Charles Carter was the great-grandfather of William Carter, and Thomas Carter was William Carter's grandfather. These two seem to be the founders of Legalist thought. As early as the Spring and Autumn period, they established that legal statutes must be clearly published for everyone to know—only then can they be called “law.” Otherwise, if the specific clauses are secretly hidden and only enforced after someone violates them, that is not called “law,” but “persecution,” “torment,” or “messing with you.” Only when the law is made explicit can it be called “law”; only when it is enforced openly can it be called “law enforcement.” This is the most fundamental meaning of the word “law” in Chinese civilization.

Among them, Thomas Carter also clearly stated: if someone violates a law before it has been announced, they cannot be punished for it (no punishment without explicit law). Otherwise, people would not know what they are allowed to do in daily life, leading to insecurity and, in turn, social unrest. Such a government cannot be called a trustworthy government.

Thomas Carter also stated: the law must be just, and the system must be clear (equal punishment for equal crimes); the enforcement of the law must “punish the guilty, without leniency”; legal clauses must be rigid and inflexible, so that corrupt officials and bullies cannot exploit loopholes, and any flexible clause cannot be called “law” (unequal punishment for equal crimes is not justice); such things that can be interpreted at will can only be called “tyrannical decrees (the order of a despot)”; and the enforcement of punishment must be public, so that the people will know to comply—“when authority is made clear to the public, the law need not be repeatedly emphasized.”

In today’s terms, this means: law enforcement must be open, fair, and just, and power must operate under the sunlight—I’ve heard this phrase was “invented” by some “great” modern figure.

What does this show?

It shows that as early as the Spring and Autumn period, Thomas Carter already knew that “covert law enforcement” and “entrapment-style law enforcement” were wrong, and their ruler even officially announced this to the entire nation, so that all commoners at the time consciously resisted “entrapment-style law enforcement”!

William Carter listened to the servant reciting these contents, filled with emotion... He did not know that his nominal grandson, Robert Carter, was the first person in Chinese history to cast a penal cauldron, and moreover, he made an iron cauldron—the first iron cauldron in China. This Robert Carter was also the first politician in China to clearly inscribe the law on a cauldron. Afterwards, Legalists followed suit, casting laws onto various cauldrons for public display, and as long as the law was thus made public, modern people would call them “Legalists.”

As he reviewed these Spring and Autumn era ideas, William Carter read and sighed, so moved by these thoughts that he actually forgot to greet the concubines who had come with the bamboo slips. This made the concubines quite unhappy, but earned frequent praise from Simon Clark. He immediately, in his capacity as teacher, instructed the concubines to stay in the lower house, muttering, “The lord has important matters lately. Once this period is over, if the lord does not get close to you, I will scold him.”

What, such a good thing? ... Happiness? The life of the nobility is truly decadent... I like it!

William Carter hurriedly reached out, wanting to grab something. Unexpectedly, the concubines were very obedient; as soon as Simon Clark gave the order, they immediately got up and retreated like a tide, so quickly that William Carter couldn’t even stop them...

Chapter Five: The Education a Spring and Autumn Person Gives to Modern People (Part Two)

The next day, Ethan Brooks did not come himself; he sent someone to deliver more than ten bolts of cloth on horseback. Moving these things did not require William Carter to do anything, but it was obvious that the concubines had received special instructions. They worked with downcast eyes, and not a single one looked up at William Carter. Meanwhile, as William Carter watched the girls moving cloth beside the warhorses, his imagination ran wild—ah, each of them posed as if ready for his enjoyment, yet he could only look and not touch. It was truly...

Frustrating!

At the side, Samuel Clark saw William Carter staring blankly at the warhorses. He walked over and proudly boasted, “My Zhao ancestors were charioteers for the Shang kings during the Shang dynasty. In the time of King Mu of Zhou, our ancestor Zao Fu drove the chariot for King Mu, journeyed west with him, and later, King Mu kept our ancestor by his side and sent his brother to the west—that man became the ruler of Qin.

Later, when there was palace strife around the Zhou king, our Zhao ancestor left the king’s side and came to Jin, becoming a high minister of the state. From ancient times to now, the Zhao clan has never lacked warhorses, nor the skills to raise and herd them. In the future, when you take charge of the Zhao family, the first thing you must do is become familiar with horses—perhaps one day you will drive the chariot for the ruler, so you must learn this skill.”

No wonder later Richard Carter was the first to introduce cavalry techniques to China—turns out the Zhao clan had accumulated thousands of years of experience in horse herding. However...

William Carter pointed at the warhorses and asked, “Why don’t they have saddles? Doesn’t anyone ride horses alone?”

Samuel Clark curled his lip and replied arrogantly, “There were people who rode horses alone before; this was called ‘single riding.’ In the army, it’s called ‘vanguard horse,’ and there are terms like ‘running horse’ and ‘horseback archery.’ But nowadays, most horses are used for pulling chariots. As for the saddle you mentioned, I vaguely recall hearing about it—it’s probably a little gadget made by the young nobles of Qi for comfort when ‘single riding.’ But if you really want comfort, isn’t riding in a chariot much better than riding alone?”

William Carter did not notice the heavy sarcasm in Samuel Clark’s tone. He pointed at the horses again and asked, “Now that Ying (Ethan Brooks) is gone, you’re in charge of the estate, right? ... Ying probably gave you instructions. I plan to go out for a walk!”