After hearing Yang Fan's words, His Majesty Li Er suddenly had a sad look on his face. Now that the Tang Dynasty is peaceful and the people are safe, how can there be so many traitors and criminals.
In the entire Tang Dynasty, there were only about ten people on death row a year.
But he is a dignified Ninth Five-year-old man. He had just told the big story, but now he can't do it. It's really embarrassing.
You know, Yang Fan rarely speaks.
However, what does this guy want with so many death row inmates? Does this guy want these death row inmates to compete?
Although all death row inmates are extremely vicious people, not all death row inmates are highly skilled in martial arts.
Besides, if these death row prisoners were allowed to serve as soldiers, wouldn't it turn everything upside down and cause chaos?
Merits are merits and demerits. Although Yang Fan has made great contributions, it is impossible to exchange these functions for freedom.
Li Shimin rubbed his hands and said sheepishly: "This... this may be a bit difficult to handle!"
Seeing that Li Shimin was a little embarrassed, Li Ji hurriedly explained: "Marquis Zhongyi doesn't know something. The people of the Tang Dynasty are rich and prosperous, the country is peaceful and peaceful, and there are few extremely vicious people. Therefore, so many death row prisoners are needed, but they cannot be found in the territory of the Tang Dynasty."
Yang Fan slapped his head and froze on the spot. Only then did he realize that he had taken it for granted, and a story flashed through his mind.
There is such a record about Li Shimin in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian":
"In Xinwei, the emperor personally recorded the prisoners and saw the deceased. Min Zhi, even if he returned home, he was expected to die in the coming autumn. He still ordered all the prisoners on death row in the world to be sent to the capital in due course. The prisoners on death row in the world were sent to the capital in the last year. All three hundred and ninety people who had no one to supervise them all came to the court as scheduled, and no one died or hid. All of them will be pardoned."
This passage tells such a story.
After Tang Taizong Li Shimin ascended the throne, he was diligent in governing the country and reviewed memorials every day.
When Li Shimin looked through the death row cases across the country, he found that the prison life of those death row prisoners was very miserable, and some of them were sentenced to death for crimes before he ascended the throne.
The people of the Tang Dynasty now live and work in peace and contentment, and are prosperous. Let's look at these death row prisoners living in prison.
Li Shimin suddenly felt pity in his heart, so he did something that was beyond everyone's expectations.
After careful consideration, Li Shimin decided to let the 390 death row inmates in the prison go home to reunite with their families for one year, and they would need to come back for trial the following fall.
After Li Shimin's edict was issued, 390 death row prisoners returned home happily.
At that time, many ministers were worried. How could it be possible for so many people who had been sentenced to death for adultery to come back to stand trial as scheduled when they had regained their freedom?
Besides, these are all desperadoes, so there’s no chance they’ll do bad things if they get out.
Everyone believed that none of the 390 prisoners would come back unless he was a fool.
But no one dared to listen to the emperor's orders. They could only hope that these prisoners on death row could fulfill their promise as gentlemen.
One year passed quickly, and it was the return date agreed by Li Shimin and the 390 death row inmates.
Many officials thought that no one would come back, but the result was unexpected.
But in the fall of the next year, the prisoners on death row who had been released at that time came back one after another.
Later, Li Shimin sent someone to count the number of people, but found that one person was missing. This made Li Shimin a little disappointed.
At that time, the ancients were very particular about integrity. When this happened, even other death row inmates became angry.
They believed that the emperor had done his best to give everyone a year of free time to spend time with their families. Now this person who did not abide by the gentleman's promise was simply discrediting everyone.
However, things changed later. After an investigation by the jailer, it was discovered that the death row prisoner who did not return as scheduled was far from the capital, possibly due to travel delays.
A few days later, the prisoner did come back. It turned out that he was injured on the way back, so he was a few days later than the agreed date.
So far, all 390 death row inmates have returned as scheduled.
Li Shimin was moved when he saw these death row prisoners who came back according to their agreement even though they were facing beheading.
He believes that integrity is the foundation of being a human being. Since they can be honest, it proves that they still have a chance to change.
Therefore, Li Shimin issued another unexpected edict - deciding to pardon these 390 death row prisoners and let them regain their freedom.
Although many historians are confused by Li Shimin's behavior of pardoning death row prisoners, they even say that he was the most broad-minded emperor, because Li Shimin did not show off at all.
First, first of all, Li Shimin was the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and there was no need to pardon the world to win over the people of the previous dynasty.
Secondly, the Tang Dynasty had become stable at this time, and Li Shimin did not need to win over these useless words.
Why should these death row prisoners be pardoned?
But in Yang Fan's opinion, Li Shimin's motive for his behavior was not that simple, and he also had ulterior motives.
The agreement between Li Shimin and the death row prisoner is better said to be a bet. No matter which outcome, the winner is Li Shimin.
We know that Li Shimin ascended to the throne with the blood of his close relatives on his hands. In an era that valued loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, justice, etiquette, wisdom and trust, his actions were unethical.
As a king of a country, how can he convince the public with such a history, so he wants to reshape everyone's view of him.
The reason why he chose death row prisoners was that if these people who were destined to die did not return as scheduled, it would be easy for Li Shimin to use all his efforts to find them.
After these death row inmates who have not returned are caught, they will definitely add guilt to their crimes, and it is natural for them to be directly questioned and executed.
But Li Shimin has given them a chance, and everyone will only think that Li Shimin, the emperor, is benevolent and righteous, and that the prisoners on death row deserve their crimes.
Now that all the prisoners on death row have returned as scheduled, Li Shimin has gained a reputation for benevolence and justice, and the prisoners on death row are also grateful to him.
Coupled with the later pardon of the death row prisoner, Li Shimin's benevolence and righteousness were sublimated again.
Therefore, no matter what the outcome of the agreement between Li Shimin and the death row prisoner, Li Shimin will be the beneficiary.
Because of this incident, the people of the Tang Dynasty deeply felt the benevolence and righteousness of His Majesty Li Er, at least for those who committed the most evil crimes and committed crimes.
It is not surprising that there were very few death row prisoners in the Tang Dynasty.
Yang Fan was a little panicked!
Those TV shows and movies that said there were thousands of people on death row in ancient times were lies.
What should we do now? Do we really need to recruit a group of idiots for training?
But once this happens, the training intensity will definitely not be enough, and it is simply impossible to defeat Duan Zhixuan in a competition.
Yang Fan was really a little nervous.
Li Jing stroked his beard and smiled slightly, and said: "Does Marquis Zhongyi want to give these death row prisoners strict training to gain a chance of survival?"
Yang Fan smiled bitterly and nodded.
Li Jing looked enigmatic: "I have a way to replace it, but it requires His Majesty's consent."
Li Shimin reacted quickly and asked expectantly: "Did Duke Wei talk about Yeyan Palace?"
"Exactly!" Li Jing replied simply.
These words immediately made Yang Fan's eyes light up.
