At 11 a.m., in the Yuhang District Library, I came across a book called In the Midst of It All (《置身事内》), and one sentence in it made my finger pause on the page:
“Under any system, the exercise of power is subject to two constraints: the capability to get things done, and the will to get things done. The former depends on the resources one holds; the latter depends on the enthusiasm and initiative of the various parties.”
This sentence was like a key that suddenly unlocked my understanding of historical reform. I thought of Zhang Juzheng—the reformer who, with one man’s effort, gave the Ming dynasty fifty more years of life. His story is the most vivid illustration of that sentence.
I. Zhang Juzheng’s Reforms: A Peak Combination of Capability and Will
In the early Wanli era, what kind of mess was Zhang Juzheng facing?
- Financial collapse: the Taicang silver reserve was enough for only three months of expenses; border troops were owed pay, officials were owed salaries
- Paralyzed bureaucracy: the Grand Secretariat bickered, the Six Ministries passed the buck, and orders couldn’t get out of the Forbidden City
- Land concentration: powerful families seized farmland, the tax base shrank, and the state couldn’t collect money
But it was precisely in such a desperate situation that Zhang Juzheng, in just ten years, pulled the Great Ming back from the edge of death.
1. Breaking the Capability Constraint: What Resources Did He Hold?
Zhang Juzheng deeply understood the principle that “without resources, power is empty talk.”
Personnel authority: as Grand Secretary, he controlled the promotion and dismissal of officials. Those who didn’t obey were demoted; those who were willing to work were promoted. Qi Jiguang guarding the Ji garrison, Li Chengliang commanding Liaodong, Pan Jixun taming the Yellow River—these famous generals and capable ministers were all placed by him in key positions.
Financial authority: he measured the land and re-verified the farmland nationwide. The fields concealed by powerful families were uncovered, and the tax base expanded by a third. The Single-Whip Reform restructured the tax system, simplifying the complex, and central government revenue went from running a deficit to “Taicang grain could last ten years.”
Information authority: he established a strict performance-evaluation system, requiring officials at all levels to report their work progress regularly, with those who failed held accountable. This let him break through the information barriers between levels, knowing who below was really working and who was just going through the motions.
In one sentence: Zhang Juzheng maxed out the “capability to get things done.” He had real gold and silver, a corps of people, and information channels—the hard resources that reform needs, he lacked none.
2. Breaking the Will Constraint: How Did He Mobilize Initiative?
Resources alone weren’t enough; he had to make people willing to follow him.
The will of superiors: the Wanli Emperor was young, Empress Dowager Li trusted Zhang Juzheng, and the palace eunuch Feng Bao was his ally. This meant the will of the highest level was fully unified—no palace interference, no eunuch obstruction.
The motivation of subordinates: the performance-evaluation system wasn’t just assessment—it was incentive. Those who completed their tasks were promoted; those who didn’t were demoted. Officials’ initiative was directly tied to their personal interests—the era of “being an official lying down” was over.
Cooperation from the localities: measuring the land offended the powerful families, but Zhang Juzheng gave local officials the promise that “exceeding the task yields rewards.” As long as they could uncover more hidden fields, the local officials’ performance looked good, so they naturally had the motivation to offend people.
In one sentence: from top to bottom, the entire system was twisted into a single rope by Zhang Juzheng. Officials either actively pursued reform for advancement or passively executed out of fear of demotion—reform had strong “will support.”
II. Zhang Juzheng’s Death: The Collapse of Both Capability and Will
In the tenth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng died of illness. Immediately afterward, the reform edifice he had painstakingly built came crashing down.
1. The Capability Constraint Returns: Resources Reset to Zero in an Instant
Once Zhang Juzheng died, the “hard resources” he held all dissolved:
- Personnel authority: the succeeding Grand Secretaries Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing lacked Zhang Juzheng’s prestige and couldn’t hold down the officials. Local governors began to comply only in appearance.
- Financial authority: the land measurement was halted, the powerful families began to counterattack and repossess, and the already-measured land was “handed back.” The Single-Whip Reform existed in name only, and the grassroots reverted to their old ways.
- Information authority: no one strictly enforced the performance-evaluation system, and official reports became formalism. The central government once again fell into the blind spot of “not knowing what’s happening below.”
The most fatal thing was: to push the reform, Zhang Juzheng had offended the entire bureaucratic group and the gentry class. While he lived, these people didn’t dare to act; once he died, the counterattack began.
2. The Will Constraint Collapses: No One Wants to Work Hard Anymore
Where did the “will” for reform come from? From loyalty and fear toward Zhang Juzheng personally.
- The Wanli Emperor: after Zhang Juzheng’s death, Wanli discovered that “Teacher Zhang” had actually been constraining him all along. The rebellious psychology, plus the reckoning as psychological compensation for Zhang Juzheng’s “overreach,” turned the emperor from a firm supporter of reform into a firm opponent.
- The bureaucratic group: the officials suffocated by the performance-evaluation system had been waiting for Zhang Juzheng to die. They quickly rallied, and memorials impeaching “Zhang Jiangling” flew to the throne like snowflakes.
- The gentry class: the land measurement had cut into their cake, and the Single-Whip Reform made tax evasion harder. After Zhang Juzheng’s death, they lobbied officials and applied pressure through public opinion, finally bringing the reform to a halt.
In one sentence: all the participants in the reform suddenly discovered that “continuing the reform does no good to themselves”—the will of superiors vanished, and the will of subordinates vanished too. What remained was only the reckoning.
III. Review: Why Did the Reform Die with the Man?
Back to that sentence from In the Midst of It All:
The exercise of power is subject to two constraints: the capability to get things done, and the will to get things done.
Zhang Juzheng’s reform succeeded because, while he lived, he simultaneously possessed both capability and will:
- Capability: controlling the three core resources of personnel, finance, and information
- Will: unity from top to bottom, forming a combined force for reform
Zhang Juzheng’s reform failed because, after his death, he simultaneously lost both capability and will:
- Capability: his successors lacked his prestige, and their grip on resources dropped sharply
- Will: the emperor, the bureaucrats, and the gentry all had no desire to reform further; the backlash overwhelmed everything
This gives us a cruel lesson: if a reform depends on personal authority, then that person’s death is the end of the reform.
IV. The Mapping to the Modern Workplace
Zhang Juzheng’s story replays every day in the modern workplace.
Typical scenarios of the capability constraint:
- A parachuted executive hasn’t grasped the details of the resources, has only reform slogans, and ends up without even financial approval authority
- A project lead lacks assessment authority, so team members’ performance is all the same whether they do well or badly, and of course the project can’t move forward
Typical scenarios of the will constraint:
- The boss shouts about a “wolf culture” every day, but the bonuses are skimmed off layer by layer, so no employee really believes it
- The company’s strategic direction changes three times a year, and frontline employees know that “it’ll change again in a few months anyway,” so they just lie flat
The modern version of Zhang Juzheng’s predicament:
- A certain mid-level leader is very capable and led his team to conquer the world. But he bound the team to himself and didn’t cultivate a successor. Once he leaves or is reassigned, the business immediately collapses.
- A certain department’s success depends entirely on the leader’s personal charisma, without institutions and processes. Once the leader leaves, “the tea goes cold as soon as the person leaves.”
V. Conclusion
That line by Lan Xiaohuan seems to be about government, but it’s really about every organization:
To get things done, power and resources alone aren’t enough—there must also be people willing to work hard; enthusiasm alone isn’t enough either—there must be resources to sustain it.
Zhang Juzheng was a genius who could take both to the extreme, but he failed to solve one fundamental problem: how to free the reform from dependence on the individual?
Perhaps this is the ultimate difficulty of reform—institutions can be designed, resources can be allocated, but what about people’s hearts?
Related reading:
- In the Midst of It All: The Chinese Government and Economic Development (《置身事内：中国政府与经济发展》) by Lan Xiaohuan
- 1587, A Year of No Significance (《万历十五年》) by Ray Huang
- The Great Biography of Zhang Juzheng (《张居正大传》) by Zhu Dongrun
Source of inspiration for this article: a book I opened at 11 a.m. in the Yuhang District Library, and a deep discussion with a fellow book lover.
评论
0 条评论