It is said that after Cao Fang asked Zhang Dang, the imperial official, to read out the "Yi Zhuan" lesson test in court, there were people in the palace such as Taiwei Jiang Ji, Sikong Gaorou, Situ Weizhen, Guangluxun Lu Yu, Taichang Wangsu, and Taipu Wangguan. The expressions of all the officials in the Taifu Party changed. If in the future, the talents recommended by the local leaders of their own families still need to be selected by the court through examinations, then their electoral power will naturally be equivalent to being cut in half.
But after all, this was an edict issued by the emperor himself in public. Although everyone was angry, they did not dare to show too many negative emotions.
When there was silence in the main hall, Shangshu Ding Mi came out of the train and saw him saying to Cao Fang:
"Your Majesty, I have something to say."
Among Cao Shuang's three major aides, Ding Mi, who was relatively low-key and the most resourceful, undoubtedly left the best impression on the emperor. After Cao Fang nodded towards Ding Mi, Ding Mi continued:
"Your Majesty, during the previous great dynasty meeting, He Shangshu once advised that the proposal of reinstating corporal punishment to reduce killings, preserve human lives and preserve the population, I think is very reasonable, and I think this should be the first priority in reforming the law!"
After hearing Ding Mi's words, Cao Fang couldn't help but look embarrassed and remained silent for a moment. Cao Xi, who wrote the Analects of Confucius for the emperor, understood that the emperor had always loved Confucian principles and his level of Confucianism was not low, and he had always been resistant to cruelty. Now that Ding Mi is proposing to restore corporal punishment to reduce the death penalty, what can the emperor do in such a hurry? acceptable?
While Cao Fang was pondering over his decision, Shang Shulang Zhonghui, who was standing at the end of the train, slowly walked out of the train and said:
"Your Majesty, I will not agree with what Ding Shangshu said."
Shang Shulang was the sixth rank and was not qualified to participate in the court meetings. However, the emperor was very impressed with this young man who was known as a prodigy. Therefore, he made an exception for these two court meetings and allowed him to come to the court.
Zhong met Cao Fang and nodded, then continued:
"My late father, Dingling Chenghou, discussed the abolition of corporal punishment with Emperor Wu, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Ming several times. However, the late emperor finally believed that Wu and Shu had not yet decided and should not rush to implement this matter. Now Wu and Shu II The method is still undecided, so I don’t know why Ding Shangshu thought that this matter must be possible?”
After hearing Zhong Hui's words, Ding Mi was not angry, but calmly retorted:
"At the time of the late Emperor, there were hundreds of civil and military officials, bachelors and students discussing this matter, which shows the importance of this matter. It is precisely because of the declining population, desolate farmland, and weak soldiers in the world that Wu and Shu The two sides have been unable to settle down for a long time. Now if corporal punishment is restored and the death penalty is reduced, the country can survive as many as three to five thousand more people every year. If these three to five thousand people return home and then engage in production and reproduction, this will last ten years. , my Wei Dynasty has tens of thousands more farmers and soldiers. In this way, I wonder if our Wei Dynasty can reclaim a lot of wasteland and increase the amount of food! Aren't we afraid that we will not be able to wipe out Wu and Shu who are separated in the two sides? ?”
After hearing Ding Mi's words, Li Sheng, who had returned from Yongzhou Zhengxi Mansion and resumed his post as Henan Yin, nodded deeply and agreed very much with this matter.
After hearing Ding Mi's words, Zhong Hui knew it was hard to refute. In fact, he himself was not opposed to the resumption of corporal punishment. He just blocked Ding Mi just to block Cao Shuang's restructuring and prevent a series of restructuring reforms from starting.
Emperor Cao Fang originally resisted the mutilation of human bodies and cruel and horrific corporal punishment, but after listening to Ding Mi's words, he suddenly understood the benefits of resuming corporal punishment. He nodded and said:
"What Ding Shangshu said is true. This matter is of great importance. I have ordered the bureaus, imperial colleges, and local government offices and schools to discuss this matter together. Next month, I will see a summary of the opinions of officials and students from various places. Ding Shangshu , you will be solely responsible for this matter!"
Hearing this, Ding Mi understood that the emperor had already made this intention, and he was very excited. He knelt down and knelt down on the floor tiles, and said respectfully:
"I respectfully obey His Majesty's decree!"
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Yongzhou, Chang'an City, the general marching to the west.
During this period, although Xia Houxuan was far away in Chang'an and did not personally participate in the restructuring of General Cao Shuang, he was very busy while providing disaster relief and comforting the victims while continuing to strengthen the defense deployment in the southern border of Yongzhou.
Despite his busy schedule, Xia Houxuan was still paying attention to various matters related to the restructuring of the DPRK and China. Regarding the two major issues of abolishing the power of Zhongzheng officials and withdrawing counties, they would definitely be opposed by hundreds of middle-level county officials, so they should not be taken too hastily. , still needs to be considered in the long term.
He also heard about the emperor's outstanding performance in the court, and was naturally very pleased.
Not only that, he also heard that the emperor had learned the "Book of Rites" again, and went to Taixue Piyong Academy to worship Confucius and Yan Yuan with Tailao rites. This filled Xia Houxuan's heart with even greater expectations for the future emperor.
One of the restructuring policies that Xia Houxuan was most concerned about during this period was the restoration of corporal punishment proposed by He Yan, Ding Mi, and Li Sheng.
Corporal punishment has existed since ancient times, including the five punishments of tattooing, mutilation, mutilation, palace, and large penis, as well as other punishments that infringe on the skin and mutilate the human body.
In ancient times, there was a saying that "those who kill will die, and those who injure others will be injured." By the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, there were three codes and five punishments, and corporal punishment had become a common punishment in the country. It was followed unchanged in the Qin and early Han dynasties.
It was not until the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, who was known for his kindness and love for the people, that he abolished the cruel corporal punishments of ink, shackles, beheading of left and right toes, and palace punishment. Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty's abolition of corporal punishment was also praised by later generations as "Eternal benevolence". Since then, corporal punishment has been basically discontinued.
Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty abolished corporal punishment and replaced it with flogging. Although it was called "eternal benevolence", in the specific implementation process, the prisoners received too many floggings, some three hundred, and some five hundred. As a result, many people who were not supposed to die died because they could not withstand the brutal whipping punishment.
Some scholar-officials accurately discovered the strange phenomenon of mitigating punishment in name, but actually killing more people. Therefore, after Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty came to the throne, he immediately issued edicts one after another, greatly reducing the number of floggings, and the matter was finally concluded.
At the end of the Han Dynasty a few decades ago, soldier labor was extremely scarce, and population was naturally very important. However, thousands of people died every year in the country due to flogging. The choice of flogging or physical punishment naturally aroused the concern of the emperor's officials again. Notice.
Since Emperor Taizu Wu, there have been frequent discussions about the restoration of corporal punishment in this dynasty. However, this matter is of great importance and the officials have never come up with a clear result, so the matter has been dragged on.
From the founding of the Wei Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, Tingwei Zhong Yao, who was in charge of criminal law, made three suggestions on the restoration of corporal punishment in the 18th year of Jian'an, the first year of Huangchu, and the third year of Taihe.
In the eighteenth year of Jian'an, the discussion failed.
In the first year of Huangchu, before the debate between the pros and cons was settled, Wu Shu invaded, and the matter had to be shelved temporarily.
The third discussion during the reign of the late Emperor Taihe was the most intense court discussion on this matter. Zhong Yao believed that those who originally committed corporal punishment but died under the cane could survive if they were still punished by corporal punishment. If this change is successful, it will have the effect of "three thousand people being born every year"! However, Situ Wanglang believed that although this method was actually a light punishment, it was inevitably known as cruel. Although it had the effect of "raising the bones into erection and turning the corpse into a human being" when implemented, Wu and Shu would definitely There is a big fuss about this matter. If rumors spread by then, I am afraid that some ignorant people will start to flee to Wu and Shu before this policy is implemented.
At that time, there were more than a hundred people participating in the court meeting, but in the end most people agreed with Wang Lang's view. Although the late emperor felt that Zhong Yao's words were reasonable, there was too much resistance in the court, and the matter was ultimately not resolved. Implementation.
But now, Cao Shuang has begun to restructure, and He Yan has brought up this old discussion again. The matter is so important that Cao Fang and Cao Shuang naturally have to take it seriously.
Xia Houxuan was naturally a little undecided about this matter.
He thought that in these troubled times, restoring the method of replacing death with injury would certainly increase the country's population. But once corporal punishment was restored, although it would temporarily help cultivate national strength, what would happen to future generations?
Once the later monarchs of the Wei Dynasty were able to unify the world and the world was in great power, where would they find a benevolent monarch like Emperor Wen of Han who was willing to abolish violent punishments?
Xia Houxuan felt that it was feasible to reduce the death penalty, but if many of these extremely cruel corporal punishments were restored today, it would be difficult to abolish them in the future.
Xiahou Xuan thought about this and made up his mind. He immediately took out his pen, ink, paper and inkstone, raised the pen to his wrist, and wrote an essay opposing the restoration of corporal punishment:
"With the nature of heaven and earth, and the way of people, it is natural that there should be crimes! He, Xun (Zi), and Ban (Gu) said: 'If there is governance, the punishment will be heavy, and if there is chaos, the punishment will be light.' He also said: 'Those who kill people will die. Those who hurt others are punished. This is the same for hundreds of kings. "Those who are punished by death are killed by demons and rebels. Those who hurt others do not change, and this is also the same as demons and rebels. If they can be changed, then there is no need for corporal punishment. Such as It says, "The death penalty is too old, and life punishment is easy to commit." "Criminal crimes are inferior to those in ancient times. Nowadays, if you touch the dead, you can be punished with corporal punishment. Injuries and thefts, officials who have violated the law, and men and women who are sexually involved are all punished in the old style." If it comes to death, then it will be punished by physical punishment. How can it be wrong to sacrifice one's life and break one's body? It is said that if a whole hall is full of people gathering to drink and one person cries in the corner, the whole hall will be unhappy. , and must be punished with corporal punishment. This is benevolence when it comes to killing but forbearing to cut off. It is afraid of being easy to offend but is content with being tortured. The weeping and ridicule ceased. How can Taixie be found in the hall? Zhongni said: "You are both rich and educated." .' He also said: 'The dog has no desire, but he will not steal it even if it is rewarded.' Why cut it off! The fool will not move away, and he will end up doing evil. This is the so-called jian monster. If hunger and cold flow into ravines, even if they are opened up, they cannot be controlled. What a corporal punishment! The roads are full of ocher clothes, and those with noses are ugly, so it will be of no use in the end."
The general idea of what the article said is: if the criminal law is not strict, it will be easy to cause chaos. The cruel people can only be killed as a warning to others, and those who repent do not need to be punished corporally. For example, if everyone is having a banquet and one person cries, the whole house will be unhappy. If one person breaks the law and is executed, everyone will naturally not dare to do it again. This is the principle of killing one person to serve as a warning to others.
After Xia Houxuan finished writing this essay, he sent someone to make a copy and sent it to the general's house in Luoyang.
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After Xia Houxuan's theory of corporal punishment was sent to Luoyang, Cao Xi and his brothers Cao Yan, Cao Ze and Cao Xun immediately browsed Xia Houxuan's treatise. After carefully reading the letter, Cao Xi couldn't help but Praising:
"It is a good idea that 'the punishment for rule is heavy, and the punishment for disorder is light' and 'those who kill will die and those who injure others will be punished', Taichu quoted the words of Xunzi and Ban Gu, which are reasonable and reasonable, and can be said to be a great good!"
After Cao Yan finished reading, he frowned slightly and retorted to Cao Xi:
"Third brother, I think the restoration of corporal punishment proposed by Uncle He Ping, Ding Yanjing, and Li Gongzhao is not a bad idea. At least it can save the lives of the people. Although cousin Taichu's suggestion of 'being rich and educated' makes It is the kingly way advocated by Confucius that people should be kind and unwilling to do evil, but after all, this is too difficult to do, and I am afraid it will not be effective for a while."
After hearing the words of his fifth brother Cao Yan, Cao Xi couldn't help but fell into deep thought. However, despite his kind nature, he still could not accept the recovery from the cruel corporal punishment.
When Li Sheng read Xia Houxuan's theory on corporal punishment, he couldn't help but smile bitterly:
"Taichu always takes the overall situation into consideration, why has he become so pedantic this time? Come here, prepare pen and paper!"
