Tang Huzuo hurriedly smiled and said, "It's okay, just say hello to Xiao Zhiyi and congratulate him." Oh, you two talk, your subordinates are gone. After that, he gave his hand to the master of the book and Xiao Jiading, and turned around.

The author of the article smiled and said, "He's coming to congratulate you, right?" He still has a lot of oil and water, and he doesn't want to lose this fat shortage. ”

Xiao Jiading secretly said in his heart, no wonder this kid played this bitter trick. It turned out that he was afraid that he would speak ill of him in front of the county magistrate and get rid of him, and he would lose a lot. It seems that his county commander is indeed a position that many people envy and fear, and he has to grasp it well.

The writer said: "The county order will come in a while, so I'll tell you about your errand first." ”

The concierge in charge of the signing room has opened the doors of several rooms and is cleaning. The main book of the text took Xiao Jiading to look at all the rooms, and the signing room of the Kang County Order was the largest, with three rooms. But instead of the big room in the middle, there was a small study on the left. There are pen, ink, paper, inkstones, and many case files inside. The small door connected to the main house is blocked by a curtain.

When they entered, there was a little scholar in the small study, who was about fifteen or sixteen years old. When he saw them come in, he hurriedly stood aside and stood with his hands down.

Master Wen pointed to the small study room that entered the door and said to Xiao Jiading: "This is your office." Your daily work is mainly to assist the prefectural magistrate in handling cases, and in addition, to deal with other matters assigned by the prefectural magistrate. There are a lot of things in the county, and there are many things like Qian Gu, which are mainly handled by households, and Kang County Ling knows Qian Gu and copywriting very well, so these two pieces may not require you to deal with too many things. However, the Kang County Order is unfamiliar with the criminal law, so this matter mainly depends on your assistance, and all criminal cases must be reported to the county order for final decision. You should carefully read the opinions on the handling of the cases reported by the criminal chamber and put forward your opinions on how to deal with them, and this opinion should be reasonable and well-founded, especially the basis of the criminal law, so that the Kang County Order can make a decision. If necessary, you can call the clerk in charge of the torture chamber and consult the relevant files. I have arranged for a scholar to follow your orders. ”

The master of the text beckoned the little scholar over and introduced: "This is Xiao Jiading, the executive of the county order." Then you will follow him and obey his commands. - Xiao Zhiyi, his name is Wen Yan, and he is arranged to be your scholar, helping you to speak, study ink, pour water or something. He is coarse in writing and ink, and some of the work on the copywriting can also be arranged for him to do if necessary. ”

"Good!"

From the small study to the inside, it is the main house, very wide, the largest one in the middle, in the middle of the inside, is a warm pavilion wooden platform, covered with a thick felt carpet, a few cases and a couch. On the long cases were the four treasures of the study, as well as various official documents. There is a fan-shaped screen at the back, and one of them is very large, with a crane red sun painted on it. On both sides of the wide open space in front of them, two rows of low couches are neatly placed. It seems that it is for the person who reports the matter.

Inside the main room, the one on the right, is a lounge, the furnishings are very luxurious, presumably a place for the prefectural to rest temporarily after work.

At this moment, I heard a porter outside say in a loud voice: "The lord has arrived——! ”

The master of the text hurriedly said to Xiao Jiading: "The Kang County order is here!" ”

The two of them hurriedly came out of the inner room. Standing at the door, I saw a thin old man, pacing slowly and walking in.

Wen Jishu and Xiao Jiading both bowed down.

The old man didn't return the courtesy, and after coming in, he saw Xiao Jiading, so he stood still, looked up and down, and a smile appeared on his flat face.

The main book hurriedly introduced: "Xiao Zhiyi, this is Kang Ruxu, the county magistrate of this county,—— Kang County Commander, and this is the scribe sponsored by Tang Sima, Xiao Jiading." ”

Kang Ruxu nodded, smiled and said to Xiao Jiading: "I have a lot of things here, especially the things in the case, I don't understand, you have to work a lot." ”

Xiao Jiading hurriedly bowed down and said, "My subordinates must do their best to assist the eldest master." ”

"Hmmm! Tang Sima admires your criminal law very much, so I fully believe in Tang Sima's vision when you sponsor you to me. You won't let me down. ”

Xiao Jiading smiled humbly, and was very grateful to that Tang Dalang in his heart, although he was not polite to him when he started, but he was able to recommend himself regardless of his previous suspicions, this kindness of knowing should really be engraved in his heart.

After the main book left, Kang Xian Ling said a few more words to Xiao Jiading, asked about things such as living in the residence, and then sat behind a few cases and started to work, Xiao Jiading also returned to his study and sat down on the couch.

There are stacks of verdicts sent from the torture chamber on several cases, all of which have not yet been processed. Xiao Jiading was not in a hurry to review, he asked the scholar Wen Yan: "You are also surnamed Wen, and you have the same surname as the master of Wen, which is a coincidence." ”

Wen Yan said a little proudly: "The book of the master is my cousin's uncle. ”

"Oh?" Xiao Jiading glanced at him a few times, and a relative of Wen Zhushu was arranged by the county order, which can basically be understood as the eyes and ears of Wen Zhushu. Such an arrangement, I don't know whether Lu Dao is from the main book of the text or the Kang County order.

He said to Wen Yan: "You can find the judgment that has been issued by the Kang County Order and show it to me." ”

After all, this is the yamen more than a thousand years ago, and it is also an ancient yamen that integrates the public procuratorate and the law department, and the office procedures must be different from modern society, and many things cannot be learned in books, so you have to figure it out first. The best way to do this is to see how people do it.

Wen Yan said: "The ones on the right of the case are the ones that have been approved by the county order, and I haven't had time to send them to the torture room, I am about to send them." ”

"Then don't be in a hurry, I'll take a look and learn first."

He picked it up and looked at it, and these judgments (verdicts) were all submitted to the county order after the judgment was drafted by the torture room, and the execution reviewed and agreed with the opinions of the torture room, and submitted them to the Kang County Order for approval to be sentenced accordingly. That is, an effective judgment that has been issued but has not yet been delivered for enforcement.

When he read the first one, he felt like his head was bigger. The verdict goes like this:

Liu San stole money and clothes to his father. The father said, "The mayor of the city is like this." "Envoy to the head of the county. Liu Sanxiang. Ask for a long time, with the words of the father. and garments to his father. The money owner sued the chief for arson. ——Respect your relatives, live in their pleasures, and Yongxir will be difficult. Liu is also unscrupulous, and he is virtuous. Killing animals is still said to be unkind; Who is filial piety when stealing people's wealth? He repents of miserliness and lacks righteousness, but he follows the good and is called the head of the city. Drinking curling to engage in politics and sow clean customs has become a custom. With both abstaining from evil, we have observed the knowledge of benevolence. Will be the joy of the color clothes, to the sin of the original Dan pen. Although the evil son gathers, it is difficult to forgive the law; And the grass villain, or the period of chemistry. Forgive and obey the right way, how can you appease the vulgar at any time? The money owner is thin and honest, and he is called a thief; Zaijun's good governance can be described as victorious. Yu Yu He Xu, the general is not angry.

In this draft judgment opinion, the facts of the case are very simple, there is no reference to relevant evidence and criminal laws at all, the whole article is commentary, and a number of allusions and famous sayings are quoted, some of the allusions and quoted ancient articles are very obscure, he doesn't know the Tao at all, so he is confused.

He studied the history of the legal system and knew that the judgments of the Tang Dynasty were popular in a kind of pun style, and he paid great attention to the use of dictionaries, almost every sentence had a canon, and the words were gorgeous and elegant, and he paid attention to the battle, that is to say, he paid more attention to the literary nature of the judgments. However, in this way, the description of the case itself, the determination of the matter, the analysis of the evidence, and the interpretation of the law cannot be described in detail due to the limitations of this style. As a result, the verdict is very beautiful, but it fails to grasp the main points, does not understand why such a judgment is made, and even does not fully describe the case itself.

This practice soon showed its serious flaws, so by the middle and late Tang Dynasty, there had already been scattered judgments, that is, they did not pay attention to stylistic battles, but paid attention to the analysis of things and laws, and the language was as easy to understand as possible. After the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, especially the Song Dynasty, the judgments of the Pun Tiwen have been completely abandoned, and they are all scattered.

Xiao Jiading decided to advance this reform and take the lead in changing this practice, which is a trial of the case, not a fuss, and everything should be based on the principle of clarifying the facts of the case and accurately convicting and sentencing.

Xiao Jiading was not in a hurry to put forward his ideas to the county order, he wanted to focus on some issues and put them forward together, so he continued to look at the draft judgment.

One of them is a civil tort, when two villagers' cattle and horses were grazing in the wild, the cattle and horses got into a fight, and the cow stabbed the horse to death with the horns, and the owner of the horse demanded compensation for the loss of the horse's selling price. The owner of the cow said that the cow and the horse were fighting each other privately, and he was not present at the time, and he did not deliberately let the cow go to the horse, so he did not agree to compensation.

The verdict of the judgment issued by the Kang County Order is that the owner of the horse should first sell the horse meat, and then, after deducting the money from the sale of the horse meat, the owner of the horse shall compensate for the difference between the price of the horse and the price of the horse. That is, the "price reduction", that is, the reduction of losses.

After reading it, Xiao Jiading immediately found that the judgment of this effective case was obviously wrong according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty!

Of course, if this judgment is placed in modern times, it is fully in line with the provisions of the tort law, because the civil law stipulates that the loss caused by the animal is a kind of no-fault liability, even if the owner of the animal is not at fault, the other party must be compensated for the loss. This loss is limited to direct loss. However, in the Tang Dynasty, this kind of judgment was wrong, and the "Yonghui Law" clearly stipulated: "If all dogs commit suicide or injure other people's animal property, the dog owner will compensate them for the price reduction." If the remaining animals kill or injure each other, half of the price will be reduced. That is to say, if an animal from one family attacks another animal, causing death or injury, the actual loss must be compensated in full, that is, the part after deducting the residual value, which is the so-called "price reduction", but if the animals of two families fight each other and cause the death or injury of one of the animals, only half of the loss will be compensated. This is very different from modern civil law.