In ancient times, there were many torturous criminal laws, and there was a kind of criminal law that would not take your life, that is, to torture you, and make you suffer physically and mentally. It's torturous, so usually criminals who are sentenced to this kind of criminal law often prefer to have a hard time.
We all know that in the performance of ancient TV dramas, it can often be seen, that is, the distribution of frontiers. Those who have committed crimes are escorted to remote areas to serve as coolies and not return to their homeland until they die. If you behave well, you may be able to come back with your relationship, but most people can't come back. Once sentenced to this kind of punishment, almost all of them are "capital crimes can be avoided, and living sins cannot be escaped", but some people cannot bear the torture and would rather die quickly than live.
The sinners of the Ming Dynasty were all sent to the Yunnan-Guizhou region, and the sinners during the Song Dynasty were all sent to Hainan and other places. No matter how it is distributed, these places have one thing in common, that is, remoteness, to know that in ancient times there was no means of transportation, and it was not like modern times. In ancient times, there were carriages that were better, but the exile of prisoners was definitely on foot, thousands of miles, and I don't know how many years it would take. On the way to exile, it is also necessary to wear shackles, and the hardships of this can be imagined. When you sin, you have to be exiled, not only to live your own sins, but also to follow your own servants and suffer along with them. Usually, the prisoners are escorted by two servants together, although they do not have to wear shackles like the prisoners, but the road is far away, they all walk by one leg and one pair of feet, step by step to the frontier, there are unknown dangers in the middle, natural disasters or man-made disasters, are unpredictable, hungry and full.
In the eyes of many people, escorting prisoners to the frontier is a chore, and according to common sense, no one is willing to do it, but why are there servants rushing to do it? In fact, in ancient times, escorting prisoners to the frontier was a good job. Because the salary of the servants is very low, and all the heavy work and hard work in the yamen must be done by them, if the county master has something to do and cannot come to the yamen, then the servants will help.
You also have to risk your life to hunt down criminals, so many jobs, not so much salary, all year round, tired and tired, you can only earn a family to support the family, because the service is the lowest of all the ranks. So the salary is also pitifully small. Therefore, they are still very happy to escort prisoners, although the road is a little farther, but there are many benefits, some prisoners' families, in order to make the prisoners suffer less crimes, will give gifts to the escort prisoners, send silver two, which is much more than when the servants make money, that is, they need to suffer a little and take a little risk.
If you encounter a very wealthy prisoner's family, then the servant escorting the prisoner will steal the pleasure. Because usually in order to make the prisoner suffer less guilt, the family of the prisoner not only sends a reward to the servants, but also arranges a carriage to send them all the way, stay in an inn, and eat good wine and good food. This is many times better than not knowing in the yamen, such a fat difference, there must be some people scrambling to do it, and they are also happy to escort prisoners to the frontier.