Judge of the Song Dynasty

Upon reaching the second floor, there was only a small room with four windows, but it was elegantly decorated. Inside sat Emperor Zhao Xu.

He was seated at a small square table with a pot of wine and four exquisite dishes – all Zhang Fei’s favorites, including even the pretty young palace maid standing nearby.

“This humble subject Zhang Fei pays respects to Your Majesty.”

Zhang Fei bowed deeply.

Zhao Xu smiled and said, “No need for formalities. Please sit.” He gestured directly to the opposite seat.

He had previously concealed his identity hoping to maintain a friendship with Zhang Fei. Being of similar age and having hit it off immediately, this was a rare relationship for him. Even now that his identity was revealed, he still wished to preserve this dynamic.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

This wasn’t Zhang Fei’s first time sitting across from Zhao Xu. With a chuckle, he sat down and looked around, “This seems to be my first time visiting Your Majesty’s home.”

Visiting? Zhao Xu loved this way of putting it and laughed heartily: “I’ve wanted to invite you for a long time but never found the right opportunity.”

As they chatted, the palace maid poured wine for them. Zhao Xu raised his cup: “Congratulations on winning this case.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

Zhang Fei hurriedly raised his cup in response.

After draining their cups, Zhao Xu set his down and continued wistfully: “When Remonstrator Fan suddenly requested that Academician Wang testify, it truly gave me quite a fright. Fortunately, you remained calm and prevented them from gaining any advantage. That was truly satisfying!”

Zhang Fei was about to pick up some food to help with the wine, but hearing the emperor’s words, he quickly put down his chopsticks and said: “To be honest with Your Majesty, it went much better than I expected, even easier than the previous case about ancestral law.”

“Really?” Zhao Xu asked in surprise.

Zhang Fei nodded: “Last time, the judges were questioning me, so our positions weren’t equal and I had more concerns. This time, Remonstrator Fan and I were on equal footing. Given that foundation, whether Academician Wang testified or not only determined if he would lose very embarrassingly or just somewhat embarrassingly.”

Zhao Xu smiled: “So he would lose either way.”

Zhang Fei nodded: “Because they were being unreasonable from the start. They could only win with underhanded tactics.”

Zhao Xu nodded and said: “Regarding Fang Yun’s case, I’ve secretly ordered an investigation, but the other party was very thorough and we haven’t found any clues yet. However, I’ve arranged for Fang Yun’s protection, so you needn’t worry about that.”

Zhang Fei quickly cupped his hands: “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Zhao Xu smiled: “I didn’t expect you to be someone who values personal bonds so deeply. After all, Fang Yun only saved your life once, and you’ve already repaid that debt by clearing her name.”

Zhang Fei smiled wryly: “If matters of personal bonds could be calculated like a ledger, things would be much simpler.”

“Well said.” Zhao Xu nodded with a smile and continued: “It’s strange – every time I watch you argue cases, I learn so much, even more than from debates with my ministers.”

Zhang Fei pondered briefly: “Perhaps it’s because those ministers discuss matters based on moral principles, while in court, the outcome determines morality, which is the opposite approach. That might be why Your Majesty finds it different.”

“Outcome determines morality?”

At first, Zhao Xu found this nonsensical, but upon reflection, he saw some merit and asked: “What do you mean by that?”

Zhang Fei replied: “Because laws stem from morality and represent its bottom line. Often things can be immoral without being illegal, but illegal acts always have an immoral aspect. So when arguing through law, morality becomes exposed.”

“Furthermore, lawsuits are purely battles of interests. We’re not trying to persuade the other side or seek truth – we’re using the law as a weapon to subdue opponents. It’s like armies facing off – there’s only victory or defeat, yet what we ultimately defend is morality.”

Zhao Xu contemplated this for a while before nodding with a smile: “Your explanation offers quite a fresh perspective. Let me toast you again.”

“This time I should toast Your Majesty.”

“It’s the same.”

After drinking, Zhao Xu continued: “Earlier in court, you stated that the Reform Planning Commission would be subject to judicial oversight. In my view, they will surely focus on studying litigation to try blocking Academician Wang’s reforms through the law. Can you guarantee that you’ll keep winning?”

Zhang Fei paused, hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: “No.”

Zhao Xu leaned forward with his arm on the table and asked: “Then what should we do?”

“Well…” Zhang Fei appeared conflicted. He had been so caught up in the case that he’d forgotten about the emperor. It was all Remonstrator Fan’s fault for disrupting his rhythm with that questioning. This was troublesome.

Seeing his troubled expression, Zhao Xu smiled slightly: “This is something I can only discuss with you. I hope you’ll speak freely and hold nothing back.”

What he really wanted to know was simple – could the judicial system restrict him? If he, as emperor, had to rely on a pen-in-cap to issue policies, that would greatly weaken imperial power! Fan Chunren’s earlier words had caught his attention.

The emperor wanted to follow the Legalist path, pursuing not equality before the law but rather sovereign supremacy over subjects – a key Legalist political principle.

Strengthening and centralizing imperial power.

But currently, this “strengthening of legalism” seemed different from what Zhao Xu had envisioned. If cases continued this way, he too would be subject to judicial oversight.

“Yes!”

Zhang Fei nodded perfunctorily, thinking that unless this issue was clarified, the emperor might not stay committed to this path. He was just a commoner without any power, so whatever he said would just be words for the emperor to consider, with no real impact. If he ever became an official, he might never be able to speak so freely again.

After careful consideration, Zhang Fei nodded and said: “When you lose, you must accept it.”

Zhao Xu frowned slightly – this wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Get full chapters from novel~fire~net

Zhang Fei quickly added: “Not accepting it leads to the death of the empire.”

Zhao Xu was startled again: “What do you mean?”

Zhang Fei asked: “Does Your Majesty know why the Qin empire rose and why it fell?”

Zhao Xu pondered briefly: “It rose because of law and fell because of law?”

A nation’s fall never only has just one cause. Usually answering such a question requires context – he wasn’t really answering Zhang Fei but guessing what Zhang Fei wanted to say.

Zhang Fei shook his head: “More precisely, Qin rose because its law showed no favoritism to the powerful, but fell because of sovereign supremacy over subjects. This is why throughout history, no dynasty that fully embraced Legalism lasted long.”

Fall due to sovereign supremacy over subjects?

This seemed to be directly telling Zhao Xu not to follow the Legalist path.

But this contradicted Zhang Fei’s previous views.

Earlier Zhang Fei had emphasized that only Legalism could build a rich and powerful nation.

Zhao Xu asked: “What do you mean by this?”

Zhang Fei answered: “If law defends morality’s bottom line, then the sovereign must defend the law’s bottom line. Once the sovereign breaks the law, the nation will surely fall.

Because the law actually constrains the sovereign least of all. Commoners break laws mostly for money, women, or power – all things a sovereign has readily available. Usually, it’s quite difficult for a sovereign to break the law, unless they forcibly take commoners’ daughters or order the plunder of people’s wealth.

And how could a nation not fall with such a sovereign? Throughout history, whenever a nation declined, it always began with the sovereign breaking laws. There has never been a case where law fell but the nation survived.”

Zhao Xu shook his head: “You know one part but not the other. My every move is under their surveillance, yet I may know nothing of their actions. How can you say I face the least constraints?”

Zhang Fei smiled.

Zhao Xu asked: “Am I not being sincere enough?”

The implication was that he hoped Zhang Fei would speak openly with him, as he couldn’t discuss these matters with others.

Zhang Fei scratched his head and said vaguely: “If the sovereign were subject to judicial oversight, would they need to watch his every move?”

Zhao Xu fell silent.

The censors and remonstrators could be annoying at times, but the problem was that the emperor was already not subject to judicial oversight – if no one watched him, he could do whatever he wanted.

If the emperor were subject to the same laws as commoners and the judiciary were independent, there would be no need for censors and remonstrators – the courts of law would suffice.

After a long silence, Zhao Xu asked: “That may be so, but if we lose this case, does that mean I must abandon the reforms?”

What he really wanted to know was exactly what Zhang Fei had answered earlier – whether the judiciary would supersede imperial power.

Zhang Fei said: “If what I said is correct, this case shouldn’t have existed at all, because Your Majesty has the right to establish the Reform Planning Commission. It fully complies with court regulations. They only brought the Commission to court through their power.”

Zhao Xu shook his head: “You don’t understand my meaning.”

Zhang Fei retorted: “It is Your Majesty who doesn’t understand my meaning.”

Zhao Xu asked in surprise: “Then what do you mean?”

Zhang Fei said: “As I mentioned earlier, the sovereign is the last defender of national law. In other words, law constrains Your Majesty least, officials next, and commoners most.

But law is like a rope binding everyone together, with uniform tension. So when this rope tightens one degree on Your Majesty, it tightens five degrees on officials and ten degrees on commoners. Your earlier concern was based on that one degree of constraint on yourself, and in that situation, this case couldn’t exist.”

This case was ultimately driven by a power struggle, not purely by judicial matters.

After pondering for a while, Zhao Xu asked: “How can you be sure that one degree of constraint on the monarch leads to five degrees on officials?”

Zhang Fei replied: “If a pen-in-cap dares to sue the emperor and wins, then no one would dare question suing a chancellor. Conversely, a pen-in-cap suing a chancellor doesn’t mean they can sue the emperor. Legally speaking, the emperor has the most judicial immunity.”

Zhao Xu countered: “Well, I haven’t broken any laws, yet many officials do – how do you explain that?”

After brief consideration, Zhang Fei asked: “Is Your Majesty familiar with the overtaxation of merchants?”

Zhao Xu nodded: “Of course.”

Zhang Fei asked further: “Does Your Majesty also know that many officials take advantage of this situation?”

Zhao Xu nodded slightly.

Zhang Fei asked: “Why doesn’t the imperial court address it?”

Zhao Xu fell silent.

Zhang Fei said: “The court wants to increase revenue while avoiding paying for the work required for that – how is this different from robbery? But if Your Majesty restrains yourself and rejects this illegal income, such phenomena would naturally decrease significantly.”

Zhao Xu sighed: “I don’t want this either, but currently expenditures exceed revenue.”

Zhang Fei said: “If Your Majesty leads the way in robbery because of this, the consequences are predictable – history has shown us the outcome. It’s just a vicious cycle! Overtaxation happens when restraints are loosened by one degree.

Actually, Your Majesty gains more than any individual from this, but their combined gains might exceed or at least match yours. This shows that the looser the constraints on Your Majesty, the more you ultimately lose, as it will lead to national collapse.”

Considering current affairs, Zhao Xu immediately understood and felt his face flush. He drank a large gulp of wine and sighed: “I understand your meaning, but it’s easier said than done?”

Zhang Fei smiled: “All paths are difficult – otherwise, why has there only been one Emperor Taizong of Tang after all these years? But at least this is a path of survival, while other paths certainly lead to death.”

Zhao Xu asked: “But sovereign supremacy over subjects is Legalist thought.”

After some thought, Zhang Fei replied: “Although Emperor Wu of Han officially endorsed Confucianism’s sole supremacy, he actually combined Confucianism and Legalism. He retained many Legalist ideas. This was because Legalism plus sovereign supremacy over subjects is certainly a dead end – every nation that had taken this approach fell without exception.”

Zhao Xu asked puzzled: “Why is this? This was advocated by Han Fei, the sage of Legalism.”

This was a crucial reason for his support of Legalism – to expand imperial power. Wang Anshi’s reforms also incorporated this idea, which was an important reason why Zhao Xu supported Wang Anshi.

Without extending imperial power, they could neither expand territory externally nor implement reforms internally.

Zhang Fei smiled: “That’s why Han Fei lost so thoroughly!”

Zhao Xu said: “But Great Qin…!”

He meant to say that Qin won, but it fell after just two generations, which seemed to weaken his argument.

Zhang Fei said: “The core of Legalism is actually that law shows no favoritism to the powerful and remains unbending – this is necessary for effective governance. But this clearly contradicts with the idea that the sovereign is absolutely supreme over his subjects. They’re incompatible ideas. That’s why Confucian ideas on the proper relations between ruler and subject must be integrated with Legalist thought, as these ideas are much more moderate.”

Confucian ideas on the proper relations between ruler and subject didn’t mean complete submission to the monarch, but rather cleverly used political morality to constrain the monarch, indicating that a ruler should act as a proper ruler should, and subjects as proper subjects should.

This is why when officials advised emperors, they often used examples like Yao, Shun, and Taizong – it’s this very idea, establishing what a monarch should be like by setting up role models.

But sovereign supremacy over subjects was a crude and brutal idea – the emperor was supreme and was to be absolutely obeyed.

But wouldn’t this mean returning to simply combining Confucianism and Legalism and being unable to make changes?

Zhao Xu listened in confusion.

Zhang Fei continued: “The reason I support Your Majesty taking the Legalist path is that the country currently faces both internal and external challenges, requiring strong authority to turn things around.”

Zhao Xu was thoroughly puzzled, “Isn’t this self-contradictory?”

Zhang Fei shook his head: “If Your Majesty exercises proper discretion, these contradictions can all serve your purposes.”

Zhao Xu asked: “How does one exercise proper discretion?”

Zhang Fei said: “It’s simple – delegate some power to the judiciary. Throughout history, many believed that less constraint on imperial power naturally benefited the monarch.

But it’s actually the opposite – more constraint on imperial power benefits the emperor most, because through one degree of constraint on yourself, you can gain five degrees of constraint on officials. Though everyone becomes weaker, officials lose more, so imperial power naturally extends.”

Zhao Xu frowned: “Delegate to the judiciary?”

Zhang Fei said: “Your Majesty can understand it as giving it to the state – this delegated power becomes public power.”

“Public power? The state?”

“Yes.”

Zhang Fei nodded and said: “But as long as you maintain proper control over public power, imperial power can be extended.”

“How so?” Zhao Xu asked.

Zhang Fei explained: “Because from a purely legal perspective, the sovereign holds both the power to write laws and the power to interpret laws. Even with judicial constraints, the monarch can still achieve all desired goals with fewer limitations.

Take this Reform Planning Commission case – if everyone only followed the law, Your Majesty would just need to change its name to be undefeatable; it’s the other side that’s not following the law.

Therefore, in this matter, Remonstrator Fan and others often speak not of legal principles but of morality.

If necessary, Your Majesty could add more presiding judges – ancestral law can be interpreted in many ways, each reasonable. Your Majesty can obtain desired interpretations through legal means.”

Hearing this, Zhao Xu fell into deep thought.

Zhang Fei’s theory had truly opened a door for him.

Previously, the relationship between ruler and officials was a zero-sum game, with everyone trying to increase their power. No one had thought about everyone reducing power together.

As long as they lost more than him, the gap would widen and imperial power would naturally extend. The question then became how much power should be put in the cage to most benefit the monarch.