East Palace, Hongde Hall.
"Your Highness." Murong Defeng walked lightly into the palace, stood in a familiar position, and bowed in salute.
Liu D also sat behind the eucalyptus, reviewing the memorial attentively. He raised his eyes and saw Murong Defeng. He raised his hand to signal: "Rixin, sit down!"
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Murong Defeng did not sit down.
Noticing the official document in his hand, Liu D asked directly: "What's important?"
Murong Defeng submitted it and said: "This is the first Autumn Judgment this autumn. Please review it!"
Hearing this, Liu D immediately became interested and started reading it carefully. He asked: "Have you gone through the procedures of the three judicial departments? Do the Criminal Department and Dali have any objections? Have you noticed any problems?"
Generally speaking, memorials that can be sent to the East Palace or the Political Hall go through the process according to the imperial system. Liu D's reaction was just subconscious caution.
After all, human life is of paramount importance, so we can also call it labor. Even now, the entire Han Empire still lacks population. There are too many places that need to be filled with people, and there are too many hard and dangerous jobs that require labor. For the imperial court, a group of laborers who were the lowest cost and easy to use were undoubtedly criminals.
Therefore, for more than 20 years, in addition to the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to clean up public security, eliminate thieves, and restrain the people, harsh torture laws that were almost white terror were implemented and some more people were killed. Later, the death penalty in the Han Dynasty was reduced year by year. of.
In the early period of Qianyouzhong, the number of people sentenced to death for crimes every year could reach up to 700 or 800. Now, not even 100 people are sentenced to death in a year.
Moreover, it has effectively brought the power of execution in various places back to the central government. All death row prisoners in Daozhou are required to submit their case files to the Ministry of Punishment and Dali. After review, they are submitted to the emperor, and then the emperor Zhu approves and centralizes them. Go to the capital and be executed.
Therefore, up to now, the annual Autumn Festival and Winter Festival can be regarded as a beautiful scenery in the capital, often crowded with spectators, after all, it is rare and strange.
There is one detail that many people ignore, that is, over the years, the number of criminal judges and officials executed by the imperial court has exceeded that of common people. It has to be said that this was a major feature of Emperor Liu's era.
It is a fact that fewer people were killed, but this does not mean that the punishments of the Han Dynasty were relaxed, because there were too many prisoners who were not subject to the death penalty and were exiled and hard labored.
The imperial court set up dozens of prison camps in various places, especially in various borders, and never stopped carrying out various infrastructure construction for the Han Dynasty. There are hundreds of thousands of people with tattoos, tattoos, and torture and servitude. This is the current situation of punishment for the Han Dynasty.
There is no way, from Emperor Liu's principle of never granting amnesty, we can see that the court's attitude towards the prisoners is not lenient at all, and Emperor Liu hates those criminals who have committed crimes, which is almost A perverted instinct.
The former, why do people from the General Association propose that Emperor Liu benevolent and release the prisoners to go home? It is not just out of pedantic benevolence, but this is indeed a matter of personal humanity. Too many people have seen it, big man It is too harsh on criminals, so harsh that it is shocking.
There is no doubt that the most dangerous "profession" in the Han Dynasty is that of a prisoner. Every year, there are reports on the death of prisoners from various places. Among them, some are accidents, some die from exhaustion, some commit suicide, and some escape and are killed. These are summarized in the central center. , which is also a shocking number. That's all for the most heinous crimes, but among the hundreds of thousands of prisoners, there is no guarantee that there are no innocents.
Up to now, the "Ten Evils" in the inherent concepts of Han officials and people are no longer the standard of "no pardon", because there is no such thing as "pardon or no pardon". All punishments are based on the "Penalty" of the Han Dynasty. It's just a matter of judging the crime and sentencing.
After so many years of development, everyone, including the common people at the lowest level, knew that prison camps were not a place for people, but used them like animals.
When you enter a prison camp, it's not a question of whether you can shed a layer of skin, but whether you can save your life. Of course, after all this time, there are always lucky people who can survive until the end of their sentence and are released.
But these are always a minority. Basically, those who are sentenced to more than three years of hard labor will find it difficult to survive such a heavy and dangerous sentence.
From this small number of people, the situation in the prison camp spread through word of mouth, which almost formed a subconscious mind in people's minds. The prison camp was a devil's cave and a purgatory.
This has happened more than once in the past. No matter how ferocious and cruel people were sentenced to prison, they would pee and be frightened. Some even chose to commit suicide directly. For some, it would be better to be beheaded. Especially those prisoners who have committed serious crimes and will never be released.
After so many years of evolution and improvement, Dahan's punishments can be roughly divided into four categories. Needless to say, the death penalty goes without saying. It is based on the ten evils and is directly committed to death; the second-rate punishment is mainly aimed at officials who have violated the law and those who have committed relatively minor crimes; the third is the hard labor penalty in the new era of the Han Dynasty, which is also the source of the emergence of prisoners; As for those floggings and stick punishments, they are probably the punishments that all criminals dream of...
Not beheading, not cutting off the feet, and replacing them with hard labor. This is not an invention of the imperial court. It is learned from the Qin Dynasty. The imperial court obviously made a lot of profits from it. After all, cheap and unrestricted use of labor was really rare. Some officials even have the extreme idea of degrading all the people in the world as criminals. If that is the case...
Of course, being sentenced to prison does not necessarily mean death. After all, there are many types of prison sentences. The most cruel ones are of course those sentenced to digging mountains, mining, and building roads and bridges. There are also relatively easy ones, such as being sentenced to They camped in the fields for cultivation, or served as official slaves, or were assigned to work on farmland, etc.
But it's always relative. Once you're sentenced to prison, it's not "easy" anymore. It's just a fluke that you didn't die of exhaustion when the term expired. However, there is no shortage of scoundrels in the world, and not everyone is unafraid of death. No matter how painful the torture is, as long as there is a chance to survive, most people are still willing to tolerate it, otherwise the Han prisoner camp would not be able to run. Went down.
This is the true portrayal of the Han Dynasty's "lenient punishment and simplified administration" in the words of many officials who lied. After all, the number of people killed is indeed very small, which can be said to be the highest in history. However, in this world full of suffering, there are really too many things that are more cruel and painful than death and beheading...
However, this kind of punishment system is not without some benefits. At least, the crime rate among the Han people is getting lower and lower, and it is not just trivial things that you will be judged and sentenced for.
And among the more than 100,000 prisoners, they were not all criminals who had broken the law. There were also many soldiers, officials, and tribes who were disobedient during the unification of the Han Dynasty.
For example, during the process of regaining Hexi, the Uighurs were killed in rivers of blood by Wang Yansheng and Guo Jin. In the subsequent anti-rebellion and public security, a large number of Ganzhou Uighurs were demoted as prisoners.
In the same situation, there are the Yi people in Yunnan and Guizhou, the barbarians in Lingnan, and a large number of indigenous people in Annan...
At this time, in the Hongde Hall, facing Liu D's confirmatory inquiry, Murong Defeng replied: "I have carefully inspected it, and there should be no problem. The facts are all there, the evidence is sufficient, and the case for death is in accordance with the law. However, this time the number of people is less than There used to be a little more!”
"Yes! In this first batch alone, there are more than thirty people?" Liu D obviously grasped the point: "Who are there?"
Murong Defeng said: "Except for a few evildoers, some of them are corrupt officials working for famine relief in the south of the Yangtze River and thieves who harm the people.
In addition, Fan Yichao, a citizen of Shaanzhou, killed twelve members of Chang Guzhen's family in Tongli twenty years ago out of personal grudge. Chang Guzhen escaped at a young age. Last year, when he grew up, he broke into Fan Yichao's house and captured him to be sent to Chang'an to serve as the governor of the pass. Let Wang You accept it.
The king sent Jun to investigate, and not only sentenced Yichao to death, but also dug out some officials who had been bribed to protect Fan Yichao. After trial, they were sentenced to death together, thus implicating some people. "
"Another old piece of eucalyptus!" Hearing this, Liu D couldn't help but sigh, and at the same time showed hatred: "If you destroy a family, you can still enjoy twenty years of peace. You can imagine the injustice. , If Chang Guzhen hadn’t captured his enemy and brought him to the government, I don’t know when he would be able to avenge him! It’s hateful, it’s really hateful!”
"I'll review it again and send it to Chongzheng Hall!" Liu D said to Murong Defeng, raising his head.
"yes!"
Facts have proved that Emperor Liu did not completely delegate power. For example, the final power of death sentences was still in the hands of Emperor Liu. Without his approval, all death sentences could not be executed. Even Prince Liu D only has the power to review.
"That Chang Gu is really good. His family was brutally exterminated, but he did not commit suicide due to personal hatred, but sent him to the official to avenge his injustice!" Liu D thought of something else and said: "Judging from the situation of breaking into a house to arrest the guilty, I'm afraid he is quite brave. , with his ability, it’s not impossible to go back for revenge and kill Fan Yichao’s family!”
"Your Highness is wise, indeed!" Murong Defeng was stunned at first, then quickly realized and made an expression of approval: "From this point of view, Chang Guzhen is indeed rare!"
"His feelings are pitiable and his actions are commendable. In this way, Chang Guzhen can recommend him to join the army and give him a bright future!" Liu D thought for a while and said.
