Jiang Yinlong
It is often said that Chinese culture is poetically understood, and changing scenery step by step makes people feel like falling into the fog, and the Chinese legal system based on Chinese culture is naturally the same. Since ancient times, the Chinese legal system has been characterized by "the integration of various laws and the separation of civil and criminal punishments", until the Qing Dynasty, which is the culmination of the traditional Chinese legal system, is still a "Laws of the Great Qing Dynasty", sprinkled with forty-seven volumes, and takes care of the complicated world from the temple to the rivers and lakes. Correspondingly, the officials who dominate the law naturally have to wear several functions, and the judges are both procurators and chief executives, and the so-called "officials in the hall are called parents, and the people in front of them are children and grandchildren".
Traditional Chinese law and life are so intertwined and inseparable from each other, although it has its own silent historical merits, but it also brings difficulties for future generations to pursue its true face. Indeed, even for legal people, the vein of the Chinese legal system is not so easy to trace. The Chinese legal system has no shortage of brilliant legal codes, ancient precedents, a complete penal system, and a sound judicial system, but all of this is too thin and distant in the "Criminal Law Chronicle" of the voluminous twenty-four histories, making it difficult for future generations to see its full picture. In fact, the Chinese legal system is far more vivid and approachable than the volume of "Criminal Law".
When the intricately patterned bronze cymbals behind Guan Yu reflected a dazzling light in the eyes of the Shu and Han generals, when The Late Tang Emperor Li Congke, who was unable to resist the Khitan army's embrace of the jade seal, set himself on fire in the Xuanwu Building, when Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Qian's descendants overnight to formulate the reward ceremony and closed his eyes to the Danshu iron coupons of a thousand years ago, people standing outside the threshold of the law often only regarded the deeds of these influential figures as footnotes of "this era", "shijia", and "biography", and did not know that in the eyes of legal people, the picture scrolls of the Chinese legal system. Already unfolding in these seemingly unrelated stories.
Guan Yu's Qi
If you want to ask who is the most famous person in the Three Kingdoms era, the answer is probably not Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, these era figures, but if you want to ask who is the most loyal hero of the Three Kingdoms Era, the answer is none other than Guan Yu. Even if they have not seen the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", most people have heard the stories of "Walking Alone in a Thousand Miles" and "Huarong Daoyi Explaining Cao Cao", and they know that Guan Yu is the head of the "Five Tiger Generals". In fact, the "Five Tiger Generals" is a name invented by folk storytellers, and the five members of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" will include Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, and Zhao Yun in the same volume, collectively known as "Guan Zhang Ma Huang Zhao Chuan", and the "Five Tiger Generals" will be derived from this.
Just by the order of the "Guan Zhang Ma Huang Zhao Chuan", it can also be seen that Guan Yu's position in the Shu Han is extraordinary. However, just as the so-called layman looks at the hilarity and the insider looks at the doorway, there is a small detail in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that reveals guan Yu's transcendent identity to the public. According to the "Biography of Guan Zhang Ma Huang Zhao", among the five people, Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun only worshiped the general, Zhang Fei and Ma Chao worshiped the general at the same time, and Guan Yu was the most respected, and when he worshiped the former general, he directly faked the festival - in the future, Liu Bei was called emperor, and Zhuge Liang, who was the chancellor of the Shu Han Dynasty, was only a fake festival, so it can be said that Guan Yu was the only person in the history of the founding of the Shu Han Dynasty who received the honor of false festival.
What do false festivals and false festivals represent? Why does this difference highlight the rank within the "Five Tiger Generals"? This involves the two important identities of the festival and the cymbal, which symbolized power in ancient times.
False knots
The festival, first seen in the Book of Shang, was first seen in the Book of Shang, and later people noted that "the ministers who have runes and festivals, if they have symbols for official documents, the seals of the present day are also", which can be seen that the runes used when the festivals are written by officials, which are equivalent to seals. In the Zhou Dynasty, where the ceremonies were complicated, the shape and use of the festivals were strictly limited: the festivals made of jade in the shou state, the festivals made of horns in the shoudu city, and the festivals held by the envoys sent by the princes and the lord of Caiyi to the Son of Heaven, the shape of which should also correspond to the geographical characteristics of their respective lands, and those located on the hills used the tiger festival, those located in the plains used the human festival, and those located in the water towns used the dragon festival, and they were made of copper. It can be seen that as early as the three generations period, different sections already corresponded to different positions and powers, and this correspondence was so complex that the Zhou Dynasty also specially set up the position of "palm festival" to manage and distribute the section.
The Eastern Zhou Dynasty was divided into the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States, and was eventually bound by the Qin. In the qin and Han dynasties, the etiquette system of public opinion was gradually developed and improved, and the festival was also stained with more royal colors, and when Qin Zibao welcomed Liu Bang into Xianyang, the royal utensils handed over were in addition to the famous jade seal, and there were festivals. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the festival became more and more the representative of the imperial power, and whenever the emperor sent important ministers to participate in major political events or state affairs of diplomatic relations, he often awarded the festival, the most famous of which was Su Wu, who was "unyielding in temperance". After the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Zhulu Rebellion broke out, and Zhou Bo, who was in difficulty, also relied on the "Correction and Holding Festival" to temporarily transfer troops, and at this time, the festival already had the right to transfer troops equivalent to that of the soldiers.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the world was in chaos and the military situation was becoming increasingly severe, the Han Emperor often gave festivals to the generals in order to enhance the status of the generals when commanding the troops. According to the Han system, the general had no right to hold the festival, so he had to "fake" the section, which here is a verb, which basically means temporary borrowing. It was only that the power of the Eastern Han Dynasty was deteriorating day by day, and the safety of the imperial court was increasingly placed in the hands of the princes and generals everywhere, so the situation of generals' holidays became more and more common. By the time Liu Bei bai Guan Yu and others were generals, The festival had faded into a certificate representing the right to transfer troops with the development of the times.
If the false festival corresponds to the right to transfer troops, what about the false festival? The answer is the right to kill — in layman's terms, the power to cut first and play later. In the Book of Rites, Yun "gives an axe and then kills", and in the Huainanzi, Yun "Whoever is ordered to be a general, the Lord himself grants the sword, that is, 'From now on to heaven, the general system'" can be seen that the holder of the sword has the right to kill exclusively. Compared with military and political affairs, qi is more often used in judicial procedures, such as after the failure of Liu An, the king of Huainan, after the failure of the rebellion, the Han Wudi Emperor Liu Che sent Lü Bushu to rule the prison, and it was through the grant of qi that he was given the power to "kill without invitation". That is to say, the generals of the fake festival still have only the right to transfer troops in a decent manner, the subordinates "violate the law and discipline", and the grumpy Zhang Fei can only hand over to The Si Ya Liu for trial; but when it comes to Guan Yu of the false festival, it is not okay here, once the subordinates exceed the rules, Guan Erye's Green Dragon Yanyue Knife can directly cut first and then play, and even if Liu Bei is displeased, he can only be held accountable afterwards.
Festivals and festivals are not as simple as honors, they correspond to genuine administrative power, and behind the folk legend of the "Five Tiger Generals", there is a solid "Lizi" of the Chinese legal system.
Li Congke's jade seal
In the Shu Han Dynasty, Guan Yu was the only general with a false knot. Now turn his attention to the man who gave him such a special honor: Liu Bei.
Later generations regarded Liu Bei as a tyrant of the Three Kingdoms, but strictly speaking, Liu Bei never lived in the era of "three countries". Liu Bei died in 223, and Sun Quan did not formally establish the state of Wu until six years later—Liu Bei lived in the Eastern Han Dynasty before becoming emperor; after becoming emperor, Liu Bei inherited the mantle of the Eastern Han Dynasty to establish the Shu Han, and he faced only Cao Wei, an "enemy state". In the six years after the founding of the Shu Han Dynasty, Sun Quan was at most called a foreign vassal, and there were only two imperial courts in the north and south of the Kyushu, and it is not too much to say that it is the southern and northern dynasties.
In ancient China, there were strict legal procedures for the founding of the country, Cao Cao unified the north and controlled the imperial court, but as long as he was not called emperor but still a Han subject; although Sun Quan had the fact of dividing the world, sun Wu's history should also be officially calculated from the day he was proclaimed emperor. So, was Liu Bei the first to claim the title of emperor during the Three Kingdoms period?
No. This honorary title was already won by Yuan Shu in 197. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Canon Strategy, in this year Yuan Shu set up the Gongqing, the southern and northern suburbs of the temple, and established the name "Zhongshi"—although Yuan Shu's power at that time was far from being comparable to the Han Chamber, which nominally ruled Kyushu Wanfang, from the perspective of legal procedures, Yuan Shu had completed the founding process and could be juxtaposed with the Han Dynasty.
Then the question arises: How can Yuan Shuhe De, why dare to take the lead in claiming the title of emperor when the situation in the world is still unclear? The answer lies in a special "Certificate of Mandate of Heaven", and this "Zhang" certificate is the jade seal.
The jade seal here is the imperial jade seal made of Heshi Bi after the Qin Dynasty unified the world. After Qin Shi Huang was called emperor, "the son of heaven called the seal alone, and the jade alone, and the courtiers did not dare to use it", so this jade seal became synonymous with the identity of the emperor. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Qin Zinian knelt and held this jade seal to welcome the arrival of Liu Bang, and the succession of the jade seal officially became a symbol of dynastic change. After Liu Bang, the jade seal was passed down in the hands of successive Han emperors, until Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, it was also marked by forcing the empress dowager to hand over the jade seal, and after the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the jade seal was obtained by Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Han Guangwu, and passed it to the hands of the Han Ling Emperor. After more than four hundred years of blessings from the Qin, Western Han, Xin, Xuan Han, and Eastern Han dynasties, the symbolism of the jade seal was infinitely expanded, which promoted the event that Yuan Shu thought that the "mandate of heaven plus body" when he got the jade seal.
In fact, when Qin Zibao offered the seal, he did not necessarily regard it as a proof of the Mandate of Heaven; the sacrifice of it together with other imperial artifacts showed to a greater extent that the use of these artifacts was a privilege of the emperor. However, after the blessing of the twenty-four emperors before and after the Two Han Dynasties, by the Three Kingdoms period, the jade seal had become the source of the Mandate of Heaven, so that yuan Shu thought that the Mandate of Heaven was there after obtaining the Jade Seal. This kind of ambitionist's "tacit understanding" was not broken after the defeat of Yuan Shu: during the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period, Later Zhao Shile obtained the jade seal and engraved the "Mandate of Heaven Stone Clan" on the right side, which was almost the "riding seal" stamped by later monarchs on the "certificate of power" of the jade seal; in the Tang Dynasty, Tang Taizong Li Shimin also carved several "jade seals" such as "destiny treasures" and "destiny treasures" to masturbate, which shows that a hero as high as Tang Taizong still can't get past the threshold of no jade seal - at this time, The jade seal has completely become an "anonymous certificate of power" that transcends dynasties and emperors, and its counterpart is the Mandate of Heaven, which is the right to rule the Central Plains.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, The Late Tang Emperor Li Congke set himself on fire because he was unable to resist the attack of Shi Jingyao and the Khitans, and when he set himself on fire, he did not forget to embrace the jade seal, which was passed down for thousands of years. Without the "Mandate of Heaven Power Certificate", what kind of legal discourse should be interpreted through the replacement of the Mandate of Heaven? This is the mission of the Song Confucians...
Since the jade seal had been burned by Li Congke, Zhao Kuangyin naturally no longer had the opportunity to continue to stamp the "Riding Seal" on the "Certificate of Mandate of Heaven" when the country was founded. However, the emperors of the Song Dynasty did not have Li Shimin's obsession in the end, and the Song Confucians also changed their research direction under the development of science, and instead questioned the legitimacy of the Jade Seal. This skepticism culminated in 1096 when the jade seal was re-unearthed. Liu Shu, one of the deputy editors-in-chief of the Zizhi Tongjian, coldly said the following passage: "The theory of orthodoxy is based on Han Confucianism, pushing the five elements to be born together, and referring to the seal and passing it on as orthodox." It is a great treasure of the artifact, and if it is to be taken away, then the thief of the chaotic courtiers will be relieved to do his deeds..." The gist of it is that the jade seal has nothing to do with the Mandate of Heaven, but on the contrary, the idea that it believes that the two are related will become a tool for the chaotic thief to realize his ambitions." Coincidentally, just over twenty years after Liu Shu made these remarks, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Jin people...
QingQianlong Emperor Imperial Treasure Dragon Button White "Ji EnTang" Jade Seal
After another few hundred years, the descendants of the Jin people once again entered the Central Plains, during which an outstanding emperor was born: Qianlong. Coincidentally, the Qianlong Emperor once produced a "Biography of the National Dynasty", which made a conclusive conclusion on the imitation of this jade seal: "How can the things of the government and Si be stored with the treasures of this dynasty... The monarch is not in the treasure. Exactly two thousand years later, the "Certificate of Mandate of Heaven", finally ushered in the emperor who refused to accept it. However, it has been a thousand years since the loss of the authentic jade seal, and the legal validity of the jade seal still needs to be written by the emperor to clarify, and its impact is so great that it needs no more words...
Zhu Yuanzhang's iron coupons
Both the jade seal and the festival are the relics of the former dynasty that Liu Bang inherited from Qin Zibao when he entered Xianyang. So did the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty ever have any original legal artifacts? Of course. One of the most famous is the Danshu Iron Coupon , which has an even louder name: the Gold Medal for Deathlessness.
Friends who have read "Water Margin" know that Tianguixing "Little Whirlwind" Chai Jin has a pair of Danshu iron coupons at home. The fifty-first time in the "Water Margin" describes Chai Jin's "Xijiang Yue", and Shang yan wrote: "The golden branches and jade leaves of the generations, the first dynasty of the phoenix and the dragon." Danshu iron coupons to protect the door of the family, thousands of miles to recruit talents and fame. Regarding the Danshu iron coupons here, the book also borrowed Chai Jin's own mouth to explain: "There is a merit of Chen Qiao's abdication in the ancestors of the family, and the Danshu iron coupons were given to the emperor first, but there are people who are not, they are hidden at home, and no one dares to search." "Chen Qiao abdicated" refers naturally to the "Chen Qiao Mutiny", in 960 Zhao Kuangyin yellow robe plus body launched a mutiny to replace Later Zhou, Later Zhou Gong Emperor Chai Zongxun Zen throne, Zhou Song stable Yi Dynasty - folklore, the Chai clan because of the "merit" of abdication, so they got the Danshu iron coupon given by Zhao Kuangyin.
September 19, 2021, Lin'an Museum, Hangzhou, Qian's Danshu Iron Coupon
In fact, whether it is the two "History of the Five Dynasties" or the "History of Song", there is no record of Chai's receiving the Danshu Iron Coupon, but if Chai Jin is indeed a "first dynasty phoenix and dragon grandson", he can indeed enjoy some privileges. The Song Law stipulates the "Eight Deliberations" system, of which there is a "deliberative guest", that is, the descendants of the former monarchs are honored as state guests, and enjoy the privilege of "deliberating, please, reducing, treating, and exempting" when violating the law. In "Water Margin", Chai Jin borrowed Danshu iron coupons to compete with the current courtiers, mixed with the imagination of later generations of people. However, this kind of imagination is not a source of water: what kind of artifact is the Danshu Iron Coupon that can actually make the people believe that with it they can be exonerated from sin or even death?
If the legal effect of the jade seal is still based on the approval of the successor, then the Danshu iron coupon has been effective since the date of its formulation, and there are clear rights clauses.
According to the "Book of Han and the Chronicle of Emperor Gao", after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liu Bang swore an oath with the meritorious man, the Danshu Iron Coupon, the Golden Stone Room, and the Tibetan Zong temple, and the coupon was engraved with seventeen characters: "Make the Yellow River like a belt, Mount Tai Ruo, the kingdom to live forever, and the Miao and Miao people". The meritorious person who obtains the iron coupon can thus enjoy the honor of "being born with a special gift, and dying with his knighthood". However, at this time, the Danshu iron coupons could not be exempted from crimes nor death, and although Xiao He in the "Three Masters of the Han Dynasty" had iron coupons, he was also in danger of being imprisoned because of "buying people's farmhouses with forced low prices" and "receiving more jia people's property".
However, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, things changed. The Southern and Northern Dynasties were a period of great division and great integration in Chinese history, and it was also an important period of deep integration of Han and Hu cultures. During this period, the Northern Wei Dynasty, the most successful Sinicization, absorbed the Danshu iron coupon system of the Central Plains Dynasty and "carried it forward". In the Western Wei Dynasty, the general Li Mu risked his life to save Yuwen Tai, and Yu Wentai was grateful for "specially giving iron coupons and forgiving him ten deaths", and the Danshu iron coupons finally evolved into an official death-free gold medal recognized by law.
After the unification of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Central Plains continued to develop from Sui to Tang, and the Danshu iron coupon system continued to develop. At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan issued a "Commendation And Honoration Edict", which stipulated that "Shangshu ordered the Qin King Shimin, Shangshu's right servant to shoot Pei Huan, etc. His sin is not rebellion, but he may be forgiven for death. Although the edict does not mention the Danshu iron coupon, in the "Collection of Tang Dynasty Edicts", this edict is classified as the "Meritorious Hero Iron Coupon" section, and it can be seen that the "listening to forgiveness and death" here continues the tradition of the Southern and Northern Dynasties to avoid death with iron coupons.
On this basis, the Tang Dynasty's Danshu iron coupons began to have relatively fixed format requirements, and their oaths basically included the following contents: the date of the voucher, the name of the recipient, the official title, and the meritorious deeds of the recipient of the land; the content of the canonization and the privileges granted; the admonition of the recipient, the courtiers must be loyal to the imperial court to "long raid the favor, protect the rich and noble" and "forever extend the descendants"; and finally the emperor's oath, otherwise "the sky is not covered, the earth is not loaded, and the country is in danger". The fixation of the format meant the beginning of institutionalization, and it also meant that the Danshu iron coupon officially became a legal instrument recognized by the imperial court.
The oldest surviving Danshu iron coupon was born at the end of the Tang Dynasty. In 895, Dong Chang declared himself emperor, and his subordinates refused to be attached to Qian Wei and were ordered to suppress the rebellion and win. After Dong Chang was pacified, Tang Zhaozong Li Ye gave Danshu iron coupons, which is the famous "Qian's iron coupons". After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Danshu iron coupon system declined in the Song Dynasty and eventually disappeared in the Yuan Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, another grassroots emperor Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang appeared. In order to protect the heroes, Zhu Yuanzhang made the same choice as Liu Bang: to give Danshu iron coupons. However, after the break of the Song and Yuan dynasties, the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty was no longer aware of the iron coupon system, so Zhu Yuanzhang left his envoys to invite qian's descendants to offer iron coupons, which has the picture of Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes converging on the Danshu iron coupons of a thousand years ago as mentioned at the beginning of this article.
Compared with the previous dynasty, the Danshu iron coupon was more institutionalized and refined in the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang. What kind of title corresponds to which kind of Danshu iron coupon, and how many times different Danshu iron coupons can be exempted from capital crimes and regular punishments, are clearly stipulated. For example, Xu Da, who was the first in battle merit, could avoid death three times and his son twice; while Li Shanchang, who ranked first among the hundred officials, could avoid death twice and his son from death once. In order to record the "redemption" of Danshu iron coupons, once the holder of the coupon has a corresponding crime, he needs to engrave his crime on the coupon, and although the Danshu iron coupon is an extralegal right, this power is eventually locked in the cage of the system.
epilogue
Guan Yu's Qi, Li Congke's Jade Seal, and Zhu Yuanzhang's Iron Coupons all seem to have little to do with the four words "Chinese legal system" at first glance, but in fact, these legal artifacts all carry genuine legal rights - but nowadays people have become accustomed to writing their rights and obligations on paper and signing and signing, looking back to see that those lifelike artifacts are only regarded as antiques rich in aesthetic and cultural significance, but ignore their inherent legal practical value.
Igniting the cracks of history like a starlight is the great charm of the Chinese legal system. The Chinese legal system is not an official article written by the code, not a blunt dogma accumulated by precedents, and still less is it a correct theory and general knowledge recorded by a series of sacred decrees on a sacred stele. The Chinese legal system has a more vivid vitality, which requires us to take a glimpse of it from time to time in our journey through history, and to inadvertently feel its ancient charm and delicate feelings.
Scattered like stars in the cracks of history, it is also a place that is difficult for the Chinese legal system to realistically pursue. If the pursuit of the Chinese legal system is compared to a needle, then this needle will first penetrate Guan Yu's bronze hammer and embroider the general's exclusive killing power; then pierce into a corner of the jade seal that is mutilated by empress dowager Xiaoyuan's anger and throw it to the ground, embroidering the emperor's theory of mandate of heaven; and then skimming through the rusty iron coupons in the Qian ancestral hall to embroider the game of punishment system and impunity privileges.
Of course, that's not all. This needle will also cross the wat of the light, the bronze whip of Wu Zetian, the plaque on the head of Bao Qingtian; the magnificent crown dress of the prince and nobleman, the sword of the Guanbian soldier, the wedding dress of ordinary people, and finally outline a hidden and shining treasure scattered between the accumulation of 4,000 years and the vast territory of 90 million square kilometers, the "Law Museum".
Law Museum: Legal Stories in Cultural Relics, by Jiang Yinlong, China Legal Publishing House, September 2021
Editor-in-Charge: Gu Ming
Proofreader: Yan Zhang