed "unseemly" to the literati at the time. Zhang Zai was not one of those scholars who had never participated in local governance; he had served as a staff member under Fan Zhongyan in the Northwest, which is why he knew the truth of these words.

"Laws and regulations are displayed high in the imperial court, but their actual implementation is carried out by the lowest-level clerks who measure fields, register households, collect taxes, arrest criminals, and deliver documents. They are familiar with local conditions and loopholes in the law, and this knowledge is passed down through generations, allowing them to dominate a region."

Wang Anshi frowned.

Lu Beigu's words precisely exposed the core key to his grand reform blueprint, a key issue he was not unaware of but perhaps had never thought about so systematically—the decay at the execution level!
He had previously denounced the clerks for "manipulating the law" and "embezzling and enriching themselves," regarding them as targets that needed to be "severely punished." However, Lu Beigu pointed directly to the root cause of their corruption: the lack of salary, no way out, and the systemic corruption formed by generations of entrenched positions, as well as the complete distortion of policy implementation!

This is more terrifying than mere "badness"; it is a chronic problem rooted in the system itself!
"As for education and moral cultivation, and using virtue to influence the people, this is indeed the way to get to the root of the problem."

Lu Beigu's voice rose: "May I ask if I may ask a question: are those who deal with the common people and ordinary folks all day long, well-read scholars who understand poetry and morality?"

"No! It's precisely these illiterate, profit-driven clerks!"

“Their every word and action, every smile and frown, is the true face of the ‘government’ in the eyes of the people. If they are fierce and ruthless, oppressing the villagers, where will the people’s ‘morality’ and ‘propriety’ come from? They will only see the government as wolves and tigers! Even if the wisdom of sages is as clear as the sun and moon, how can it penetrate these layers of filth and reach the hearts of the people?”

Cheng Hao's expression grew even more solemn. He was not unaware of the harm caused by clerks, but Lu Beigu placed this specific and corrupt group of clerks in a crucial position regarding whether "moral and ethical education" could truly take root, and even regarded them as a "mask" that could completely dissolve the power of education. This perspective was one that Cheng Hao had not thought deeply about.

He always paid more attention to the fundamental goodness of people's hearts and the guidance of social customs, believing that as long as the upper-class scholars and the monarch were upright in heart and conduct, they could influence people like a gentle spring breeze.

However, Lu Beigu cruelly pointed out that between the common people and "morality and propriety" lay a filthy chasm formed by petty officials.

"Laws and regulations are like tendons and bones, while education and moral education are like qi and blood. But no matter how strong the tendons and bones are, or how abundant the qi and blood are, if the meridians throughout the body are blocked or even teeming with malignant tumors, how can the whole body be strong? How can it resist external aggression and live in peace?"

"Therefore, I believe that if we want to change customs and establish laws, the most fundamental thing is to rectify officialdom! It is about how to restrain, manage, and even reshape this huge class of clerks who are insignificant in position but have enormous power!"

Lu Beigu's gaze swept over the crowd, and he concluded, "Without a clean and honest administration, the law, though swift and severe, may become a tool for clerks to amass wealth; moral education and etiquette may become a mask for clerks to deceive the world. This is not an exaggeration, but a painful truth I have witnessed firsthand in the prefectures and counties of Sichuan!"

After Lu Beigu finished speaking, he bowed deeply to everyone again and then quietly sat back down.

(End of this chapter)