Daming Yuanfu

A few days later, Mr. Shen Ge, who was supervising the renovation of the Nanjing Imperial Palace to welcome the emperor who would come to Nanjing to pay homage to the Xiaoling Mausoleum after his enthronement, finally received a private letter from Xinzheng.

Shen Yiguan, who had just received the letter, was still a little puzzled. How could this letter be sent from Xinzheng?

The letter from Xinzheng was addressed to himself, so there was no doubt that it could only come from the Gao family. However, even if his pragmatism this time will be affected, he can't really be dismissed and released, right? The Western Expedition is still going on. It is impossible for the emperor to give up on being pragmatic. Otherwise, wouldn't it be possible for someone else to handle such a huge financial expenditure? If this is the case, then why does this letter come from Xinzheng?

I wanted to think about it, but when Shen Ge's old screen stepped back and opened the letter and read it, his face suddenly turned pale and soon turned livid.

It’s broken, something happened! Mr. Shen Ge took a deep breath. If Gao Pragmatic exposed this matter, he would really be doomed!

Sending assassins to assassinate the parents of political opponents in the hope that the political opponents will be vacated because they have to return to their hometowns to be restrained. This method is despicable and the behavior is shameful. Whether it is a scholar or an official, it will definitely not be tolerated. If such things can be tolerated, it means that the struggle in official circles has no bottom line and has deteriorated to the point where it cannot be worsened.

Confucianism attaches great importance to "kinship", and Confucius even approved of "kinship and mutual concealment". The "kiss" here simply means "loving one's relatives".

"The Analects of Confucius·Zilu" said that Ye Gong said to Confucius: "There are people in our party who are straight and bowed. Their fathers are chasing sheep, and their sons are the ones who prove it." Confucius said: "The difference between the straight people in our party is this: the father hides for the son, and the son hides it. Hiding for my father, I have always been in it."

The meaning here is: Ye Gong told Confucius: "There is an upright man in my hometown. His father stole someone else's sheep, and he reported his father." Confucius said: "The upright man in my hometown is as upright as you talk about. People are different: the father hides for his son, and the son hides for his father. 'Straight' is in it."

Here Confucius believed that "the father hides for the son, and the son hides for the father" means he has a "straight" character, which seems to be contrary to what people often said later, "the great righteousness destroys relatives". However, this view of Confucius later evolved into the Confucian concept of concealment of relatives, that is, immediate family members who have violated the law can not be held accountable if they are properly shielded and concealed.

This brings up three questions for later generations: Why did Confucius support the mutual concealment of father and son? Will father and son hiding from each other cause social injustice? Which one is more in line with the modern spirit: father and son hiding from each other or extinguishing relatives for the sake of justice?

Why did Confucius approve of father and son hiding from each other? Confucianism believes that the relationship between father and son is thicker than water. The son hides for his father because he cannot bear the punishment of his father, which is the straightforward nature of human beings; but to testify against the father is contrary to the principle of blood kinship that originates from nature. In this regard, Zhu Xi's comment is: "The father and son hide from each other, which is the ultimate principle of nature and human feelings. Therefore, we do not seek to be straight, but straight within it."

The starting point of Confucianism is "benevolence". The love of relatives is the origin of all love, and the order of human relations is the foundation of all societies. Only a society that is full of benevolence and emphasizes human ethics can truly encourage people to be willing to do good and be ashamed of doing evil, form a self-disciplined and introspective humanistic atmosphere, and achieve true long-term peace and stability.

Loving and protecting loved ones are the basic requirements of human ethics. Therefore, the love of relatives is based on the way of heaven, and "relatives hiding from each other" is the love and tolerance of human family ties. From this perspective, "relatives hiding from each other" is in compliance with the way of heaven, and can be "always within it". Therefore, Confucius praised that "the father hides for the son, and the son hides for the father" is straight. To be straight means to follow the path.

In fact, not only Confucius, but also Mencius also adopted a flexible approach in the trade-off between family affection and law. There is a famous case of "stealing one's burden and running away" in "Mencius's Endeavour".

His student Tao Ying asked Mencius: When Shun became emperor, he appointed Gao Tao as the chief judge. Suppose Shun's father Gumo killed someone, what should Gao Tao do? Mencius replied: Of course we should arrest Gushen. Taoying asked: Wouldn't Shun stop it? Mencius replied: How could Shun stop it? Shun entrusted Gaotao with the task of enforcing the law. Taoying asked: So, how did Shun deal with himself? Mencius said: In Shun's opinion, giving up the world was like throwing away worn-out straw sandals. He could secretly escape with his father Gu Shang on his back, live along the seaside, and happily enjoy family happiness all his life and forget about the power to control the world.

You see, Mencius’s assumption here is to choose to “steal the burden and run away”, obviously risking both father and son being wanted to protect the relationship between father and son. In other words, in the eyes of Mencius, if the law is contrary to basic human ethics, then human ethics must be maintained first. This is in the same vein as Confucius's thought of mutual concealment between father and son.

"Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" further develops the story of the sheep-stealing in the Analects, "His father stole the sheep and paid homage to him. The superior will punish him. If he bows directly, please take his place. When he is about to punish him, he tells the official: 'My father stole it. If you pay homage to a sheep, don't you believe it? If your father punishes it and replaces it, isn't it filial? If you believe and be filial but punish it, will there be any country that will not punish him? King Jing heard this and did not punish him. Confucius heard this and said: 'What's strange! A straight bow is faith. One father carries his name.' Therefore, a straight bow is not as good as no faith."

The general idea here is that there was a "upright man" in Chu State. His father stole a sheep and he reported it to the government. The government caught his father and was about to execute him. He also asked to be punished on his father's behalf. When the execution was about to be carried out, , he told the officials: "I am being honest when I report my father for stealing a sheep. Isn't it very filial to me to take my place when my father is punished? All honest and filial people must be killed, and then the country will still have people who are not punished." Is that so?" When the King of Chu heard this, he stopped killing him. Confucius heard about this and said: "This man's so-called honesty is so strange. He used a father to gain fame for himself twice." 'Such a "straight bow" honesty is worse than nothing. "

But would it be unfair for father and son to hide from each other? Scholars throughout the ages have debated this issue endlessly and remain unresolved. For example, when Li Zehou commented on this paragraph, he believed that "Confucius believed that 'the father hides for the son, and the son hides for the father' means he has the character of 'uprightness'. It seems that he included the morality of integrity into the concepts of 'filial piety' and 'kindness' Within the category, everything must obey the provisions of 'ritual'. This of course should be abandoned today."

Many people even believe that everyone is equal before the law, and Confucius' "mutual concealment of father and son" is a typical "bending the law for favoritism". Some scholars even attribute it to the ideological source that causes social injustice and corruption. What Ye Gong said is the "straight way", which is to safeguard social justice regardless of distance or distance.

But if you analyze it in depth, it is far from the case: Confucianism believes that there are different levels of love. First, love your parents, secondly love your brothers, thirdly love your friends, and then love everyone in general. From this, we have the idea of ​​"relatives hiding each other".

However, differences in love are by no means "invented" by Confucianism, but are the universal laws of human love. It is human nature to love those who are closer to you more. Even in Christian countries that place great emphasis on equal love in words, in real life, people must love their relatives more than they love strangers.

Westerners also attach great importance to family ethics. Hegel emphasized the sanctity of family ethics and discussed it at the level of divine laws rather than human laws. Socrates and Montesquieu both opposed "witnesses by relatives." There was a case in Australia where the father was selling drugs and the daughter knew about it but refused to confess. The police charged the daughter with harboring the crime and the court ultimately found the daughter not guilty. The judge's reason is simple: the law cannot harm human relations and family relationships, otherwise, its harm to society will be greater than criminal crimes.

The foundation of the legal system is based on human nature, and legal principles are nothing more than human feelings. If the legal system goes against human nature, then the rule of law is incomplete and cannot protect people's rights or social justice.

To put things into perspective, the father who stole the sheep above just stole a sheep. Although it violated the interests of others, the son or father can still make up for his fault in other ways. He can criticize his wrong behavior and advise him to return it to the owner. You can find the owner and spend money to buy it. This is not to cover up the crime, but to make up for the father's mistakes.

The reason why father and son hide from each other is to use family affection combined with moral reason to enlighten people's own conscience and correct mistakes. If we insist on strict enforcement of the law, it will lead to indifference in family relationships and ethics, which will inevitably affect the stability of society. Mr. Yu Yingshi mentioned in "The Modern Significance of Chinese Culture from the Value System" that European and American laws stipulate that relatives cannot testify against each other. This is not because they are afraid of collusion, but because they do not want the family relationship between father and son to be destroyed. Because the moral relationship between father and son has collapsed, no matter how strict the legal system is, it is meaningless. If the legal system violates natural human ethics, it cannot protect people's rights and social justice.

In fact, in China, "relatives hide each other" was formally entered into law in the Han Dynasty, and was followed in the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties with more detailed and clear regulations. Anyone who reports on his father's crimes will be included in the list of heinous crimes and will not be pardoned even if there is a general amnesty.

In fact, not only Confucians but also Western society generally believe that laws must first conform to natural ethics and human nature. Laws that violate natural human nature cannot represent social justice. The current criminal procedure laws of the United States, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and other countries also clearly stipulate that close relatives have the right to refuse to testify. A law that allows certain close relatives to refrain from giving evidence or testifying.

On the contrary, if "relatives testify" is promoted, it will greatly destroy the love between relatives and the order of human relations, causing people to be filled with suspicion and hidden pain, family relationships will no longer be harmonious, and social harmony will not be guaranteed, thus weakening the maintenance of The ethical and moral foundation of social stability.

There was a case in which a younger brother stole 4 yuan from his roommate in order to raise his brother's college expenses. Under the coercion and mobilization of the police, the elder brother finally deceived the younger brother into his residence after suffering for 24 hours, where the police ambushed him and captured him. The elder brother's righteous act of killing relatives helped the police solve the case, but it almost caused the younger brother to collapse and seek death. The elder brother's behavior was also strongly condemned by society, and he himself was also in pain and suffered an emotional breakdown. Is this maintaining justice and thereby maintaining social harmony?

To take a step back, mutual concealment of relatives may be unfair to a specific case and may increase legal costs, but mutual concealment of relatives is effective for everyone, which means that everyone can apply this law to protect family ties without Increase the cost of justice, which in turn is fair. Therefore, saying that "relatives hide each other from each other" is contrary to social fairness and is a misunderstanding of Confucius' thought of "father and son hide from each other".

The last question is, which one is more in line with the modern spirit: father and son hiding from each other or exterminating relatives for the sake of justice? The first thing to point out is that if "father and son hide from each other" is Confucius's creation, then "righteousness destroys relatives" is also Confucius's creation.

"Zuo Zhuan of the Spring and Autumn Period" praised Shi Jue who killed his son: "Shi Jue is a pure minister, a bad state, but he is generous and generous. What is the meaning of destroying relatives in a righteous way?" This historical story roughly tells the story of Wei Guo in the Spring and Autumn Period. When the virtuous minister Shi Jue rebelled with his rebellious minister Zhou Xu, his son Shi Hou was tricked by his father into taking Zhou Xu and Shi Hou to the state of Chen, arrested them, and killed them both. "Spring and Autumn" commented that paraffin was "just to kill relatives" for the sake of national interests.

It is said that the Confucian history book "Spring and Autumn" was revised by Confucius, so Mencius said, "Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Period, and the rebellious ministers and traitors were afraid." So it is Confucius who agrees with "hiding" when fighting sheep, and agrees with "not hiding" when committing treason, and praises it. Is it a contradiction between praising Shi Jue for his loyalty to the country and his "righteousness to destroy relatives"? Which one is more in line with the modern spirit?

In fact, not only are the two not contradictory, but they exactly reflect Confucius's view of ethics, justice and legality, which depends on the specific situation to understand the general situation and distinguish right from wrong.

When father and son hide from each other, it is a trivial matter like stealing a sheep, and basic ethics must be considered here; when a son rebels, it is an act of treason, and at this time, family affection must give way to righteousness.

In other words, laws that are more in line with human nature should reflect human ethics in small matters and justice in major matters. For example, in recent years, our country’s judiciary has revised Article 188 of the Criminal Procedure Law based on the essence of traditional Chinese culture and Western judicial practice: [Compulsory appearance in court to testify] If, upon notice from the People’s Court, a witness fails to appear in court to testify without justifiable reasons, the People’s Court shall The court can force the defendant to appear in court, except for the defendant's spouse, parents, and children.

It should be noted that the above refers to criminal cases, and major cases involving national security are not included in this example. You see, this is the progress of the legal system.

By saying so much, I actually want to explain that the principle of "kinship" has an unshakable social foundation in Chinese history, and this fact is even more unshakable in the Ming Dynasty when "Confucius" and "Zhu Zhu" were required to be admitted to Jinshi. Shaken.

In this case, Shen Guangyuan was involved in the assassination of Gao Pragmatic's parents, which was essentially a "rebellious" act that directly violated the core propositions of Confucianism. Therefore, Gao Jingjing, as the victim, can use the reason of "the parents' hatred is irreconcilable" to launch a counterattack. No matter how excessive this counterattack is, it will not be considered excessive by public opinion, but will be considered reasonable and unreasonable. No dispute.

Why did Gao Pragmatic give the suspect's confession to Shen Yiguan? In fact, it is to tell the latter: Don't think that you have the entire Jiangnan Chaebol behind you, so that you can win over the vast number of scholars in the entire area covered by Xinxue to endorse you and feel confident. Let me tell you clearly right now, with this thin accusation, I can silence everyone in the world, and no one will dare to stand up for you!

Not only will no one dare to stand up for you, but everyone who has anything to do with you must stand up immediately and completely separate themselves from you, otherwise even they will be dragged down by you, and the status and reputation established over the years will be destroyed in an instant. Becoming filthy!

This is called a decisive blow.

This is a unique way for scholars to kill scholars. It is upright but as unstoppable as the weight of Mount Tai.

The more he thought about it, the more frightened Mr. Shen Ge was. Finally, his complexion gradually changed from livid to ashen. He tremblingly wanted to pick up the tea cup and take a sip of fragrant tea to calm down the fright. However, his hands did not obey the instructions at all and put the fine Yuqian Longjing. It spread all over the desk and soaked the thin confession.

The startled Mr. Shen Ge hurriedly rolled up the list of charges, which was as heavy as a mountain, but after thinking about it, he felt relieved - in the hands of Gao Jingshi, Gao Jingshi could have as many crimes as Gao Jingshi, and he was panicking. what?

He suddenly became violent and tore the wet confession to pieces with all his strength, and let out a low roar: "What's the use of just suppressing me! The Jiangnan family has been offended by you. Do you know that they want you to die?" ,do you know!"

Mr. Shen Ge's prime ministerial demeanor finally completely disappeared at this moment, and he violently overturned the entire bookcase like crazy, as if the bookcase was Gao Pragmatic, or even the Jiangnan chaebol who was forcing him to immediately start a war with Gao Pragmatic behind his back.

There was too much movement in the study, and footsteps immediately sounded outside the door, and then someone asked: "Mr. Ge? What happened?"

Shen Yiguan got angry and shouted: "Get out! I'm not dead yet! Get out of here! Get away as far as you want!"

There was silence immediately outside the door.
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PS: If nothing unexpected happens, I will go to the countryside tomorrow. The day before yesterday, there was an inexplicable power outage in the countryside. Maybe it was because of the snow? Anyway, today I didn’t have time to ask if it had recovered. I hope it won't affect the update...probably not.