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Chapter 766: Unpredictable punishment, unpredictable power

"Yang Lian and Gao Panlong said that your majesty requested that the laws be as detailed as possible in the Great Ming Code, and that future judgments should be based on the laws. This is quite inappropriate. In terms of punishment, most punitive punishments have been abolished, and the confiscation of property and forced labor are often used. This seems to be a legalist style, and it is inevitable that future generations will be suspected of... tyranny..."

Wang An was not pretending to be pitiful. Before he spoke, he took out a small piece of paper from his pocket and said it word for word, not daring to omit anything, and not daring to add his own words at will. He just paraphrased. Especially when he said the last four words, his legs were already shaking slightly.

"Sit down... Sit down when I say sit down, and drink the cocoa powder while it's hot. The two of them deliberately forced you to tell me these things. Are they also afraid of being confiscated and forced to do hard labor?

Don't rush to deny it, I think it must be true. In the eyes of most court officials, I am a moody and murderous king. Even if no one has called me a tyrant yet, I am probably close to it.

Since I am almost dead, will I still care about my affairs after my death? Come, I will dictate, you record, take it back and give it to them, so that they won’t bother you again in the future. "

Being evaluated like this by his subjects was a taboo for many ancient emperors. Even an emperor who was a murderer by nature, such as Zhu Yuanzhang, would never want to be called a tyrant. Anyone who dared to say so would most likely be tyrannized.

Yang Lian and Gao Panlong knew their ministers relatively well, but they still didn't dare to say so to their faces. But they couldn't help but want to give honest advice, so they found someone who was least likely to be hated by the emperor, such as Wang An.

It must be said that they found the right person. As long as Wang An was not the main culprit of treason, even if he participated, he would be pardoned. He would not be driven out of the palace to fend for himself, and he could continue to work as an idler in the palace.

There is no complicated reason. If he hadn't protected me back then, I would have suffered a lot, not to mention whether I would die young. It is also very likely that I would not have been able to get along with Chen Ju so easily and firmly control the harem at the beginning of my ascension to the throne.

The emperor was very ruthless, perhaps even more ruthless than the emperors in the general sense, but he still had a bottom line. He was mainly lenient towards meritorious officials who did not cause any harm.

"I don't really understand what Legalism or Confucianism are like, I just know a very simple truth: if you want to manage a country well, you can't rely on the monarch to be always wise, you have to rely on the law.

Han Feizi said: "Laws should be made public, and tactics should not be seen. Laws should not favor the rich, and the law should not bend to the crooked. Where the law is imposed, the wise cannot refuse, and the brave dare not argue. Punishment for wrongdoing does not spare high officials, and reward for good deeds does not exclude ordinary people."

I think this makes sense, so I require that when the laws are formulated, they must be made clear and understandable, so that even people who have only attended private schools for a few years and do not know many words and have not read the books of sages can understand them at a glance. They must be read out loud, and even illiterate people can understand their meaning.

Confucianism's pursuit of everyone being a good person is too idealistic. In the past two hundred years of our dynasty, there have been tens of thousands of people who have passed the imperial examinations. Among them, how many can be called good people? There are many people who are virtuous in front of others but despicable behind their backs.

Legalism does not seek to make everyone a good person, but only requires that everyone not do bad things. Therefore, when designing laws, Legalism will imagine the emperor as a mediocre person, and then use the law to replace the king to manage the country. In comparison, Legalism is easier to achieve, while Confucianism can only exist in fantasy.

Don't deny everything because the Legalists are strict, and don't affirm everything because the Confucians are moderate. I am neither a Legalist nor a Confucianist, but a polymath. I take the best of all schools of thought, and I use what makes sense, and I listen to what makes sense.

If the punishment is unknown and the power is unpredictable, the people will fear the superiors. I can't remember who said this, but I definitely don't want to do it. The management of the country cannot be based on convenience or trouble-free. It cannot be based on fooling and intimidating the people. By engraving the tripod to show it to the people, the superiors will not dare to violate the law to punish themselves, nor can they bend the law to show kindness. Then the power will be transferred to the law, so the people will not fear the superiors. This is what I want for the "New Ming Code".

The law is not small or big, and the scope and method of punishment are clearly written when it is thought of. There is no need to revise it once a century. In the future, the "Great Ming Code" will be revised on a small scale every year, and new and old laws will be added and removed at any time.

The Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple will set up permanent departments starting this year to revise the laws with reference to the case files of previous years. If there is a shortage of personnel, you can submit a petition and I will transfer personnel from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Imperial Academy as appropriate. "

Should he ask? Hong Tao thought it was right. If Yang Lian and Gao Panlong were not afraid of him, they should go to the palace to ask him in person. But since Wang An was here, he should not make a wasted trip. He should just take the emperor's order back. I guess the two of them would understand.

"I obey the emperor's order..." Wang An's calligraphy was not only neat but also very fast. He put down his pen as soon as the emperor finished speaking. This made Hong Tao not only envious and jealous, but also a little hateful!

"Your Majesty, there is one more small matter that I am afraid I will not mention. Minister Yang also wants to come to the palace to meet you. He received a letter from his hometown saying that his biological mother, Liu, is seriously ill and may not live long." But after taking only two steps out, Wang An stopped again and turned around to reveal something about Yang Lian's movements to the emperor.

"… Tell him not to come, I will issue an order to take away his lover! Remember… From now on, the three-year mourning rule for all officials will be abolished. They are often dismissed from their posts for three years, and they call it filial piety, but they want me to be the bad guy. How can this be justified?
When a person dies, it is like a light going out. Do I need to explain this to you? If you want to fulfill your filial duty, just resign and go home. Since ancient times, it has been difficult to be both loyal and filial. I am just a tyrant, and I can't think of a perfect plan.

Have the Ministry of Rites send someone to the home of Yang Shangshu to express my condolences and bestow upon him the title of First Rank Lady. Tell Ye Xianggao and Fang Congzhe that I do not want to discuss this issue any further. If there is any criticism in the court, let them find a way to quell it!"

When he heard that Yang Lian wanted to ask for leave to go home, Hong Tao finally couldn't help it and almost burst out with swear words. What kind of broken rule is this? It delays things too much. If several ministers' parents die in these three years, can the court still function normally?

As an emperor, he can take away the love, and it doesn't count as unfilial of the officials. So he should take it away all at once in advance to save the trouble again and again in the future.

"Wait, remember this! In addition to civil and military officials, the rules of mourning also apply to the royal family. Starting from me, all members of the royal family will abolish the mourning rules and replace them with the five mourning clothes." However, customs are still very stubborn, and Hong Tao didn't want to have a one-size-fits-all approach, so he thought of a compromise to ease the conflict.

In later generations, people often mention the five mourning mournings, such as who is out of the five mourning mournings, to indicate the blood relationship and the closeness of relatives. Hong Tao always thought that this word was similar to exterminating several clans and eighteen generations of ancestors, until he traveled to the Ming Dynasty and saw the true meaning from the classics of the Ministry of Rites.

The Five Types of Mourning Clothes are actually a set of regulations for funeral clothing, which use the type of linen and time of wearing mourning clothes to reflect the relationship with the deceased, and can also be used to divide levels and classes.

There is a saying that learning is not afraid of too much, and this is just the case. If a relative has passed away, you can commemorate him, but there is no need to travel across mountains and rivers, abandon your work, and go back to live there for more than two years. You can just wear mourning clothes instead.

(End of this chapter)