Chastity Layman

More than 20 imperial guards looted openly, but they were killed by a village woman, which is unbelievable. The government is also very troubled, and it can only be bad luck when encountering such a case. However, such a case, naturally, cannot be closed by a county magistrate. After all, more than 20 imperial guards were involved, and two of them had military positions from the ninth rank.

This not only involves the imperial court forbidden army, but also involves the killing of officials.

Dali Temple immediately opened the case after receiving the report and dispatched a task force. After some investigation, they also believed this bizarre story in their hearts, but reason told them that this case must not be closed like this, otherwise it would be difficult to explain. So the eight-rank judge sent by Dali Temple quickly issued a report.

In his report, it wasn't the Imperial Guards who plundered for sex, but a pair of village women who had the audacity to murder passing Imperial Guard officers and soldiers during the famine, intending to kill and eat meat. Twist a pair of poor victims into a pair of terrifying murderous and flesh-eating demons.

It even said that they had killed and eaten meat before, and described their children as little cannibals.

This horrific report was sent up, but Dali Temple fell silent.

This kind of report meets their needs. Although the report is full of loopholes and many places are illogical, in their opinion, it is the most appropriate.

Only in this way can we explain to the higher authorities and maintain the image of the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty.

How could His Majesty's Forbidden Army do such a thing?

Of course the hateful demon couple did it.

After Qin Lang heard the report, he was very angry.

So he found Li Jing, after all, Li Jing was Zuo Pushe, the head of the remaining prime ministers. In fact, Zhang Chuchen heard this story from Li Jing, and she was very angry after hearing it. In contrast, she believed in the poor village woman, especially when Li Jing said that this was an unjust case.

Now Zhang Chuchen took the opportunity to take a step ahead of Qin Lang, and after telling the prince a shocking story face to face, Qin Lang also took advantage of the situation to propose to Cheng Qian that, as the crown prince, he could request to investigate the case and grant an amnesty It belonged to the villager couple.

Normally, even if the matter is found out and it is as the village woman confessed, her behavior is still a capital crime. She killed more than 20 officers and soldiers, and two military officers.

After all, law is greater than love.

But legal principles are nothing more than human feelings.

At this time, the crown prince, who has the final interpretation power, of course has the right to correct this kind of procedural justice and demand real fairness and justice.

Dali Temple said that after the village women stunned the officers and soldiers with drugs, they should run normally.

But instead of running away, she killed them all. This was beyond the ability and reaction of ordinary women, and there was something wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with executing her.

But fundamentally speaking, the root cause of this tragedy lies in those forbidden soldiers who revolted and wanted to take advantage of the fire. They were lawless during the famine, and they bullied the weak.

If this rumor spreads among the people, the common people will definitely applaud the woman one-sidedly, and they will unanimously reviled those forbidden soldiers, and even the imperial court will be scolded a wave.

This is exactly what Dali Temple wants to avoid.

But the young Cheng Qian didn't think it was that complicated, he only knew that it was obviously unfair and unfair to the woman.

The imperial court should uphold justice for democracy, not oppress its own people.

On this point, Cheng Qian's performance made Qin Lang extremely satisfied.

"Your Highness, justice is at ease in the hearts of the people. I agree that His Highness will personally preside over the trial of this case."

As the prince of Jian Guo, Cheng Qian can naturally interfere in this case.

Chengqian's sense of justice was overwhelming immediately, and he wished for the joint trial of the three divisions to be held now.

"Teacher, what is the law?" Chengqian asked, "Why in this case, the law cannot guarantee fairness and justice?"

Qin Lang was a little surprised to see the young prince asking such a profound question. His Royal Highness, whose hair has just started to grow, is undoubtedly very immature, especially as the second generation of the emperor who was born, the Li family has already established the Tang Dynasty, and Chengqian can no longer be called holding a golden key. Born, but born with Yuxi in his mouth.

For the little him, many things belong to him as a matter of course, and all should be loyal to him.

Last time he asked Qin Lang what power is, and today he asked what law is.

Imperial power and law, these are the two core treasures of a ruler.

If he can understand where the emperor's power comes from and what the law is, then this person has touched the core of the rule.

Perhaps for countless people, they don't understand these two points at all.

Even many scholars will never discuss these things directly in their books.

However, for Qin Lang, those boring theoretical classes back then had expounded them in a comprehensive way.

What is power? Power is actually the embodiment of interest relationship.

The essence of law is actually a tool for the ruling class to realize class rule.

Specifically speaking, law refers to the sum of codes of conduct formulated or approved by the state in accordance with the interests of the ruling class, and whose implementation is guaranteed by the state's coercive force.

In the era of feudal imperial power, imperial power was the embodiment of the highest will of the ruling class, and the law was the embodiment of the will of imperial power.

The emperor told the people in the form of legal provisions, what can and cannot be done, which behaviors are legal and which behaviors are illegal, and what sanctions will be imposed on violators.

A student of Confucius once asked him how to govern a country well. Confucius said that it is only necessary to respect the five virtues and get rid of the four evil policies. The first of the four evil policies is to punish people without teaching. At that time, blaming others for their mistakes and killing people is tantamount to abuse, especially violence and thieves.

The law and morality seem to be the same, but the law is strongly enforced. Anyone who violates the law is not just punished by morality, but has specific punishment and punishment measures, and there are corresponding institutions to ensure its implementation.

"The purpose of the law is to maintain social order and protect the safety and interests of the court and the courtiers and the people. The law maintains the law through explicit instructions, instructions, evaluations, rulings, and punishments, and ultimately reflects the will of the emperor and the court."

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What Cheng Qian listened to was understanding but not understanding. No one had ever told him this kind of interpretation of the law before. From this perspective, he explained a very complicated matter very concisely.

It makes people feel like they see the true colors of the mountains through the clouds and mists.

Although there are some places that I still don't quite understand, it did give Cheng Qianmao a sudden understanding.

"Dali Temple is a group of people who play games. Sometimes they are too stubborn and fall into the pursuit of the so-called justice that can be seen."

Dali Temple are all people who are proficient in the law. They like to study the provisions, find loopholes, and wholeheartedly regard the provisions of the law as the truth.

What they believe in more is the fairness of the referee process and the justice of legal procedures.

For Qin Lang, although procedural justice is sometimes very important, it is not real justice after all. After all, laws are made by people, and all laws have loopholes, and laws should be used to regulate behavior and punish bad people, but sometimes laws hinder this, especially some procedures.

So when procedural justice conflicts with substantive justice, whether to choose procedural justice or substantive justice, Qin Lang believes that as a group of officials like Dali Temple, it is no problem for them to choose procedural justice. case, then in this case, the village woman killed more than 20 imperial guards was indeed breaking the law, and it was indeed a capital crime.

But in terms of final justice, such a legal ruling obviously violates final justice, and there are conflicts and contradictions. Then, as the crown prince who has the final power of interpretation, he should of course make a just ruling instead of just focusing on procedural justice.

The emperor is not the executor of the law, on the contrary, the law is only the embodiment of the emperor's will, which is the essence.

To put it bluntly, the law only serves the emperor, and the group of officials in Dali Temple only serve the emperor.

Chengqian did not expect that the sacred law actually served the emperor.

"Shouldn't the law be sacred and represent the way of heaven?"

Qin Lang smiled.

"The law is to regulate the living, not the dead. The laws of the Tang Dynasty are currently using the Wude Law, and the Wude Law is the inherited Kaihuang Law and the Daye Law. Although the laws of different dynasties are not the same, in essence, The laws of all dynasties are actually formulated by the emperor who represents the interests of noble officials, gentry, powerful landlords, or ministers appointed by the emperor."

"The essence of all laws is for the interests of the class it represents, so you see that among the ten heinous crimes, the first is conspiracy, the second is conspiracy, and the third is treason. The first three crimes are all violations of imperial power. behavior, understand?"

In terms of origin, the origin of law is that morality evolved from the initial habit, and then gradually evolved into independent law from morality. With the emergence of the country, the law was also strengthened.

Morality, the foundation and earliest source of law, has its roots in custom and custom.

"Your Highness, you should remember one sentence: the law is the lowest morality, and morality is the lowest bottom line. And the core essence of the law is actually the embodiment of the will of the ruling class to maintain its rule."

Although law also comes from morality, law is by no means equal to morality.

This is like although some emperors are supported by the people, but the emperor is by no means elected by the people.

"I'm confused." Cheng Qian said, "Just now I thought I understood it, but now I'm dizzy again."

Qin Lang smiled, "Your Highness only needs to know that although the law represents the interests of the ruling class, it must be as fair and just as possible. Killed more than 20 officers and soldiers, but she is weak, for self-defense, she is sympathetic to the people, so His Highness can completely pardon her, which can be praised and supported by the people, as for the dead imperial soldiers, they There is more than enough to die, His Highness should investigate their crimes deeply, even the death penalty cannot be eliminated, military officers will be dismissed from office, the Imperial Army will be deprived of military registration, and their honor fields and military fields will also be taken back, as a respectful example."