Frightened by Zhidu, the knees of the princes were softer than the soil in the spring rain.

Within three days, at least thirty of the princes who had been stumbling around announced that they would close their doors and devote themselves to 'studying poetry'.

Among the rest of the people, there are also those who announced that they will return to the country, some who said that they want to travel around the world, and some people have played the banner of visiting Hanjiang and ran to Xinhua.

So, in the blink of an eye, the alliance that seemed to be huge before immediately turned into a small group of only three or five people looking at each other awkwardly.

This is also normal, the Han princes are certainly high and powerful, and they have huge authority and wealth as well as land.

And at least two generations of business have allowed these guys to have a network of contacts throughout the county.

A liehou family can usually influence or control the politics, economy, and personnel of at least two or three counties around its feudal state.

Therefore, the liehous in the early stage of the Han dynasty often played the role of the later gate valve family in the local area.

But the power and glory of the lieges came from the Son of Heaven.

Once the trust from the Son of Heaven is lost, the fate of the princes is often very tragic.

There have been many, many examples of this over the past 60 years.

It's just that Liu Che connived at Zhidu to intimidate the Minister of Chang'an nakedly, which also made the East Palace a little unbearable.

Now, Empress Dowager Dou didn't dare to directly call Liu Che over to reprimand him like in the past, and ordered Liu Che to think about it.

But as an elder, Empress Dowager Dou can still give some kind advice and advice.

So, at a routine family banquet, Empress Dowager Dou suddenly said to Liu Che: "Emperor." The mourning family heard that the lieutenant recently changed his name to Zhi Jinwu, is this a little too domineering? ”

Kingo. In the texts of the Han Dynasty, there are various interpretations.

But in the usual sense. Jingo and Mugo are both synonyms for sticks.

Such a change is tantamount to a strong warning to everyone not to provoke the emperor.

If Empress Dowager Dou likes it, then she's a ghost.

But Liu Che's technique to deal with (flickering) Empress Dowager Dou is MAX.

Hearing this, he smiled slightly, didn't look at the relatives who bowed their heads and groaned, and said with a smile: "The imperial grandmother is too worried. Jin Wu, the divine bird, I take the lieutenant as the ruling Jin Wu, but it is just to ward off evil spirits......"

Well, in the legend, there is indeed a kind of evil bird called Jingo.

Empress Dowager Dou was also slightly stunned when she heard this.

But the relatives in the audience only felt that there were a million grass and mud horses galloping by in their hearts.

Nima, your Majesty didn't say that in your edict a few days ago!

Liu Che's eyes swept over the guys.

Liu Che knows deeply that among these guys. There are a few who are behind the current storm.

So, Liu Che said lightly: "Again, the imperial grandmother, my Han family is the law." Non-Zhou non-Shang, Emperor Gao ordered Xiao Xiangguo to make nine chapters of law, although the legislative purpose was to 'lenient punishment'. However, its spirit is that 'there is no hierarchy of punishment', and the so-called 'etiquette is equal to the poor'. This Wu Han family did not take it, so Emperor Taizong punished Heyanghou. Punishment is waiting! The first emperor established the three-foot law, and I dare to be humiliated? ”

Listening to these murderous words, the relatives shrank their necks one after another, feeling the cool shuttle on their backs.

But what Liu Che said is not wrong!

So far, the spirit of the law in the Han Dynasty is four words: "There is no rank in punishment!" ”

In layman's terms, if the law is broken and the common people are to be whipped, the princes will also be whipped.

Although in practice, this is almost unlikely.

However, this is a text written in black and white in the Chinese law.

Moreover, it was once practiced.

One of the unlucky eggs is the Heyang Hou that Liu Che said.

In the fourth year of Emperor Taizong's filial piety, Heyang waited for Chen Xin, and was pushed to the end in accordance with the law because he 'couldn't pay for his responsibilities for six months'.

What does it mean to 'sit on the blame for June'?

In the law of the afterlife, it is - violating the provisions of the contract and defaulting on the principal and interest of the loan to others for up to six months.

This is probably the first civil contract dispute with significant impact in the world.

In this case, the Western Han Dynasty fully embodied the 'spirit of contract' that later generations of intellectuals said, and strictly protected the interests of creditors.

And the emperor himself made the strictest ruling - Heyang Hou, who violated the contract and deliberately and maliciously defaulted on money to others, this prince of 2,000 households, disappeared from the Han political arena.

And something like this has happened more than once.

In history, when the little pig was in the dynasty, the little pig's cousin, Zhou Yang Houtian Pengzu, was 'sitting in the house and not with' to be pushed to the end.

The so-called 'sitting and waiting for the house but not with' means treating the mansion as someone else, but not giving it, playing a scoundrel.

Relatives of the house, the princes of ten thousand households, and so.

How dare others continue to honor their power and behave in a reckless manner?

Therefore, many strange things in the history of the Han Dynasty have been explained.

For example, the Ziqian family dared to blatantly lend to the liehous, and they could be repaid ten times the principal and interest.

But alas, after Confucianism came to power, everything changed.

The law began to favor powerful aristocratic officials.

The mud legs have lost their fairness and justice.

So much so that some people lamented later: Princes and nobles are rich, especially many of them. pretending to be arrogant and extravagant, in order to be extravagant, with a high burden of tens of millions, and refusing to repay the responsibility. The small people were crying at the door, and they had no intention of being ashamed and mourning. (Note)

But everything is gone, and the law can never go back.

But at this time, the Han law was still the law that Liu Bang ordered Xiao He to formulate on the basis of the three chapters of the Qin law and the covenant law.

Although it is biased towards the aristocratic eunuchs, it is not too powerful, at least, it still adheres to the most basic legislative spirit since the Warring States period, that is: there is no level of punishment, and there is no omission in the law.

Resolutely resist Zhou Li and the idea that 'there is an equal difference in etiquette' that has gone to hell with slavery.

So far, the boycott has been successful.

Legalism and Huang Laoxue joined forces to block all attempts to resurrect the corpse from the door.

This is also the reason why Liu Che does not appreciate Confucianism very much.

Confucianism has its advanced side, but also its decadent and backward side.

His persistence and stubbornness in Zhou Li and Zhou Zhi are, in many cases, actually turning back the wheel of history.

Therefore, Liu Che is currently actively promoting the reform and evolution of Confucianism.

So far, the change has been paying off.

At the very least, there has been a revival of the Simeng School.

Especially in this year's examination, Liu Che deliberately enlarged the proportion of the Simeng school among the admitted Confucian scholars, and even gave the green light to dozens of people.

The will of the emperor represented the direction of ideas and schools.

Therefore, the treatises and writings of the Simeng School in Chang'an City began to become popular.

After listening to Liu Che's words, Empress Dowager Dou was silent.

The case of Heyang Hou Chen Xin is a well-known precedent in the Han Dynasty, but as long as it involves civil disputes, this example is an iron case that cannot be bypassed, and it is also the killer weapon used by the old Liu family to deter the relatives and nobles of the princes.

It's too much, Chen Xin's fate is your fate.

Empress Dowager Dou knew in her heart that this time the emperor was probably really angry.

If you think about it carefully, Empress Dowager Dou can also understand.

Dozens of princes are grouping together to wrestle with the emperor, which is unbearable for anyone to be the emperor!

This time, the emperor was able to endure and did not go on a killing spree, he could really only say 'Sacred Heart Mercy'. (To be continued.) )

PS: Note: This passage is from the "Treatise on the Hidden Husband" written by Wang Fu, a famous social critic and thinker in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and I read the corrected annotated version of the Qing Dynasty. In addition, if you want to understand the two Hans, this book can't get around. Wang Fu analyzed many issues in detail, including the causes and consequences, and why this is so. I read a lot of books about the Three Kingdoms at the starting point, to be honest, if you travel in the early period of the Three Kingdoms, especially before the Yellow Turban Uprising, instead of doing anything Zhuge Liang cultivation, it is better to ask this Wang Fu for help, even if, just get his book "The Hidden Husband's Papers" I think, no less than a Zhuge Liang (for the traverser), very simple, this book analyzes the social, economic, military and legal systems of the entire Han Dynasty from all aspects, and puts forward a lot of harsh criticisms, and these criticisms directly point to the social maladministration at that time. This allows the traveler to understand and be clear about the world they are facing. This is no less than carrying Baidu. However, the book was not well-known at the time, and the author was a hermit, and it was not until the Sui Dynasty that it was taken seriously.