The Great Wei Empire in the Warring States Period

Inside the prefect’s mansion

Li Zheng hurried into the hall and reported to the prefect: “Prefect, another major case has occurred in Anping County. The son of Lord An Guojun brought two children of the same age to beat a child to death, and the crime scene happened to be Lord An Guojun’s fiefdom. Do we need to intervene?”

After hearing this, Wei Shen felt that this matter could be used as an opportunity to contain Zhai Yu, so he ordered: “Children hurting children must be carefully investigated and people must be sent to arrest them immediately. This matter must be explained to the people!”

“Yes!” Li Zheng replied.

After Li Zheng left, Wei Shen quickly took out Li Kui’s “Law Classics” from the bookshelf, because the current Wei State no longer uses the nine punishments system of the Zhou royal family, but follows the provisions of the “Law Classics” to judge cases. The book is divided into six chapters: “Theft”, “Thief”, “Prisoner”, “Capture”, “Miscellaneous”, and “Tools”. Later, three chapters were revised and added.

Wei Shen turned to the chapter "Thieves" and after reading it, he had doubts: "It seems that it is not easy to sentence someone to death. According to the "Law Book", people under eight years old and over ninety years old are not subject to punishment. If the criminal is only seven years old, doesn't it mean that the death penalty cannot be imposed and can only be punished by a fine. Moreover, according to the "Law Book", children who have not reached the stage of developing intelligence (over eight years old but under sixteen years old) cannot be sentenced to death and can only be detained temporarily."

At this time, Le Ping walked in and asked: "Mr. County Magistrate, I heard that there was a child injury case in Anping County. How do you plan to deal with this person?"

Wei Shen replied: "I will let Li Zheng handle it!"

Le Ping explained: "According to the "Miscellaneous" chapter in the "Legal Classics", cases involving children who break the law need to be handled jointly by Si Kou and Situ, mainly to avoid arbitrary judgments by local officials. Therefore, we can only arrest them, but have no right to make judgments on them!"

Wei Shen smiled and responded: "Don't worry, Mr. Le Ping, I will strictly follow the "Legal Classics" and will never violate the law."

Knowing that Wei Shen would act in accordance with the law, Le Ping was relieved. He had worried that Wei Shen would use his status as a prince to hurt others at will. After all, Wei Wuhou, who was the prince at the time, had made similar mistakes and was severely reprimanded by Li Kui.

In the An Guojun Mansion in Anping County

An Guojun Zhai Yu was admiring the elegant dancing of the dancers, and the beautiful girl beside him peeled the oranges and fed them to him one by one.

Just when he was getting interested, the housekeeper Xiao Lizi rushed in and said, "Master, it's bad. A large number of soldiers have surrounded the mansion! They broke in to arrest the young master!"

"What!" Zhai Yu stood up immediately after hearing this, showing an unbelievable expression. His grandfather was a great contributor to the Wei Kingdom. Without his grandfather, there would be no Wei Kingdom today. But he couldn't figure out why they wanted to arrest his youngest son, so he asked, "Why did they arrest him?"

The housekeeper said timidly, "It's because the young master and your two nephews beat a child to death."

It's bad. Zhai Yu is a very treacherous person. When the governor of Shang County was changed, he knew that the current governor was the prince of Wei.If his son committed this crime, he would not be forgiven easily. He must find a way to help his youngest son and his two nephews to clear their sins! His son is already eight years old, and he will be beheaded if he commits murder!

The housekeeper saw Cui Yu was so upset, so he suggested: "Master, have you forgotten that Li Kui's "Law Book" states that those who are eight years old or younger and under 16 years old can be exempted from the death penalty if they are not yet intelligent! They only need to be imprisoned for two years. So we just need to let your son and two nephews pretend to be ignorant."

After hearing this, Zhai Yu was overjoyed and said: "That's right, housekeeper! As long as Zhai Yu can get rid of the evidence this time, I will reward you with a hundred gold!"

Zhai Yu then replaced his eldest son Zhai Hao and told him: "According to the laws of Wei, children who commit murder must be handed over to Sikou and Situ to deal with them together to see if they can use money to get rid of the disaster. Remember, if you can't use money to get rid of the disaster, you must always follow your brother and your cousins ​​and tell them to pretend to be ignorant and that they killed them by mistake!"

"I understand, father, please rest assured that my brother and cousins ​​are absolutely fine!" Zhai Hao replied.

………

More than ten days later, the child murder case spread throughout the Wei State. Now the whole Wei State is discussing how to deal with this child murder case. Some people think that they are just a few children and should be dealt with leniently, after all, children are not yet fully developed. Another group of people think that the state law is above everything else. How can they escape legal punishment just because they are just a few children? However, this matter must be handled by the Sikou and Situ together. In the royal capital, many people are asking how the Sikou and Sikou will deal with this matter. After all, this is related to the kindness to children and the majesty of the law. Should they be treated with kindness or according to the law? After all, these three children are only eight or nine years old.

Inside the Situ Mansion

Meng Ke is carefully reading the case and thinking: These three children are only eight or nine years old, but the child who was killed is also the same age. Children killing children, is this due to the lack of wisdom or cruelty? If they were immature, they would not have beaten someone to death. After all, children fighting would not be so cruel. You know, if they were immature, they would not even dare to kill a chicken. These three people beat people to the ground and were not afraid. They must be cruel and ruthless! "

Just as he was thinking, the housekeeper came in and said, "Sir, someone came to see you. He said it was the eldest son of An Guojun."

Meng Ke thought for a while and said, "Please let him in."

This Zhai Hao is indeed a smart man. He went to find Meng Ke on purpose. Meng Ke is a Confucian scholar who cares more about benevolence and courtesy. If he can persuade him with emotion and reason, he can let his brother go. After all, no one can hurt a child of seven or eight years old!

As soon as Zhai Hao came in, he knelt in front of Meng Ke and cried, "Sir, my brother is innocent! He is just an eight or nine-year-old child. How could he beat someone to death without knowing anything? This must be a false accusation! Please understand. I heard that you are a Confucian scholar, how could youCan't judge the truth? Have you ever seen an eight or nine-year-old child killing anyone? An eight or nine-year-old child doesn't even dare to kill a chicken, how could he kill someone? "

After listening, Meng Ke smiled and said, "So you came here to beg for mercy!"

Meng Ke helped him up and said earnestly, "Please rest assured, I will not sentence them arbitrarily, but if these three children are already intelligent, they will have to be sentenced to death! After all, the child who was killed was also eight or nine years old. I must investigate it clearly and give the people an explanation! I will neither sentence them arbitrarily nor let any criminal go! Please go back first. ”

Then he issued an order to expel the guest. Zhai Yu saw that Meng Ke was not easy to deceive, so he ran to the Sikou Mansion again.

Sikou Shendao was also carefully reviewing the case. After all, this was related to whether the law could maintain true justice. If the judgment was wrong, it would make the people very disappointed and they would no longer believe in the law.

Just when Shendao was in a state of panic, the housekeeper came in and whispered, "Sir, someone came to see you! This person said he was the eldest son of An Guojun."

Shendao put down the bamboo slips, rubbed his temples and said, "Let him in."

As soon as Zhai Yu came in, he quietly closed the door, looked out the window and saw that there was no one around, and said with a smile, "Sir, my brother is innocent! Here are five hundred taels of gold, please accept it! ”

When Shen Dao saw the five hundred taels of yellow gold, he was instantly furious. As a dignified legalist, how could he give up the rule of law that he had pursued all his life for money!

Then he shouted angrily: "Do you know what the punishment for bribery is? Do you want to be punished too!"

Zhai Yu saw that Shen Dao was angry, and hurriedly explained: "I just want to make friends with you, I don't want to bribe you!"

"Get out! "Shen Dao directly issued an order to expel him.

Zhai Yu fled in fear. At this time, since he could not use money to avoid disaster, it seemed that he had to ask his younger brother and cousins ​​to pretend to be ignorant.

The next morning

The case was officially tried in the government office. Sikou Shen Dao and Situ Mengke sat in the middle of the stage. There was a plaque hanging in the middle above their heads, with four gold-plated characters reading "A clear mirror hangs high".

There were more than a dozen officials holding wooden sticks on both sides of the stage, and dozens of fully armed soldiers outside the hall to take charge of the order of the trial. The people also gathered in a group at the designated position. Watch this trial.

The people below were also whispering to each other, speculating on the direction of this case, but most of them still hoped that the government would enforce the law, and could not put the law aside just because it was a child.

Going to court~~

Three little prisoners were brought up by officers and soldiers. Since they were brought up, Shen Dao has been observing the expressions and behaviors of the three people, and found that the three people had a bad attitude. When the officers and soldiers brought them up, they were still insulting the officers and soldiers and wanted to resist from time to time.

When they arrived in front of the court, Shen Dao slammed the gavel, and the three children were startled. One of the children had his eyesThey looked at Shen Dao with squinted eyes, and their angry look made people feel funny.

Shen Dao asked seriously: "You three beat that child to death!"

"I don't know, we were just playing with him!" said one of the little prisoners. The other two little prisoners also echoed.

Meng Ke asked: "Let me ask you what you should do when you meet an elder?"

"I don't know!" the three said in unison.

Shen Dao, who was thinking, asked: "Do you know what to do when entering your mother's room?"

"I don't know, we can just go in directly, and we are still playing around!" one person laughed.

The other two echoed: "Yes! Yes!"

Shen Dao and Meng Ke asked many more questions, but they either didn't know the answer or didn't know. Anyway, they just said three words, "I don't know"!

The people around saw that these three people were so perfunctory and had such arrogant expressions that they really deserved a beating.

Shen Dao and Meng Ke were also trying to figure out how to judge whether these three people were immature. Meng Ke turned his head and looked at the hourglass and found that it was noon. A plan came to his mind and he whispered a few words in Shen Dao's ear. Shen Dao smiled and nodded.

Meng Ke stood up and said to everyone: "It's noon now, it's time to have lunch. Someone serve millet rice to the three children. Oh, and bring me another bowl. I'm a little hungry too!"

The people thought it was a bit unreasonable. How could they eat during the interrogation? And they even prepared food for the prisoners. Is this really the appearance of an official who enforces the law impartially!

Four bowls of rice were served. The three little prisoners were already very hungry. They picked up the rice and ate it. At this time, one of the little prisoners saw Meng Ke's right hand and laughed. The other two also laughed. Meng Ke asked mysteriously: "What are you three laughing at?"

One of them smiled and replied: "You are already an adult, but you even hold the chopsticks upside down. I don't know who you are laughing at!"

The other two also laughed and said: "What a stupid pig, you don't know how to hold chopsticks at such a big age!"

At this time, the people seemed to see the faces of the three people clearly. Meng Ke put down the bowl and chopsticks, his face changed drastically, and he shouted angrily: "Come on, why don't you take these three murderers to the ground?" Imprisoned, executed tomorrow!"

The three men dropped their bowls and chopsticks in fear, and cried out: "We are innocent, how can you sentence us so arbitrarily!"

Shen Dao just sat in the hall and explained with a smile: "You three murderers are pretending to be stupid and ignorant. A child who has not yet learned should not know the rules of using chopsticks. Since you know it, it means that you are smart and just pretending to be stupid. Drag him out and execute him tomorrow!"

The people applauded when they saw that the government made the right judgment. His eldest brother Zhai Hao sat on the ground with a pale face after hearing the verdict. He didn't know what to do. It seems that the net of heaven is vast and nothing can escape it!

…………

A few days later, An Guojun Zhai Yu heard the news from Wangdu and vomited blood and fainted on the ground.

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