In the Qin Palace, Ying Quliang was holding a document in his hand, and he was so anxious that he couldn't even sit down. He was anxiously waiting for Bai Shun's arrival.
As for Wei Yang, he was in charge of state affairs, and this document was sent by him. The second major hurdle of the reform, the second wave, had arrived! Li Xiang
As soon as he stepped into the room, Ying Quliang impatiently walked up to him and invited him into the room. "Grand Tutor, quickly take a look. What should we do?”Ying Quliang was already considered a calm and steady person, but now, there was a hint of confusion in his tone. "Let's look at the incident first before making a conclusion." Li Xiang took the document from Ying Quliang's hands and began to read it. "Good! Let's look at the incident first! Uncle Black, go prepare some food and wine!" Ying Quliang also knew that he could not be anxious at this moment, so he finally calmed down. "Yes, sir!" Uncle Black agreed and walked out.
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During the spring plowing period, according to Wei Yang's decree, all counties were to collect water on time and fairly.
Originally, this was a good thing. However, there was a problem in Di County. Although Zhao Kang, the county magistrate of Di County, was known as a famous scholar, he was too well-read to care about his literary talent. He did not realize the difficulty of the reform.
Zhao Kang had only announced the decree to the local chief and didn't even supervise it.
However, the problem was that the old patriarch was only the patriarch of a clan. He was selfish. In the past, he had only divided the water for Meng, Xi, and Bai clans. This time, he was asked to divide the water for other clans. Naturally, he was unwilling. Even though Wei Yang had repeatedly reminded him that the new law would punish him, the old clan leader still used the century-old ancestral system of Meng, Xi, and Bai to use water first as an excuse to drive away the clansmen who wanted to persuade him. Without water for spring plowing, the fields would all wither. Without water to drink, people would die of thirst. The old chief controlled the mouth of the canal upstream and did not give the old Rong Di clansmen downstream any water. This was undoubtedly forcing them to their deaths. The old Qin clansmen were extremely hot-tempered, and the old Rong Di clansmen were even more so. For the survival of their clansmen, they could only forcefully go upstream to snatch water.
A private fight began again. There were countless private fights in the State of Qin every year. One of Wei Yang's reforms was to put an end to private fights and prevent internal friction. In the end, it still happened.
The private fights here were not simple fights. What punks fought in groups or gangs fought? In the face of the private fights in the State of Qin, they were just children fighting. In a certain year of Duke Jian of Qin, the number of deaths in the Qin country's private battles alone reached a total of twenty thousand people. How many people did the Qin country have in total? How was this a private fight? This was even more tragic than the national wars in Japan's history!
And this time, the casualties were even more tragic. Not only did the people of the old Rong, Di, Meng, Xi, and Bai Clans participate, but all the nearby clans of the old Qin people also participated! This private fight caused blood to flow like a river. Because the commotion was too loud and crazy, the mouth of the Baili Canal burst open. The flood washed down directly. The flood was merciless, and countless people died.
In the face of such a large-scale private fight, the county magistrate Zhao Kang was still calm. He said that the people were simple and honest, and that he only needed to persuade them and mediate. However, when he arrived at the location, he realized that this was not a private fight at all. It was simply a chaotic war. On the way to stop the fight, he was almost stabbed to death by someone. Zhao Kang knew that he had caused a great disaster and hurriedly ran to Zuo Shu Chang's residence to report to Wei Yang. Wei Yang was shocked and immediately rode to Di County with Jing Supervisor Che Ying.
The scene they saw was tragic. Corpses were strewn all over the ground, and there were countless corpses floating in the flood. There were also countless young children sitting on the ground crying in confusion because their parents had died. After a moment of heartache, Wei Yang immediately gave the order to investigate the water fight case and repair the Baili Canal.
The official document that was handed over was the name of the culprit in the water fight case that Wei Yang had found. Among them, there were more than 700 felons who were sentenced to death by beheading!! There were more than 8,000 people who needed to be punished!
When Li Xianggang saw this number, he was also shocked. However, when he thought about the number of casualties in the private battle, he knew that this number was not a joke. Everyone deserved it. However, Ying Quliang could not think of it that way. His father, Duke Qin Xian, had always loved his people like his own children, and had always been considerate of them. But now, he wanted him to execute seven hundred old Qin men directly. It was hard for him to make a decision at the moment, so in his panic, he came to find Li Xiang, hoping to seek comfort from him.
" The law doesn't punish the masses…" Li Xiang spat out these four words, and Ying Quliang's heart instantly felt much more at ease.
He knew that once Li Xiang opened his mouth, even Wei Yang would agree. But, Ying Quliang didn't expect that Bai Shun didn't finish his sentence.“
The law does not punish old people. The law does not punish children. The law does not punish the weak. The law does not punish dignitaries. The law does not punish merit."
Li Xiang looked at Ying Quliang with a burning gaze and asked,""What's the use of a technique?"
Ying Quliang slumped into his seat after hearing his words. He understood the logic behind all this, but it was not just one or two, but a whole seven hundred people.
"Grand Tutor, you also support Shu Zhang Zuo?" Ying Quliang drank a mouthful of water to calm himself down, then asked. "Wei Yang's method and the outline of the Nine Thesis on Strengthening Qin are completely in line with Qin country's situation. There may be flaws in the minor laws, but the flaws cannot obscure the merits. This time, Wei Yang's judgment was absolutely correct.”
Li Xiang knew that Ying Quliang was actually very conflicted, like a steelyard, not knowing which side to fall to. He was also feeling very uncomfortable. On one side was the great cause of reform and strengthening the Qin Dynasty, and on the other side was the aristocratic family and inner morality. One side was reason, and the other side was love. It would be difficult to stand on either side. Ying Quliang could only pray that Li Xiang would be able to convince his heart and make him firmly lean towards one side. And now, it seemed that Li Xiang was prepared to persuade him to enforce the law impartially.
At the thought of this, Ying Quliang's heart was filled with bitterness, and a mouthful of Sunken Fish Wine tasted like sour vinegar in his mouth. "Grand Tutor, you are also a sage. That is more than seven hundred lives, can't you be more flexible?”Ying Quliang picked up the list of names given by Wei Yang and asked.
"The law is like a mountain! If he changed his mind, there would be a next time, and the next time, a thousand miles of dike would collapse in an ant nest!”Bai Shun shook his head. "Then can't we take it slow? The old families were making a ruckus, and they all rushed over to plead for mercy. What if they lost the hearts of the people by killing so many?”Hearing this, Ying Quliang pointed outside and asked loudly. "Law is precious! Law is fair! "Justice that comes late is not justice. If a crowd can affect the judicial judgment, then the new law of the State of Qin is too cheap. Moreover…" Li Xiang shook his head again, but he did not finish his sentence.
"And what? Sir, speak frankly." Ying Quliang asked anxiously.
"Nothing, I just suspect that this private fight might be related to those old fellows.”Li Xiang didn't say it directly because the time wasn't right yet. In fact, it was still too far away. -- Since when did the old aristocratic families represent the people? The current talent monopoly could not be targeted. One day, when Bai Shun implemented the two policies of 'running schools' and 'imperial examinations,' he would show those old noble families what the apocalypse was!
"I've heard of this before. I've already sent Uncle Black to investigate.”Ying Quliang nodded. He was no fool. Most of the noble families of the State of Qin had been involved in this private fight. It would be strange if there was nothing dirty involved. "Can't you pardon some people? " To be honest, I can almost recite this list of criminals. There are wicked and wicked people among them, but there are also countless good people. But now, they are not distinguishing between good and bad, and they are beheading anyone who gets involved in a private fight. This is too…" The balance in Ying Quliang's heart was already slightly shaken, but he was still hesitant. "As long as he doesn't break the law, he's a citizen. As long as he broke the law, he would be punished according to the law!”Li Xiang shook his head.
With tears in his eyes, Ying Quliang said loudly,""Ever since the time of Mu Gong Bai Lixi, our Qin country has been believing in benevolence for a hundred years. Father is still in power. Although the Qin country is still very poor and there are many wars, father loves the people. Everyone is willing to stay in the Qin country. But now that they had killed so many people, Old Qin would explode! If the law does not love the people, there is no way to establish a foothold! But I know that the rule of law and love for the people is not in their hearts, but in their actions. If the law was powerful and the people did not break the law, then punishment and death were just a book. But now it was not! They were breaking the law knowingly. The new law had just been promulgated and they were already like this. If they were not dealt with impartially, the entire Qin country would definitely think that the new law was just an empty scroll!”
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