Simultaneous travel: City, infinite evolution

Chapter 239 Discussing Law with Fusu (Part 1) [Bonus Chapter for Recommended Votes]

"However, since the world had just been settled and the people in distant lands had not yet gathered, all the students recited the teachings of Confucius."

The current Qin law is too harsh, with drawbacks such as "severe punishment for minor offenses" and "harsh laws of collective punishment".

If the people of the six newly returned states are all punished severely, I fear the world will be in turmoil.

Chen Hong nodded; Fusu's view on Qin law was relatively objective.

They not only saw the benefits and important role of Qin law, but also its drawbacks and limitations.

"Then what does the young master think should be done?"

Fusu remained silent, frowning as he pondered. He had thought about this question countless times, so after only a moment's thought, he gave his answer.

"Governing a country requires both rites and laws, guiding people with virtue and regulating them with rites."

Chen Hong nodded in satisfaction. In Fusu, he saw a glimmer of hope for reforming the Qin laws.

Fusu was benevolent and kind, and he did not completely reject Legalism. This was just right to balance the overly extreme Legalism and the harsh Qin laws.

"May I ask, young master, what flaws do you see in Qin law, and how should it be reformed?"

Chen Hong smiled slightly; Fusu was testing him.

Is he trying to see if he's talented?
"Haha, all laws and regulations are nothing more than two aspects: one is their formulation, and the other is their enforcement."

"From the perspective of its formulation, I believe that the Qin law has three major drawbacks."

"Oh? What are the three major drawbacks?"

Fusu seemed very interested, staring intently at Chen Hong.

Even Meng Tian, ​​who was as tough as an iron man, became interested and looked at Chen Hong.

The people around had stopped beating Yi Xiaochuan at some point and were quietly listening.

"Firstly: minor offenses should be severely punished, and the principle of collective punishment should be strictly enforced."

The Qin law was based on the principle of "severe punishment for minor offenses," which led to excessively harsh penalties for many minor crimes.

If someone steals mulberry leaves worth less than one qian (equivalent to a few leaves), they will be sentenced to 30 days of forced labor.
Those who stole cattle had their faces tattooed and were punished with "city-building labor" (hard labor of building city walls or pounding rice). [Excerpt from the Qin bamboo slips from Shuihudi.]

"I believe that the punishment for such minor offenses should not be too severe, but should be supplemented by etiquette and moral restraint."

To fundamentally educate the people and reduce the frequency of minor crimes.

Fusu nodded, as this coincided with his own ideas, and his gaze toward Chen Hong immediately became much more affectionate.

In the Qin Dynasty court, his ideas were never accepted by the emperor and his ministers.

This gives you a sense of "being understood" when your beliefs are shared by others.

The surrounding drinkers, heroes, and commoners all nodded in agreement.

They are born with a love of freedom, and minor crimes, though seemingly insignificant, are actually the most likely to occur and are most closely related to people's lives.

Because ordinary people may often commit minor crimes without realizing it and be punished.

This made their feelings even more profound.

Chen Hong's advocacy for reducing the severity of punishment for minor offenses naturally resonated with and garnered their approval.

"The Qin Dynasty implemented the 'joint liability system,' which stipulated that if one household committed a crime, the neighbors would be held equally guilty if they did not report it, and the same applied to five or ten households."

When Shang Yang implemented his reforms, he stipulated that "those who do not report wrongdoings will be executed by being cut in half at the waist," leading to widespread fear, a collapse of trust among neighbors, and mutual distrust.

"Most importantly, the system of collective punishment has led to a dramatic increase in the number of prisoners."

Many families of five or ten who had no criminal record were implicated and punished simply because one of their neighbors committed a crime. They were all unwittingly turned into criminals.

Some were even afraid of being implicated if they didn't report someone, so they simply reported anyone they found suspicious to absolve themselves of responsibility.

This led to a surge in false accusations, numerous cases, and an even larger number of prisoners.

Red-clad people blocked the roads, and prisons filled the streets.

If you were to ask these innocent convicts who were implicated and punished together if they harbored any hatred towards the Qin Dynasty, what would they say?

I think there is some degree of it.

This undoubtedly creates a large number of hostile groups for the Qin Dynasty, and a continuous, inexhaustible group at that.

As long as the system of collective punishment remains in effect, the number of convicts will continue to increase, indefinitely.

When it comes to collective punishment, the onlookers are no longer sleepy.

They started discussing it one by one.

"Sigh, my old neighbor who lived just across the street for decades died because a notorious thief came from next door."

The five neighboring households failed to discover the crime in time and reported it to the authorities. As a result, they were all punished as convicts and sent to Mount Li to build a mausoleum.

Alas, those five houses have now been sold to other people.

The house remains, but the people are gone.

"Sigh, who isn't? Little Tiger, who grew up with me, had his whole family suffer and were implicated, and were punished by being sent to the Great Wall for forced labor."

“Our street is a bit better; the people involved in the incidents had minor offenses, and only five households were fined.”

One of the wealthy households paid the money and was fine.

But the other four households had no money and couldn't afford to pay, so they had to do forced labor.

Hearing the chatter around him, Fusu frowned.

The system of collective punishment is not humane at all; on the contrary, it takes advantage of human weaknesses and tramples on them.

However, it must be acknowledged that the system of collective punishment greatly strengthened the Qin Dynasty's control over the grassroots level.

It divided and undermined the possibility of the common people uniting.

This will allow them to supervise, restrain, and report on each other, deterring them from committing crimes easily.

This has created a supervisory network that reaches down to the household level.

"Then, young master, how do you think the system of collective punishment should be improved?" Fusu asked Chen Hong.

"I think the scope of application of the system of collective punishment should be narrowed?"

"Narrow the scope of application?" Fusu seemed to have a glimmer of inspiration, but couldn't quite grasp it, feeling a little itchy.

"Young master, could you please explain more clearly?"

"Simply put, unless it's a serious crime, don't use a large-scale punishment mechanism like collective punishment."

For example, serious crimes such as treason, rebellion, espionage, spying, reselling important resources, price manipulation, and profiteering during national crises could be subject to the system of collective punishment.

Not only should they be used, but they should be used extensively; exterminating their entire clan would be too lenient a punishment.

"For petty theft cases, there's no need to use such a powerful weapon."

Fusu seemed lost in thought, and even Meng Tian looked at Chen Hong with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

Although Chen Hong's idea was simple, it was still a huge step forward in this era.

The more Fusu thought about it, the more he felt that there was something that could be done. Completely abolishing the system of collective punishment was basically impossible.

Putting aside everything else, his father, the great First Emperor, would never agree to it.

Collective punishment can increase the people's fear of authority, maintain the unshakable authority, and strengthen the control over the people.

While narrowing the scope of collective punishment remains fraught with difficulties, it still presents a possibility of success.

“What you say, sir, may seem simple, but it is a profound truth that is simple yet full of wisdom. I have learned a lot from you.”

"Sir, may I ask what the second drawback of the Qin laws was?"

Fusu had quietly changed his way of addressing Chen Hong from "Young Master" to "Sir".

This clearly indicates that they acknowledge Chen Hong as a talented person.

"Secondly, the provisions are complicated and the standards are vague," Chen Hong succinctly stated.

"Oh, I'd love to hear the details."

Fusu became interested, and Meng Tian listened attentively.

Even the onlookers, without anyone noticing, had knelt down and formed a circle, quietly listening to Chen Hong's story.

Even Yi Xiaochuan, whose head had been beaten black and blue, got up and listened quietly to Chen Hong's speech.

Because he discovered that Chen Hong was not the illiterate person he had stereotyped as being, but actually possessed some real skills.

Although Yi Xiaochuan did not admit that Chen Hong was better than him.

If it were him, the time traveler, speaking, he felt he could explain it perfectly.

Chen Hong continued to explain: "The so-called 'complex articles' refer to the fact that the Qin laws covered all aspects of farmland, taxes, household registration, and market management."

The "Eighteen Kinds of Qin Laws" alone contains nearly 200 detailed rules, which are difficult for ordinary people to understand.

Even worse, some officials who enforce the law don't understand which articles of law should be used to adjudicate cases.

"Then what do you think is the best way to improve this, sir?" Fusu asked with a curious and inquisitive look.

"The first step is to integrate the diverse and vast Qin laws, streamline them, reconcile the contradictions between legal provisions, and fill the loopholes."

It was reorganized into a unified and systematic legal code—the Qin Code.

One device can encompass everything.

Let every official who needs to adjudicate cases and govern a region...
Study the "Great Qin Law" carefully; if you have any questions, you can refer to it to find the answers.

And this law was published and made known to the people.

Everyone was shocked, and even Fusu was secretly alarmed.

This sounds like a massive project.

The law involves all aspects of life, and it is no easy task to unify it into a comprehensive and systematic code.

Even Yi Xiaochuan was surprised. He was just a time traveler, and he was only good at making small inventions.

Integrating the Grand Code?
Come on.

He didn't understand a single law from later generations.

Revising laws has always been an incredibly demanding task that tests one's wisdom.

This task cannot be accomplished without the supreme wisdom of a wise man and a team of advisors.

Yi Xiaochuan had never seen a time traveler who dared to integrate the laws on his own.

"The articles of law should be published regularly so that the village elders can all study the Qin Law."

The three elders were the most respected people in their respective villages, and they were sent to convey the will of the empire.

"To spread the law to the people and educate the people of each village."

"The drawbacks of overly complex regulations have been initially resolved, but as for the vague standards..."

For example, the "Legal Questions and Answers" stipulates "in case of doubt, the punishment shall be more severe," and such vague clauses are often used by officials to expand the scope of punishment.

The power to interpret the law was entirely in the hands of officials; they could decide whatever they wanted to decide.

Even ordinary people who understand the law cannot refute it.

This is very bad. The loopholes need to be plugged, the provisions need to be clear, and the power of officials to interpret the law needs to be reduced to prevent them from abusing the law and harming the people.

Thirdly, the heavy taxes and corvée labor exhausted the people's strength.

"For example, the law stipulates that adult men must perform one month of corvée labor every year, but in reality, this period is often exceeded."

Countless large-scale projects awaited the people, including guarding the borders, building the Great Wall, and constructing mausoleums.

This resulted in "Ding Nan being defeated by Jia, and Ding Nu being transferred to another unit."

Of the country’s approximately 2000 million people, more than 300 million are conscripted for corvée labor each year, accounting for about 15% of the national population.

The construction of the Lishan Mausoleum employed more than 70 people.

The construction of the Great Wall involved 40 laborers (another account suggests that nearly one million laborers were conscripted for the construction of the Great Wall, accounting for one-twentieth of the national population at the time; another view holds that 78 laborers were conscripted at its peak).

The construction of the imperial highway/straight road system mobilized 80 people.

The southern expedition against the Baiyue peoples mobilized approximately 50 soldiers.

A large number of troops were stationed on the northern border to defend against the Xiongnu.

When Meng Tian attacked the Xiongnu in the north, he led an army of 30 men.

Such an unprecedented large-scale conscription of laborers and soldiers exhausted the people's strength.

This not only caused many laborers to die unnaturally due to the high intensity of labor and the harsh environment.

It also caused many people to be out of normal production and life for a long time, resulting in land being left uncultivated, affecting agricultural production and damaging the foundation of the agricultural economy.

This has also led to delayed marriage and childbearing, and an imbalanced population ratio.

(End of this chapter)