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Departure 1001 CHAPTER : MINOR OFFENSES AND FAILURES It Was a Good Custom of the Old Days That the People Who Felt Sorry for Their Magistrate Who Committed Minor Offenses for Some Technical Reasons Begged for Forgiveness from the King on His Behalf. The director of merit awards [sixun] in Rites of the Zhou stated: “Services rendered to the people through instruction in agriculture are called yong; services rendered in building irrigation channels and reclaiming land, shi; and services rendered in legislating laws and administering the people, zhi.” This is the meaning of the sentence in the code of Tangyu that reads, “The services rendered by an individual are revealed through his carriage and dress.” In the case of the eight circumstances for the mitigation of punishment [bayifa] carried out by the vice minister of justice [xiaosikou], “The fourth is ability [yineng], the fifth service [yigong], and the seventh diligence [yiqin].” The purpose of making all these laws is to encourage a man of ability by forgiving [his offenses] for ten generations to come. If the people are indeed sincere in their love and respect for their magistrate and their plea for forgiveness is pitiable enough to move one’s heart, would it also not be advisable to forgive him in accordance with the wish of the people even if his offenses are heavy and serious? These days, political factions have been formed and are flourishing in all corners of our society, slandering opponents and snaring them in traps. Therefore, once one is unfortunate enough to be caught in such a trap, which is usually set up under the pretext of the law, the people who try to save him are also caught in the same trap and are charged with all kinds of offenses. Since, for this reason, the people who feel sorry for their unfortunate magistrate cannot dare to express what they feel, even if they wish to take the punishment on his behalf, one can see that a serious moral degeneration has taken place in our time. It is relatively easier for the residents, who already experienced the administration of the accused magistrate, to seek forgiveness for him. Sometimes it happens that the residents 82. The services rendered to the state, according to Rites of Zhou, are divided into six grades: those for contributing to founding a dynasty, which are called xun; those for the preservation of the state, gong; those for instructing the people in agriculture and other ways of making a living, as Hou Ji did, yong; those for building irrigation channels and reclaiming land, as Emperor Yu (Yu the Great) did, shi; those for legislating laws to bring about ideal governance, as Gao Yao did, li; and those for defeating the enemy, as Han Xin or Chen Ping did, duo. Gao Yao was a political advisor of Yu the Great, the founder of the Xia dynasty. 83. The eight circumstances indicate the articles of the ancient law that allowed the punishment of those who served in public office and rendered service to the state to be remitted. 84. Ability (yineng) indicates talent; service (yigong) indicates achievements like founding or preserving the dynasty or the king, saving the country from danger, and the like; and diligence (yiqin) indicates hard work in public service. 1002 book XII of the place of exile present a petition to the court that the exiled magistrate be appointed as their own after hearing of his reputation as a great administrator. However, since everyone is scared of getting caught in a net and does not dare to make a move first, how lamentable this is! Therefore, there must be a law to deal with this problem, and if it happens that a large number of people plead for the pardon of the accused magistrate, their plea needs to be taken care of no matter how serious the magistrate’s offenses are if his ability and talent are truly commendable . If the magistrate recruits the people to mislead the king, his trick can easily be detected, and therefore, it is not worth worrying about this. When Zhao Guanghan became metropolitan governor, he suppressed powerful people by his dignity and uncovered corruption without fail. However, later he became involved in a certain matter and was imprisoned. Then a massive crowd of people, including clerks and residents, ran to the royal palace and cried out for his pardon. A man said to the emperor, “Since I cannot be of any help to the local administration...

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