Since the ancient system was not so perfect, the government was actually very personalized. The image of the government, as well as the working style and efficiency of its internal personnel, mostly depended on the boss of the government.
From the series of events that have just happened, it can be basically confirmed that the owner of this government office is definitely a diligent and strict official.
Otherwise, with Zhang Fei's appearance and attitude, he might have been driven away before he could even take out the complaint, not to mention that the yamen runner immediately found Liu Hai to receive the complaint.
You have to know that today's government does not serve the people, but serves the emperor. It is more of a rule over the people. This is a completely different concept.
This is indeed the case. Xu Zun, the prefect of Dengzhou, has always been fair, honest, upright, and very diligent. He originally worked in the Dali Temple and was an official from Beijing. He was sent to Dengzhou to serve as the prefect only the year before last.
Because the Tang Dynasty was in chaos due to the local military governors, the Northern Song Dynasty paid great attention to its local rule.
The terms "zhizhou" and "zhixian" both mean "temporary supervisor". After a year, they would have to return to Beijing to take up their posts. With this arrangement, it would be impossible for a complex network of power to form at the local level, which was tantamount to strengthening central power in a disguised way.
Xu Zun, who had just approved the official document to release Zhang San, did not give himself a short break. At this time, he was sitting at the table, carefully reviewing the confession in the case of Ayun.
However, the chief clerk Xu Yuan, who was standing next to him, had a worried look on his face.
Judging from the circumstances of the case, it was just a very simple murder case. It took less than a day for Ayun to commit the crime and confess his guilt, so the county lieutenant of Penglai County closed the case quickly.
But it has been delayed for several months now.
It turned out that this case involved human life, and the sentence was for the crime of treason, which was one of the four ten evils. It generally refers to the murder of one's closest relatives, and murdering one's husband is naturally among them.
According to the law, the person could be sentenced to death by beheading. Penglai County did not have the final say because according to the legal system of the Song Dynasty, the case had to be reviewed one by one by the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Criminal Justice before a final verdict could be made.
When the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice saw the case, they did not see any doubts and approved it directly.
But when the verdict of this case fell into Xu Zun's hands, he thought it was unfair.
Because Ayun's mother passed away a year ago, which means Ayun is still in mourning. According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, one is not allowed to get married during the mourning period.
Xu Zun used this as an excuse to protest to the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice.
The first time, the Dali Temple ignored it and continued to uphold the original verdict.
Although there is such a law, the people have their own etiquette and laws. Among the people, during the mourning period, weddings are not allowed, but marriage proposals and betrothal gifts are both allowed.
According to the law, as long as the man has paid the betrothal gift, the two are considered husband and wife.
Xu Zun raised an objection again, this time he criticized both the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice, saying that as officials, we should abide by the law and not the unwritten rules among the people. The law clearly stipulates this, but you, as law enforcement officers, are breaking the law knowingly.
This time, the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice finally gave up the crime of treason and sentenced Ayun to death by hanging according to the law.
However, Xu Zun only approved the official document to release Zhang Fei, but did not pass the final judgment of the Dali Temple. He obviously still had doubts about this.
Xu Yuan, the chief clerk who had been following him, felt that Xu Zun had gone too far, so he advised him, "Now that the Dali Temple has taken a step back, why doesn't the prefect stop while he's at it?"
Xu Zun frowned and said, "Although the Dali Temple's verdict did not mention the ten evil crimes, it still sentenced Ayun to murder and injury and sentenced him to death by hanging. This is still putting people to death."
Xu Yuan found it funny and said, "But there is no problem with this charge. Ah Yun had the intention to murder, but he did not succeed. It should be considered murder with injury."
Xu Zun asked with a smile: "When I discussed the ten evils with you, what did you say?"
Xu Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, "What I said at the time was that although the law does not allow marriage during mourning, there are folk customs to follow. They just don't hold weddings, but they don't oppose marriage and betrothal. The Wei family has already paid the betrothal, and the two should be husband and wife. Therefore, Ayun murdered Wei Ada, which is murdering her husband, which is a ten-evil crime."
Xu Zun said: "Yes! At that time you said it was impossible to exempt the ten evil crimes, but now the Dali Temple has not mentioned the ten evil crimes again. This is not the Dali Temple's tolerance, but the Dali Temple also knows that this verdict is unconvincing, so it changed the verdict to murder and injury. In other words, if I didn't appeal at that time, wouldn't this become a wrongful case?"
Xu Yuan was speechless for a while. These ten heinous crimes and murder with injury were both punishable by death. The only difference was that murdering one's husband was punishable by beheading, while murder with injury was punishable by hanging.
Is there a big difference
Is it unfair
He guessed that the Dali Temple was too lazy to argue with Xu Zun. After all, this guy was a repeat offender, so they took a step back.
Xu Zun glanced at Xu Yuan, and seeing that he was still unconvinced, he said earnestly, "You must remember one thing: the law can put a person to death, but it can also save a person's life. However, once a person's life is gone, it can never be recovered. Therefore, when we try a case, we must find ways to give the criminal a chance to live, so as to avoid false charges and wrongful convictions as much as possible."
Xu Yuan glanced at his boss helplessly. Obviously, he did not accept Xu Zun's idea.
Just at this moment, Mu Ke Liu Hai, who was responsible for delivering petitions, suddenly appeared in front of the door.
"Reporting to the prefect, someone just broke into the government office to file a complaint."
He used the word "intrusion" to describe it, which showed that he was very unhappy with Zhang San, because intrusion into the government office was already a violation of the law and could be punished with caning as a warning.
But Xu Zun thought that since they had filed a complaint in the government office, it must not be a minor case, so he immediately asked, "Do you have a complaint?"
"Yes. But....!"
The bangs are slightly hesitant.
Xu Zun immediately asked: "But what?"
Liu Hai said: "But...but...!"
Seeing that he was hesitating, Xu Zun said impatiently, "Submit the petition."
"yes."
Liu Hai didn't dare to say anything more and quickly handed over the complaint.
Xu Zun took it and read half of it. He couldn't help showing surprise. It turned out that he was here to sue me. He was even more curious and looked directly at the signature. He immediately asked in surprise: "Is it him?"
Seeing Xu Zun's strange expression, Xu Yuan asked curiously, "Who is complaining?"
Xu Zun smiled bitterly and said, "It's Zhang San who was just released."
"Zhang San?"
Xu Yuan was surprised and asked, "Is there any hidden story behind this case?"
Xu Zun smiled and said, "It's not because of this case. No, it has something to do with this case."
Xu Yuan didn't quite understand what he heard, so he asked again, "Who is he suing?"
Xu Zun didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "It's me."
“… … !”
This is really rare. Xu Zun was even a little excited. He had never been sued in his life.
The anticipation was immediately high.
A quarter of an hour later...
Zhang Fei was brought to the court. There was no "mighty... and powerful..." as expected, nor were there any yamen runners lining up and wielding sticks.
Xu Zun was not even wearing his official uniform, but was sitting in the court in casual clothes. In addition, there was the chief clerk Xu Yuan, a clerk in charge of recording, and two burly yamen runners.
boom!
"Who is here?"
Xu Zun slammed the gavel and shouted.
Although he was not wearing official uniform, his imposing manner was not diminished in the slightest.
However, Zhang Fei replied calmly: "I, Zhang San, would like to meet the prefect."
Xu Zun immediately shouted, "How dare you, Zhang San, slander me?"
Zhang Fei replied: "Everyone in Dengzhou knows that the governor is very observant and honest. How dare the common people slander him?"
You have said all these good and bad things, so what do you want to do? Seeing Zhang San was so cowardly, Xu Zun couldn't get angry at the moment, so he simply asked: "Then tell me how I exploited the people. If you say even a single lie, I will never forgive you."
Zhang Fei immediately asked: "May I ask the governor, can you prove that I have nothing to do with the Ayun case and am innocent?"
Xu Zun said: "If not, how can you stand here? We have already investigated the matter clearly. You have nothing to do with this case."
Zhang Fei said: "It means that I have been in jail for three months for no reason."
Oh, so that's why he came here. Xu Zun's expression softened a bit, and he said, "That's not my fault. You didn't make sense that day and couldn't even say your own name clearly. Plus, there were witnesses who saw you and Ayun hugging each other. Shouldn't I be suspicious?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Given my condition at the time, it was natural for the prefect to suspect me. But that was only the prefect's suspicion. There was no evidence to prove that I was involved in the case, and Ayun did not mention me. Based on this, I was indeed imprisoned for three months for no reason. Not only did I suffer mentally and physically, but I also lost my livelihood for three months. The loss was immeasurable for me."
Chief Clerk Xu Yuan felt that this guy was a little blind, and said angrily: "We are just doing things according to the law, and we have done nothing wrong. Besides, you yourself have a lot of responsibility, so you can't blame others."
This actually involves a very critical legal thought issue, namely, the presumption of guilt and the presumption of innocence. After thousands of years, the law is based on the presumption of innocence. As long as there is no conclusive evidence, the person is innocent.
But nowadays, there is a presumption of guilt, and there is only a theory of "the doubt is the best", that is, if there is doubt, the sentence should be lenient, rather than the benefit of the doubt going entirely to the defendant. Therefore, it is very reasonable to detain Zhang Fei, and any official who is not stupid will do so.
Because in reality, the government does not have the financial and material resources to support the presumption of innocence.
If you don't detain him, what if the suspect runs away? Song Dynasty doesn't have the Sky Eye system, so where can we find him
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "What the chief clerk said is true, but if the prefect wanted to punish me on purpose and put me in jail for a few months, would the result and process change? The answer is no. Although the prefect had no intention of oppressing the people, the people suffered from it. I think this is better than doing it on purpose, because it is not illegal and cannot be supervised."
After listening to this, Xu Zun frowned, but there was no anger on his face. Instead, he started to think seriously, because he felt that what Zhang San said made a lot of sense. This unintentional behavior could be more terrifying than intentional.
If someone intentionally harms someone, the imperial court has an accountability mechanism, and the people can also appeal. But if they do it unintentionally, there is no way to control it. This is terrible!
After a while, Xu Zun suddenly asked: "Then what do you think should be done?"
Zhang Fei said: "I think the government should at least give me some compensation."
Xu Yuan immediately said, "How can this be absurd? Do you think the government is a charity?"
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "The government is not a charity, but for us ordinary people, it is the justice hall. I have been imprisoned for three months for no reason and suffered heavy losses. It is reasonable for me to ask for compensation."
When Xu Zun heard this, a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes. This was not a solution.
What should I do if I encounter such a thing in the future? The government is clearly acting in accordance with the law, but they ask me to give compensation every day. This is impossible.
Xu Yuan was a little annoyed. You are not done yet. When he was about to scold him, Xu Zun suddenly said, "I enforce the law impartially and have no fault, so I will not give you any compensation. However, I am also very clear about your experience. It is normal for you to feel aggrieved. I will not pursue the charges on this indictment."
"Thank you for your forgiveness, Governor." Zhang Fei was so cowardly that he was as quick as mercury pouring out of the ground, clean and neat.
Xu Zun's expression froze. Zhang San, who had been so confident just now, actually gave in so quickly.
Before he could come to his senses, Zhang Fei suddenly changed the subject and said, "Besides that, I have another complaint."
Curious, "What's the matter?"
Zhang Fei said: "Thank you Miss Ayun for saving my life."
Xu Zun was slightly stunned, then he reacted immediately and said, "You want me to pass on your message?"
Of course he knew that Ayun had saved Zhang San's life.
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "How dare I trouble the prefect? And... And how can I thank you for saving my life?"
Xu Zun asked: "Then how do you plan to thank me?"
Zhang Fei said: "I think Ayun should not be convicted of murder, but of wounding."
Xu Yuan was shocked when he heard this.
This is clearly murder, how can it be considered as hurting people
If you don’t understand the law, don’t talk nonsense!
Xu Zun became more alert and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Zhang Fei said: "During the trial, I learned that Ah Yun confessed his guilt immediately after being arrested. I wonder if that is true?"
Xu Zun nodded and said, "That's true."
Zhang Fei said: "If I remember correctly, during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, a prisoner cried out for injustice and accused the yamen runners of torture, which led to false charges and wrongful convictions. Therefore, Emperor Zhenzong took back the judicial interrogation power of the yamen runners, and only had criminal investigation interrogation."
Any professional? Xu Zun couldn't help but look at Zhang Fei differently, and nodded: "You are right, the yamen runners do not have the power of judicial interrogation."
This is actually similar to later generations. Police questioning is a criminal investigation interrogation, while the court's interrogation is called a judicial interrogation.
Zhang Fei immediately said, "Ayun confessed his guilt immediately after being arrested by the yamen runners. At that time, he had not yet been tried by the court, but only questioned. In other words, he can be considered as surrendering himself."
Surrendering oneself does not mean that one must go to the government office and confess one's guilt.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, if a person confessed without judicial trial, it could be considered as surrendering himself. This was also to encourage everyone to surrender themselves to avoid wasting manpower and material resources of the government.
Xu Zun stroked his beard and said, "That makes sense."
Zhang Fei immediately said: "In the law of surrendering oneself, there is another clause that exempts one from the crime."
Xu Zun and Xu Yuan said at the same time: "Will you forgive the crime?"
Neither of them could remember it for a moment. Xu Yuan wanted to find a book to read, but he felt it was very embarrassing that he, as a chief clerk, was being instructed by a prisoner who had just been released from prison.
But Xu Zun didn't care about that. He immediately ordered Liu Hai to fetch the "Song Dynasty Criminal Code" and looked through it. Sure enough, there was such a clause.
However, this item is not listed specifically, but is only included in the explanation of the surrender regulations.
Therefore, even the chief clerk Xu Yuan did not think of this for a moment.
The original text reads: "If someone commits murder and injures someone and surrenders himself, he can be exempted from the crime of murder and injure the person for the crime. He will still be punished for the crime of murder and injure the person for the crime." Another argument is: "If someone kills or injures someone for the crime of stealing, or if someone kills or injures a rich person by mistake and surrenders himself, he will be exempted from the crime of theft, but he will still be punished for the crime of murder and injure the person for the crime."
So thin!
Very thin!
Xu Zun looked at Zhang San with new eyes and nodded, saying, "Yes, that's right."
Zhang Fei said: "According to this law, if a person injures another person due to theft and surrenders himself, he will be exempted from the crime of theft and only be prosecuted for the crime of injuring another person."
"good!"
Xu Zun nodded.
What is exemption from the crime? It is actually very simple. For example, you break into a house and are discovered, which results in you hurting others. However, your original purpose was not to hurt others but to steal, that is, you hurt others because of theft. In this case, if you surrender yourself, the law will only hold you accountable for the crime of hurting others, and not the crime of theft.
This is the absolution from sin.
If theft is combined with injury, the death penalty will be imposed. However, if only injury is committed, the punishment will depend on the circumstances of the injury, but the death penalty will generally not be imposed.
This is very reasonable. If there is no such legislation, once a case of injury due to theft occurs, people will be killed to silence the witness, since they will die anyway.
If he were given a chance to live, it might be possible to avoid harming innocent people and even allow the injured to receive timely medical treatment.
Zhang Fei immediately said, "According to the laws of our dynasty, the crime of theft and murder is more serious than the crime of murder. Therefore, it can be inferred that this law also applies to the crime of murder. Then, Ayun, who surrendered himself, is naturally also subject to this law. Ayun injured someone because of murder. According to the principle of pardoning the crime due to the cause, he should be exempted from the crime of murder and sentenced to the crime of wounding."
The first half of the original text says, "If a person commits murder or injury and surrenders himself, he may be exempted from the crime for which he committed the murder or injury and may continue to commit the murder or injury."
These are the regulations.
The second half of the sentence is discussed: "If someone kills or injures someone because of theft, or if someone accidentally kills or injures a rich person and then turns himself in, the crime of theft will be exempted, but the crime of killing or injuring will still be punished."
This is explained by example.
It does not mean that exemption from the cause of the crime only applies to the crime of theft and murder.
Zhang Fei's reasoning logic is correct.
But Xu Yuan was stunned.
Is this ok
"What nonsense!"
Xu Yuan angrily scolded, "You are talking nonsense. You just said that the crime of theft and injury can be exempted because the crime of theft is lighter than the crime of killing and injury, so the crime of theft is exempted and only the crime of killing and injury is investigated. But you are confusing right and wrong. The crime of murder is heavier than the crime of injury, so how can you exempt murder and only investigate the crime of injury? If you sentence like this, where is justice?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "That's not what the officials said just now."
Xu Yuan wondered, "I didn't say anything just now."
Zhang Fei said: "Just now, I appealed to your emotions and reason, thinking that I had been imprisoned for three months for no reason and needed some compensation. Isn't this reasonable and against the will of heaven? But the two officials insisted that the government was only acting in accordance with the law. Then I can only blame myself for my bad luck, after all, the law stipulates so.
But now the common people are arguing according to the law. Since the law stipulates that those who surrender themselves can be exempted from the crime, then Ayun can naturally be exempted from the crime of murder because he injured others due to murder. However, the chief clerk refuted the common people based on the law of nature.
So I want to ask, which comes first, the law of nature or the law."
Xu Yuan was speechless for a moment.
These two things seem to have nothing to do with each other, but after Zhang Fei's sophistry, they become the same thing.
Now that the truth has come out, no one can deny that Zhang Fei was indeed imprisoned for three months without any reason. He had nothing to do with the case and he didn't even know Ayun. Even from the perspective of justice, he should be given some compensation.
But the government is also acting in accordance with the law. The law stipulates this, so we cannot blame the government.
But you can't have double standards.
It turns out that he had sued me before just to pave the way for this case! Xu Zun suddenly realized it, glanced at the embarrassed Xu Yuan next to him, and spoke up to help: "Both theft and murder are crimes, but what is the crime of 'conspiracy'? If you say, thinking about someone's death is also a crime, and there is no such law in our dynasty."
To exempt one crime from the cause is to give the judge an explanation to determine whether two crimes are committed concurrently.
But according to Zhang Fei, we have to separate plotting and killing. The idea or intention of murder is a crime, and the act of murder is another crime.
But the problem is that the thought of murder is not a crime. Many people shout, "I'm going to kill you." At this moment, this person definitely has the thought of murder, but this is not a crime, it's just talk.
Murder is one crime, not two.
Theft and murder are different. Theft and murder are two different crimes.
Zhang Fei said calmly, "You are wrong, the governor. There is a rule in our dynasty that anyone who tries to enter the palace but fails to cross the threshold will be punished with eighty strokes of the cane. This is a crime of conspiracy. Also, if two people conspire and one of them breaks the law, both are guilty. But if one of them only conspires but does not commit any crime, he will also be punished. This is also a crime of conspiracy. It can be seen that conspiracy can certainly be punished as a crime."
There are too many examples of this. You can shout about killing, but if you shout about rebellion, you will end up dead regardless of whether you have any action or not.
Xu Yuanren was confused.
This kid couldn't even speak clearly before, how come he became so eloquent after being released from prison.
After thinking for a while, Xu Zun suddenly laughed and scolded: "You, a troublemaker, dare to talk nonsense in this court. However, considering that this is your first offense, I will not pursue it. As for the compensation you asked for, I will not give it. I say again, I am only acting in accordance with the law and have not wronged you. You can leave now."
"I'll take my leave."
Zhang Fei immediately bowed, turned around and left the hall.
Very neat!
Very cool!
Xu Yuan felt it was a little unbelievable, but suddenly, he realized that he was the outsider. He immediately said to Xu Zun, "Governor, this statement is absolutely unacceptable!"
Zhang Fei gave them two choices, either to pay compensation or to absolve Ayun of the crime of murder.
Of course, they can choose neither, or choose to give Zhang Fei a beating.
However, Xu Zun emphasized that he would not give Zhang Fei any compensation, and at the same time, he readily let Zhang Fei go. It was obvious that he wanted to use this to exonerate Ayun of the crime of murder.
Xu Zun smiled and said, "Since someone has raised doubts, we must fight for the prisoner. It depends on whether the Dali Temple can find a reasonable explanation that will convince people."
Although this statement sounds hard to accept, Zhang Fei's argument is clear and legal, and his logic is correct. He is not making up stories. Since there is such a provision in the law, if you want to deny it, you must give a reasonable and authoritative explanation.
As he spoke, Xu Zun looked out the door and said with a smile, "This kid is quite courageous."
The words were full of appreciation.
However, what he didn't know was that it was not because Zhang Fei was brave, but because he himself was too famous in history.
The reason why he became famous was because of the Ayun case.
This case not only involves the famous Wang Anshi's Reform, but also contains the struggle between two legal thoughts. It has great research value in the legal research of later generations.
Zhang Fei has also studied this case and is very clear about it.
If it were any other official, even Bao Zheng, Zhang Fei would not dare to be so reckless.
This is simply a distortion of the truth and misleading the public.
It was precisely because Zhang Fei knew that Xu Zun had used the "exemption of the crime" in history to help Ayun avoid the death penalty, but it was also because of his defense that the case became more and more serious, and eventually Song Shenzong, Wang Anshi, Sima Guang and others were all implicated, making this case an unprecedented case in history, with a time span of more than ten to twenty years.
But Xu Zun hasn't thought about this yet. Zhang Fei just gave Xu Zun a pillow that he will own in the future.
Zhang Fei was of course fearless, because the appeal he made was exactly what Xu Zun was thinking at the moment, and the two of them had the same idea. How could Xu Zun blame him? He even thanked him too late.
... ...
"Zhang San! Zhang San!"
Zhang Fei had just left the government office and had not walked far when he heard someone calling him from behind. He turned around and saw a boy dressed as a servant running towards him.
The servant caught up with Zhang Fei, took off the bag on his shoulder, handed it to Zhang Fei, and explained, "My master knows that you have just been released from prison and have no money, so he ordered me to come and lend you some money and clothes. You can return them after you find your relatives."
Zhang Fei was stunned at first, then he laughed. He did not ask who his master was, and took the bundle. He felt that the bundle was heavy, and he could hardly hold it firmly. He said, "Please let me tell your master that Zhang San will reward you handsomely one day."
The servant nodded and turned to leave.
Looking at the bundle in his hand, Zhang Fei raised his lips and said to himself: "It seems that what the history books record is correct. This Xu Zun really enforces the law like a mountain and his feelings are like water!"
Having said this, he paused for a moment, frowned and said, "But if I really want to pardon Ah Yun's death sentence by exonerating her crime, it is really hard to convince people, and it is also hard to repay her for saving my life. I must rescue her."