In the southern suburbs of Chang'an City, the sun is shining, the breeze is gentle, and it is a pastoral scene.

"Tang Aiqing, what is this place called?" asked Tang Emperor Li Shimin, who was dressed in a green coat and a small hat, to the courtier beside him.

"Your Majesty, this is already sixty miles outside Chang'an, this place is called Changshoufang, and most of the people surnamed Xu live. "Shi Tanglin, who accompanied the emperor to the people to observe the people's feelings, replied.

"Okay, let's go for half a day today, let's go to this longevity workshop to rest. Tang Huang, who was dressed in civilian clothes, said with a smile.

Came to the entrance of Changshoufang Village under an old locust tree, faintly heard the cry of "woo", Tang Huang and others followed the sound to look, and saw an old woman in the farmland not far away leading a child to cultivate in the field, and the child was sitting in the field at the moment crying loudly, the old woman who was cultivating the farmland was too busy to take care of it, and the dark and old face looked very helpless.

Seeing this scene, Emperor Tang frowned and thought: Where is the young and strong labor of her family? How can an old man and a child be allowed to come out to cultivate the land?

"Tang Aiqing, you go to the old man and call her, I want to ask her. ”

"Wechen is going. The servant Shi Tang Lin immediately responded.

After a moment's work, Tang Lin brought the old woman to the Tang Emperor.

"What? he's the emperor today?!" the old woman was so frightened that she fell to her knees in front of the emperor.

"The folk woman Xu Wangshi knocked on the emperor. ”

"Old man, excuse me. Emperor Tang said softly, and motioned to the attendant beside him to help the old man up from the ground.

"Old man, I came to ask you, what about your son and daughter-in-law, why didn't they come to cultivate this farmland?"

Hearing the emperor ask about her son, the old woman Xu Wang was suddenly touched by the pain in her heart, and immediately sobbed, "Woo... Your Majesty, these are all the sins of my previous life, my son has been sentenced to death for robbery, and he is waiting for the autumn queen to be beheaded, and his daughter-in-law ran away in a fit of anger, and now only our grandparents and grandchildren are left at home. ”

"Oh, then what's your son's name, and why did you do that robbery?" Tang Huang asked, looking at the old woman in front of him with a handful of snot and tears.

"My son's name is Xu Fu, just because his family is too poor, he was impulsive when he went out to do business with others, and he made a big mistake, shouldn't be, shouldn't be!"

The old woman burst into tears for a while.

Emperor Tang nodded with a beard, "I see, old man, go home." ”

The old woman kowtowed to the Tang Emperor and went back to work in the fields.

Looking at the old woman and the child continuing to work in the field, Tang Huang's heart felt a little uncomfortable.

"Tang Aiqing, you go and send ten taels of silver to this family. ”

Wechen obeyed. ”

In the imperial study, incense sticks linger, and the fragrance is overflowing.

The Tang Emperor was reading the memorabilia of the ministers of the court, and after returning from the Changshoufang to observe the people's feelings, the book in front of him attracted his attention, and the memorabilia said that there were 390 death row prisoners in the Dali Temple Prison at present, and urged the emperor to immediately issue an edict to let these death row prisoners immediately be punished.

Holding this book, Tang Emperor Li Shimin fell into deep thought.

Three years ago, a man named Li Hao was imprisoned by the imperial court for preaching inappropriate words in public. Therefore, the Tang Emperor specially convened the Shangshu and officials of the two departments of Zhongshu and Menxia to discuss the issue of punishment together. Dali Cheng Zhang Yungu said: "Your Majesty, Li Hao has madness, according to my Tang law, he should not be punished for capital crimes." Seeing that Dali Cheng's report was contrary to the emperor's opinion, several courtiers on the side immediately impeached Zhang Yungu in order to curry favor with the emperor, thinking that he intended to protect the prisoner. Emperor Tang was angry at that time and ordered Zhang Yungu to be pushed out of the noon gate and beheaded.

Killing Zhang Yungu who offended him relieved his anger for a while, but the Tang Emperor calmed down afterwards and regretted his act of killing Zhang Yungu at that time.

According to the provisions of the Tang Dynasty, anyone who speaks falsely and involves the state and the emperor shall be sentenced to death, but the Tang Dynasty Law also stipulates that if there is a stubborn illness in the body and the person is older, the minister shall ask the emperor to reduce the punishment. Insanity obviously falls within the scope of commutation of punishment, so Zhang Yungu is right to ask the emperor to reduce the punishment.

Because of this wrongful killing, he stressed to his ministers many times in the court: When sentencing a death penalty case, five recitals should be performed within two days (that is, two times before the verdict and the day before, and three more times on the day of execution), and three repetitions should be performed on the day of execution.

"Back then, I accidentally killed Dali Cheng Zhang Yungu, and it was impossible to save it afterwards. It can be seen from this that human life is at stake, and we must not kill by mistake, unjustly, or by mistake. Today, I must also be very cautious in the examination of death row prisoners!"

From this long-lasting past that I can't let go of, I returned to the book in front of me.

Emperor Tang looked at the names of the 390 condemned prisoners on this notebook, and a name called "Xu Fu" suddenly jumped into his eyes.

Xu Fu: Could this be the son of an old woman he met on the way to observe the people's feelings? Tang Huang secretly pondered to himself.

"Someone is coming, quickly call Dali Siqing to come to see me and bring the case file. ”

"Yes. The attendant next to him replied.

After a while, Dali Siqing hurriedly arrived and handed over the case file in his hand to the Tang Emperor.

After carefully examining the case file, it was verified that this Xu Fu was the son of the old woman Xu Wang, who robbed a caravan with a group of people because of the poverty of his family, killed people in the robbery, and he himself was seriously injured.

"Aiqing, how many taels of silver did he rob, and where did the money he robbed go?"

"Your Majesty, after the interrogation of the officials of my Dali Temple, Xu Fu gave all the money he had stolen to the farmers in his village, and the officers and soldiers had recovered all the money he had privately divided. ”

"However, this Xu Fu killed people and crossed goods, the evidence is conclusive, and his crime should be punished!" Dali Siqing made a decapitation gesture with his hand while reporting the report.

"Not busy, not busy. Your 390 criminals are death row prisoners, and according to the law, Aiqing and the Shangshu of the Criminal Department and Shilang should be tried together with the Imperial History Zhongcheng. ”

"Besides, human life is at stake, and it is not a child's play. Tang Huang laughed.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Wechen understood. ”

"You will take me to see these 390 prisoners, and I will personally ask these condemned prisoners. ”

When he came to the prison where the condemned prisoners were held in Dali Temple, the Tang Emperor took the list of prisoners and personally asked each prisoner about the name, address, and crime he had committed.

The prisoners confessed to the crimes they had committed and confessed to each of them, and they had no objection to the severe punishment that was coming.

When Tang Huang and his entourage came to the last condemned prisoner, a young prisoner covered in scars and haggard struggled to get up from the bed and fell to the ground with a "poof".

"Emperor Xie came to see us who are dying, my name is Xu Fu, and I live in Changshoufang, a suburb of Chang'an......"

"Xu Fu, Changshoufang, are you the Xu Fu?" asked Li Shimin in surprise.

"By the way, who else is in your family?"

"I have a 70-year-old mother, a doll under 10 years old, and a wife and children. Hey, I shouldn't have made a big mistake on the spur of the moment. ”

For a while, Xu Fu held his head in his hands and was remorseful.

"Do you know that your wife has left home, and now you are the only grandparents left in your family?"

"What, how did the emperor know?" Xu Fu's eyes widened with a look of surprise.

Standing on the side, Shi Tang Lin immediately told the Tang Emperor about the situation of the people's feelings, Xu Fu listened to it and kowtowed again and again, thanking the Tang Emperor for giving him two pieces of silver, until blood came out of his forehead.

"Xu Fu, you committed the crime first, ask the beheading, before you die, do you still have any wishes?"

"Thank you for the emperor's deignation to come to see us, if the emperor can be gracious and let me go home to visit my mother and child again before I die, I Xu Fu will die without regrets!"

"Please be gracious to the emperor, let's go home and visit our family again. At this time, the other death row prisoners in the iron fence also knelt down and kowtowed.

"Ask the emperor for mercy!!

"Bold! You death row prisoners dare to take an inch and threaten the emperor. My emperor has come to see you in person today, which is already a great grace to you, so don't be ignorant. ”

Dali Siqing loudly reprimanded the death row prisoners, and then bowed down to report to the Tang Emperor, "Your Majesty, these death row prisoners have been carefully tried by the ministers, and they are all people who have no grievances and unforgivable crimes. ”