Xu Yougong enabled the Suzheng Tai to serve the imperial history, he thanked the Empress Wu in a letter, and used the deer as a metaphor for himself: "The minister heard that although a deer is still running in the mountains and forests,

But fate has long been destined to become a dish at the banquet, which is the nature of the times! His Majesty uses his ministers as judges, and his ministers abide by the law, and once they do not conform to His Majesty's wishes, they will definitely die because of this. ”

The implication is that keeping the law is my unchangeable disposition, and if I insist on doing so, I will not be able to satisfy your wishes, so I can only resign from my official position. Empress Wu was not surprised by Xu Yougong's resignation.

This minister, who is not afraid of degrading officials, not afraid of killing heads, and putting life and death out of the way, has dared to argue with himself more than once since he was appointed as a criminal minister. Empress Wu finally valued Xu Yougong, it was he who fought for the innocent who were wronged, and was sentenced to death three times, and was about to be executed, calm and calm, with a carefree face; He was not glad to have forgiven him.

This time, it was reactivated after Xu Yougong was dismissed, with the intention of avoiding burying this rare talent and better playing his role. I didn't expect that after Xu Yougong was dismissed from the government and served the people, his personality dictated that from the beginning of the activation, he had to be more serious with the military queen.

Xu Yougong is the grandson of Dr. Xu Wenyuan, who was admitted to the Ming Economic Department, and was appointed to join the army as a judicial officer in Puzhou many times, and inherited the title as a Dongguan male.

Xu Yougong's dismissal from office stemmed from the fact that when Xu Yougong was appointed as an official in Qiuguan, Zhou Xing, a servant of the Autumn Palace, handed over to Xu Yougong a case file containing the rebellion of Li Renbao's brothers, the former assassin of Daozhou, and said that the Sixing Temple had sentenced the two brothers to the crime of rebellion.

After reading the case file, Xu Yougong believed that taking Li Renbao's brothers' martial arts competition as evidence of rebellion and rebellion was wronged and should be corrected immediately!

Zhou Xing not only did not correct it. On the contrary, he played Emperor Wu, and said that Xu Yougong had a bad heart. and quoted scriptures to show that Xu Yougong was attached to the top. deliberately protecting the thief who conspired against him was in line with the capital crime, and asked Emperor Wu to send Xu Yougong to prison for interrogation.

Although Emperor Wu was dissatisfied with some of Xu Yougong's words and deeds, he admired Xu Yougong's integrity and talent very much, so she wanted to protect Xu Yougong, so she issued an edict: "It is forbidden to arrest and interrogate Xu Yougong, and remove him from his official position." ”

When Xu Yougong was dismissed, he was only a petty official from the sixth grade, but Emperor Wu knew Xu Yougong very well. This is due not only to Xu Yougong's talent and political achievements, but also to Xu Yougong's distinctive personality.

As early as when he was serving as a judicial officer in Puzhou, Xu Yougong "strived to be lenient and benevolent, never lightly used torture, nor lightly sentenced people to flogging and cane", but used the method of indoctrination to enlighten the criminals to repent and rehabilitate. For this reason, the people and officials of Puzhou were very moved, and called Xu Yougong "Xu Wuzhu".

At the end of Xu Yougong's three-year term, he did not use a rod to punish a criminal in a trial. Therefore, the name of "Xu Wuzhu" also spread louder and louder, and spread to the capital Chang'an. It also passed to the Empress Wu.

Empress Wu didn't care about Xu Yougong's benevolence, what she liked was Xu Yougong's wisdom and heart. In the first year of Yongchang, Xu Yougong was edicted to enter Beijing and held an important position in the Cheese Punishment Temple.

At that time. The Wuzhou Revolution was in full swing, and in order to eradicate dissidents, Empress Wu used a large number of cool officials such as Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen. Incidents of framing innocent people occurred from time to time, and the minister was terrified. Mo Gan Zhengyan,

Only Xu Yougong stepped forward. Often in front of the palace to play straight, many times reprimanded by the martial queen, Xu Yougong looked indomitable, and fought for it. After that, Xu Yougong looked for the outer lang of the autumn palace and turned the langzhong.

The imperial court set up a Tongkuang to collect secret information, and a person named Feng Jingtong submitted a complaint to Yan Yuqing, the county governor of Guixiang County, Weizhou, who had conspired against Li Chong, who had been killed in the army last year. Empress Wu ordered the middle attendant Yu Shi Lai Junchen to try the case.

After Yan Yuqing was arrested in Chang'an, Lai Junchen forced Yan Yuqing to admit that Li Chong had conspired against the same party, Yan Yuqing shouted that he was wronged, and after his severe torture to extract a confession, Yan Yuqing had no choice but to admit his guilt and write a confession: "Conspire with Li Chongtong to rebel."

Lai Junchen saw Yan Yuqing confess his guilt, so he played the martial arts. After Empress Wu approved it, he ordered Lai Junchen to transfer the case to the Sixing Temple for formal sentencing. The person who took over Yan Yuqing's case was the newly appointed criminal Cheng Xu Yougong. Xu Yougong carefully read the case file and felt that although Yan Yuqing had admitted that he had "conspired against Li Chongtong", the evidence of the crime was insufficient.

In order to alleviate Yan's crimes, he consulted the "Yongchang Pardon Decree" issued by Emperor Wu that year, and found the words "leader" and "branch party", so he invoked the "Yongchang Amnesty Order" to sentence Yan Yuqing as the "branch party" of Li Chong's rebellion, and exiled him for 3,000 li, so that Yan Yuqing could be exempted from the death penalty.

This verdict not only made Lai Junchen very annoyed, but also made several other officials involved in the trial of this case dissatisfied, and the servant Shi Wei Yuanzhong directly went to Emperor Wu and requested that Yan Yuqing be beheaded according to the rebel leader, and his family name was lost.

The Empress Wu played the next edict. However, Xu Yougong stubbornly admonished Empress Wu: "Yan Yuqing's case, please consider the case again."

Yan Yuqing illegally collected private debts for Li Chong, and wrote letters, and did have some relationship with Li Chong, but according to the "Yongchang Amnesty Decree" issued by His Majesty, Yan Yuqing was just a branch party that slipped through the net.

Therefore, according to the pardon, he should be exempted from the death penalty and sentenced to exile. If forgiveness and atonement of sins are better than not forgiveness, how can we face the people of the world? My pilgrimage must not act like this. After hearing this, Empress Wu was greatly dissatisfied, and asked Xu Yougong: "According to you, what is the leader?" Xu Yougong replied calmly: "Kui is a handsome, and the first is the original plan." ”

Empress Wu asked again: "Isn't Yan Yuqing the leader?" Xu Yougong replied again: "If he was the leader, he should have been subdued when Li Chong was killed, and he only found out after the pardon, which shows that he is just a branch of the party." ”

Empress Wu retorted: "What is it that he is not the leader in collecting private debts and buying bows and arrows for Li Chong?" Xu Yougong replied: "Debt collection is a fact, but buying a bow and arrow has nothing to do with Yan Yuqing." Empress Wu asked again: "Levying debts in February and writing in August, can you still be an accomplice?"

Xu Yougong once again excused Yan Qingyu and said: "The correspondence has not been found, only based on confessions, and the confessions only admit to greeting Li Chong with courtesy.

Moreover, debt collection and communication can only be attributed to the behavior of the branch, and it cannot be the same as the leader of the conspiracy! This court's rebuttal made Empress Wu gradually feel that this sentence, known as "Xu Wuzhu", had the courage and insight that ordinary officials did not have.

In order to ease the atmosphere and avoid causing a bigger conflict, Emperor Wu relaxed and said to Xu Yougong: "Yan Yuqing is a branch party or not a branch party, Qing will go and carefully investigate and play it." Afterwards, Xu Yougong took Yan Yuqing as the crime of "party branching" and obtained the approval of the martial arts.

Yan Yuqing was exonerated of the death penalty. changed to a distant stream, and his family was also exempted from being official slaves. There is a man named Han Jixiao. has been a puppet official of Li Jingye, and he has long since died. The magistrate made Gu Zhongyan confiscate his home, and he has already issued an edict to agree.

Xu Yougong chased and discussed: "According to the law, those who conspire against will be beheaded." If the person dies, he shall not be beheaded, and if he is not beheaded, he shall not be implicated in the punishment. The death of the person implicated in the punishment of the crime is to be commuted. ”

Hundreds of people have been granted such forgiveness in obedience. Feng Pavilion Lang Ren Zhigu, the Winter Palace Shangshu Pei Xingben and other seven people, were framed and should be executed, and the Empress Wu asked the prime minister: "The ancients used torture to stop murder, and now I use kindness and righteousness to stop murder." Is it okay to plead with the public for Ren Zhigu and others and give them rebirth? ”

Lai Junchen and Zhang Zhimo resolutely requested to be executed in accordance with the law, but Empress Wu did not agree. Xu Yougong played: "Coming to Junchen violates the gift of His Majesty's rebirth and cannot show faithfulness. ”

So they all avoided death. For Xu Yougong, a persistent and upright official who protects the law, Empress Wu always felt the need to reuse him, and at the same time to wear down his sharpness and make him surrender.

Therefore, in the process of handling the case of Li Renbao's brothers' rebellion. Emperor Wu did not hesitate to demote him to the people.

The martial queen re-employed Xu Yougong, because the martial queen remembered his righteousness and did not inquire about personal affairs. Empress Wu has always valued people's temperament and talent, and has a distinctive personality. A courtier with a unique style, she always has to look the other way and give more support and respect.

Even if they disagree with their own political views or oppose their ministers. She can punish them mercilessly, but she will never lightly violate their moral bottom line. They will not be abandoned at will.

Once Xu Yougong was accused, and Empress Wu asked him in person: "Recently, the public has wrongly released many criminals by judging cases. Why is that? In the face of the stern reprimand of the Empress Wu, Xu Yougong was calm and calm, and replied unhurriedly: "It is a minor fault of the minister to release the criminal by mistake; Cherishing living beings is a great virtue. ”

Empress Wu heard that Xu Yougong was reproachful and reminded of herself, so she was silent for a moment and said: "The way to govern the country lies in lifting the avenue and not following the law. ”

Xu Yougong didn't understand Emperor Wu's words, he still followed his own train of thought and expressed his attitude, "The minister is the minister of law enforcement, and if he finds a defect, he will immediately remedy it, and if he sees a loophole, he will immediately plug it."

The way to be a minister is to promote the good and eliminate the disadvantages! Empress Wu did not pick up the topic of Xu Yougong, and said: "The law and the time are changed, and the rule is meritorious, and the law is not easy to change."

As a courtier, he should seek stability in the midst of change, seek governance in the midst of change, be orderly at the end of the matter, and take Dafa as it is. "It's all in the past, and no one was convinced, and it was impossible to tell who was right or who was wrong.

Emperor Wu knew that some well-educated people like Xu Yougong valued their personal reputation, pursued the righteousness of their sons, and paid attention to following the rules. For the sake of honor and righteousness, they often show arrogance in their contempt for authority, and can even disregard life and death.

They are upright and pragmatic, they know what they should insist on and what they should not trespass, and they stick to justice within the scope of what they must insist on, and they will not back down.

They absorb fame and value the power in their hands, more to show their ideals and talents; Once the reality does not come true, they can ask for help and retreat.

Empress Wu never doubted Xu Yougong's loyalty, and also learned his integrity and perseverance that he could not follow and did not avoid the strong.

In the face of Geng Jie's person like Xu Yougong, Empress Wu recognized, appreciated and respected him in terms of personality.

Xu Yougong's majestic temperament of a big husband always gives people strength and shock. Putting aside the rights and wrongs of the court, she is willing to fight with him without erasing his talent and courage.

All the festivals and conflicts between Empress Wu and Xu Yougong are in the choice of eliminating evil and promoting good, majesty and magnanimity, Emperor Wu can only choose more of the former, and Xu Yougong just pays attention to the latter, so that there are all kinds of actions that are almost committed.

In Xu Yougong's view, the return of reason to the right, a judge who exercises the power of life and death must abide by the law;

Adhering to the rules of justice means controlling and reining in the behavior of the government, and it means the trade-off between rigidity and softness. In order to be upright, Xu Yougong showed rare stubbornness. Emperor Wu never knew the truth in this, however, in reality,

She needs to govern the country more rigidly, she needs to kill by killing, cut Xiaoci to follow the general situation, do extraordinary things, and take extraordinary actions, which is not only upright, but must be upright. Emperor Wu has always believed that overkill must be overcorrected,

But I can't overkill. She doesn't dwell too much on the details. It also needs to have its own standards of right and wrong, even if it will cause fault. Be upright on your own behavior, too. For Emperor Wu, this is rigid publicity. In Xu Yougong's view,

It's killing people indiscriminately. Emperor Wu clearly knew that the fertile land of the palace and the land of the eunuchs were full of fierce power struggles and division of interests, and she was not allowed to follow the rules and act uprightly, nor was she allowed to have more tolerance. Without rigid publicity, there will be no rational governance, just like there is no change in Xuanwumen.

There is no rule of chastity; and like a fierce horse, without a whip and a hammer, it is rare to find a good horse.

If you can't subdue it, you have to use the dagger in your hand. Rigid publicity is surrender, a manifestation of the authority of the royal family, and the primary premise of stabilizing the world. The whole point of integrity is to distinguish between right and wrong,

What is publicized is ethics and morality; And the court under the power scheme is not only a distinction between right and wrong, nor is it just an interpretation of ethics and morality. It is impossible for Emperor Wu to dwell too much on the rights and wrongs of the court.

Nor can it be fully impartial to make moral judgments. She clearly knows that blindly pursuing righteousness and promoting goodness will only lead to self-defeating. Xu Yougong They only see the cruel and irrational side of rigidity,

There is no visible deterrent effect of rigidity and the pioneering side. How do you know that the banner of reason is the baptism of blood and fire!

This is probably the difference between the way of being a king and the way of being a minister.

Empress Wu was deeply disturbed by Xu Yougong's various good deeds to the government and the opposition and the ministers, and vaguely felt that Xu You's "forgiveness for the government" and "fairness and integrity" were deliberately catering to certain forces. Empress Wu sometimes asks herself, whether it is me correcting Xu Yougong.

Or is Xu Yougong correcting me? However, there is one thing that Emperor Wu understands very well, their common starting point is to maintain the dynasty. But the way it is maintained is very different.

Empress Wu reactivated Xu Yougong this time after she cleared away her fierce opponents all the way. The imperial court urgently needs to establish an image of clean government and fair law enforcement to satisfy the world's heart of virtue and goodness.

Even if it didn't have more practical significance, she had to do it, and Xu Yougong's fair image and deeds were indeed beneficial to the imperial court.

Therefore, I don't want to bother to have a dispute with Xu Yougong anymore, because the controversy is fruitless, and to achieve great things in the world, Empress Wu needs such a minister who dares to speak out. In terms of strategy, she can disagree with Xu Yougong, but she can't do without Xu Yougong.

Empress Wu retained Xu Yougong. This kind of retention is completely the persuasion of Xiaozhi with righteousness, and it is the humility of Corporal Lixian.

To the disbelief of the Empress Wu, Xu Yougong did not show the same fierce spirit as before, on the contrary, in the face of the persuasion of the Martial Emperor, he actually burst into tears.

This made Emperor Wu see a little-known side of a rigid man. In such a special scene, the strong Xu Yougong exposed his weak side in front of an equally strong woman.

Although these two kinds of strength show different positions and different orientations, they cannot conceal the same morality and humanity.

Empress Wu knew that this was a natural expression of a man's true feelings, and it did not mean that Xu Yougong gave in to him.

can only show that Xu Yougong's reluctance to accept the post this time is sincere, and there is no intention of bargaining; And accepting the retention of the martial queen is involuntary helplessness. Things have come to this point, in fact, the monarchs and ministers are very clear in their hearts,

In the future, cooperation will not be easy. For Xu Yougong, this is an unshirkable responsibility, but for Emperor Wu, he will not shake his concept of governing the country at all, which is the concept of an iron whip, an iron hammer and a dagger.

In the eyes of the philistine, the fierce horse is terrible and unconquerable, but in the eyes of the strong, the fierce horse is rare, and the fierce horse is very useful; In front of the fierce horse, it shows the courage and courage of the strong, and the heroism and ambition of the conqueror.

Emperor Wu needs a fierce horse like Xu Yougong with personality and achievements. A strong desire to subdue and harness a fiery horse gave Empress Wu an indescribable passion and impulse.

One of the things that Prime Minister Li Zhaode did the most happily was to execute the cool official Hou Sizhi, and he did it cleanly, just like he did with Wang Qingzhi, a small citizen in Luoyang, and directly beat Hou Sizhi to death in the court with a stick.

If it was said that the purpose of killing Wang Qingzhi before this was to fight Wu Chengsi and give justice to the Li family's imperial heir, then this time he was dealing with not only Wu Chengsi and his accomplices, but the entire cool official system associated with them.

Hou Sizhi is innocent of death. This nobody, who was originally born as a servant, was instructed by someone to sue Hengzhou Assassin Shi Pei Zhen and Li Yuanming, the king of Shu, for rebellion, and was favored by Emperor Wu.

and entrusted with reuse. It turned out that Pei Zhen beat a judge for some reason during his tenure as the assassin of Hengzhou, and the judge held a grudge because of this. In a fortuitous accident, the judge found that the imperial court was tracking down the rebellion of Li Yuanming, the king of Shu.

None of those who were implicated in this were spared, and they felt that there was an opportunity, so they passed through the guò guò guilla general Gao Yuanli, and bewitched Hou Sizhi, who was on an errand beside Gao Yuanli.

complained to the imperial court that Pei Zhen conspired against Li Yuanming. The ignorant and greedy Hou Sizhi concocted the same method under their manipulation, and the imperial court immediately ordered an investigation, and Yuan Ming and Pei Zhen were convicted at the same time. Hou Sizhi was named a guerrilla general for his meritorious work in informing.

Empress Wu came to learn that Hou Sizhi was illiterate, so she summoned Hou Sizhi and asked, "I want to make you the imperial history, but people say that you are illiterate." "For such simple-minded people, Emperor Wu has always been reluctant to talk about it.

Knowing that Hou Sizhi had already been taught by his planners to speak and speak, he parroted to Emperor Wu, who was illiterate but could distinguish between good and evil.

Of course, Hou Sizhi didn't know what he meant by this, but Emperor Wu understood unusually well, and he was naturally happy to hear Hou Sizhi's answer, this was exactly the person she needed.

Three years of heaven,

It is to worship the doctor of Chaosan and the history of the left servant. An illiterate reckless man, who was entrusted with reuse under the protection of Emperor Wu, inevitably made many hilarious jokes, and was ridiculed by court officials from time to time.

But this did not affect his actions, with arrogance and ignorance, Hou Sizhi did a lot of unbelievable and framed things. Those who are framed by him will not only suffer from flesh and skin, but also from the mockery and humiliation of his ignorance.

is also a cool official, unlike Lai Junchen and Zhou Xing, Hou Sizhi is useless except for stupid cruelty and greed.

For such a simple-minded and vicious guy, Prime Minister Li Zhaode has long seen it in his eyes and hated it in his heart.

Hou Sizhi knew that in the early years, Junchen had abandoned his old wife and married the daughter of Taiyuan Wang Qingxu, and he also followed the example of Junchen and asked to marry Li Ziyu of Zhaojun.

Emperor Wu ordered the government hall to discuss together. Li Zhaode stroked his palm and said to the prime ministers: "It's ridiculous! In previous years, Junchen robbed Wang Qing and his daughter,

It has been a great humiliation to the country. Today, this slave asked Suo Li to take his own daughter, but he did not humiliate the country! "Pushed it back on the spot. After two years of longevity, Emperor Wu decreed that no silk should be used except for the royal family.

Hou Sizhi was greedy and secretly hoarded silk. The matter was exposed, and Li Zhaode was ordered to investigate and deal with it.

So there was the scene of killing Hou Sizhi with a stick. At this time, Emperor Wu had lost trust and even disgusted with Hou Sizhi, a talentless and virtuous guy, knowing that his existence was already insufficient and more than defeated, and he would not care about his death at all. (To be continued......)