Chapter 40 <Oath>

Huang Tupi, a native of the Qing Dynasty, made up a joke about "Oath Alliance".It is said that when a county magistrate took office, he hung a couplet in the hall: If you get a piece of paper, you will be destroyed by heaven and earth; Partial favoritism, men steal and women prostitute. However, in fact, he was corrupt and broke the law.He was accused of inconsistency and forgetting the vows. The county magistrate argued: I didn't break my oath, because I didn't get a penny, and I didn't take bribes once! Any judgment should be expressed in sentences.The original meaning of the above pair of oaths as sentences, that is, the judgment it expresses, is: even if I embezzle a penny, I will be punished by heaven and earth, and even if I indulge in an affair, I will be a man who steals a woman.

These two judgments imply respectively: if the embezzlement is more than a penny, it will be even more damning; However, the county magistrate misinterpreted the oath as: Only a penny of corruption can be punished by heaven and earth, and only a private affair can be a male thief and a female prostitute. This is a deliberate change of the proposition, in order to justify his scandal of corruption and bribery.However, he was able to admit that he had embezzled more than one penny, and had more than one favoritism. From this point of view, he was very frank.