Chapter 63 62 Ti Ying Saves Her Father

Empress Dowager Bo, the mother of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, came from a humble background and was an unfavorable concubine when Han Gaozu was alive.She was afraid that she would be framed by Empress Lu while living in the palace, so she asked to live with her son in Daijun.Living in Daijun is not as rich as living in the palace, so the mother and son know more or less the sufferings of the common people. Not long after Emperor Wen of Han came to the throne, he issued an edict saying: "If a person violates the law, he should be convicted. Why should his parents, wife and children be arrested and punished together? I don't believe there is any benefit in this kind of decree. Please discuss how to change it."

After the ministers discussed, according to Emperor Wenwen's opinion, the decree that one person broke the law and the whole family sat together (sitting together means being implicated in the crime together) was abolished. In 167 BC, there was a little girl named Chunyu Tiying in Linzi (Chunyu's surname, tiying sound tiAying).Her father, Chunyu Yi, was originally a scholar. Because he liked medicine, he often treated people and became famous.Later, he made the Taicang order, but he was unwilling to associate with officials, nor would he flatter his superiors.Not long after, I resigned and became a doctor.

Once, the wife of a great businessman fell ill and asked Chunyu Yi to heal her.The patient took the medicine, but his illness did not improve, and he died a few days later.The big businessman took advantage of the situation and sued Chunyu Yi to the government, saying that he had wrongly treated the disease.The local officials sentenced him to "corporal punishment" (the corporal punishment at that time included tattooing on the face, cutting off the nose, cutting off the left or right foot, etc.), and they wanted to escort him to Chang'an for torture. Chunyu Yi has five daughters, but no son.When he was escorted to Chang'an to leave home, he looked at his daughters and sighed, saying, "Oh, it's a pity that I don't have any boys, and I don't have any useful ones when I'm in trouble."

All the daughters lowered their heads and wept uncontrollably. Only the youngest daughter, Ti Ying, was sad and angry at the same time.She thought: "Why is my daughter so useless?" She proposed to go to Chang'an with her father, but it was useless for her family to dissuade her repeatedly. When Tiying arrived in Chang'an, she asked someone to write a memorial and handed it to the gatekeeper at the gate of the palace. Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty received the memorial and knew that it was a little girl who submitted the letter, so he took it very seriously.The memorial said: "My name is Tiying, and I am the youngest daughter of Taicang Ling Chunyuyi. When my father was an official, people in Qidi said he was a clean official. This time he committed a crime and was sentenced to corporal punishment. I am not only sad for my father, but also for all the people who suffered corporal torture. If a person has his feet cut off, he becomes disabled; if his nose is cut off, he can’t put it back on. Even if he wants to reform himself, there is no other way. I would rather give The government confiscated her as a slave and made atonement for my father, so that he would have a chance to reform himself."

After reading the letter, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty sympathized with the little girl very much, and felt that what she said was reasonable, so he summoned the ministers and said to the ministers: "If you have committed a crime, you should be punished. This is nothing to say. But if you are punished, you should be punished." He has become a man again. Punish a prisoner now, tattoo his face or mutilate his limbs, how can such a punishment persuade people to be good. Let's discuss a way to replace corporal punishment!" As soon as the ministers discussed, they worked out a way to change the corporal punishment to beating boards.The original sentence of cutting off the feet was changed to five hundred boards; the original sentence of cutting off the nose was replaced by three hundred boards.Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty formally ordered the abolition of corporal punishment.In this way, Ti Ying saved her father.

Emperor Han Wen abolished corporal punishment, which seemed to be a good thing.But in practice, there are many disadvantages.Some prisoners were beaten to death after being beaten with five or three hundred boards. This way, the punishment was increased.Later, in the hands of his son Emperor Han Jing, the punishment for beating the board was reduced a little.