Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

The first month, Chengdu.

"Boom"

Accompanied by the sound of the bell, in the cold wind, the nobles of the Han Dynasty arranged the queue, took off their shoes, and stepped on the cushions to enter the hall.

"Your Majesty heard that His Majesty wants to establish a crown prince today, is it true or not?" Someone whispered.

"Probably so."

As soon as the words fell, Liu Chan, dressed in a mian suit, slowly sat on the couch.

All the ministers knelt down to pay homage, and said: "The minister waits to see His Majesty, and may His Majesty be happy and blessed forever."

"Free gift!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

All the people stood up in unison, returned to their seats, and waited for His Majesty to speak.

Liu Chan coughed lightly, and said: "Nowadays the world is divided into three parts, and the situation is unclear. Now that I am old and the queen has passed away, I am not very sad! Therefore, for the funeral of the great man, I want to choose a wise and elder prince as his heir. What do you think?"

The Shangshu ordered Jiang Wan to stand up and get out of the couch, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the eldest prince is a benevolent man, talented and intelligent, and it is a blessing for the country to succeed to the throne."

"The ministers will reconsider." All the senior officials responded with words.

"Since this is the case, I will follow the words of the ministers. Where is the eldest prince?" Liu Chan said.

"My son is here."

Liu Sui, who was dressed in royal clothes, restrained his joy and responded.

Liao Li received the emperor's instructions, spread out the official document, and said in a deep voice: "Since ancient times, emperors have inherited the heavens and established the poles and governed the Huan area. , Suye trembling. I look up to my ancestor Mo Lie Zhaochui. The entrustment is the most important. Chengyan Yanqing, end in Yuanliang."

"The eldest prince, Liu Zhen, has a wonderful daily appearance and beautiful talent. I hereby abide by the benevolent orders of the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty. The ceremony will be recorded. I will follow the public opinion. I would like to tell the world, the ancestral temple, and the community. On the 16th day of the first month of the [-]th year of Jianxing , Liu Sui was given the book of treasures, and he was established as the crown prince. He was seated in the East Palace, to honor the rule of ten thousand years, and to tie the hearts of the world."

"Your Majesty is hereby ordered to thank Your Majesty for your kindness."

Liu Sui walked up the steps slowly to receive the seal and canonization memorial that symbolized the prince.

Liao Li handed over the memorial and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, please encourage me."

With a smile on his face, Liu Sui replied: "Thank you Liao Shizhong for your vigilance. If there are any deficiencies in the future, I hope to advise you."

"Don't dare."

……

After the process of canonizing the crown prince is completed, the court meeting is also over.Liu Chan returned to the palace to deal with political affairs, and the crown prince Liu Zhen followed closely behind Liu Chan.

Dong Yun submitted the official documents of the case sorted out by Shang Shutai, and said: "This is the death penalty case in China last year. Please read it, Your Majesty."

Liu Chan pointed to the case and said, "How many people were sentenced to death last year?"

Dong Yun put the difficult cases before Liu Chan's case, and said: "Your Majesty, there are 390 and eight people who have been sentenced to death, and there are 23 cases that are still difficult and have objections. Your Majesty, please check."

Liu Chan pointed to Liu Zhen and said, "Share some with the crown prince."

"promise!"

The punishments in the law of the Han Dynasty included death penalty, family punishment, corporal punishment, flogging, imprisonment, confiscation of citizenship, relocation and border migration, and fines.Among them, there are three types of death penalty: owl head, beheading in half, and abandoning the market.

As for Liu Chanfu's review of the death penalty in recent years, he modified it according to the evolution of the Han Dynasty's "Repeat of the Death Penalty" system.

In the Qin and Han Dynasties, the death penalty was completely exempt from the approval of the emperor.In the Han Dynasty, because the emperor began to pay more attention to the cases of officials committing capital crimes, the death penalty cases of officials with more than [-] shi were often reviewed, and the death penalty cases of officials with less than [-] shi could be executed without review by the emperor.

When it came to the Shu Han, because of the war and Liu Chan's thought of being cautious about punishment for later generations, after the Guanzhong was pacified, Zhuge Liang got rid of the affairs of Shangshutai.So he ordered the majesty of the local states and counties to go to the Central Committee before the execution of the death row criminals, and Liu Chan would re-approve.

Of course, this point was not decided by Liu Chan alone. Cao Rui also issued an order in the fourth year of Qinglong to report the death crime and heavy prisoner case to the local prefectures and counties.It's just that the big man went a step further and confirmed the replay of the death penalty in the form of an edict, that is, when the deceased is heard by the Ministry of Cases.Since death cannot be revived, all supervisors cannot comment, and all prison successes are presented. The emperor came to ask him in person, and there was no difference.

Liu Sui flipped through the case for a while, cupped his hands at the bottom of the steps, and said, "Your Majesty, my ministers should have different opinions on the trial of this case."

"Oh!" Liu Chan put down his brush and asked curiously, "What should be the case? What's the prince's opinion?"

Liu Zhen picked up the memorial and explained: "Zhao Nian, a native of Nan'an County. His father Zhao Ye, and his stepmother Chen..."

In Zhongtao County, Nan'an County, Qinzhou, there was a family named Zhao Ye, who first married his wife Zhang and gave birth to a son Zhao Nian.When Zhao Nian was ten years old, his mother Zhang died, and Zhao Ye married his second wife Chen.

Chen's character is fierce and jealous. He not only quarrels with her husband frequently, but also abuses her stepson Zhao Nian, and often moves the family property back to her natal family.Although Zhao Ye tried his best to persuade his wife, he never saw Mrs. Chen repent.

In the summer of last year, the great Han conquered Hedong and returned to the army. Zhao Ye, who joined the army, came home and saw his wife mistreating his son Zhao Nian, and had a quarrel with him, which then developed into a fight between husband and wife. The Chen family became violent and killed Zhao Ye with a sharp knife. die.

Seeing his father's death, Zhao Nian rushed over in a rage, grabbed the sharp blade from Chen's hand, and killed Chen again with one blow.

Dong Lixiong, who was in charge of the trial of the case, believed: "Women should regard their husbands as the main priority and should not engage in violence; children regard their mothers as their heaven, but they fight back in public. Today, Chen's temperament is fierce, so that her husband died. The murderer started in the inner court. Divided by the death penalty. However, the Chen family is inherently guilty of killing her husband, but it should be punished by the Secretary, and cannot be punished by lynching. However, Zhao Nian showed the courage of a man and committed the crime of killing his mother, which cannot be lightly forgiven. According to "Shu Ke "Decision, should be punished by death."

The great man ruled the world with loyalty and filial piety, and killed people out of anger, and divided them into capital crimes according to the law of "Shu Ke".For those who kill their mothers, the crime will be increased by one degree, and divided by the death penalty.

Liu Chan tapped his knees with his fingers and asked, "What does the prince think is wrong?"

Liu Sui put down the memorial, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the Chen family is not Zhao Nian's mother."

"The stepmother is not the mother?" Dong Yun frowned and asked.

Liu Chan's fingers tapping his knees paused for a moment and said, "Continue."

Liu Xuan straightened his back and explained: "Your Majesty, Dong Shizhong. I think that although Chen is a stepmother, in terms of relatives, she is not as good as her biological mother. Zhao Nian only called Chen's mother because she married Zhao Ye. And Chen The clan violated the righteousness of husband and wife and killed her husband with a knife."

As he said that, Liu Sui slashed down obliquely with his hand as a blade, and said: "At that time when Chen Shi drew his sword and swung the blade, Zhao Nian and Chen Shi had no mother-child relationship, so there should be no evil deeds of 'mother-killing'. Zhao Nian Seeing his father being killed, he was furious and swung his blade to kill the Chen family, avenging his father, which is the act of a filial son, so Zhao Nian should be punished for murder."

Liu Chan smiled, looked at Dong Yun, and asked, "What do you think of the prince's words?"

Dong Yun nodded slightly, applauded and said: "The words of the prince should be Cai'er! If you dare to ask the prince, what punishment should Zhao Nian give?"

After a pause, Dong Yun stroked his beard and said with a half-smile: "Maybe Zhao Nian should be pardoned for his innocence?"

As soon as this remark came out, Liu Chan looked at Dong Yun with weird eyes, he was completely setting up a trap for Liu Sui.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a law called the "Law of Insults". The core of this law is: killing and insulting parents will not be punished with capital punishment.Therefore, in the past few decades, many people have used this method to take advantage of loopholes to justify themselves.So Shangshu Zhang Min asked Emperor Hanhe to abolish the "Law of Indignity", and Emperor Hanhe adopted it.

Even so, the atmosphere of revenge at that time was still at its peak. If you kill someone for your parents and master, you will be fine as long as you are not caught. If you are caught, you will be sentenced to death.For example, when Xiahou Dun was 14 years old, someone humiliated his teacher, and he killed that person.Therefore, Dong Yun was testing Liu Sui's proficiency in the law and whether he was too benevolent.

Liu Sui bared his white teeth and said, "What Dong Shizhong said is quite biased. During the time of Emperor Shun of the Later Han Dynasty, the head of Wuqiu in Qingzhou was captured by the Jiaodong Kingdom because someone insulted his mother and killed people in the street during the day. The death penalty is on the table. However, Wu You mourned and thought that he had a wife and no children, so he specially ordered his wife to live with him, and after she conceived his son, she would be punished by death."

"Thus in the case of Zhao Nian, the son-in-law thought that in order to reconcile his stepmother and his son, Zhao Nian should still be executed for the crime of homicide, not for the crime of treason."

Liu Chanchang sighed and said: "Li Kui's "Fa Jing" has a saying: "Sinners under the age of [-] will be reduced by three high crimes, and one by low crimes; those who are over sixty years old will be reduced by minor crimes and serious crimes by reason." But fourteen, the death penalty can be spared, and the punishment can be divided by flogging, I don't know what to think?"

Liu Xuan hesitated for a while, then cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, there is a saying in "Shu Ke": "Men are over [-] and under seven years old, and their families are not good. They can't be arrested by edicts. It should be done." Those who test it, that is, test and ask. 'The current Zhao Nian is not in it, so it should be punished by death."

Liu Chan frowned slightly, and said in a tone that could not be refuted: "Zhao Nianduo was abused by his mother Chen, and his father was killed by his mother. The feeling is sad, and the crime can be reduced, so it should be reduced."

Seeing Liu Chan's firm tone, Liu Sui lowered his head, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty's benevolence, my ministers must learn from it."

"Tell Dong Lixiong what I and the prince want, and let him try again."

"No!" Dong Yun agreed.

After finishing speaking, Liu Chan sighed in a low voice, and said: "Han law is complicated, and it needs to be simplified, which makes people re-edit."

The "Shu Ke" of the Han Dynasty is only when the laws of the Han Dynasty are in conflict with it. know.

Therefore, Cao Rui abolished and replaced the laws left over from the Han Dynasty, which is relatively simple.And because the big man puts war first, he doesn't even care about etiquette, let alone reorganize the Han law.