I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

"this......"

Gao Luxing was speechless for a moment. Indeed, the legal clause that Zhang Xingcheng just mentioned was about civilians beating officials.

But Li Shen was different. Li Shen was a prince, and this was not clearly stated in the law.

Besides, no one dared to answer the questions Li Shen asked, because the royal family has always been maintaining imperial power.

Who dares not take the prince seriously?

“I am reading you one sentence.

According to the Zhenguan Code, if someone injures someone by beating him/her without any reason other than fighting, he/she shall be punished with one level more of the punishment for beating someone. If the beating does not injure anyone, he/she shall be punished with one level more of the punishment for forty lashes, making a total of fifty lashes.

The blood shed by the two of them is counted as an injury by us. I did not use any sharp weapon, only my hands, so according to the law, they should be caned with sixty strokes, and the crime should be aggravated by one degree, which is seventy strokes of the cane.

Is what the King said correct?"

The whole place was silent, and no one dared to speak.

Now everyone can see that King Ji came prepared, even the pages of the book of law were folded in advance.

This is not a case of mistaken identity, this is clearly premeditated.

Even Zhang Xingcheng, the Minister of Justice, said nothing and watched Li Shen perform by himself.

Li Shen waited for a long time but no one cooperated with him. He immediately lost interest and continued:

"Your Majesty, since all the ministers have no objection, then the charge that Minister Zhang just made against me is a miscarriage of justice."

"Your Majesty, I am guilty and willing to be punished, but even so, Prince Ji should also be punished with seventy strokes of the cane."

Zhang Xingcheng bowed and apologized, saying that Prince Ji was so vicious that it had reached the level of misjudgment.

As the Minister of Justice, if he made a misjudgment, he would probably lose his position.

"Prince Ji, do you accept the punishment of seventy strokes of the cane?"

Li Shimin had figured out that his son had come here simply to cause trouble, and beating up the two men from the Wang family was also premeditated.

What a misidentification of the wrong person, what bullshit.

He just didn't know what the purpose of this rebellious son was.

But since he came prepared, Li Shimin would of course let Li Shen perform on his own.

"Your Majesty, I admit it. This is the correct punishment!"

Li Shen nodded.

"Well, let's do it now, someone..."

"Aye, wait a minute."

When Li Shimin heard Li Shen interrupting him, a smile appeared on his face. He knew that this rebellious son had a backup plan.

"If you have anything else, tell me all about it."

"Yes, Aye, and all the ministers, according to Tang law, under the five punishments, the punishment can be redeemed by exchanging the body for the number of coppers.

If one is willing to pay money to redeem the copper, the price is 120 coins per catty.

This king is willing to pay money to offset the punishment."

At this point, Li Shen shouted to the guards outside,

"Someone, bring a scale."

Wang De glanced at Li Shimin, then waved to the eunuchs below.

After a while, several eunuchs came in, bringing a scale with a basket underneath.

Li Shen sat directly in, and several eunuchs lifted him up together.

After a while, the eunuch reported to Li Shimin:

"Your Majesty, Prince Ji, it weighs one hundred and twenty-seven and a half pounds."

Li Shen got off the scale. He felt very uncomfortable being weighed like a pig.

"To make a round number, one hundred and thirty catties, one catty is one hundred and twenty coins. That equals... 15600 coins.

That is fifteen strings of cash, six hundred coins.

This king will give you 20 strings of cash, and the rest will be used as compensation for the two assistant ministers. I will give you another 10 strings of cash as medicine expenses.

I wonder what Minister Zhang thinks of my handling of this matter?"

"......"

Zhang Xingcheng remained silent. His argument was well-founded and he had no way to refute it.

Li Shen smiled at Zhang Xingcheng, then looked back at the two assistant ministers of the Wang family, sneering in his heart;

Humph, you are playing with privileges with me. Today I will show you what real privileges are.

What if I hit you?

Don’t you know that I am the pinnacle of privilege?

In the Tang Dynasty, the emperor and the prince had to abide by the rules. For the sake of their own reputation, what they wanted was power.

Only princes like Li Shen are the top beneficiaries of the privileged class.

"Zhang Aiqing, what do you think of what Prince Ji said? Although he is a prince, our Tang Dynasty is governed by law.

If he really made a mistake, I will not bend the law for personal gain and will punish him severely."

At this time, Li Shimin spoke, his face was serious and his eyes revealed a murderous look.

It was as if if Li Shen really made a mistake, he would be beheaded immediately.

"This... Your Majesty, what Prince Ji said is not wrong, but... but if other princes follow suit,

From now on, all officials will be afraid and have no interest in state affairs.

I don’t know why I was beaten again that day.”

"Yes, Your Majesty, beating an official appointed by the court is a crime of high treason, tantamount to treason. If everyone behaves like Prince Ji in the future, the officials will probably be in turmoil."

At this time, Changsun Wuji, the Shangshu Zuo Pushe, finally stood up.

As the head of all officials, now is the time for him to stand up and speak for all officials, and also win the hearts of the people.

Li Shimin glanced at Changsun Wuji and nodded.

"Well, Duke Zhao is absolutely right, this kind of thing really cannot happen again.

The emperor ordered that Prince Ji Li Shen, because he had mistakenly injured someone, be allowed to redeem himself with copper as it was his first offense and not intentional.

But the country has its own laws. If you commit the same offense again in the future, your crime will be more severe. Other clan members should take this as a warning.

The imperial edict was issued in a report to all prefectures and counties."

"The ministers obey the order."

The heads of the three provinces immediately bowed and accepted the order.

The ministers knew that today's matter could only be left like this, since Li Shen was a prince.

Not to mention that Li Shen is His Majesty's most beloved son, just looking at the other princes, how many of them have beaten the officials of their fiefdoms.

The Sixth Prince Li Yin was beaten more than once, and His Majesty only scolded him and gave him a smaller fiefdom.

It may not be easy to use this to punish King Ji.

The most aggrieved people here are Wang Ruide and Wang Ruipeng.

Not only were they beaten, but they were beaten in public, and it was on the face. They really wanted to die now.

But just now even the Minister of Justice was arrested, but nothing was done to Prince Ji?

The final punishment was only thirty strings of cash.

Thirty strings of cash were enough to buy their reputation.

All the officials in the hall knew that this was unfair, but no one stood up to change it.

Because they are the beneficiaries of this unfairness.

"Okay, it's all over. I'm a little tired. Your Highness, please continue your court session."

Li Shimin stood up and walked to the back without saying any words of encouragement.

"Farewell to Your Majesty."

Everyone saluted.

Li Shimin had just taken a few steps when he suddenly turned around and saw Li Shen tiptoeing to the door of Taiji Hall.

"Rebellious son! Get out of here and go to Ganlu Palace."

"Well....."

Li Shen was startled, and turned around just in time to see his father's angry eyes, and sighed inwardly;

It's over, there's no escape.

(One catty in the Tang Dynasty is equivalent to 600 grams today.

Second, I did not find out what crime the prince should be sentenced for beating an official, but the other crimes in it were found from the information.

They are all based on the people, and ordinary people refer to the people.

In the Tang Dynasty, beating parents or grandparents was a capital crime.

The Tang Code on Litigation stipulates: "Anyone who insults grandparents or parents shall be strangled; anyone who beats them shall be beheaded."

If you curse me, I will hang you.)