The last major event that happened in the twentieth year of Lu Zhaogong was the death of the child.

At the end of the year, Uncle Zi, who was seriously ill, summoned Uncle Zi and said, "When I die, the Master will take my place." I have heard that only a man of high moral character can govern a country in a moderate manner. I have no virtue, so I have to apply a stern testimony. Strict law is like a fire, and wide virtue is like a lake; The people were afraid of fire, so they rarely died from playing with fire; The water is weak, and the people like to play tricks, and as a result, countless people drown in the water. Although the people have many complaints against me, after I die, you still have to maintain pressure on the people, otherwise Zheng Guo will be in chaos. ”

The great son died the next day. After receiving the bad news, Confucius couldn't help but weep bitterly, calling the child "the love of the ancients". Zheng Ren's heart is really mixed: Zichan is a controversial figure in Zheng Guo, and his supporters praise him for his loyalty to the society and impartiality; His opponents accused him of perverse behavior and enmity against the people. But everyone praised him for his honesty and integrity, and not one said that he was rich and corrupt.

During his lifetime, he did not give any benefit to those who praised him, nor did he take revenge on those who accuse him. It is undeniable that although the Zheng people have mixed opinions about the child, the child has created the heyday of the Zheng State; During his reign, Zheng Guo's officials were the most diligent and conscientious, and the politics were the most clear; After losing his child, Zheng Guo began to decline.

Uncle Zi was promoted to Zhengqing, this gentleman is generous by nature; When Zichan was alive, he never stopped arguing with Zisan: he always complained that the laws made by Zichan were too harsh and the law was too strict; He also said that the people would not be able to bear it, and I was afraid that they would rise up. Before his death, although Zichan told him the truth of ruling the country strictly, he took it as a deaf ear.

After Uncle Zi took office, there was an endless stream of people who came to ask him to cancel the cool law; People show the scars on their bodies, crying about the hardships of life and the magnitude of the injuries they have suffered.

Uncle Zi wiped his tears and canceled some laws and replaced them with lenient decrees, thinking that this would stabilize the political situation. But what he didn't expect was that Zheng Guo soon emerged with many bandits; Thieves roam the countryside, openly robbing during the day, killing and injuring countless innocent people.

The son of the sirling complained to others: "Thanks to Lord Youji, Xinzheng has become a paradise for criminals in the world!" ”

Only then did Uncle Zi understand the meaning of Zichan's words, and he regretted it and said, "If I had followed the Master's teachings, the current situation would not have happened!" ”。

At that time, there was a huge Hubo swamp area on the outskirts of Xinzheng called "Mingfu Zhize", which was composed of multiple lakes and marshes and islands in the lake, among which the vegetation was dense and the waterways were complex. Zheng Guo's largest criminal syndicate is gathered in that area.

Uncle Zi is determined to change all this and use fierce medicine to cure serious illnesses. He sent some elite scouts to infiltrate the criminal syndicate and bribed some traitors. When the time was ripe, Uncle Zi led the army to eliminate the criminal group in one fell swoop. Later, he reinstated the laws of the birth of the child, and the crime rate in Xinzheng dropped to the previous level.

Confucius said, "Good, good! If the decree is mild, the people will be contemptuous, and the indiscretion should be corrected by strict law; Strict government decrees will harm people's livelihood, and if they harm people's livelihood, they should rest their health. If you are lenient and fierce, you will be able to communicate with each other. The poem says: 'The people also stop, and they can be well-off.' Benefit this China, in order to appease the Quartet. It means that the government should be mild; 'No indulgence, no prudence. style to curb abuse, not afraid of light. It is said that the correction should be fierce; 'Rou Yuan can go far to determine my king. It is said that the government of the country should be reconciled with generosity and fierceness. The poem also says: 'No competition, no stubbornness, no softness. The government is excellent, and Bailu is good. That's what I'm talking about. ”

There is another person in Zheng Guo who is extremely sad about the death of his son, and he is Deng Xi. As mentioned earlier, after the publication of the criminal sentence, Deng Xi began to carefully study this code and applied the research results to litigation. Deng Xi created a precedent for China's litigation agency system, calling himself "a lawyer (of course, there are also those who call him a "lawyer"); He was the founding patriarch of Chinese lawyers and the originator of pre-Qin logic. Deng Xi "said that there are two things to do, and set up endless words", not only to help people fight lawsuits, but also to teach people how to fight lawsuits; He opened a "litigation training course" to recruit studious young people.

After the announcement of the sentence and Deng Xi's exit from the mountain, there was unprecedented trouble in the trial of the case by the official office, and Deng Xi was entrusted by the defendant to defend him, often disturbing the trial scene in the dark; Many of the defendants, who were previously certain to die, were acquitted by his excellent defence.

At that time, Deng Xi's behavior was regarded by many doctors as a great affront to the judicial power, and they demanded that Deng Xi be countered. Zichan took some measures, but Deng Xi could always find loopholes in Zichan's decree, and Zichan had to comfort himself with "the decree needs to be explained".

Zi Chuan later appointed Deng Xi as a doctor, put him under his leadership, and hoped that he would be restrained, but Deng Xi still went his own way. Later, he felt that there were many biases in Zichan's punishment book, so he wrote a "bamboo punishment" with more radical ideas.

This behavior can be a big disaster, and the sirling and some doctors took the opportunity to accuse Deng Xi of the crime of "privately fabricating criminal laws", but in the end they were all suppressed by Zisan.

Zi Chuan said: "Deng Xi is our mirror, but he does not reflect our front, but the back. Kill him, and we'll never know how much dirt is hidden on the back. As for the bamboo punishment, it only records some of his assumptions; He categorically would not use bamboo punishment as the basis for conviction and sentencing.

"Back then, when I published the criminal book, I was severely criticized by doctors, countrymen, and sheep's tongues. But I always thought I was doing the right thing. The Western Zhou Dynasty moved eastward to decline, and the Lile expedition began to come out of the princes, and the "Zhou Li" no longer adapted to the politics of the princes, so Guan Yiwu and Bao Shuya did Qi Fa; Shi Ping, Yin Rui, Zhao Dun, Shi Hui, and Luan Shi do Jin Law; Even the most conservative state of Lu implemented the "tax mu system" and the "Qiujia system" before Zheng Guo. In addition to carrying out the orders of Xianjun Huan, Wu Gong, Zhuang, and Li, Zheng Guo did not have a single law, and it was already far behind Qi, Jin, and Lu.

"Now the Jin Kingdom is in decline; The pattern of the world will change greatly; If the Zheng State remains unchanged, there will be turmoil, and it will be destroyed by the enemy country. Now that I look back at the published sentences, I also feel that some of the provisions need to be updated. Therefore, what others thought I had done excessively in the past now seems to be far from enough, and Deng Xi's bamboo punishment can provide me with a reference. Maybe the next doctor who revises the sentence book will cast Deng Xi's words on the sentence book! Your rejection of new life and dissent will eventually destroy the country and your family. ”

For the protection of offspring, Deng Xi seems to be unimpressed; His friends advised him to express his heartfelt gratitude for the child. Deng Xi said: "The master is the office, and I am also the office; What does he have to do with me? I can't thank him in the name of the office, can I? ”

After the death of the child, Deng Xi spent the period of Uncle Zi's reign safely, and it was a shame to succeed Uncle Zi to ascend to the position of ruling secretary. Si Xiao has always been at odds with Deng Xi, so he carefully designed a trap to get rid of Deng Xi.

He told Deng Xi that he was going to revise the sentence book, and asked Deng Xi to draft an amendment and carry out pilot work in some areas. Deng Xi did not have any doubts, and immediately did as he asked. As a result, he turned around and arrested Deng Xi and put him in prison, still charged with "privately fabricating criminal laws", and he was soon executed.

And it is very ironic that in the end, Deng Xi's version of the bamboo punishment was made public and enshrined as Zheng Guo's permanent law.