Chapter 156: 154: No Regard for Reason

"I refuse to accept this!"

Wang Yuanlu suddenly cried out in terror.

Huang Shunfu rebuked him: "How dare you! The presiding official has passed judgment — do not raise a clamor in this court!"

Zhao Han raised a hand to quiet everyone and said with a smile, "Fine. Today I'll make you accept it wholeheartedly. If you have any objection, speak it."

Wang Yuanlu was, after all, a juren, and his mind worked very fast: "Regional Commander, you judge me by the Great Ming Code, yet have you yourself ever abided by the Great Ming Code? If you yourself do not abide by it, on what grounds do you cite the Great Ming Code?"

At these words, everyone was shocked — he was accusing Zhao Han of rebellion. Clearly Wang Yuanlu had decided to throw all caution to the wind.

Bang!

Zhao Han shouted: "Bring forth the Ming Grand Pronouncements."

Four bailiffs came out bearing the Ming Grand Pronouncements, respectively: The Imperially Issued Grand Pronouncements, The Imperially Issued Grand Pronouncements, Continued, The Imperially Issued Grand Pronouncements, Third Compilation, and The Grand Pronouncements for Military Officers.

Because its provisions were excessively harsh, this thing had already fallen into disuse by the time of Zhu Di.

But the surviving copies were vast in number — back then every household had one, and in Beijing alone, teachers who made a living instructing in the Ming Grand Pronouncements once gathered to the number of one hundred ninety thousand.

Therefore, many households still preserve a copy today. So long as one holds the Ming Grand Pronouncements, any sentence of exile or less may be reduced by one degree.

These four volumes of ancient legal texts were brought out, and most of those attending the hearing were utterly baffled, having no idea such a thing even existed.

Zhao Han asked: "Do you know what this is?"

Wang Yuanlu was equally perplexed and shook his head: "I do not."

Zhao Han said: "These are the Grand Pronouncements of the August Emperor of Great Ancestor. The August Emperor said: 'This is the foundation for sovereign and subject, the supreme treasure for official and commoner. Proclaim it throughout the realm, and ensure every household possesses it. Those who dare show disrespect and fail to abide by it are no people of my civilizing rule — expel them beyond the pale of civilization, never to return.' He also said: 'Those who hold the Grand Pronouncements in hand shall have their sentences of flogging, the cangue, penal servitude, or exile reduced by one degree. Those who do not hold the Grand Pronouncements in hand shall have their sentences increased by one degree!'"

There was actually such a thing?

There was actually such a good thing?

Many people immediately wanted to get a copy of the Ming Grand Pronouncements — it could reduce your sentence if you committed a crime!

"You don't believe it?" Zhao Han said to the bailiff, "Carry it over and let him see. Let him flip through a few pages and get a taste."

The instant Wang Yuanlu came into contact with the Ming Grand Pronouncements, he knew the thing was no forgery — a woodblock-printed item over two hundred years old was recognizable at a glance.

He casually flipped through a few pages and was instantly so horrified his scalp tingled.

When officials travel on official business and need to use an official conveyance, the items they carry must be within ten jin. For every five jin in excess, the penalty is ten lashes. For excess of ten jin or more, the lashes double — that is, twenty lashes for every five jin.

For corrupt and venal officials, the lightest punishment is banishment to the frontier. For embezzlement of sixty taels or more, one faces such cruel punishments as beheading, flaying, and stuffing with grass.

It also included detailed case analyses. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue colluded with officials and gentry, and seven million dan of illicit grain were recovered. The officials and gentry sentenced to death in that case numbered in the tens of thousands.

A single corruption case — tens of thousands killed!

Trembling, Wang Yuanlu turned another page. The magistrate of Yuyao County had privately carved an official seal and swindled commoners into making false contracts. After the matter came to light, he bribed officials to escape punishment. The sentence: face tattooed with ink, body tattooed, tendons cut, fingers removed!

Wang Yuanlu finally understood why the Ming Grand Pronouncements had been abolished. This thing made it impossible for corrupt officials to survive.

Bang!

Zhao Han said: "The August Emperor's Ming Grand Pronouncements set the rule: if there are corrupt officials, venal clerks, villainous gentry, or local bullies who harm the people, the common people may seize them and deliver them to the capital. Furthermore, the common people have the right to force their way into government offices to arrest corrupt officials and venal clerks. Anyone who dares obstruct them shall have his entire family executed!"

Even Ouyang Zheng and Huang Shunfu, seated beside Zhao Han, were dumbfounded on the spot. Common people storming government offices to arrest corrupt officials?

Fei Ruhe turned his head to look at Fei Yinggong: "Fourth Uncle, have you heard of this?"

"No," Fei Yinggong shook his head.

When Zhu Yuanzhang promulgated the Ming Grand Pronouncements, the Fei clan of Yanshan was still a small, insignificant household.

Zhao Han spoke with deep anguish: "In the realm today, corrupt officials fill the court, and villainous gentry and local bullies cover the land. If all were to be seized and delivered to Beijing, how could we possibly arrest them all? I am a man of no great talent, yet I wish to restore the rule of the Hongwu era and purge the realm of its evils. Corrupt officials, villainous gentry — too many to arrest, too many to kill. I can only act in the government's stead. Even if the August Emperor were to return to life, I imagine he would raise no objection. Do not say I twist reason to suit myself — it is the Emperor and the court who fail to honor their own ancestors' laws!"

The justification for rebellion had been found: we are simply acting according to Zhu Yuanzhang's methods.

Zhao Han was taking advantage of the fact that no one had read the Ming Grand Pronouncements. Zhu Yuanzhang was severe with corrupt officials, but toward rebels he was far more merciless.

Zhao Han asked Wang Yuanlu: "Do you have anything else to say?"

Wang Yuanlu was shaking all over with terror. Suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him: "Regional Commander, the debased registers were established by the August Emperor himself. Since the Regional Commander has abolished the debased registers, you ought not to judge me by the Great Ming Code! If we follow the August Emperor, then Yang Chun'e originally belonged to the debased registers — how could she then be freed and become a commoner?"

Zhao Han laughed coldly: "You're quick-witted, I'll grant you that."

In many matters, Zhu Yuanzhang acted on wishful thinking. The Ming Grand Pronouncements were likewise absurd, which is why Zhu Di personally abolished them.

Zhao Han said: "First, Yang Chun'e is the descendant of a convicted official, not from a hereditary debased household. Second, although the August Emperor established the debased registers, he also left those in the debased registers a path to survival. In the Great Ming of today, never mind those in the debased registers — even law-abiding commoners, how are they to stay alive? And take household slaves: under the August Emperor's rule, what official or commoner dared keep slaves, dared take free commoners as slaves? In my view, the grandees of the court wish to turn all the people of the realm into servants, to cast all the realm's free commoners down into debased households. Consider the military households — how do they differ from the debased registers today? It is not I who defy the August Emperor; it is his unfilial descendants who have forgotten their heritage!"

"That being so, what of abolishing the debased registers? What of abolishing the military households?"

This was a sleight of hand, of course. But Zhao Han had troops in hand, so whatever he said was right.

"You twist reason to suit yourself — I refuse to accept this!" Wang Yuanlu howled at the top of his lungs, knowing full well he could hardly escape today. Zhao Han was determined to have him dead.

Bang!

Zhao Han slammed the court gavel: "You say I twist reason? Which of you has ever spoken reason!"

"At present, the seven northern provinces all suffer from banditry. Where do those roving bandits come from? Above, there is harsh exaction by the court; below, there is exploitation by the gentry. Add to that successive years of great disaster, and when the common people cannot survive, they will naturally rebel. Those who have been to the north ought to know how the roving bandits speak reason. They don't divide up the landlords' fields — they simply kill the landlord's entire family and take away the grain, money, and people. Every place they pass through is left a wasteland!"

"Not to speak of distant places — just look north to Yichun and Fenyi, west to Pingxiang and Yongxin, south to Taihe. The peasants of all these counties have already risen in revolt. Why is this so? Nothing more than seeking to survive!"

"The Way of Man takes from those who have too little to give to those who have too much. Thus the poor grow poorer and the rich grow richer. I bear no hatred toward the rich. If one acquires wealth by obeying the law, that is what one deserves! But throughout the realm, how many of the rich have not broken the law? You gentry present here — who dares say that your family's land was bought properly and lawfully, with no exploitation, that you have never lent at usurious interest? That you have never taken winter livestock tribute, never used a big measure for collecting rent and a small measure for lending grain? If so, I will immediately return your land! Who dares say it?"

The gentry all lowered their heads. Truly, none dared make that guarantee.

Even Li Banghua dared not guarantee it, for although he and his father might not exploit their tenants, their household slaves had certainly acted lawlessly behind their masters' backs.

In all the realm, not a single landlord was innocent!

The so-called good and virtuous among landlords were merely those whose ancestors had done evil to amass land, and who in their own generation built bridges and paved roads.

"The Way of Heaven takes from those who have too much to give to those who have too little!"

"Since you act perversely against the Way, the Way of Heaven will naturally come to settle accounts. What is the Way of Heaven? When peasants cannot stay alive and are driven to rebel, to kill officials and landlords — that is the Way of Heaven! In dynasty after dynasty, which dynasty's final years were not like this? This is the cycle of the Way of Heaven. You seize every advantage and leave the poor not a single path to survival — the poor will naturally rise up in revolt!"

"I know that you gentry all regard me as a bandit. The land your families accumulated over generations — I divided it up at a word, and gave no compensation. I tell you this: if I had not come to take your land, the peasant revolt would have come to take your lives!"

Zhao Han kicked aside the presiding judge's table, startling Huang Shunfu and Ouyang Zheng beside him.

Zhao Han strode into the center of the court, looked around at everyone, and said: "Today I lay my words down here. I am the one who has come to lead the rebellion. Equalize rich and poor, abolish noble and base, and open an era of peace for ten thousand ages! I have taken only your land, not plundered your money and grain. I consider that already the height of benevolence. Do not force me to confiscate your homes and exterminate your families, to take your money and grain and the lives of your households as well!"

Zhao Han stepped forward and said: "Under my rule, there are no debased registers. All people are born equal. This is the Ge Wei Theory of Zhao Zhuochen of Yanshan. Ge is human dignity — at birth there is no distinction of high or low. Whether one's human dignity is higher depends entirely on whether one has done good deeds or bad! Status may be high or low, but that has nothing to do with human dignity." Zhao Han pointed at Wang Yuanlu. "Even if Yang Chun'e had never been freed, even if she were merely a prostitute, you still could not commit the act of rape!"

Zhao Han then pointed at the gentry and said, "This Wang Yuanlu, a juren by background and willing to work — I originally intended to cultivate him specially. When land was distributed, his performance was only rated middling, yet I still promoted him to town chief. I had even decided that, once we took Taihe County, I would raise him to County Magistrate of Taihe. Not because his talent or virtue is outstanding, but simply because he is a juren, a son of a great clan — I did not want to break completely with great clans like yours!"

Hearing these words, Wang Yuanlu was instantly sick with regret. Had he not raped that woman, his future would surely have been boundless.

Zhao Han's tone suddenly hardened: "So long as you settle your hearts and do the work, I will certainly not treat you poorly. But if you dare feign compliance while opposing in secret, if you dare form cliques for private gain, then I shall have to speak by the Great Ming Code! And if even the Great Ming Code proves useless, then by the Grand Pronouncements of Ming — embezzle sixty taels of silver and you will be flayed and stuffed with straw!"

Zhao Han barked the order: "No need to pick an execution ground — strangle him right here, and let the generations of sages in the Shrine of Former Worthies watch!"

"Regional Commander, spare my life!"

Wang Yuanlu no longer tried to quibble or excuse himself. His legs went soft and he dropped to his knees, kowtowing frantically before Zhao Han.

Two bailiffs came forward with a rope, looped it once around Wang Yuanlu's neck, and then pulled hard in opposite directions.

This was the Chinese method of strangulation — far more dignified than beheading, for at least the corpse remained whole.

Wang Yuanlu could be seen clawing at the rope, his feet beginning to kick wildly, his two eyes bulging larger and larger...

The gentry present could not bear to watch; many turned their heads away.

Zhao Han roared in fury: "I know that many of you, officials included, think raping a woman of prostitute origin is no great matter. Some would even say that taking her as a concubine afterward counts as doing her an honor. Today I will make this clear: under my rule, a juren is a person, and a prostitute is also a person. They are equal in human dignity, and they are equal before the law!"

(End of chapter)