Chapter 74: Carefully Determine Rewards and Punishments

Hearing that Heifu had something to ask him, Xi turned around fully. Looking at the heavy money pouch on Heifu, he smiled. "Oh? Could it be you're puzzled about the reward amounts?"

Earlier in the county jail hall, besides announcing Heifu's promotion to Shangzao, Xi had also announced the rewards for the people of Huyang Pavilion.

In this case, although there were six criminals, four were Qin people and two were Chu people, and since they had neither killed anyone nor robbed property, it still could not constitute the crime of "gang banditry." Apart from the tomb raiders' leader "Xing," who was a wanted criminal worth 20 liang of gold, the three Qin tomb raiders were each worth 7 gold. The dead Chu tomb raider and the young Chu man Xing, being foreign thieves, were each worth 2 gold.

So the tomb raiders totaled a reward of 45 gold.

This division of gold was not like the private wager with Yuanbai last time, where Heifu had the final say. Instead, the government divided the reward money into several portions according to the contributions of the Huyang Pavilion people.

Heifu, as Pavilion Chief, had single-handedly brought about the successful capture of the tomb raiders. His contribution was the greatest, and he alone could receive 20 gold!

Thief-Catcher Dongmen Bao participated in the battle to seize the tomb raiders and was also the pavilion's deputy, so he could receive 7 gold.

Xiao Tao and Li Xian also participated in the battle, each receiving 5 gold.

Although Ji Ying was a postman, the anonymous letter incident began because of him. In addition to his merit in reporting the case, he was rewarded 4 gold.

Yu Liang also participated in reporting the case and was rewarded 3 gold.

Even Pavilion Father Pu Zhang received 1 gold for guarding the pavilion while everyone was out.

Divided this way, everyone in Huyang Pavilion received some money, and all were delighted.

Tiny Anlu County naturally did not have much gold in reserve. The so-called "several liang of gold" was more of a large-denomination unit of account for currency. When actually distributed, it was still given as an equivalent value in Banliang coins.

In addition, there was the reward for capturing the anonymous letter writer Quji: two servants. Heifu and the others stated they did not need servants and requested they be converted to money at market price. Thus, another 8600 coins were issued. Heifu alone received 4000 coins, and the remaining money was divided according to the contributions of the Huyang Pavilion people in searching for the letter writer.

Thus, adding the two together, Heifu obtained the enormous sum of 15,520 Banliang coins! At a thousand coins per basket, that was enough to fill fifteen baskets...

One liang is 24 zhu, half a liang is 12 zhu, and one zhu is 0.65 grams. A single Qin Banliang coin weighs roughly 8 grams.

Placed before him, this money was also a large pile, weighing over a hundred kilograms. Heifu's money pouch could only hold a little over four thousand coins; the rest had to be hauled back to Huyang Pavilion by hired oxcart.

Heifu had no objection whatsoever to the distribution of that reward money. He had come to find Xi for another matter entirely...

Heifu cupped his hands and said, "Regarding the matter of Gongshi Quji being fined three suits of armor for the anonymous letter, I still have some doubts and wish to ask the Prison Clerk in person!"

"Gongshi Quji?"

Xi was slightly taken aback. Looking at Heifu, he said, "You personally arrested this man according to the crime of anonymous letter writing. What doubts do you have?"

Heifu chose his words carefully and said, "Although Quji committed the crime of anonymous letter writing and should be punished according to the law, his letter was not intended to falsely accuse or slander, but to report a crime. Without Quji's report, this lowly official could never have rounded up the criminals in one sweep. Moreover, after Quji was arrested, he confessed to his crime without reservation and actively assisted us in solving the case. I wonder if within the laws and ordinances there might be..."

"Might be a statute to reduce his culpability?" Xi guessed what Heifu wanted to say.

"Yes," Heifu replied.

He considered himself a person of conscience and felt considerable sympathy for Quji's punishment. Because Heifu felt that in this matter, Quji had done nothing wrong. Furthermore, Quji still had a pregnant wife at home, and his family was not well-off, which made Heifu feel even more uneasy.

Xi, however, said, "Heifu, do you know when this crime of anonymous letter writing was established?"

Heifu shook his head, saying he did not know.

Xi then said, "This ordinance was established at the very beginning, when Lord Shang's new policies set the legal code for our state. At that time, treacherous persons, seeing the laws were strict, recklessly attempted to submit anonymous letters, slandering and deceiving in countless ways, reviling superiors and insulting inferiors, stopping at nothing, causing the laws to be disrupted for a time. Thus Lord Shang decreed that matters reported by anonymous letter writers would not be accepted at all. Before the anonymous writer was caught, the letter could not even be opened and read. Once the letter writer was caught, they were to be severely punished!"

Heifu suddenly understood. So this ordinance had such a historical origin. From then on, Qin adopted a blanket approach to anonymous accusation letters. Even those who "feared criminals and dared not accuse openly, thus submitted an anonymous letter with entirely true facts" were considered as "though the circumstances are extremely minor, the culture of informing and accusation must not be encouraged." As before, they were to be arrested and punished accordingly.

Perhaps Qin's approach did indeed achieve the effect of "blocking the source of false accusation and cutting off the path of treachery and deceit," making those who would slander and falsely accuse not dare to act recklessly. But Heifu still felt this handling was somewhat rigid and indiscriminate. He very much wanted to know if Qin had any regulation similar to later eras, where a criminal actively assisting the authorities' investigation could reduce their culpability.

However, Xi shattered his illusions. In Qin law, there were only three circumstances that could reduce culpability. One was the "minor protection law" that had just appeared today, because juveniles were mostly incited to commit crimes and lacked criminal responsibility capacity.

Secondly, negligent crimes received lighter punishment. This was mainly aimed at officials; the punishment for unintentional rule-breaking and deliberate dereliction of duty was completely different.

Thirdly, surrendering oneself reduced punishment. Qin law stipulated that anyone who fled with borrowed public property but voluntarily surrendered would not be judged as theft, but as flight.

Among these, there was no reduction or exemption option suitable for Gongshi Quji.

Heifu immediately fell silent. After a while, he said softly, "Doesn't The Way of Being an Official say that as an official, one must carefully determine rewards and punishments, and not punish the innocent?"

"Whether Quji is guilty or innocent is not for you and me to decide."

Xi frowned and repeated his pet phrase: "It is decided only by the law!"

"Can the law not have errors, omissions, and rigid places?" Heifu was somewhat unconvinced. In this moment, the later era's rewards for anonymous whistleblowers and the Qin dynasty's punishment created an irreconcilable conflict.

"Even if there are errors, they must be changed by Xianyang, by the Commandant of Justice, the Censor's Office, by the Great King. You and I have only the responsibility to execute, and no authority to criticize the laws and ordinances!"

Xi's face darkened as he lectured Heifu: "The law is the measure of all under heaven, the standard for all affairs; the official is he upon whom the people's lives depend."

"Pavilion Chief Heifu, you are an official of Qin. You need only handle matters according to the law. Do not give rise to inappropriate sympathy! Now, having just assumed the post of Pavilion Chief, you have cracked a major case, and your future prospects are boundless. I hope you remember what The Way of Being an Official says: be cautious, be cautious, words once spoken cannot be recalled. Do not misinterpret the laws again and give rise to deluded thoughts!"

With these words, Xi nodded to Heifu, flicked his sleeve, and left.

Heifu also knew he had been naive in this matter. Hearing in the hall that minors could have their punishment reduced, he had assumed there were other places in the law with human warmth and flexible application. Who would have thought he would run headlong into the ice-cold law and the stern-faced Qin official again?

Xi's words sobered him considerably. Although Qin law occasionally gave him some pleasant surprises, this was still the distant ancient past. Better to punish wrongly than to let one slip—that was probably the thinking behind Qin law.

"If I were the one establishing the legal code..."

This thought suddenly surfaced in Heifu's mind, but quickly sank again.

Even if he held a high position and could intervene in the formulation of laws, could he eliminate all errors, omissions, and rigidities? It seemed to have been mentioned in a legal studies class in his previous life that this crime of anonymous letter writing was not abolished until the Republican era. Acknowledging and encouraging anonymous letters had to wait until the 1990s...

If he simply transplanted later-era legal provisions out of thin air without changing the productive forces and social structure, it would probably just be a castle in the air.

All this was still too early for Heifu. He could only pack away his doubts and continue to obey the system.

But, when the police handle cases according to law, yet arrest the bad and the good together—the bad certainly deserve their punishment, but should the good just suffer punishment for nothing?

Heifu felt he had to do something.

He squeezed the heavy money pouch on him, made up his mind, and strode toward the County Overseer of Works office.

Gongshi Quji had been fined four thousand coins. Because he could not pay it in full, he had already been taken to the County Overseer of Works to repay the fine with labor. By calculation, he probably would not be able to return home for half a year to a year. For that warm little family, this would be a devastating blow.

Heifu could not convince himself to turn a blind eye to this!

When he stepped into the County Overseer of Works office, he saw Quji shivering, about to sign his name on the labor service document...

"Gongshi Quji!"

Heifu shouted loudly, stopping Quji. Quji turned his head and, along with a group of minor clerks, stared blankly at Heifu.

He walked up, placed that bag of dead-heavy money onto the table with a clattering sound.

"Quji, draw up a contract with me right now!"

Heifu slapped his coin pouch and said with a laugh, "These four thousand coins—I'll lend them to you!"

(End of chapter)