During the period of Empress Wu Zetian of the former Tang Dynasty, Xu Shuang, the father of Xu Yuanqing, a native of Xiatai in the same state, was killed by Zhao Shiyun, the county lieutenant of Xiatai.

Xu Yuanqing changed his surname and served as a servant in the post station.

Zhao Shiyun happened to live in this post house, and Xu Yuanqing stabbed his father's revenge, and then surrendered.

Regarding this case, many people in the court at that time thought that Xu Yuanqing's revenge for his father was an act of filial piety and righteousness, and his sins should be pardoned.

Empress Wu Zetian at that time thought the same.

And Chen Ziang, who was the right picker at the time, wrote "Revenge Petition", he believed that according to the law, unauthorized homicide should be executed.

Later, more than 100 years later, Liu Zongyuan disagreed with this, and in order to refute Chen Ziang's claim, he wrote "Refuting the Revenge Proposal".

and Chen Ziang had a battle against Qin Qiong.

Historically, this controversy is a typical example of the controversy over rituals and laws.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a woman named Zhao E, whose father was beaten to death by Li Shou, a bully in Jiuquan County.

Zhao E's three brothers all want revenge, but Li Shou is very vigilant.

Soon after, all three brothers died of a plague at the same time.

Hearing that all the men of the Zhao family had died, Li Shou was very happy, and the guests of the banquet were feasted, thinking that there was only one weak woman left in the Zhao family, so there was nothing to worry about.

Zhao E was filled with grief and indignation, bought a knife, and sharpened it at home every day, preparing for revenge.

One day, Zhao E saw Li Shou and cut him off on the spot. After cutting off Li Shou's head, Yi County surrendered.

As a result of the handling of the Han Dynasty that ruled the world with filial piety, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty personally issued an edict to pardon Zhao E, and in the name of filial piety, he also canonized Zhao E as a filial daughter, and a martyr to show praise.

But Xu Yuanqing of the Tang Dynasty was finally cut down by Chen Ziang, who had not seen the ancients before and who had not seen the comers.

Even Empress Wu Zetian was forced by Chen Ziang's strategy to forgive Xu Yuanqing.

These two cases represent the progress of the legal system from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, but when it came to the Great Song Dynasty, it became a troublesome matter.

Wednesday Wei stood up and said: "Dong Cheng's mother, Liu, when she was propping up the window on the second floor, the fork fell down and smashed into a bully of the Blue Dragon Gang, Qin Wu. ”

"The bully Qin Wu had a dispute with Dong Cheng's mother Liu, and then Qin Wu was furious, so he took advantage of the night to break into Dong Cheng's house and kill Dong Cheng's mother Liu."

"The case happened in the sixth year of Xuanhe. At that time, it was Kaifeng Shaoyin Yanying's trial. Later, when the Jin people besieged the city, Yan Ying fled south, and there was no news after that. ”

Zhao Huan nodded, this was all two years ago, and the current Shaoyin of Kaifeng Mansion is already Li Ruoshui.

"Li Fuyin, have you brought the file of this case?" Zhao Huan asked.

Li Ruoshui stood up and said: "Qin Wu's matter, I have already re-investigated it thoroughly, at that time, Qin Wu bribed Yan Ying, and after casually catching a little minion and beheading him, the case was closed." ”

"In other words, it was indeed Qin Wu who instructed and killed Dong Cheng's mother, Liu?" Zhao Huan asked.

Li Ruoshui nodded and said: "The people involved in the case have been detained, and the people of the Qinglong Gang have all been eliminated by Li Dazai." Dare to call dragons in Bianjing, they are not crazy. ”

Wednesday was afraid to see that the old things had been clear enough, and continued: "Some time ago, the commercial tax system was reformed, and this Dong Cheng had a cooking cake stall at home, so he handed over the tax to the tax inspector, which was originally in line with national law. ”

"But Qin Wu is used to being powerful, so he collected Dong Cheng's tax money again."

"Dong Cheng's old hatred is not settled, and the new hatred is born again, it was at that time, Dong Cheng hid a knife in his sleeve and found the melon stall where Qin Wu was, Dong Cheng angered Qin Wu in a few words on the grounds that the melon was not ripe."

"Dong Cheng stabbed a total of seven times, each of which was a fatal wound, killing Qin Wu's Dong Cheng, but instead sat in front of the stall, waiting for the quick arrest."

This is the case that made Wednesday Wei extremely headache, very clear and simple, according to the convention, in the Great Song Dynasty, it is a matter of course to avenge his parents.

Although this kind of thing is inevitable in "Song Criminal Unity", it is inevitable to pay for life by killing, but at the specific judicial operation level, it is often lenient to blood relatives and avengers.

Li Gang stood up at this time and said: "Official, Dong Cheng's matter can be divided into two parts, the first part is the essence of Qin Wu killing Dong Cheng's mother, and the second part is that Dong Cheng has a new conflict with Qin Wu in response to the commercial tax reform. ”

"King Xiang once said that the monarch and the minister are all in prison, and the father and son will be in prison, and there is no one who is in prison, and there is no crime in the matter."

"So I implore the official family to issue an order to pardon Dong Cheng's crimes."

"The ministers seconded the proposal." The ministers also said at the same time.

In addition to the abolition of King Kang, the entire court also reached a surprising agreement on Dong Cheng's revenge.

At this time, Zhao Huan, who was sitting on the dragon chair, looked at the ministers of the DPRK and China silently, without saying a word.

Wednesday sighed in fear, this is the difficulty here.

According to the Song law, the murderer pays for his life, and Dong Cheng must be sentenced to death.

Moreover, Dong Cheng still committed a crime for the sake of the commercial tax reform, or in the name of avenging his parents, no matter how you look at it, his sins can be forgiven.

As long as Zhao Huan makes an edict, he can forgive his sins, but this edict cannot be asked for a long time.

"What did Dong Cheng say himself?" Zhao Huan did not return to Li Gang's question head-on, but asked elsewhere.

Wednesday thought for a while and said: "Resentment and death, the people are clearly divided, the guilty are punished, and the common sense of the king, how dare you steal your life to bend the public law?" ”

[Historical translator: The mother died unjustly, and the grass people know very well, but if they commit a crime, they should be dealt with impartially, the biggest truth in the world, where do you dare to steal your life so as to cause the law of the country to fall? 】

Zhao Huan sat on the dragon chair and looked at the courtiers, this is the Great Song Dynasty. He always felt that the Great Song Dynasty was turning back on history on the way to national law.

"How does Zhou Shaoqing think it should be judged?" Zhao Huan asked.

Originally, Xing Prison was the Dali Temple in charge of the trial, and the Criminal Division was in charge of the investigation, but now this verdict should be in charge of Wednesday.

"According to the system, it should be Dong Cheng's capital crime, and the crime is unforgivable." Wednesday said, but he then said, "But the minister thinks his sin is forgivable!" In the name of righteousness. ”

Zhao Huan asked, "Tell me the reason for forgiving him." ”

"If you correct its merits and seek its end, then the use of criminal rites will be divorced. Who? ”

"If Dong Cheng's mother is not caught in a public crime, Qin Wu's punishment will be punished only by her personal grudges, her morale, and her abuse will be innocent, the state pastor will not know the crime, the criminal officer will not ask, and the upper and lower will be deceived and the call will not be heard."

"And Dong Chengneng is ashamed of wearing the sky, pillowing Ge is a courtesy, and he is scheming, and he is scheming to rush the enemy's chest, and he can restrain himself, that is, he will die without regrets, and he will be courteous and righteous."

"The deacon should be ashamed, and he will be thankful, but what is the punishment?" [Note 1]

Zhao Huan shook his head, this Wednesday is the same as Li Gang, thinking that Dong Cheng is not guilty, not to mention that Dong Cheng is guilty, and he wants Da Song to thank him.

Zhao Huan suddenly thought of a sentence, Confucianism is chaotic with etiquette, and chivalry is forbidden with martial arts.