Chapter 30 Leniency in Sentences and Simplified Administration
East Palace, Hongdeok Hall.
"Your Highness." Murong Defeng walked lightly into the palace, stood in a familiar position, and bowed in salute.
Liu Yang also sat behind the eucalyptus, reviewing the memorial attentively. He raised his eyes and saw Murong Defeng, and 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 Yang 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 Yang immediately became interested and began to read through it carefully. He asked, "Have you gone through the procedures of the three judicial departments? Do you have any objections from the Criminal Department and Dali? 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 Yang's reaction was just a subconscious caution.
After all, human life is of paramount importance, which can also be called 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, dangerous and tiring jobs.
, requires labor. And for the imperial court, a group of laborers who are the lowest cost and easy to use are undoubtedly criminals.
Therefore, in the past twenty years, apart from the fact that in 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 on, the death penalty in the Han Dynasty was reduced year by year.
of.
In the early period of Qianyou Zhong, the number of people sentenced to death for crimes every year could reach as many as seven or eight hundred. Now, not even one hundred 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 overlook, that is, over the years, the number of criminal judges and officials executed by the imperial court has exceeded that of ordinary people. This must be said to be 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 lenient, 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 the border areas, and never-endingly carried out various infrastructure construction for the Han Dynasty. There were hundreds of thousands of people with tattoos, tattoos, and prisoners. This is what the Han Dynasty is doing at the moment.
The current status of punishment.
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 to ask Emperor Liu to show mercy 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, to the point of being 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.
, are also shocking numbers. Only those who have committed the most heinous crimes are considered guilty, but among the hundreds of thousands of prisoners, there is no guarantee that there are no innocent persons.
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 Han Dynasty's "Penalty"
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, knows that prison camps are not a place for people, they are used as 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 so many years, 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 a heavy and dangerous sentence.
Among this small number of people, the situation in the prison camp was 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 people even chose to commit suicide directly. For some people, they would rather be beheaded. Especially for those crimes.
A prisoner who is so serious that he will never be released.
After so many years of evolution and improvement, the punishments of the Han Dynasty can be roughly divided into four categories. Needless to say, the death penalty is more focused on the ten evils, which is death for rebellion; the second-rate punishment is mainly aimed at officials who break the law and those who
Those who commit relatively minor crimes; the third is the hard labor penalty in the New Han Dynasty, which is also the source of the emergence of criminals; as for those flogging and cane punishments, I am afraid they are the punishments that all lawbreakers dream of...
Not beheading, not cutting off the feet, and replacing them with hard labor was not an invention of the imperial court. It was learned from the violent Qin Dynasty. And the imperial court obviously made a lot of profits from it. After all, the use of cheap and unrestricted labor was really
It's too rare. Some officials even have the extreme idea of degrading all the people in the world as criminals. If that's 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, building roads and bridges. There are also relatively easy ones, such as being sentenced to
They camped in the border areas for cultivation, or they were used as official slaves, assigned to farmland, etc.
But it is always relative. As long as you are sentenced to prison, let alone "easy". It is a fluke that you did not die of exhaustion at the end of the term. However, there is no shortage of people who live in the world, and not everyone is right.
There is no fear of death, no matter how hard 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 operate long ago.
This is the true portrayal of the Han Dynasty's "lenient punishment and simplified administration" in the eyes of many officials who are telling lies. After all, the number of people (people) killed is indeed very few, which can be said to be the highest in history. However, this situation is full of suffering.
In this world, there are really too many things that are more cruel and painful than death and beheading...
However, there are some benefits to this kind of criminal system. At least, the crime rate among the Han people is getting lower and lower, and you will not be sentenced for any trivial offense.
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 Yang'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 death penalty is determined according to 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 Yang 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 Yi Chao to death, but also dug out some officials who had been bribed to protect Fan Yi Chao. After trial, they were sentenced to death together, thus implicating some people."
"Another old piece of gum!" Hearing this, Liu Yang couldn't help but sigh, and at the same time showed hatred: "Destroying a family can still enjoy twenty years of peace. The injustice can be imagined.
, If Chang Guzhen hadn’t captured his enemy and sent 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 then send it to Chongzheng Hall!" Liu Yang raised his head and said to Murong Defeng.
"yes!"
Facts have proved that Emperor Liu did not completely delegate power. For example, the final power of death sentences is still in the hands of Emperor Liu. Without his approval, all death sentences cannot be executed. Even the crown prince Liu Yang 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 Yang thought of another point and said: "Judging from the situation of breaking into the house to arrest the guilty, I'm afraid he is quite brave.
, with his ability, it is not impossible to go back for revenge and kill Fan Yichao's family!"
"Your Highness is wise, indeed!" Murong Defeng was startled for a moment, then quickly realized and made an expression of approval: "From this point of view, this 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 Yang thought for a while and said.