The criminal justice procedures of the Song Dynasty were so complex and rigorous that they were the most complicated in all dynasties, and even today, they would be considered too "cumbersome". If Bao Zheng had decided the case like the performance of "Bao Gong Opera", there is no doubt that it would be a serious violation of judicial procedures, and he would have been impeached and removed from office by the Taiwan officials a long time ago. If the defendant submits to the law after hearing the verdict, then the entire case will be closed and submitted to the criminal justice department of the circuit court dispatched by the central government in various localities for review.

If the circuit court finds any suspicions, the case will be reviewed. If no suspicion is found, the judgment can be enforced. However, if it is a death sentence and the facts of the case are doubtful, it must be reported to the Central Justice Department for review. Bao Zheng ordered the execution of criminals without review or review, which was completely an abuse of power and a crime. Not to mention that the emperor can't tolerate this kind of courtier, even his colleagues will impeach him and remove him from power, and he has no chance to kill Chen Shimei at all.

Bao Gong, who won the reputation of 'Qingtian' because of the righteous killing of his nephew, is also mixed with water in Zhao Yu's opinion, because as far as he knows, the probability of this happening under the judicial system of the Song Dynasty is too small, of course, this is still in the case that Bao Gong really has such a nephew. In fact, Bao Gong left a family motto before his death:

"In later generations, if there is a person who commits stolen goods, he shall not be released to his own family, and after his death, he shall not be buried in the big house. Not from my will, not from my descendants. His descendants did not insult their ancestors, and his son Bao Shou and Sun Bao Yongnian were all upright and honest, and they had a clean voice. Bao Zheng obviously didn't have a nephew who became a corrupt criminal, so why should he kill his relatives in righteousness?

The judiciary of the Song Dynasty paid special attention to the recusal of relatives, and a very strict and thorough recusal system was set up in all aspects of judicial trials. Even if Bao Zheng did have a nephew who committed a crime, it would not be Bao Zheng's turn to kill his relatives in righteousness. If the court of the Song Dynasty accepted a lawsuit, the first thing to do before the trial was to approve the recusal judge. All those who have relatives, teachers and students, superiors and subordinates, or grudges with the plaintiff or defendant in the lawsuit, or have had a recommendation relationship, must self-declare their recusal.

Not only do judges who have a relationship with the litigant need to recuse themselves, but in the course of the trial of a case, the three judges who are responsible for inferencing, interrogating, and prosecuting the law must also have a relationship of kinship, otherwise they must also recuse themselves. Moreover, the law also strictly prohibits the investigators, interrogators, and prosecutors from meeting and discussing the facts of the case before the case is concluded, otherwise "each will have 80 rods."

If it is a case under review, the reviewing judge also needs to recuse himself if he has a relationship with the original trial judge; The punishment for judges who conceal their recusal obligations is very severe. Even between superior and subordinate judges must be recused – that is, judges who are related to each other cannot become superiors and subordinates. What if a judge who recuses himself from responsibility does not declare? Accusations and accusations are allowed.

Needless to say, this is naturally to prevent judges' judgments from being influenced by personal relationships and personal feelings, and from falsely publicizing personal favors and personal vendettas. In fact, it can also avoid human tragedies such as relatives and nephews. If Bao Zheng's nephew is brought to court for corruption, then Bao Zheng will first have to recuse himself, and it will never be possible to try the case in person. It can be said that such a system of judicial recusal has become extremely strict.

Those who criticize the lack of procedural justice in the traditional justice system are clearly mistaking the joke for history. The literati of the old days who fabricated the story of "Bao Gongquan's nephew" and today's scholars who target the behavior of "Bao Gongquan's nephew" actually mistakenly believe that the traditional judicial system does not pay attention to the avoidance of relatives, and only then will there be judicial officials who kill relatives with righteousness, but the former touted "righteous annihilation of relatives" as a virtue, while the latter regarded "righteous annihilation of relatives" as a lack of judicial recusal procedures.

Regrettably, the facts are just as later generations pointed out: "After the Yuan people entered the Central Plains, the excellent judicial system of the Song Dynasty was greatly destroyed, and they abolished the Dali Temple, the law school, the criminal law examination, and the system of bowing and dividing the division and reversing the different investigations. "The little literati who lived in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties were completely unaware of the elaborate judicial process design of the Song Dynasty, and could only rely on their self-righteous imagination to fabricate the process of Bao Gong's trial.

Therefore, the "Bao Gong Opera", which appeared in batches after the death of the Song Dynasty, actually has nothing to do with the judicial system of the Song Dynasty, and at most can only reflect part of the judicial concepts and practices of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. It is too big to criticize the traditional judicial model with the help of "Bao Gong Opera", because "Bao Gong Opera" actually obscures the developed judicial civilization of the Song Dynasty.

However, in the view of Zhao Hao, a modern person, although the Song Dynasty established an internal judicial supervision mechanism based on the principle of separation of powers, from both functional and institutional aspects, it established an internal judicial supervision mechanism that used the judicial system to self-supervise and correct errors, as well as an external judicial supervision and restraint mechanism to prevent malpractices or after discovering trial errors. However, the criminal trial supervision mechanism in the Song Dynasty also had obvious limitations, and its positive role should not be exaggerated.

First of all, the purpose of the criminal trial supervision mechanism in the Song Dynasty was to pursue the correctness of the judgment results, but in the process of practice, extrajudicial law enforcement often appeared, which provided an opportunity for the executive power to interfere with the judiciary at the institutional level, which led to judicial instability. Second, judicial impartiality cannot be fully guaranteed without judicial independence.

Judges are both members of the judicial system and members of the administrative power system, and the administrative power and the judicial jurisdiction are confused and at the same time penetrate each other, making it easy for the judiciary to deviate from the law and the rule of law is mixed with the element of the rule of man. Therefore, although the supervision and restraint mechanism of criminal trials in the Song Dynasty promoted judicial fairness, its role was limited.

As the supreme ruler under this system of political and legal integration, Zhao Yu naturally has the right to decide on the judiciary, that is to say, he has the best right to approve the death penalty. In the early Song Dynasty, based on the special social background at that time, it was stipulated that the state-level judicial organs had the power to determine the judgment of death penalty cases, and did not need to report to the central government for approval. The Central Criminal Department only conducts post-mortem reviews after the execution of the death penalty has been completed.

However, since the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, death penalty cases can only be carried out after a detailed review by the Criminal Prosecution Division, and the state-level organs no longer enjoy the power of final adjudication, and gradually form a system. This practice was used until the Southern Song Dynasty. Unless there is an emergency, the governor is temporarily given the power of final judgment on the death penalty, and is exempted from submitting it to the Criminal Division for review and reporting to the emperor for final approval.

When Zhao Yu counterattacked Jiangnan, in order to quickly stabilize the situation, he also delegated this power to Fuzhou, and the criminals who committed treason and evil crimes could be executed without reporting. However, after the situation was stable and the political power and institutions at all levels were sound, the final approval of the death penalty was withdrawn in time, but at the same time, it also brought him a lot of workload, and also made him feel very good, after all, what could be sent to his case were the crimes committed by the most vicious people, which still had a great impact on his pure psychology......

…………

After the queen mother returned to the palace, she resumed every morning, and she had to attend the court meeting every Friday today, so it was impossible for Zhao Yu to sleep lazily even if she wanted to. He didn't sleep until the time of his son last night, and he couldn't help but feel a little sluggish after getting up, and after a simple wash, he would go to the queen mother's bedroom with a group of concubines to ask for peace, everyone knew that His Majesty was in a bad mood recently due to the departure of Master Yuan Miao, and he didn't dare to say more, which made the atmosphere a little dull.

"Official ......"

"Queen, is there something wrong?" Zhao Yu was thinking about what should be discussed at today's court meeting, when he was suddenly interrupted by the queen who was walking side by side, twisted his face and frowned and asked, his tone couldn't help but be a little stiff.

"Official, you should also pay attention to your body, rest early, don't burn your body!" Wu Xi keenly caught the displeasure in it, swallowed back what he was about to say, and turned to care about the authentic way.

"Oh, there's been more going on in the past two days, I'll pay attention!" Zhao Hao didn't think much about it, waved his hand and said, signaling that he was fine.

"Official ......," Chen Shu, who was behind, stepped forward and said.

"I'm fine, I'll be busy for the next few days!" Zhao Hao thought that he was also careless and careless, and said a little impatiently.

"......" Chen Shu's 'temper' is not like the queen, and she wrinkled her nose and wanted to say, but she was interrupted by Wu Xi, "Please be safe, the official family will preside over the court meeting today, everyone hurry up!" ”

"Alas!" The queen blocked the words, and Chen Shu couldn't say it anymore, so she sighed very unwillingly and stomped her foot hard.

"Concubine Niangniang, be careful, don't do this!" But her actions startled the maid who was accompanying her, and hurriedly helped Chen Shu to say uneasily.

"It's eventful, this palace is fine, it's all the fuss." Chen Shu glanced at the emperor in front of him, he did not stop, there was a sadness in his heart, and he shook off the hand supported by the maid and reprimanded in a low voice. And Lei Yan, who was following her, stuck out her tongue at a few people, while Li Sanniang shook her head gently, asking everyone not to be troublesome.

Zhao Hao, who was walking in front, did not notice the strange scene behind him, and hurried back after leading everyone to greet the Queen Mother, but what made him a little puzzled was that the Queen Mother did not leave him to share breakfast today, but left the Queen Mother and others. But seeing the Queen Mother smiling and groaning, it seems that there is no sense of blame. Listening to the bursts of morning bells, the morning time was coming, and he didn't think about it anymore if he couldn't figure it out, drank a glass of milk, and gobbled up two meat buns and prepared to go to court.

In Zhao Hao's view, the court meeting is more ceremonial, and its biggest function is to let the ministers see that the emperor is still alive and in good health. The second is to show that the emperor is still diligent in political affairs, not a dumb monarch who is absurd and political. In addition, officials 'compete for favor' and show their status and talents, especially new officials are often more eager to express themselves, hoping to leave an indelible impression in front of the emperor.

It doesn't take much to imagine what a court would be like in this atmosphere, like a modern debate, where every issue often provokes controversy, trying to overpower the opponent in front of his colleagues and make the emperor accept his opinion. But Zhao Hao understands very well that on such occasions, most of the issues are discussed but not decided, and they need to be re-discussed in the future, and at that time, several heads are often together, but a decision is made in just a few words.

So Zhao Yu thought that the court meeting was a waste of time, and he had to participate, and he even thought about what those emperors who went to court every day thought and how they did it. However, what he admired was the tenacity of these diligent emperors, and how big their nerves had to be to persevere in the court meetings for many years without collapsing.

Today's court meeting is like a replica of the past, and after the announcement of several edicts that have already been set, it enters the stage of deliberation. In the face of the opinions expressed by all parties, what Zhao Yu has to do is to pretend to be unfathomable and 'hum', and then let the other party continue to say, so that all parties are not sure what they are thinking, and when everyone is silent, he only needs to say 'discuss after the dispersal' is over, and several of the same old gods are there to salute and say yes, and then enter the next cycle.

Therefore, Zhao Hao sat on it mostly time-consuming, but he knew that only when the ministers were noisy and unable to make a sound, or because the internal urgency could not be bearable, the court meeting could come to an end. You must know that no monarch or minister can enter and leave the main hall at will, and it is even more extravagant to want to drink water. So whether it's thirsty, hungry, or pooping and peeing, you have to endure it, but people have limits, and after four or five hours, some people will not be able to stand it.

"Change clothes, serve tea!" After the dispersal of the dynasty, Zhao Yu returned to the Zhiyuan Hall of the harem, and he couldn't wait to take off the yellow robe that represented infinite authority and drink a cup of warm tea.

"Official!"

"Hey, isn't Concubine De on duty today? Why is my sister here! Zhao Yu asked in surprise. According to the schedule of the concubines, these days should be Zhang Ping's sleeping and living in Zhiyuan Hall, and after Su Lan took over the position of Sigong Ling, he had to take care of the affairs of the entire harem and manage the harem divisions, but there were fewer people who came to Zhiyuan Hall.

"The official family, Concubine De has a pretense, so she is a slave and a maid to serve." Su Lan smiled and helped the little emperor change his clothes.

"Oh, I saw that he was fine in the morning, why is he sick, has the doctor seen it?" Zhao Yu raised his two hands, and asked Su Lan to take off the crown and hat for him, untie the jade belt, take off the very cumbersome court clothes, and asked very curiously.

"I've seen the Imperial Doctor, and it's fine!" Su Lan took off the court clothes and asked the palace maids to clean them up, and she waited for the emperor to change into light regular clothes.

"It's okay!" Zhao Yu nodded, took the teacup and drank it all, wiped his mouth and said.

"Official, don't you really know?" Seeing that the little emperor still didn't look like an emperor, Su Lan took the teacup and said with a chuckle.

"What's the matter?" Zhao Yu looked at Su Lan and asked confusedly.

"The official family, the queen, the concubine and the concubine are pregnant!" Su Lan looked at the little emperor's appearance and knew that he really didn't know, so he told him with a smile.

"They're all pregnant, when did it happen?" Zhao Yu was stunned for a moment when he heard this, but he couldn't tell whether he was happy or sad, he just felt that his heart was beating fast, and he asked again after a while.

"When the official family left the palace, the queen felt uncomfortable, and asked the imperial doctor to check the pulse and found out, saying that it had been two months. Concubine Guifei and Concubine De also discovered one after another, and the time was about the same! Su Lan looked at the little emperor's stunned appearance when he heard the smile at first glance, and replied with some amusement......