This case is difficult to handle in anyone's hands. An official stood up and faced King Wen, bowed and said, "Your Majesty." King Wen faced the official and said, "Go ahead." The official said, "The person handling the case cannot It has the feelings of an insect and strives to be fair and impartial. It is unethical to kill its own domestic insects, which is a capital crime. However, it shares food with the people in order to prevent them from starving. It has the people in its heart, and it has the people in its heart. He is a good official. He can be reduced in rank and exiled, exiled to the border and sent to the army, and he can kill enemies and perform meritorious service." King Wen said with a smile: "What you said is very good, so you can be my teacher." The official immediately knelt down. , said: "I don't dare." King Wen said: "Master once said this to his disciples, if three people are walking together, there must be my teacher. Let me tell you this, one of the three insects must have something. One branch can even be longer than me. You must be fair in handling cases, so I want to learn from you." King Wen praised it so much that it just looked at King Wen blankly, and King Wen said: "You should step aside first." The official then stood up and sat aside. King Wen looked at the officials sitting on both sides and asked: "Do you have any objections to this?" Another official stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I am worried about this." King Wen said: "Okay, you can say it. ." The official said: "The king governs the country with etiquette, and the etiquette and laws cannot be violated. The county magistrate Cao Bin killed his own houseworms to comfort the people. Although it temporarily relieved the hunger of the people, it violated the etiquette and laws. This is a serious crime." King Wen said: "Then what do you think the verdict should be?" The official said: "If you give death, you can save your whole body." King Wen stood up and said: "Ruling the country with etiquette is good. I agree. The etiquette and law cannot be messed up. By giving death, you can serve the people of the world. heart of."
At this time, a jailer entered the lobby and said: "Your Majesty, the county magistrate Cao Bin committed suicide in prison." King Wen quickly got up and walked to the prison and ordered the prison head to open the door. King Wen walked in and looked up, seeing the county magistrate Cao Bin hanging from the beam. King Wen looked around, called a prison chief and asked: "Who was the first to discover that the county magistrate Cao Bin committed suicide by hanging from a beam in prison?" The prison chief replied: "It was the petty official who first discovered it." King Wen stood there The prison chief said before: "Tell me the details of the case." The prison chief replied: "This morning, when the clerk was inspecting the prison, he found that the county magistrate Da Chong had committed suicide by hanging from the beam, so he called the prison warden to report to the king. After reporting this situation, the rest of the matter is as it is now." After hearing this, King Wen said: "Okay, you can go down, I already know." The prison leader then stepped aside and stood aside. There was an overturned round stool at the feet of the county magistrate Cao Bin. King Wen bent down and erected a round stool, which was exactly the same height as the county magistrate Cao Bin's feet. Then he faced the government officials standing outside the cell and said, "You all come in." The government officials came in, bowed and said, "Your Majesty." King Wen looked at the corpse of the county magistrate Cao Bin above his head and said, " Put it down." The magistrate hanging on the beam was put down. King Wen knelt down and looked between its neck. The other officials stood aside and said, "Your Majesty, can you find any clues?" King Wen stood up and stood in front of them and said, "It did die of hanging. We Looking at its neck, there is only one deep mark, which reaches to the base of the ear. There is no second mark. Also, the stool under its feet is quite consistent with the height at which it hangs. It died by hanging." King Wen's They were very convinced by this statement and concluded that he had hanged himself.
King Wen called the cell leader and asked, "Did the county magistrate do anything unusual before he hanged himself?" After pondering for a moment, the cell leader said, "This is really not the case." King Wen looked at the cell leader and said, "Yes, there must be. , think about it carefully." The prison chief pondered for a long time, suddenly thought, and said: "The prison warden was guarding me last night." King Wen said: "Quickly call the prison warden to come forward and ask questions." The prison warden entered and said: " King." King Wen asked: "After I came to visit the prison last night, did the county magistrate Cao Bin do anything unusual? Tell me in detail." The prison warden said: "Since the king left, the county magistrate knelt down and howled loudly. He cried, and then borrowed pen and ink from the clerk, and that was it the next day." King Wen asked: "Where is the letter it wrote?" The prison boss walked up and took out the letter from his arms, which was torn from his lower body. clothes, which King Wen did not discover. King Wen took the letter and spread it in his hands. The letter reads: "The guilty minister knows that his crime cannot be pardoned and has no intention of excusing him. The king entrusted the people of Zhangshui to the small ministers and others, but the guilty minister knows that he is incompetent. There is severe drought and famine, and there is no harvest in the fields. Countless people died of starvation or disease, and there were piles of bones in the wilderness. The guilty minister wrote to the court many times, but like mud flowing into the sea, there was no news. The hungry people wandered around and left their homes. The guilty minister had his parents, wife, and children at home. It is even more difficult to make a living. In addition, he has been bedridden for a long time, and the guilty minister is overwhelmed, so he is heartbroken and in a dilemma. The king governs the world with benevolence and cares about the people of the world. Now the king's people are still suffering, which the guilty minister cannot bear and endures the pain. Kill them, cook them, and share them with the people. This behavior of the guilty minister is against etiquette and law. I am willing to die to apologize." After reading this, King Wen sighed deeply and said: "Only the virtuous live here." He looked at the local officials behind him. , these officials all looked at King Wen, kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty." King Wen faced them and said: "You are in high positions but you don't know the sufferings of the people in the world. You report good news but not bad news. Those who dare to tell the truth, tell the truth The memorials were all suppressed, which made the drought so severe. It was my fault of oversight." The officials knelt down together and said, "Your Majesty, I am guilty." King Wen took a few steps forward and said, "You are guilty. , I can still change it, but if I am guilty, I may not be forgiven. The county magistrate Cao Bin is a good official who cares about the people of the world. You have suppressed all his memorials, leaving him with no way to speak and his life is impoverished. You can't even feed your own houseworms, and it's such a tragedy. We have lost a good county magistrate!" These officials all knelt in front of King Wen and shouted: "Your Majesty, I have been convicted of my crime."
King Wen said: "It's not too late to mend the situation. How much food is left in the granary?" An official came forward and said: "Your Majesty, the food in the granary has already bottomed out." King Wen walked out and said: "Okay, I'll let you know about this. Already know it.”
Order the Yamen servants to carry out the body of the county magistrate Cao Bin. At this time, a young man was waiting at the gate of the county government office carrying a coffin, followed by many people. King Wen walked out with all the officials and stood in front of them. The young man knelt down together with the people who were watching, and shouted: "Your Majesty." King Wen looked at the young man and the people and said, "You all get up." Shang Fu stood aside and said in shock: "Your Majesty." King Wen looked at him. Shang Fu said: "Shang Fu, what's wrong with you?" Shang Fu said: "Your Majesty, I seem to have seen this young man." King Wen asked: "When have you seen him before?" At this time, Shang Fu fell into deep thought. , and suddenly said: "Your Majesty, I stayed at a common people's house the night before yesterday and saw this insect. It sat in a daze on the threshold in front of me and did not talk to us, so I ignored it." King Wen looked at this young man. , then faced Shang Fu and said: "Shang Fu, I don't blame you for this." Then he walked up and stood in front of the young man. The young man was about to kneel down, and King Wen immediately helped the young man up and said, "There is no need to pay such a big courtesy." King Wen looked at Looking at the coffin behind the young man, he asked softly: "What is your name?" The young man replied: "Back to the king, the Cao Min is the only son left by the county magistrate Cao Bin. The Cao Min is Cao Shuang." King Wen looked at the man behind Cao Shuang. Coffin, see you again Cao Shuang is dressed in mourning clothes, and he immediately understood. He ordered the government officials standing behind him to carry out the body of Magistrate Cao and place it at the gate of the county government office. Cao Shuang immediately rushed forward, crying, "Father!" King Wen stood aside and said, "Mr. Cao, you have to express your condolences." Cao Shuang raised his eyes and looked at King Wen standing in front of him, knelt down and said : "Your Majesty." King Wen helped Cao Shuang up and said, "Go back and bury your father." Cao Shuang stepped back a few steps, looked at King Wen standing in front of him, and pulled the hearse away.
King Wen exempted him from taxes for three years and looked at Cao Shuang who was walking out of the city. He felt something in his heart and entered the county magistrate's residence with worries. Shang Fu came in and said, "Your Majesty." King Wen stood by the side of the case and said, "There is a severe drought in Zhangshui. You have returned to Handan with the instructions of Zhu Chong to transport relief grains and solve the people's famine problem first." Shang Fu said. He bowed out and drove back to Handan, the capital of Zhao State.
King Wen gathered the officials and their strong forces to build a righteous warehouse to solve the problem of food and clothing for the people and survive the years of famine. To rectify the administration of officials, there are many things to do, putting people's livelihood first, keeping the world in mind, and appeasing the people; secondly, admonishing farmers and mulberry farmers, water conservancy is the most important; thirdly, punishing and prosecuting, and educating the people. Those who have all three are considered to be of the highest grade; those who have two of the three are considered to be of the middle grade; those who have one of the three are considered to be of the lower grade; those who have none of the three are dismissed from office. King Wen dismissed incompetent officials in Zhangshui, killed corrupt officials, promoted capable and honest officials, and assessed the performance of these officials in a timely manner, and promoted or demoted these officials based on their local performance. The people's livelihood problems in Zhangshui have been improved. Disaster relief grains have been transported to Zhangshui, porridge sheds have been built to relieve the victims, and grains have been distributed. The victims have been properly resettled and the problem of livelihood difficulties has been solved. Other places in the Zhao Kingdom followed suit, and the people's lives returned to normal. A few years later, they had ample food and clothing, and the country became strong.
King Wen visited the people and treated the elderly. At this time, King Wen was a wandering doctor. Accompanied by Shang Fu, he stood on the hill and looked at the village below. He asked Shang Fu who was standing aside, "Shang Fu! What's the name of the village under Gangxia?" Shang Fu looked at the village under Gangxia and said with a smile, "Sir, the name of the village under Gangxia is Wenwang Village." King Wen was a little confused. Curious: "Why?" Shang Fu and King Wen looked at the village at the foot of the hill together, and said with a smile: "Mr. solved the livelihood problem of the people, and to praise his achievements, he changed its name to Wenwang Village." King Wen said: "This is not good. Let’s call it Gangxia Village.”
The houses are hidden among the pines and cypresses, with smoke curling up from the kitchens, so they are full of life. King Wen and Shang Fu walked down together. There was a path in the dense forest, which led to a quiet place. King Wen and Shang Fu were walking on a country road. The roads were crisscrossed by thousands of hectares of fertile fields, and the rice seedlings were green. King Wen was walking in the fields and said, "This year will definitely be a good harvest, and there is hope for a bumper harvest." Shang Fu, who was following him, saw that King Wen was rarely so happy and said, "Yes, sir, your kindness has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people." ." They walked slowly towards the village and reached the stone bridge. Under the stone bridge was a gurgling stream. They stand on a stone bridge, which is surrounded by lush trees and village houses under the green hills.
The wind was gentle and the clouds were calm. In front of an old house was a bamboo forest and an old locust tree. King Wen was tired from walking, so he sat under the old locust tree to rest. A ray of sunlight shines through the forest, like a dream. An old farmer led an ox and came towards here humming a song. King Wen stood up and walked up the road: "Fellow fellow, this should be Gangxia Village." The old farmer stopped and looked at King Wen and said, "Old Chong, you must be lost." King Wen smiled and looked at the man standing next to him. Shang Fu then looked at the old farmer and said: "We are wandering doctors, yes! We got lost when we got here, so I asked the fellow villagers to give me guidance." The old farmer said: "This used to be Gangxia Village, but now it is Wenwang Village. ." King Wen asked: "Why is this place called Wenwang Village?" The old farmer asked curiously: "You are from other places, right?" King Wen smiled and said: "You are right, we are from Handan ." The old farmer tied the old ox under the old locust tree, sat on the rock, and said, "You guys should sit down too." King Wen and Shang Fu sat around the old farmer. The old farmer told them: "We have suffered a disaster here. God has not rained for three years. There is no harvest in the fields and many people have died of hunger. We common people cannot survive and are forced to leave this land. We The king is a benevolent king. He couldn't bear to see us people suffer. He personally came to Zhangshui, especially Shexian County, and killed many corrupt officials. He built granaries and solved the problem of clothing and food for our people. We people are very happy. Thanks to it, it was renamed Wenwang Village."
