Because the ancient system is not so perfect, the government is actually very personalized. The image of the government, as well as the working style and efficiency of the government’s internal personnel, mostly depend on the boss of the government.
From the series of events that happened just now, it can be basically confirmed that the owner of this government is definitely a diligent and strict official.
Otherwise, with Zhang Fei’s image and attitude, he might be driven away before he took out the pleading paper, not to mention that the clerk would find Liu Hai as soon as possible, and accept him. status paper.
You must know that today’s government does not serve the people, but serves the emperor, and it is more about ruling the people. This is a completely different concept.
The facts are indeed true. Xu Zun, the magistrate of Dengzhou, has always been fair and strict, honest and upright, and very diligent. He has already served in Dali Temple, and he is a Beijing official. He was sent to Dengzhou as the magistrate the year before last. .
Because the Tang Dynasty was chaotic due to the local governors, the Northern Song Dynasty was very concerned about the local rule.
What Zhizhou and County Zhi mean is “temporary supervisor”. After another year, he will have to return to Beijing to take up his post. This arrangement will prevent the formation of an intricate network of forces at the local level, which is tantamount to changing the direction and strengthening the centralization of power.
Xu Zun, who had just approved the release of Zhang San’s official document, did not give himself a little vacation. At this time, he was sitting at the table, carefully reviewing the confession of Ayun’s case.
As for Xu Yuan, who was standing next to him, his face was full of worry.
As far as the facts of the case are concerned, this case is nothing more than a very simple murder case. It took less than a day for Ayun to plead guilty to the crime, so the county captain of Penglai County quickly closed the case.
But it has been delayed for several months.
It turned out that the case involved human life, and the sentence was a crime of treason, one of the four evils, which generally refers to murdering a close relative, and murdering a husband is naturally one of them.
According to the law, Penglai County does not have the right to make a final judgment, because according to the legal system of the Song Dynasty, it will be handed over to Dali Temple, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Trial Court for review before giving the final judgment.
Dali Temple and the Ministry of Criminal Justice looked at the case and approved it without any doubts.
But when the judgment of this case fell into Xu Zun’s hands, Xu Zun thought the judgment was unfair.
Because Ayun’s mother passed away a year ago, that is to say, Ayun was still in the period of filial piety, so according to the laws of the Song Dynasty, during the filial piety period, marriage is not allowed.
Xu Zun took this as an excuse and filed a defense to Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment.
For the first time, Dali Temple ignored it and continued to uphold the original sentence.
Although there is such a law, there are etiquette laws among the people. In the folk, during the mourning period, it is only said that weddings will not be held, but marriage proposals and recruitment (lower employment) are all possible.
According to the law, as long as the man has paid the levy, the two are husband and wife.
Xu Zun made another defense. This time, he even criticized Dali Temple and the Ministry of Criminal Justice. As officials, we should obey the law, not the unwritten rules of the people. This is clearly stipulated by the law. You guys As a law enforcement officer, you must know the law and break the law.
This time, the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Criminal Justice finally gave up the crime of treason, convicted Ayun of the crime of murder and injured him, and hanged him according to the law.
However, Xu Zun only ordered the release of Zhang Fei’s official documents, but did not pass the final judgment of Dali Temple. He obviously still has doubts about this.
Xu Yuan, who has been following him, felt that Xu Zun was a bit too much, so he advised: “Now Dali Temple has taken a step back, why don’t Zhizhou accept it if it doesn’t get better.”
Xu Zun frowned and said: “Although the verdict of Dali Temple did not mention the ten heinous crimes, it still sentenced Ayun to murder and was injured, and he was hanged. This is still a death sentence. .”
Xu Yuan thought it was funny, and said: “But there is no problem with this charge. A Yun has the intention of murder, but he failed. The murder has already hurt.”
Xu Zun asked with a smile: “When I discussed the ten heinous crimes with you, how did you say it?”
Xu Yuan pondered for a while, and said: “At that time, the lower official said that although the law does not allow marriage during the mourning period, the folks also have etiquette to follow. They just don’t hold weddings, but they don’t object to marriage proposals and collections. Nazheng, the two should be husband and wife, so Ayun’s murder of Wei Ada is the murder of his own husband, which is a heinous crime.”
Xu Zundao: “That’s right! At that time you said that it was impossible to absolve the ten evils, but now Dali Temple has not mentioned the ten evils. It was convincing, so the sentence was changed to murder. After all, if I hadn’t appealed at that time, wouldn’t it have become an unjust case.”
Xu Yuan was speechless for a while, this heinous crime and murder have been wounded, both are death anyway, the difference is that murdering a husband is punishable by beheading, while murder is wounded and sentenced to hang.
Is there a big difference?
Is it wrong?
He guessed that Dali Temple must be too lazy to argue with Xu Zun. After all, this guy is a habitual offender, so he took a step back.
Xu Zun glanced at Xu Yuan and saw that he was still dissatisfied, so he said earnestly: “You have to remember one thing, the law can put a person to death or keep him alive. It is also irreversible, so we must try every means to give the prisoner a chance to live, so that we can try our best to avoid unjust, false and wrongful convictions.”
Xu Yuan looked at his boss helplessly, obviously, he did not accept Xu Zun’s idea.
Just at this time, Mu Ke Liu Hai, who was specialized in delivering pleading papers, suddenly appeared in front of the door.
“Report to Zhizhou, just now someone broke into the Yamen to file a complaint.”
He used “break” to describe it. It can be seen that he was very upset with Zhang San, because breaking into the yamen was already breaking the law, and he could be punished with a stick as a warning.
However, Xu Zun thought that this is not a small case because he broke into the yamen to sue, so he immediately asked, “Do you have a pleading paper?”
“Yes. But!”
Liu Hai hesitated a little.
Xu Zun immediately asked: “But what?”
Liu Haidao: “But but!”
Seeing his hesitation, Xu Zun said impatiently: “You present the pleadings.”
“Yes.”
Liu Hai didn’t dare to say much, so he quickly presented the pleadings.
Xu Zun took it, and when he saw half of it, he couldn’t help showing surprise. He came to sue me for his feelings, and he was even more curious in his heart. He looked directly at the place where the signature was signed, and immediately asked in surprise: “It’s him?” /
Seeing Xu Zun’s strange expression, Xu Yuan asked curiously, “Who made the complaint?”
Xu Zun smiled wryly and said, “It’s Zhang San who was released just now.”
“Zhang San?”
Xu Yuan was surprised and said, “Is there still something hidden in this case?”
Xu Zun said with a smile: “It’s not because of this case, no, it has something to do with it.”
Xu Yuan didn’t understand very well, and asked again: “I don’t know who he is suing?”
Xu Zun couldn’t laugh or cry: “It’s my official.”
“!”
This is really rare, Xu Zun is a little excited, he has never been sued in his life.
The sense of anticipation is immediately full.
A quarter of an hour later.
Zhang Fei was escorted to the court, without the “mighty” expected, nor did he say that the Yacha lined up and rode sticks.
That Xu Zun didn’t even wear official uniforms, he just sat in the courtroom in ordinary uniforms. Besides, there were Xu Yuan, the chief bookkeeper, a knife and pen official in charge of records, and two burly yamen Difference.
Bang!
“Who is there?”
Xu Zun patted the gavel and shouted.
Although he is not wearing an official uniform, his aura remains the same.
However, Zhang Fei replied neither humble nor overbearing: “Xiaomin Zhang San has met Zhizhou.”
Xu Zun immediately shouted: “Bold Zhang San, how dare you slander me.”
Zhang Fei replied: “Everyone in Dengzhou knows it well. Zhizhou knows every detail, is clean and upright, and how dare the common people slander Zhizhou.”
You have said all these good and ugly things, so what do you want to do? Seeing that Zhang San was so cowardly, Xu Zun felt uneasy for a while, so he simply asked: “Then tell me how I feed off the common people. If there is even half a lie, I will never forgive you lightly.”
Zhang Fei immediately asked: “Dare to ask Zhizhou, can you now prove that Xiaomin has nothing to do with the Ayun case, but is innocent.”
Xu Zundao: “If it weren’t for that, how could you stand here? We have already investigated this matter, and you really have nothing to do with this case.”
Zhang Fei said: “It means that Xiaomin has been in prison for three months for no reason.”
Oh, that’s why he came here. On the contrary, Xu Zun’s expression softened a little, and he said: “That’s not my fault, who told you that you didn’t match your words that day, you couldn’t even say your own name, and there were witnesses who saw you and Ah Yun hugs and hugs, shouldn’t I be suspicious?”
Zhang Fei nodded and said: “As far as Xiaomin’s state was concerned at the time, it was only natural for Zhizhou to suspect Xiaomin, but it was only Zhizhou’s suspicion. At that time, there was no evidence to prove that Xiaomin was involved in this case, and Ayun also Xiaomin was not mentioned. Based on this, Xiaomin did sit in prison for three months for no reason. Not only was he mentally and physically tortured, but he also lost his livelihood for three months. It is immeasurable.”
Master Xu Yuan felt that this kid was a bit displeased, and said displeasedly: “We are only acting according to the law, and we have made no mistakes. Moreover, you yourself have a lot of responsibility, so you can’t blame anyone.”
This actually involves a very critical legal thinking issue, that is, the presumption of guilt and the presumption of innocence. After thousands of years, the law is based on the presumption of innocence. As long as there is no conclusive evidence, it is innocent.
But now there is a presumption of guilt, and there is only one theory of “doubts are minor”, that is, if there are doubts, they should be punished lightly, and the benefits of the doubts are not fully attributed to the defendant. Therefore, it is very reasonable to detain Zhang Fei. Officials who are not confused will do this.
Because in reality, the government does not have the financial and material resources to support the presumption of innocence.
If you don’t take him into custody, what if the suspect escapes? Since Da Song doesn’t have a Sky Eye system, where can he find him?
Zhang Fei nodded and said: “What the master said is true, but assuming Zhizhou intends to punish Xiaomin and put Xiaomin in prison for several months, will the result and process change in any way? The answer is no Yes. Although Zhizhou has no intention to fish the people, but the people suffer from the fish, the people think it is better than doing it intentionally, because it is not illegal and cannot be supervised.”
After Xu Zun finished listening, his brows frowned, and his face did not look angry. Instead, he began to think seriously, because he felt that what Zhang San said was very reasonable, and it was more terrifying to do it unintentionally than intentionally.
If you intentionally harm people, the court has an accountability mechanism, and the people can appeal, but if you do it unintentionally, then you can’t control it, it’s terrible!
After a while, Xu Zun suddenly asked: “Then according to your opinion, what should we do?”
Zhang Fei said: “Xiaomin thinks that at least the government should give Xiaomin some compensation.”
Xu Yuan immediately said: “It’s unreasonable, do you think the government is to open a philanthropic hall?”
Zhang Fei shook his head and said: “The government is not a benevolent hall, but for us people, it is a fair hall. The common people were imprisoned for three months for no reason and suffered heavy losses. It is reasonable to ask for compensation.” /
When Xu Zun heard this, a look of disappointment flashed in his eyes, this is not the solution.
In the future, when encountering such a thing, what should I do? The government is clearly acting in accordance with the law, but it has to pay compensation every day. This is impossible.
But Xu Yuan was a little annoyed, you haven’t finished, and when he was about to scold, Xu Zun suddenly said: “This officer enforces the law impartially, without any fault, so I will not give you any compensation, but for what happened to you, This officer is also very clear that it is human nature for you to feel dissatisfied, and this officer will not pursue this crime.”
“Thank you Zhizhou for your forgiveness.” Zhang Fei’s shock was as quick as mercury, clean and tidy.
Xu Zun’s expression froze. Zhang San, who was so convincing just now, gave up so quickly.
Before he came back to his senses, Zhang Fei suddenly changed the subject and said: “Besides, Xiaomin has another complaint.”
Curiosity: “What is it?”
Zhang Fei said: “Thank you, Miss Ayun, for saving your life.”
Xu Zun was taken aback for a moment, and immediately reacted, saying, “Do you want me to tell you this?”
Of course he knew that Ah Yun had saved Zhang San’s life.
Zhang Fei shook his head and said: “How dare a small man bother Zhizhou, and how can he thank you for saving his life.”
Xu Zun asked: “Then how do you plan to thank you?”
Zhang Fei said: “Xiaomin thinks that Ah Yun should not be convicted of murder, but should be convicted of wounding.”
Xu Yuan was shocked.
This is clearly murder, how can it hurt people!
Don’t talk nonsense if you don’t understand the law!
Xu Zun’s spirit came, and he asked, “What do you mean by that?”
Zhang Fei said: “During the interrogation, Xiaomin immediately pleaded guilty after learning that Ayun was arrested. I wonder if it is true?”
Xu Zun nodded and said, “That’s right.”
Zhang Fei said: “If my memory serves me right, during Emperor Zhenzong’s time, some criminals complained of injustice, accusing the yamen servants of torture and extorting confessions, which led to unjust, false and wrong cases. Therefore, Emperor Zhenzong withdrew the judicial trial power of the yamen servants, and only had criminal investigation.”
How professional? Xu Zun couldn’t help but look at Zhang Fei differently, nodded and said, “You are right, the yamen servants do not have the power of judicial interrogation.”
This is actually similar to later generations. The police interrogation is a criminal investigation trial, and the court interrogation is called a judicial trial.
Zhang Fei immediately said: “Ah Yun pleaded guilty immediately after he was arrested by the yamen servants. At that time, he had not yet had a judicial trial, but was just an ordinary interrogation. In other words, he could be punished by surrendering himself.”
Surrender does not mean that you have to go to the Yamen to plead guilty before you can count yourself as surrender.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, voluntary confession without a judicial trial could also be considered a surrender. This is also to encourage everyone to surrender and avoid consuming the manpower and material resources of the government.
Xu Zun stroked his beard and said, “That makes sense.”
Zhang Fei immediately said: “And in the statute of self-surrender, there is another one, avoiding the crime of the cause.”
Xu Zun and Xu Yuan read at the same time: “Forgive me from the crime?”
The two of them didn’t think about it for a while, Xu Yuan wanted to find a book to read, but felt that it was very embarrassing. His majestic master was actually pointed out by a prisoner who had just been released from prison.
But Xu Zun didn’t care about that much, and immediately ordered Liu Hai to fetch “Song Xingtong”, and looked through it, and there really was such a thing.
However, this article is not specifically listed, it is only included in the interpretation of the Surrender Regulations.
Therefore, even Xu Yuan, the master bookkeeper, didn’t think of such a thing for a while.
The original text is: “Anyone who commits killing and wounding and surrenders himself will be exonerated from the crime that caused him, and he will still kill and wound for the reason.” He also discussed: “If someone who kills or wounds a person because of theft or negligently kills a rich man surrenders himself, the crime of robbery will be punished.” Exemption, so the crime of killing and wounding is still punishable.”
Ah!
It’s very thin!
Xu Zun looked at the three pieces with admiration, nodded and said, “That’s right, that’s the one.”
Zhang Fei said: “According to this law, anyone who commits the crime of wounding others due to theft and surrenders himself will be exonerated from the crime of theft, and only the crime of wounding will be prosecuted.”
“Good!”
Xu Zun nodded.
How to avoid the crime of cause is actually very simple. For example, you burglary and you were found to cause you to hurt others, but because your original purpose was not to hurt others, but to steal, that is, because In this case, if you turn yourself in, the law will only prosecute you for the crime of injuring others, not for the crime of theft.
This is exoneration from cause.
If the theft and wounding are added, the death penalty will be imposed, but if only the wounding is pursued, it will be determined according to the circumstances of the wounding, but generally the death penalty will not be imposed.
This is very reasonable. If there is no such legislation, it will lead to, once there is an injury caused by theft, they will directly kill people to silence them, and they will die anyway.
If you give him a way to survive, it may be possible to avoid harming innocent people, and even allow the injured to receive timely medical treatment.
Zhang Fei immediately said: “According to the law of our dynasty, the crime of robbery is more serious than the crime of murder, so it can be inferred that this law is also applicable to the crime of murder, so Ah Yun who has surrendered himself, Naturally, it also applies to this law, and Ayun wounded because of murder, so he was exempted from the crime of murder and sentenced Ayun to the crime of wounding.”
The first half of the sentence in the original text reads, “Those who commit killing and wounding themselves will be spared the crime for which they were caused, and they will still kill and wound for the reason.”
Here are the rules.
In the second half of the sentence, another discussion said: “If someone who kills or wounds someone because of theft, or turns himself in to a rich man by negligence, the crime of theft will be avoided, so the crime of killing and wounding will still be punished.”
This is an example.
It does not mean that the cause of the crime is exonerated, but it is only applicable to the crime of robbery and homicide.
Zhang Fei’s inference logic is correct.
But Xu Yuan was dumbfounded.
Is this okay?
“Nonsense!”
Xu Yuan scolded angrily: “You are talking nonsense. You just said that the crime of theft and injury can be exonerated. The crime of theft is only charged with the crime of killing. But when you come to you, you turn black and white. The crime of murder is more serious than the crime of hurting others. Where is it?”
Zhang Fei said with a smile: “That’s not what the officials said just now.”
Xu Yuan wondered: “I didn’t say anything just now.”
Zhang Fei said: “Just now, Xiaomin was moved with emotion and reason, thinking that he was imprisoned for three months for no reason and needed some compensation. Isn’t this unreasonable and unreasonable? But two An official insists that the government is only acting according to the law, and the poor people can only consider themselves unlucky, after all, the law stipulates this.
Nowadays, Xiaomin argues according to the law. Since the law stipulates that those who surrender themselves can be exempted from the crime of the cause, then Ayun can be exempted from the crime of murder because of murder. .
Then the ordinary people have to ask, is the principle of heaven or the law first? “
Xu Yuan was dumbfounded for a moment.
These two things seem to be out of reach, but after Zhang Fei’s sophistry, it turned out to be the same thing.
Now that the truth has come out, no one can deny that Zhang Fei has indeed been imprisoned for three months. He has nothing to do with the case. He doesn’t know Ayun. compensate.
But the government also acts according to the law. The law stipulates that, so we can’t blame the government.
However, you cannot double standard.
It turned out that he sued this officer before, just laying the groundwork for this case! Xu Zun suddenly realized, glanced at the embarrassed Xu Yuan next to him, and said to help: “Theft and killing are both crimes, but why is ‘conspiracy’ a crime? According to you, thinking about someone’s death is also a crime. I There is no such law in the dynasty.”
Exempting the cause of the crime is to give the judge an explanation for judging whether the two crimes are concurrent.
But according to Zhang Fei, murder and murder must be separated. The idea or intention of murder is a crime, and the act of murder is another crime.
But the problem is that the idea of murder is not a crime. Many people clamor, I will kill you. At this moment, this person definitely has the idea of murder, but this is not a crime, it is only a slap.
Murder is one crime, not two.
Stealing and killing are different. Stealing and killing are two crimes.
Zhang Fei calmly said: “Zhizhou’s words are wrong. There is a rule in our dynasty’s regulations. Those who try to enter the palace but fail to cross the threshold will be punished with eighty sticks. This is a crime of conspiracy. In addition, the two conspired together. , One person breaks the law, and two people are guilty of the same crime, but one of them only conspires and does not act, but he is also treated as the same crime, which is also the crime of conspiracy. From this we can see that conspiracy can of course be punished as a crime.”
There are too many examples of this. You can shout to kill people, but if you shout to rebel, no matter whether you have acted or not, it is a dead end.
Xu Yuanren was dumbfounded.
This kid couldn’t even speak clearly before, how did he become so eloquent after he was released from prison.
After thinking about it for a while, Xu Zun suddenly laughed and scolded: “You scumbag, how dare you talk nonsense in this court, but since you committed the first offense, this officer will not pursue it anymore. As for the compensation you demanded, this officer I won’t give it to you, I’ll say it again, I’m just acting according to the law, I haven’t wronged you, so just step back.”
“Xiaomin resigns.”
Zhang Fei immediately bowed, turned around and left the lobby.
Very crisp!
Very chic!
Xu Yuan felt a little unbelievable. Suddenly, he realized that I was the outsider in his feelings. He immediately said to Xu Zun: “Zhizhou, this statement is absolutely unacceptable!”
Zhang Fei gave them two options, either to compensate or to exonerate Ayun from the crime of murder.
Of course, they can choose neither, or they can choose to give Zhang Fei a hard time.
However, Xu Zun emphasized that Zhang Fei would not be compensated, and at the same time let Zhang Fei go without hesitation. Obviously, he wanted to use this to exonerate Ayun from the crime of murder.
Xu Zun said with a smile: “Since someone raises doubts, we must fight for the prisoner. It depends on whether Dali Temple can find a reasonable explanation and convince people.”
Although this argument sounds unacceptable, Zhang Fei is clear and logical. It is logically correct, not just talking nonsense. Since there is such a thing in the law, if you want to deny it, you must Give a reasonable and authoritative explanation.
Speaking, Xu Zun looked out the door, said with a smile: “This kid is quite courageous.”
The words are full of appreciation.
However, what he didn’t know was that it wasn’t because Zhang Fei was brave, but because he was too famous in history.
The reason why he is famous is because of the Ayun case.
This case not only involves the well-known Wang Anshi reform, but also contains the struggle between two legal thoughts, which is of great research value in the legal research of later generations.
Zhang Fei has also studied it and is very clear about the case.
If it were any other official, even Bao Zheng, Zhang Fei would not dare to be so reckless.
This is simply confusing black and white, and bewitching the public.
It is precisely because Zhang Fei knows that Xu Zun used “to avoid the crime for which it was caused” to help Ayun avoid the death penalty in history, but it is also because of his defense that the case became more and more troublesome. In the end, Song Shenzong, Wang Anshi, Sima Guang and others were all implicated, thus making this case an eternal mystery, with a time span of more than ten or twenty years.
It’s just that Xu Zun hasn’t thought of this yet, Zhang Fei just gave Xu Zun a pillow that he will have in the future.
Of course Zhang Fei was confident, because the complaint he made was exactly what Xu Zun was thinking at this time, and the two coincided with each other, how could Xu Zun blame him, and it was too late to thank him.
“Zhang San! Zhang San!”
Just left the government office, Zhang Fei didn’t go far, when someone called him from behind, he looked back, but saw a young man dressed as a servant running towards him.
The young man caught up with Zhang Fei, took off the burden on his shoulders, handed it to Zhang Fei, and explained: “My master knows that you have just been released from prison and you have no money on you, so he ordered me to come and borrow it temporarily. Some of your bags and clothes, after you find your loved ones, you will return them.”
Zhang Fei was taken aback for a moment, then laughed, and without asking who his master was, he took the burden, feeling that the burden was heavy and almost unsteady, and said: “Brother, please tell me Your master, Zhang San will be rewarded in the future.”
The boy nodded, then turned and left.
Looking at the baggage in his hand, Zhang Fei raised the corner of his mouth and said to himself: “It seems that the historical records are correct. This Xu Zun really enforces the law like a mountain, and his feelings are in the water!”
At this point, he paused for a moment, frowned and said: “However, it is really unconvincing if you really exonerate the crime caused by Ayun’s death penalty, and it is also difficult to repay this life-saving grace. We must rescue her.”