Chapter 439

Therefore, Xun Bai Shui's gaze toward Gu Tingye turned cold, and he said coldly: "According to the 'Thief Law,' I sentence you to six years of hard labor!"

Gu Yankai and the others' expressions changed drastically after hearing this!

The Yuan family's people were also extremely terrified!

In fact, the matter of "cursing officials" had occurred repeatedly in ancient history.

Since the management mechanism of the imperial court relied on officials at all levels, from high-ranking ministers to grassroots petty officials, to maintain it.

Therefore, if the imperial court did not adopt some restrictive measures against the common people, and allowed them to insult and slander imperial officials at will, the grassroots cadres who governed the country for the imperial court would be unable to carry out their work normally.

Successive emperors, in order to strengthen the protection of officials, began to promulgate laws protecting the human rights of officials as early as the Han Dynasty.

The "Thief Law" mentioned here by Xun Bai Shui was a regulation continued from the Han Dynasty.

It stipulated that anyone who beat or insulted officials due to official business would be subjected to the "Nai" punishment.

For prisoners, this "Nai" punishment was more of a mental punishment.

The content of the punishment was very simple: it was to shave off the eyebrows and beard of the prisoner's face, in this way making the criminal suffer humiliation!

One must know that the common people in Chinese history, unlike modern people, had always valued the decency of appearance and the norms of moral ethics.

Therefore, shaving off hair or tattooing the face damaged a person's appearance, severely violated widely accepted rites and norms, damaged personal reputation and image, and caused people to lose their reputation; thus, the "Nai" punishment was a very serious punishment in ancient times.

The above was just one of the punishments for ordinary low-level officials below the fifth rank!

Hearing Xun Bai Shui's words.

Gu Tingye, who was unlearned and unskilled, didn't even know what "hard labor" meant.

Xun Bai Shui became increasingly displeased with this person.

Even without mentioning other reasons.

His first impression of this person was that he had no good feelings at all.

Therefore.

However, he was an official.

Naturally, he had to let the other party know what crime they had committed and what the consequences were.

Only then could he serve as a warning to others.

He continued to explain coldly: "According to the law, if commoners beat or insult high-ranking officials of the rank or above, or if petty officials beat or insult high-ranking officials of the fifth rank or above due to official business, they are sentenced to 'hard labor'."

"If the person who beats or insults high-ranking officials is a female relative, she must be tattooed on the face and conscripted as a convict to pound rice."

"You are a man, so you must be sent to repair the city wall after being tattooed on the face, to do more strenuous physical labor."

"Besides repairing the city wall, you must also engage in field labor, handicraft labor, etc.!".

【316】 Gu Tingye collapses and begs for mercy, Marquis of Ningyuan is forced to smile

"Six, six years!"

Hearing this.

Originally looking arrogant.

Gu Tingye, who didn't take it to heart, trembled violently all over!

His face instantly turned deathly pale!

His drunkenness was scared away!

Repairing the city wall for six years, would he still have a life left?

He actually had to be thankful.

His life might be preserved.

If his body wasn't too poor.

Originally, for this punishment, whether it was pounding rice or repairing the city wall, both methods of punishment had no time limit, meaning that those sentenced to hard labor had to pay the price of a lifetime of penal servitude for their extreme behavior.

It was better now.

"Hard labor" had already been changed to a fixed-term imprisonment of 6 years.

Although the punishment had been reduced.

But for ordinary people.

Such a sentence was still too painful for ancient people, a weight of life that could not be borne.

And this was not just a bitter punishment.

It also included mental punishment.

Didn't I say earlier that eyebrows and beards had to be shaved?

This time it was even more ruthless.

Those serving the hard labor sentence also had to be tattooed on the face first!

After eyebrows and beards were shaved off.

At least they could grow back.

You just had to hide at home for three to five months.

Being tattooed on the face was miserable.

Tattooing the face, also known as the "Qing" punishment, was one of the five punishments!

It was the corporal punishment that had been in operation for the longest time in China's five thousand years.

Modern people like tattoos as a trend, but ancient people would think you were a crazy idiot.

There was no regulation on which character to tattoo.

It depended on what crime you were tattooed for.

Gu Tingye's case belonged to the crime of cursing, i. e., the crime of "Li"!

Therefore, he would be cruelly tattooed with the two characters for the crime of "Li."

He would never be able to wash it off in his life.

In this life, not only would he become someone mocked by everyone, but he would also have no opportunity to become an official again, and there would basically be no hope of becoming a soldier.

For Gu Tingye, this was basically social death; it was no better than Brother Ouyang Xu, who was forced to commit suicide by Jia Hui, and perhaps even more miserable!

After all, at that time, although Brother Ouyang Xu's reputation and financial future were ruined.

But if he hid in a quiet little place, he could still live peacefully as a commoner if people didn't know.

But after Gu Tingye was tattooed on the face, no matter where he went, everyone could see the tattooed characters on his face.

Therefore, he could only hide at home for the rest of his life.

Even then, the servants would definitely mock him for a lifetime.

There would be no dignity to speak of.

At this moment, Gu Tingye finally knew fear!

He looked at his father, Gu Yankai, who had just hit him.

He really didn't want to ask for help.

But at this moment, he finally couldn't hold on anymore, and said tremblingly: "Father, save me!"

As he spoke, tears flowed down.

Gu Yankai, who was originally extremely angry and wanted to ignore this wicked obstacle who caused trouble, saw this.

His heart softened again!

He sighed inwardly.

Gu Yankai smiled and said nice things to Xun Bai Shui: "Magistrate Xun, let's speak aside."

Then he hurriedly went up and pulled Xun Bai Shui, wanting to leave the courtroom.

However, Xun Bai Shui was unwilling.

He could only go to a corner nearby.

Gu Yankai said in a low voice: "It shouldn't be like this, can you forgive my little son? He is still a child."

With his back to Jia Hui and the others, he hurriedly took out a stack of silver notes from his bosom.

Estimating there were several thousand taels!

It was not a small amount.

He intended to play the human sentiment card and bribery.

The classic "he is still a child"!