Chapter 506 Ayun Case

Su You came out and said: "Your Majesty, the annual currency is a long-standing discussion and should not be increased again today."

"However, what the Ministry of Rites and the Xia envoy said is that Xixia is now in a soft submission. This is indeed a consolation and the right thing to do."

"I remembered one thing. When Yizong of the Western Xia Dynasty came to Weizhou for hunting, he still received me. Yizong came and went in a hurry, leaving his sword, arrows, wolf, seals, and memorials of the ministers' correspondence in the Song Dynasty. They have never been

Take it back."

"The Imperial Song Dynasty is a country of etiquette and righteousness. Now I beg Your Majesty to give Lord Xia a gift from his father to express his filial piety and reiterate that the two countries have a good alliance and not to open up border affairs."

Zhao Xu was so happy that he secretly curled up his big toes in his boots. This idea was absolutely brilliant!

Ambassador Xia was dumbfounded. How important were the late emperor's relics and the coins? On the surface, of course it was the late emperor's relics that were important!

Filial piety is greater than heaven. Damn it, Su Mingrun put his mouth on the line and really has nothing to say.

Everyone in the court admired Xiao Su's quick wit in exploring flowers. Su Mingrun, Su Mingrun, you are a third-rank or above in the court, you are the real deal!

Zhao Xu had no expression on his face: "I will not hear this unless you are a minister. I am determined not to take the honorary title and return the relics of Lord Xia. Are you satisfied, Ambassador Xia?"

The Xia envoy had no choice but to cry and say: "Xia Kingdom's little minister, weep and thank the heaven for the kindness you have given me."

…

The small diplomatic victory could not cover up the growing disputes in the court, and Sima Guang and Wang Anshi began to show their differences.

The first thing is that the most serious case in the Northern Song Dynasty was the murder of Ayun's husband.

The reason why it is the number one in Tianzi is because of its influence, which is still discussed a lot even thousands of years later.

In fact, the case is very simple. Ayun, a girl from a farm in Dengzhou, lost her father early and her mother died last year, leaving her family extremely poor.

Ayun's uncle forcibly betrothed Ayun to Wei Da, an old bachelor in the village, regardless of the fact that Ayun's mother was still in mourning. However, at this time, "the marriage was not possible."

Wei Da was ugly, and Ayun was very dissatisfied because she thought her son-in-law was ugly. However, the wedding date had been set and she had no control over it.

So in order to get rid of this marriage, one day, Ayun "waited for him to sleep", "cut him with a knife", "made more than ten wounds, but could not kill", and only "cut off one of his fingers".

Since the murderer could not be found, the officials soon suspected A-yun and "examined him persistently in order to interrogate and plunder him", but "told the truth", so they all confessed truthfully.

The magistrate of the county, in accordance with the rules of Song Dynasty, sentenced Ayun to death for murdering her husband and reported it to the magistrate.

At that time, Xu Zun, the magistrate of Dengzhou, was an official sent by Dali Temple to the local area for training. "History of the Song Dynasty" records that this man "was tired of punishments and jails, but was strong, sensitive and clear about forgiveness."

Xu Zun quickly changed the verdict: when Ayun got engaged, "the mother's clothes were not removed", so the engagement was invalid, "just as a mortal". Therefore, it could not be said that she murdered her husband and could avoid death.

Information about the case was sent to the Sentencing Court and Dali Temple, but the Sentencing Court and Dali Temple unanimously rejected Xu Zun's verdict and instead sentenced Ayun to "marrying against the law and murdering her husband" and sentenced him to death by hanging.

Xu Zun was dissatisfied and appealed again, arguing that if the defendant could voluntarily confess the facts of the crime when the officials summoned him, he should be treated as surrendering and the punishment would be reduced to the second level.

When Ayun was interrogated, he voluntarily confessed the facts of the crime. "Yun confessed immediately when asked, so he should be asked to do so."

Because it is a death penalty case, the case needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Punishment for review. "The Ministry of Punishment determines the punishment as trial, Dali", and it is still the death penalty. The reason is the relevant provisions of the "Murder" article of "Song Xingtong - Thief and Robbery Law": "All murders"

Those who are human shall be sentenced to three years; those who have been injured shall be hanged; those who have been killed shall be beheaded.”

Because Ayun's behavior was "murder and injury", he was "deemed to be hanged".

However, the decision-making power rested with Zhao Xu. Zhao Xu felt that the girl was quite pitiful, so he allowed her to use money to atone for her crime. In fact, in accordance with Xu Zun's original sentence, he believed that there were circumstances that could mitigate the crime.

By this time Xu Zun had returned to Dali Temple and was promoted to Minister of Dali Temple.

Regarding the sentence of the Ministry of Punishment, Xu Zun pointed out: "The Ministry of Punishment decided that it was not straight, and Yun He was exempted from the crime he committed." He believed that the sentence of the Ministry of Punishment was incorrect and that Ayun should be given a lighter sentence.

The reason is that if he "kills him according to all circumstances" regardless of the indiscriminate nature of the crime, it will "block his way of surrendering" and is not in line with the principle of "the crime should be considered as light as possible".

At the same time, it was also pointed out that if the sins should be pardoned according to the circumstances, they would need to be pardoned through the emperor's edict. If there is no edict in the future, wouldn't all these people die?

This was completely inconsistent with the legal spirit of the Song Dynasty, so we asked the Ministry of Punishment to reconsider.

When the admonishers at Yushitai learned about it, they immediately impeached Xu Zun for violating the law. "If you don't agree with Xu Zun, please make a two-pronged decision." He asked the court to send the case to Hanlin scholars for discussion.

Zhao Xu had no idea that this case would become such a headache, so he "invited Hanlin scholars Sima Guang and Wang Anshi to discuss it."

After understanding the course of the case, Wang Anshi and Sima Guang came to completely opposite conclusions and could not reach a consensus, so "the two had different opinions and made their own decisions." Wang Anshi supported Xu Zun's point of view, and Sima Guang supported the Ministry of Punishment's point of view.

.

Wang Anshi's basis for deciding the case was the same as Xu Zun's, which was "the murder caused injuries, and he surrendered upon questioning, and the crime was reduced by two degrees from murder."

Sima Guang's basis comes from "Song Xingtong": when killing people, "there is harm to others, so it is not a case of surrendering", so Ayun cannot surrender.

The two sides are arguing endlessly. If Zhao Xu does not believe in evil, then expand the scope of participants and discuss again!

As a result, opinions were divided into two groups.

Hanlin scholars Lu Gongzu, Han Wei, Zhizhigao Qian Gongfu and others all supported Wang Anshi's opinion.

The Yushitai and the Ministry of Punishment supported Sima Guang's opinions.

For a time, "there were divergent discussions in the court" and "difficulties were discussed over and over again, and no decision was made for a long time."

This time we asked for opinions. Since Su You was a third-grade official or above, he couldn't escape and had to express his position.

Analyzing the current debate in this case, the main focus is whether Ayun’s murder can be reduced by surrender.

This also involves another crime of Ayun, which is the crime of "violating the law and marrying" as the motive for the murder.

"Song Xingtong Household Marriage Laws" stipulates: "Anyone who marries after his parents or husband have died will be detained for three years."

Ayun promised to marry Wei during his mother's death. This is illegal in itself, so the marriage should be invalid. That is, there is no legal relationship between Ayun and Wei. Therefore, they should be treated as "mortals".

The difference here is very huge, because if there is a relationship between them as husband and wife, the plot of "murder and injury" constitutes "disharmony" among the "ten evil" crimes, because the "ten evil" crimes are not allowed by Chang Shen.

It turns out that the circumstances of surrender are not applicable and the person will be sentenced to death.

As for whether Ayun surrendered, everyone basically believes that Xu Zun's statement is correct.

The identification of surrender in the Song Dynasty is as follows: "Criminals who turn themselves in after knowing that someone wants to accuse someone and want to bring the case to trial, and people who are on the run and have rebelled against the law. Those who turn themselves in after such things will be reduced to a second-class sentence."

Of."

Xu Zun judged that Ayun "accepted when asked, so he should have accepted the question." This was in line with what was said above about "surrendering himself when the case was asked," and there was no question about this.

The remaining one is whether the circumstances of Ayun's surrender are applicable to the reduction of crime, and whether the "crime for which he committed" can be exempted.

If it is possible, then Xu Zun's insistence is correct, and Ayun should not die; if not, then the insistence of Dali Temple of the Ministry of Punishment is correct, and Ayun should be sentenced to hanging and pardoned by the emperor.

The "Song Dynasty Xingtong Laws and Regulations" "Surrender after the crime has been committed" stipulates that "Those who surrender because of committing murder will be exempted from the crime for which they committed the crime, and the law of killing and wounding will still be followed."

As for the "crimes caused", the definition of this article is: "If someone kills or injures someone due to theft, or negligently kills or injures a wealthy person and surrenders, the crime of theft will be exempted, so the crime of killing and wounding will still be punished."

This means that the exemption from the crime of crime only applies to situations where the owner of the property is killed or injured during theft and then surrenders. In this case, the crime of theft can be exempted, but the crime of killing or wounding must still be investigated.

According to Xu Zun and Wang Anshi, Ayun's killing behavior was the crime of "violating the law for marriage." Regardless of whether this crime was flawed or not, it obviously did not have the above circumstances.

Therefore, the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, and Sima Guang advocated that the case should still be dealt with according to the "killing for injury law" and believed that there was no legal basis for surrendering and commuting the sentence in Ayun's case, and there was actually nothing wrong with it.

On the basis of acknowledging this plot, the emperor believed that Ayun had indeed committed the crime of intentional homicide, and then pardoned him.

This is where the differences between Xu Zun, Wang Anshi, Sima Guang and others lie.

Wang Anshi believed that Ayun’s motive for murder was that he was forced to hire Xu with the surname Wei during his mother’s funeral. This is a different concept from deliberate murder after the theft was discovered, which is in line with the principle of “avoiding the crime caused by the crime”.

regulations.

Sima Guang believes that Ayun's premeditated murder is a premeditated murder. "Conspiracy" and "killing" in the case are closely related to cause and effect. They are the execution of the crime after the criminal planning, so it is a real murder.

Objectively speaking, Wang Anshi is suspected of misinterpreting the "crime of cause" here to cater to Zhao Xu's will. However, Su You believes that Sima Guang's view is correct based on the regulations of "Song Xingtong"
Chapter completed!