How did the ancients redress their grievances?

(Original title) Looking at the channels of ancient grievances from Liang Wudi's "receiving visits"

In ancient times, in order to consolidate their ruling order, feudal rulers expressed their willingness to listen to the remonstrance and complaints of officials and people, and also allowed the existence of the system of shouting grievances. Especially in some letters and visits, apart from the designated accepting departments, the imperial court also has the fast track of Yi Que, Aquamarine and Lao Gu. When Liang Wudi was in office, he also set up a "complaint mailbox" in front of the palace, and sometimes visited in person to listen to grievances and arrange solutions. In ancient times, there were probably several channels to redress grievances, such as writing letters to redress grievances, beating drums to redress grievances, stopping driving and shouting grievances, and being executed for grievances.

The picture comes from the internet.

A petition for compensation

Liang Wudi (464 -549), born in Jiankang (now Nanjing), was the founder of the Liang regime in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In March 502 AD, Qi and Emperor went to Shu, and an imperial edict was issued to King Liang to abdicate. In April, Jiankang proclaimed himself emperor in the southern suburbs, with the title of Liang, and was transferred to prison. After Xiao Yan proclaimed himself emperor, his early achievements were remarkable. He learned the lesson of the demise of Qi and was diligent in government affairs. And regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, he always gets up at five o'clock, corrects official documents and memorials, and his hands are frozen in winter. He corrected all kinds of abuses since the Song and Qi Dynasties. In order to directly hear the opinions of ministers and the grievances of ordinary people, he ordered the establishment of two boxes (called letters) in front of the door, one for slander and the other for lung stones. If meritorious and talented people are not rewarded and promoted, or talented people are not used, you can send a letter. If ordinary people have any grievances or want to criticize or suggest to the country, they can send books to libel letters.

At the beginning of his reign, Liang Wudi brought all the concubines in the harem, which was quite harmful to politics. Some ministers also talked about this, but Xiao Yan remained the same. Fan Bin, the official minister, and Elvis Presley, the minister, jointly wrote a letter to Fei Shi, proposing: "In the past, Liu Bang did not indulge in womanhood when he entered the customs, but Fan Zeng was afraid of his ambition. Now that Gong Ming has just pacified Jiankang, the whole world is waiting to see. Why did he lose popularity because of his own downfall? The king takes the world as his own responsibility, and don't interfere with government affairs because of women. " When Xiao Yan saw this letter, he felt justified, so he gave Fan Yun and Wang Maoqian millions as encouragement, and issued a letter to the soldiers' ladies-in-waiting, 2,000, releasing all the women in the harem, Yuefu and Jessie. He also abolished the obscenity and disorderly clothing set up by the marquis of Donghu, banned all floating fees except learning etiquette and music and repairing armour, and advocated frugality. He practices by himself, often wearing only cloth and eating vegetables.

He restored the legal provisions of Zhou Han's atonement with money, and added or deleted the Qi Law annotated by Wang Editor-in-Chief, which was determined by nine people, including Fan Yun, the official department minister, and became Liang Law, with a total of 12 volumes, 30 volumes of Ling and 40 volumes of Ke. Liang Wudi also attaches importance to the selection and appointment of officials. He asked local officials to be honest and clean, and often summoned them in person to teach them to abide by the principle of serving the country and the people, and to be honest and clean. In order to realize his idea, Xiao Yan also sent letters to the whole country. If a small county magistrate has outstanding achievements, he can be promoted to a big county magistrate. If a county magistrate has political achievements, he will be promoted to the county to be a satrap. After the implementation of his decree, Liang's ruling situation has been obviously improved.

Waving flags and shouting for grievances

The system of listening to drums is a way for the government and the people to beat drums and sing injustice. There is a big drum on the left side of the palace. Some families of prisoners who have been unjustly detained can drum and cry out their grievances, which will be recorded and played by officials. In the Yao-Shun era, there were drums, trees and good deeds outside the palace gate to encourage people to remonstrate and facilitate people to redress their grievances. In the Jin Dynasty, Deng Wengu hung outside the palace gate, and subjects could drum to express their dissatisfaction. In the Tang Dynasty, there were listening drums in Chang 'an, the western capital, and Luoyang, the eastern capital. According to the law of the Tang Dynasty, "if someone invites a car frame and always listens to drums, if the accuser comes to the table, the master must accept it, or he will be punished." In the Song Dynasty, a special institution was established to accept complaints from subjects-Deng Wen Gulou Academy. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was the Deng Wen Drum Tower, which stipulated that if the official and the people were judged to be unfair, the General Political Department would call for correction. Otherwise, it will be regarded as a leapfrog complaint, and the General Political Department will send it to the first-level punishment of the Ministry of Punishment.

In 503 AD, there was an incident of beating drums to redress grievances in Nanliang. Ji, a boy of 15 years old? "I heard the drums and begged for my father's life", excusing my father.

Ji? He is a dutiful son. His mother died when he was 1 1. He was very sad. In order to show filial piety, he didn't drink water all day. After a long time, his body was as thin as a dead man. This kind of filial piety is called "extinction", which is a kind of filial piety advocated by people at that time. Filial piety? So it is famous far and near.

In the early years of Liang Wudi's reign, Ji? My father became a county magistrate in Xing Wu. His father is honest and upright, and he is honest and upright for the officials. He was an alternative in the Nanliang era when corruption was serious, and he also attracted some people's dissatisfaction. For revenge, Ji? Father, someone reported Luo Zhi's crime to the court. Ji? His father was escorted to Beijing for trial in Jiankang and was beaten to confess. The court sentenced him to death. Ji? He was very angry when he heard about it. In order to clear his father's grievances, he decided to go to Beijing to petition the court.

After entering Beijing, Ji? When I came to the emperor's palace, I rang the Deng Wengu standing in front of the palace, and the drums thundered for a while. The drums shook Liang Wudi, and Liang Wudi asked about the situation, thinking that Ji? Please die and redeem your father and admire his loyalty. So he ordered Ting and Cai Fadu to investigate the case thoroughly.

What does Cai Fadu think of Ji? At such a young age, you dare to report to the Beijing court. There must be an expert behind the scenes, so he ordered the Tingwei lobby to be filled with all kinds of instruments of torture, so that all Tingwei officials could participate in the trial and prepare to give it to Ji with such a huge appearance. A duel. When everything was ready, the official shouted, "Good luck? Go to class! " Facing the majestic lobby and cheers, young Ji? Take your time, no one is watching, and walk steadily into the lobby. Seeing so many instruments of torture makes you even more fearless. During the trial, Cai Fadu told Ji? Look, be sure to let him give up the people behind the scenes. And Ji? In the face of the arrogance of officials, I argued: "Although I am ignorant and young, how can I not know the terrible and tragic death?" But I really couldn't bear to see my father executed innocently, so I asked for a replacement. This is no small matter. How can you just listen to people? I am glad that His Holiness has agreed to let me take the place of my father. How can I regret it? "

When Cai Fadu sees that the hard one can't work, he comes to the soft one. He coaxed the child into changing his confession with a pleasant face, but Ji? Unstable, very determined. Ji? True filial piety touched Cai Fadu and everyone present. When Cai Fadu saw it, he didn't press him. Has he seen Kyrgyzstan? Wearing the heavy shackles used by adults, I really couldn't stand it, so I called a fortune teller and replaced it with a portable torture device. But what about Ji? Neither humble nor supercilious, he immediately rejected Cai Fadu's kindness and said, "I beg my father to die today. I'm already on death row, and the number of instruments of torture can only increase. How can I reduce it? "

Cai Fadu admires Ji? Will the trial be the same as Kyrgyzstan? Words and deeds made a true and detailed report to Liang Wudi. Order an immediate pardon? Father's crime and punishment.

Stop driving and complain.

Parking is also an ancient channel for complaining. Generally, the aggrieved person kneels in the place where the emperor, minister or official drives and sedan chairs pass by, holding a piece of paper in his hand, so that the driver can stop complaining, hoping to help the good people and rehabilitate the false and wrong cases. However, because most feudal officials took bribes to bend the law, most officials ignored people's grievances and beat dozens of boards indiscriminately for the crime of "violating etiquette", which aggravated the punishment for those who were untrue.

Liang Wudi himself is diligent in government affairs, and his works of praise, preface, imperial edict, title, ode, saying, remonstration, ode and recitation add up to 65,438+020 volumes. He often neglected his diet because of his busy government affairs, which was rare among feudal emperors. However, despite his busy schedule, he showed extra-legal kindness to members of the royal family. Liang Wudi indulges the descendants of royal children, dignitaries and officials. They violated the law and were completely immune from legal sanctions. His nephew is young, and the minister's son, Xia and others, gathered evil teenagers and openly killed and robbed money without punishment. Chengren in the imperial history? P It's illegal to hit Cao Jingzong, so you can be a hero. Press it and you will die. He indulges the powerful. The royal family, aristocratic families and scholars are all privileged classes, and the court gives them special care. Even if they break the law and commit crimes, the court will give them extra-legal preferential treatment. However, if ordinary people break the law, the punishment is quite severe, and the "one person escapes, the whole family mortgages" sitting method is also implemented. For this provision, people's resentment is boiling, and illegal and criminal acts are increasing instead of decreasing.

In the first ten years of Tian Jian (5 1 1), the sun was shining, the warm wind was warm, and the south of the Yangtze River was full of spring. Liang Wudi, surrounded by ministers, cheerfully came to the suburbs to offer sacrifices. While enjoying the spring scenery in the south of the Yangtze River in Liang Wudi, suddenly, an old man broke through the guard, ran quickly to the front of the USES, knelt down, stopped the emperor's chariot and cried injustice. Surprised, the accompanying body-guards shot the old man, but Liang Wudi stopped him. Liang Wudi kindly asked the old man, "If you have any complaints, just say them here. I'll make the decision for you. " The old man was not at all polite when he saw the emperor. He said directly: "The laws implemented by your majesty are extremely strict to ordinary people, but quite lenient to powerful people. This is not the normal way to achieve long-term stability of the country. If your majesty can do the opposite, it will be the great fortune of the people all over the world! " Hearing this, the accompanying ministers all sweated with fear and shouted that the body-guard had won the unruly. But Liang Wudi pondered for a while and ordered the release of the old man. Subsequently, Liang Wudi issued an imperial edict: "Since today's home and the guilty should be committed, no matter how old or young, they can stop and send each other." His punishment for ordinary people is much smaller.

In feudal society, some people who were executed called for rehabilitation when they were executed, in order to let the supervisor see clearly and rehabilitate. This injustice is generally ignored by the supervisor. The essence of the injustice system in feudal society is to consolidate the rule of the ruling class. If you meet an enlightened emperor or some honest officials, you can really rehabilitate some unjust cases. Like Liang Wudi, he was thrifty and enlightened at the beginning of his reign. However, in his later years, Liang Wudi began to change from promising to inaction, from enlightened to fatuous. Whenever he is convicted of a felony, it is often difficult to make a decision in one day. He is willful and afraid of being exposed by others. The history book says, "Yan Haoren committed suicide, especially in the last year." When someone told him the truth, he flew into a rage; Some people whitewash peace, but he is in high spirits. In the first year of Datong, China (546), He Chen, a famous scholar, wrote that there were four evils at that time: first, the officials searched for the people, and the people were in trouble; Second, officials are extravagant and wasteful, and they are infinitely wasteful; Third, the powerful minister played with Fu Wei and the law enforcement was unfair; Fourth, the people are struggling in construction. Liang Wudi flew into a rage after reading it, called the main book, dictated a letter to scold He Chen, and defended himself. He Chen therefore dare not speak again, can only apologize. Liang Wudi became an unsociable person and was later imprisoned in Taiji Cave Hall by Hou Jing. One day in May in the third year of Taiqing (549), he fell ill in Jingju Temple and felt very bitter. After being rejected, he shouted twice and died at the age of 86. (Author: Zheng Xuefu, Propaganda Department of Taierzhuang District Committee, Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province)