The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

Xu Zhong and Chen Bao came, and Xun Zhen met them in the backyard. Because the time was short, he didn't say much, and asked straight to the point: "Yesterday, Gao Bing went to Gaoyang to meet me, saying that everything was ready, but I owe it to me. Dongfeng. But what?"

Xu and Chen thought to themselves, "What do you mean by 'I only owe Dongfeng'?" Neither of them were stupid. Although they didn't know the origin of this sentence, they could roughly guess the meaning from the context. Xu Zhong replied, "Yes. "Looking outside the hall, I saw that there were no outsiders in the courtyard, only Tang Er was taking the quilt out to dry, and Xiao Xia and Xiao Ren were standing guards at the courtyard entrance. Before the table where you sit, the hand will come up.

Xun Zhen caught it, and saw that it was a piece of bamboo slip, with two lines of characters written on it, four characters in each line, and the words were: "Have a child with two ends, the sky will be on the second day." What is it?" Xu Zhong replied, "This is the criminal evidence that will be found in the third family's house." Chen Bao continued with a smile, "This is a genuine rumor, sin and three gentiles."

Last summer, a woman in Luoyang gave birth to a child with two heads and four arms, who was regarded as a demon. This matter soon spread to the surrounding counties and states of Luoyang. Yingchuan County was not far from Luoyang, and most people in the county knew about it. "Having two sons", that's what he's talking about. Humans have only one head, just like there is only one sun in the sky, the so-called "there are no two days in the sky", but now people have two heads, doesn't that mean "the sky will have two days"? Xun Zhen said in his heart, "These eight characters are similar to 'The sky is dead, the yellow sky should stand'."

Obviously, Xu Zhong and Chen Bao wanted to frame the third clan with the "sin of evil words", but in fact, the eight characters "have two children, the heaven will rule for two days" is indeed the same as "the sky is dead, the yellow sky is dead. Just like the sky should stand", it is an out-and-out "demon talk".

What is a "fairy talk"? Ominous and confusing words are "demon words". According to the law, whoever commits this crime will be punished with the destruction of the family at light level, and the three clans in serious crime, and even the guests, old friends, and friends under the door will be implicated.

Xun Zhen was very satisfied. It seemed that Xu Zhong, Du Mai, and Chen Bao fully understood what he meant, and the charge they brought up was just right.

He returned the bamboo slips to Xu Zhong, deducted the case lightly, and said, "So, you go back and tell Du Mai, and ask him to write to the county magistrate early tomorrow morning and report the third clan's slanderous words and confuse the public." Hu / Ping was in Fanyang Pavilion. Du Mai was the first person to handle the arrest, and he had to be the whistleblower. Xun Zhen couldn’t overtake him, but he wouldn’t stand by, paused, and then said, “And tell Du Buy it, and ask him to write another report for me, so that I can also report to the county center at the same time."

There is only one Du Mai, maybe the county magistrate Zhu Chang will not pay attention to it, but if he is added, there is Xun's signboard, and Zhu Chang will not pay attention to it. Sure enough, the next day, when Du Mai and Xun Zhen went to the county middle school one after another, a county official came to the village on horseback that afternoon, but it was Xun Zhen's acquaintance, Cao Qingan, a thief.

…

The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, and there are four types of serious speech crimes: slander, false speech, inappropriate speech and demon speech. In addition to "unsuitable words", the other three are to be sentenced to "tribal punishment", that is, to punish the ethnic group. Because of the severe punishment and the crime of speech, this type of crime is different from those criminal crimes. The biggest difference is that criminal crimes, such as murder, arson, and theft, have solid evidence, and such crimes But because it is "guilty for words", it is not easy to determine the evidence. In other words, it can be understood as: if you say you are guilty, you are guilty, and if you say you are not guilty, you are not guilty. It is precisely because of this feature that in the hands of cruel officials, such crimes are often abused.

After Qin Gan met Xun Zhen, the first sentence was: "Does Xun Jun know the seriousness of the crime of 'demon talk'?" So this is the first sentence you ask.

"knowledge."

"Before I came, the county lord said that Fanyang Pavilion was the place where the monarch's predecessor was. Now Du Mai and Jun have written a letter before and after to report the third clan's slanderous words to confuse the public. What do you mean, or what do you mean?" No one is a fool, and Hu / Ping is not from Fanyangting, but he was arrested at Fanyangting on New Year's Eve. The clan's slanderous words confuse the public, it is obvious that there must be an inside story.

Xun Zhen didn't change his face, and replied, "Hu / Ping, a guest of the third clan, was invited to have a drink at Fanyang Pavilion. He was taken by Du Mai because of gambling money in the game. Hu / Ping took the initiative to report that the third clan owner had The crime of demon talk. This kind of experience has been clearly written by the subordinate in the book."

"You mean this case has nothing to do with you?"

Xun Zhen acquiesced.

How could Qin Gan believe him! Staring at him closely, he said: "The crime of demon talk, one person commits a crime, is banned to three families, and involves hundreds or even thousands of people at every turn. Last year, in the case of Liu's demon speech in Yanzhou, more than 400 people were finally convicted, and nearly 400 people were convicted. Half of them were killed, and most of the rest were exiled for thousands of miles. .

Xun Zhen had heard about the "Yanzhou Liu Clan's Demon Talking Case". This Liu family is a big family in the locality, and the family is very rich. It used to be the lord of the county and township, but because of a crime of "demon talk", overnight, the clan members were either executed or exiled, and all of them were implicated. This is a huge family. It disappeared.

After listening to Qin Gan's questioning, Xun Zhen calmly asked Xiao Xia, who was standing at the entrance of the hall, "Bring what the third house sent yesterday!" Qin Gan waited suspiciously. After a while, Xiao Xia was holding a lacquer plate. Come in, put it in front of Qin Gan's case, lift the cloth above, revealing the things inside, but five golden cakes. Qin Qian was puzzled and asked, "What does this mean?"

"This is what the third family sent to the subordinate yesterday. Duke Qin, please think about it, if there is no ghost in your heart, how could the third family be willing to use these five pieces of gold cake in exchange for Hu/Ping one person? Hu/ Ping is just a guest of his family, how can it be worth the money!"

Qin Qian was silent.

Xun Zhen added: "Actually, the official received a letter from Fanyangting to report the case as early as a few days ago. It was because he knew the crime of demon talk, so he did not report it to the county lord at that time, but ordered Du Mai to check carefully to avoid There was a mistake. Du Mai repeatedly asked Hu/Ping, and sent people to Sangyin Pavilion to inquire secretly. Many people have confirmed that the Third Clan does often speak evil words."

"According to you, the evidence is conclusive in this case?"

"Not only does the Third Clan often speak out, but Fanyangting has made unannounced visits in the past few days, and found that their clan has committed a lot of crimes in the domineering township. "

Xiao Xia brought a copy to Qin Gan.

Qin Gan opened it and took a closer look. He was shocked. He saw that there were more than 30 crimes listed on it. There are also crimes such as privately killing slaves and servants, and **** and so on.

These charges are not committed by a single person. Each charge is preceded by a name, that is, the person who committed the crime, followed by the name of the crime, and then followed by the name of the sufferer. Roughly counted, more than 20 people in the third clan were involved. - It is also thanks to Xu Zhong, Jiang Qin and others that they are all hometown light fighters, have extensive communication, and have a wide range of connections, so they were able to collect so many criminal evidence in just a few days.

After reading the paper, he said angrily: "Although I am not a native of the village, I have heard of this third clan, and I know that he has been rampant in the village all year round, calling himself a hero of Luli, and using force to violate the ban, but I did not expect to be so domineering, Sin! If these charges are true, the three members of the clan are not wrong!"

Xun Zhen's heart moved, and he heard his subtext, thinking: "'If these charges are true, the three members of the clan are not at fault' what does it mean? Could it be?... Could he guess that 'Yaoyan' is actually just a false accusation ?" You know, the third clan can be punished for the crime of "demon talk", but Qin Gan did not mention "demon talk", but only said that if these charges are true, then the three clans are not wrong, it is very similar to In "avoiding the real and making the false".

Xun Zhen guessed right. Due to its characteristics, the crime of "demon talk" is often used by local officials to frame the extermination of large clans under the rule, or to gain power or to gain money. Just like the "Yanzhou Liu Clan's Gossip Case", the person who handled the case was a newly appointed county magistrate, and anyone with a discerning eye could see that it was obviously for the sake of prestige. Therefore, although Qin Qian did not know that the third Lan blocked Le Jin, he was also very suspicious of Xun Zhen's motives in handling the case. UU reading www.uukanshu. However, although he is upright and upright, he is not ignorant. As he said: "If these charges are true, then it is not wrong to destroy the three clans."

Xun Zhen asked, "So?"

"I'll go back to the county now, and ask the county lord to send someone to check secretly. If these charges are true, the whole family will be arrested!"

Hearing his words, Xun Zhen thought: "Sure enough, Qin Gan doesn't believe that the third clan is guilty of 'demon talk'. To listen to the meaning of his words, the main thing is to see whether the crime on this document is true. If it is true, The third clan of the Ben family." Although Qin Gan did not believe that the third clan was guilty of "demon talk", Xun Zhen was not worried either, because every crime on this document was true.

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1. Fairy words.

The Qin and Han dynasties had many "demon speech cases", and they were like the Qin Confucianism in the distance. One of the main reasons was: "Those who were born in Xianyang, I will ask people to ask them honestly, or I will make a mess for the highland speech." Another example is the phrase "the ancestor dragon died this year" at the end of the Qin Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty promulgated six supervision regulations to the provincial governor, called "six edicts", the third of which "is to investigate whether the county governor's handling of prisons is appropriate, and to observe 'landslides and rocks cracking, demons and false rumors'. Such disasters and strange phenomena. That is to say, local 'witchcraft' is important information that the governor must pay attention to collect and trace."

Liu An, King of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, because of "intriguing the people and making false rumors", not only committed suicide, but also the queen, the prince, and the guests involved in the case are "all clans". ".

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were more cases of this kind. In the first year of Yongshou (155 years), "Liu Taoshang Shuhuan Emperor complained about the abuses of the time, and there were words like 'Gaomen was guilty of Dongguan, and Fengshi Luo was guilty of betrayal'. It has become a serious social problem at that time, even if it is a wealthy family, it cannot escape the trap.”