On the first day of October in 782 AD, Chang'an Taiji Palace.

Zhao Ziliang sat on the throne and looked at the agenda of the court, raised his head and said to the ministers: "Recently, I have received relevant reports from the Qincha Mission, the Imperial History Observatory, the Prefecture and County Patrol Bureaus of Dali Temple, the Imperial History Department and the Dali Division. Here, I want to emphasize that officials are the mainstay of the imperial court and one of the main forces to maintain and continue the rule of the Tang Dynasty, and the purpose of our rectification of officialdom is not to attack the will of officials, weaken their strength, and reduce their prestige in the hearts of the people, but a means of self-censorship, self-purification, and self-cultivation, so that our official group can be more clean and tidy! ”

"For those officials who have problems but can be reformed through study, education, self-examination, etc., we must give them a chance and not expand the problem. For those officials who have violated the law, court rules and disciplines, but cannot turn big things into small things and small things into nothing, what should be done, what must be done! ”

Therefore, this requires that the official yamen at all levels of the Imperial Historical Observatory, the Criminal Department, and the Dali Temple must be cautious in the process of investigating, interrogating, and trying the officials, and we cannot wronged a good person, nor can we let go of a bad person! The imperial historian Zhang Yansheng, the imperial historian Yan Ying, the Dali Temple Qing Xiao Fu, and the criminal department waiter Liu Congyi! ”

Several people who were named stood up and clasped their fists: "The minister is here!" ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "The burden and responsibility on your body are very heavy! Lone also knows that people may make mistakes as long as they do things, it doesn't matter if they make mistakes, just correct them immediately, you will inevitably make mistakes in the process of handling cases, there may be unjust cases, treat good people as bad people, and it is also possible to let the real bad people get away with it, but Lone hopes to have fewer unjust cases, or try not to have unjust cases! ”

Several people bowed down and agreed: "The ministers will remember the king's teachings, and they will fulfill their duties, be conscientious, and be cautious!" ”

Xiao Fu, the secretary of Dali Temple, took a step forward and bowed his hand and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has a suggestion that in order to minimize the occurrence of unjust cases, the prisoner should be allowed to appeal to a higher Dali Division after being sentenced for the first time, for example, the county-level Dali Division decides a case, whether it is a civil case or a criminal case, the prisoner can entrust others to appeal to the State Dali Division within one month after being sentenced, and the State Dali Division will transfer the file for review, if it is considered that the judgment of the case is doubtful, it can be remanded to the county level for retrial. If no suspicion or violation is found, the original judgment can be upheld! ”

"If the prisoner is still not satisfied with the original verdict, he can continue to appeal to the higher Dao-level Dali Division to request a retrial! In the same way, if there is any suspicion, it will be remanded to the state capital Dali Division for a retrial, if there is no doubt, the original verdict can be upheld, and the prisoner will not have the right to appeal to Dali Temple! ”

"However, it is important to note that the execution of a condemned prisoner must be made by the Dali Temple in the capital, and if the prisoner is not satisfied with the verdict, he can appeal to the Dali Temple all the way! Even if the prisoner has pleaded guilty and will not appeal at the county level, the county-level Dali Division must submit the case file, all exhibits and evidence and the application for execution of the death penalty to the Dali Temple for approval of execution, and the Dali Temple must complete the final ruling within half a year, and if it is found that there are problems with the original judgment of the case, it will be remanded back to its original place of origin for a new trial, and if no problems are found, the execution of the death penalty will be approved! ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded, looked at the ministers and asked, "What do you think?" ”

Gao Shang stood up and arched his hand: "Your Majesty, the minister seconded the proposal, even if it is a little troublesome in the process of trial and trial, it should be." After all, human life matters, not child's play! In other cases, even if the judgment is wrong, the judgment can be changed. But the death penalty is different, once it is executed and the head falls to the ground, there is no going back, and it is impossible for the person to be resurrected! ”

Li Mi also stood up and arched his hand: "The minister seconded the proposal!" ”

Other ministers stood up one after another: "The ministers seconded it!" ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "Okay, since all the secretaries agree, then it will be decided at this time." Xiao Fu, you write a specific and detailed article for Lone to see, and after Lone's approval, it will be promulgated and implemented by Dali Temple! ”

Xiao Fu promised: "Obey!" ”

At this time, Liu Congyi, the waiter of the Criminal Department, took a step forward and bowed and said: "King, recently, the government and prisons in various places have written that the prisons are overcrowded, the number of prisoners is too large, and the prisons are about to explode, and the number of prisoners will only increase, including the imperial court prison, which is also full, and there are more and more prisoners, and there is no place to hold them." Therefore, they have demanded that the budget be increased, the prison will be expanded, and more jailers will be recruited! ”

Zhao Ziliang asked, "How do you think this matter should be handled?" ”

The ministers discussed one after another, and asked noblely: "Lord Liu, although the imperial court has never relaxed the rectification of officialdom, the officials who have been arrested and imprisoned and their families should not have reached the point of squeezing prisons everywhere to the point of exploding, can it be that all the officials of my Tang Dynasty have very serious problems?" ”

This is also the doubt in the hearts of many ministers, everyone looked at Liu Congyi to see what he said.

Liu Congyi: "My lord, my lords, there are not many officials who can be arrested and imprisoned, and even fewer family members who are implicated and imprisoned, and the main reason for the increasing number of prisoners in the imperial court and local prisons is this rectification, which not only swept away unhealthy tendencies and unhealthy tendencies, but also made the officials dare not slack off their work passively, and they also took their official duties seriously, and many of the old cases that have been solved and the number of old cases accumulated over the years have been solved, which has caused a sharp increase in the number of prisoners. In addition, there are also laws that have been revised several times, and the punishment for crimes is very fine, and some of them are not enough to sentence the death penalty, and can only be sentenced to life imprisonment, 20 years in prison, and 10 years in prison, which also makes more and more prisoners in prison! Even theft is sentenced to three, five, eight months, and one year. There are also some that are not enough to sentence but violate the law and order, such as fighting, gambling, petty theft, etc., which will be locked up for ten days and half a month, and they will also be locked up in prison, and the prison will not be able to fit it! ”

Li Mi frowned and said, "The purpose of our revision of the law is to make the law more perfect and better punish crimes, are these revisions still wrong?" ”

"Yes, yes, how did the revision of the law increase the number of prisoners?" The ministers began to talk again.

Of course, Zhao Ziliang knew what was going on, and waved his hand and said, "Okay, of course, this is not a mistake in revising the law. Once upon a time, there were only a few kinds of judgments in the Law: death, exile, flogging, confiscation, and imprisonment! Among them, there are fewer death sentences and prisons, and exile, confiscation, and whipping occupy the majority! After the revision of the criminal law, the degree of punishment has been refined, resulting in the majority of people in prison, and the number of exiles, confiscated soldiers, and flogged has decreased, so the number of prison cells is not enough, especially many crimes are not enough for the death penalty, confiscation, and exile, and the sentence is flogging, and imprisonment, which is not a great thing! Regarding the fact that there are too few cells and there are many prisoners, how do you think it should be handled? ”

Someone stood up and suggested: "My lord, if the prisons everywhere have to increase their funds and recruit more jailers, then this will be a huge expense, and the annual budget will have to increase a lot. Wechen does not recommend increasing funding and recruiting more jailers! Moreover, Weichen believes that this is only a temporary phenomenon, and when the people realize the importance of abiding by the law in the future, the number of offenders will be reduced, the prison will be empty, and there is no need to waste a lot of tax money now. Regarding the problem of prison overcrowding in various places, Wechen believes that some rich people can be allowed to spend money to eliminate crimes"

Before this person finished speaking, he was immediately met with strong opposition, especially those who were clear rumors, and the official Pei Ji stood up with a board and said: "Ridiculous, use money to trample on the majesty of the criminal law, once this precedent is set, the law will be stained with the smell of copper, and the law will become a tool for the rich in the future, as long as there is money, what is the point of killing people and setting fires?" All use money to settle the balance, what is the difference between this and buying an official mantle? Zhen Lone, you harbor evil intentions, and you actually came up with such a vicious plan to destroy the foundation of my Datang! ”

After speaking, Pei Ji turned to Zhao Ziliang and said: "King, Zhen Ji's intentions are sinister, it is a great crime, please behead Zhen Lone, to set the record straight!" ”

Zhen Xiao immediately retorted: "Pei Ji, don't be alarmist, go online, and indiscriminately deduct people's hats, the king is asking for our views and opinions, what's wrong with this official saying his own views and suggestions?" The king did not necessarily adopt the opinion of the official, I think you are taking the opportunity to exclude dissidents, and you don't let people say anything, what are your intentions? ”

Zhao Ziliang knocked on the table: "Enough, speak well, don't always make personal attacks!" In this court, whether the advice everyone said is good or bad, Lone and the Qing family can tell it, you can speak freely, even if it is adopted, it will not be promulgated and implemented immediately, it will always go through some investigation and trial to see what the people have to react! Do you have any suggestions? ”

Li Mi stood up and said: "My lord, the minister thinks that since the prison is full, we can consider keeping some felons near the local garrison barracks, and the garrison will send troops to guard them, so that these felons can work, which can not only reduce expenses, but also allow them to support themselves, and even increase military expenses for the army!" ”

The ministers discussed this suggestion and agreed with it, Zhao Ziliang nodded and said: "It is indeed a good way, you can consider it!" ”

Zheng San stood up and said: "King, Lord Li doesn't have many ways, but after all, there are only a few felons, even if they are all pulled to work near the barracks, they can't solve the problem of prison cells being full." The minister thinks that the method of using money to redeem what Lord Zhen just said can be considered, but not all crimes can be redeemed with money, only prisoners who violate the law and order and cannot reach the sentence can use money to atone for their crimes, these people will generally be detained in prison for half a month or a month, and these people account for the majority of the prisoners, if these people are allowed to use money to atone for their crimes, not only can they alleviate the problem of prison overcrowding, but also can increase some financial revenue for the imperial court, and because these people are not a big problem, Even if you go out, it won't cause much harm, and because the crime is relatively minor, you don't need too much money to atone for your sin, even the poor can get it together as long as they borrow it from relatives and friends, let alone the rich! But as long as the crime reaches more than three months in prison, it cannot be ransomed with money, and this is also a limit set to maintain the majesty of the law! ”

Zhao Zi said in conscience, isn't Nima bail that he is talking about? Is the money paid bail?