My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 514 Major Case
According to the current laws of the Han Dynasty, slaves cannot sue their masters.

Not only could slaves not sue their masters, but concubines could not sue their husbands, and children could not sue their parents, etc.

Specific legal provisions deny the legitimacy of the above-mentioned legal disputes through the method of "non-official litigation".

According to regulations, local counties and prefectures are not allowed to listen unless the report is from the public office.

If a concubine insists on suing her husband, a child insists on suing his parents, or a slave insists on suing his master, then someone should be asked to persuade them first.

It would be best if you can persuade the person to go home.

If persuasion fails, the government will never accept the lawsuit, but will punish the "plaintiff" with a cane according to the law.

The case is over when the plaintiff is beaten to pieces and realizes that he has sued the wrong person.

In the laws of the Han Dynasty, the reason why there were such regulations and decrees that were not allowed to be reported by the royal family was naturally because concubines, children, and slaves were all supposed to be "owned".

Concubines and slaves were all personal belongings bought by slave owners. The power of life and death was in the hands of the slave owners, and the government had no say in their life or death.

Children, under the simple moral system of ancient China, are given life by their parents, so they have to live well and repay their parents.

It is obvious that the society of this era does not allow those who are subordinated to have human rights.

Even the right not to be beaten to death by the subordinates has never been enjoyed by the noble masters.

On the contrary, the four words "non-official lawsuit" directly put the owner in an invincible position at the legal level.

Don't let me tell you~
What are you going to do?

If there is any grudge to be settled, it seems that the only way left is to use extreme methods such as a common man getting angry and blood splattering five steps away.

But even this extreme method is essentially unacceptable in this era.

——No matter how bad a father is or how outrageous he is, as a child, you should never hurt your father!
Not only can't I have blood spilled within five steps of my father, but I can't even report my father to the government.

Instead, you have to stand on the same side as your father and help him solve the problem.

If there is an enemy and the father intends to fight him, then as a child, what you should do is to buy a rope and a knife instead of dissuading him.

After buying the rope and the knife, I followed my father's arrangements.

If the father told me to strangle you, I would strangle you; if the father told me to stab you, I would stab you.

An accident happened during this period and the enemy fought back. I had to protect my father and complete the intended goals of strangling and stabbing him.

The goal was achieved, the enemy was killed and blood was splattered five steps away, and from now on, he still had to follow his father's lead.

The body should be cut and quartered.

If it is time to turn yourself in and take the blame, then do so.

All in all, the main point is: listen to your dad.

In order to "listen to their father", children could even violate Han laws and, to a certain extent, avoid legal sanctions.

For example, stealing.

According to the law, he is naturally guilty and must have his fingers chopped off and be sentenced to imprisonment.

But if it was for his father - if he secretly took some from the neighbor's house just to let his dad have a sip of hot soup, then it would be okay.

The general logic is: stealing is a crime.

However, the virtue of filial piety to one's father is also greatly influenced by role models and is worthy of praise.

Being willing to break the law and accept legal punishment in order to fulfill one's filial piety to one's father is a manifestation of filial piety!

Therefore, if a son violates the law indirectly and to a certain extent in order to fulfill his filial piety to his father, he will basically not be punished in the Han Dynasty today.

Rule the world with filial piety.

Filial piety is greater than heaven, even greater than the law.

Filial piety is the greatest law of the Han family.

Even the emperor was overwhelmed by this one word and could not stand up straight.

This is just the relationship between children and fathers, and the existential relationship and order of priority between "filial piety and the law."

The relationship between concubines and their husbands, and between slaves and their slave owners, was even more one-sided and absolutely subordinate.

There is no need to elaborate on the former - in ancient China where the husband is the head of the wife and the wife cannot obtain equal status in front of the husband, concubines exist as private property in themselves and have no right to resist their husbands.

In later generations, some film and television dramas would show concubines competing with the wife for favor, so that the male protagonist would favor the concubine over his wife, or even favor the concubine for giving birth to children and hate his wife for giving birth to children.

However, in fact, this situation is almost impossible to happen in real Chinese history.

Because in the thinking logic and mental process of later generations, a concubine is a junior wife.

A concubine is also a wife.

Although not as 'big' as the principal wife, it is still a thing of the same level, a species, just a matter of size - similar to the difference between a hundred-yuan bill and a fifty-yuan or twenty-yuan bill.

However, the reality is: whether in the eyes of the male protagonist, the wife, or even the concubine herself, the concubine is undoubtedly property.

A wife is someone you marry; someone you marry into.
A family is formed through three matchmakers, six betrothals, three books and six ceremonies.

And the concubine was bought.

It’s like when you go out on the street and see a cute kitten or puppy, you want to take it home and pet it, so you spend money to buy it.

After you bring it home, whether to feed it dog food or bones, to raise it as a son or as an animal, to let it guard the house or stick its butt out, naturally, it is all up to the owner who spent money to buy it.

If it's obedient, throw it a bone, praise it as a "good dog", or even hug it, encourage it, and take it out for a walk.

If they don't listen, they will be kicked, slapped, or even simply heated up in a frying pan, and no one can find fault.

——It doesn’t matter whether the dog is obedient or not.

It doesn't matter whether you are fair to the dog when you heat up the pan or not.

The important thing is: you bought this dog with your own money.

You have absolute control over this dog as the owner.

Whether to keep it as a pet or slaughter it for food depends entirely on your mood.

Under such circumstances, it has become somewhat funny that concubines in later film and television works always compete with the wife for favor, or even persecute the wife to gain the upper hand.

——House fight?
Your indenture, your "Certificate of Population Ownership Rights" are in the hands of others!
You have to kneel down and massage other people’s legs every morning and evening!

When pinching, the strength in the hands can be light or heavy, and even the expression can be unpleasant. If he says he will beat you up, he will beat you up, or if he says he will beat you to death, he will beat you to death, without any room for negotiation.

House fight?

Competing for favor?

Three sticks will scatter the green tea spirit. Sir, I am an honest man, which is the most true portrayal of a concubine.

Therefore, house fighting will not occur.

When a concubine faces the wife, she is usually more fawning than a watchdog facing the boss's wife, wishing she could kneel down and lick her shoes. As for whether a son is honored by his mother and a mother is honored by her son, or whether they rely on their children to fight for the right to speak and status?
Sorry: If the man wants to sleep with you, he has to get the approval of his wife.

Only after the wife nods can the male master put that thing into your body and complete the seeding process.

Even if the seeds are sown, whether you can conceive a child still depends on whether your wife is willing.

You can only have a smooth pregnancy if others are willing;
Even if they are not happy about it, they will put a bowl of abortion pills in front of you and tell you to drink it. If you don't want to drink it, they will force you to drink it.

Even more: Even if the legal wife agrees to let the husband sleep with you and allows you to get pregnant, and you give birth to the child smoothly, you will definitely not be able to "survive".

——Because a concubine's son must be raised by his legal mother.

The child you give birth to must call the legal wife "mother" or "legitimate mother", and you can only call her "stepmother".

If I want to call you 'mother', I have to do it in private when no one is around. You also have to be careful about being discovered by your legal wife, who might then vent her anger on you and your son.

The last point is probably something that people in later generations cannot understand or empathize with: illegitimate sons are very happy to be raised by their stepmother.

The concubines were also very happy to have their children raised by the wife, and even wanted it very much.

Because whether it is a bastard or the concubine who gave birth to a bastard, they all know very well in their hearts: they are of humble status and have no status or say either within the family or in society.

Within the family, concubines not only have to open their legs at all times for the male master's enjoyment, but also have to undertake most of the work of female slaves;

As for bastards, they would take on some of the work of male slaves and would be looked down upon by other people.

Despise his lowly status.

In society, let alone.

——Most concubines serve men with their beauty and will be directly classified by the mainstream society as "private prostitutes bought home", and their nature is not much better than the inflatable companions of later generations.

A bastard son is like a "child born to an inflatable partner". It would be strange if he could be respected and treated equally by others.

Therefore, in most cases, whether it is the illegitimate son himself or the concubine who gave birth to the illegitimate son, they are very happy to let the wife raise the illegitimate son under her lap.

Because although the son raised by the wife cannot become the legitimate son, he is no longer a bastard son raised by a concubine.

If I say something a little vulgar, it won't be difficult for everyone to understand the key point.

——The illegitimate son born and raised by a concubine has another harsh and unpleasant name in later generations: raised by a bastard.

Children born to a concubine but raised by the wife are similar to the illegitimate children of wealthy families in later generations who are left alone but are brought back home to be raised at an early age.

Even though he is still an illegitimate child, and certainly not as "legitimate" as regular children, it is still better than being raised by a "woman" outside.

Sons treat their fathers and mothers, and concubines treat their masters and mistresses with this attitude and in this situation.

As for the other subject of "non-official complaints": slaves, they are undoubtedly more miserable and have no status.

——A concubine is essentially a kind of slave.

However, there will always be an extra layer of physical intimacy, and even some affection, between the concubine and the male master.

Even the concubines who were "high-ranking slaves" and had physical intimacy and ambiguous feelings with their male masters were in such a situation;

The status of ordinary slaves in the society and within the family of that era can be seen from this.

There are so many things to say, but to sum it up, it can actually be just one sentence.

——No one will ask even if you kill me.

The master is unhappy and dislikes you - even, just for a moment, he thinks it would be fun to beat you to death;

Then congratulations: your game is about to be restarted.

No one will care about you or the life or death of a slave.

Even the government does not ask the slave owners about your living conditions in order to make decisions for you;
It's because if you are still alive, the slave owner will need to continue paying slave taxes.

If you die, you don't have to pay this tax anymore.

So the officials come to your door, register, and examine your body purely to make sure: you are really dead.

Instead of the slave owner lying and saying you were dead in order to evade taxes.

That's it.

It is foreseeable that such a lowly social status would be included in the scope of "non-official complaints".

That is, when a slave sues his master, no matter what the reason is, the local government must not listen to or accept it;
Instead, any slave who intends to sue his master should be beaten with a stick and thrown out of the yamen.

As for what you said, were the slave owners planning to rebel or usurp the throne?

Sorry, still the same.

As a slave, you should be loyal to your slave owner.

As children, we should be filial to our parents.

Even if the master or parents want to usurp the throne or rebel, as slaves and children, we should worry about our parents/masters first and be happy about their happiness later.

The mainstream values ​​of this era first required slaves to be loyal to their masters and children to be filial to their parents.

Then, on this basis, everyone is required to be loyal to the country and the king.

In this case, the existence of the "denial of litigation rights" system for non-public lawsuits is understandable.

It is in this context that a slave who dares to sue his master - and would rather be beaten to death by the government than sue his master - would attract so much attention.

Just like the people will not rebel unless they can't survive.

If there were no other way, slaves would also not have been able to sue their own slave owners meaninglessly within the scope of "non-official lawsuits".

Since he filed a lawsuit, it means that this slave was subjected to appalling and inhuman treatment, so much so that he would rather fight to death for a possibility that is almost zero than continue to swallow his anger.

So, in the summer of the fourth year of Emperor Rong of the Han Dynasty, Hedong County.

Slave Luan Da sued his master Shi, who colluded with the county magistrate Zhou Yangyou to tamper with the resume register!

The slaves who were originally born Han Chinese were eventually recorded as foreign slaves under the joint "arrangement" of the Shi family who controlled wealth and Zhou Yang who controlled power!

The purpose of doing so is obvious - to take advantage of the 'slave tax exemption for foreign slaves' in accordance with the new system promulgated by Emperor Rong.

As a result, the slave Luan Da could no longer bear it;

He did not dare to sue in Hedong County anymore, so he ran to neighboring Henei and filed a lawsuit, suing both his master Shi and Hedong prefect Zhou Yangyou.

Luan Da also made his motive for the lawsuit very clear: committing oneself to slavery was already a great betrayal to our ancestors.

Luan Da could not swallow the humiliation of being labeled a foreign barbarian by Shi Shi and Zhou Yangyou.

——Even if being a slave is humble, one is still a slave of the Han people and it is not completely unacceptable.

But you, Shishi and Zhou Yangyou, actually changed my identity as Luan Da into a barbarian?
Isn't this treating people like Japanese people?

(End of this chapter)