Chapter 29 2. The imperial power has to give up three points before morality

Chen Shiru was the only son of Chen Zhizhong. After his father Chen Zhizhong died, his mother Zhang became a nun.Mrs. Zhang is probably mentally ill and can't get along with anyone.After his son Chen Shiru entered the official career, he adopted his mother, and the Zhang family returned to the family from the monastery.This was a touching act of filial piety, but the relationship between Mrs. Zhang and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Li, was unexpectedly tense.Not only that, it turned out that those maidservants were extremely afraid of Mrs. Zhang, and lived by the god of death, maybe one day a corpse would fall down the steps.At this time, the imperial court appointed Chen Shiru to know Taihu County, Shuzhou, Huainan East Road.Chen Shiru was very dissatisfied with the position of county magistrate, he didn't want to go to work in the local area, he was already used to the prosperity and advantages of the capital city, so it was not his wish to go to that poor and remote place.According to his political status, what should he do if he is not qualified to stay in the capital as an official?

After much deliberation, Chen Shiru made up his mind on his mother. His mother, Mrs. Zhang, was very old and had a very tense relationship with the maidservants and other servants.Chen Shiru had a flash of inspiration. If his mother died at this time, he would be Ding You for three years according to the regulations, thus avoiding going to work in the local area.Chen Shiru murdered his mother. Under the instigation of his wife Li, the maidservants poisoned Zhang, and Zhang survived.Let's be ruthless. While Mrs. Zhang was sleeping soundly at night, the maid drove a nail into his skull, and Mrs. Zhang died on the spot.So Chen Shiru stayed in the capital because of his mother's death, Ding You, and was exempted from going to the next place.

Through incidents such as Zhang's murder of a maidservant, tension between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and son's murder of his mother, it can be seen that Zhang's spirit is indeed abnormal, not to mention sick, at least extreme.Wang Yangming talked about Yu Shun in "The Story of Xiangci". It is said that he is a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, an outstanding representative of the abdication system in the era of faith in history, and was born in a house of hell.His father's name is Gusou, and he despises him.Yu Shun's mother died early, and Gu Sou continued to give birth to a son named Xiang.After that, the father, together with the mother and son, tried every means to kill him.If they set fire to it, dug a well and buried it alive, no matter how much they tried to fix Yu Shun, they would not die.The more vicious the father and son are to him, the more he is kind to them in turn, and finally Yu Shun uses his great moral power to influence them. "If you believe in the goodness of human nature, there is no one in the world that cannot be converted." The power of morality can move the world, and no matter how stubborn a person is, it will change the trajectory of life due to the influence of morality.Chen Shiru was born in a family of officials, and he has been exposed to Confucianism and moral education since he was a child. He cannot be expected to have the same moral level as Yu Shun, at least he should understand loyalty, filial piety and righteousness.He actually killed his own mother cruelly and indirectly for the sake of his official career. In a morally controlled society, killing a mother is far more rebellious than rebellion. How risky is it to take.A dog doesn't think his family is poor, and a son doesn't think his mother is ugly. Even if Mrs. Zhang has major flaws in her personality, she is a mother after all.Even if he brutally attacked his own mother, imagine what such an official can do?It's a pity that Chen Zhizhong's lifelong fame.During Chen Shiru's funeral, he didn't know why he was denounced by the maidservant, either because of the uneven distribution of spoils, or because of a fight for favor.The Kaifeng government reported the criminal case to Dali Temple. After an uncomplicated interrogation, the cause and effect of the case came to light.

In the Song Dynasty, institutions were bloated, and there was a serious overlap of institutions, such as the judiciary.The three major judicial departments in the Song Dynasty were the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, and Yushitai.According to the law of the Song Dynasty, the county magistrate has the right to sentence the staff to punishment, and the magistrate has the right to sentence the prison.If it is a death penalty, the local government has no right to make a judgment. It must be reported to the imperial court for approval by Dali Temple, and then reviewed by the Ministry of Punishment. This is the progress of the law in the Song Dynasty.A review system and related departments have been added to reduce unjust, false and wrongly decided cases in line with the principle of careful killing and fewer killings. The review process is more complicated.After the review by the Ministry of Punishment was completed, the decree was issued to the local government, and he was to be executed after autumn.In addition, Yushitai is usually responsible for court officials breaking the law. In addition to being responsible for supervising all officials, Yushitai also has a prison for high-level political prisoners, usually at the level of six ministers.In the Song Dynasty, there was an ancestral system of not killing scholar-bureaucrats and those who did not speak out. The treatment of criminal scholar-bureaucrats was relatively lenient, ranging from demotion to exile. Rebellion and other major crimes were dealt with separately.

In addition to the formal judiciary, the imperial court had temporary judicial organizations such as the Judgment Court, the Court of Remonstrance, and the Three Divisions.Because the judicial power is too concentrated, the court feels that the Ministry of Criminal Justice is unreliable, and there must be many unjust, false and wrong cases in it.Local judicial power is concentrated in the hands of state capitals and county magistrates. They can use the national judicial weapon to frame falsehoods and achieve personal ulterior motives.The approval of Dali Temple can only see the testimonials, and the text can be a fuss, as long as there is no flaw in the logic, it will be fine.After the trial in Dali Temple was completed, it was handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice. Those few heads of garlic had been reviewing the case for many years, and they were about to vomit blood.In view of the excessive concentration of judicial power, Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty set up a trial court in the second year of Chunhua (991), divided the judicial power of the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple, reviewed trials and put forward opinions on the handling of cases, and was directly responsible to the emperor.The power of the judiciary has indeed been weakened, but the job functions of officials are in conflict, and the wish for world peace has been shattered.After being tossed by various departments, the emperor still felt that it was not enough and the power was not strong enough, so he added special judicial departments, the Institute of Promotion and Investigation, and the Institute of Manufacturing and Investigation, which were responsible for handling major cases entrusted by the emperor. These institutions evolved into Jinyiwei in the Ming Dynasty.The local "road" level administrative unit has a prison department. Song Ci, the famous originator of forensic medicine in the Northern Song Dynasty, holds this position. He is responsible for reviewing and reviewing local criminal cases and belongs to the department directly under the imperial court.

How to deal with the Chen Shiru case was not in agreement at the time. "Waving stag records" records that Song Shenzong almost discussed with Cai Que, who was recommended by Wang Anshi as Yushi Zhongcheng, saying that Chen Zhizhong could leave him an incense for this son, how about it?Why did the emperor speak to Cai Que in this tone?Because of the special position held by Cai Que, Yushi Zhongcheng is from the third rank, with a monthly salary of fifty-five guan, seven silks in spring and winter, and twenty silks. "History of the Song Dynasty Official Records" contains: "The Yushitai is in charge of prosecuting officials and evils, and suppressing the discipline. The court will argue about major events, and play the piano on small matters." There are three departments under the Yushitai, one is the Taiyuan, in which Those who work in the department are called Shi Yushi; the second is Dianyuan, and those who work in this department are called Dianzhong Shi Yushi;The highest official of Yushitai in name is Doctor Yushi, but the imperial court is not permanent, so Yushi Zhongcheng is the actual officer.Although Chen Shiru did not directly participate in the murder, he had a moral problem of "not reporting what he knew", so Yushitai had the right to impeach him.Yushi Zhongcheng had a lot of power. There was an unwritten rule in the official circles of the Song Dynasty that once the prime minister was impeached by Yushi Zhongcheng, the prime minister must be laid off and replaced by Shenzhi Zhengshi.Facing Song Shenzong's intentions, Cai Que categorically refused, saying that the five punishments for redemption of three thousand are no greater crime than unfilial piety, can it be pardoned?

The Chen Shiru case is not just a moral issue, it involves struggles among officials.Cai is indeed the core figure of Xining's reform, and he is listed in the biography of treacherous ministers in Song history.During his tenure, he concocted various cases, such as the famous Su Shi's "Wutai Poetry Case".Fan Zuyu, who assisted Sima Guangxiu, commented on him: "Cai's crime is not tolerated in the world. He is still a minister, and I am afraid that the people will be angry." Regardless of Cai Que's character, it is said that Cai Que's father, Cai Huangshang, once served as a recorder in Chenzhou and joined the army. , At that time, I was already very old, over seventy years old.It is not a high-ranking official to record affairs and join the army. It is similar to an army secretary, who is in charge of all Cao documents.At that time, Chen Zhizhong was the magistrate of Chenzhou. Seeing that Lao Cai was too old to work well, he was dismissed.The resentful old Cai Lijiao's two sons, Cai Que and Cai Shuo, were so poor that they couldn't even afford porridge.The parents were incompetent, and passed all the hatred on to the children. One day they will be admitted to the imperial examination and become an official, and they will report to the Chen family.So when Song Shenzong pleaded for Chen Zhizhong, Cai Que flatly refused.One more thing to add, from Song Shenzong's words, it can be seen that Chen Shiru's mother Zhang is indeed not welcome.Song Shenzong was also helpless, Chen Shiru's "mother killing" behavior stepped on the biggest landmine under moral control, the emperor wanted to rescue him, but the imperial power had to give way in front of morality.In the end, Chen Shiru, his wife Li Shi and ten others abandoned the market and were executed.