Abstract
As the virtue of the Tang Dynasty was tu orthodox(土德),the date of the Lari Festival(腊日节)was calculated by taking the third chen day(辰日)after the Winter Solstice Festival.According to this calculation method,the date of this year's Lari Festival was the day of December Bingchen(丙辰),so Emperor Taizong's December Xinwei(辛未)release of prisoners had nothing to do with the Lari Festival.After checking the time,the day when Taizong released the prisoners happened to be his birthday,and the following year,before pardoning these prisoners,a devastating flood occurred in a large area of Shandong and Henan.The fact that Emperor Taizong released the prisoners on his own birthday demonstrated the emperor's benevolence and also implied the ambition to accumulate good governance in order to achieve the feast of Zen.In the seventh year of Zhenguan reign,Emperor Taizong pardoned the death row prisoners who had kept their word,which was in line with the usual practice of emperors pardoning prisoners for natural disasters since the Han and Wei Dynasties as well as of a positive effect on improving prison administration,easing social conflicts and stabilizing order after the disaster.
维普
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