Chapter 4 2 Yan's transformation

Tyranny is recognized as bad government, and benevolent government is recognized as good government. The problem is that benevolent government is always under tremendous pressure, like water flowing downhill, and it can't help but turn into tyranny. [Two sets of policies to choose from] "Yanzi Chunqiu."Outer Part Seven" records a story about Yan Zi changing the rules.Yanzi (named Ying, who died in 500 BC) was a virtuous official of Qi State who was contemporary with Confucius, and his age was about the same as that of Confucius' fathers.The era he lived in was the so-called Axial Age in which various basic rules were established for future generations, and his stories also contained such rules.

The story says that Qi Jinggong sent Yanzi to Dong'a as a leader. In the third year of Yanzi's leadership of Dong'a, Qi Jinggong called him back and reprimanded him.Qi Jinggong said: I thought you were quite capable, so I sent you to govern Dong'e.Now you have messed up Dong Ah for me.You go back and reflect on yourself, the widow will deal with you severely.Yan Zi's attitude was very good, and he immediately expressed his correction. He said: Please allow me to change the course and govern Dong'e in another way.If the governance is not good for three years, I would rather die to apologize.Qi Jinggong agreed.

In the second year, when Yanzi came up to report on the taxation work, Qi Jinggong went up to greet him and congratulated him: "Excellent!"You have achieved great success in governing Dong'e! Yanzi replied: In the past when I governed Dong'e, all the back doors were closed, and there was no bribery at all.All the fish in the pond benefit the poor.At that time, the common people did not go hungry, but you wanted to punish me instead.Later, when I governed Dong'e, I went through the back door, gave bribes, and increased the taxes of the common people. The wealth I collected did not go into the national treasury.The fish in the pond also went to the rich and powerful's family.Now half of the people in Dong'e are starving, but you came up to congratulate me instead.I'm a fool, I can't manage Dong'a.Please allow me to retire and make room for worthy men.As he spoke, he kowtowed again and again, asking to resign and return home.After hearing this, Qi Jinggong stepped down from his seat and apologized, saying: Please try your best to govern Dong'e.Dong'a is your Dong'a, I won't interfere any more.

Analyzing this story, we can discover at least three main points.First, in the early days, Yanzi did not flatter his superiors and did not bully his inferiors, and implemented a set of benevolent and moral policies; second, in his late stage, Yanzi bullied his inferiors and flattered his superiors, and implemented a policy of catching fish from the river, which is an unspoken rule of doing nothing but talking; Third, policies that are in line with benevolence, righteousness and morality cannot withstand tremendous pressure and are forced to change to unspoken rules.These three points constitute a classic institutional change model.Reading Chinese history, this kind of institutional change is always dangling before people's eyes, as if they are afraid that people will not know it.For the convenience of identification, we simply named it Yan's Transformation.

In the former model of Yan's transformation, the common people also had to pay taxes, but they were not deprived to the point of starvation.In the post-transformation of the Yan family, the taxation of ordinary people has been greatly increased, and half of the people are starving. If this continues, the taxpayer population will drop sharply.We can think of this relationship as the legendary food chain: big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp, and shrimp eat mud.Ordinary people are shrimps, living off the microorganisms in the soil; small officials like the county magistrates are small fish, living off the common people; dignitaries and their assistants are big fish, living off blackmailing small officials.The growth and reproduction speed of dried shrimps is fixed, as long as the amount eaten is appropriate, it should not exceed the growth and reproduction speed of dried shrimps, which is reasonable.Mencius said that if there is no gentleman, you should not govern the savage, and if there is no savage, you should not support the gentleman. Those who govern others eat (sound feed, meaning feeding) people, and those who govern others eat others, which includes this meaning.Of course leaders should eat dried shrimps, but there must be rules.For example, how much the emperor can eat for a meal, how much the queen can eat in a day, and how much the county magistrate can eat in a month, there is a rule, you can't go too far, you can't go all out to fish, and you can't let people grow and reproduce so hard that you can't feed them.If you eat the right amount, it is a benevolent government, like the pre-Yanzi type; if you eat too much, like the post-Yanzi type, it is a tyrannical government.Tyranny is fiercer than a tiger, and can eat people without spitting out their bones.The tyranny has crossed the line, the population of dried shrimps has been eaten and shrunk sharply, fishes big and small have no food, and in the end no one can survive.Therefore, tyranny is recognized as bad government, and benevolent government is recognized as good government. The problem is that benevolent government is always under tremendous pressure, like water flowing downhill, and it can't help but turn into tyranny.

[The power of three evils and two slanders] In the book "Yanzi Chunqiu", the story of Yanzi's rule of Dong'e is told twice. The version quoted above is told in the outer chapter, and the other version is told in the inner chapter.In the version of the inner chapter, after Yanzi had shaved off the people and fed the rich and powerful, Qi Jinggong recalled Yanzi to reward him, and at the same time asked Yanzi to introduce how you achieved such great achievements.So Yanzi analyzed the interest groups and their interests involved in the two policies before and after to Qi Jinggong.Listening to the analysis of this sage, we can find the source of pressure for the benevolent government to degenerate into a tyrannical one, and understand the dynamic mechanism of Yan's transformation.

Yan Zi said to Qi Jinggong: In the past, when I governed Dong'e, I blocked the alleys and closed the back door, and the evil people were very unhappy; not happy.People around you ask me to do something, and I will do it if it is legal, and refuse if it is illegal. Your left and right are very unhappy; my service to the powerful and powerful does not exceed the rules of etiquette, and the powerful and powerful are not happy.The three evil people, the lazy people, and the strong and powerful, speak bad things about me outside, and the two slanderers, your right and left, and the rich and powerful come in and slander me inside. Within three years, your ears will be filled with bad things.

Yan Zi said, I changed the policy carefully later, I didn’t block alleys and closed back doors, the evil people were happy; I didn’t reward the thrifty and filial people, and didn’t punish the thieves and bad guys, the lazy people were happy; ;Your left and right ask me to do things, I will agree, your left and right are very happy; serving the powerful is beyond the rules of etiquette, and the powerful are very happy.So the three evils spoke good things about me outside, and the second slander also said good things about me inside, and within three years your ears will be filled with good things.In fact, my behavior that has attracted blame in the past should be rewarded, and the behavior that I now attract reward should be punished.Therefore, I dare not accept your reward.

Yan Zi divided those who hate formal rules and those who like unspoken rules into two categories. In today's words, they are two major interest groups: one is the three evils among the people, and the other is the second slander within the ruling group.The interests of these two types of people determine their likes and dislikes, and their likes and dislikes are very important. People within the ruling group control the information channels leading to the highest power backed by violent organizations, and they are Qi Jinggong's eyes and ears.It doesn't matter how Yan Zi actually did it. What matters is whether the information channel is passed on with bad or good words. Under normal circumstances, his own fate is determined by this.As the gatekeeper of the information channel, the second slander ran into a wall in front of Yanzi, his wishes were not fulfilled, the expected benefits were not realized, and he accumulated resentment, so naturally he refused to convey good words beneficial to Yanzi, and he refused to intercept those who slandered Yanzi. Bad words.If there is really nothing bad to hear, I think they will be willing to fabricate some rumors as long as they have the opportunity.What's more, there are still three evils among the people, so you don't have to worry about hearing bad things.

The three evils among the people are those who have the ability and desire to collude with the second slander.The second slander is almost all these people.Two, slander them, take what they have, listen to them, and pass on their opinions in the information channel.That's why they have an extraordinarily loud voice in politics, like a powerful lobby in modern politics.Yan Zi offended this group, so he naturally became the target of their lobbying attack. 【The common people are not difficult to bully】 So, what about ordinary people who benefit from formal rules but suffer from unspoken rules?They naturally supported Yan Zi, but unfortunately, their strength was too weak and their voices were too low.Their praise cannot make Yan Zi promoted, but the three evils and two slanders can; their starvation cannot make Yan Zi lose his official position, but the three evils and two slander can.These ordinary people, according to Marx's metaphor, are like a sack of unorganized potatoes.However, for unorganized potatoes, whether it is a sack or a train, when the potatoes are calculating their interests, the profit and loss are no different from one potato, not the sum of all potatoes as commonly imagined.Scattered potatoes are unable to protect their own interests, and they need a high-ranking emperor to represent them and give them rain, dew and sunshine.

According to Machievelli's analysis, these potatoes are not only lacking in ability, but also lacking in enthusiasm.The ordinary people who profited from the ideal order established by Yan Zi were just listless supporters.They are afraid of three evils and two slanders, and they don't believe that the ideal order can be implemented to the end; on the contrary, the three evils and two slanders are full of enthusiasm and use every opportunity to attack Yanzi.Of course, we can't complain that the common people are not mean enough, saying that they are timid and afraid of getting into trouble.If the gains and losses from the Yan family's transformation were shared among the ordinary people, each person would not be able to share much of the new gains and losses caused by each transformation.They can't afford to risk provoking government officials for this little thing; and apportioned to the three evils and two slanders, everyone's share of gains and losses is enough to arouse everyone's high enthusiasm.In short, the common people are not as enthusiastic about politics as the three evils and two slanders. This is based on mathematical calculations. The gap in enthusiasm and influence between the two sides is so huge, from the perspective of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, the direction of the administrative officials is already doomed. I would like to add one more sentence: Yanzi ignored the material interests of himself and his colleagues in the analysis.Doesn't an official of his level like to eat fish and shrimp?Is it only greedy with three evils and two slanders?Of course, Yanzi himself is very clean, and he lived in a relatively early era, before the establishment of the Chinese Empire, a large number of bureaucrats and servants had not yet matured, and the food chain was relatively simple.However, looking back more than two thousand years later, we must add this point: the bureaucratic group, including Yanzi himself, can also benefit from Yan's transformation.They can participate in the distribution of fat and eat a few more mouthfuls of dried shrimp.Adding this weight on top of the three evils and the two slander, the speed at which the ideal order will fall to the unspoken rules will become even more unstoppable. Let us become this weight in our imagination, and verify this statement from the perspective of an individual's strategy for survival and development in the officialdom. At the beginning, we abide by benevolence, righteousness and morality, do not bully subordinates or flatter superiors, and strive to be good parents.This is the ideal way to be an official, and it is a high-sounding strategy for improving the officialdom. Indeed, such upright officials can be found in the officialdom of all dynasties.But when we were resisting the temptation of degeneration and trying to be a good official who is loyal to the emperor and the people, we were actually under strong pressure from above and below.We discovered that it turns out that the higher authorities wanted us to be fond of us, induced us to be fond of us, hinted at us to be fond of us, and forced us to be fond of us.But Meishang has to pay tribute, and has to pay tribute to fish and prawns, so it is inevitable to bully the subordinates and make the fish and prawns feel unlucky.Unexpectedly, the people below are also very willing to be bullied by us. The activists in the shrimp group will take the initiative to help us bully, process their neighbors, and deliver them to the door without us too much trouble.After being bullied so easily, we further realized that ordinary people are not difficult to bully, and they have nothing to do if they bully them a few times.So what do we do?Should we give up benevolence, justice and morality, and instead adopt the strategy of bullying and flattering our superiors, or should we go against the leaders and the masses knowing that there are tigers in the mountains and prefer to walk on the hills? From the point of view of interests, confrontation is of course unlucky, only obedience has a way out, and you can also gain some light by following suit.But from the perspective of moral right and wrong, there is something wrong with bullying the inferior and fascinating the superior.what to do?This is a practical problem that every official cannot avoid, and it is also a problem that can force most people to show their true colors.If you meet people who are not so pure in thought and not so firm in your standpoint, I am afraid that you will come up with this idea: If I fight against the leader and lose my job, will it really be of any good effect?Sacrificing oneself in vain and replacing it with a new one may have no conscience at all, and oppressing the common people is even more cruel, not as good as me.In order to reduce the losses of the people of East Afghanistan, I must stick to my post, cooperate more with the leaders, and engage in less confrontation. Thinking about it, our conscience has been fooled by us, and we can calmly flatter our superiors and bully our inferiors.This change in official survival strategy corresponds exactly to Yan's transformation. After all, Yan Zi is not someone to wait for, he is extremely smart and has a great way.Yan Zi refused to answer the question directly, avoiding the sharp choice and its political risk and conscience burden.He used the opportunity of the top leader to listen to the report in person, put different options and their consequences in front of the leader himself, and asked the leader to make the decision for him.After the top leader listened to it, he personally wrote an instruction: Yanzi is specially allowed to abide by benevolence, righteousness and morality in the officialdom, and not to flatter superiors or bully inferiors.This is it.