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After dealing with the crowd gathered outside Du Yuan's tent, Fei Qian didn't leave immediately. Instead, he sat alone inside the tent, lost in thought.
What exactly caused the scholar-official families to gradually form a closed circle?
In other words, what caused the Huaxia people to lose the drive to venture outward?
To borrow a phrase Fei Qian learned in school: The economic base determines the superstructure, and the superstructure reacts upon the economic base.
Thinking carefully, Fei Qian realized that from the Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States, from the Warring States to the Qin Dynasty, and from the Qin Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, almost every era had constant ideological clashes attempting to dominate the state's political power and socio-economic structure…
The Hundred Schools of Thought contended during the Spring and Autumn period, with many proposing different governance philosophies, including some bizarre ones, even advocating a return to primitive beast worship. By the Warring States period, only the larger schools with complete ideological systems remained, such as Legalism, Mohism, Military Strategies, Confucianism, Taoism, and Political Strategists. Subsequently, the Qin Dynasty rose with Legalism but failed to manage social conflicts with it, leading to its collapse. Liu Bang, founding the Han Dynasty, initially used Huang-Lao Taoism to recuperate and restore, and later Emperor Wu of Han used Confucianism to consolidate rule…
Fei Qian took paper and brush to write down his jumbled thoughts.
Hmm, let's ignore the interloper Wang Mang…
But why did Confucianism ultimately emerge victorious from this ideological melee, becoming the dominant learning in the Han Dynasty, and growing even stronger in subsequent dynasties, monopolizing the political arena?
Fei Qian pondered for a long time and finally wrote two words on the paper: "Governance"…
During Emperor Wu of Han's reign, internal threats came from the expanding power of feudal princes within their domains, and external threats from constant invasions by the Xiongnu and others. Thus, there was an urgent need for an ideological tool that could support centralized rule. At the critical moment, Dong Zhongshu presented a modified version of Confucianism, helping Emperor Wu eliminate internal troubles and counter external threats.
From this perspective, Confucianism had positive significance. But why did it later become distorted?
And grow increasingly warped…
Under the words "Governance," Fei Qian wrote new words: "Keeping the People Ignorant," "Suppressing Commerce." He paused briefly, then added another: "Indolence"…
During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Confucius advocated "teaching without discrimination," enlightening the people, helping them understand rituals and righteousness. Yet in the hands of Confucianism's inheritors, they held Confucius aloft while doing things completely opposite to his teachings…
A farmer whose ancestors toiled incessantly in the same place, knowing nothing, was evidently easier to govern than a merchant who traveled widely and had broad experience; a simple, honest commoner who couldn't even write was easier to govern than a learned scholar who had acquired knowledge and wisdom…
Hence, "Keeping the People Ignorant and Suppressing Commerce."
Because this method had once proven effective and useful, there was no thought of change, or simply no desire to change. Thus, amid constant emphasis on the "wisdom of ancestral laws," indolence set in, leading to a loss of the ability and courage to innovate…
Resulting in later reformers facing even greater pressure.
To protect their ruling position, emperors favored an increasingly ignorant populace. To protect their status, scholar-official families increasingly clamped down on the outflow of knowledge, becoming more and more closed…
Although this closed mindset was eventually broken by the Imperial Examination system, it only shattered the circle of scholar-official families. The closed nature of the overall ideology remained largely unchanged.
The Celestial Empire, heh.
Vast territory with abundant resources, heh.
Barbarians on all four sides, heh.
If possible, perhaps now, while this closed framework isn't yet so rigid…
Fei Qian was deep in thought when he heard hurried footsteps outside the tent. A guard reported that Du Yuan was requesting an audience.
Fei Qian folded the paper he was writing on, placed it in his robe, and then had Du Yuan enter.
"Wenzheng, awake now? Have you had your evening meal?"
Du Yuan bowed deeply, his face filled with shame. "Yuan is incompetent, actually troubling my Lord… This is Yuan's crime…"
Fei Qian waved his hand dismissively, took another sheet of paper from the desk, and handed it to Du Yuan. "No need for that, Wenzheng. Here, sit. Take a look at this paper first."
Du Yuan took it. It was a list specifying the responsible persons for various tasks and the times for account verification…
Fei Qian said, "These individuals vary in intelligence and ability, but they have all handled related affairs before, so getting started shouldn't be too difficult. Let them try it first. You, Wenzheng, don't need to watch over them constantly; just conduct regular checks. A person has only twelve double-hours in a day. If you sit here busy from morning till night, that's at most twelve double-hours. But if you utilize these people well, you will have more than just twelve double-hours. Don't have any reservations just because I chose these people. Based on future performance, if someone fails once or twice but is willing to learn, teach them. If they fail, are unwilling to learn, or simply cannot learn, replace them."
"Learn to delegate and utilize people. If there are any problems, come find me."
"My Lord's instruction, Yuan shall certainly remember in my heart." Du Yuan rose again and bowed formally. "One should employ a person without suspicion and not suspect the person employed."
Fei Qian smiled, not continuing on the topic of personnel utilization.
The highest realm of using people isn't "employing without suspicion, not suspecting the employed." According to modern corporate operation concepts, one should suspect while employing, and still employ the suspected. It's just that when employing someone, you prepare a backup role B, perhaps even a BB role, along with a monitoring role C, while also budgeting for the collapse of role A.
The extent of authority given to A corresponds to the scale of loss one can accept. For example, if one can bear a loss of one million, the authority given to A might be five hundred thousand.
If problems arise, A can be immediately pulled down and replaced by B…
Of course, actual implementation isn't as simple as that; otherwise, there wouldn't be the saying "easier said than done." It's just that understanding this point versus not understanding it will gradually manifest in the entire team and affect future development.
Naturally, in the Han Dynasty now, Fei Qian himself doesn't have many talents to utilize. So, the old adage remains: a leader who only buries himself in handling specific tasks is not a good leader. Only a leader who focuses on discovering and nurturing talent can lead a team well.
In this regard, Fei Qian still has a very long road ahead.
"Alright. I've also left one final problem for you here: How do you plan to handle our current issue of recruiting directly instead of going through Hu leaders?"
Du Yuan almost blurted out an answer instinctively, saying he would handle it immediately. But then he saw the paper Fei Qian gave him listing the responsible persons for various tasks. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "If we assign someone to be responsible for this matter… they must first know the Hu language… Hmm, what if we have some Bingzhou veterans who know the Hu language take charge of managing these Hu people? What does my Lord think?"
"Hmm, that can be tried." Fei Qian smiled, stood up, and as he walked out, said, "Wenzheng, get more rest. Also, remember this attempt and decision of yours today. We should let more people master skills, not try to hold all skills in our own hands…"