Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 396 Eastern Greece
The ruling of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty left a reference for later generations of officials, but it did not bring an end to the debate.Because this is no longer a judicial issue, but involves a deeper level.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, a similar case occurred in Liang Guo, also killing his stepmother to avenge his father.The Prime Minister of the State, who actually manages the political affairs of the closed country, reviewed the case and believed that he had committed the crime of killing his mother, which belonged to the category of "big rebellion".It so happened that the great Confucian Kong Jiyan passed by Liang Guo and told him that this was wrong, and explained the reason to him by the way.

"Spring and Autumn" records that Wen Jiang, wife of Duke Huan of Lu, committed adultery with her brother Duke Xiang of Qi.When Duke Huan of Lu visited Qi State, Wen Jiang took the opportunity to say to Duke Xiang of Qi: "The Marquis of Lu has already found out that something is wrong, and he told others, 'The son is not my son, but the son of the Marquis of Qi.'" But Duke Huan of Lu did not say this. , because Wen Jiang was eager to borrow a knife to kill people, so he deliberately fabricated it.

When Qi Xianggong heard about it, he was very angry, so he took a chance to get Lu Huan drunk, and sent someone to break his ribs in the car and kill him.

Afterwards, Wen Jiang and his entourage returned to China with the body of Duke Huan of Lu, and appointed his son, Gongzi Tong, as Duke Zhuang of Lu.However, Qi Xianggong's mismanagement caused things to leak out.The Lu people were very angry, and Wen Jiang ran away in a hurry, resulting in no one to preside over the subsequent series of ceremonies.

"Gongyang Zhuan" and "Zuo Zhuan" believe that, as a son, Lu Zhuanggong should "severe his father for his mother" and cut off his relationship with Wen Jiang according to Zhou rituals.

Therefore, Kong Jiyan believed that even his own mother should sever ties in the face of his father's hatred, and of course his stepmother should do the same.Therefore, the prisoner did not kill his mother, but only killed a passer-by. He should be charged with "killing without reporting to the officials" and should not be considered a big treason.Liang Xiang thought that this made sense, so he adopted his suggestion.

During the Han Dynasty, people admired revenge, and those who take the initiative to revenge often get sympathy, and can get a light sentence or even a pardon from the government.Sometimes, in order to oppose the punishment of the Avengers, the officials even resigned voluntarily in protest.

In the case of Liang Ren, Kong Jiyan gave an explanation of Confucian classics on the basis of the precedents of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.But this is the explanation, the explanation went wrong.

Whether Wen Jiang is guilty or not is beyond doubt.In fact, even in the Spring and Autumn Period when the rites collapsed and music was broken, she was a relatively well-known figure.Before marrying Duke Huan of Lu, he was going to marry the prince of Zheng Guo.As a result, Prince Zheng would rather give up the foreign aid from such a big country as Qi than accept her, and sent her away with the reason of "Qi Dafei is not a coincidence".It can be seen how "famous" this person is.

There is no suspense in this matter in public opinion.Because of all the daughters of the Jiang family, there are too many things that have happened in the country of Lu.

Wen Jiang is already a very outrageous person, but there is a detail-her posthumous title is "Wen".

In other words, among the wives of the princes and wives of Lu State, she is even more reliable...

Like Wen Jiang's own daughter-in-law and niece, Ai Jiang, who helped his lover Qingfu kill his son.They killed two monarchs in a row, making Lu people think that "as long as Father Qing is not dead, Lu will not be peaceful."In the end, Ai Jiang's uncle, Duke Huan of Qi, couldn't take it anymore, and killed her himself, and the chaos was settled.

Some people think that the reason why scholars in the Lu State are "conservative" and do not want women to intervene in politics is not because of the observance of Zhou rituals - if the early Zhou rituals were strictly followed, women's power would be even greater.

The emergence of this trend of thought may simply be because they have been tortured too badly by these Qi women.

As Socrates said, an unhappy marriage makes one a philosopher.I don’t know if the many scholars of Lu State and Confucius’ family have verified this sentence...

These years, there are some Shang and Zhou stories that are popular in the Central Plains. Guo Kang has seen merchants bring them and sell them before.Among them, there is also the story of Jiang Taigong fighting with the fox.

When the teachers saw this script, they complained in private that the story was probably aimed at folk readers.After all, anyone who has read the Spring and Autumn Classics knows that Jiang Taigong's own daughters are much more terrifying than fox spirits.

So, why do the scribes still have disputes under such circumstances?Because this is not just a matter of a certain case, but is related to several basic principles in etiquette.To put it more modernly, it involves the ideological issue of the Central Plains Empire.The core of it is whether or not you can and should never marry.

This is the problem in Kong Jiyan's commentary.His explanation is to compare the biological mother and the stepmother, pointing out that the stepmother is not as good as the biological mother, but the two have similarities, and then leads to the Wen Jiang incident in the Spring and Autumn Period, which proves that it is reasonable to kill the stepmother for revenge, and the punishment can be reduced as appropriate.

But this also means that there is only a degree of difference between the biological mother and the stepmother, and they are generally on the same level.So on the other hand, if the object is the biological mother, is it similar to this case of killing the stepmother, and it is also reasonable, and should be given a lighter sentence?
Kong Jiyan did not answer this question.

In fact, according to the viewpoint of ramology that was popular in the early years, revenge should indeed be taken in this case. "Gongyang Zhuan" believes that even if the biological mother is involved, it should be regarded as a severed relationship.

During the reign of Duke Zhuang of Lu, a solar eclipse occurred in the State of Lu.People at that time believed that a solar eclipse was the moon blocking the sun, and the moon was a symbol of yin, and its corresponding body was Houtu.Therefore, the people of the country gathered around the temple, beat the drums, and pretended to attack, in order to threaten the earth god, and quickly end the solar eclipse.

According to Gongyang theory, this is a reasonable move, because the moon invades the sun first, so even if a mortal threatens the earth god, it cannot be regarded as disrespectful to the gods.These two incidents have also been compared. "Juewen Jiang is not disrespectful, and Yanlingshe is not disrespectful" has become a typical judgment standard.

Unfortunately, in history, Lu Zhuanggong failed to do this.After a while, he said that he missed his mother and took Wen Jiang back.

The Ram Sutra also criticized this.Although Lu Huan and Qi Xianggong may not be able to tell who the real father of Lu Zhuanggong is, but since they have inherited the position of Lu Guojun, they should give priority to their legal father.Remembering one's mother means forgetting one's father, which is undoubtedly an act of forgetting one's origin.

So, at that time, the king and ministers of the state of Lu, what should they do, and to what extent should they retaliate?

It stands to reason that since the relationship between mother and child has been severed, they should be treated as ordinary people and take revenge as they please.The Gongyang Jing has said long ago: If the king kills the king, if the minister does not seek thieves, he is not a minister; if the son does not take revenge, he is not a son.Now that the monarch has been killed, the ministers should try to attack Wen Jiang, and Duke Zhuang of Lu should take revenge actively.

There were actually many such things in the Spring and Autumn Period. Even if the lord was defeated, there were knights who insisted on assassinating the enemy and wanted to avenge him. Public opinion also regarded such people as righteous men and praised their conduct.According to this set of logic, it is enough for the Lu people to assassinate Wen Jiang as well.

But Han Confucians are very cautious about this, and most of the scripture teachers are vague and avoid it consciously.

This may seem like a small problem, but at that time, revenge and unification were the two foundations of Gongyangology, which was once promoted as the spiritual pillar of the Han Empire, which can be said to be the background of its glory.

It must be impossible to get stuck so inexplicably.

(End of this chapter)