Li Shimin
The argument at the start of Zhenguan
He took the slower road
Essentials of Government of the Zhenguan Era, On Governance
You inherit a wreck. Harsh law, or lenient rule? He picked the option everyone told him there was no time for.
What actually happened?
Early in the Zhenguan years the country was exhausted. Taizong asked what to do. Wei Zheng argued for government by benevolence and right. Feng Deyi rebutted him forcefully: after the Three Dynasties human character grew thin, which is why Qin used law and Han mixed in force — they wanted to transform people and could not. He called Wei Zheng a bookish man whose advice would wreck the state. Taizong went with Wei Zheng. Some years later: traders camped in the open, there were no more bandits, the jails stood empty, and doors were left unbarred. Taizong told his court: this is what Wei Zheng urged on me.
The realistic-sounding option is usually the faster one
Feng Deyi's evidence was all historical experience and sounded far more solid than Wei Zheng's case. But his real advantage was not being right; it was showing results sooner. Harsh law works within the year, transformation takes several. The side called realistic usually has the short cycle.
Strict targets lift the numbers this month; building capability takes a year. The first always argues better in the room, because its evidence arrives early.
To beat a prejudice, take its premise to the end
Wei Zheng's counter was hard: if human character really declines one generation after another, by now everyone would be a ghoul, and there would be nothing left to transform. He did not out-read his opponent in history. He showed the premise produces an absurdity.
Against new hires are not as solid as the old ones, skip the counter-examples. Ask instead why, on that logic, the company still runs after twenty years.
Choosing slow means carrying the years in the middle
The result showed up several years later, and through those years there was nothing to display while Feng Deyi's route could be proposed again at any moment. The difficulty of a long-cycle choice is not the moment of deciding. It is not turning at each subsequent challenge.
Commit two years to rebuilding the platform and by month three someone asks why you did not just add people. Whether you hold through those asks decides it.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: two options, one that shows results quickly and one that is more fundamental but has to be waited for.
Ask first: is the reason it is called realistic that it is more correct, or that it is faster?
Where it goes wrong: mistaking a short cycle for realism; picking the long option and turning at the first challenge.
Lines to keep
Traders camped in the open, and the jails stood empty.
The side called realistic is often only the faster one.
If character always declined, there would be nothing left to teach.
Same situation, other people are asking
I've been saying it for years and nobody listens.All these years of not making it — did I write any of it down?I planted it years ago and nothing has come up.I've been at this for years and it has never worked.It still hasn't worked · all 19 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.