Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's ruling left a reference for later generations of officials, but it did not end the debate. Because this is no longer a judicial issue, but involves a deeper level.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, another similar case occurred in Liang State, where the stepmother was also killed to avenge her father. The prime minister, who actually managed the political affairs of the feudal country, reviewed the case and considered it to be a crime of matricide, which fell into the category of "great treason". It happened that the great scholar Kong Jiyan passed by Liang Guo and told him that this was wrong, and also explained the reason to him.
"Spring and Autumn" records say that Wen Jiang, the wife of Duke Huan of Lu, committed adultery with her brother, Duke Xiang of Qi. When Duke Huan of Lu visited Qi, Wen Jiang took the opportunity to say to Duke Xiang: "The Marquis of Lu has realized that something is wrong, and he told others, 'Young Master is not my son, but the son of the Marquis of Qi.'" But Duke Huan of Lu never said this. , was deliberately fabricated because Wen Jiang was eager to borrow a knife to kill someone.
When Duke Xianggang of Qi heard about this, he was very angry, so he found an opportunity to get Duke Huan of Lu drunk, and sent people to break his ribs in the chariot and kill him.
Afterwards, Wen Jiang and his party returned to China with the body of Duke Huan of Lu, and named his son Gong Zitong as Duke Zhuang of Lu. However, Qi Xianggong's poor management caused the matter to leak out. The people of Lu were very angry, and Wen Jiang ran away quickly, resulting in no one to host the subsequent series of ceremonies.
"Gongyang Zhuan" and "Zuo Zhuan" believe that as a son, Duke Zhuang of Lu should "sever his father's mother" and cut off his relationship with Wen Jiang according to Zhou etiquette.
Therefore, Kong Jiyan believes that even the biological mother should sever ties in the face of the father's hatred, and of course the stepmother should do the same. Therefore, the prisoner did not kill his mother, but only killed a passerby. He should be charged with "killing without suing the official" and should not be considered a treasonous person. Liang Xiang thought this made sense, so he adopted his suggestion.
During the Han Dynasty, people respected revenge, and those who took the initiative to seek revenge often gained sympathy and could receive light sentences or even pardons from the government. Sometimes, in order to oppose the punishment of the Avengers, officials would even resign in protest.
In the case of Liang Ren, Kong Jiyan gave an interpretation of Confucian classics based on the precedents of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. But there is something wrong with this explanation.
There is no doubt whether Wen Jiang is guilty or not. In fact, she was a relatively famous figure even in the Spring and Autumn Period when rituals collapsed and music collapsed. Before marrying Duke Huan of Lu, she was supposed to marry the prince of Zheng. As a result, Prince Zheng would rather give up foreign aid from a big country like Qi than accept her. He gave her the reason "Qi Dafei" and sent her away. It can be seen how "famous" this person is.
There is no suspense about this matter in terms of public opinion. Because the Jiang girls caused too many troubles in the Lu State.
Wen Jiang is already a very outrageous person, but there is one detail - her posthumous name is "Wen".
In other words, among the ladies of the princes of Lu State, she is even the more reliable one...
For example, Wen Jiang's own daughter-in-law and niece Ai Jiang helped her lover Qingfu kill his son. The two of them killed two monarchs in succession, making the people of Lu think that "as long as Qingfu does not die, there will be no peace in Lu." In the end, Ai Jiang's uncle Qi Huangong couldn't bear it anymore and killed her personally, thus settling the chaos.
Some people believe that the reason why Lu scholars appear "conservative" and do not want women to participate in politics is not because they follow Zhou rituals - if the early Zhou rituals were strictly followed, women would have greater power.
The emergence of this trend of thought may simply be because they were tortured too much by these Qi women.
As Socrates said, an unhappy marriage makes a person a philosopher. I wonder if many scholars from the state of Lu and Confucius and his family have verified this statement...
These days, some storybooks based on stories from the Shang and Zhou dynasties are popular in the Central Plains, and Guo Kang had seen merchants bring them for sale before. Among them, there is also the story of Jiang Taigong's battle with the vixen.
When the teachers saw this storybook, they complained privately that this story was probably aimed at civilian readers. After all, anyone who is familiar with the Spring and Autumn Scriptures knows that Jiang Taigong's own daughters are much scarier than the vixens.
So, why do the scribes still argue under such circumstances? Because this is not just a matter of a certain case, but a matter of several basic principles in etiquette and law. To put it more modernly, it involves the ideological issues of the Central Plains Empire. The core of it is whether or not we can and should not divorce each other.
This is the problem in Kong Jiyan's exegesis. His explanation is to compare biological mothers and stepmothers, pointing out that stepmothers are inferior to biological mothers, but there are similarities between the two, and then lead to the incident of Wen Jiang in Spring and Autumn Period, which proves that it is reasonable to kill stepmothers in revenge, and the punishment can be reduced as appropriate.
But this also means that there is only a degree of difference between the biological mother and the stepmother, and they are generally on the same level. So on the other hand, if the target is the biological mother, is it similar to the case of killing the stepmother, is it also reasonable, and should the sentence be lightened?
Kong Jiyan did not answer this question.
In fact, according to the view of Gongyang science that was popular in the early years, revenge should indeed be taken in this case. "Gongyang Zhuan" believes that even if the person involved is the biological mother, the relationship should be regarded as severed.
During the reign of Duke Zhuang of Lu, a solar eclipse occurred in the State of Lu. People at that time believed that a solar eclipse was the moon blocking the sun, and the moon was a symbol of the feminine, and its corresponding ontology was Houtu. So the Chinese people gathered around the temple, beat the war drums, and pretended to attack, in order to threaten Houtu God and end the solar eclipse quickly.
Gongyang Xue believes that this is a reasonable move, because the moon invades the sun first, so even if a mortal threatens the earth god, it cannot be considered disrespectful to the gods. The two things were also compared, and "It is not disrespectful to Juewen Jiang, and it is not disrespectful to threaten Lingshe" has become a typical judgment standard.
Unfortunately, historically, Duke Zhuang of Lu failed to do this. After a while, he said that he missed his mother and took Wen Jiang back.
The Gongyang Jing also criticized this. Although Duke Huan of Lu and Duke Xiang of Qi may not be able to tell who the biological father of Duke Zhuang of Lu is, since they have inherited the position of king of Lu, they should regard their legal father as their priority. Missing one's mother means forgetting one's father, which is undoubtedly an act of forgetting one's roots.
So, what should the king and ministers of the Lu State do at that time, and to what extent should they retaliate?
Logically speaking, since the relationship between mother and son has been severed, they should be treated as ordinary people and can take revenge as they please. The Gongyang Jing has long said: If the king kills the king, and the minister does not seek revenge, he is not a minister; if the son does not take revenge, he is not a son. Since the king has been killed, the ministers should try to attack Wen Jiang, and Duke Zhuang of Lu should also actively seek revenge.
This kind of thing actually happened a lot in the Spring and Autumn Period. Even if the lord had been defeated, there were knights who insisted on assassinating the enemy and wanted to avenge him. Public opinion also regarded such people as righteous men and praised their conduct. According to this logic, it would be enough for the Lu people to assassinate Wen Jiang.
However, Han Confucianism was very cautious about this, and most of the scribes were vague and avoided it consciously.
This may seem like a small problem, but at that time, revenge and reunification were the two foundations of Gongyang Studies. They were once promoted as the spiritual pillars of the Han Empire and could be said to be the foundation of its glory.
It definitely won't work if it gets stuck so inexplicably.
(End of chapter)
