In late autumn in the south of the Yangtze River, the cold wind suddenly blows, the grass and trees are withered and yellow, and the ground is covered with fallen leaves. The persimmon trees in the Royal Garden are full of fruits, and the dark yellow persimmons are dotted with white frost. "Rice is ripe, fish is fat, and persimmons are yellow." Zhu Yunwen walked past the persimmon trees. Thinking of this ancient poem, the beauty of the autumn harvest in the south of the Yangtze River was before his eyes, and he couldn't help but smile.
Passing through the Imperial Garden, next to the Wenhua Hall on the left road of the palace, there is a large main hall for the prince's lectures. Fang Xiaoru is waiting inside, preparing to teach Zhu Yunwen.
Fang Xiaoru, whose courtesy name was Xizhi and whose name was Xuzhi, was a famous scholar in the world. Because when he was teaching in Hanzhong Mansion, King Xian of Shu named the place where he studied "Zhengxue", so he was often honored as "Mr. Zhengxue". Fang Xiaoru was famous for his literature since he was a child, and was known as Xiao Han Yu. When he was older, he became a disciple of Song Lian, "the first civil servant in the founding of the country" and "the Four Masters of Eastern Zhejiang". He was Song Lian's most proud disciple. Fang Xiaoru's father, Fang Keqin, was an ordinary official. He was implicated in the Kongyin case and was executed. Later, the Fang family became poor, but Fang Xiaoru did not change his ambition and always adhered to the path of ruling the world with benevolence and righteousness. He was recommended to Zhu Yuanzhang twice in the fifteenth year of Hongwu and in the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu. Zhu Yuanzhang appreciated him very much and first gave him the post of professor in Hanzhong, and then went to Shuxian King Zhu Chun to teach the prince of Shuxian for two years. At this time, he had just returned to the capital and was serving as a lecturer in Hanlin, giving lessons to the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunwen.
Fang Xiaoru is forty-one years old this year. He is thin and short, with a clear and upright face, a straight nose, and a short black beard on his chin. Be solemn in your behavior and upright in your speech. Although he and Zhu Yunwen have only been together for a few months, they have very similar temperaments.
One is weak in his youth but full of energy, and the other is full of ambition in his prime. Both of them are full of ideals for the future of the Ming Dynasty to govern the country with benevolence and righteousness to achieve peace and prosperity.
What we are talking about today is "Book of Rites: Qu Li Shang", "Rituals cannot be extended to common people, and punishments cannot be extended to officials." This is a commonplace that Zhu Yunwen has memorized since he was two years old. Fang Xiaoru is talking about the annotations of celebrities from various eras. Just talking about the views in the "Five Classics of Justice" compiled by Kong Yingda of the Tang Dynasty: "Tang Zhengyi said: 'If the punishment is not good enough for the doctor, the rule of five punishments and three thousand punishments will not be used for the purpose of the doctor committing a crime. Therefore, if this is the case, the doctor must use it. If virtue is reversed and its punishment is reversed, it means that you do not know the virtuous." Zhu Yunwen listened and couldn't help but sigh softly.
Fang Xiaoru glanced at him and continued: "If it's against the law, it's Ba Yi."
The corners of Zhu Yunwen's mouth moved, but he stopped talking.
Fang Xiaoru stopped talking and said with a smile: "Your Highness has something to say, but there is no harm in saying it."
Zhu Yunwen shook his head: "Nothing."
Huang Zicheng, who was accompanying him, asked, "Did you remember yesterday's announcement about being appointed the prefect of Datong?" Zhu Yunwen looked at him without gnawing.
Zhu Yunwen had always been a generous person, let alone his uncle. Although he was dissatisfied, he didn't want to say anything. Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru understood his character and looked at each other.
Huang Zicheng sighed, looked at Fang Xiaoru and sighed and said: "The king of Datong Prefecture indulges in killing and making money, and is good at serving the army and the people. The people of the country cannot bear it. Zhou Bai, the prefect of Datong, can't do anything about him. He has sued him many times, and he came again yesterday. After receiving the memorial, the king has recruited more than 500 migrant workers since last month to repair the screen wall of the palace."
"It's outrageous! It's outrageous!" Upon hearing this, Fang Xiaoru's thin face suddenly became livid, and his short beard curled up: "Is this true?"
This was the first time Huang Zicheng saw Fang Xiaoru so excited. He was stunned for a moment and said: "Yesterday, I asked Zhou Bai to report the details again, but this is the fifth memorial in the past two months. Even if the details are wrong, the killing will be carried out on behalf of the king." It is definitely a matter of taking money and serving the army and the people well."
Fang Xiaoru didn't say anything, but tapped the table with his fingers, obviously indignant in his heart, and said after a while: "How are you prepared, Your Highness?"
Zhu Yunwen was a little hesitant: "Yesterday, I made a proposal and asked Zhou Bai to tell me the details. The Holy Spirit agreed and there was no reaction."
Fang Xiaoru was a little excited: "Your Highness!"
Zhu Yunwen looked up at him passively.
Fang Xiaoru's face turned blue and he said: "Not only does the "Five Classics of Justice" say this, but "Confucius Family Sayings" also contains an explanation for the phrase "ritual" by Zi. It was said by Zi in response to Ran You's question: For a gentleman In the governance of an official, ethics are usually used to control his heart, thus giving him a sense of integrity. When an official commits a crime, there is no need to directly convict him of the crime in order to avoid the shame; if it is within the scope of the five punishments, there is no need to send judicial officers to bind him and detain him. , and made him plead guilty or even kneel down and commit suicide." He paused at this point: "So the so-called 'punishment cannot be punished for the doctor', the saints believe that this is aimed at the courteous doctor. Now that the king himself has no shame and moral integrity, Your Highness You should forget about this 'ritual'."
Zhu Yunwen remained silent and said for a long time: "Let's wait for the Holy Spirit to judge this." After all, he is his uncle and he is the acting king. What can he do? I don’t even think about it.
The veins on Fang Xiaoru's face popped out: "Your Highness! Is the name of Wei Yang that Your Highness is writing?"
Zhu Yunwen was shocked and raised his head.
"In the year of the order and the people, the people of Qin all said that it was inconvenient to order thousands of people. So the prince violated the law. Wei Yang said, 'If the law is not feasible, you should violate it from above.' He punished his master, his son Qian, and tattooed his master, his grandson Jia. Tomorrow, all the people of Qin will follow the order." Fang Xiaoru said: "The prince of Qin broke the law, and Shang Yang dared to punish him; if the king broke the law, your highness should deal with it impartially." .
This is said that during the Qin Dynasty Shang Yang's reform, the prince Ying Si violated the new law. Shang Yang proposed to Qin Xiaogong that the prince should be punished according to the law, and proposed the legal concept that "princes who break the law should be guilty of the same crime as the common people." Although Qin Xiaogong was in a dilemma, he finally compromised and punished the prince's follower Gongsun Jia and his teacher Gongsun Jia; Gongsun Qian was tortured by Yue and had his knees dug out, and Gongsun Jia was tortured by tattoos and was disfigured. Since then, Shang Yang's new law has been implemented smoothly.
Zhu Yunwen, who had been familiar with classics and history since childhood, certainly understood the implication of Fang Xiaoru's words: the acting king Zhu Gui was arrogant and arrogant, and local officials could not control it, but the imperial court must.
Huang Zicheng said from the side: "There are also kings of Zhou and Min who are also filled with resentment among the people, and memorials are often issued." Fang Xiaoru's face was ashen, he stopped talking and only looked at Zhu Yunwen.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru, and said hesitantly, "Okay! I'll play it again, Your Majesty."
Seeing that he was not very enthusiastic, Huang Zicheng felt a little resentful: "Your Highness is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty tomorrow. The kings are ignoring the laws of the country and need to be dealt with strictly!"
Zhu Yunwen frowned and said: "Not all kings are like this. We can't generalize about each uncle. Uncle Dai Wang, Uncle Zhou Wang, Uncle Min Wang, those who have complained about the memorial should first find out the facts. Those who have indeed violated the law, of course It should be taken care of, and I will report to the Holy Spirit to ask for an order to investigate and deal with it."
Seeing that he had made up his mind, Fang Xiaoru was a little happy: "Your Highness is wise! You should always deal with the problem and not the person. Even those who break the law should be punished. Those who obey the law and serve the country with loyalty should be rewarded by Your Highness."
It's strange. At that moment, the shadow of King Yan Zhu Di floated in Zhu Yunwen's mind. He had never received a memorial to King Yan. Was he really honest and honest? So why was the delay in the matter of the North Korean princess this time? Is it really because Huang Zicheng guessed that he was angry with Princess Yining? Are you really so dissatisfied with yourself
Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but be a little confused.
While he was thinking wildly, Zhang Yuanheng announced at the door: "Master Qi is here, please see His Highness outside the hall." Zhu Yunwen quickly asked.
Qitai strode into the main hall. After a few words of greetings and greetings, he went straight to the topic: "Your Highness, your Majesty asked you to prepare the audit book of local officials of various vassals the day before yesterday. I have already prepared it." With that said, he presented a memorial to Zhu Yunwen.
The memorial was quite long, so Zhu Yunwen took it and spread it directly on the case. Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru also leaned over to watch it together.
Qitai's investigation was extremely detailed. The cities where the twenty-five vassal kings were located, the local administrators from the prefect level to the county magistrate, and the military commanders of the local garrison, all listed their names, ages, origins, experience. And I marked the places where I felt there were problems.
Huang Zicheng was the first to praise: "Master Qi! This is a great job!"
Qitai smiled and didn't answer, feeling quite content in his heart.
Zhu Yunwen saw that the first thing written was Peking. He looked at it carefully and saw that there were many marks on the backs of the Chief Envoy of Peking (equivalent to the Mayor of Peiping) and the Commander of the Peking Military Region (Commander of the Peking Military Region).
"It needs to be changed!" Qitai said affirmatively, facing Zhu Yunzhen's confused eyes.
Zhu Yunwen kept silent and continued to look down. The more he looked, the more frightened he became. More than half of them had marked them. "Change" was written in Kaifeng, Taiyuan and even Chengdu.
After Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru read it, they all agreed and looked at Zhu Yunwen expectantly.
Zhu Yunwen said nothing. The day before yesterday on Qixia Mountain, I proposed to consolidate local administration. In fact, it was mostly to comfort my grandfather. Neither I nor my father, like my grandfather, have always felt that the descendants of the Zhu family are one family, sharing blessings and hardships, and even if there are occasional bad things, they can just solve them through discussion. But the courtiers are always worried that when they say that, they are also saying it to the ministers. Unexpectedly, Qitai took it seriously and did so much work. But if you really "change" like this, it will immediately hurt the harmony with your uncles. It's nothing, so why bother? And it also broke my grandfather’s heart.
Zhu Yunwen pondered for a long time and said: "This is a serious matter. Such a large number of official changes may cause criticism and cause uneasiness in the court. We will discuss it later."
Qi Tai was stunned: "Your Highness! It's too late!" Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru also looked disappointed.
Zhu Yunwen waved his hand and said, "We'll discuss this later." He quickly changed the subject and asked Fang Xiaoru, "How about the modifications to the Ming Law that I asked you to consider last time?"
Fang Xiaoru said: "I have carefully considered it over and over, and found that seventy-three points are too harsh, and I recommend a lighter sentence." He took out a draft of the manuscript, spread it out on the table, and explained it to several people.
"Da Ming Code" is the abbreviation of "Da Ming Code Collection and Supplementary Regulations". It was formed in the first year of Hongwu and was promulgated throughout the country in the seventh year of Hongwu. The chapter begins with "Minglilu". Mingli is the abbreviation of criminal names and laws. The "five punishments" mentioned above come from this. The following is divided into six laws according to the six professional regulations, which stipulates the definitions of various crimes in detail. and penalty standards. It should be said that it is quite remarkable that the feudal society of more than 600 years ago had such a complete law. It is not like "my word is the law" in the TV series, where the emperor just decides anything at will.
However, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang came from a grassroots background and hated corrupt officials extremely; he also wanted all the people in the country to become moral models, so he was extremely strict in sentencing, and the starting point for death penalty was much lower than in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Zhu Yunwen was kind-hearted by nature, but he always felt that he was too harsh. At this time, looking at Fang Xiaoru's draft proposal, it was found that 73 sentences that were too severe should be changed to lighter sentences, and 41 of them, which were originally death sentences, were changed to either removal or release. As he looked at it, he couldn't help but feel happy in his heart. He smiled and praised: "Good! Excellent! I will submit this to the Holy One immediately and strive for early revision. The master of the text will have to work hard."
Fang Xiaoru said with a smile: "I will naturally follow Mianli's example."
In this way, in the main hall, the future emperor and his three advisers discussed the government affairs. The four scholars were full of passion and ambition. Will they achieve their ideals? Will Ming's future become better as a result