At the beginning of the founding of the Dajin Dynasty, the unwritten customary law of the Jurchen people was originally applied, and after the Liao was destroyed and the Song Dynasty was swallowed, the Dajin Guang adopted the legal system of the Sui, Tang, Liao, and Song dynasties, compiled it, and promulgated it in the fifth year of Emperor Xizong's reign. After several revisions, it was compiled in the first year of Zhang Zongtaihe, including 80 volumes of Taihe Vinaya, 20 volumes of legal decrees, 3 volumes of new edicts, and 80 volumes of format.

Regardless of whether it is or not, while continuing the penal system of the Tang and Song dynasties, it also preserves the extremely cruel punishment methods of the original privet tribe, reflecting strong class oppression and national oppression, and many inhumane and appalling places.

Whoever beats his wife to death and does not use a blade shall not be punished.

Monks and nuns who commit adultery and robbers shall be put to death, regardless of whether they have gained wealth or not.

……

Wan Yankang had long been dissatisfied with the old laws of the Jin Dynasty, and two years ago, he had a long conversation with Gongsun Yu for a few days and asked him to prepare a new law.

After the army entered Beijing, Gongsun Yu brought the draft of the new law to Wan Yankang, who invited Xu Daosheng, Fan Junping, Ou Hua and other civil officials to negotiate the new law in his spare time.

Article 1 of the Reform Code: All persons are equal before the law.

Article 2 of the Reform Code: The state advocates freedom of speech, and the people are not convicted of their words.

Article 3 of the Reform Code: The basic task of this law is to punish all criminal acts with criminal penalties in order to safeguard national security and protect the safety of people's lives and property.

These three principled provisions set the main tone of the reform code.

Since the Qin Dynasty Shang Ying changed the law, the saying that the Son of Heaven is guilty of the same crime as the common people has always existed, but in the past dynasties, there has never been an instance of punishing the Son of Heaven for breaking the law.

For Wan Yankang, the new emperor, the provision of equality before the law is equivalent to tying one's hands and feet. If it weren't for Xu Daosheng and others who have been with Wan Yankang for more than ten years, they would never believe that this basic principle is due to Wan Yankang's instruction and persistence.

For the courtiers, the emperor is naturally happy to see the power of self-restraint. But for the second article, there are quite a lot of opinions.

Fan Junping put forward his opinion: "In troubled times, we should use heavy codes, if we don't control speech, I am afraid that it will be useless to the country." ”

Wan Yankang did not answer positively, but diverted the topic: "I think that Chinese thought and culture have reached their peak in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, since the Qin and Han dynasties, but the cycle has been repeated, and there are even signs of decline." What do you think? ”

Xu Daosheng has discussed this issue with Wan Yankang in the past, and Wan Yankang believes that in Chinese history, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were the most brilliant era of thought and culture. At that time, the hundreds of schools of thought criticized each other and contended with each other, which was unprecedented.

According to historical records, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were nearly 200 schools with names, more than 4,000 works of various kinds, and 10 schools that were widely circulated, influential, and more famous. Confucianism, Taoism, and Moism, as the three main schools, have all served as the orthodoxy of the ruling class at different times.

However, after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty implemented the policy of "deposing a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", Confucianism represented by the Tao of Confucius and Mencius became the orthodoxy of the ruling class, and for thousands of years, China's ideology and culture did not develop.

How could Xu Daosheng agree with such ideas at first, but Wan Yankang only asked, leaving him speechless.

"Sir, when did the Four Books and Five Classics come from?"

The four books are、、、。

There is no need to repeat it, this is the work of Confucius and Mencius and his disciples.

Written by Zeng Zi during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, he put forward the three programs of Ming Mingde, close to the people, and stopping at perfection and the eight items of Gewu, Zhizhi, Sincerity, Righteousness, Self-cultivation, Qi Family, Governing the Country, and Leveling the World, which have always been advocated by Confucian students.

Written for the Warring States Period, he affirmed that "moderation" was the highest standard of moral behavior, believed that "sincerity" reached the highest state of life, and put forward the learning process and understanding method of "erudition, interrogation, prudence, discernment, and practice". In later generations, the words erudition, prudence, discernment, and dedication have become the motto of the famous school.

Among the Five Classics, it is said that it was written by King Wen of Zhou, and it was written before Confucius, and it is said that it was compiled by Confucius, and the time of writing is no longer available, but scholars agree that the book was written before Confucius.

Of the Pentateuch, the only one that was written later is. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it mainly recorded the ritual system of the pre-Qin period, reflecting the philosophical thoughts, educational thoughts, and political ideas of the pre-Qin Confucianism.

The Four Books and the Five Classics are required reading for Confucianism, and they are also required for the imperial examinations for more than a thousand years. However, most of these works were written in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the only one that was written later was also the pursuit of pre-Qin thought, and these irrefutable objective facts are enough to explain the problem.

Controlling speech and imprisoning thought may be beneficial to the ruling class in the short term. However, in the long run, it will undoubtedly cut off its backbone and stifle the vitality of the nation and the country.

Wan Yankang is a human being in two lifetimes, and he has a deep understanding of this.

After Xu Daosheng was dialed, he often thought about the gains and losses of the past and the present in his spare time, and he also thought so.

Wan Yankang threw out a question at this time, and Fan Junping couldn't answer. Xu Daosheng stood up in time and clarified the meaning of open speech.

The crowd pondered.

The principles were established, and the detailed rules were mostly set in accordance with the draft compiled by Gongsun Yu.

Some of the regulations prepared are similar to and . For example, intentional homicide, which should be punished by death, and how to punish crimes such as robbery and theft are not far from the old law.

In addition, many new crimes were also created, such as the unknown source of huge amounts of property, cover-up, transfer, concealment of criminal proceeds, etc., which made Gongsun Yu difficult to understand for a while.

The crime of unknown origin of a large amount of property was punishable by up to 10 years in later criminal law. The highest punishment is the death penalty, which shows how much attention Wan Yankang, the new emperor, attaches to the officialdom.

For the compilation, Wan Yankang already had a comprehensive plan in his heart, and he recruited Xu Daosheng, Fan Junping and others, and the more significance is that the ministers should first understand and accept the new law, so that it can be implemented smoothly.

There are four types of punishments, namely cane, fine, imprisonment, and death. Minor offences are usually punished with caning or harsh fines. Persons who commit more serious offences are sentenced to imprisonment ranging from six months to 15 years. The heaviest crime, of course, is execution.

For those sentenced to imprisonment, the Code provides for commutation of sentences.

In the State Council's plan, Daikin wants to abolish forced labor, and those who are sentenced to prison can be commuted if they are punished with work in lieu of punishment and obtain a passing grade or above.

For those who have committed serious crimes, there is also a pardon clause in the code.

The emperor could extrajudicially forgive the death penalty to a death sentence and commute it to five to ten years' imprisonment. However, the emperor's pardon power is not unlimited, but has been restricted.

First of all, the total number of people who are pardoned each year cannot exceed 100 nationwide.

Second, the emperor must have a reasonable reason for pardoning a condemned prisoner.

Finally, if two of the State Council, the court, and the Supervisory Yuan disagree with the emperor's reasons for pardon, the pardon issued by the emperor cannot be passed.

In addition, the Code also sets up mitigating and mitigating circumstances such as voluntary surrender, meritorious service, accomplice, attempted crime, and suspension of crime, as well as aggravating and aggravating circumstances for recidivism and superior offense. Needless to say, this is the modern rule of law thought that Wan Yankang instilled in Gongsun Yu early.

The setting of felonies is very different from what it used to be.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Law set up ten articles for serious crimes, and concentrated the ten most serious crimes that endangered the fundamental interests of the state at the head of the law, to emphasize that these ten crimes were the main targets of the state's crackdown and could not be pardoned. After that, the laws of the Sui, Tang, Song, and Jin dynasties basically followed the ten articles of felonies.

The criminal law of the Jin Dynasty set down ten serious crimes, namely, rebellion, rebellion, rebellion, injustice, disrespect, filial piety, disharmony, injustice, and civil strife.

In this regard, there has been a great change, and the setting of the 10 articles of serious crimes has been completely abolished, some of the crimes have been changed, and some of the crimes have been deleted.

The four crimes of disobedience, unfilial piety, disharmony, and injustice were deleted, and the code set up punishment circumstances, and those who beat or murdered their parents, elders, officials, and high titles are collectively referred to as those who commit crimes, and those who commit crimes are punished severely or aggravated.

The crime of misconduct was abolished, the crime of intentional homicide was included, the charge of civil strife was removed, and the crime of rape was included.

Conspiracy against rebellion, conspiracy against the great rebellion, and conspiracy against rebellion are still retained, but the range of sentencing has been adjusted.

The charge of great disrespect was completely removed.

The crime of great disrespect has been included in the criminal law since the Han Dynasty, and refers to words and deeds that despise or infringe on the dignity or personal safety of the emperor, including stealing items used in the emperor's rituals or items worn by the emperor on a daily basis, stealing or forging the emperor's seal, making mistakes in making medicines for the emperor, mistakenly violating food fasting when cooking for the emperor, insecure vehicles and ships built for the emperor, cursing the emperor, and so on.

Wan Yankang canceled the "killing" right in the emperor's power of life and death, and naturally restricted the emperor's other privileges.

Stealing the emperor's goods, stealing forged seals, etc., shall be punished by other crimes.

In Wan Yankang's opinion, things such as making mistakes in medicine and cooking are not worth talking about at all, so how can people be convicted of serious crimes.

Cursing the emperor has been the way to death in all dynasties. But in Wan Yankang's view, a few words of scolding are indispensable for a piece of meat. If the emperor does a good job, how can the people scold you, if the emperor does not do well, he should be scolded a few times, how can the people be condemned on this!

The abolition of the sin of great disrespect and the granting of freedom of speech to the people go hand in hand.

The emperor can scold, but who can't!

If the emperor does not do well, he will be scolded by the ministers and the people.

If officials do not do well, they will have to be scolded by their subordinates and scolded by the people.

If the officer does not do well, he will be scolded by the soldiers.

No matter the emperor, officials, or officers, if they don't do a good job, they will be scolded, and if they are scolded too much, how can they be indifferent.

In Wan Yankang's plan, as long as he can adhere to the rule of law and speak widely, no matter who is in charge of Dajin in the future, where can it be corrupted!