In a feudal society with a highly centralized power, those in power need corrupt officials. The emperor, standing at the top of the power pyramid, cannot personally govern the entire country; he needs a bureaucratic system to help him govern. At this time, he must rely on the officials below him to realize his rule. How can these officials be willing to serve the emperor? You have to provide benefits to them! As for how to provide these benefits, there is a lot of knowledge involved.
As the emperor, you are the son of heaven, representing heaven to rule the people, so you must embody justice and fairness; otherwise, your regime lacks a legitimate foundation. Therefore, as the emperor, you cannot personally engage in the dirty work of directly taxing the wealth from the hands of the common people and then distributing part of that wealth to the officials as benefits. If you do this, when the common people see the heavy taxes you impose, they will turn their anger towards you, and the foundation of your regime will become unstable.
Thus, to stabilize the country, emperors typically do not directly engage in these dirty and tiring tasks, as it is too undignified! What to do? At this time, the emperor needs corrupt officials to step in. The emperor will delegate power to the officials below and tacitly allow them to use their power to extort the wealth of the people. In this way, corrupt officials can gain benefits, and the wealth of the people is secured.
Corrupt officials are also very clear that they can obtain these benefits because of the power in their hands. And their power comes from the emperor. Therefore, to protect their own benefits, corrupt officials will naturally support and uphold the emperor. This way, the foundation of the regime becomes solid.
The position of emperor is very attractive, and many people covet it, even the Monkey King, who jumped out of a stone, shouted, "The emperor takes turns sitting; next year it will be my turn." Therefore, without this group of corrupt officials working hard to maintain the emperor's regime, it would be very difficult to sit steadily on the dragon throne. Thus, the brilliance of imperial strategy lies in the fact that the court employs corrupt officials while also raising the banner of anti-corruption.
Many people do not understand. Since those in power need to use corrupt officials, why do they also oppose them? In fact, when those in power raise the banner of anti-corruption, the purpose is to confuse the lower classes, presenting a facade of representing fairness and justice. Some corrupt officials below may act too aggressively, extorting the wealth of the people too harshly, making their actions too ugly, which easily leads to complaints from the common people, causing them to suffer. When those in power oppose corruption, they want to announce to the people, "Look, these corrupt officials are so bad, extorting so much wealth from the people. Today, I will take charge for you and deal with these corrupt officials; I have fought for fairness and justice for everyone." This way, the lower classes are deceived. Oh, it turns out the corrupt officials are the bad ones, while the emperor is still good; it's just that the corrupt officials have mismanaged the emperor's affairs. Therefore, even when the people are suffering, like the rebel heroes in "Water Margin," they only say, "We only oppose corrupt officials, not the emperor." You see, through this wave of anti-corruption operations, the common people recognize the emperor, and the emperor consolidates public support, thus solidifying the regime.
For those in power, they do not need to worry about how much wealth the corrupt officials are embezzling; they only fear that these officials will not listen to them. Raising the banner of anti-corruption brings many benefits.
First, the emperor can gain the benefits of aligning with public opinion by cleverly transferring the wealth that corrupt officials have extorted from the people into the national treasury (which is essentially the emperor's pocket). So everyone here can understand that throughout history, has there ever been a time when an emperor, during an anti-corruption campaign, returned the wealth obtained by corrupt officials to the people who were extorted?
Second, the emperor can conveniently eliminate disobedient corrupt officials, cutting off dissent. When the emperor opposes corruption, he does not intend to take down all corrupt officials; he will keep those who are obedient. Then, the remaining corrupt officials also understand that their hold is in the emperor's hands, and the emperor can eliminate them at any time, which makes them even more submissive to the emperor. In this way, dissent can be eliminated, while simultaneously intimidating the remaining corrupt officials, and garnering the support of the people, achieving multiple goals with one action.
Thus, using corrupt officials is the intention of those in power, while opposing corrupt officials is their secret weapon. Between employing corrupt officials and opposing them, it is all a strategy for those in power to control the officials. When they need you, they let you be corrupt; when they do not need you, they simply take you back. This is like a chamber pot, usually kept in a hidden corner, ready to solve the urgent needs of those in power. When those in power no longer need it, they kick it aside. A chamber pot, after all, cannot be put on display; its role is to help leaders with some unsightly dirty work, while also hiding its identity and purpose.
In the late Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen removed the corrupt Wei Zhongxian and appointed members of the Donglin Party. As a result, tragedy struck; these Donglin Party members could only engage in idle talk and could not raise funds. At that time, the Ming Dynasty needed to fight against the Later Jin and suppress the peasant army led by Li Zicheng, requiring a huge military budget. Although the Donglin Party members were not corrupt, they could not raise money to support the court in battle. Because they were not corrupt, the emperor had no excuse to remove them. In fact, the combat effectiveness of Li Zicheng's peasant army was not strong, but unfortunately, when the frontline situation was critical, the Donglin Party members failed to raise sufficient military funds to inspire and retain the morale of the troops, ultimately allowing Li Zicheng to enter Beijing and bury the Ming Dynasty. This is the true historical story of not properly utilizing corrupt officials and anti-corruption.
Therefore, those in power who are well-versed in the art of governance know that they must use corrupt officials, nurture corrupt officials, and then oppose and eliminate corrupt officials. Only in this way can they clean up the bureaucratic team and cultivate a group of officials who actively support their authority. This is the reason why corrupt officials are opposed every year, yet they continue to exist. This is also the real reason we always talk about anti-corruption but are still on the road. And the root cause of the emergence of corrupt officials, those in power naturally understand.
Anti-corruption cannot be completely eradicated.
Hayek once said, "Why are some problems never solved? Because the people who solve the problems are the ones who create them." The chamber pot is an indispensable tool for those in power. If you take away the chamber pot, when the emperor needs to urinate at night, who will he turn to? You certainly cannot let the emperor expose himself in front of everyone in public!