There was a very lame question in front of me, I did not hesitate to give the answer immediately.
If you could travel back in time, which dynasty would you like to live in?
The Han Dynasty.
Or rather, the reign of Wen Jing.
Open the “Historical Records – Xiaowen Benji”, it is not difficult to find that the Han Emperor was able to create “the rule of Wenjing”, but by three moves.
Reduce the punishment, sinful self, lenient speech.
Was Emperor Han Wendi’s view of universal price ahead of his time?
No.
Before he became Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng had no ambition for the highest power. His mother, Empress Dowager Bo, was used to the fierce storms at the court and believed that “if you do not fight, no one in the world can fight with you”, so she just wanted to live a quiet life with her son. Unexpectedly, after a bloody coup, the biggest convention that all the forces could reach was the “non-contentious” Liu Heng.
The throne is almost picked up, Liu Heng half-heartedly sat on it, always trembling like a needle.
Therefore, the night into the Weiyang Palace, the seat is not warm, his first edict is: “I first assumed the throne, its amnesty to the world, giving the people a rank, women 100 cattle and wine, drink for five days.”
Of course, this is only the usual operation, the emperor is on the throne, who would like to play the trick of amnesty, but Liu Heng added grace, giving each adult man a level of title, no title of women, one hundred households to give a cow, wine ten stones; then, open five days of abstinence from alcohol, allowing the people to drink openly.
You know, “Han law three people have been on the group drinking without reason, the penalty is four taels of gold. Without the emperor’s special permission, it would have been a crime to get drunk on rice.
If the above are only small favors, then, only two months after the official reign, Liu Heng began to play really.
In December, on said: “The law, the rule of the right also, so prohibit violence and rate of good people also. Now the law has been discussed, and make no crime of parents and wives with the birth of sitting, and for the collection of funds, I do not take. It is not good.”
He said to the officials in charge of justice, “The law is the standard of governance, and the purpose of legislation is to stop violence and lead to goodness, but our current law not only punishes those who commit crimes, but also implicates their innocent parents, wives, brothers and children, and even sends them to the government as slaves, I think this is very undesirable.
Although the revolution was successful, the legislation was basically copied from the Qin law, including the law of reprimand, which Liu Heng thought was very inhumane and had to be changed.
Unexpectedly, the so-called golden words, but directly by the minister dislike back:.
All said: “The people can not self-government, so the law to prohibit it. Sitting on the other side of the collection, so tired of their hearts, so that the heavy violation of the law, which has never been far. As before.”
The people can not self-governance, so it is necessary to legislate to prohibit them from committing crimes. Relatives sit in a row, is to make those who want to lawless elements have scruples, understand that the cost of breaking the law is too high, the crime nipped in the bud. This practice has been around for a long time, or according to the original bar don’t change it.
Liu Heng is not his father, Liu Bang, has not yet reached the point of one word, or perhaps he came to power and did not show the side of authority, so the minister dared to go head to head with him. But Liu Heng believed that his ideas were correct, and when the ministers opposed, he did not put on the majesty of imperial power to subdue them, but tried to convince them from reason and logic: “I have heard the law.
The upper said: “I have heard that the law is righteous, the people of the people’s funds, the crime when the people follow. And the shepherd of the people and guide the good, the official also. They are not only unable to guide, but also to incriminate the wrong law, is the opposite of harm to the people as a tyrant. How to ban it? I have not seen its convenience, which of its plan.”
I heard that the people will be convinced if the law is just and the punishment is appropriate. Besides, it is up to the officials to guide the people to goodness. Since the officials cannot do this and punish them with unjust laws, by doing so, they will force the people to choose violence more and how can they stop crimes? Such a law, I really can not think of any justification, you think about it again.
The emperor has said so far, the officials are not all dumb asses, and lenient punishment is also good for them, so the slope down the donkey: “Your Majesty,” the officials said.
All said: “Your Majesty to increase the benefits, virtue is very strong, not the ministers and so on. Please take the imperial edict and remove the order to collect money from the ministers.”
His Majesty’s kindness to the people is deeper than the sea, and his merits are immeasurable. We will obey the decree and abolish the decree of sitting by association.
This debate between the ruler and his ministers can be said to be the odd one out in history – here the word “odd” takes its original positive meaning: a peculiar and beautiful flower, a metaphor for an outstanding person and his words and actions.
Of course, the abolition was only for the general crime of guilt by association, not for the crime of high treason. For example, in the 16th year of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the Zhao scholar Xinge Ping fooled Liu Heng by pretending to be a god, and was convicted of treason and razed three clans after the incident.
In addition to the abolition of guilt-by-association, the Han emperor also abolished the more ancient punishment of flesh during his reign.
This incident was related to a famous filial daughter, Ti Ling (tí yíng).
Ti Ling was the daughter of Jun Yu Gong, the official who managed grain in the state of Qi. The state of Qi was the feudal state of Liu Fei, the eldest son of Liu Bang, the half-brother of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, whose grandson, Liu Ze, was the king of Qi at that time. In the thirteenth year of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, Chun Yu Gong committed a crime, not knowing whether it was corruption or malfeasance, and according to the law at that time, Qi had no right to handle it without permission, so he had to be sent to Chang’an and convicted by the court.
Chun Yu Gong was childless and had five daughters, Tilha being the youngest. Knowing that her father would be tortured in the capital, she decided to go to Chang’an alone and accompanied him for thousands of miles to petition Emperor Wen of Han directly.
My father was an official and was known for his honesty and fairness in Qi and China. I hurt my husband the dead can not be reborn, the sentence can not be reappointed, although again want to reform, there is no way. I would like to be a government servant to atone for my father’s crime and make a new life.
The people of Qi praised my father for his honesty and fairness as an official, but now he has broken the law and should be punished. I am willing to work as a servant in the government to pay for my father’s punishment, so that he can have a chance to reform.
Emperor Wen of Han read Tilha’s petition, full of emotion, and immediately issued an edict.
…… Now the law has three meat punishment, but the adultery does not stop, what is the blame? Is it not that I am thin in virtue and teaching is not clear? I am very ashamed of myself. Therefore, the tame road is not pure and the foolish people trapped in it …… now people have had, teaching is not given and the penalty added? Or want to change the behavior of good and the road is not by. I am very sorry. The punishment to break the branch body, carved skin, lifelong, what its pain and immoral, is not called the parents of the people’s intention! In addition to the meat punishment.
There are various kinds of cruel physical punishment in the current law, such as stabbing the face, cutting the nose, breaking the feet, etc., but the crime is still repeatedly prohibited, what is the problem, is not because I can not do to rule by virtue? Now, when people commit crimes, they are punished before they are educated, and there is no chance for them to change their ways. It is too inhumane to cut off a prisoner’s limbs by torture and prevent him from recovering for life. We are called the parents of the people, is this in line with the hearts of the parents of the world? Abolition.
This time, no minister objected to it, and with the decree, the meat punishment was removed.
Today, it seems that the miracle of this matter is not how a weak woman like Ti Ling walked the two thousand miles from Linzi to Chang’an, but that she followed the escort team to the petition, Qi did not send people to intercept the petition, and her letter could also directly reach the emperor, which is really incredible.
Liu Heng’s abolition of rendezvous and meat punishment was just a gesture to fool the people?
Although Ban Gu’s “Hanshu – The Chronicle of Emperor Wen” basically copied Sima Qian’s “Shiji – The Chronicle of Xiaowen”, it also added to this matter, saying that during the reign of Emperor Wen, “hundreds of prisons were broken and several sentences were imposed”, i.e. hundreds of cases were broken and the criminal law was set aside many times.
There is a familiar idiom “Be strict with yourself, be lenient with others”, which is similar to Liu Heng.
In terms of personal life, Liu Heng was probably the most simple emperor, saving as much as he could on food and clothing in the harem, and before his death, he even made an edict to keep the funeral simple and forbid extravagance and waste.
In addition, according to Sima Qian, Liu Heng was probably the emperor who issued the most “sinful edicts” in history.
The first time, in the second year of his reign, there were solar and lunar eclipses in November and December, which is not a problem today, but at that time, it was a “vision of the sky”. The emperor is the son of heaven, the sovereign power of the gods, the sky has a vision, is generally considered to be a warning from heaven to the emperor: Hey, you are over the line, do not forget, God is watching you.
Therefore, Liu Heng hurriedly issued a sinful edict.
…… I was given to protect the temple, with a microscopic body entrusted to the people on top of the king, the world’s governance, in my alone, only two or three ruling Utah my support also. I can not manage to educate the masses, the upper to tired three light of the bright, its immoral. Order to, its full consideration of my faults, and knowledge of the thought of the less than, and the relative to tell me ……
I take on this heavy responsibility with a weak body, the rise and fall of the world, the responsibility is all on me, the ministers are like my right arm and left arm. But I am incompetent in ruling the country, so that the sun, moon and stars are dimmed, I really do not deserve the position. After receiving my edict, you all must seriously think about what I did wrong, and tell me what you know, what you see, what you think, and what I did not do enough.
The second time, in the thirteenth year of his reign, Liu Heng abolished another position that specialized in taking the blame for the emperor: the mystery bèi Zhu officer.
When a disaster occurred in the world, or when the emperor was at fault, the emperor would be held responsible for the crime, and this process was called “mystery”. The Han dynasty also inherited this system, but Liu Heng thought it was inappropriate and said, “I have heard that the way of heaven is that misfortune starts from grievances and blessings rise from virtue, so I should be the only one to bear the responsibility for what the officials have done wrong. Now, the secret official shifts all the faults to the ministers, and this shows my lack of virtue, which is more than worth the loss.”
After that, Liu Heng issued two edicts in the 14th and 19th years to condemn himself, emphasizing that “I am ashamed of myself”, “I am not virtuous”, “I am not sure”, “my virtue is weak”, and “my virtue is weak”. “I am ashamed of myself, I am lacking in virtue, I am faint – have you ever seen any other emperor who blamed himself as often as he did?
Although there is no shortage of showmanship, but showmanship and self-hacking is also the need for boldness.
In addition to reducing the sentence, the crime itself, Liu Heng is the most reminiscent of the people today, or “wide speech”.
In March of his second year on the throne, he issued a special edict to abolish the crime of speech.
On said: “the ancient rule of the world, the dynasty has into the good SPARKLE, slander of the wood, so through the rule of the road and to advise. Now the law has the crime of slander and siren speech, is to make the ministers do not dare to enjoy, and the top can not hear the fault. How can the wise and virtuous come from far away? It is removed. The people may wish to curse on the top in order to meet about the knot and then inveigh against each other, the officials think that the great rebellion, and they have other words, and the officials think slander. This fine people’s stupidity and ignorance to resist death, I do not take. From now on, those who violate this do not listen to the rule.”
According to legend, in ancient times, Yao had his ministers erect a flagpole outside the imperial court, so that the people could stand under the flagpole and say anything they wanted to the court.
Yao also had a large wooden board set up in another place, so that anyone who was dissatisfied with the court could carve words on it, and someone would collect the criticism, and he and the ministers would analyze and study it, and if there was any, they would correct it, but if not, they would not settle accounts afterwards. This system continued until the Qin Dynasty, when it was abolished by Qin Shi Huang. (The Huabiao, which we can still see today, was formerly the wood of slander).
Liu Heng believed that by giving those who wanted to speak a place to do so, he naturally recruited those who dared to speak. And our current law actually has the crime of slandering the court, creating rumors and confusing the public, so that even the ministers are afraid to speak the truth, how can I understand my own faults? How can I recruit truly competent people? In addition, some people gathered among the people to curse the emperor, and then someone went to inform, the authorities were qualified as the crime of treason, it is too much.
(eyes seem into the sand, allow me to wipe first ……)
Confucianism talk about the ancient ruler, the words must be called Yao and Shun, but Yao and Shun is, after all, half a letter to the history of the times, its deeds have much credibility, it is not easy to say. The Han Emperor Liu Heng, on the other hand, was really an emperor with zero bad reviews. Hai Rui of the Ming Dynasty once said, “Below the third generation, the only one who is called a virtuous ruler is Emperor Wen of Han.” Zeng Guofan also said that he was “the only wise ruler after three generations”. These words are not just empty praise, they are based on informative historical data.
In the eyes of Sima Qian, Liu Heng reigned for twenty-three years, and in one sentence: “He concentrated on the people with virtue, so that the sea was rich and prosperous, and flourished in ritual and righteousness.” It is to convince the people with benevolence and virtue, and achieved a double harvest of material and spiritual civilization.
To be honest, it is not known whether the rule of Wenjing was really as good as described by historians, so reading history certainly requires more than one question mark. However, Sima Qian wrote the history and disclosed the rogue behavior of Liu Bang, the father of Liu Heng, without mercy and without regard to the face of the “founding emperor of this dynasty”, which is extremely unbelievable today, and this gives his praise to Liu Heng more credibility.
Compared with the so-called “Qin Huang, Han Wu, Tang Zong, Song Zu”, Han Wendi may not be a great monarch, but I believe that the people living under his rule were happier than living in the era of these “great” emperors. What Liu Heng did, in fact, did not need any greatness, he just relaxed the big hand that had been pinching the people’s necks since ancient times, so that the people had the freedom to breathe and speak, and a sense of happiness would arise.
It is clear that what the people need is not greatness.
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