Judge of the Song Dynasty

In terms of professionalism and emphasis on the judicial system, the Song Dynasty was arguably the most advanced among the Chinese dynasties.

This was largely due to the context of the preceding Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, when the judicial system was in complete chaos and darkness.

When the Zhao family took power, they clearly understood that without improving the judicial system, it would be difficult to truly stabilize the country.

For instance, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, military officers presided over prisons, leading to widespread abuse of punishment and intensifying social conflicts.

Therefore, the Zhao family mandated that judicial officials must be scholars. Through judicial reforms, they created a relatively fair and honest judicial system, centered on the separation of investigation and judgment.

This separation meant that the investigation process was distinct from the final judgment.

This system was implemented at all levels, from the Court of Judicial Review down to local prefectures and counties.

The investigation department handled case investigations, interrogations, and evidence gathering.

The judicial department was responsible for reviewing laws and determining sentences based on established facts, matching appropriate legal provisions to each case.

Verdicts had to cite specific legal provisions – officials couldn’t simply make up charges or force laws to fit cases. Along with the Three Financial Bureau’s expertise in auditing, this was one of the Song Dynasty’s most professional institutions. One dealt with money, the other with law.

In many counties, the magistrate and chief clerk still presided over cases, while the county marshal handled investigations and arrests.

However, as the empire’s largest county, Kaifeng County was practically equivalent to a prefecture. Being appointed as its magistrate was considered extremely prestigious and promised a bright future – it wasn’t a position ordinary officials could obtain.

Kaifeng County had prefectural-level judicial institutions like the Judicial Court.

Kaifeng Prefecture, being higher-ranked, had even more judicial organs including left and right courts, patrol offices, and district courts.

In the document-filled office of Kaifeng County’s Judicial Court, several judicial officials and clerks sat working at their desks.

This department was the most demanding. Kaifeng County was extremely large with a diverse population, generating new cases daily. They had endless work!

“Big case! Big case!” a clerk rushed in excitedly.

Everyone immediately looked up.

“What big case?”

“Just now, a Taoist priest named Geng Ming filed a complaint against Wei Yushan from Luoma Slope, accusing him of colluding with officials, taking bribes, and extortion, which led to the ruin of his family and separation from his wife and children.”

This is indeed a major case! The officials quickly gathered around.

“Geng Ming? That name sounds familiar,” an elderly clerk pondered.

“Really?”

“Ah yes, I remember now. This Geng Ming used to be a village head responsible for tax collection. But for some reason, he suddenly went to collect taxes from the Wei family. Not long after, Geng Ming had to sell his land, his wife and children left him, and later… later I heard he became a Taoist priest.”

Village heads were among the most miserable lower officials in the Song Dynasty. By law, they had to be from first-class households and serve in rotation, often handling financial matters like tax collection and cargo escort.

Of course, everything had two sides. Some tough characters would transfer their hardships to the villagers, but the outcome wouldn’t change much – they were still expendable, and even if they managed to profit, they would eventually be cut down.

“I’ve heard about this too. Apparently, when he couldn’t collect taxes from the Wei family, the county office forced him to pay instead.”

“This Wei family must have powerful connections!”

“What should we do?”

As they were discussing, an official in his early thirties entered the room.

This was Chen Chong, the Orderly of Public Order.

Though only eighth rank official, he was a graduate-scholar. The Song Dynasty explicitly required that orderlies had to be graduate-scholars – many chancellors had held this position in their youth.

Even those appointed through grace appointments had to pass judicial examinations.

This showed how seriously the Song Dynasty took judicial matters.

“What are you all discussing?” Chen Chong asked, seeing everyone gathered together.

“Orderly Chen, someone just filed a complaint.”

The officials eagerly explained the situation to Chen Chong.

Chen Chong frowned when he heard this, but being new to the position and lacking experience, he organized a meeting to discuss the case.

“Geng Ming has tax receipts showing that within just one year, he paid three times more in taxes. There’s clearly something fishy about this. Moreover, he has kept records of when he collected taxes from the Wei family, as well as evidence of their tax evasion over the past few years.”

“Actually, this evidence alone is enough to convict them, but these facts are already common knowledge.”

“Indeed! Ever since Wei Yushan’s daughter became Prince Chang’s concubine, no one has dared to collect taxes from their family.”

“This kind of lawsuit, despite having solid evidence, is impossible to judge.”

“This Geng Ming is really stubborn. If it was possible to sue them, he wouldn’t have suffered so much in the first place. Could it be that he’s terminally ill and making one last desperate attempt?”

After listening to their discussion for a while, Chen Chong couldn’t make up his mind, especially considering that Prince Chang was backing Wei Yushan. He asked, “What should we do?”

The clerks looked at each other uncertainly.

“Orderly Chen, there’s no need to accept such cases. It would be futile and only make enemies,” a senior recording official sighed.

Almost everyone present nodded in agreement.

Only a young judicial aide named Bi Ye said, “You should look carefully – this isn’t just about tax evasion. It also involves abuse of power, embezzlement, and fraudulent acquisition of public and private property. If we don’t accept the case and it gets exposed later, we could all be implicated.”

“If it could be exposed, it would have happened three years ago when he first tried to file the complaint.”

“Better safe than sorry!” Bi Ye insisted.

Chen Chong, considering the recent unrest, looked at the young official and asked, “Aide Bi, what do you suggest we do?”

Bi Ye replied, “Orderly Chen, we should just review the case. Whether to pass judgment is up to the judicial system and the magistrate. We can pretend we don’t know and submit it up the chain. Whether they judge it or not won’t be our concern.”

Everyone nodded at this suggestion, feeling it was the safer approach.

The Song Dynasty’s system of checks and balances had one flaw – everyone could pass the buck to someone else.

Chen Chong nodded and said, “Let’s do as you suggested.”

To be safe, Chen Chong personally interrogated Geng Ming, then packaged up the confession and evidence to send to the Judicial Administrator.

The Judicial Administrator was actually part of the Judicial Court, divided into left and right courts, though sometimes the Judicial Administrator directly oversaw the Court.

“You’ve done well. After this case is over, I’ll recommend you to the higher-ups,” Lu Jiawen said happily to Bi Ye after receiving the documents.

“Thank you, Administrator Lu,” Bi Ye bowed gratefully, overjoyed.

At his young age, according to Song Dynasty rules, clerks needed seniority to be promoted – which he lacked – unless someone above recommended them.

The next day, Lu Jiawen sent his pre-written verdict to the county office.

After all, the county magistrate was the highest judge in the county.

The relationship between the Judicial Administrator and the county magistrate wasn’t one of checks and balances, but purely hierarchical.

However, typically many civil cases involving fewer than thirty strokes of the rod were directly judged by the Judicial Administrator, with the county office just rubber stamping the results. The magistrate didn’t have time to handle so many cases, being the county’s highest administrative official as well.

But this was a major criminal case that required the magistrate’s personal judgment.

When Wang Hong saw the case, he immediately sent someone to notify Wei Yushan.

The Wei family patriarch Wei Yushan wasn’t yet forty, but he had made a name for himself at a young age. His ruthlessness was well-known and feared by all.

He was also fond of martial arts. When the county office staff arrived at his home, he was shirtless in the courtyard lifting stone weights, with two or three concubines cheering him on – quite a suggestive scene.

“Geng Ming?” Wei Yushan was confused, as if he’d never heard the name.

It took a household elder to remind him.

“That good-for-nothing village head again.”

Wei Yushan finally remembered but wasn’t worried at all. He immediately ordered someone to write a complaint accusing Geng Ming of extortion, embezzlement, and taking bribes.

As it turned out, Wei Yushan had insisted that he had given the tax money to Geng Ming, who had embezzled it himself. Using this as an excuse, Wei colluded with several corrupt officials to fabricate evidence and force Geng Ming to take responsibility for taxes on some of his family’s land.

Fearing legal trouble, Geng Ming had no choice but to comply. Later, when he truly couldn’t afford it anymore, his properties were seized by the authorities to pay the debt. In the end, those lands fell into Wei Yushan’s hands.

Chen Chong couldn’t stand looking at Wei Yushan’s complaint document. It was as if Wei didn’t take them seriously at all – he should at least provide evidence. Did he think he owned the county office?

So he took the initiative to consult with Lu Jiawen.

Lu Jiawen took the complaint document to discuss it with Wang Hong.

“Geng Ming’s tax receipts don’t prove anything,” Wang Hong waved dismissively.

Lu Jiawen asked puzzled, “If Geng Ming’s tax receipts can’t serve as evidence, wouldn’t Wei Yushan’s complaint be nothing but waste paper?”

Wang Hong sighed, “I’m not saying Wei Yushan will win, but… sigh, Judicial Administrator Lu, you should know that village heads often extort money from civilians. This happened three years ago – who knows what the situation was then? I suggest we persuade them to settle.”

This incident occurred before he took office in Kaifeng County. Though he understood what had happened and wouldn’t find Wei Yushan guilty, he didn’t want to clean up this mess. It would be best to settle it amicably.

As for the personal grudge between Wei Yushan and Geng Ming, they could resolve that themselves.

Lu Jiawen nodded, “Yes, there are bad apples among village heads, but I would never believe that Geng Ming would extort Wei Yushan.”

Wang Hong frowned and asked, “Is this how you Judicial Administrators handle cases? What evidence do you have that Geng Ming couldn’t have extorted Wei Yushan?”

Lu Jiawan replied, “Even if that were true, Geng Ming should have been arrested and imprisoned, not forced to pay several times the tax amount to the authorities.”

Wang Hong said, “This happens often. When runners fail in their duties, they don’t necessarily face criminal charges but compensate the government instead. This is also a form of restitution. You’re not new to office – how can you not know this?”

Lu Jiawen asked, “Does Magistrate Wang have evidence to prove that?”

Wang Hong’s brows furrowed, “Who is the magistrate here, you or me?”

Lu Jiawen said, “Does being magistrate mean you can disregard the law?”

“Outrageous!” Wang Hong exploded in anger, pointing at Lu Jiawen, “If not for your family background, you probably couldn’t even qualify as a clerk! What right do you have to lecture me? From today on, you’re off this case.”

Lu Jiawen stood up, snorted angrily, and stormed out.

Wang Hong ignored this descendant of officials and directly dismissed both lawsuits for lack of evidence.

At the Zhang residence.

“Sigh!” Xu Zhiqian rested her chin on her hand, staring at the main gate until her eyes hurt, and sighed, “Why aren’t they here yet?”

Zhang Fei said irritably, “I told you before, given the government’s efficiency, it would take at least ten to fifteen days. We have plenty of time – we could even have some romance between work, but you insisted on rushing. Now all we can do is wait foolishly.”

Back then, before the preparations were complete, Geng Ming had already filed the complaint. Now, with all documents ready, they had waited three or four days without any news, and Xu Zhiqian’s excitement had nearly worn off.

Xu Zhiqian gave Zhang Fei a look, and just as she was about to speak, there was a knock at the door.

“They’re here!” Xu Zhiqian immediately perked up.

A moment later, Li Si entered the hall, “Brother San, there’s someone outside who claims to be the Judicial Administrator from Kaifeng County. He says he needs to see you.” Orıginal content can be found at NoveI-Fire.ɴet