Chapter 27: Tang Code with Commentaries

  Xiao Jiading thought to himself, this Du Dali is really an old fox. After so many years in the yamen, he hasn't been idle for nothing. With one glance, he has already seen the key to the problem. Tang Sima's recommendation of himself, Wen Zhubu has already spoken about it in the prison, and the yamen will definitely spread the news soon. Anyway, even if he doesn't say anything, he will find out later. He smiled humbly and said: "It's Tang Sima from the prefectural yamen."

  Du Dali was overjoyed and said, "Tang Sima? He used to be the Minister of Justice! With his recommendation, not only would he become a county magistrate, but even if he wanted to be a governor, no one would dare not give him face."

  Minister of Justice? Xiang Jia Ding's heart skipped a beat as soon as he heard it, and immediately thought of one person, Tang Lin! Could the painter Tang Sima be none other than Tang Lin, the Minister of Justice who participated in drafting the "Eternal Splendor Edict" during the Tang Dynasty?

  Xiao Jiading is a specialist in the history of legal systems, and as one of the participants in the compilation of "Yonghui Law Notes" based on "Yonghui Law", he has this Tang Lin! He is a figure in the history of Tang Dynasty's legal system, so Xiao Jiading naturally knows. The reason why he didn't equate the Tang Lin who used someone else's calligraphy to pretend to be mighty with the Tang Lin who compiled "Yonghui Law Notes" is mainly because the latter was a prominent Minister of Justice, equivalent to the Chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, Minister of Justice, half of the Minister of Public Security, and half of the President of the Supreme Court, one of the national leaders, too famous. In contrast, the Tang Lin from Yizhou is just a Sima, equivalent to a provincial committee member without real power, with a much lower rank. He thought it was just a namesake, but unexpectedly, they turned out to be the same person.

  My little treasure Yanni, actually knows such a big shot, must be Yanni told him about her own affairs and asked for his help. Hehe, didn't expect things to turn out this way, can't help but say that my luck is also damn good.

  Xiao Jia Ding felt secretly pleased in his heart, but his face didn't reveal anything, he just smiled mysteriously and didn't respond to Du Da Yin's words.

  Du Da's expression suddenly became complicated, even mixed with a kind of flattering smile that had been formed by many years of being an official clerk, and he said: "Xiao brother, please come in quickly and take a seat! Er Niu, hurry up and prepare some pastries and fruit!"

  Du Erniang hastily agreed, and inexplicably glanced at Xiao Jiading. She was young and a woman after all, not understanding official matters, unaware of what this meant. However, from Grandfather's change in attitude, he somewhat sensed the subtlety within.

  Xiao Jiading followed Du Daxian into the house and sat down in the main hall. Du Daxian called over a middle-aged woman, who was Du Erniu's mother, plump and rich-looking just like her daughter. Madam Du hadn't heard their previous conversation and didn't know the inside story, so she looked at Xiao Jiading with a kind but scrutinizing gaze, as if observing her future son-in-law.

  Du Erniang brought the fruit tray, at that time in the Tang Dynasty, ordinary people's families did not drink tea as a matter of course, so there was no need to serve tea, when guests came, they were served with fruit trays.

  Xiao Jiading was still savoring Du Daliang's words, when he suddenly remembered something and asked: "Who is the governor of Yizhou?"

  Du Dahe's expression turned solemn, saying: "Our Yizhou governor is concurrently held by the Grand Governor of the Yizhou Grand Governor's Mansion. The Grand Governor commands ten states including Yizhou. This old master is the current emperor's elder brother, King Shu, Li above and Ke below."

  Actually, the title of Shu King was Li Ke's early title. In the third year of Yonghui, he was actually the Wu King. This is a rough history and not necessarily consistent with official records, so please just laugh it off, gentlemen.

  Xiao Jiading's eyes widened: "Li Ke?"

  He immediately thought of a string of TV images such as "The Legend of Zhen Huan", all of which Xiao Jiading had seen, and he was too familiar with Li Ke. Li Ke is a tragic figure, and can be said to be the most virtuous among so many sons of Li Shimin. Chairman Mao once commented that Li Ke was a "hero" and deeply regretted that Li Shimin did not make him the crown prince. The tragedy of Li Ke lies in this.

  At that time, there were three people who had the most contention for the right to inherit the throne. They were all born to Li Shimin's late beloved wife, Empress Zhangsun. One was Crown Prince Li Chengqian, one was fourth son Li Tai, and the other was ninth son Li Zhi. Crown Prince Li Chengqian fought fiercely with Li Tai, and Li Shimin feared that the incident of the Xuanwu Gate would be repeated. Therefore, he chose the ninth son Li Zhi, who actually had a gentle and weak personality and was not suitable to be an emperor. It was precisely because of this personality that Li Shimin believed that he would not harm his two elder brothers after taking over the throne, thus avoiding fratricide. This choice received strong support from the extremely ambitious first minister of the court, Emperor Li Shimin's beloved wife Empress Zhangsun's older brother, Zhangsun Wuji.

  Changsun Wuji's support for the weakest and most timid Li Zhi as crown prince among his three nephews was a well-known fact. He wanted to be like Cao Cao, controlling the emperor to command the world. The wise Emperor Taizong of Tang adopted his suggestion, and eventually Li Zhi became the emperor. Changsun Wuji naturally became the power behind the throne with his contribution to Li Zhi's ascension. Within two years after Li Zhi's accession, Changsun Wuji took advantage of a minor incident involving Princess Gao Yang and blew it up into a political treason case, known as the "Case of the Treason of Fang Yi'ai", leading to a large-scale purge, with Li Ke becoming one of its victims.

  Li Ke was born to Yang Shi, a beloved consort of Emperor Taizong of Tang and daughter of Li Guang, the last emperor of the Sui Dynasty. However, Emperor Taizong highly appreciated him, saying that he was well-versed in both literature and martial arts, and among all his sons, he resembled himself the most. Therefore, after Emperor Taizong had established his ninth son Li Zhi as crown prince to avoid infighting between his older sons Li Chengqian and Li Tai, he regretted it and wanted to make Li Ke crown prince instead. This was strongly opposed by Li Zhi's uncle Zhangsun Wuji, who pointed out that the reason for opposing Li Ke as crown prince was not because he was not his nephew. Despite this, under Zhangsun Wuji's persistence and the influence of his deceased wife Empress Zhangsun, Emperor Taizong retreated from his decision.

  Because of this matter, Li Ke, who almost became the crown prince, naturally hated and feared Longsun Wuji. This emotion was naturally detected by the old and deep Longsun Wuji. After the incident with Princess Gao Yang, Longsun Wuji volunteered to take charge of the main trial, thus upgrading it to a treason case, and as an opportunity to eliminate dissidents, many dissidents were pulled in, first and foremost being Li Ke, who was not pleasing to his eyes.

  Among the list of people to be executed by Li Shiji, Li Ke was unexpectedly included. The emotionally sensitive Emperor Gaozong wanted to save his brother's life and asked Li Shiji to spare him, but was flatly refused by Li Shiji. Li Ke thus died a cruel death.

  This piece of history about Xiao Jiading is from the TV series, and he doesn't know exactly which year it happened, only that it was not long after Li Zhi became emperor. That is to say, this Governor of Yizhou and Commander-in-Chief of Yizhou probably won't live much longer.

  Xiao Jia Ding's face was changing unpredictably, and Du Da couldn't help but feel a little surprised. He casually brought up a topic to divert Xiao Jia Ding's thoughts, asking: "Where does Xiao Zhi Yi live? I'll bring Er Niu to visit you in the future."

  Xiao Jia Ding quickly returned to normal. It's none of his business what the royal family does, so why bother worrying about it? He gathered his thoughts and said, "I'll stay in the government office for now. However, I think I'll rent a house outside to live in. After all, living in the government office is too inconvenient. The government office locks up at night."

  Du Da looked at him with a hint of amusement: "What, you're the county magistrate's personal attendant, and yet you still want to rent a house? Isn't that a joke! Alright then, I'll spread the word about your intention to buy a house. I guarantee that within ten days, you'll be able to buy an extremely cheap and excellent mansion."

  "Oh? Really?"

  "Impossible? Of course, if you were just a county magistrate's attendant, it would indeed be unlikely for someone to fawn on you like this. But behind you is the judicial authority of the prefecture, and this Court Administrator was previously the Minister of Justice, a big shot by the Emperor's side. I ask you, isn't that enough?"

  "But he's a demoted official now, and being a Sima is an idle position to begin with, without any real power. Is it necessary to buy his account like this?"

  Du Da let out a sigh and said, "You don't understand the imperial court at all. Many officials who were demoted were actually just victims of the emperor's temporary anger, and once his anger subsided, they would naturally be reinstated to their original positions. There are also some who didn't even offend the emperor, but were demoted due to various reasons, only to be reinstated when the time was right. Who in the imperial court doesn't know about Tang Lin? Even back when the current emperor was still a prince, he had a very close relationship with him. So when the emperor ascended to the throne, Tang Lin was immediately promoted from being a deputy minister of the Ministry of Personnel to becoming the Minister of Justice! He then became the Imperial Censor-in-Chief, and soon after that, he became the Minister of Punishments, and even received the title of Grand Master for Splendid Happiness! In just one year's time, he was promoted three ranks in a row. What do you think his relationship with the emperor is like?"

  The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is equivalent to the Deputy Minister of the Organization Department, but with an additional "acting" title, which means that Tang Lin was only enjoying the treatment of a high-ranking fourth-grade official before Emperor Gaozong ascended to the throne. After Emperor Gaozong's accession, he jumped three ranks in just one year and became the Minister of Justice, holding the highest judicial power next to the emperor!

  Actually, Xue Facheng Shao Jia Ding already knew that among the emperors of past dynasties, the current emperor Tang Gaozong Li Zhi was one of the most law-abiding emperors. During his reign, he organized more than a dozen legal experts such as Changsun Wuji to compile the "Yonghui Code" and "Yonghui Code Commentary", which later became known as the "Tang Code Commentary". It later became the legal blueprint for the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and was also copied by neighboring countries such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, who made simple modifications according to their own situations before promulgating it as their law. This formed the Chinese legal system, which had international influence.

  Because of Emperor Gaozong of Tang's high regard for the law, he also highly valued legal talent. The rapid promotion of Tang Lin was due to their close relationship on one hand, and on the other hand, it also reflected Emperor Gaozong's emphasis on legal talent.

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