History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
The old saying that a promise is a thousand gold is true, and even this description is too modest, because the ancients had the cognition and behavior of one promise and one life. What I want to talk about today is such a firmness that regards commitment as life, moves forward towards death, and thus practices his "gentleman's word".
Releasing 390 death row inmates, one by one, returned to die, and the so-called trust is a "death covenant"
This incident occurred in the Tang Dynasty, and when you open the Zizhi Tongjian, you can see such a passage: "Xin Wei, the emperor's relatives are prisoners, see the deceased, Min Zhi, even if he returns home, he will die in the autumn." Still the death row inmates of the world, all of them are dispatched, so that they can come to the Capital Division. All the three hundred and ninety death row prisoners in the world in the past year, and no one supervised, all of them went to court as scheduled, and none of them died; all of them were forgiven. ”
What does this mean? In fact, it is a story after Tang Taizong Li Shimin first ascended to the great treasure. In 632, in the process of investigating the trial documents, Li Shimin saw that the prisoners were extremely emaciated, and he could not help but feel compassion.
At that time, there were only 30 death row prisoners who really needed the emperor to personally try them. After thinking about it, Li Shimin issued an order: "Let them all go home, reunite with their families for a year, and come back to the capital in the autumn of the next year to receive punishment." ”
Not only that, Li Shimin issued another pardon order: All death row inmates should go home, and after a year of reunion with their families, they would go to Beijing to die next fall.
This was definitely something that had never happened before, and it turned out that it never happened before. The death row inmates happily released from prison, like fish released into the sea, disappeared into the capital one by one.
A whole 390 people, actually let go home like this, this emperor is not a brain problem, right? Almost everyone in the capital is looking forward to the "good drama" next autumn, and they also want to see which fool will come back to die.
But these people were a little disappointed, because the next autumn, at the stipulated time, the death row inmates who had run away returned one by one. In the end, there was only one less person!
For this reason, the emperor was not in a hurry, and the condemned prisoners were in a hurry: who was so untrustworthy, he was a complete scum, and if I had the opportunity to meet him, I would have to kill him with my own hands. Just when the death row inmates cursed, the prison guards were not idle, and they had already found out the people who had not come: Xu Fulin, who lived in Gyeonggi Fufeng.
The jailer hurriedly reported to Li Shimin, but the people were not in a hurry, but they were as stable as Taishan: don't worry, wait for him again. As a result, within a short time, Xu Fulin actually arrived in an ox cart. It turned out that people did not want to break the appointment, they were really too sick to walk, so they still insisted on rushing to the execution site with illness.
Look, even if you die, you have to rush to the execution ground to die, and this spirit is enough to make people sigh. Li Shimin is really a susceptible person, and when he sees such a situation, he is once again moved. On the spot, Li Shimin issued a pardon order: all 390 death row inmates are released, and you all go home.
Surprised? Surprised? Not to mention the death row prisoners, that is, watching the lively people, that is, the Manchu Dynasty's ministers of culture and military affairs, there is no one who is not amazed: the real rule of the gentleman, the real covenant of the gentleman.
Why did Li Shimin forgive them? Why didn't these death row inmates flee and voluntarily return to die?
Seeing this, people should be curious: Why did Li Shimin do such a thing? He is not afraid that the death row inmates will not come back? And why did those death row inmates have the opportunity to flee, but they had to return with illness to die?
Speaking of which, this is psychology. The reason why Li Shimin did this is absolutely heroic, this is not to put gold on his face, just think, how did Li Shimin's throne come about? The brother forced the father to rob him. This is too small for the simple people.
This external image is also like a stem in Li Shimin's own heart, who does not want to fall into a good reputation? Obviously, he can be an emperor smoothly, and he obviously has the ability to become a good emperor, but he will eventually become a murderous villain, which is too heart-blocking.
It is precisely in order to revise his own image in the people and win people's hearts and minds that Li Shimin had to come up with a trick of "military action and dangerous moves". The result? As soon as this matter came out, Li Shimin immediately changed from an untrustworthy villain to a good emperor who ruled and loved the people. Isn't it effective?
Some people say that the people are not stupid, and people don't know that he is hyping? So what? Even if the people knew that the emperor was deliberately setting up his own image, deliberately currying favor with them. But there is nothing wrong with this, it shows that there are people in the heart, and there are people in the world.
As for Li Shimin's fear of not being afraid of the death row inmates fleeing, there is really no need to worry about this. If the emperor wants to arrest you, it is useless to flee to the edge of the sky, because the sky is also the world of the old Li family.
In fact, it is precisely because of this that the condemned prisoners who have been released home are not willing to flee. Of course, the most important thing is that the ancients were simple and faithful to the personality. The emperor of the people thought so much for you, so pity the people, and sent you who had committed a capital crime directly home to recuperate for a year and share the joy of reunion with your family. How do you mean to escape? Do you want to run away from your family, or can you still hang out in the local area?
Of course, Li Shimin's move was very clever, that is, the corners and corners were blocked, and if he let him see for himself, it would not be dangerous at all. It can only be said that he gambled a lot, and his gamblers were these death row inmates, and he won a Grand Slam.
Since this incident, Li Shimin has not only become a good emperor who loves the people with benevolence, but also let the ministers see one thing clearly: the power of the state to live and kill is in the hands of one person, I said that those who can live can live, and those who say cannot live, then they will certainly not live.
It was at the beginning of this incident that the Tang Dynasty began a historical story: the rule of Zhenguan. The state implemented the equalization system, the three provinces and six ministries system, and the law was revised, the bureaucracy was improved, and the enlistment was greatly reduced. Li Shimin's spring finally came: the country was stable, the population grew, and the economy rose.
Many people who want to read this story will doubt its authenticity. But this is the case, which is clearly recorded in the historical material "Zizhi Tongjian", and it has also become a "unique" game of history that has not seen the ancients before and those who have not seen the comers. Li Shimin's rule over the people is really the highest master among the masters.