On March 13, 1918, an earth-shattering case occurred in Tianjin. In the second year of the case, mr. Cheng Zhaocai, a famous critic, compiled it into a commentary.
The Central News Documentary Film Studio also adapted its story into a film in 1980, and also invited Gu Wenyue, a representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage project, and Zhao Lirong, a famous performing artist, to star.
So why did this case cause such a sensation at the time? And what is the reason why future generations are so happy to pass it on to this day? Today we will talk about: Yang Sanjie's complaint
"Lawyer Xu, I beg you to help my sister, she died too tragically." In the room of the Tianjin Guomin Hotel, a little girl of about 16.7 years old knelt on the ground as soon as she entered the door, crying and begging the man in the room, lawyer: Xu Hanchuan.
Lawyer Xu hurriedly walked over and helped the girl up and said, "Don't cry, don't cry." If there is anything you say, I will try to help as much as I can, "while comforting her, he helped her to a chair to the side and sat down.
Looking at the girl sitting firmly, Lawyer Xu also sat down in a position on the side, took out the book and said: "Do you need my help, you say that your sister is dead?" You tell me the whole thing from start to finish."
The girl wiped the tear marks from her face and said, "My name is Yang Guohua, and my family lives in Dianzi Village, Luan County, Hebei Province." The family has four siblings. I was the third in line at home, so everyone called me "Third Sister Yang".
My eldest sister, the second sister was married in her early years, and this time the accident was my second sister. Recalling this, Yang Sanjie's tears began to linger again. Seeing this, Lawyer Xu handed over his handkerchief.
Third Sister Yang thanked her, did not wipe it, and continued: "My second sister has been booking dolls since she was a child for our local rich Family Gao Family, and when the age of the first two years arrived, she married Gao Zhanying, the son of the Gao Family.
The Gao family was a famous rich landlord in our place, and Gao Zhanying seemed to be a polite person, and our family always thought that this would be a good home.
Unexpectedly, one day the Gao family brought someone to drag the news, saying that my second sister had a sudden emergency last night and had gone. My mother and I heard that we had been struck by lightning, so we rushed over immediately. ”
"What about your father and your brother?" Why didn't they go together? Lawyer Xu asked
"My father and my brother are not at home because they go out to work. So at that time, it was only me who went with my mother," Yang Sanjie replied
Lawyer Xu nodded and said you continue.
"When I arrived at Gao's house with my mother, I immediately saw my sister's body covered with a white cloth and placed in the lobby. My mother almost fainted directly, but she did not expect to go home to see her daughter a few days ago, but now she has become a cold body.
All of a sudden, we pounced on the body and cried. But when I held my sister's hand, I noticed that my sister's right index finger was injured, and there was a blue cloth strip wrapped around it.
This blue cloth was on the new clothes I made for my sister when she came back a few days ago. How could she wrap her fingers in the cloth of her new clothes?
I was suspicious, so I pulled down the white cloth that covered my face, only to see that there was obvious blood at the corner of my sister's mouth. Not only that, but I reached out and continued to explore my sister's body, and found that there was a lot of quicklime under my sister' body.
But just when I was about to continue to seriously check, the Gao family suddenly came forward to block us, and they also dragged our mother and daughter out of the spirit hall. I asked them what was going on, but the answer was because of illness, and I wanted to rush in, but my daughter's family was weak and couldn't rush in.
A few days later, my sister was hastily buried! Although we later came to the door many times to ask for an explanation, the high family was very rich and did not pay attention to us at all.
"Then didn't you go to the office?" Lawyer Xu asked
"Naturally, I went to report that my sister's death was unclear, how could I just give up on this." I found our local lawyer Zhou Yongqing to write a complaint and began to file a complaint of injustice accompanied by my brother Yang Guoen.
However, Gao's family had already bought Niu Chuxian, the "helper" of Luan County, who was trying the case, and also let some local security do perjury, and in addition, the Gao family did "die of illness" in court. As a result, Niu Chuxian not only did not strictly investigate the case, but also reprimanded me for "groundless suspicion and insufficient evidence" and closed the case.
I couldn't have imagined that I would die. But Lawyer Zhou told me that I could come to Tianjin to try it and asked me to come to you and say you could help me.
Lawyer Xu, I beg you to help me. After saying that, Third Sister Yang came down directly from her position and knelt down again.
Xu Hanchuan, who was on the side, saw the situation and came forward to help her up. "If you are a little girl who dares to come to sue alone, you are not afraid that the high family on the road will not be good for you, or there will be no result in the end?"
Directly Yang Sanjie gritted her teeth and responded: "I grew up with my sister since I was a child, blood is thicker than water, today she died of death, how can I as a sister not say a word." The Gao family wants to harm me, and I am not afraid.
Since the day I appealed, I hadn't thought I could go back alive, the county wouldn't win, I would go public, if the city didn't work, I would go to the province, and if I didn't work, I would report it again. I will never let my sister die in vain."
Xu Hanchuan looked at this little girl who was only 16 years old in front of her, but she could do justice for her sister in this way, and she was not even afraid of death, and her heart was very moved. Immediately, he agreed to help Yang Sanjie file a complaint and appeal.
That night, Xu Hanchuan wrote down the causes and consequences of the whole case, as well as the fact that the middle Gao family paid bribes and Niu Chuxian accepted bribes. And the next day, the complaint was directly reported to the Tianjin High Prosecutor's Office.
After accepting the complaint, prosecutor Hua Zhiguo immediately began to investigate, and at the end of June, he personally went to Luan County to investigate the case, and decided to open the coffin for autopsy in early July.
The day of the coffin autopsy is approaching, and the inns and hotels within a radius of dozens of miles are full of people who come to see the liveliness.
On the second day of the first month of July, open the coffin for autopsy! More than a thousand people came to the scene to watch.
As a result, there was still an accident in the autopsy process, and Yang Sanjie originally thought that once the autopsy was completed, the truth would naturally come out. You can know that your sister was murdered. But what he didn't expect was that the coroner just looked at it hastily and said: "The body is seriously decayed, there are slight traces of minor injuries to the limbs, and there are no fatal injuries."
The third sister suddenly understood that this must be the Gao family who made another means. She knew very well that if there was no result in this matter today, her sister's grievances would never be made public.
So she came directly to the coroner in front of everyone, fell to her knees and said loudly: "My sister has died at the hands of Gao Zhanying, do you still want me to die in your hands?" I'm taking my life to fight this lawsuit, you have to be worthy of the heavens."
As soon as this remark came out, the coroner was stunned, and did not wait for his reaction to reply. All I could hear was the chatter and shouts of people all around. I don't know whether I was shocked by the excitement of the masses or touched by Yang Sanjie's fearlessness and emotion.
The coroner actually took out the bribe given by the Gao family on the spot. And a secondary test was carried out
The results of this examination were indeed detected: first of all, the second sister of the Yang family had a two-inch knife edge in her left abdomen, and two knife wounds were also found in the lower abdomen, and a large amount of white ash was stuffed in the pants to stop the bleeding. The most frightening thing was that he finally took a steel knife from her abdomen. The evidence is conclusive: Second Sister Yang died of murder.
As soon as this remark came out, there was an uproar at the scene. People angrily scolded Gao Zhanying, who was also at the scene.
The procuratorate immediately arrested Gao Zhanying at the scene. Subsequently, a public indictment was instituted before the High Court of Justice. But in the face of such ironclad evidence, do you think that Gao Zhanying will be brought to justice immediately?
In fact, after the East Window incident, the Gao family began to throw money around. And invited a lot of well-known people to come out to do the insurance. As a result, the case could not be decided.
Until October 5, 1919, more than a year after the "open coffin autopsy", the Zhili High Court finally held a trial and sentenced Gao Zhanying to death; during this period, the Yang brothers and sisters had been working in Tianjin, waiting to see Gao Zhanying being brought to justice.
Unfortunately, when the two brothers and sisters learned that they wanted to hang Gao Zhanying, they ran to the scene of the execution, Gao Zhanying had already been hanged, and the scene was already empty.
In this way, the entire case, from the occurrence to the end, lasted a whole year and the unjust case was finally revealed. Yang Sanjie asked for her sister's life, and the feat of the above complaint also became a beautiful talk in Tianjin at that time. Everyone said that Yang Sanjie did not hesitate to give a thumbs up, and it was not simple to talk about this woman. Eyebrows are not required!
The commentary drama "Yang Sanjie's Complaint" performed the entire case in the form of art after adaptation and processing. This made the case spread rapidly across the country, and also let future generations know about this appalling case. This "Complaint of Yang Sanjie" has also become a well-known masterpiece in the history of Chinese drama.