At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 313 Kong Ming counterattacks and Kuai family is destroyed

However, it is said that Zhuge Kongming accepted the injustice and rape case, which not only pleased the officials and the people, but also gradually spread his reputation in Jingzhou.

Although Zou Wu was not found guilty of rape in this case, he should have been acquitted, and this was indeed the case.

However, after settling the unjust and rape case, Zhuge Liang sentenced Zou Wu and Wang to be guilty of rape on the grounds that they had a relationship without a de facto marriage.

The so-called adultery crimes in the Han Dynasty can be roughly divided into two types.

The first is the crime of rape, which refers to a man using various means to force a woman to have sex with her against her will.

According to the laws of the Han Dynasty in the past, men would be sentenced to death for this kind of rape, while women were not guilty.

The second crime is adultery, which refers to adultery between a man and a woman who are not married. The punishment depends on the circumstances.

In ancient China, the punishment for adultery was extremely severe. "Historical Records: The First Emperor's Chronicles" clearly stipulates: Marrying with a son will lead to double death both inside and outside. Adultery is prohibited. If a man and a woman are sincere, and the husband is a supporter, there is no guilt for killing.

In the Qin Dynasty, anyone who encountered an adulterer could kill him on the spot, and he would be innocent of the killing.

This also shows that those who committed adultery during the Qin Dynasty would be sentenced to death.

It is said that the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, and the Han Dynasty also began to have zero tolerance for crimes of rape, and offenders would be killed.

However, during the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen issued more tolerant instructions on the handling of various criminal laws, and the crime of rape was changed from the initial death penalty to palace punishment.

Don’t think that only men will be castrated.

According to the records of the Han Dynasty: palace is also the punishment for adultery, men are circumcised and women are confined, which is the next punishment of death.

The force here refers to the male reproductive organs, which is easier to understand; as for claustrophobia, it means hitting the woman's chest and abdomen with a mallet, that is, something falls down and covers her female door (pìn hù), so that she can only defecate, and human nature is always Wasted.

Both types of castration are extremely harmful to both men and women.

Although the criminal law stipulates this, the Han Dynasty governed the people with mercy. In many cases, although the law stipulates it, in actual control, there are always times when mercy is extralegal.

Many local officials even secretly divide the crime of adultery into two types. One is for those who have a family and commit adultery, which is called adultery. If the husband or wife of the adulterer reports it to the official, they will most likely be dealt with according to the law. Adulterer.

The other type is when both parties are unmarried and have an affair. Since this type of affair is not harmful to others, the local government will not impose castration on the person involved.

However, in order not to violate etiquette and customs, the government will urge the two to get married immediately, so there will be no adultery.

Over time, the number of unmarried men and women gradually increased in local areas, and the government turned a blind eye.

But now, since the matter has been brought to the government, since Zou Wu cannot be sentenced to rape Wang, then the two of them had a relationship while they were unmarried, and the crime of rape cannot be escaped no matter what.

Kuai Yue also wanted to see how Zhuge Liang would deal with the two of them.

If it is not dealt with, it will blatantly violate the law. Kuai Yue has many ways to impeach Zhuge Liang.

If they were dealt with according to the law, it would violate the tacit traditions of the officialdom and the local area, which would inevitably cause turmoil in people's hearts, and the lives of Zou Wu and Wang would be ruined.

How could Zhuge Liang not know the dangers involved?

When he sentenced the two of them to adultery and all the people watching were talking about it, he continued: "Since the Lord has ruled Jingzhou, although the law has been strict, he has also stated many times that the law is nothing more than human relationships."

"I have also conducted private research and found that there are not a few cases like Zou Wu and Wang who were already engaged but had relationships before they were married, and most local governments will not pursue them."

"However, after all, this matter has become known to everyone, so it must be punished."

"According to the newly enacted "Laws of Chu", those who commit adultery while unmarried will be sentenced to one and a half years of imprisonment each. Since the two are already engaged, each can have his sentence reduced by half a year, and the remaining punishment can also be redeemed with money. Do you have any complaints?"

Zhuge Liang's verdict immediately made Zou Wu and the Wang family, and even the people watching outside, all applaud.

However, Zhuge Liang next set his sights on Wang.

He said solemnly: "You accused Zou Wu of rape, but the case was not established. According to the law, he should be punished with a false accusation. According to the law of Chu State, a false accusation was dismissed. Do you know what the outcome will be?"

When Wang heard this, she couldn't help but collapse to the ground, her body shaking like chaff.

The audience outside the door also fell silent, looking at Wang with pity.

According to the law, the crime of rape is punishable by death. If the accusation is false, Wang will be sentenced to death.

Looking at the frightened Wang family, Zhuge Liang changed the subject and said, "However, since you two had a relationship in a confined space, it cannot be proven that Zou Wu did not rape you."

"All this official can rule is that the Zou Wu rape case cannot be established due to insufficient evidence, but this possibility cannot be completely ruled out."

"Therefore, Wang's false accusation of rape against Zou Wu is not established and will not be punished."

"Since the crime of adultery is given a light sentence, you two must get married as soon as possible. However, according to my understanding, you two had differences before about dowry and real estate. In order to avoid further disagreements and delay the marriage, you two will atone for your sins. The money will be taken out of the betrothal gift. From now on, Zou Wu will not give any betrothal gift or land to your family. Are you convinced?"

Wang felt like she had returned to heaven from hell, and she immediately bowed to the ground and said: "Thank you Zhi Zhong for being open-minded. The daughter of the people is convinced!"

"Clap clap clap!"

As the verdict came to an end, warm applause broke out inside and outside the government office.

Zhuge Liang looked at Kuai Yue and others again and asked, "Do you have any objections to my judgment?"

The verdict was so popular that Kuai Yue and others would not jump out at this time and expressed that the verdict was correct.

Zhuge Liang immediately asked people to sign the judgment document, and also forced the reluctant Kuai Yue and others to sign the document, completely eliminating possible hidden dangers in the case.

As long as Kuai Yue signs the document, if any problems arise in the future, the other party will also be held responsible.

Next, Zhuge Liang began to examine the case of Zou Wu's mother beating the Dengwen drum.

According to the law, this drum can only be sounded when encountering military and national events or unjust cases involving human life.

Since Zou Wu would be sentenced to death if the rape case was established, Zou Wu's mother met the conditions for beating the Dengwen drum, so she was found not guilty.

However, the officials who stopped Zou Wu's mother from playing the drum had to be dealt with severely.

All the local officials who initially handled Zou Wu's case were convicted of dereliction of duty and negligence, and were either demoted, punished, or demoted. Zhuge Liang's actions were not only in compliance with the law, but also took into account human nature.

Many of those who were punished were convinced and did not have the strong dissatisfaction that Kuai Yue imagined.

The smooth handling of the injustice and rape case also made Zhuge Liang famous.

At this time, Bian Rang's illness was cured and he returned to the Governor's Mansion to praise Zhuge Liang.

However, Kuai Yue took the opportunity to praise Zhuge Liang in front of his subordinates, and proposed that all the unjust cases, doubtful cases and controversial cases that had been accumulated by the governor's office should be handed over to Zhuge Liang for review.

Bian Rang agreed directly without any hesitation.

Even though Zhuge Liang knew that this was Kuai Yue's strategy, he still took over these errands and tried all the very relevant cases one by one. It has to be said that Zhuge Liang did have extraordinary political talents. Even though those cases were very relevant or very difficult to handle, under Zhuge Liang's peeling off the cocoons, all the facts under investigation came to light.

No matter who was involved behind the case, Zhuge Liang handled it impartially. Although he offended many people in the end, his reputation spread in Jingzhou and he was deeply loved by the people.

But what Kuai Yue didn't expect was.

Zhuge Liang is not the kind of person who is easy to get along with, and he cannot always passively accept attacks.

In the process of handling the case, he carefully selected several cases and asked Bian Rang to hand over these cases to him.

Bian Rang handed over all the cases to Zhuge Liang with a stroke of his pen without any hesitation.

Most of the cases selected by Zhuge Liang are related to Kuai Yue.

In the following time, it was constantly revealed that the direct or collateral clan of the Kuai clan had raped women, usurped land, bribed officials, and evaded taxes, resulting in many Kuai clan members being arrested and imprisoned.

These things are very common among aristocratic families, and no aristocratic family dares to say that their family is impeccable.

Even if all the direct descendants are virtuous, and the family is so big, there will inevitably be some bad apples among the collateral descendants.

The most important thing is that it is impossible for the family to survive for so many years without gray industries.

As Zhuge Liang continued to dig deeper by solving the case, some of the Kuai family members were imprisoned, which also caused panic among the major families in Jingzhou.

If Zhuge Liang really wants to continue investigating like this, no aristocratic family can withstand the investigation.

So under the leadership of Kuai Yue, many Jingzhou aristocratic families joined together and began to impeach Zhuge Liang with great momentum.

However, when these people started to impeach, Bian Rang, the governor of Jingzhou, unfortunately fell ill and could not read the official documents at all.

In desperation, these people actually sent the impeachment document to His Highness the King of Chu.

However, the King of Chu sent all the impeachment documents back the same way on the grounds that these matters were under the jurisdiction of the Jingzhou governor.

It was only now that the wealthy families in Jingzhou felt that something was wrong.

At this time, a major case involving Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue's brother, was uncovered by Zhuge Liang. As a result, Kuai Liang, the two-thousand-stone county governor, was dismissed from office for dereliction of duty, and was even escorted to a prison. Xiangyang is subject to review.

"How could this be?"

"How could this be?"

Kuai Mansion.

When Kuai Yue learned the news, he couldn't help but collapse to the ground.

He finally fully confirmed that the so-called Zhuge Liang was just a chess piece pushed by the King of Chu. Otherwise, given Kuai Liang's status, even if he had neglected his duty, he would never have ended up like this.

The reason why Kuai Yue was able to stand firm in Jingzhou was not only because Kuai Yue held an important position in Jingzhou, but also because his brother served as the local governor of 2,000 stone.

Being able to serve as a local county governor means that you can also control many quotas for filial piety and integrity.

If the Kuai family wants to develop and grow, it must have more children in the clan serving as officials. Then the exchange of interests with other aristocratic families and mutual promotion of filial piety and honesty have become the fundamental reason for the rise of Kuai Yue.

This is why many aristocratic families have endured for a long time since the Han Dynasty, and senior officials in the family have emerged one after another.

As long as you can control the channels through which the imperial court selects officials, it will not be difficult to do this.

Once Kuai Liang no longer serves as the county governor, even though Kuai Yue is still a special agent in Jingzhou, he will no longer have the qualifications to promote filial piety and integrity.

That means that Kuai Yue will no longer have the leverage to exchange filial piety quotas with other aristocratic families.

Blessings are unparalleled, and misfortunes do not come singly.

Zhuge Liang can be said to be as quiet as a virgin and as active as a rabbit. After taking down Kuai Liang on the grounds of a case, he began an all-out attack on Kuai.

This attack was not a small fight like before. It only caused the Kuai family's children to be thrown into jail.

The case Zhuge Liang chose this time was about things related to national taxation, such as salt and iron.

The Kuai family is a local leader in Xiangyang, and this place is connected to the east-west, north-south transportation. For the development of the family, smuggling is naturally inevitable.

The case of smuggling salt and iron had just been uncovered by Zhuge Liang, and many of Kuai's children were imprisoned. The huge fines almost wiped out all the accumulation of several generations of Kuai's family, and even Kuai Yue himself was suspended for investigation.

However, the salt and iron smuggling case was only the beginning of Zhuge Liang's massive attack, and it was not enough to put Kuai's family in danger.

Next, when Zhuge Liang uncovered the case of Kuai's smuggling of grain and grass, it was the fatal blow to Kuai.

In troubled times, food, grass and population are the most important.

As early as when Zhou Qi only occupied Yangzhou, he had clearly stipulated that anyone should have no choice but to sell grain and grass out of the country by any means. This matter is related to national security, and violators will be severely punished.

However, the profits from smuggling grain and grass in troubled times are extremely terrifying. The price of relatively cheap grain in Jingzhou can at least increase several times as long as it is shipped out of Chu.

Just like in later generations, some food carriers can earn thousands even if they take a passenger plane carrying rice on their backs and take the food back and forth to Bangzi. How can such a huge profit not be tempting?

It can only be regarded as a small-scale riot to exploit legal loopholes, but Kuai's smuggling was carried out on a large scale, so his guilt is naturally very serious.

The crime of smuggling grain and grass made it completely difficult for Quin Yue to stand up and was ultimately unable to die.

However, Zhuge Liang still did not give up and began to pursue and fight fiercely. He also uncovered the case of Kuai's liaison with the enemy.

When the evidence of private correspondence between Kuai and Yuan Shao was uncovered, Kuai Yue couldn't help but slumped to the ground, knowing that the family was completely finished.

In fact, although Kuai had some correspondence with Yuan Shao, he had no intention of seeking refuge with him.

After all, the Kuai family's foundation was in Xiangyang. As long as Zhou Qi still occupied Xiangyang, it would be impossible for the Kuai family to betray him.

However, hedging your bets is a common problem among aristocratic families.

Although Kuai Yue did not think about taking refuge in Yuan Shao now, Yuan Shao's power was too great, so Kuai Yue also wanted to establish some contact with Yuan Shao first.

If the Chu State loses to the Zhao State in the future, the Kuai family can surrender as soon as the Zhao army reaches Xiangyang.

Unexpectedly, this kind of lucky mentality of betting on both ends has become a talisman for Kuai's life.

"boom!"

The bedroom door was kicked open, and Chen Wen, who was wearing armor and fully armed, rushed in with people.

He took out an arrest document and said in a deep voice to Kuai Yue: "Kuai Yue, don't leave. Let's go for a while!"

(End of this chapter)