Zhao Defang's road to the virtuous king

"Well, the clever little princess guesses."

"Well... that petty official also knows the high official, so he protects him."

Defang shook her head, "Old General Cao is a general in charge of one side, who would dare to offend the old general for a small official."

"Then... this little official ran away and was caught later."

"Run? Hahaha, he can still run in old General Cao's domain. It would be strange if he wasn't killed when he was captured. Besides, it's not worth it to run away without even giving up his official position for the sake of dozens of boards."

"The child can't guess."

"Prince," Concubine Di said, "Tell a story and let Ling'er guess it, tell it quickly."

"Yes, ma'am," Defang said with a smile, "20 years ago, General Cao was out in command and concurrently served as the magistrate of Xuzhou. One day, a small government official went to a wine shop to eat wine, and he refused to pay when he left. The clerk stopped to ask for it, but instead of giving the money, the petty official beat the clerk. The owner of the wine shop took the clerk and went to the government to file a complaint. General Cao heard about the matter and tried it himself. After asking witnesses to see the clerk After the injury, the petty official was sentenced to pay [-] Wen for food and drink, [-] Wen for medicine for the clerk, and [-] Wen for sticking. I went to remind Old General Cao, but Old General Cao said there was no rush, just wait, this wait lasted for several days, the officials and everyone thought that Old General Cao was busy with his affairs and forgot about it, so no one mentioned it again.”

"Father, why didn't you fight at that time, and have to wait for a year?"

"It's about to come," Defang continued, "It's been more than a year since this matter happened. One day, old General Cao saw the little official passing by in front of the hall, so he ordered someone to tie him up. The little official didn't know, so he shouted loudly. Why was he arrested? Old General Cao asked someone to take the board and said: "The [-] boards were not beaten a year ago, and today the punishment is executed. The petty official was beaten [-] boards, and he couldn't get off the ground for three days, so someone went to see him." I asked old general Cao why he didn't beat the cane when he was sentenced to the cane, and why did he have to wait a year later? General Cao explained the reason. It turned out that when the small official was sentenced to [-] boards a year ago, he learned that the small official He has just been married, and his parents are very rigid. If he beat the petty official fifty times at the time of the sentence, then his parents must think that he was punished because he married this daughter-in-law. , will not treat her kindly, and the daughter-in-law will feel that her fate is not good, and she is ashamed to see others. If something happens because of this, it will be too late to regret, so General Cao dragged the board until a year later. Execution, General Cao said, doing so did not violate the court's laws."

"Old General Cao wants to do all of this, it's amazing."

"Although Old General Cao is a general, he is not only good at fighting, but also very capable as an official. Therefore, both soldiers and common people respect General Cao very much. The people in Jinling City suffered disasters, and the old General Cao used his illness to get the generals to swear, not only took Jinling City without bloodshed, but also won the hearts of the people for the Song Dynasty."

"Father, all the officials you know are capable ministers and brave generals."

"Hehehe, Ling'er, it's not only those whom the king knows are capable ministers and generals. In my Great Song Dynasty, there are countless capable ministers and brave generals in the prefectures and counties of the prefectures."

"Then father, tell another story."