The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 796 Eight Discussions
In the Taiji Hall, Cao Mao was teaching the prince in front of him with all his heart.

After such a period of instruction, the prince's academic performance has finally improved.

Cao Mao no longer simply taught him how to read and write, but also began to tell him some historical facts. Cao Mao always felt that studying history makes people wise.

The prince always listened to these as stories, but after listening to them so many times, he could gradually make some sense of them.

Although he was not as good as those outstanding disciples from aristocratic families who were said to have mastered the classics before the age of ten, had devoted themselves to the classics when they were over ten, and possessed many natural magics before the age of twenty, Cao Mao was still quite satisfied with the prince.

After finishing the day's classes, Cao Wen bowed respectfully to Cao Mao to express his gratitude, then turned and left.

Cao Mao then walked out of the West Hall, got on the carriage, and left the Taiji Hall with Zhang Hua.

Cao Mao's schedule today is quite full.

The first destination was the Ministry of Justice.

Of course, going to the Ministry of Justice was not to watch Wei Shu judge the others, but for the matter of the "New Law".

Wei Shu was one of the few important ministers that Cao Mao didn't have to worry about. Although he didn't talk much and was very low-key in his daily life, he almost never made mistakes in all important matters.

He is exceptionally reliable and reassuring.

Since he became the Minister of Justice, Cao Mao was not so worried about things like lawsuits.

Wei Shu handled the matter very well, including the previous incident in Qinghe County. Wei Shu's investigation speed was even faster than that of the Dianshifu, and he quickly arrested the relevant criminals. With sufficient evidence, he sentenced them.

With Wei Shu's contributions, we can actually go one step further.

Zheng Mao will retire soon.

Zheng Mao has not been in good health recently. Although Cao Mao is reluctant to part with this humanoid identifier, he still has to pay attention to his physical condition.

We can't just use a talented person to the utmost once we find him, although Zheng Mao is indeed very useful.

If he were making games, Zheng Mao would definitely have the skill to "identify people". So far, none of the people he recommended have failed.

Unfortunately, as he grew older, he became less and less able to handle the affairs of the Secretariat.

During these days, Zheng Mao was often ill, and Cao Mao sent imperial physicians to visit him several times.

This Minister of the Court probably needed to take a rest, so Cao Mao planned to confer upon him the title of Minister of the Court as an honorary title, and then let him rest at home.

As for the candidate to succeed him, Cao Mao is currently thinking of Wei Shu.

Lu Zhi is actually not bad, but considering the many important things he is currently handling, no one can take over in the short term. Wei Shu has made many contributions and is also his old confidant. In terms of age and qualifications, he definitely meets the requirements.

Not long ago, Wei Shu made a memorial and discussed a very important matter with Cao Mao.

That is the problem of the new law.

The so-called new law is not the law compiled by Cao Mao, but refers to the law of Wei State compiled by Emperor Ming, which is called "New Law".

During the time of Cao Cao, the government believed that the Han laws were too lenient and hoped to restore corporal punishment and use cruel criminal laws to deter people. The person who proposed this was Xun Yu.

However, this idea was opposed by many people, and the one who opposed it most strongly was Kong Rong.

When the country was founded, Cao Pi also had similar ideas, but he also encountered great opposition at home.

By the time of Emperor Ming, the Wei Dynasty was still using the laws of the Han Dynasty.

However, the laws of the Han Dynasty had undergone countless revisions and annotations since the time of Xiao He. By the time of Emperor Ming, they had become extremely complicated and extremely confusing. Even for the same crime, there were many kinds of punishments, and which punishment to use depended entirely on the judge's opinion.

The debate over whether to restore corporal punishment continues at this moment.

Until something big happened this year.

Two minor officials took advantage of loopholes in the law to gain personal benefits, and their actions were reported to Emperor Ming.

Of course, Cao Rui could not accept this with his personality, so another important official, Zhong Yao, wrote a letter to the emperor, hoping to restore corporal punishment.

Later, Emperor Ming ordered the revision of the law, resulting in the new law used today.

It is more stringent than the Han Dynasty laws, but much simpler. There will no longer be different punishments for the same crime.

However, this new law has a very fatal problem.

When Cao Mao arrived at the Ministry of Justice, there were still officials escorting people in and out. Cao Mao did not alarm these people and walked quickly to the door of the study surrounded by soldiers.

Before I even walked in, I heard hearty laughter coming from inside.

"Not bad!"

Cao Mao was stunned, then walked into the study.

Sure enough, at this moment Zhong Hui was sitting in the upper seat, while Wei Shu was standing aside, as if Zhong Hui was the head of the Ministry of Justice. He held the document in his hand and nodded with satisfaction.

When he saw someone breaking in, Zhong Hui subconsciously wanted to curse, but when he found out it was the emperor, he quickly stood up.

The two of them went together to pay their respects to Cao Mao.

"Why is Shi Ji here?" Zhong Hui shook his head.

"After accompanying Lu Kang to perform the play, I came to listen to Wei Shangshu's thoughts."

"Your Majesty, now that I've shown up, Lu Kang's situation will be much easier to handle!"

Cao Mao said tactfully, "If Lu Youjie can accomplish this, it must be thanks to Shi Ji's contribution!"

Cao Mao sat in the upper seat, with Wei Shu and Zhong Hui on his left and right respectively.

Cao Mao picked up the document that Zhong Hui had just examined and said to Wei Shu with a smile, "The Minister writes so quickly?"

Wei Shu replied woodenly, "I haven't finished it yet."

Cao Mao looked at Zhong Hui and asked, "What do you think of this matter, Shi Ji?"

"Your Majesty, Minister Wei is absolutely right. The new law is extremely harmful and must be changed!"

It turned out that just a few days ago, Wei Shu wrote a letter to Cao Mao to talk about matters related to the law. If Wei Shu had not mentioned it, Cao Mao would not have noticed it.

Among the new laws of the Wei Dynasty, there is a very important thing, the Eight Discussions.

What are these eight opinions? They refer to eight types of people who, within the current legal system, have privileges and must be given lenient sentences.

Well, don’t think too much, these eight privileges do not refer to minors, the elderly, and pregnant women.

The eight types of discussion are: relatives, that is, the emperor's relatives; old friends, that is, the emperor's old friends; virtuous people, that is, people with moral integrity; capable people, that is, people with outstanding talents; meritorious people, that is, people with meritorious services; noble people, that is, people of noble birth; diligent people, that is, people who work hard; and guests, that is, descendants of the previous dynasty.

These eight types of people either need to be judged by the emperor himself or must be given a lenient sentence.

During these days, Wei Shu has been forced to receive lighter sentences many times.

These eight proposals were tailor-made for the great families. Who was of noble birth? Who was the emperor's friend? Who could be the emperor's relative? Who could be moral? Who could have made contributions?
If you peel it open, you will see that every word says "privilege and immunity from death"!

The Eight Discussions are an old tradition from the Zhou Dynasty, so why were they suddenly written into the law?
The authors are Chen Qun, Liu Shao, Xun Shen, and Yu Yi, so that's fine.

It's not just these privileges that are problematic, there are also some other aspects. The Wei laws were upgraded based on the Han laws, and the same crimes were changed. What kind of changes were they?

Simply put, crimes that could easily lead to big family losses have been reduced in severity, while crimes like theft have been increased in severity.
There are many problems.

What Cao Mao holds in his hands now are the areas that Wei Shu thinks are problematic.

He made a series of annotations.

Zhong Hui spoke up at this moment, "Let's not talk about the problems in the past. There are also many new things that need to be added. The new law does not clearly stipulate how to sentence the occupation of cultivated land, but it does stipulate how to punish the cutting down of other people's trees. There are many new contents."

"Oh right, and there are all these commutation laws. They're really cumbersome. I think they should all be abolished!!"

Wei Shu glanced at him and said, "Paying money to reduce punishment is a rule that existed during the Han Dynasty. If it's not a very serious crime, I don't think there's anything wrong with paying money to reduce the punishment."

Cao Mao just looked at the new law in his hand calmly.

He felt that the Wei Dynasty needed a new law, and that this new law had too much personal opinion because of the editor.
Apart from anything else, the Eight Discussions alone completely led the law astray. Starting from the new laws of Wei, the Eight Discussions officially became a part of the court law.

If he wanted to govern the Wei Dynasty well, Cao Mao felt that he still had to have a law that was suitable for the current national conditions.

After all, things are different now than they were before. Not only have many new things emerged, but the old things have also been almost suppressed by themselves.

Cao Mao looked at the two people in front of him.

Zhong Hui can be included in the whip list, but he cannot be the mastermind.

He is too impatient.

But if someone else were to make the decision, Zhong Hui would certainly not be happy. Cao Mao narrowed his eyes, then slammed the memorial in his hand heavily on the table.

"Such a new law must be changed!"

Cao Mao frowned and said angrily, "I will handle this matter myself. I will first gather talented people who understand the law and I will oversee it to ensure that such problems do not occur again!"

Zhong Hui and Wei Shu both agreed.

Zhong Hui was busier than Cao Mao. He was now preparing to go to Prince Dongping. He wanted to take a look at the fertilizer production process to see if there was any room for improvement.

Zhong Hui had spread the formula of the fertilizer to various places, so that the county magistrates in various places knew its efficacy.

However, due to the high production cost and low efficiency, it is hard to say how much effect it can have at present.

Anyway, it's always better than nothing.

At this moment, Zhong Hui probably realized the need to improve productivity, and he was almost always running back and forth between Ma Jun and Cao Xi these days.

The Shanshi Mansion has been making quicklime recently and, according to Cao Mao's suggestion, is burning stones. Although even Ma Jun thinks that burning stones is a very unwise practice, since Cao Mao has spoken, they are willing to give it a try.

At this moment, Cao Mao was still thinking about drawing up a list of lawmakers. This time, he had to consider the candidates carefully. He couldn't come up with another "New Law".

(End of this chapter)