Han Shizu

Chapter 1555 "Easy Punishment and Simplified Administration"

East Palace, Hongde Palace.

"Your Highness." Murong Defeng walked lightly into the hall, stood in a familiar position, and bowed to salute.

After Liu Yang also sat at the desk, he read the memorial attentively. He raised his eyes and saw that it was Murong Defeng. He raised his hand and signaled: "Rixin, sit down!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Murong Defeng didn't sit down.

Noticing the official document in his hand, Liu Yang asked directly, "What's the matter?"

Murong Defeng submitted it and said: "This is the first autumn competition this autumn, please review it, Your Highness!"

Hearing this, Liu Yang immediately paid attention to it, read it carefully, and asked, "Have you gone through the procedures of the three judicial departments? Do the Ministry of Punishment and Dali have any objections? Have you noticed any problems?"

Generally speaking, the memorials that can be sent to the East Palace or the Zhengshitang go through the process according to the court system, and Liu Yang's reaction in this way is only subconsciously cautious.

After all, human life is at stake, and it can be changed to another word, called labor to watch the sky.Even now, in terms of the entire Han Empire, there is still a lack of population. There are too many places that need to be populated, and there are too many difficult and tiring jobs that require labor.For the imperial court, the lowest-cost and easy-to-use group of labor is undoubtedly the criminals who committed crimes.

Therefore, more than 20 years ago, in addition to the early days of the founding of the country, in order to clear up the law and order, remove thieves, and restrain the people, the torture and cruel law that was almost white terror was implemented, and more people were killed. Later, the death penalty in the Han Dynasty decreased year by year. .

In the early and middle period of Qianyou, there were as many as 800 people who were sentenced to death for crimes every year. Up to now, there are not even 100 people in a year.

Moreover, it has effectively brought the power of punishment and killing in various places to the central center. All death row prisoners in Daozhou need to report the case files to the Ministry of Criminal Justice and Dali. Capital executed.

Therefore, up to now, the annual Autumn Judgment and Winter Jue can be regarded as a beautiful landscape in the capital, and there are often crowds of spectators, after all, it is rare and strange.

And there is a detail that many people ignore, that is, in so many years, the number of officials punished and killed by the imperial court has exceeded that of ordinary people.This has to be said to be a major feature of Emperor Liu's era.

It is a fact that there are fewer killings, but this does not mean that the punishment of the big man is relaxed, because there are too many prisoners who are not subject to the death penalty and have been exiled and hard labor.

The imperial court has set up dozens of prison camps in various places, especially in the borders, and is constantly carrying out various infrastructure constructions for the great man.There are hundreds of thousands of people who are tattooed and stabbed. This is the current situation of the punishment of the big men.

No way, from Emperor Liu's principle of never amnesty, we can see that the imperial court's attitude towards prisoners is not the slightest bit lenient, and Emperor Liu hates those criminals who have committed crimes. A perverted instinct.

The former, why did someone from the General Assembly propose that Emperor Liu be kind and release the prisoners to go home? He was too harsh on criminals, to the point of shocking people.

There is no doubt that the most dangerous "occupation" in the Han Dynasty is the prisoner. Every year, there are reports about the death of prisoners from all over the country. Among them, there are accidents, exhaustion, suicide, and those who escaped and were killed. , is also a shocking number.The heinous ones are fine, but among the hundreds of thousands of prisoners, there is no guarantee that there will be no innocent people.

Up to now, the "ten evils" in the inherent concept of the Han officials and the people are no longer the standard of "unforgiveness", because there is no such thing as "forgiveness and unforgiveness". "Tong" to discuss the crime and determine the punishment.

After so many years of development, everyone, including the most low-level ordinary people, knows that the prison camp is not a place for people to stay, it is used to treat people like animals.

After entering the prison camp, it is not a question of whether or not you can shed a layer of skin, but a question of whether you can save your life.Of course, after so many, there are always lucky people who can survive until the end of their sentence and be released.

But these are always a minority. Basically, those who have been sentenced to more than three years in prison have difficulty surviving the heavy and dangerous prison term.

And from this small number of people, the situation of the prisoner camp has also spread through word of mouth, which has almost formed a subconscious mind in people's minds. The prisoner camp is a devil's den and purgatory.

In the past, it has happened more than once. No matter how vicious and cruel people are, when they are sentenced to prison, they will piss off their shit and be terrified. Some people even choose to commit suicide directly.For some, it would be better to be beheaded.Especially those prisoners who have committed serious crimes and will never be released.

After so many years of evolution and improvement, the punishment of the great man can basically be roughly divided into four categories.Needless to say, the death penalty is based on the ten evils and directly betrays death; the second is the punishment for illegal officials and those who have committed minor crimes; the third is the hard labor punishment in the new era of the Han Dynasty, which is also the root of the prisoner; As for those punishments of flogging and rods, I am afraid that they are the punishments that all criminals can't wait for.
Not beheading, not chopping feet, and replacing them with hard labor, this is not an invention of the imperial court, it is the Tyranny of the Qin Dynasty.And the imperial court obviously made a lot of profits in it. After all, cheap labor without any restrictions is really rare.Some officials even have the extreme idea of ​​degrading the people of the world as criminals, if that is the case
Of course, being sentenced to servitude does not necessarily mean a dead end. After all, there are many types of servitude. Of course, the cruelest ones are those sentenced to dig mountains and mines, build roads and bridges. There are also relatively easy ones, such as being assigned to All over the borders camped and cultivated fields, or served as official slaves, sentenced to work in the fields, and so on.

But it is always relative, as long as you enter the prison sentence, let alone "relaxed", it is a fluke that you are not exhausted when you expire.However, there is always no shortage of criminals in the world, and not everyone has no fear of death. No matter how hard the sentence is, as long as there is a chance to survive, most people are still willing to live with it. Otherwise, the prison camp of the big man would have been impossible. down.

This is the true portrayal of the big man's "lenient punishment and simplified administration" in the mouths of many officials who open their eyes and tell lies.After all, the number of people (people) killed is indeed very small, which can be called the highest in history. However, in this world full of suffering, there are really too many things that are more cruel and painful than death and beheading.
However, under such a criminal system, it is not without some advantages. At least, the crime rate among the Han people is getting lower and lower, and it is not like you have to be punished for committing a trivial matter.

And among the more than [-] prisoners, not all were criminals who broke the law. There were also many soldiers, officials, and tribes who were disobedient during the unification of the Han Dynasty.

For example, in the process of regaining Hexi, the Uyghurs were killed by Wang Yansheng and Guo Jin, and a large number of Uyghurs in Ganzhou were degraded to prisoners in the subsequent suppression of chaos and security.

In the same situation, there are Yi people in Yunqian, Man tribes in Lingnan, and a large number of Aboriginal people in Annan.
At this time in the Hongde Palace, facing Liu Yang's questioning for confirmation, Murong Defeng replied: "I have checked carefully, there should be no problem, the facts are all there, the evidence is sufficient, and death is judged according to the law, but the number of people this time is relatively small A little more than before!"

"Yes! There are more than 30 people in this first batch?" Liu Yang obviously grasped the point: "Who are there?"

Murong Defeng said: "Except for a few evil people, some of them are corrupt officials and bandits who harmed the people in the famine relief in the south of the Yangtze River.

In addition, Shanzhou citizen Fan Yichao killed 20 people from Tongli Changguzhen's family with personal grievances 12 years ago. Yu accepted.

Wang Shijun inspected him, not only sentenced Yichao to death, but also dug up some officials who had accepted bribes and sheltered Fan Yichao. After trial, they were sentenced to death together, which implicated some people. "

"It's another big old case!" Hearing this, Liu Yang couldn't help sighing, and at the same time showed hatred: "If you destroy a family, you can still enjoy peace for 20 years. You can imagine the grievances in it. If it weren't for this Chang Guzhen to capture his hatred and send it to the government, he doesn't know when he will be able to avenge his hatred! Hateful, really hateful!"

"I'll review it again and send it to Chongzheng Palace!" Liu Yang raised his head and said to Murong Defeng.

"Yes!"

Facts have proved that Emperor Liu did not completely decentralize power. For example, the final power to sentence death is still in the hands of Emperor Liu. Without his approval, all death sentences cannot be executed.Even the crown prince Liu Yang only has the right to review it.

"That Chang Gu is really good. His family was destroyed tragically, but he did not commit suicide because of personal enmity, but sent officials to avenge his injustice!" Liu Yang thought of another point, and said, "Judging from the situation of breaking into the house and arresting the crime, I am afraid that he is quite courageous. , with his ability, it is not impossible to take revenge and kill Fan Yichao's family!"

"Your Highness is wise, that's true!" Murong Defeng was taken aback for a moment, then quickly realized, and also made an expression of approval: "From this point of view, this Chang Guzhen is really rare!"

"His feelings are sympathetic, and his deeds are commendable. In this way, Chang Guzhen can recommend him to join the army and have a future with him!" Liu Yang thought for a while and said.

(End of this chapter)