Speaking of the wise and martial monarchs in ancient history, many people may first think of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, as the emperor who often shows people in a positive image in the romance, in real life, Tang Taizong is indeed a straightforward emperor. And "New Tang Book", "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" and other works recorded an interesting story during the Tang Taizong period.
Zhenguan six years (632 years), seeing the New Year’s Eve approaching, Tang Taizong is browsing the list and dossier of death row prisoners (all criminals sentenced to death should be approved by the emperor himself), they are about to be cut in the autumn of the following year. In the eyes of the ancients, autumn is the season of killing, and the "Book of Rites" also mentioned: "The Moon of Mid Spring... Don't want to plunder, stop the lawsuit." Therefore, the Tang law stipulated: "From the beginning of spring to the autumn equinox, except for the crimes above and above, trilogy, slaves and slaves to kill the master, other crimes shall not be sentenced to death."
Li Shimin suddenly came on a whim and brought the minister to the sky prison. After reading these prisoners who will be questioned.
Seeing the arrival of the emperor, the prisoners in the jail knelt down in mourning, asking for his majesty’s forgiveness. Unexpectedly, Tang Taizong issued a decree that shocked the officials: "Some prisoners are all dependent on their parents and children. Now that there is much time, I specifically allow you to go home and reunite for the New Year, help your family with farm work, and be sentenced in Beijing next year.” Minister
hurriedly dissuaded him. Most of the people in the prison are wicked and wicked people. What if they go far away after they are released?
Tang Taizong smiled slightly, released all 390 prisoners, and met again for the second year. These prisoners were thankful and thankful. They left the capital and went home to visit his wife and children. Soon half a year passed. At the time of questioning, I did not expect those prisoners to return to the Ministry of Justice to report one by one. 390 people came back to 389. Just as the government was preparing to capture the last one, the death inmate was carried by an ox cart slowly. It turned out that he was seriously ill on the road and was dying.
When Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty saw it, he was stunned. He heard the news that the prisoners were all gathered, but he did not give the order to ask, but waved his hand. All the prisoners were released... after hearing the news. , The prisoners cheered and thanked Li Shimin for his kindness.
This is the famous "Tang Taizong imprisonment" incident in the history books. Bai Juyi also wrote a poem "Seven Desires" to praise: "Three thousand grieving women were released from the palace, and four hundred death row prisoners returned to prison."
The influence and controversy in later generations is huge. Many scholars believe that although Tang Taizong's move can buy people's hearts, it is actually challenging the dignity of the law. How can this make the people who suffer because of the crimes of the Li people suffer? Ouyang Xiu, one of the eight great masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, criticized Tang Taizong in "On the Prisoners" for "faithful and righteous to the gentleman, and torture on the villain". As the emperor, he violated the law. .
Of course, everything must be analyzed from two sides. There is still a lot of meaning behind Li Shimin’s imprisonment. In 630 AD, according to historical records, only 29 people in the Tang Dynasty were sentenced to death. However, in 632, this The number has risen sharply to 390. Why has the number of death sentences increased more than ten times?
It turns out that this was affected by the case of Zhang Yungu in 631, when Zhang Yungu was appointed as Dali Cheng (judge). There was a Xiangzhou native named Li Haode, the younger brother of Xiangzhou governor Li Houde, who was guilty of a felony and should be punished according to Tang law. Hanging, but Zhang Yungu believed that Li Haode was guilty of madness and should not be punished.
In the name of Zhang Yungu's acceptance of Li Houde's bribe, Yu Shi filed a lawsuit against Tang Taizong, which made Li Shimin furious and immediately beheaded Zhang Yungu, and issued an infringement (negligence judgment) to the officer who tried the case. punishment.
Everyone was in danger for a while, in order not to be punished, this led to a significant increase in Tang Zhenguan’s six-year death penalty cases, and Li Shimin’s imprisonment also caused the same.So what do you think of it to soothe everyone's mind?
