The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Hearing that Heifu had something to ask, Xi turned around completely, looked at the heavy money bag on Heifu's body, and smiled: "Oh? Are you confused about the amount of the reward?"

Just now in the county prison hall, in addition to announcing that Heifu was promoted to Shangzao, Xi also announced the rewards for everyone in Huyang Pavilion.

In this case, although there were six thieves, four of them were Qin people and two were Chu people, and there was no murder or robbery, so it still could not constitute a "group robbery crime." In addition to the leader of the tomb robbers "Xing" who was a wanted criminal and worth 20 taels of gold, the three Qin tomb robbers were worth 7 gold each. The dead Chu tomb robber and the Chu boy Xing were foreign thieves, and they were worth 2 gold each.

So the tomb robbers were rewarded a total of 45 gold.

This time, the division of the gold was not like the last private bet with Yuan Bai, where Hei Fu had the final say. Instead, the government divided the bounty into several parts according to the contributions of the people in Huyang Pavilion.

As the head of the pavilion, Hei Fu single-handedly facilitated the successful arrest of the tomb robbers, and he was a great contributor, so he could get 20 gold alone!

Qiudao Dongmenbao participated in the battle to capture the tomb robbers, and he was also the deputy of the pavilion, so he could get 7 gold.

Xiao Tao and Li Xian also participated in the battle, and each of them could get 5 gold.

Although Ji Ying was a postman, the anonymous letter incident was caused by him, and he was rewarded with 4 gold for his meritorious service in reporting the case.

Yu Liang also participated in the reporting of the case, and was rewarded with 3 gold.

Even the father of the pavilion, Pu Zhang, got 1 gold for guarding the pavilion when everyone was out.

In this way, everyone in Huyang Pavilion got some money, and everyone was happy.

Anlu County was small, of course, and there was not much gold stored. The so-called gold was more of a unit of measurement for a large-denomination currency. When it was actually distributed, it was still equivalent to half a liang of money.

In addition, there was a reward for capturing the anonymous writer Qu Ji, two concubines. Heifu and his men claimed that they did not need concubines and asked to exchange them for money at the market price, so another 8,600 coins were issued. Heifu alone received 4,000 coins, and the rest of the money was divided according to the merits of the people in Huyang Pavilion in finding the writer.

So, adding the two together, Heifu got a huge sum of 15,520 half liang coins! One thousand coins for one běn (běn), which was enough to hold fifteen běn...

One liang was 24 baht, half a liang was 12 baht, and one baht was 0.65 grams. A Qin half liang coin weighed about 8 grams.

The money was in front of him, a huge pile, weighing more than 100 kilograms. Heifu's purse could only hold more than 4,000 yuan, and the rest had to be transported back to Huyang Pavilion by hiring a bullock cart.

Heifu had no opinion on the distribution of the reward money. He came to see Xi for another reason...

Heifu bowed and said, "I still have some doubts about the punishment of Gongshi Quji for anonymously writing a letter. I want to ask the prison officials in person!"

...

"Gongshi Quji?"

Xi was slightly stunned and looked at Heifu and said, "You arrested this person in person according to the crime of writing a letter. What's your doubt?"

Heifu weighed his tone and said, "Although Quji committed the crime of writing a letter and should be punished according to the crime, he wrote the letter not to falsely accuse or slander, but to report the crime. If it weren't for Quji's report, the lower officials would never have been able to catch the thief in one fell swoop. After Quji was arrested, he confessed to the crime and actively assisted us in solving the case. I wonder if there is any law in the law..."

"Is there a law that can reduce his guilt?" Xi guessed what Heifu wanted to say.

"Yes." Heifu replied.

He considered himself a man with conscience and felt sympathy for Quji's punishment. Heifu felt that Quji had done nothing wrong in this matter, and he felt even worse because Quji had a pregnant wife and was not well off.

Xi said, "Heifu, do you know when this crime of writing a letter was decided?"

Heifu shook his head and said he didn't know.

Xi said, "This law was made when Shang Jun first set the law for our country. At that time, the wicked people saw that the law was strict, so they tried to write anonymous letters, slandering and insulting the superiors and the subordinates, and disrupted the law for a time. So Shang Jun ordered that the anonymous letters would not be accepted, and they could not even be opened before the anonymous letter was caught. Once the letter was caught, he would be severely punished!" Hei Fu suddenly realized that this law had such a historical origin. Since then, Qin State has treated anonymous letters of denunciation in a one-size-fits-all manner. Even those who "feared the thieves and dared not report but wrote anonymous letters were true" were considered "although the situation was very minor, the trend of accusation should not be allowed to continue", and they should be arrested and punished. Qin State's actions may have indeed played the role of "blocking the source of false accusations and stopping the road of treachery", making those who falsely accuse and slander dare not act rashly. But Hei Fu still felt that this kind of treatment was a bit blunt and one-size-fits-all. He really wanted to know if Qin had similar regulations to those in later generations, that criminals could reduce their guilt if they actively assisted the police in the investigation?

However, Xi broke his fantasy. In Qin law, there were only three situations where guilt could be reduced. One was the "Minor Protection Law" that only appeared today, because most young people were instigated to commit crimes and had no criminal responsibility.

Secondly, the punishment for negligent crimes was lenient, mainly targeting officials. The punishment for unintentional violations and intentional negligence was completely different.

Third, surrendering to reduce punishment. Qin law stipulates that anyone who flees with borrowed public property and voluntarily surrenders himself will not be treated as theft, but as fugitive.

Among them, there is no exemption option suitable for Gongshi Quji.

Hei Fu was silent for a moment, and then he whispered, "Isn't it said that officials should judge the rewards and punishments appropriately, and judge whether they are innocent or not?"

"Whether Qu Ji is guilty or not is not up to you or me to judge."

Xi frowned and repeated his mantra, "Only the law will judge!"

"There will be no mistakes or rigidities in the law?" Hei Fu was a little dissatisfied. At this moment, the rewards for anonymous whistleblowers in later generations and the punishments in the Qin Dynasty created an irreconcilable contradiction.

"Even if there is a mistake, it must be changed by Xianyang, the court, the censorate, and the king. You and I only have the responsibility to execute it, and we have no right to criticize the law!"

Xi frowned and said to Heifu: "Law is the procedure of the world and the model of all things; officials are the lives of the people."

"Heifu Pavilion Chief, you are a Qin official, you only need to act according to the law, and don't have any sympathy that you shouldn't have! You have just taken office as a pavilion chief, and you have solved a big case. You have a bright future in the future. I hope you remember what is said in "The Way of Being an Official", be cautious, be careful, don't go back on your words, don't misinterpret the law and have delusions!"

After speaking, Xi nodded to Heifu and left.

Heifu also knew that he was naive. When he heard that minors could be given a reduced sentence in court, he thought that there were still other human warmth and flexible applications in the laws. Unexpectedly, he ran into the cold laws and the stern-faced Qin Li.

Xi's words made him sober up a lot. Although Qin Law gave him some surprises from time to time, it was still a distant ancient time. It would rather punish the wrong than let go. This was the idea of Qin Law.

"If I were the one who made the law..."

This idea suddenly popped up in Heifu's mind, but it quickly sank.

Even if he was in a high position and could interfere with the formulation of the law, could he eliminate all the mistakes and rigidities? It seems that the legal system class in the previous life also said that the crime of anonymous writing was not abolished until the Republic of China. It was not until the 1990s that anonymous writing was recognized and encouraged...

If the legal provisions of later generations were copied out of thin air, but could not change the productivity and social form, it would probably be just a castle in the air.

It was too early for Heifu to say all this. He could only put away his doubts and continue to obey the system.

However, the police handled the case according to the law, but arrested both the bad guys and the good guys. The bad guys deserved to be punished, but did the good guys deserve to be punished in vain? At this time, as a policeman, he was powerless against the law, so what should he do?

Heifu pinched the heavy money bag on his body, made up his mind, and strode towards the county Sikong office.

Gongshi Quji was fined 4,000 coins. Because he could not pay it off, he was taken to the county Sikong and asked him to pay the fine with labor. It was calculated that he might not be able to go home within a year or so. This was a devastating blow to that warm little family.

Heifu could not convince himself and turned a blind eye to it!

When he stepped into the county Sikong official office, he saw Quji trembling and trying to sign his name on the labor document...

"Gongshi Quji!"

Heifu shouted loudly, stopping Quji. Quji turned around and stared at Heifu with a group of clerks.

He walked up to him and put the heavy bag of money on the table, making a rustling sound.

"Quji, sign a contract with me now!"

Heifu patted his money bag and said with a smile: "I'll lend you this four thousand coins!"

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