五輔

The ancient sage kings who achieved illustrious names and wide renown, substantial merit and great enterprises, conspicuous throughout the realm and unforgotten by posterity — there has never been one who did not gain the people. The tyrant kings who lost their states, endangered the altars, destroyed the ancestral temples, and were obliterated from the realm — there has never been one who did not lose the people. The way of gaining the people is no better than benefiting them. The way of benefiting them is no better than instructing them through governance.

Virtue has Six Excitations; Duty has Seven Embodiments; Propriety has Eight Principles; Law has Five Tasks; Authority has Three Measures. The Six Excitations of Virtue: open the fields and improve the homesteads; release stored wealth and clear the roads; channel floodwaters and maintain the dikes; lighten taxes and ease punishments; care for the aged and the orphaned; clothe the cold and feed the hungry. The Seven Embodiments of Duty: filial piety and fraternal duty to nourish kinship; reverence and loyalty to serve the ruler; centrality and propriety in ceremonial conduct; discipline and frugality to prepare for famine; solidarity and harmony to prepare for invasion. The Eight Principles of Propriety: between superior and inferior there is duty; between noble and common there is distinction; between old and young there is order; between rich and poor there is measure. Law has Five Tasks: the ruler selects ministers and appoints offices; officials manage affairs; supervisors guard their duties; scholars cultivate themselves; commoners farm and plant.

The clear king's priorities lie in strengthening fundamental occupations and eliminating the useless — then the people can be made wealthy. Evaluating the worthy and employing the capable — then the people can be brought to order. Lightening taxes, not being exacting with the people, and treating them with loyalty and love — then the people can be made close. These three are the affairs of the hegemon king. Do not labor knowledge and cunning to make frivolous playthings and useless objects.