In August of the fourth year of Song Jingyou's reign, this major corruption case that lasted nearly half a year finally came to an end.
By the end of August, more than 80 officials and businessmen involved in the case had been killed, more than 500 had been sentenced to exile, and more than 1,000 related personnel with less serious crimes had been held accountable and sentenced to other punishments such as imprisonment, flogging, caning, and dismissal.
In September of the same year, the Dali Temple, the Censorate and the Court of Justice arrested the remaining officials involved in the case who were later transferred to other places, including the former Huainan Road Transport Commissioner, Shipping Commissioner, Judge and other officials.
According to past experience, they were simply dismissed from their official positions, not even exiled.
However, the Constitutional Yuan quickly issued guidance, instructing the three courts to sentence the main officials involved in the case to death, and the remaining accomplices could be given lenient treatment.
Qian Zhengwei, the Minister of the Supreme Court, Zhang Kui, the Associate Director of the Court of Criminal Justice, and Fan Feng, the Chief Censor, were dissatisfied and demanded an explanation from the Court of Constitutional Affairs.
After all, when Zhao Jun killed people in the past, firstly, he killed officials of lower ranks, and secondly, Zhao Zhen gave the Imperial City Administration the power to deal with the matter on its own.
Although all the officials wrote letters of opposition and continued to impeach, the emperor was very determined that time and they had no way to deal with Zhao Jun.
But now Zhao Jun is no longer in Bianliang, so why should they be asked to do things according to Zhao Jun's wishes?
Unexpectedly, the Constitutional Yuan only gave one explanation: "Act in accordance with the law!"
This left the three speechless for a moment.
Because there is actually no article in the "Song Dynasty Criminal Code" that states that "no punishment shall be imposed on officials."
Even in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, since the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms had just been pacified, severe punishments had to be used to restore social order. Therefore, when the criminal law was first formulated, Zhao Kuangyin still focused on strictness.
According to the "History of the Song Dynasty", during the 17 years of the reign of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, more than 4,000 officials of all ranks were executed, and Zhao Guangyi also killed quite a few.
However, during the reign of Song Renzong Zhao Zhen, after constant deception by the literati, Zhao Zhen and his son were finally fooled.
So if they are told to "act in accordance with the law", they really have no reason to object.
It’s just that being lenient towards scholars and officials is an unspoken rule and convention.
Song Taizu and Song Taizong cracked down on corrupt officials, even including rebellion and other serious crimes that were not pardonable. As a result, the governance of officials at that time was significantly improved compared to the rampant greed and unbridled behavior of the Five Dynasties.
However, with the development of the economy and the relaxation of laws, corrupt officials have resurfaced.
For example, during the reign of Emperor Renzong, Bao Zheng once lamented, "Corruption and tyranny account for six or seven out of ten cases." Although the court had capable officials like Bao Zheng, they were only a drop in the bucket.
By the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Zhezong, there were about 260 cases of officials sentenced to death in one year, but only 25 of them were executed - "nearly nine-tenths of them were spared", which shows how lenient the government was towards officials.
Now the Sansi Yamen wanted to follow the previous practice and treat the offending officials leniently. However, they did not expect the Constitutional Council to make it clear that they wanted to return to the situation during the reigns of Taizu and Taizong, which was really hard for them to accept.
So, despite the Constitutional Court's order to "act in accordance with the law," the Sansi Yamen dragged their feet and didn't make a ruling. The Constitutional Court refused to sign their ruling, and they didn't accept its opinions, leaving the two sides in a stalemate.
If Zhao Jun were there, he would probably ignore them and directly let the people from the Imperial City Bureau take those who deserved the death penalty to the outside of the East City and behead them.
But Lu Yijian and his gang still had to abide by the rules of officialdom and not be so arrogant.
So Yan Shu stepped in and used both emotion and reason to tell the Sansi Yamen that those people were sentenced to death because their corruption had caused serious consequences.
The Song Dynasty could not punish officials, but the problem was that it could only give lenient sentences to officials who committed less serious crimes.
For example, if someone embezzles a small amount of money, or uses some privileges to engage in private business, or attacks competitors, it is not impossible to reduce the punishment.
The only condition is that no one should be killed.
As the saying goes, human life is more important than anything else. This is an unchanging slogan of justice since ancient times!
If you kill tens of thousands of civilians but show leniency in the end, where is the dignity and face of the imperial court?
Therefore, for the sake of the court's reputation, these people must be sentenced to death.
Yan Shu's statement was tenable, but the three officials were crazy at the time and refused to give in.
Then the Constitutional Yuan took a decisive action.
They asked some people to spread the rumor that the Three Courts were shielding officials who committed serious crimes.
When Ouyang Xiu learned about this, he was furious and immediately wrote an article in the newspaper to strongly criticize the three officials' behavior.
Under the dual guidance of public opinion, a huge public opinion storm was triggered.
This was also discussed at the morning court session.
They had a heated debate over whether all scholars and officials could be given lenient sentences, or only those who did not cause serious consequences could be given lenient sentences.
Finally, under the guidance of Ouyang Xiu and others, the conclusion was drawn that "no punishment for officials" was indeed a preferential treatment of the literati and officials by the Song Dynasty, but this could not be a reason for the literati and officials to be lawless and act recklessly.
If the scholars and officials harmed the people and killed innocent people everywhere, it would be a huge blow to the imperial court, and the consequences would certainly be unbearable for the imperial court.
Therefore, “no punishment for doctors” must be limited. If it causes serious consequences, the punishment must be clear and fair.
The scene was quite spectacular at that time. Most of the officials were there to watch the fun. Young and righteous men such as Ouyang Xiu, Cai Xiang, and Yu Jing scolded the three officials.
Even Zhao Zhen came out to speak for Ouyang Xiu and others.
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