In the torture room of the Tingwei Mansion, Tingwei Jidi's brows were furrowed, and he paced back and forth anxiously.

"Ji Tingwei, this Qiang barbarian has been interrogated for many days, why hasn't he confessed yet?!" The wooden door of the torture room was pushed open, and the crown prince Liu Che slowly stepped in. The smell of the torture chamber was a little unpleasant, and he couldn't help but wrinkle his nose.

Ji Di's face was full of embarrassment, and he bowed down and pleaded: "The official is not doing well, and I ask His Highness to punish him?" ”

Liu Che waved his hand, and saw the Qiang young man half-hanging on the wooden frame, his back had been whipped and beaten to a blur of flesh and blood, and only half of his life was left, but he still refused to confess, and he also knew in his heart that Ji Di had done his best.

He glanced around the gloomy torture chamber and asked suspiciously, "Why is there only flogging here, and no other torture instruments?" ”

Ji Di was stunned when he heard this, and said puzzledly: "In addition to whipping, there are no other torture instruments in the Tingwei Mansion?" ”

Liu Che was surprised, wasn't Sima Qian in later generations castrated in the Tingwei Mansion? How could there be no other torture instruments?! Although the notorious Ten Tortures of the Manchu Qing Dynasty have not yet appeared, the Qin Dynasty should have handed down many barbaric and cruel punishments, right? If there is only the punishment of whipping, how can you force a confession when you encounter a tough guy who would rather die than give in?

Liu Che looked Ji Di up and down, and saw that he really didn't look like he was lying, so he had to ask suspiciously: "Could it be that there are no corporal punishments such as 黥 (piercing the face and inking), slashing (cutting the nose), slashing (cutting the foot), and Gong (cutting the momentum)?" ”

Ji Di's face changed slightly, and he said: "Xia Guan is familiar with a lot of corporal punishment, but it is not in line with the Han law. The Tingwei Mansion is in charge of the laws of the world, and this law enforcement is not easy to do. ”

Liu Che raised his eyebrows, couldn't help but be interested, and asked, "There is no corporal punishment in Han Law?" The Lone King had never heard of it. ”

"At the beginning of the founding of the Han Dynasty, it inherited the pre-Qin penal law, and the punishment was mainly corporal punishment, and all kinds of death sentences in Qin were also used." Ji Di sorted out his thoughts a little and slowly explained: "Until the first emperor Emperor Wen issued an edict to abolish corporal punishment, he immediately reformed the penal system. ”

It took half an hour for Liu Che to understand the beginning and end of Emperor Wen of Han's penal reform.

The penal reform originated from a case when the Taicang of Qi ordered Chun Yugong to be punished with corporal punishment, he only had five daughters and no sons, and the youngest daughter Ti Ying accompanied her father to the capital Chang'an, and wrote to Emperor Wen, saying that she was willing to be an official slave to redeem her father's corporal punishment.

Emperor Wen was very moved and took pity on her, so he issued an edict saying: "Punishment to cut off limbs, carve skin, and never stop", which is "immoral", and demanded that the penal system be reformed. Let Prime Minister Zhang Cang and Imperial Historian Feng Jing discuss the reform plan, which will change the original ink punishment, slashing punishment and beheading of the left and right toes to flogging and death punishment.

"Since Xia Yu surrendered, all dynasties have widely used corporal punishment. The so-called Xia has a chaotic government, and Yu is punished; Shang has a chaotic government, and makes a soup book; Zhou had a chaotic government, and was sentenced to nine punishments; The tyrannical criminal law is even more cruel and cruel. Only the first emperor ruled the world with virtue and abolished corporal punishment, which was really a benevolent and loving saint of the ages. Ji Di ended his story with the praise of virtue in the bad street.

Liu Che agreed with his jaw on the surface, but he was slandered in his heart. From the emperor's father, he can know that our old Liu family can't produce anything good, and Emperor Wen's so-called benevolence and love for the people is very likely to be nonsense. Regarding the historical background of Liu Heng's penal reform, Liu Che can guess a few points.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, there was a lot of waste to be lifted, people's livelihood withered, and more productivity was needed. However, if the body of a person who has been tortured has been damaged to varying degrees, the labor force will inevitably decline. Judging from the experience of the legal system, people who have been subjected to corporal punishment have obvious characteristics in appearance, and they are almost certainly discriminated against for the rest of their lives, and it is very easy for them to sprout a broken bowl or even take revenge on the social psychology, which is not beneficial to social order.

These two items may be the deep considerations of Liu Heng's reform. Of course, no matter what Liu Heng thought about back then, he must admit that he was indeed a great emperor. Liu Heng's penal reform made the Chinese penal system begin to move towards civilization. This is a small step for Liu Heng, but it is a big step for Huaxia.

Liu Che naturally will not declare what he thinks in his heart, and over the past ten years, he has learned the cunning and insidiousness of the ancients many times. It would be pure nonsense to say that the old and cunning Han ministers did not understand the true thoughts of the former Emperor Wen. He pondered for a moment and asked lightly, "In this way, Ting Wei has no other way to make this fang open his mouth to confess?" ”

Ji Di's face was embarrassed, but he had to nod helplessly. He was an extremely loyal man, and if he wanted to enforce the law and break the law, he would rather resign than do it.

Liu Che shrugged, not the slightest surprise. At the beginning, he recommended Ji Di to the emperor's father to be promoted to court lieutenant and take charge of the world's criminal law, because he valued his surname of not being afraid of power and paying attention to ambition. He didn't care at all, and said with a smile: "Since that's the case, take this fang to the lieutenant's mansion and hand it over to Lieutenant Zhang Tang for interrogation." ”

Ji Di breathed a long sigh of relief, not the slightest dissatisfaction. Zhang Tang's reputation as a cool official has long been spread throughout the counties of Gyeonggi, and its notoriety is not inferior to that of Zhidu back then, even if it is the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty, it has all changed color. It is more appropriate to leave this matter of extorting confessions by torture to cool officials.

As for the appointment of prisoners, they are not needed at all. Just because this Qiang young man was personally escorted into the Tingwei Mansion by Taiwei Dou Ying, and was strictly guarded by Emperor Jing, and interrogated as soon as possible, the crown prince Liu Che kept coming to inquire about the progress of the trial. There will be no record of such a prisoner. Even in the Imperial Palace, very few people knew about it, otherwise they would not have been able to go to the torture chamber in person to hear the trial.

Liu Che turned around, slowly walked out of the torture room, and instructed Li Fu, the chamberlain who was standing by the door: "Let King Gu's personal guards escort him to the Lieutenant's Mansion, and send two other imperial doctors to treat him, don't let him die." Then summoned Lieutenant Zhang Tang into the palace, and King Gu wanted to tell him a few words in detail. ”

Li Fu hurriedly responded to his promise and handled all matters properly according to Liu Che's instructions. And Ji Di, who was following Liu Che, heard this, and couldn't help but be a little more curious about the Qiang youth in this torture room, so that the emperor and the crown prince could be so tight, I'm afraid it would be a big deal.

Weiyang Palace, inside the imperial study.

After listening to Liu Che's story, Emperor Jing squinted his eyes and said quietly: "In this way, this Qiang barbarian is quite tough. If it weren't for the fact that this matter was too strange, he could have been given a death. ”

Liu Che nodded, and said helplessly: "This person is the last clue, most of the dozens of border generals escorted by Dou Ying into Beijing are from powerful families in Longxi. The strange thing is that the few people who committed suicide in prison turned out to be from the inner county in the south. It stands to reason that it shouldn't be them who let the Qiang people enter the customs, and it should be the generals of Longxi who want to commit suicide in fear of crime, right? ”

Emperor Jing stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and guessed: "Maybe it is not the generals of Longxi who let the Qiang people enter the customs, but these generals from the south." Although Longxi Haoqiang smuggled grain and grass to the Xiqiang tribes, he had always adhered to the bottom line of the imperial court, how could he suddenly risk destroying the nine tribes and let the Qiang people enter the customs? ”

"The sons and daughters also think like their fathers, and the time when Longxi Haoqiang fornicated with the Qiang people was not short, as early as the pre-Qin period. They also know the bottom line of more appeasement in the past dynasties. Even if the smuggling of grain and grass is exposed, it will not lead to the destruction of the family. Why is it unreasonable to be coerced, let the Qiang people enter the customs privately, and commit the taboo of the imperial court. ”

Liu Che agreed that although the emperor's father took advantage of the situation to exterminate the heroes of Longxi, it did not mean that the matter of the generals in the army fornicating with the Qiang people was over. If you don't find out the truth thoroughly, it's really like a fish in your throat, which makes people feel uneasy.

"Southern...... Southern ......" Emperor Jing rubbed his eyebrows and muttered in his mouth, the major forces in the south kept flashing in his mind, but he still didn't have the slightest clue.

Liu Che also racked his brains and pondered for a long time before he said slowly: "Erchen thought of one thing, and always felt that there was some connection between the two. ”

"Oh?" Emperor Jing sat up straight, squinted his eyes, touched his chin and said, "The emperor will come and listen." ”

Liu Che sorted out his thoughts a little and said slowly: "Father, do you still remember the Battle of Yanmen?" After the Xiongnu military ministers were defeated and took the Yanmen border fortress, the report of the Taishou Zhidu specifically mentioned that a large number of sophisticated siege equipment appeared in the hands of the Huns, which were not inferior to the most sophisticated equipment of our Han army. In particular, the structure of the ladder is unheard of, and I am afraid that only the long-lost siege ladder of the Qin Dynasty can be compared to it. If we want to talk about foreign countries, will there be some connection between the two? ”

Emperor Jing opened his eyes suddenly, his narrow eyes burst out with a devouring cold light, and he said in a gloomy voice: "The emperor's concerns are indeed somewhat reasonable. After the rebellion of Wu and Chu, the power of the princes and kings in various places was much worse than before, and there were even fewer who dared to collude with the Xiongnu and Qiang people. What's more, they are all relatives of the Liu family, if they are not crazy people, I am afraid they will not hand over the weapons of the country to the Huns. Who else in the South would dare to commit such a rebellious act? Don't you think that I won't dare to bloody southern Xinjiang?! ”

Liu Che was taken aback by the emperor's father's sudden outburst of domineering anger, and hurriedly comforted: "Father doesn't need to be angry, fortunately, there is still that Qiang barbarian who knows the inside story." As long as you are strictly interrogated, you will be able to follow the vine and wipe out all the thieves! ”

Emperor Jing calmed down the anger in his heart, waved his hand and said, "Since you have ordered someone to escort him to the Lieutenant's Mansion, let Lieutenant Zhang Tang interrogate him, so that he will not live up to my trust." ”

Liu Che promised himself, and after a few more conversations with the emperor's father, he retired and returned to the prince/palace.

Lieutenant Zhang Tang had been waiting in the prince's study for a long time, when he saw Liu Che striding in, he hurriedly stepped forward and bowed.

Liu Che was not in the mood to be polite with him, so he took the tea handed by Li Fu, poured a pot of tea, and then attached it to Zhang Tang's ear and instructed him carefully.

Zhang Tang's eyes became brighter and brighter, and a strange look of surprise and surprise was sharply intertwined on his face. After listening carefully to Liu Che's instructions, he pondered for a moment, and then whispered some unclear points and asked Liu Che for advice.

Liu Che didn't hide his secrets, and taught Zhang Tang all the ten tortures of the Manchu Qing Dynasty that he had checked in his mind during his lunch nap, as well as various methods of extorting confessions in all Chinese dynasties.

Of course, Liu Che only spoke verbally. If this kind of thing is compiled into a book, once it is spread, the name of the tyrannical prince is enough to make Liu Che stink for 10,000 years, and even the position of the prince may not be kept.

After a long time, Zhang Tang, who was quite impatient, hurriedly retreated, accompanied by several imperial doctors from the Prince Zhan Shifu, who specially supervised Zhang Tang, lest he not grasp the proportions and kill the Qin prisoner.

(Huhu, the department organized to climb Wutong Mountain, just arrived home, exhausted...... I owe a chapter, find time to make up for it...... (To be continued.) )