In the fifth year of Xuande, a Zhixian county in Shanxi used torture, killed two members of the family, and tried to prevent the victim's family from being charged, and was finally investigated by the inspector of the imperial history, heard about the emperor, and escorted to Beijing for interrogation. According to the provisions of the Great Ming Law: "Whoever kills three people in a family who is not guilty of death, and who dismemberes others, shall be put to death without delay, his property shall be discharged to the deceased's home, and his wife shall be exiled for 2,000 li." The murder of Cai Zhi County was not a capital offense, but according to the provisions of the "Great Ming Law": "If Lian Ping is in an official because of official affairs, the matter must be questioned, and the sinner has stolen evidence to prove that he understands, does not accept the confession, clearly establishes a document, tortures according to law, and encounters the person who has died, do not matter." "The county of Caizhi carried out torture in public court, causing the victim's death, which can also be regarded as torture according to law, and the encounter, that is, accidental death, should not bear criminal responsibility." After the trial by the Law Department, the two deliberations were brought to the emperor's ruling.
Emperor Xuande loved fighting crickets and was known as the "Son of Heaven", but he was the number one Ming monarch in the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Xuande believed that as the parent of the people, he dared to kill people with private intentions, which was a thief who killed the people, and strongly advocated that the county be brought to justice. How does Caichi use torture? In the process of invoking the law, why do the legal divisions have two opinions? How did Emperor Xuande think that Caizhi County was a thief who killed the people? And from the history of the case.
The Tang Dynasty poet Du Xunhe's poem "Widow in the Mountain" has clouds: "Ren is deeper in the mountains, and there should be no plan to avoid conquest." "Successive rulers requisitioned the country's human resources, which was called conscription. At that time, men served the country for 20-30 days a year without pay, sometimes more. The age of service is generally set at 20-60 years old, sometimes 23-56 years old, and the maximum is extended to 12-65 years old. In the Ming Dynasty, widows, widows, the old and young were not exempt from conscription, and idle households were also ordered to pay money to avoid conscription, until after Jiajing implemented the "one whip law", the people's conscription was converted into money or kind, and unpaid conscription also became paid labor.
During the Xuande period, the reform of conscription had not yet been carried out, and the people had to serve the official government, and how to send conscription, the official government held the initiative. For example, if the official government does not look good at you, you are from Jiangnan, and you are allowed to go to Gansu to build the Great Wall, and the official government does not give travel fees or food, and it takes half a year to travel and go round, plus service, you can't do anything in this year. If the government sees you well, let you serve locally, work during the day, and go home at night, which can not only save a lot of entanglements, but also save a lot of time. Of course, whether it is pleasing to the eye or not depends on how much you honor it.
But it is said that Zhaocheng County, Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi, Huoyue in Pingzhong Town in the east, Luoyun Pearl in the west, Yuyue Yuvein in the north, verdant and fertile fields in the south, and the Fenhe River runs through it, and there were eight scenes at that time: Huofeng Stacked Cui, Fenshui Tulan, Walling Gubai, Guangsheng Liuquan, Funiu Tutai, Chufoshi Gorge, Jianzi Ancient City, and Yurang Broken Bridge. From Nuwa in the legendary era to Zhao Jianzi, the ancestor of the Zhao State in the Spring and Autumn Period, the righteous Yurang shows the historical heritage of the county. In the fourth year of Xuande, Zhang Bing of Zhixian took office, because he was later killed in a crime, and his name was not even included in the local chronicles, so his origin and place of origin are not known.
After Zhang Zhixian took office, it was inevitable that he would have to distribute conscription, which was also a great opportunity for him to accumulate wealth. There are big differences in the imperial court, there are differences in the province, and there are small differences in the county. If the people want to avoid the great errand of the imperial court, they have to pay silver to buy free, generally to give three or four taels of silver, if the big errand to build the Great Wall, repair the mausoleum, build the embankment, these three or four taels of silver are still worth it, after all, this time and time and effort are huge, time-consuming and laborious. Three or four taels of silver can be said to be nothing to some rich households, but it is a great burden for poor families.
According to the regulations of the imperial court, those who have family difficulties and family changes can apply for exemption from the mission. Xu Yu, a resident of this county, because there is a sick mother of 70 years old, and there is a child under the age of one to breastfeed, and his life is more difficult, so he applied to the county for exemption from the big errand in the name of mother, old and child. The system belongs to the system, and the system needs people to implement it. The imperial court stipulated that those who were really difficult in their families could be exempted from sending big errands, but they also stipulated that they would pay money to buy exemptions, and how to decide, or the official government had the final say. Xu Yu's application was rejected by Zhang Zhixian, and he was still sent as a big errand. Xu Yu thought that Zhang Zhixian was deliberately biased in favor of the rich and unfair distribution of conscription, so he went to the county to shout injustice. Zhang Zhixian thought that Xu Yu was a miscreant, and ordered the servants to drive him out of the county, and threatened: "If you shout in the county again, you will be punished according to the roaring court!" "Xu Yu is still not convinced, thinking that Zhang Zhixian is unreasonable, since the county is unreasonable, there will always be reasonableness in the world, what is it that you know the county!" Xu Yu decided to go to Pingyang Mansion to complain, if Pingyang Mansion was unreasonable, he would go to the capital to find the emperor, and he would not believe that there was no reasonable place in the world.
If Xu Yu quietly went to Pingyang Mansion to complain, Zhang Zhixian would not be able to help him, but Xu Yu shouted outside the county, hoping to let the people of the whole county know, which attracted the attention of Zhang Zhixian. Judging from what Xu Yu did, he was just bluffing, hoping to spare Zhang Zhixian from his big errand, and did not want to go to Pingyang Prefecture or even the capital to complain. It is necessary to know that litigation is risky, according to the provisions of the "Great Ming Law": "If you exceed the lawsuit, go to the superior to complain, and flog fifty." "Whether your complaint is true or not, as long as you cross the lawsuit of this administration, you will be punished with fifty, and if you go to the capital to file a complaint, you will be punished with a hundred rods. In addition, the lawsuit also has to be charged, if the lawsuit is won, the cost is paid by the defendant, if the battle cannot be won, the plaintiff must pay, and the cost in the process of litigation must be paid by the plaintiff in advance.
In Xu Yu's case, going to Pingyang Prefecture to complain was a bluff, but in Zhang Zhixian's opinion, this Diao Min really had the possibility of breaking the net, so he ordered the servants to take Xu Yu to the lobby to ask for guilt. Xu Yu was reasonable, my mother and son were young, so they should be exempted from the big errand, so they were not afraid, and they still chattered, which angered Zhang Zhixian, and drank Ling Soap to charge Xu Yu for twenty big boards. The ancient "Official Proverbs" all said that the official should refrain from the arbitrary use of punishment, because if the victim did not have money to give the execution soap, the official ordered the execution, and the soap subordinates often did not care about the life and death of the person, and beat them severely at the buttocks and legs, the light ones crippled the prisoners, and the heaviest ones were immediately killed under the cane. According to the law, even if the encounter leads to death, there is no criminal liability. Xu Yu didn't even want to pay for the big errand, of course, he wouldn't give money to the soap members, so it's no wonder that the soap affiliates were poisonous.
At the beginning of a few boards, Xu Yu could still shout, and gradually it was silent. According to the convention, if there is blood when the execution is used, the execution is automatically stopped, which is called "stopping at the sight of blood". The problem is that these soaps have practiced the kung fu of beating people, and the plates are all internal injuries, that is, they do not bleed, and the county master is not good to shout to stop, after all, it is the number of beatings determined by himself. After the twenty plates were beaten, Xu Yu was already motionless, and Soap put his hand on Xu Yu's nostrils, and seeing that he was not breathing, he prayed to Yun: "The prisoner is not tolerant of the torture rod, and he is dead." "Until now, Zhang Zhixian can only make a mistake, let the soap subordinate carry Xu Yu's body out, hand it over to Xu Yu's relatives for burial, and pay ten taels of silver from the county treasury, which is regarded as the burial fee given by the official.
A good living person was actually killed by the county grandfather, how can Xu Yu's wife accept this reality. Xu's wife was also uneasy to bury her husband, so she set up a table in the courtyard, put the coffin in the courtyard, dressed herself in heavy filial piety, and after crying in front of the coffin, she rushed to Pingyang Prefecture, asking the prefect to vindicate her husband. Xu's wife has long been told Zhang Zhixian about what she did, and if she is allowed to sue the prefectural office, Zhang Zhixian will not escape the crime of indiscriminate punishment. If Xu Yu is a robber, or because of a human life case, it is a capital crime, according to the rule, torture can be carried out, and now Xu Yu is only for a detailed reason, he will be tortured, obviously it is a violation of the law, even if it is tortured according to the law, the encounter leads to death, you can not be investigated for criminal responsibility, but if you violate the law and use the punishment, it is inevitable to be dismissed, this is a major event related to her political life, how can a peasant woman be ruined? Zhang Zhixian sent his henchmen to chase him on horseback and take Xu's wife to the county office.
Zhang Zhixian first said to Xu's wife: "Your husband is vexatious, and this official has no choice but to punish him, who knows that his body is so fragile that he was killed in just twenty boards." This official also thinks that he is pitiful, didn't he allocate ten taels of silver for you to bury him? Why don't you bury your husband, but go to Fucheng to file a complaint? Do not think that this official is afraid that you will sue you, but you must know that the more you prosecute guilt, the more you come to the palace, you will be beaten for fifty plates, look at your weak body, how can you endure fifty plates? I am afraid that you will also die in Huangquan, at that time, not only will your husband be unburied, but you will also be thrown into the mountains, wouldn't it be miserable! This official advises you, or bury your husband and live a good life! ”
Ten taels of silver for an official can buy a life, how can Xu's wife be willing to obey, so while scolding Zhang Zhixian for being shameless, he still insists on going to control. Zhang Zhixian saw that the soft one could not work, so he came to the hard one and wanted to torture Xu's wife. Previously, let Soap Zhi hit Xu Yu's twenty big boards and beat Xu Yu to death, if he hit Xu Wife again, I am afraid that it would also be fatal, Zhang Zhixian did not dare to let Soap Zhi hit the board again, so he let Soap Zhi light a brazier, burn the soldering iron red, and brand Xu Wife's body. As everyone knows, people can die under the rod, and they can also die under the soldering iron. Xu's wife is in pain of losing her husband; second, there is a raspberry grievance; The third is a tiring day, the water rice has not beaten teeth, and the body is already extremely weak. Therefore, the soldering iron added to the body, and the fire attacked the heart, and he actually whimpered.
Because of a bad thing, Zhang Zhixian was killed twice, although he was a little overwhelmed in his conscience, but thinking of his official position, he couldn't care about his conscience. In Zhang Zhixian's heart, the people's life is small, and the official fortune is big, so after being killed two times in a row, he did not consciously move. The so-called conscious action is self-reporting, if it is because of official affairs, it can be exempted, if it is because of private affairs, it can also be reduced, but after self-reporting, impunity is not exempt from crime, reduction is not reduced, etc., it is not for the person who self-reported can decide, so under normal circumstances, if officials encounter things, most of them are willing to conceal them, rather than consciously raising them. In addition to ordering the officials and others of the county not to spread rumors, Zhang Zhixian also brought the chief of Xu Yu's village and asked him to bury Xu Yu and his wife, and restrained the people in Benli not to discuss casually.
Of course, it is possible to exercise high pressure and clamp down on speech, but the mouth of the people is more than the river, and the water silts up to a certain extent, and once it is broken, it will be out of control, not to mention that the jurisdiction of a knowing county is limited, and there are many superiors in the county. Although Zhixian can suppress the people, it cannot prevent the boss from thoroughly investigating, not to mention that the boss often has eyes and ears in various places. Zhang Zhixian's actions were visited by the Shanxi patrol, and Zhang Zhixian was immediately impeached. When Emperor Xuande learned of this, he immediately sent an edict to the Shanxi inspector and quickly escorted Zhang Zhixian to the Criminal Department for interrogation.
In full view of everyone, the two people were killed by torture, the evidence of the crime is obvious, and the facts are clear, but there is ambiguity in how to formulate the crime. According to the "Killing a Family of Three" stipulations in the "Great Ming Law", killing three people who are not capital crimes in a family should be executed with delay, and now killing two people who are not capital crimes should also be beheading. However, according to the provisions of the "Great Ming Law", Zhang Zhixian also used punishment in accordance with the law, and did not intend to kill the person, which should be regarded as an encounter to death, and should be exempted from criminal responsibility according to the law. However, according to the "Great Ming Law", "the punishment is inferior to the law": "Whoever decides that the lawsuit is inferior to the law, shall be flogged for forty; Therefore, the deceased, one hundred rods, were all buried with silver and eleven taels. Although most officials in the Criminal Department preferred to "kill three members of a family" and behead Zhang Zhixian, there were also objections and had to ask the emperor for a ruling.
Emperor Xuande instructed after the performance: "The parents of the county order people, when they love the people like sons, now they kill a family and two with private intentions, they are also thieves." Hurting people and livestock for no reason, eating people and melons and fruits, still guilty, let alone killing! Cut like a law. "That is to say, as a Zhixian and the parent official of the people, he should love the people as a son, and now Zhang Zhixian actually killed a family and two people with his own selfish intentions, which is a thief who kills the people."
You must know that the Great Ming Law stipulates that "every horse, ox, and dog who touches and kicks and bites, and the mark is tied to the law", its owner shall be punished. The "Great Ming Law" stipulates: "Anyone who eats melons and fruits in the countryside of others is sitting on stolen goods." "If you eat some melons and fruits from others, and the animals you raise hurt people, they should be punished according to the law, let alone murder, so Zhang Zhixian should be beheaded according to the law." Emperor Xuande's holy decree made it very clear that thieves who harm the people to kill people with private intentions cannot be easily forgiven, since there are relevant regulations, it should be that those who kill more than three people should be executed with delay, those who kill two people should be executed, and those who killed one person should be hanged, this is originally nothing controversial, why do officials of the Criminal Department want to complicate the law? All dissenting officials of the Criminal Department were handed over to the Ministry for a fine of three months. Under these circumstances, the Criminal Department had no choice but to comply with the order and escort Zhang Zhixian to Xi City to be beheaded, and the dissenting officials were fined.
Some people will say: Although Zhang Zhixian ordered the use of torture, causing the death of two members of the family, but he ordered the use of torture, did not want to put the party to death, is it that those soap subordinates are too dark, are the soap subordinates not responsible? Of course, the soap subordinates have to take responsibility. According to the provisions of the Great Ming Law: "Those who walk the rod shall be reduced by one degree" and "Those who obey their hands shall be reduced by one degree, and the cause of the crime shall be combined." Now that Zhang Zhixian has been sentenced to beheading, the soap subordinates are both the people who walk the cane and the people who listen to the subordinates, and they should be reduced by one degree according to the law, and they themselves are hanged, not to mention that the people who listen to the subordinates have to sit for the crime, just because they did not give money and put black hands, they must add the same sentence, and they can be beheaded. The reason for the crime should be distinguished between the first subordinate, the first offender plus and the accessory not equal. Even so, these soap subordinates cannot escape death, the chopping of the beheading, the stranglement of the hanging. Ancient Chinese justice, under normal circumstances, was one life and one death, but on the issue of officials corrupting the law, they did not follow this principle, no matter how many lives you caused, as long as it was greed and violated the law, no matter how many officials involved in the case, they would be executed.
The "Great Ming Law" formulated under Zhu Yuanzhang's personal supervision cannot be said to be perfect, and Zhu Yuanzhang, because of his own life experience, is very unfriendly to bureaucrats and extremely strict. During Zhu's reign, countless officials were killed for corruption. Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that his descendants would not have their own experience of tasting the sufferings of the people, so he ordered his descendants to keep it and never change it, and if the ministers discussed the change a little, they would sit on the crime of changing the ancestral system, and they could blame the Nine Tribes.
Emperor Xuande had the style of being an ancestor, and he believed: "Grace is indiscriminate, and the people are not expensive and have nothing to persuade; If the punishment is indiscriminate, the people will be wronged and overwhelmed; Because they don't know how to be good and have the heart to leave. "Excessive rewarding and abuse of punishment will lose the hearts of the people, and the abuse of grace will make it difficult for the people to persuade them to be good, and the abuse of punishment will make the people have grievances and have no way to plead, and they will not know what to do, and in the end the people will not know the benefits of good, and in the end they will fall apart and threaten the rule of the dynasty." It is precisely for this reason that Emperor Xuande abhorred the indiscriminate killing of local officials, and here he called Zhang Zhixian a "thief of the people" and could never show mercy outside the law. History says that Emperor Xuande did not spare anyone who knew that there were local officials who cruelly abused the people, and either executed them according to the law, or added them to be beheaded and displayed to the public, or even executed them late, which shows that Emperor Xuande hated the cool officials.
The author of this article: Wen Ding, "This is war" joined the author, without the permission of the author himself and "this is war", it shall not be reproduced, and violators will be investigated for legal responsibility.
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