This is really a statement that will never end until it shocks people!
Destroy the foundation of our dynasty
A bookseller
Are you serious
Even Wang Anshi, who had always supported Zhang Fei, was confused and at a loss.
There's no way this is going to work together!
Han Qi, Fu Bi and other university scholars and literati who were full of knowledge and talent were also in a state of confusion.
Is the foundation of our dynasty so unstable
Although they knew that Zhang Fei was charged with the crime of "spreading false books and words", this crime could be serious or minor. A dozen people from a small sect gathering in the middle of the night to meditate would fall under this crime, but spreading false words to confuse the public and gathering to rebel would also fall under this crime.
Strictly speaking, destroying the foundation of the country is even beyond this crime.
Lu Gongzhe was stunned for a long time before he came back to his senses. He immediately frowned and warned: "You are just a little spies, don't talk nonsense here. How can a bookseller destroy the foundation of our dynasty?"
Let's talk about the facts. This kind of thing really can't be said casually!
However, considering Zhang Fei's past deeds, Lu Gongzhu only gave him a verbal warning.
After all, he had discussed the laws of his ancestors.
Zhang Fei immediately said, "Reporting to the prefect, I am not exaggerating. My Legalist ancestor Han Feizi once said that a thousand-mile dike is destroyed by an ant hole. Therefore, although this matter may be small, if it is not controlled, it will be enough to destroy the foundation of our dynasty."
Lü Gong listened to his powerful words, even bringing up Han Feizi, and asked, "Tell me, how can this move undermine the foundation of our dynasty?"
Xu Zhiqian silently handed Zhang Fei two documents.
Zhang Fei took it and raised a copy directly, "I have a historical document here that I want to present to the prefect."
The clerk came up immediately and presented Zhang Fei's document to Lu Gong again.
Lü Gong flipped through the book and asked in surprise, "Wang Mang's new policy?"
Wang Anshi was startled and immediately perked up.
New policy
Are you trying to make a veiled attack
Or maybe this kid is going to help me secretly again
He was both terrified and expectant.
Han Qi and the others were also curious. How could a case of counterfeiting printing be related to Wang Mang's new policy
Could this have anything to do with Wang Anshi
At this juncture, whenever new policies are mentioned, people will see enemies everywhere.
Then Zhang Fei said, "Yes! This historical material is mainly about the currency policy implemented by Wang Mang."
Wang Anshi, Sima Guang and others were even more curious.
They are all too familiar with this policy, but what does it have to do with this case
A case of counterfeiting printing was related to the foundation of the country and Wang Mang's new policies.
This is really outrageous.
Zhang Fei looked at the document, then raised his head and said: "Regarding Wang Mang's currency reform, to put it simply, the new currency issued by the court at that time had a stipulated value that was much higher than the value of the currency itself.
However, according to the common sense of survival of the fittest, the inferior ones are naturally no match for the good ones. But the actual situation at that time was that the undervalued new coins drove out the full-value Wuzhu coins.
I wonder if anyone has ever thought about why this is the case?”
Fu Bi and Wang Anshi said almost the same thing: "Evil money is increasing day by day, and honest money is disappearing day by day."
Bad money is inferior currency, and legitimate money is good currency.
To put it simply, bad money drives out good money.
Zhang Fei glanced at the document, then smiled and nodded: "Grand Scholar Wang is right. This is exactly what Jia Yi, a famous scholar in the Western Han Dynasty, pointed out, and Wang Mang's new policy did not appear until a hundred years later. This is enough to prove that this is not an isolated case, but a phenomenon that has been happening all the time."
Lu Gong asked curiously: "But what does this have to do with this case?"
Zhang Fei replied: "Since it is a phenomenon, it means that it is not limited to currency, but applies to all matters."
At this time, Xu Zhiqian next to him silently handed a document to Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei flipped it open and said as he looked at it, "There was a case in the Xianping period that illustrates this point, and that is the chicken stuffed with sand case. At that time, some unscrupulous merchants stuffed sand into chickens in order to increase the weight and sell them at a higher price. At first, there were only two or three businesses, but within a month, you couldn't find a chicken that wasn't stuffed with sand in the entire market. Even the peasant women from the village did this. In the end, the court used strict laws to control it and stop the spread of this phenomenon."
The Northern Song Dynasty was very strict in food control, especially in Bianjing, where meat with water would be punished with 60 strokes of the cane. If the meat was spoiled, the person would be exiled for a year, and if the meat was poisonous, the person would be executed.
Lu Gong nodded and said, "I also know about this case."
Zhang Fei said: "Coins are fine, chickens are fine, so articles and poems are no exception."
Many people suddenly understood.
After going around in circles for a long time, it turns out that he wanted to prove this point.
I have to say, this angle is really tricky!
No one had thought of this beforehand.
It really took a lot of effort.
Lu Gongzhu also reacted, and after a moment's hesitation, he said, "The two cannot be confused. Whether it is money or chickens, they are all goods, but poetry and articles are not goods, nor are they sought for profit. They are the elegant conversations of scholars. Even if pirated printing is rampant, poetry and articles will not decrease. On the contrary, there will be more books in bookstores."
Zhang Fei said, "The prefect is wrong. If pirated books are rampant, there may be books everywhere in the market, but the number of poems and articles will gradually decrease."
Lu Gong asked, "What do you mean?"
Zhang Fei said: "As I just said, pirating books is likely to bring great trouble to the real author, destroy his reputation, and even lead to imprisonment.
Once pirated printing becomes rampant, it will bring all kinds of troubles to literati. Then literati will inevitably choose to hide their works and no longer make their poems and articles public. At most, they will only share them with good friends in order to avoid being pirated by booksellers.
In fact, this is already happening.”
Having said this, he glanced around and many scholars and officials nodded.
Zhang Fei continued: "Then there will be many masterpieces, quietly buried under the loess, and this will be a huge loss for our Song Dynasty.
When the number of poems and articles decreased significantly, booksellers, in order to seek profits, would certainly use the names of famous people and mix in inferior works, thus leading to the phenomenon that inferior works drove out good works. "
Wen Yanbo whispered to Fu Bi, "Isn't he talking about you, Lord Fu?"
Fu Bi said hurriedly: "I don't have the nerve to show my humble work to others. It has nothing to do with counterfeiting."
As he said this, he sighed again: "But some of my friends really chose to hide their works because of pirated copies."
... ..
Wang Anshi said: "Good boy, you actually thought of using this argument to fight this lawsuit. It's really unexpected!"
He had also studied this phenomenon, but mostly because of financial reasons. He had never expected to hear this theory in court, and to see it summarized so perfectly.
Sima Guang nodded and said, "And the explanation is just right!"
This phenomenon has actually already occurred. For example, some literati attach great importance to their own calligraphy, but most booksellers nowadays produce shoddy works that are full of typos and missing words, which is heartbreaking to read. Some famous scholars only choose to discuss poetry and lyrics with their friends and do not choose to publish them publicly.
But this is only seen as a personal choice, but if this phenomenon occurs on a large scale, it is indeed terrifying.
Zhang Fei flipped through a page of literature and read, "Perhaps by then we will have bid farewell to the brilliant era of 'After the swallows and wild geese have passed, the orioles have returned, and we will count the myriad thoughts of life', and usher in the literary depression of 'The magpies chirp, and the folk saying is that they announce good news'."
"The magpie's chirping is a sign of good news, as the saying goes"
What the hell is this
My great Song Dynasty should not fall to this point!
Many scholars and officials felt that Zhang Fei's words were a bit alarmist. The poems written by my book boy were much better than this!
Not really.
"However!"
Zhang Fei continued, "The foundation of our dynasty is to govern the country with literature. Emperor Zhenzong once said, 'Books contain golden houses and beautiful women.' Therefore, when it comes to excellent literary works, they are far superior to those of previous dynasties. These excellent works have a very good educational effect on future generations.
On the contrary, if these literary masterpieces gradually become less and less, it will also indicate that the foundation of our dynasty's rule by culture is slowly decaying. If this is not destroying the foundation of our country, what else can it be? Although the content of this collection of poems is harmless, pirating books is definitely a crime of making false statements. "
"Well said!"
All I could hear was an old voice.
Lu Gong tilted his head and looked, and saw that it was a scholar-official sitting in the courtyard.
When the old man shouted, the other scholars and officials all nodded in agreement.
There were quite a few people cheering in front of the door!
This statement is truly a perfect statement for these literati.
They were very pleased with every word of it.
Um.
This guy is not as hateful as the legend says.
But this made Lu Gongzhe very embarrassed. There was nothing wrong with this argument. The rampant piracy had indeed caused such problems. Many of his friends often complained about it. However, it was obviously inappropriate to make such a serious charge based solely on this argument.
But he couldn't find any reason to refute Zhang Fei's argument.
Although there is a suspicion of discussing toxicity without considering the dosage, Zhang Fei cited a classic example, which is that a thousand-mile dike is destroyed by an ant hole.
The scholars and great writers who came to listen to the trial obviously supported Zhang Fei's point of view.
Although they are only there to attend the trial, their attitude must also be taken into consideration given their fame and status.
But in Lu Gongzhe's opinion, this was just a civil lawsuit, and the bookseller had no intention of doing so. The verdict should not go too far. In order to protect the bookseller, he did not allow him to go to court. After thinking it over again and again, he said, "Although this move may be suspected of endangering the foundation of our dynasty, I have found out that Ji Juxian has no intention of harming people or the country, and he pirated the books only for personal gain."
At this point, he paused for a moment, looked around, and said aloud: "Just now, Zhang San used the example of a person who was dismissed from office for his poetry and writings. I will also use this as an example. If an unintentional word or an unintentional action can lead to a fatal disaster, this is not the foundation of our dynasty, nor is it beneficial to scholars."
Many scholars and officials nodded slightly again.
Lu Gongzhu observed for a while before continuing, "Therefore, I hereby declare that Ji Juxian has violated Su Shi's reputation and interests by counterfeiting Su Shi's poems. Although he has committed the crime of making false statements, I hereby sentence him to be exempted from caning for the time being, and he only needs to compensate Su Shi for his losses. As for the specific amount of compensation, it will be determined at that time."
According to the crime of making a book and a statement, the minimum punishment was sixty strokes of the cane. However, Lu Gongzhuo thought that this was not serious enough, but he could not refute the charge, so he temporarily exempted him on the grounds that the law lacked an explanation.
There are actually many cases of such judgments. Otherwise, where would those memorials come from
Han Qi, Fu Bi, Wang Anshi and others all nodded.
If the crime is to undermine the country, it will be a capital crime.
No need to think about it.
But this is obviously not true.
No matter what, it's not a crime punishable by death.
The scholars and officials also said they could accept it. After all, Lu Gongzhu did not overturn Zhang Fei's argument and still gave him the charge.
Lu Gong then asked Zhang Fei: "Zhang San, do you have anything to say?"
Everyone's eyes were focused on Zhang Fei.
Judging from Zhang San’s previous attitude, he would definitely not accept it, otherwise he would not have sued him for this crime.
Zhang Fei stood up and bowed, saying, "I will obey the prefect's decision."
Xu Zhiqian was startled and looked at Zhang Fei in surprise.
That's it
This is different from what you said!
Wang Anshi and Sima Guang also looked at each other. Although the penalty was reasonable, Zhang Fei's attitude made people feel that it was a bit anticlimactic and came to an abrupt end.
Is it another case of asking for an exorbitant price and paying it back on the spot
Su Shi, the person involved, breathed a sigh of relief.
Enough! Enough!
In fact, if the death penalty is really imposed, he will definitely stand up to stop it. He is the plaintiff and has the power to do so.
But fortunately, that was not the case.