Official corruption was an unavoidable problem in all dynasties, and the Song Dynasty was no exception, although they had adopted a policy of "high salaries and clean government", hoping to positively guide officials to be honest from the moral and income levels, but they must also be deterred from the law and system - only in this way can the two-pronged approach be most effective.
Today, the Red Dust King will briefly talk about what means the Song Dynasty had in this regard, and how effective it was.
Punishment of corrupt officials
The Punishment of Corrupt Officials in the Song Dynasty was divided into three dimensions from heavy to light - punishment (Constitution), administrative (deprivation of political rights), and economic punishment (fines).
punishment
This is the heaviest punishment, the law of the Song Dynasty is also five levels of "flogging and scepters dying" at a large level, in the early Song Dynasty, due to the corruption of the five generations of the Shangcheng - "nothing in the world, no money can do it", so in the law is also very important, often severe punishment.
According to the "History of Song", during the seventeen years of the reign of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, about 4,000 officials were executed, and a considerable proportion of them were because of corruption.
For example, in the third year of Jianlong, "Wang Xun, the river affairs bureau chief, and four other people sat with chaff and miscellaneous military food, and discs in the city", and in December of the seventh year of Kaibao, Zuo Shiyi Liu Qi was bribed and disgraced and equipped with Shamen Island.
At that time, Shamen Island was called an island of death, and because the money sent down by the imperial court on the island was not enough to feed so many prisoners, the owner of the island even directly threw the "excess" prisoners into the sea to drown, and basically none of the prisoners who were assigned there could survive!
However, in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Zhezong, there were about 260 executioners a year, but only 25 of them were executed - "the proportion of living is nine points", and in the Southern Song Dynasty, the proportion was even more exaggerated, so it can be clearly seen that the deterrent power of the Song Dynasty's laws on corrupt officials is gradually weakening.
Administrative penalties
In the later period, the punishment of officials in the Song Dynasty gradually became lighter, often from punishment to administrative punishment, generally there are several ways such as removal, suspension, substitution, substitution, dismissal, dismissal, demotion, and dismissal.
(1) Delisting:
In short, the answer is to remove the people from their posts and eliminate their official status, which is already the heaviest punishment in addition to the punishment, such as the provisions of the Song Penal System.
"Song Punishment System": "All those who have been removed from the name, the officials and lords have been removed, and the class service is from the true color." Six years later, according to the Law of Origin. ”
In addition, the "Qingyuan Articles and Matters" also introduces:
"Qingyuan Articles of Law and Matters": "All those who have been removed from their names have been destroyed since they were re-awarded."
The "History of Song" once recorded that in the second year of Shaoxing (1132), "Zuo Dynasty Fenglang Sun Zhi sat before he knew that Lin'an Province was dirty, loaned to death, removed from his name, and was organized and managed by Xiangzhou, which belonged to this punishment."
(2) Stop
Because the official positions of the Song Dynasty were very complicated, they were divided into two types: rank and dispatch, rank representing your rank and income, and dispatching is the actual position and authority of you.
Instead, he was suspended, his current official position was revoked, and only the rank officials were retained. Compared with delisting, the suspension is relatively light, and the delisting may not be removed, and the delisting must be stopped.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong, The Huainan transport envoy Lang Zhongwei Jian was punished by the special order for "buying a property in the ministry and having left over the number of criminals such as Tian Xiedou".
(3) Posthumous officials
Also known as demotion, it is a punishment for lowering the rank of an official, that is, a demotion, which is extremely common, such as those who make mistakes in the imperial court and are often demoted to the local level.
"Demotion" refers to the demotion of the rank of the clergy officer, or from a pro-people official to a supervisory official, or from a clerk to a tim cha li affairs officer and a palace official.
(4) Substitution, substitution, and dismissal
All three are dismissals of incumbents, with penalties lighter than suspensions, and are mainly applicable to criminal penalties for local officials.
In May of the third year (1080) of Emperor Yuanfeng of Shenzong, "Zhilu Prefecture, Gongbu Langzhong Han Zongdao, Han Fa dispatched Qian Zhou, and Crown Prince Zhongyun Liu Zai each fined ten pounds of copper, and chu prefecture tax inspector, and sent to replace." Before sitting in Huainan to transfer to the L Division, to Chuzhou City Yiwu crossbow people to pay taxes cotton silk, violation of the edict is not OK, and Xu tax violation of the city Yi Zhumu and so on. ”
Financial penalties
This is easy to understand, as the name suggests, it is a fine - but this is the most welcome punishment for officials, because as long as the official position is not affected, even if the money is gone, there is still a chance to earn, but if the official position is gone, it is really nothing.
Of course, there are also some officials who play too much with fire, embezzle too much, or have been punished with heavier punishments, and finally changed to fines by "amnesty", and the punishment for these officials is the confiscation of all property.
However, most of them are only fined a sum of money or a certain period of time, which is also the most common punishment method in the Song Dynasty, so the regulations in this regard are very meticulous and strict.
For example, the penalty Dai is divided into January Dai, February Dai and One Season Dai; and the amount of the penalty Dai varies according to the different grades: one product, eight consecutive; Two products, six consecutive five hundred texts; Three products, five consecutive; Four products, three consecutive five hundred texts; Five products, three consecutive; Six products, two consecutive; Seven pins, consistently seven hundred texts; Eight products, consistently three hundred texts; Nine products, consistently fifty texts.
Although the law is strict, the actual effect is not satisfactory
Above, we simply listed the punishment of corrupt officials in the Song Dynasty Law, which fully reflects the characteristics of the Song Law as "rigorous and meticulous" and even "trivial", but what is the actual effect of such a meticulous law?
The Red Dust King can only be described in four words - not satisfactory.
And this is shown in a very obvious downward curve.
In the early days of the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the severe crackdown on corrupt officials by Song Taizu and Song Taizong, and even included in the ranks of unforgivated crimes such as rebellion, which were not pardoned, the rule of officials at that time was greatly improved compared with the greed that had prevailed in the past five generations.
However, with the development of the economy and the relaxation of the law, corrupt officials have resurged, for example, during the reign of Emperor Renzong, Bao Zheng once lamented: "Greedy tyranny, there are six or seven out of ten", although the imperial court has such a capable official, but it is also a cup of water.
As for the Huizong period at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the rule of officials was completely rotten, and when Cai Jing and other "six thieves" were in power, some people estimated that "honest officials eleven, greedy officials nineteen", this point friends who have read "Water Margin" are very impressed, from the Taishi Cai Jing to a small local dispatch, are greedy, crazy squeezing of the people.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was even worse, when the country was only half of the country, but the lives of officials were even more impoverished and extravagant, where did this money come from? Naturally, there is only greed and miscarriage.
This is also the second emperor Xiaozong once vigorously ruled for a period of time, but as soon as Xiaozong died, he completely returned to the past, and the Song Dynasty, the former giant, also gradually went to extinction.
Red Dust Jun said
In fact, the Song Dynasty could not find too many problems in formulating the law itself, and by the standards of the feudal dynasty, it was not an exaggeration to say that it had reached its peak.
However, in the process of implementing these laws, they encountered many problems, on the one hand, the ruler's benevolent government, but it was too late, resulting in officials being unscrupulous; on the other hand, because the income of officials was uneven, the income of low-level officials was actually very low, and it was natural to be greedy.
Coupled with the suppression of the surrounding ethnic minorities that began in the late Northern Song Dynasty, resulting in the full text of national morale, the emperor bowing his knees, and officials vying to become traitors, the natural law is completely useless.
And this also tells us that a perfect judicial system must have two parts: "making laws" and "enforcing laws", the two complement each other and are indispensable, while the Song Dynasty only paid attention to the former, but lacked the latter, so it is not surprising that this situation occurred.
bibliography:
"Song Penal Unification"
History of the Song Dynasty
《Qingyuan Articles of Law》