Modern Ci Hai also criticized the cruel officials, and interpreted the word cruel officials as: "cruel officials: officials who abuse punishment to harm the people." But why do they always get the reuse of the monarch? It is often wise and effective monarchs who use cruel officials on a large scale, which creates the prosperity of cruel officials' politics. Such as, Ningcheng, Zhou, Zhang Tang and others were successively employed by Wendi, Jingdi and Wudi in the Western Han Dynasty, and Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen and Suo Yuanli in the Tang Dynasty were employed by Wu and Zhou. They are all serious and cruel officials.
Hegel said: "Being is reasonable". Therefore, the existence of cruel officials shows that they have their unique value in a certain historical background. Their value has the following three points: first, the talent of cruel officials is beyond doubt; Second, the cruel officials maintained the authority of the government and the law, thus safeguarding the imperial power; Third, the cruel officials represent the legalist school of thought, and the legalist school's concept of governing the country has always been the internal core of the feudal dynasty's strategy of governing the country.
Cruel officials are mostly children of poor families. They don't have the seeds of their ancestors, and their starting point for official career is low. If they have no talent, it is difficult for them to get the appreciation of their superiors and stand out from the crowd. There is no love for no reason in the world, and even cruel officials can successfully win the favor of their superiors, relying on their outstanding abilities. Since ancient times, ability has always been the first competitiveness. During the Han Dynasty, brutal officials often served as local officials with outstanding achievements. At that time, there were many local strongmen who despised the authority of the government and violated the law and discipline, which was beyond the control of ordinary officials.