At the end of Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yangdi was tyrannical and militaristic, and the people were in dire straits. So the insurgents all over the country were under the banner of anti-Sui. Wei Zhi, who was in his thirties, was unwilling to be lonely and had nothing to do, so he went to Wuyang County as a staff officer. Sending troops, the treasure of the Yuan Dynasty, joined the Wagang Army, and Wei Zhi became his secretary, often drafting and writing official documents and letters. This is the beginning of Wei Zhi's career as a secretary.
A considerable part of the letters and official letters handled by Wei Zhi were sent to Shi Biao (the leader of Wagangjun) for an ingot. These articles have unique viewpoints and brilliant literary talents. Shimi enjoyed it very much after reading it. Later, I heard that this was written by Kevin·Z, and Shi Biao immediately summoned Wei Zhi to give the position of Marshal Wagangjun's room literature to join the army and take charge of Korean. Wei Zhi also had high hopes for Shi Biao. He once made ten suggestions to Shi Biao in order to expand his favor. Regrettably, although Shi Mi thought these suggestions were unusual, they were not adopted and implemented.
Wei Zhi is proficient in literature and military skills. In the anti-Sui struggle, the wagang army won many battles: the battle of Luobei dealt a heavy blow to the main king; The battle of Tongshan also destroyed Sui Jun's elite culture and government departments. However, Wagangjun also suffered heavy casualties. Many generals were carried away by the victory, ignoring this reality and insisting on a decisive battle with the resurgent Wang Jun. Wei Zhi sensed the danger and quickly persuaded Shi Mi's confidant, Chang Shi: Although Gong Wei (referring to Shi Mi) won quickly, there were also many casualties among the soldiers. Besides, our army's budget is empty, the meritorious service is not rewarded, and the soldiers are lazy, so it is difficult to meet the enemy rashly. It is better to have a deep ditch and a high base, and take defense as the attack. However, in ten days and a half, the enemy ate up all the food, so he didn't have to retreat. Then send troops to chase, and you win. This was a good decision, but Zheng Xiang thought it was a "cliche" and refused to adopt it. As a result, in the battle of Mangshan, the wagang army was defeated and almost completely annihilated. Shi Biao only escaped from the ferry with more than ten thousand wounded soldiers. Anticipating failure, Shi Biao was forced to join Tang Gaozu (see Biography of Wei Zhi in Old Tang Dynasty).
Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, a native of Taiyuan in Sui Dynasty, once served as a comfort station in Hedong, Shanxi Province. In the process of suppressing the peasant uprising, his power gradually grew. When the Sui Dynasty empire fell apart, Li Yuan was also sending troops against the Sui Dynasty. Sui Jun's main force was dragged to the east by Wagangjun. Tang Yuan took advantage of the emptiness in Guanzhong and led the army westward. He quickly invaded Chang 'an, relying on the land of Guanzhong, and became emperor by himself, with the title of Tang.
Wei Zhi came to Chang 'an with Shi Biao. Tang gaozu awarded the post of secretary cheng and continued to do secretarial work. At the same time, he was ordered to send him to Shandong to recruit the old staff of Wagangjun.
Since Shi Biao returned to Tang Dynasty, Xu Shi, a famous wagang army soldier, is still struggling to clean up the mess. He worked hard to recover the lost land of Wagang Army, and controlled the vast areas east to the seashore, south to Jianghuai, west to Ruzhou and north to Wei Jun, but his strength was far less than in the past. After coming to Liyang, he first wrote to Xu Shibang to help him analyze the situation, pointing out that Wagang Army was in a battleground for military strategists, Wang's "East Policy" was immortal, and Dou Jiande's "South Policy" was unfinished. If isolated, it won't last long. Xu Shide wrote a book and decided to return to Tang Dynasty. He sent Guo Xiaoke, who has a long history, to Chang 'an to allocate food and grass to support Li Shentong's department in Tang Jun, which was forced into a difficult situation by Dou Jiande. Li Yuan named Xu Shi Li to manage the area east of Tiger Prison.
Zhaofu Xu and Wei Zhi went to Weizhou again to persuade Weizhou to take charge of Yuanbao for Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. When Yu Wenhuaji attacked Weizhou, Yuan Bao was in a difficult position. Wei Zhi is a national treasure of the Yuan Dynasty, which has always been highly valued. After his guidance, he ceded the country to the Tang Dynasty.
Wei Zhi's trip to Shandong Tang Gaozu won most counties in Qilu without fighting. More importantly, it gained a powerful force loyal to the Tang Dynasty, which dealt a heavy blow to the military forces of Wang, Dou Jiande and Wang. Later, Xu and others were the founding stars of the Tang Dynasty, and they made contributions to the unification of the North in the Tang Dynasty.
In 6 19, Dou Jiande, the self-reliant king of Xia Dynasty, annihilated Yu Wenhuaji's army in Liaocheng, then defeated Tang Jun, captured Liyang and captured Wei Zhi. Dou Jiande appreciated Wei Zhi's talent very much and appointed him as a personal shed to record Wang Xia's words and deeds. 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. Wei Zhi took the opportunity to persuade Dou Jiande, commander of Luozhou, to join the Tang Dynasty.
Go back to Chang 'an and build a prince to wash the horse. As an official of the East Palace, Prince Ma is usually responsible for managing the compilation of books and periodicals in four libraries. In fact, Wei Zhi's work goes far beyond this category. He is highly valued by the prince and has always been regarded as a counselor. Wei Zhi was very grateful to him, and he helped the prince wholeheartedly. He knew that Li He was intrigued for the highest power, especially when he saw that the exploits of the king of Qin were getting bigger and bigger every day, and his influence was getting deeper and deeper. He was very worried about the prince. At this time, it coincided with Dou Jiande's sending mercenaries from Liu Heita south, and Wei Zhi felt that it was time for the Prince to make contributions. He said to Cheng Jian: The King of Qin is so skilled that both the ruling and opposition parties like him very much. Some people say that your highness is in the East Palace only because he is old, and he wants to surrender to the world without much success. Now that all the beaten army in Liu Heita have been scattered, it is bound to be like destroying everything. Therefore, your highness must lead an army to crusade, gain fame and get to know Shandong heroes before he can stay in the East Palace. Li accepted the advice and immediately invited the army to fight. Tang Gaozu was determined to fight, so he decided to send Li Yuanji (the fourth son of Tang Gaozu), king of Qi, to go with him. So the army went north, and Yu Changle confronted the Liu Heita army. At that time, the morale of the Black Tower Army was very sharp. If we fight immediately, it will be difficult to win. Wei Zhi suggested that when it is completed, we should not rush to confront the black army head-on, but launch a political offensive first. Wei Zhi said: The last time he 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. It is time to release all the prisoners, appease them and send them back, so that we can sit back and watch the enemy disperse. Li adopted Wei Shengyou's suggestion. Sure enough, as Zheng Wei expected, the black tower army ran out of food and grass, and the morale of the army was in chaos. Many foot soldiers fled, or tied the leader, and fell to Tang Jun. In the year of Heilu, the situation was not good, and they were afraid that he would take the opportunity to attack, so they led the army to escape to the museum for a chat overnight. Li Yuanji, king of Qi, led the army to pursue and defeated the Black Tower. Later, Liu Heita himself was captured and sacrificed. As a result, the Tang Dynasty consolidated its rule in Shandong and Hebei. This campaign fully demonstrated Wei Zhi's political and military talents.
After successfully returning to Chang 'an, the contradiction with Li Shimin intensified. From the perspective of maintaining the prince, Wei Zhi often advised the slaves to make preparations early. Later, after the project was completed, I saw that there were many warriors in the Qin government and felt threatened to myself. Only then did he collude with Yuanji and privately recruited more than 2,000 warriors as the guards of the East Palace, known as Changlinbing in history. He also secretly sent about 300 elite riders from Youzhou to the East Palace. And with foreign minister Wen Yang dry phase system, JiTu inside and outside. Tang Gaozu discovered the move of the East Palace and accused his younger brother of discord. However, the completion of the dispute with the world did not stop there. The king of Qin, afraid of changes in the DPRK, sent people to Luoyang to secretly make friends with Shandong heroes as a retreat. After the completion, he used Yuanji to crusade against the sudden invasion, and transferred the troops under the jurisdiction of the king of Qin and their warriors who could fight together to the battlefield, so as to weaken the military strength of the king of Qin and cut off the wings of the king of Qin, killing two birds with one stone. Li Shimin and his men saw through the plan, so they took the initiative, ambushed in Xuanwu Gate, and shot Cheng Jian and Yuanji with the sudden appearance of Gong, thus inheriting the status of the prince. Then he ascended the throne of the emperor and changed his name to "Zhenguan".
With the change of Xuanwu Gate, Wei Zhi became the captive of Li Shimin. Li Shimin thundered at Wei Zhi: Why do you alienate our brothers and sisters? Without fear, Wei Zhi answered bluntly: If the Crown Prince had listened to me earlier, there would not be today's disaster! This outspoken attitude naturally annoyed Li Shimin, but after all, he was an enlightened monarch. He didn't blame Wei Zhi, but appointed him as the main book of Prince Zhanfu, and became his courtier, in charge of the secretarial work of the East Palace, such as seal inspection and customs control.
Li Shimin has long known the talent of Wei Sheng. Through this face-to-face ideological confrontation, Li Shimin saw Wei Zhi's frankness, perseverance and loyalty. Therefore, boldly entrust an important task. At that time, although Taizong had acceded to the throne, the fluctuation caused by the change of Xuanwu Gate had not completely disappeared. Considering Yuanji's influence in Shandong, Li Shimin appointed Wei Zhi as his special envoy and made a special trip to Shandong to deal with appeasement. When passing through Cizhou, Lu Yu County Magistrate sent officials to escort former Prince Li Zhi An and his bodyguard Reese back to Beijing. Wei Zhi felt very uncomfortable. He said to Li Tongke, the deputy envoy: When we were ordered to preach, there was an imperial edict to pardon the old people in the East Palace and Qi Palace. Now they do the opposite, escorting four-star people to Beijing. Who can not doubt it? If we turn a blind eye and don't save it, this trip to appease is futile, and people will no longer believe us. This is really "a small difference, a thousand miles away"! Wei Zhi felt that as a court official, he should be above everything else and be proactive. We can't take an evasive attitude just because these two people are close ministers of the late Prince Cheng Jian and Qi Wang Yuanji, so as not to annoy the current householder. Therefore, he bravely upheld justice and immediately released Li Zhi Ann and others. When Wei Zhi's book was sent to the court, Li Shimin was very happy after reading it.
Li Shimin trusted Wei Zhi more and more, made him the Duke of Julu County, and appointed him as an admonition officer. He often called him "into the bedroom" to talk about state affairs, and asked Wei Zhi to comment on his gains and losses in power. Wei Zhi also "knows everything" and does his best.
In the official system of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor had three provinces: Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province and Shangshu Province. All imperial edicts and national policies were drafted by Zhongshu Province, negotiated by Xiamen Province and implemented by Shangshu Province. It is suggested that doctors belong to the suggestion palace of the province under the door, participate in the discussion of state affairs, and can directly make suggestions and state opinions to the emperor.
Kevin·Z was appointed as an admonition officer, and he dared to tell the truth. Every time he remonstrates with a bitter face, he sometimes embarrasses Shi Li in front of court officials. Once, Li returned to North Korea and said indignantly to his eldest grandson, I must kill this hillbilly! The queen asked why, so she put on her royal clothes and solemnly congratulated Taizong. Li Shimin was surprised and asked her why she did it. She said: I heard that the Lord is enlightened; I dare say frankly. How dare I not congratulate Kevin·Z, who is now protesting directly because of his enlightened majesty! Li Shimin this just turned anger into joy.
Wei Zhi's warning covers all aspects.
It is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and Wei Zhi dares to speak out. Zhenguan three years, Li Shishi sent someone to recruit. Right servant Feng Deyi suggested that burly middle-aged men (Tang system: 16 years old, 18 years old, 2 1 year old) were also among the candidates. Li Shimin must play, ordered the letters. According to the Tang system, the imperial edict should be issued by the Chinese Book Sheren Department. At this time, although Wei Zhi was a remonstrator, he still held the post of Mr. Scheeren in Chinese Book. Wei Zhi thought it was unreasonable to do so, so he stubbornly refused to issue letters. After repeated urging, Wei Zhi remained indifferent. Li Shimin was furious and called Kevin·Z and his servant Wang Jin to see him. He angrily asked them: Wei Zhi thinks there will be no fish in the future; Burn the forest, lose (hunting), and there will be no more wild animals. If all middle-aged men join the army, how can rent and tax be provided? Your majesty always said that you should always be honest with others and let your subjects have no hypocrisy. But since you came to the throne, you have broken your promise on many important things. Why win the trust of others again? Li Shimin was surprised after hearing this. He didn't know that he had broken his promise to the people. Wei Zhengyi listed several major problems in the national tax law, which convinced Li Shimin. He said happily, I thought you were so stubborn, but I also doubt that you know nothing about political affairs. Now, after listening to your comments, I really understand the main points. In this way, the imperial edict of recruiting male soldiers was finally revoked, and Li Shimin rewarded Wei Zhi.
In terms of personnel appointment, Wei Zhi believes that the selection of officials must put morality first and have both ability and political integrity before appointment. He advocated that you should trust officials who have both ability and political integrity, and not trust slanders. During the three years of Zhenguan, Fang and Wang were responsible for inspecting the achievements of officials inside and outside the imperial court. At this time, Quan Wanji and others, who have always loved to gossip, wrote to the book that Fang and Wang "abused their powers" and did not uphold justice. Li Shimin ordered people to investigate the matter. The admonition said, "Both Fang and Wang are old courtiers, and they are known for their loyalty. The scope of this survey is very wide, and there may be some irregularities, but after all, they have no selfish intentions. If we make a hasty investigation, it means that they don't trust them. How can we let them take on the heavy responsibility again? Li Shimin felt very reasonable, so he stopped asking. Facts have proved that Wei Zhi's suggestion is correct. Wei Zhi hates those thugs in North Korea and shows no mercy to the corruption of officials. Pang Xiangshou, the secretariat of Zhou Pu, was brought to Beijing for corruption. Pang told me that he used to be a squire in the palace of Qin, hoping to get leniency. Li Shimin regrets this and wants to restore his office. Wei Zhi said: In the past, there were many officials in Qin Gong, both inside and outside the court. I'm afraid everyone escaped punishment by kindness and selfishness. It's enough to scare good people. Li Shimin only considered the seriousness of the consequences, so he said to Xiang Shou: "I used to be the king of Qin and the head of the family; Being in a big position today, you are the master of the four seas, and you must not be alone. "
In the second year of Zhenguan, the daughter of Ren Jirong, the former general manager of Sui Dynasty, was just young and "beautiful". Li Shimin is going to be hired as "Zhong Hua" (the official name of Tang Nv, one of his nine wives). The letter has been sent, but the special envoy who was awarded the title has not yet set out. In fact, Zheng's daughter had promised to marry Lu, who was afraid of the authority of the emperor. Instead of trying, she was vague and avoided getting engaged to Zheng's daughter. At this time, a group of ministers, including Fang, thought it was ok for Taizong to take the daughter of the Zheng family. Wei Zhi pushed aside the crowd and immediately remonstrated: "Your Majesty, as a parent, cares about the people, cares about their worries and enjoys their happiness. Since ancient times, there have been people-oriented masters. So, if you are in the Taiwan Province Pavilion, you want people to have a peaceful home. Eating paste beams is to save people from hunger and cold; Gu Yuyu, do you want people to have family happiness ... "He also said:" A monarch must write a book "to remind Tang Taizong not to leave a story to future generations in history. "Emperor Taizong was shocked and wrote back a letter, deeply blaming himself, so he stopped making suggestions and let the woman return to her wife. "
In the third year of Zhenguan, Wei Zhi was promoted to secretary supervisor. The secretary province belongs to the central administrative organ in Tang Dynasty, which is parallel to Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province and Shangshu Province. The Secretariat of State has a Works Bureau and a Taishi Bureau to unify the revision of national books, literature and classics and the compilation of national history. The secretary of the governor is in charge of the secretary. Doctrinally speaking, he can directly participate in politics with the prime minister.
Wei Zhi is the director of the secretarial office, and one of his contributions is to extensively collect and sort out a large number of books and documents. Due to the war at the end of Sui Dynasty, the national classics in the early Tang Dynasty were complicated, and many important classics were scattered among the people. During his tenure in Wei Zhi, he sent people to search for lost documents and books and collected them widely all over the country. At the same time, he organized manpower to write and copy some important documents. Therefore, in a few years, the collection of books in the Secretariat Building is unprecedented. It should be pointed out that Kevin·Z contributed to the spread of China's classical literature.
Wei Zhi served as the supervisory secretary, and his second contribution was to review and sort out Confucian classics. At that time, Wei Zhi recommended many famous scholars, such as Yu Shinan, Yan Shigu, Kong and Lu Deming. Textual research on the Five Classics and proofreading the four books of Classics, History and Collection.
Wei Zhi served as secretary supervisor, and his third contribution was the textual research on the history of Liang, Chen, Zhou, Qi and Sui. He organized talented historians such as Cen Wenben, Confucius, Xu, Yao Silian and Li Baiyao to compile the five dynasties of Liang, Chen, Zhou, Qi and Sui respectively. He is responsible for the editor-in-chief, progress and review, and personally writes the preface or summary for each history book. After the final revision, he finally completed the task of editing 56 volumes of Liang Shi, 36 volumes of Chen Shi, 50 volumes of Zhou Shi, 50 volumes of Qi History and 55 volumes of Sui History. This is a more rigorous work in China's historical records.
Wei Zhi studied many Confucian classics and wrote many things in his life. Unfortunately, most of them have been lost. In addition to the above nine history books, there is also a book called Collection of Books. The Encyclopedia of * * * is divided into 50 volumes, which is a collection of monographs on Anbang's theory of governing the country selected from a large number of Confucian classics. There are wise sayings and lessons. This book was mainly written for Li Shimin and his princes, and was highly appreciated by Li Shimin.
In the sixth year of Zhenguan (632), Wei Zhi served as a secretary supervisor as a school assistant, equivalent to a temporary acting assistant, responsible for the work in the province, and was promoted to Julugong. In the second year, he was appointed as the provincial assistant and officially became the governor. In the Tang Dynasty, Menxia Province, Zhongshu Province and Shangshu Province were the highest state institutions. State decrees, after being decided in the Chinese book, are reviewed and promulgated by the government and handed over to the minister for implementation. Therefore, Wei Zhi is not only the Chief Executive, but also a senior secretary-general in another sense.
Wei Zhi's official residence is in the province under the door, but his real quality of daring to directly remonstrate remains the same. The province under the door involves weighing the gains and losses of national laws and regulations, and examining and approving national major policies, policies and laws. Wei Zhi can override everything, boldly refute the truth, and carefully identify it. Facing all kinds of extremely complicated social problems in the early Tang Dynasty, Wei Zhi often discussed the way of governing the country with Li Shimin. Wei Zhi is the most active member of "Zhenguan officials discussing politics", and his thoughts and viewpoints always occupy a dominant position, which is the soul and foundation of "discussing politics".
Wei Zhi was born in a Confucian family, and was also a student of Wu Tong, a master of Confucianism in Sui Dynasty. Having read a lot of poetry books and rich life experience, he has a deeper understanding and sublimation of Confucianism.
Starting from safeguarding the interests of the feudal ruling class, he advocated the so-called "benevolent government" of Confucianism. To implement "benevolent government", an enlightened monarch has to listen to opinions from all sides and open his mouth. "If you don't know what you are listening to, your partiality will be dark." Therefore, it is necessary to stay away from the crowd and get close to the sages in order to be clean and sound.
He advocated "the way to govern" and "saving the people first". He said, the monarch is like a boat and the people are like water; The knife cuts bread and fingers. Therefore, in order to maintain long-term stability, we should not excessively exploit the people and abuse their power.
He also advocated being prepared for danger in times of peace and never forgetting troubled times. He believes that in the great cause of feudal rule, "persistence" is more difficult than "creation". He said: it is not difficult for a monarch to conquer the world and win the support of the people by destroying those hostile forces in chaos. However, after winning the world, it is easy to be complacent and corrupt. The people want to be quiet and the corvee is constant, the society is broken and extravagant. The weakness of the country and all its disadvantages often start from here, so it is difficult to "hold on".
Based on this way of governing the country, with the direct participation of Wei Zhi, a series of specific policies conducive to social development were implemented in the early Tang Dynasty. Economically, implement "land equalization system" to solve farmers' land desire; At the same time, the "rent adjustment system" was implemented, and droughts and natural disasters reduced certain taxes and alleviated farmers; It also rewarded marriage and built water conservancy projects, which further promoted the development of agricultural production. Politically, make great efforts to govern, get rid of malpractices, amend laws and regulations, select and appoint talents, punish corrupt officials, and advocate honesty and integrity. Under the influence of this series of political and economic policies, the productive forces in the Tang Dynasty were restored and developed, and the social order became increasingly stable, forming a historical situation of increasing population, continuous improvement of life, clear politics and uplifting people's spirit. This is also the famous "Zhenguan rule" in the history of the Tang Dynasty.
As a politician and national activist in the Tang Dynasty, Wei Zhi always kept a clear head. I watched the supreme ruler of the Tang Dynasty and various important issues in society with melancholy mood. He saw that, although Li Shimin repeatedly flaunted himself as an enlightened monarch, in fact, he was often ambivalent, greedy for ease and luxury, unwilling to listen to opinions, and a series of problems were more and more clearly exposed. In order to keep Li Shimin awake and always be an enlightened monarch, he not only often remonstrated with Yang Shimin, but also wrote four books in two years, which comprehensively and systematically expounded his views and opinions on various issues. After resigning as prime minister in his later years, he gave a lecture to Li Shimin, which was the famous "Ten Steps Can't Stop Dilemma". This paper discusses the political situation in the Tang Dynasty since the middle period of Zhenguan from ten aspects, and points out the danger of Li Shimin's increasingly lax rule. This drama is based on the Confucian principle of governing the country and safeguarding the country, combined with reality, well-founded and full of emotion. The ten aspects are very profound and touching. Li Shimin was very moved after reading it, and even wrote on the screen that "Ten minutes will not fade away", so that he could read on day and night to remind himself every day.