Chapter 513: Strict Laws and Prosperous Song Dynasty

Just after the New Year, the prosperity and bustle of Bianliang remains unabated.

There were a few small episodes in the middle.

In addition to the envoys, the more than 60 countries that came this time also had a large number of entourages.

There were fewer people from small countries, such as the king and queen of Brunei and several sons, and some officials, entourages, and guards added up to only a hundred or so.

There were more people from big countries, with a mighty one or two thousand people. For example, the Abbasid Caliph Kaim brought a lot of gifts to thank the Song Dynasty for helping him restore his country, and there were more than 2,000 people of all kinds.

The people from so many countries added up, which meant that tens of thousands of foreigners poured into Bianliang overnight, causing a certain amount of public security chaos.

The entourage was mixed, and there were even nobles in the envoy group who acted recklessly under the banner that they were outsiders who didn't understand the local rules, and various illegal acts occurred.

Such as beating up street vendors, getting drunk and making trouble in brothels, and getting into conflicts with others and being beaten up by the people of Bianliang instead of being able to beat people. Various problems have emerged one after another.

However, these were originally minor matters. The court issued a strict order to inform the envoys of various countries that when they arrived in the Song Dynasty, they had to abide by the laws and rules of the Song Dynasty.

Any illegal behavior must be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the Song Dynasty.

All countries did not dare to violate the orders of the Song Dynasty court, and basically chose to hand over the troublemakers and make whatever judgments they should make.

According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, fighting and brawling used to be punishable by military service, but now it is not so serious.

It depends on the injuries of the victims. Those with minor injuries will pay compensation, while those with minor injuries will not only pay compensation, but also be detained, beaten with a stick, and may even be imprisoned for one or two years.

In addition to beating with a stick, the laws that have been revised by the Ministry of Justice are basically close to the laws of our country in later generations.

The results of the revisions every year were reviewed by Zhao Jun himself. He had not memorized the laws of later generations, but he had read many sentencing standards on the Internet and watched some legal lectures. He adopted them if he thought they were about right.

Although it was Zhao Jun's own empirical legal revision.

But it was already relatively reasonable.

At least there was no such thing as looking at the mood of the county magistrate, or excessive sentencing or lenient punishment, which belonged to the more standard continental legal system.

But this situation was not controversial until a powerful deputy envoy of a certain country committed a serious crime.

The man may have been rampant in the country. He met a beautiful woman he liked on the street and wanted to pursue her, but the girl didn't want to, so he followed her to her home.

At night, the man sneaked into the woman's house, killed the woman's family, raped the woman, and brutally killed her after the incident.

But he didn't expect that the noise was too loud, which aroused the vigilance of the neighbors. Not only did he attract the neighbors, but he also called the on-duty yamen runners of Kaifeng Prefecture on the street. Hundreds of people came to capture him.

Originally, there was no big controversy about this matter. For such a serious crime committed in the Song Dynasty, the death penalty was inevitable, and Kaifeng Prefecture was directly preparing to hold a trial.

Who knew that the deputy envoy was not only a powerful person, but also the nephew of the king of their country. His family was very powerful in his country. If he didn't find a way, the ambassador would be questioned, so he had to find a way to rescue him.

However, the ambassador of that country was very smart. He did not directly protest to the Song Dynasty court.

Because he knew very well that they were begging the Song Dynasty now, and the Song Dynasty was strong in military force. Any threats would be useless. If they angered the Song Dynasty, it would be their own country that would suffer losses.

Even if the Song Dynasty sent troops or provided firearms to their hostile countries, their own country might be at risk of being destroyed.

So after thinking it over again and again, the ambassador decided to use other methods.

He first found a way to meet many high-ranking officials of the Song Dynasty, presented a large sum of gold and silver, and then went around to apologize to the victim's family, took out money to seek forgiveness, and then found a newspaper to express his sincere apology.

Finally, he even asked to see the emperor of the Song Dynasty, not only offering gold and silver, but also saying that as long as he could spare the life of the deputy envoy and bring it back to the king, he would accept any punishment, even if it meant cutting off his hands and feet, as long as he could keep his life.

In total, the envoy spent more than 200,000 strings of money.

You should know that you should not think that more than 200,000 strings of money is equivalent to more than 200,000 RMB in later generations. At that time, the purchasing power of one string of money in the Song Dynasty was still very high.

A bicycle produced by the Bianliang Bicycle Factory only sold for 1-3 strings of money, and the most expensive bicycle was only 8 strings of money.

An ordinary family only spends 2-3 strings of money a month, so you can know that more than 200,000 strings of money, in terms of purchasing power, is equivalent to tens of millions in later generations.

So much money spent will definitely have a lot of effects.

Therefore, there were certain differences within the court. Many people believed that although the other party was indeed guilty of a heinous crime, cutting off the other party's limbs could also be a fair punishment.

What's more, the other party promised that if he saved his life, he would pay 30,000 strings of money to the other party's family, which was also a guarantee for the victim's family.

And there are more than just a few voices. Most officials in the court and the public, including most prime ministers, think that this plan can be recognized. There are also many such voices among the people.

The reason is that there are still two survivors in this family.

This family is a family of five. The 16-year-old eldest daughter is the main victim. In addition, she has a younger sister and a younger brother who is still in swaddling clothes.

The younger sister and the eldest daughter live in one room, and the host and hostess live in one room with the youngest son.

When the criminals broke into their house, the male owner went out to see the situation first and was killed by the criminals. Seeing that the situation was not good, the female owner hid the youngest son in swaddling clothes in the closet.

The eldest daughter went out to check when her parents were killed. She encountered the criminal in the living room of her home and was dragged to another room and raped and killed by the criminal.

The second daughter was only ten years old. She was frightened and escaped through the window. She ran to the neighbor's house crying and calling for help, and then the man was caught.

So the family was left with a ten-year-old daughter and a one-year-old baby boy.

According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, the death penalty for murder is inevitable, and the criminal must pay compensation to the family, but this money may not be enough to support the victim's family to adulthood.

If the criminal pays a sky-high compensation, it is another matter if the court appeases and ensures that the money is used for the victim's family to grow up smoothly.

Therefore, after spending a large amount of money, the court officials felt that it was a good idea, and even Zhao Jun himself was a little shaken.

Don't blame him for being shaken.

Because it seems quite reasonable at first glance.

In the West in later generations, even if someone kills someone, they can pay a sky-high bail and settlement money to avoid going to court for trial.

This is the case in the United States. After committing a crime, you can avoid going to court by paying a fine or reaching a settlement with the US government, thereby obtaining a chance to be suspended or exempted from punishment.

At worst, you can hire a lawyer who is overpriced to clear you of the charges or reduce your sentence by various means.

So this trick is very effective in the West in later generations.

Its rationale lies in that so much money can not only provide funds to the government, but also provide certain compensation to the families of the victims.

This is the difference between the Western maritime law system and the continental law system.

Even in later generations in my country, there have been such controversial cases.

For example, a drunk female driver named Tan drove a Maserati and caused 2 deaths and 4 injuries.

If the death penalty is imposed, the criminal's family will not bear the compensation, but the 4 victims are still lying in bed and need sky-high medical expenses.

If the death penalty is not imposed, the families of the other 2 deceased are very dissatisfied, and public opinion is also very dissatisfied.

Therefore, it was very difficult for the court at that time to make a choice.

The final decision was to sentence the criminal to life imprisonment, which at least gave the 4 victims hope of treatment, and it was also a certain compromise with reality.

The Song Dynasty was similar to this, and the other party spent more money and paid a greater price. They didn't care even if their hands and feet were cut off, they just wanted to save their lives.

In addition, the ambassador spent a lot of money and deliberately guided public opinion, so that officials and many people in the court and the public believed that the other party apologized sincerely and spent money to deal with the aftermath. As a country with etiquette, the Song Dynasty could forgive him once.

But after three days of discussion, Zhao Jun still made the highest instruction-sentence according to law.

It doesn't matter even if the other party is a powerful person in a Western country.

Kill if you should.

This has nothing to do with the face of the Song Dynasty.

It's an explanation to the victim's family and the rule of law.

Zhao Jun hated the fact that the punishment in the Song Dynasty often relied on the will of county magistrates, prefects and other criminal personnel.

Therefore, as early as the establishment of the Political System Institute, he proposed the concept and slogan of rule of law.

He not only deprived local officials of the right to judge, but also separated the three powers and proposed the concept of innocent until proven guilty, reducing the occurrence of a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases, just to give justice to the judiciary.

Even if justice is only given to the majority, there are still a few powerful people who are taking advantage of loopholes. That is much better than giving injustice to the majority in ancient society.

So this person must be killed.

In this way, the fairness of the law can be maintained and a precedent can be prevented, where everyone can buy their lives with money in the future.

As for the issue of compensation, it is also simple. Since the criminal has no property to be executed, the ambassador of the other country sees that it is impossible to do so and is unwilling to compensate.

Then the Song Dynasty court will detain the goods shipped to the Song Dynasty for trade by the other country, replace the confiscated goods with equivalent property and register them in the name of the victim's siblings, let the welfare home raise them on their behalf, and Kaifeng Prefecture will send people to check them regularly until they reach adulthood.

When the news spread, most of the people in Bianliang cheered.

Of course, they would not consider so many deep-seated issues, but would simply think that killing someone should be punished with death.

For all countries, that was a great deterrent. For a time, envoys from all countries restrained their diplomatic corps members and never dared to violate laws and disciplines again.

Time soon came to December 28th, and the grand celebration was held as scheduled, with a scene even larger than the Little New Year's Eve celebration on the 24th.

There were not only activities such as flower boat parades, floats, dragon and lion dances, and Nuo dances in the city, but also various music performances. The floats of the royal court band went from the south to the north of the city, passing through every street once.

Flower boats cruised on rivers such as the Bian River, the Jin River, the Huimin River, and the Wuzhang River. Lanterns hung by every household a few days ago were displayed. Firecracker bans were issued in crowded places such as streets and markets, but firecrackers and fireworks were allowed in open areas.

For a while, whether it was day or night, the crackling sound of firecrackers and fireworks rang non-stop, until the sleeping time after midnight and before the morning hour, when it was slightly quiet.

In the evening, Zhao Zhen climbed the city gate again, but this time it was the Donghua Gate. With his family, he stood on the Donghua Gate tower to greet the people.

There were still huge crowds of people outside Donghua Gate. When Zhao Zhen and his family appeared, the sound of thunder and applause was endless.

Zhao Zhen is now very popular among the people, not only because of his benevolent rule in the Song Dynasty, but also because he is a great scientist and has invented many things that benefit the country and the people.

And under his rule, the people of the Song Dynasty really lived a good life, and many people naturally attributed this credit to him.

Therefore, it can be said that among the three people with the highest prestige in the Song Dynasty, Zhao Zhen ranks first, and Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan rank second and third. At least many people in the folk built ancestral halls for Zhao Zhen for sacrifice. This is called Li Sheng Temple, which is a great honor.

Zhao Zhen stood above Donghua Gate, waving frequently, and greeted the people of the city with a smile on his face. The people below shouted long live, but he shouted "Long live the people" and "Long live the people of the world"!

The atmosphere of prosperity quickly reached its peak at this moment. The king and the people stood together and outlined the prosperous chapter of the Song Dynasty.

The people below were even more enthusiastic and crazy.

At this time, the Song Dynasty was not only truly prosperous, but also in the improvement of folk productivity. The fields were redistributed, and factories sprang up like mushrooms after rain, providing a large number of jobs.

The abundance of commodity economy and agricultural products reached the highest level in the world, which was more than enough to feed the 400 million people in the late Qing Dynasty, the peak period of the feudal population.

The population of the Song Dynasty was only 150 million.

Moreover, the commodity economy and agricultural output were not controlled by the capitalists and landlords, and the production output could be well distributed to the people, so that everyone in the Song Dynasty could live a rich life.

Even in the years of famine, the court had the ability to provide disaster relief in time, and there was absolutely no shortage of food, which could ensure that none of the victims of the disaster would starve to death.

It can be said that before the fifth year of the Qingli period, perhaps the Song Dynasty had not yet reached a level where people in the world would not starve to death.

But after the fifth year of the Qingli period.

The productivity accumulated and exploded, and the output value of agriculture and industry increased year by year. All kinds of agricultural products and industrial products were listed every year.

In addition, the previous loan relationship was bought out by the court, and the landlords' land was almost half bought and half forced to be nationalized and distributed to the people again, and a large amount of land was leased.

The era when people could lose everything or even starve to death due to oppression from the landlord class or borrowing from landlords in times of famine or even good years is gone forever.

In today's society, unless people are too lazy to even go out and find a part-time job and just lie on the ground waiting to die, it is difficult for them to starve to death.

The only problem is medical care.

After all, this is not the era of advanced medicine in later generations.

The problem of not being able to starve to death, having no money to treat illness, or being unable to be cured of terminal illness still exists.

For this reason, the court has been studying the medical insurance system of ancient society in recent years and increasing investment in medicine.

Establish a medical university, collect the bodies of death row prisoners to allow human dissection, develop the direction of microbial medicine, and set the future development of medicine as modern medicine.

This direction is a long way to go and cannot be completed overnight, so it can only be done this way.

But no matter what, at least today's Song Dynasty has made leaps and bounds in economy, agriculture, law, military, education, science and technology, and medicine.

Except for medical care, which even developed countries cannot solve, most of the problems of the people have been solved or are approaching solution.

No one is starving to death, which is something that any dynasty in ancient times could not completely achieve.

Today's prosperous times are the real prosperous times!