Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 96: "Wife" and "Concubine" Fight for Love (3K)

As for the wealthy and powerful families who secretly kept armor at home, the prince ordered Lu Zhi to deal with them in his capacity as the governor of Jizhou.

"Ci" means to criticize and report, to examine and inquire about things, which is the duty of supervision.

In addition, Lu Zhi still had the power to use the imperial seal and axe, and any official below the rank of 2,000 stones could be executed.

However, although Lu Zhi was quite happy when dealing with these wealthy families, he did not approve of this method at the beginning. After all, this method was not the right way. The prince believed that doing justice in an extraordinary way was also the right way.

The master and the disciple argued for a long time, and then each took a step back. Lu Zhi agreed to use this method to deal with these corrupt officials temporarily, but not to do it again.

As for the treatment of these wealthy families who privately hoarded armor, to their surprise, the judgment this time was based on the Han Law.

Anyone who secretly keeps a set of armor will be executed!

Anyone who privately possesses more than one set of armor will be executed along with his entire family!

It is both ridiculous and sad to say that the Han Dynasty clearly had a complete legal system, but a great Confucian scholar, in order to further promote the supremacy of Confucianism, introduced the method of "quoting scriptures to decide cases", which was to try cases by directly quoting Confucian classics.

Of course, there is some warmth in law enforcement, such as the "original intention conviction principle", which is based on the good or evil of the subjective psychological motives of the perpetrator.

However, it and other principles such as "the principle of protecting relatives" and "the principle of covering up faults with merits" greatly challenge the fairness and authority of the law.

For example, if Pi Qin was convicted of corruption and sentenced to death, if the case was decided based on the classics, because his ancestor was Pi Tong, one of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, the heaviest punishment would be to pardon Pi Qin's death penalty and then surrender the embezzled income and pay a fine. There might even be no punishment in the end, only the embezzled income would be recovered.

It cannot be said that citing scriptures to decide cases is completely wrong. At least in an era when the powerful and wealthy are rampant, citing scriptures to decide cases has completely become a tool for the powerful and wealthy to act recklessly and escape the law. The benefits it brings to ordinary people are far less than the harm it causes to ordinary people after undermining the fairness and authority of the death penalty.

Of course, Liu Bian did not think that overturning the practice of "citing classics to decide cases" was noble, because as a prince in the feudal era, he just wanted to take back the power to decide whether to punish severely or leniently from the hands of the gentry.

Whether to punish severely or leniently cannot be decided by the gentry through their own way of debating the classics, but should be decided by the will of the king. The gift of leniency should be bestowed by the king, rather than becoming a bargaining chip for the gentry to show favor.

After hearing that the Crown Prince and Lu Zhi were determined to deal with the matter according to the Han Law, these wealthy families fell into complete panic.

However, not all the aristocratic families were dealt with. About a quarter of them were not involved in the treason case at all. Some of them were truly noble and had never been involved in the corruption, while others were just corrupt and had never hidden their weapons.

However, these wealthy families who had embezzled the grain immediately returned it in the name of "rewarding the troops" and took out a large amount of money and food from the treasury to express their loyalty and support to the court.

As for the wealthy and powerful families involved in the case of treason, they originally thought that according to the "citing classics to decide cases", at most it would be a matter of life and death for one person, but they did not expect that according to the "Han Law", their entire clan would be implicated.

As for the "autumn and winter execution" system derived from "natural induction", it was naturally abolished after the "induction between heaven and man" was denied in the court meeting.

What's more, the crime of treason does not need to comply with the "autumn and winter execution" system.

As heads were chopped off one by one, the people watching the execution rejoiced.

It is not true that all aristocratic families exploit the common people, and these aristocratic families are not so hated by the people. However, the hearts of the people in the feudal era were not necessarily so simple. They had some kind of hatred towards the rich in their hearts and were very happy to see the downfall and death of those who were superior to them.

Liu Bian did not pay any more attention to these subsequent minor matters, and the matter of confiscating his property was left to Guo Tu to handle.

Guo Tu will get used to this sooner or later, so just consider it as training for him.

As for Liu Bian, he welcomed Huangfu Song's army at the city gate.

On the official road outside the north gate of Xindu City, dust that covered the sky and the sun was rolled up.

Liu Bian was wearing a dark red dragon brocade robe, standing in front of the parapet of the city wall with his sword in hand, his eyes gazing into the distance.

The flags on the city wall fluttered, and amid the whimpering sound of the north wind blowing through the gaps in the iron armor, the sound of low war drums suddenly came from the smoke and dust, and a red Han dragon flag with a dark ink border stood high above the smoke and dust.

"Here I come." Lu Zhi stroked his long beard, his back straight under the gold, silver and iron armor, his expression solemn.

Although both were Generals of the Central Army, strictly speaking, his title of General of the Central Army of the North was more honorable than Huangfu Song's miscellaneous title of General of the Central Army.

After the defeat of Huo, which man did not dream of leading an army of 100,000 to fight for his country?
However, it is difficult for the Later Han Dynasty to organize an army of 100,000 people at this time, but it is still a good opportunity to lead tens of thousands of good family men to fight against the bandits and quell the rebellion.

It’s a pity that this opportunity belongs to Huangfu Song, not him.

But precisely because of this, he was even more unwilling to be at a disadvantage in front of Huangfu Song!
As Lu Zhi finished speaking, a neat black square formation gradually emerged from the smoke and dust.

Walking at the forefront of the army were the 1,200 heavily armored infantrymen under the command of the infantry captain led by Gao Shun. Their iron armor reflected a cold light in the winter sun.

The heavily armored infantrymen wore heavy armor, holding an iron shield in one hand and a sword in the other. Their already strong and heavy bodies were equipped with these heavy equipment. With every step the 1,200 men took, the ground shook three times.

Following behind were the good families of the six counties and three rivers, including spearmen, swordmen, shieldmen, and archers. The soldiers advanced step by step to the beat of the war drums, and the spacing between soldiers in each row and column was not exactly uniform, but there was no sense of disorder.

In just a few months, a temporarily recruited army of good families had become an elite force under the training of Huangfu Song.

Finally, a large banner bearing the inscription "Huangfu, the General of the Central Army, Suppressing Rebellion" pierced through the dust and emerged into view. It fluttered in the wind. Huangfu Song stood atop a chariot, two personal guards carefully steering the chariot, pulling the reins. Huangfu Song remained silent, waving his banner and issuing orders to the drummers aboard the drum carts surrounding the chariot. Different drumbeats echoed beneath his banner.

The Sima Fa states, "All seven drums should be played simultaneously: drums for flags, drums for chariots, drums for horses, drums for foot soldiers, drums for the head, drums for the feet."

Anyone who can command an army with seven drums is a famous general of the time!
With his outstanding command ability and the training of soldiers during this period, Huangfu Song turned commanding the army into a very artistic act.

Not only Lu Zhi was unwilling to lose to Huangfu Song, Huangfu Song was also unwilling to do so. Both were capable and skilled generals, but Huangfu Song fought against the northern barbarians while Lu Zhi fought against the southern barbarians. So who was stronger?

As if sensing the presence of scattered Yellow Turban troops spying on him from the official road, Huangfu Song's eyes grew stern, and he waved the command flag in his hand. The drumbeat suddenly changed, and in an instant the soldiers in the formation raised their arms and shouted in unison: "The Han Dynasty is mighty!"

"The big man will win!"

"Long live the prince!"

Afterwards, Huangfu Song personally took the reins from the charioteer beside him, drove the chariot to a position within an arrow's reach of the city gate, and walked all the way to the front of the prince. His armor made crisp sounds as he walked.

"Your Highness Huangfu Song pays homage to the Crown Prince!"

Looking at Huangfu Song bowing to him, Liu Bian felt a little emotional.

If it were the old Huangfu Song, he would definitely not get off the car and walk over to pay his respects within the range of an arrow. This would be a bit flattering to the veteran Huangfu Song.

But now... He originally wanted to give Huangfu Song a warning after entering the city.

Cao Cao had already sent someone to report the matter of Yan Zhong to him secretly. He could understand that Huangfu Song couldn't bear to kill him. It was human nature to value the feelings of fellow villagers, but understanding did not mean that there was no need to warn him.

Huangfu Song had already come to his senses, so Liu Bian naturally didn't need to scold him. Instead, he helped Huangfu Song up, held his hand tightly, and said to Lu Zhi beside him with a smile: "Master Lu, are the soldiers here quite brave?"

Seeing the majesty of the army, even Lu Zhi, who was a little dissatisfied with Huangfu Song's leadership, nodded slightly and said, "Huangfu Yi is really a famous general in the world for his leadership. I am ashamed to be inferior to him!"

Seeing that the prince was trying to flatter Huangfu Song, Lu Zhi was willing to support the prince even though he was somewhat dissatisfied.

In fact, Lu Zhi also understood that the prince gave this opportunity to Huangfu Song because he truly loved his teacher.

With the prince's wisdom, he would not have failed to imagine how great the reputation and power of a tutor who had made great military achievements and served as the prime minister would be after he ascended the throne.

By then, the friendship between teachers and students may not last long.

When Liu Bian heard Lu Zhi's praise for Huangfu Song, he couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh, and walked half a step into the city ahead of the two of them.

Lu Zhi and Huangfu Song, who were behind the prince, looked at each other, and their terrifying gazes met in the air.

"Yishin, please."

"Please come, Mr. Zigan."

The two of them were polite to each other, but their eyes were still sharp, and the atmosphere suddenly became a little weird.

Among the generals on both sides, Cao Ren secretly nudged Xiahou Yuan's back with his elbow, a sly smile on his face, and whispered, "Miaocai, does this scene seem familiar to you?"

Xiahou Yuan frowned slightly, and glanced at Lu Zhi and Huangfu Song, who were in a strange mood. He covered his mouth with his right hand, a playful expression on his face, and replied in a low voice: "Isn't it the same with Sister Ding and Sister Bian every time I go to Meng De's house?"

Cao Ren also had an expression of unable to hold back his laughter on his face.

One has a deep teacher-student relationship with the prince, and the other is deeply favored by the prince for his leadership ability. How can things in the world be so similar?

After walking more than ten steps, Liu Bian seemed to realize that his two veteran generals had not caught up with him. He stepped back and looked at them in confusion, as if he had not noticed anything.

"We are only entering the city, not returning to the capital. Why are you being so humble?"

Immediately, Liu Bian took Huangfu Song's arm with his left hand and Lu Zhi's arm with his right hand, and pulled the two of them into the city with him.

Looking at his current position, Lu Zhi showed a faint smile on his face.

The Han Dynasty respected the right, and it seemed that the prince loved his teacher more.

However, Huangfu Song did not think that he had lost, because although the Han Dynasty respected the right, the army respected the left, and now it was in the army!

However, what neither of them noticed was that the prince had a sly smile on his face.

(3226 words)
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PS: Give me some time for the third update~
Sorry, sorry, I overestimated my speed, but strictly speaking, I have already posted two chapters of 3,000 words today, and 6,000 words have been updated, which can be regarded as an increase in the number of words, so it is not slow. Give me some more time to try to write 8,000 words today. Even if I really don’t have time, I will continue to update 6,000 words tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)