The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

Shen Ming touched his goatee and said with a smile: "Everyone is sitting down. The record of the court hearing is unprecedented. If the county magistrate is like this, I am afraid someone will gossip."

Fang Yun nodded and said: "Thank you, Master Shen, for reminding me that the trial is suspended. I will report to the Ministry of Punishment and the Holy Court of Punishment as the county magistrate, and use Ning'an County as a pilot to carry out legal reforms!"

Fang Yun said and began to write Hongyan's biography.

Whether it was Xia Jingen and Yu Bachi who supported Fang Yun, or the other officials who opposed Fang Yun, they were all stunned, wondering if Fang Yun was crazy?

Fang Yun is currently in the palace examination!

What is the concept of palace examination? That was the year when the best scholars in the human race competed for ten subjects and took the first prize. There was no room for sloppiness. It was impossible for anyone to make legal changes at this time. What they had to do was to change some minor things.

Because if the reform fails and has huge consequences, he will be disqualified from the imperial examination, let alone compete for the top prize.

Shen Ming looked happy, Fang Yun had made a huge mistake!

Yu Bachi, who was dressed in blue scholar uniform, stood up quickly, cupped his hands and said, "Master Xusheng, please think twice."

Fang Yun stopped and looked up at Yu Bachi, his gaze was like water, and his eyes were as warm as jade.

"This county has been brewing for a long time and has its own measures."

Yu Bachi looked at Fang Yun and was stunned, because he saw a great power in those eyes. That kind of power seemed to be able to remain unmoving even when the earth was shattering, and to be calm even when trapped in the undercurrent of magma. calm.

Yu Bachi sat down silently.

Fang Yun held the official seal in his hand and wrote two identical documents, "Prison Litigation Book" with his mind.

Criminal cases are called prisons, and civil cases are called lawsuits.

Long before the palace examination, Fang Yun had already thought about how to get the top grade in the "Xing Jiao" subject.

Fully using the laws of later generations would not only encourage growth, but also go against the laws of development. Therefore, Fang Yun decided to take it step by step. During the palace examination, he would do two things. One was to rationalize interrogation and promote the elimination of torture, and the other was to clarify the criminal justice system. cases and civil cases, and left the trial of civil cases to the dianshi instead of the county magistrate.

These are the general trends of history. As long as these two points are done well, the rating of the prison department will be extremely high!

As for other changes, Fang Yun is prepared to take them step by step and not be too aggressive.

Fang Yun quickly wrote the "Book of Prisons" with his mind, and after explaining his views and the direction of reform, he asked the Ministry of Punishment and the Palace of Punishments to set up Ning'an County as a pilot project, and asked to send people to monitor and record the records to protect the legal reform.

After sending Hongyan's letter, Fang Yun raised his head. At this time, the guards had moved tables and chairs. Xia Jingen and other two Legalist masters sat on Fang Yun's right hand side, preparing pens, inks, paper and inkstones to record the court hearing.

"Pa..."

Fang Yun gave a slap in the face and said: "Bring the plaintiff and the defendant with you!"

Fang Yun read through books, and found that the word "plaintiff" appeared in the Yuan Dynasty of ancient China, and was also mentioned in some Legalist books in Shengyuan Continent.

These two words were easy to understand. Everyone was stunned at first, and then quickly understood, especially the two Legalists, who nodded instinctively. These two terms were more neutral than words such as "sufferer" and "criminal", and they felt more and more that this person Fang Xusheng is extraordinary.

In Shengyuan Continent, civilians do not kneel before officials.

I saw two middle-aged men in silk clothes entering the lobby. They bowed respectfully and saluted together, and then said in unison: "I have seen Mr. Xusheng!"

"Who is the plaintiff? Tell me your name." Fang Yun looked calm. Even though this was his first trial, he didn't have any stage fright.

"Little citizen Zhang Youde has met Lord Xu Sheng!"

Fang Yunxun looked around and saw that the person speaking was a middle-aged man over thirty years old. He was dressed in neat silk clothes, which were better than ordinary cotton clothes. However, the clothes were not bright and were only used. Fang Yun's eyes fell on the man's belt and fingers. There was only a jade pendant hanging on the belt. Other than that, there were no accessories on his body. It was not luxurious.

Fang Yun also observed the person's complexion, breathing, eyes, etc. This is the famous five-hearing method of breaking the prison, that is, observing the speech, expression, breathing, hearing, eyesight, etc. of the person in the hall.

In the Zhou Dynasty, this was a method for judging cases, but later it was only a basic technique for judging cases and could not be used as a basis for judging cases.

Fang Yun nodded and said: "Plaintiff, please explain the reason."

"Yes, sir! This man's name is Liu Quan. He borrowed fifty taels of silver from me and promised to pay it back in three months, but now it's been half a year and there's not a penny of silver! I didn't want to push too hard, but recently The price of food has increased, and the business of the villain's noodle shop is not good. I am in urgent need of money, so I have no choice but to file a lawsuit with the county government. Please make the decision and ask him to pay me back. "

Fang Yun nodded. Grain prices would rise to varying degrees every spring and summer, and would not fall back until after the autumn harvest. In addition, this year's military campaign against the north would cause grain prices to rise even more sharply.

"What do you have to say?" Fang Yun looked at the other person.

Liu Quan said with a sad face: "Master Qi, I can't help you. I lost a lot of money due to poor management, so I borrowed fifty taels of silver from Zhang Youde. After paying off the debt, I still have thirty taels left. I heard that Fans sell well in spring and summer , he used the money to order one hundred exquisite folding fans and prepared them for sale. Unexpectedly, something unexpected happened. Due to poor storage, the surfaces of the one hundred folding fans became damp and stained, and they could not be sold unless they were replaced. Fan. But where do I have the money now?”

Fang Yun nodded again. After observation, Liu Quan's clothes were shabby and not neatly taken care of. He was obviously in trouble. Besides being sad, he showed no signs of color. There was nothing special about his heartbeat or breathing. It's all true.

Coupled with the confessions that Fang Yun had read and the descriptions of the two people by the people in the execution room, it was basically concluded that Liu Quan suffered a disaster and did not want to pay back the money.

Fang Yun looked at Zhang Youde and said, "Can you believe what Liu Quan said?"

Zhang Youde said helplessly: "Of course I believe what Liu Quan said, otherwise I wouldn't have waited until half a year to sue him."

"I read in the lawsuit that Liu Quan is willing to give you twenty taels of the fan and spend another half a year to collect another ten taels. Don't you agree?" Fang Yun asked.

Zhang Youde said with a bitter face: "I don't know how much this fan is worth. Even if it is valuable, I don't know how long it will take to sell it. Xiaomin went to the pawn shop and asked, these fans can only be pawned for five taels of silver at most, how can they be worth twenty Two? Xiaomin is really short of cash!"

Fang Yun looked at Liu Quan again and said, "Do you have anything else that can compensate for this?"

"Your Excellency, after we lost money in business last year, we all pawned everything that should be pawned, leaving our family with nothing. I can't mortgage my children and house, right?" Liu Quan said bitterly.

In Shengyuan Continent, parents can sell their children to wealthy families to serve as maids and servants for several years, or even sell them to flower houses.

When Fang Yun heard this, he understood the sinister intentions of the Left Prime Minister's party.

This case is very typical. Fang Yunruo sentenced Liu Quan to compulsorily compensate Zhang Youde with his house or children, causing the death of the Liu family. Although it makes sense legally and he is a good county magistrate according to Legalism, he is definitely not a good magistrate according to Confucianism. Not even a good county magistrate of the human race.

If he favors Liu Quan and causes Zhang Youde to suffer losses, then Fang Yun will gain a reputation as a "benevolent" on the surface, but he will not be tolerated by the law and will definitely be criticized by the Legalists. What's more, if something happens to Zhang Youde's family because he loses the money, , Fang Yun's reputation of "benevolence" will also disappear.

"These bastards." Ao Huang cursed in a low voice.