Han official!

Chapter 9 Zhang Tang's Trial of the Rat
In the left academy, Guo Jie, Zhang Qian and Wei Guang were imprisoned in a room, kneeling on a low small table, not sitting on the couch that officials often used to change into official uniforms, and occasionally looking out the window.

The room was rather plain, with only a few kneeling tables, couches, and wooden beams for hanging clothes. There were no other items, but it was much more comfortable than the dark and gloomy Chang'an Prison.

The sitting scale is very similar to a low table. The four legs of the scale are very low, and there is only a finger's length of space between the scale surface and the ground. The scale surface can only accommodate one person kneeling.

Zhang Qian came from a humble background and was used to sitting on a reed mat or directly on the ground. It was his first time seeing the common utensils used by officials and he was quite surprised. He knelt on the sitting table and shook it from time to time to check whether it was stable.

"You're still in the mood to shake."

Wei Guang looked apprehensive, pacing back and forth. "I heard the Chang'an Wei is Dou Ying's guest. If he were to try this case, none of us would be able to escape. We'd definitely be killed, and we might even be executed."

"Book of Han: Criminal Law" states: "After a criminal is sentenced, he shall be forced to work as a thief in the city for three years. After serving as a thief for one year, he shall be made a slave or a concubine. After serving as a slave or a concubine for one year, he shall be released and become a commoner."

A prisoner was sentenced to serve three years of chengdanchong. For men, the punishment was changed to ghost firewood, and for women, it was changed to white candy.

A year later, male and female prisoners were changed to servants and concubines, that is, slaves.

Male slaves and female slave concubines could be demoted to commoners only after serving one year in prison.

Guixin originally referred to collecting firewood for ancestral temples. Later, Guixin was responsible for heavy chores in government offices and temples, such as building the Great Wall, repairing straight roads, dredging rivers, etc. People were often exhausted to death, and only one in ten prisoners who survived a year would be demoted to be servants or concubines.

Abandoning the person in public means directly beheading him in public.

No matter what kind of punishment they were subjected to, the three men could not escape death.

Zhang Qian couldn't help but look worried. Thinking of dying from ghost firewood, he felt depressed.

It's not a manly way to die.

Guo Jie said with a smile, "You two don't have to worry about the officials protecting each other. The person trying this case is Zhang Tang."

When he heard Zhang Tang's name, he knew that today's matter was settled. Although Zhang Tang was one of the most famous cruel officials in history, he was much better than a villain like Junchen.

Zhang Tang did everything according to Han laws and was a staunch follower of the Legalists. He would never do such dirty things as protecting one another among officials.

As long as Guo Jie did not violate the law, he would be dealt with impartially. It would be useless even if Weiqi Hou Dou Ying came forward in person or even the emperor personally pleaded for him. The judgment would be made according to the Han law.

What's more, Zhang Tang and Dou Ying were at odds with each other and wanted to kill all the imperial relatives in the court.

"It's not that I'm afraid of death."

Wei Guang said angrily, "It's just that dying on ghost firewood or being thrown into the market is too shameful. If others mention the way I died, they will say with contempt that I was just a prisoner. Why mention it?"

Whenever Wei Guang thought about being looked down upon after his death, he felt indescribably depressed and uncomfortable. He thought it would be better to die in the mouth of a tiger.

Get a reputation of dying fighting a tiger.

At least he is a hero who fights tigers.

"Mr. Guo."

A minor official in black robes entered, looked curiously at the heroic hero from Chen County who had fought the tiger, and said respectfully, "Lord Zhao has handed this case over to the Maoling Magistrate for trial. Please invite Mr. Guo to hear the case. We will try both Mr. Guo's killing of the tiger and Yuantu's theft of the tiger as one case."

Temple gate, firecrackers, and hearings.
Guo Jie was very curious about the layout of the government offices in the Western Han Dynasty. He followed the clerk in black clothes, looked at the novel government offices in Chang'an, and walked into the court where the Chang'an magistrate was sitting.

He didn't seem to be worried about the outcome of the trial at all.

The main hall for hearing is a large hall with a curtain in the middle, which can be divided into two rooms when necessary.

On the lime-washed white walls on both sides are hung some stories of the previous Chang'an Ling, as well as the emperor's edicts and laws, and the achievements and benevolent policies of Chang'an Ling Zhao Yu.

To show it to those who come and warn the people, perhaps it can have the effect of educating them.

Guo Jie couldn't help but laugh. How could Zhao Yu, the famous cruel official in history, rule with virtue? Countless people died at his hands. He even fabricated charges and sentenced entire families to death, killing the entire families of the powerful and wealthy, young and old. Lai Junchen was a Tang Dynasty version of Zhao Yu.

The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system. The Western Han Dynasty only abolished some of the Qin Dynasty's tortures and retained some. Zhao Yu used some of the tortures left over from the Qin Dynasty, and his methods were even more cruel than Junchen's.

But there is one good thing.

Zhao Yu would not flatter Dou Ying, Marquis of Wei. "Why are you laughing, sir?"

Wei Guang looked confused. "Aren't you worried about dying in disgrace? You're a hero from Chen County. Many knights in Chang'an know your reputation for loyalty and integrity. Dying on ghost firewood or being thrown into the streets would be a disservice to your reputation as 'hero Guo Jie.'"

Zhang Qian exclaimed in admiration, "You remain fearless in the face of danger and laugh even in the face of death. You are truly worthy of being the heroic hero Guo Jie of Chen County. Wei Guang and I are far inferior to you."

Chang'an was able to face death as calmly as Guo Jie.

It is rare.

Zhang Qian and Wei Guang immediately felt a sense of respect.

Guo Jie laughed in surprise, looking at Zhang Qian and Wei Guang with admiration, and wanted to explain that it was not because he was calm about facing death, but because he did not want to die, but because he saw the benevolent policies of the cruel officials.
There is no way to explain it.

Guo Jie could only silently accept the respect from Zhang Qian and Wei Guang.

There was a back hall behind the court where the county officials could discuss matters. Zhao Yu had been observing Guo Jie's reaction, wanting to know whether he was a righteous man who valued his own life more than anything else as the rumors said.

When Zhao Yu saw Guo Jie's frank smile, he couldn't help but nod slightly. An idea came to his mind: "The heroic Guo Jie is indeed a good dagger. The Maoling officer should close the case as soon as possible, otherwise the Chang'an officer will rush back and cause more trouble."

Zhang Tang walked out of the back hall and came to the hearing room, looking back and forth at the three people with his sharp eyes.

Wei Guang felt uncomfortable watching this and shouted, "You can kill me or chop me up as you please, but wait until the three of us are dead. You cannot erase the reputation of dying fighting a tiger."

Guo Jie became nervous. Although he knew that Zhang Tang was fair and strict in enforcing the law, he was not the Zhang Tang in the later case of the Three Kings Rebellion, and he was not promoted to the position of Chief Censor.

It is hard to say whether Zhang Tang, who is currently only a Maoling Wei, can withstand the pressure from Weiqi Hou Dou Ying.

Fortunately, Yuantu was just one of many guests.

Dou Ying's mansion had three thousand guests and was as elegant as Mengchangjun, one of the four princes of the Warring States Period. He should not have noticed the death of the head of Gaojie Pavilion immediately. After all, the four misers were also taken to the official temple in Chang'an and imprisoned.

Zhang Tang's gaze finally fell on Guo Jie's fencing palms, which were covered with calluses. It seemed that he had been good at fencing since he was in his teens. However, he did not know whether Guo Jie had reached the level of Dongfang Shuo, the commander of the imperial guards, who was "brave as Meng Ben and swift as Qing Ji".

"Two or three."

Zhang Tang instructed, "Here is the prison trial. This is the warrant from the Chang'an official temple. Go to the changing room outside the temple and arrest the warehouse steward and the other four, and bring them to the court to accuse them."

The first step in a trial is accusation, which is divided into private prosecution and public prosecution.

The accusation was a private complaint, in which Yuan Tu's relatives directly reported Guo Jie to the government temple.

Impeachment is a public prosecution, mostly used for officials. The first step when officials try corrupt officials is impeachment.

The second step in the trial is detention. Commoners who may have violated the law are detained. Officials and temples cannot arrest commoners at will. They need a warrant or imperial decree.

Zhang Tang said this and arrested four warehouse keepers.

Guo Jie's face lit up with joy, as he understood the meaning of these words.

An impeachment is when the plaintiff files a lawsuit with the judicial authorities. Zhang Tang called Cang Sefu and others to file an impeachment, which was actually the court's interrogation of an illegal organization.

This is a case of an official suing an official. For example, a house was left unfinished, so the court sued the bank to compensate Guo Jie for his personal losses.

In the eyes of the Han Dynasty courts, individuals who lost their down payment, could not get a house and still had to bear the burden of mortgage loans were the real vulnerable groups.

The laws of the Han Dynasty are still better.

When the trial officially began, Guo Jie felt a sense of novelty as if he was witnessing events in history books happening right before his eyes.

Zhang Tang's trial of a rat is a classic record in the "Records of the Grand Historian". When Zhang Tang was a child, a rat stole his food. During the trial, a child completed a series of complete processes including filing a case, investigation, arrest, interrogation, etc. on his own.

Finally, he wrote the verdict and handed it to his father, who had been an expert in criminal justice for many years and was greatly amazed.

(End of this chapter)