Revealing the official way of a generation of Zheng Chen Wei Zhi: don't be a loyal minister, be a good minister.

Loyal minister, the interpretation of modern Chinese dictionary is: officials loyal to the monarch In other words, a loyal minister is an official who offends the monarch at the expense of being killed in order to safeguard the monarch's best interests. The feudal system in China lasted for more than two thousand years. Bound by Confucian ethics, there has always been a deep-rooted loyalty complex in our traditional consciousness, that is, loyalty worship. However, a loyal minister is not equal to a good minister, because what a loyal minister does may not be beneficial to the country, the people or even the monarch. Wei Zhi, who made great contributions to the rule of Zhenguan, as a senior official of the imperial court, put forward a pioneering viewpoint of being a good minister instead of a loyal minister in the case of countless examples in history. When Taizong answered the question of what is a loyal minister and what is a good minister, he said: Ji, Qi and Bi Gan are good ministers, while Longfeng and Bi Gan are loyal ministers. Can let oneself get a good reputation, assist the monarch to get a prominent reputation, and pass it on from generation to generation, Fulu's courtiers without borders are all good ministers; Killed by himself and branded as a loyal minister by the monarch, the family and the country were all damaged, leaving only an empty courtier as a loyal minister. Throughout Wei Zhi's life, he was not a loyal minister as he said, but a very competent and good minister.

In our traditional ideas, some ideas are very interesting, such as the advice that good birds choose trees to live in, the advice that loyal ministers choose their masters, the advice that loyal ministers should not be two masters, and the advice that brave people should not marry two husbands. Here, a good minister and a loyal minister are obviously not interchangeable, because their connotations are different. The courtiers who can choose their masters to do things are self-centered and aim at whether they can display their talents to benefit the people's society; Loyal ministers do not serve two masters, but take the Lord as the center. As for whether the master's actions are beneficial to society and people, at most, it is only considered on the premise of loyalty to the master. Wei Zhi is a good minister who puts society and people first. In his early political career, he not only took care of many masters, but also devoted himself to every master with a calm mind.

Wei Zhi, named Xuancheng, was born in 580 A.D. in Julu Qucheng (now Julu, Hebei) to a lower-level official family. His father's name is Wei Changxian, and he worked as a county magistrate in Beiqi. When Wei Zhi was a child, his family wealth decreased, but his poor life did not have a bad influence on him. On the contrary, he is bohemian and ambitious, preferring to become a monk rather than engage in an ordinary livelihood. He loves reading very much and sees that the world is getting more and more chaotic, so he pays special attention to the theory of how to govern the world.

At the end of Emperor Yang Di's great career, there were many heroes in the world. At that time, Yuan Bao, the satrap of Wuyang County, rose up in response to Shi Biao, who seized the leadership of Wagang Army, and recruited Wei Zhi as a clerk. In this way, Wei Zhi joined the wagang army. Shi Mi was an official in the Sui Dynasty, but he was not satisfied with his position as a bodyguard attendant. He said that he died, studied behind closed doors, and then joined the Wagang rebels. Every time he saw the report that Yuan Bao gave him, he was full of praise. When he asked, it was all written, so he recruited Wei to his side and changed from his men to Shi Biao's men. Wei Zhi made 10 suggestions to Shi Mi after his arrival. However, although Shi Mi thought these suggestions were novel, he failed to put them into practice. Later, the general Wang, who was defeated by Shi Mi, made a comeback and attacked Shi Mi in Luokou. Shi Biao didn't take Wang seriously from top to bottom because he defeated him. Wei Zhi analyzed the situation of the enemy and ourselves, but because of his low position, he could only suggest to Zheng F that Shimi has a long history: Gong Wei (Shimi) won quickly, but his soldiers suffered too many casualties; Hyogo is empty, and meritorious soldiers are not rewarded. The soldiers have no positive fighting mood. Judging from the current situation of our army in these two aspects, it is difficult to resist Wang. Therefore, the correct strategy for our army to deal with the enemy is to fight a protracted war with the enemy in the deep ditch and high base. Ten days and a half ago, the enemy ran out of food and had to retreat. At that time, our army will seize the opportunity to pursue and win. Besides, there is no food in the east, and the king is cornered. This time, it is the heart of World War I. The enemy is difficult to fight. Please tell General Shi Biao not to engage him rashly. Unexpectedly, Zheng F scoffed at Wei Zhi's suggestion and said that your suggestion was just a cliche! Wei Zhi didn't expect such a blow, and said angrily that it was a clever plan to defeat the enemy. Where are the cliches? Say and leave. In this first world war, Shi Biao who didn't listen to Wei Zhi's advice was really defeated.

Shi Biao was defeated and turned to Tang Gaozu Tang Gaozu. The object of Wei Zhi's service changed from Shi Biao to the ruler of the Tang Dynasty. After Wei Zhi arrived in Tang Gaozu's hands, he couldn't get a chance to make contributions for a long time, so he volunteered to go to Liyang, Shandong Province to have the Wagang Army Department that has not yet surrendered. Tang Gaozu agreed to Wei Zhi's request and named him Cheng. At that time, Shi Mi's old army, Xu Shizhen, controlled a vast area from the east to the seashore, south to Jianghuai, west to Ruzhou and north to Wei Jun. After coming to Liyang, he first wrote a letter to help him analyze the situation, pointing out that Wagangjun is in a battleground for military strategists, Wang's East strategy will not die, Dou Jiande's South strategy still needs to be lifted, and its aluminum will not last long. Wei Zhi also analyzed the general trend of the world, pointing out that the world will be owned by Tang Gaozu, while Xu Shiao can only maintain peace and prosperity. This letter is well written logically, literary and emotional. The team led by Xu surrendered to the Li Dynasty. Magnificent architecture has become a powerful force for Li to win the world, which has made great contributions to Li's final victory. In this surrender, Wei Zhi collected many tile soldiers without bloodshed, which showed his extraordinary talent.

In 6 19, Dou Jiande, who rose in Hebei at the end of Sui Dynasty and became the king of Xia Dynasty, annihilated the army led by Yu Wenhuaji in Liaocheng, then defeated Tang Jun, captured Liyang, captured Wei Zhi, and Wei Zhi became the subordinate of Dou Jiande. Dou Jiande won Wei Zhi, and he also appreciated his talent, but appreciation does not mean reuse. Dou Jiande only gave Wei Zheng a job as a layman, and he was responsible for recording Dou Jiande's speech, which was really overqualified. Wei Zhi spent two years under Dou Jiande. Two years later, the king of Qin led his troops to a decisive battle with the allied forces of Wang and Dou Jiande, first defeating Dou Jiande in Hulao Pass, and then forcing the king to surrender and occupy Luoyang, thus winning a decisive victory on the eastern front. Dou Jiande was defeated, and Wei Zhi, who was in Dou Ying, took the opportunity to persuade Tang Dan, commander-in-chief of Luozhou in Dou Jiande, to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.

Wei Zhi stayed under Dou Jiande for two years, and now he has returned to the Tang Dynasty. If measured by today's standards, even if he doesn't wear the hat of defection and surrender, he should at least be included in the stream of vacillation, given certain punishment and will not be used again; Even if it is reused because of a skill, it will be indicated in the file that it belongs to use control and cannot participate in decision-making and confidentiality. Tang Gaozu was generous and didn't punish Wei Zhi, but he wasn't generous enough to reuse Wei Zhi. Prince Li's name is Mu, and he was called into the Prince's Mansion to wash the horses for the Prince. Washing horses for the prince is an official position to teach the prince politics, arts and sciences. From the level, it is not low, but from the level five. And although he is an official of the prince, he is a teacher and so on, which is well received. When he came to Li's men, he was bent on serving the prince. He saw that Li and Tang Wang were fighting for the highest power, especially their contribution and influence were increasing day by day. He was very worried about the prince. Dou Jiande sent Liu Heita south, thinking that the prince had a chance to make meritorious service, so he proposed to Li Jian: Some people say that you are only in the East Palace when you are old, and you have to submit to the world if you don't achieve great success. Now that the remnants of Liu Heita are scattered to the south, the attack at this time is bound to be devastating. Please lead the army to crusade, gain fame and get to know Shandong heroes. Li accepted the suggestion. At that time, the morale of Liu Heita's army was very sharp, and it would be difficult to win if we fought immediately. It is also suggested that Li should not rush to confront the Liu Heita army head-on, but should launch a political offensive first. Wei Zhi said: The last time we defeated Liu Heita, all the captured generals were executed, and their wives and children also became prisoners. Later, although some letters pardoned the sins of other parties, no one dared to believe us any more. Now release all the prisoners, appease them and send them back so that we can sit back and watch the enemy disperse. Li took the advice. As expected, Liu Heita's army ran out of food and grass, the morale of the army was in chaos, and there were many foot soldiers, and Li won a great victory. Liu Heita's failure fully demonstrated Wei Zhi's political and military talents. Later, Li Zao was repeatedly advised to prepare or even deal with it first. It's a pity that Li hesitated about the suggestion. And, after all, it is not an idle generation. Before Li laid hands on him, he launched the change of Xuanwu Gate, which made Li Yijian a ghost and was also captured.

After catching Wei Zhi, Li Shimin asked him: Why did you provoke the relationship between our brothers? Pretending to want to kill him. We don't know what Li Shimin will do to Wei Zhi if he is scared to cry or beg for mercy. At this time, Wei Zhi, who was caught, was very calm, neither supercilious nor supercilious, and calmly replied to Li Shimin, saying: If the Prince had followed my advice, where would there be today's disaster? Li Shimin loves talents and has long heard of Wei Zhi's name. When he saw that the person threatened by the death penalty could be so calm, he released him, accepted him as his employee and made him an official in charge of Zhan affairs. So, Wei Zhi became Li Shimin's men again. Although it was used, it was not reused at first, which can be seen from the level of Zhan's main book. In the Tang dynasty, Zhan's master book was only one of the seven products, which was very low.

Looking at Wei Zhi's early political career, we can see that Wei Zhi has been practicing his own political ideas, being a good minister, choosing his own master, not acting for the whole world and not being a loyal minister. It is precisely because of Wei Zhi's enlightened political ideas that Wei Zhi, a brilliant star, has been left in the long history of China.

Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, initiated the rule of Guan Zhen, which was praised by later generations. One of the factors is that he has three mirrors, namely, copper as a mirror, clothes as a mirror, ancient as a mirror, knowing the rise and fall, and people as a mirror to know the gains and losses. This is taking people as a mirror, and not everyone can take it as a mirror. After Wei Zhi's death, Li Shimin lamented: Since then, I have lost a mirror, which shows that the mirror of Li Shimin refers to Wei Zhi. Wei Zhi can leave his unique footprints in the long history of China. Some historians commented that Wei Zhi's greatest achievement was to remonstrate with Emperor Taizong directly. Wei Zhi can directly protest against the offence of Emperor Taizong, just because he pretends to be a national scholar and values the world.