Literal prison has always been a punishment prevalent in the Qing Dynasty, and once a person's words do not conform to the ruler's wishes, then no matter how high the status of this person is, he will be imprisoned overnight, and life and death are unpredictable.
There was once a minister who had served Qianlong for many years who was imprisoned and sentenced to Ling Chi to death for misusing words in his book, but in the end, after a meal, Qianlong actually pardoned him.
Prominent family lineage
In 1711, Yin Jiaquan was born in a high-gate noble family in Hebei, and his father Yin Huiyi had been a jinshi during the Yongzheng period, and then because he let the people live and work in peace and contentment when he was an official, he did things for people without saying big words, and was very down-to-earth, and was highly valued by Yongzheng.
Born in such a family of scholars, Yin Jiaquan naturally received good training, on the other hand, Yin Jiaquan did have some talent in poetry books. In Yin Jiaquan's twenties, he had become a lifter.
It should be known that in ancient times, many people may not be able to lift in their lifetime, and Yin Jiaquan was lifted in his twenties, which can be seen that Yin Jiaquan is indeed young and promising. However, after this, Yin Jiaquan did not continue to obtain higher merits, he chose to be an official directly, and became the chief of the Zhengliupin Punishment Department.
Although the official position of the chief officer of the six pins is not high, Yin Jiaquan is only a person after all, and the official position of the six pins is still normal. Think about it another way, this means that he can have a lot of room to rise in the future.
Achievements are average, but they don't know how to converge
Sure enough, Yin Jiaquan's later career path can also be regarded as not living up to his father's expectations of him, from the initial chief of the Punishment Department to the Punishment Department Langzhong finally achieved the Dali Temple Zhengqing, belonging to the Qing Dynasty Zhengsanpin official, but also not dishonoring the lintel.
During Yin Jiaquan's tenure as an official, in addition to being in charge of criminal law, he spent the rest of his time reading and annotating ancient poetry books, as well as compiling his own books, which also made him have certain achievements in this regard.
During his tenure as the head of Luo Xue, who was then the principal of the aristocratic school, Yin Jiaquan wrote to the Qianlong Emperor that the book "Primary School" was used as an enlightenment book for the children of the nobles, and he also reorganized the content of the "Primary School" himself, adding many missing contents of the "Primary School" and compiling it into the "Primary School Encyclopedia".
From today's point of view, Yin Jiaquan's experience is to modify the enlightenment textbook with the strength of one person, which can be said to be a very good experience.
After he did this, he was greatly praised by the Qianlong Emperor, but who knew that Yin Jiaquan could not afford to boast at all, and Qianlong only said two words, and he floated up.
He claimed to be the teacher of many royal children, and he also deeply influenced the thinking of these Manchu Nobles.
After Qianlong knew, he was naturally unhappy in his heart, but Yin Jiaquan had no problem except to publicize his achievements, so he had to forget about it.
It is said that "accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger", and being able to safely spend the days of serving the king, Yin Jiaquan can be said to be very lucky, but after retirement, he is uneasy about the pension, and actually wants to brush his sense of existence in front of Qianlong.
In 1781, the Qianlong Emperor went out to inspect the palace, and Yin Jiaquan, who was already 70 years old, was very excited when he knew it, because the emperor was just passing by his hometown of Hebei, and he guessed that the emperor would definitely summon him when he arrived in Hebei, and he had to prepare well.
But what he didn't expect was that after Qianlong arrived in Hebei, he didn't go to see Yin Jiaquan, or even summon him, which made Yin Jiaquan anxious: Has the emperor forgotten himself? No, it shouldn't!
In fact, to tell the truth, Qianlong naturally has his own things to be busy with when he leaves the palace, and it is normal not to see Yin Jiaquan, not to mention that Yin Jiaquan is not a confidant minister, and Qianlong may not remember where he is.
But where yin Jiaquan could think, in his eyes, he was the principal of the aristocratic school, the "humerus minister" who had compiled the enlightenment teaching materials, the emperor did not remember anyone who could not remember him!
Therefore, in order to brush a wave of presence in front of Qianlong, Yin Jiaquan asked his son to present a folded letter when Qianlong arrived in Hebei, and he posthumously awarded the title of Yin Jiaquan's father, Yin Huiyi.
Qianlong could not bear it, and for the courtiers, it was when the emperor was in a mood, and the minister who should die had a commendable merit, and he would only posthumously honor the title. Now that Yin Jiaquan has put on this fold, isn't that doing things on the Pope!
After Qianlong read it, he said: Yin Jiaquan is too arrogant! However, thinking of his filial piety to his father, he did not punish him, and he reflected at home well.
Qianlong's attitude toward Yin Jiaquan with these words was already obvious, but Yin Jiaquan did not know how to restrain himself, and he made another fold, in addition to giving his father a posthumous seal, he even wanted his father to "enter the Temple of Confucius" and be worshiped by the students of the world.
This can really provoke Qianlong, you must know that the people who can enter the Confucius Temple to accept worship after his death are also a handful in the previous dynasties, and they are all people with great achievements who can enjoy such honor, and this is obviously the height that Yin Jiaquan's father could not reach before his death.
So arrogant, Xiao thought about things that should not belong to him, and dared to teach Qianlong to do things, Qianlong finally couldn't bear it, after seeing the second fold, he immediately ordered that Yin Jiaquan be arrested, and even more let people carefully check Yin Jiaquan's bottom line.
Encountering the "Prison of Words"
Don't check it, I don't know, it's really scary to check it! Although there were no mistakes such as embezzlement during Yin Jiaquan's tenure as an official, there were many problems in the many books he collected, that is, he did not shy away from it, and even suspected of trespassing.
The first problem is not to avoid the emperor, in the feudal era, books, speech is to avoid the name of the emperor, parents and other people, which is a very old but very strict language taboo. The term "ancient rare old man" used by Yin Jiaquan in his book is exactly what Qianlong called himself.
Some people may think that the term "ancient rare old man" is so common, why can't it be used? Of course, there is no problem in this today, but it was the feudal era, the era when feudal imperial power could crush people.
The emperor used this word as his own title, the courtiers did not shy away from it, that is, they made a big mistake, and the most popular thing in the Qing Dynasty was the word prison, and Yin Jiaquan wrote this white paper and black characters in the book, which was even more inexplicable.
In addition to this question, Yin Jiaquan also referred to his mother's death as "Xue" in a book he wrote.
In the feudal era, the word "薨" could only be used to refer to princes or princes, princesses or high-ranking concubines of the emperor, and other idle people could not use it, and to use it was trespassing.
And Yin Jiaquan's mother was not a princess or a county lord, and she did not have a commandment, so she could not use the word "薨".
These two events were already completely convictable according to the standards of the Qing Dynasty's literal prison, and he could only declare over and over again that he was unintentional and hoped to be able to ask for the emperor's forgiveness.
Qianlong's compassion
According to the verdict of Yin Jiaquan's chief judge, Yin Jiaquan was sentenced to Ling Chi and had to sit consecutively, and all his children over the age of 16 were executed, and all under the age of 16 were not official slaves. A family that was once so prominent collapsed overnight because of one person.
When the verdict reached Qianlong, qianlong may have finally remembered Yin Jiaquan's "small deeds", or remembered Yin Jiaquan's father's down-to-earth work, or felt that Yin Jiaquan's guilt was not so great, after all, how many of the officials in the imperial court could withstand such an investigation?
So he first ordered that Yin Jiaquan Lingchi be beheaded, and there was no need to sit together. Then, the night before Yin Jiaquan was about to be beheaded, Qianlong gave him a pot of wine and a few pieces of meat to him in prison.
Perhaps Yin Jiaquan had already understood the emperor's intentions at this time, and wanted to use these to test whether he repented, or perhaps Yin Jiaquan simply did not want to be a hungry ghost, in the face of the wine and dishes given to him by the emperor, Yin Jiaquan drank 3 cups, ate two pieces of meat, and went to sleep.
Who knew that the next day Qianlong actually pardoned Yin Jiaquan, because Qianlong believed that since Yin Jiaquan dared to eat the food given to him, he naturally understood the truth that "thunder, rain and dew are all graces" and had sincerely repented.
Nian Zai Yin Jiaquan is already so old, serving for many years, only need to destroy those "great rebellion" books, you can also be exempted from capital crimes, go home and think about it. Yin Jiaquan also escaped this prison disaster and was able to die well.