In the Water Margin, it is very normal for good men to commit crimes and be stabbed. Lin Chong was assassinated in Cangzhou because he mistakenly entered the White Tiger Hall; Wu Song killed Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian because he avenged his brother, and was stabbed to Mengzhou; later he was framed by Zhang Dujian because he drunkenly beat Jiang Menshen, and was assassinated in Enzhou; Yang Zhi killed Niu Er in the capital and was sent to the Daming Mansion to charge the army; Song Jiang was framed by Lady Liu Gao and assassinated in Jiangzhou because he killed Yan Poxi.
In fact, in addition to these distribution places, there is also a very scary place, that is, Shamen Island.
When Cai Fu took out Lu Junyi from prison, he removed the long shackles in the hall; read the copy of the petition, broke the forty-spine staff, and replaced a twenty-pound iron leaf plate head shackle... Directly matched to Salmon Island.
In addition to Lu Junyi, the iron-faced Pei Xuan was framed by traitors because he was too upright as an official, and was sent to Shamen Island. However, deng fei saved him halfway through; after Chao Gai and the others robbed the birthday gang, Cai Jing sent his henchmen to tell The Jeju Fu Yin that if he did not catch anyone early, he would be sent to Shamen Island; Fu Yin also threatened to send him to Shamen Island in order to let He Tao solve the case as soon as possible.
When Dong Chao and Xue Ba wanted to kill Lu Junyi, they said that "even if they go to Shamen Island, they will die." In fact, this is not intimidation, it is the truth. Why? Is Salmon Island real and where is it located? Why is it so scary there?
Location of Shamen Island
Shamen Island really exists, not a fiction of the author of the Water Margin. To understand the horrors of Shamen Island, first know the location of Shamen Island. As for the specific location, it has been said in many sources.
The "Chronicle of the Unification of the Ming Dynasty" once said that Shamen Island was in the sixty-mile sea northwest of Fucheng. The "capital city" here refers to the capital of Dengzhou. Cheng Muheng of the Qing Dynasty said it very clearly in the "Notes on the Transmission of the Water Margin".
Shamen Island, in the north sea of Dengzhou Capital, the sea boat crosses the Liao, and it will be moored here to shelter from the wind. Song Shiliu sinners here.
The Tang Dynasty set up Dengzhou Capital, which was inherited by the Song Dynasty. A review of Tan Qijun's Historical Atlas of China, a map of the Northern Song Dynasty and the first year (i.e., 1111 AD), shows that Shamen Island is located in the northern archipelago of Dengzhou, not too far from Dengzhou Capital. Compared with today's map, everything is very clear, Shamen Island is the northwest of today's Penglai City in Shandong Province, Miao Island in the Miao Island Archipelago.
The reason why it is called Temple Island is because in 1122 AD, the fishermen on the island built the Xianying Temple, also known as Niangniang Temple or Mazu Temple, in order to pray for the blessing of the sea god. If you travel to Temple Island, you can also find the Niangniang Temple above and the ruins of the Northern Song Dynasty prison.
What was the environment of Shamen Island at that time? Su Shi had inspected it.
Dengzhou is facing the sea, as far as the eye can see, shamen, weasel, morning glory, big bamboo, small bamboo, all five islands. However, the shamen gate has recently been scorched, and the rest are all purple and green, haunting the waves, and the house of the True God Mountain is also. - The Twelve Stones of the North Sea
It can be seen that although Shamen Island is recent, it is a desert island and a scorched island, while the other four islands are lush with trees. That is to say, Shamen Island in the Northern Song Dynasty was not a tourist attraction like today, but a desert island with no vegetation. And the island is very small, it is a land of bullets. Although the distance is close, it is also sixty miles away. If the distribution had been made there, it would have been almost impossible to escape without a ship.
Historically, the places where repeat offenders were issued were generally remote and remote, and the Song Dynasty was no exception. That's why Shamen Island became a penal colony.
The dangers of Shamen Island
In fact, the remoteness is not terrible, as long as there is no danger, the pardon can come back, at most spend a little time on the road. Shamen Island is different, it is not only remote and remote, but also full of dangers.
How dangerous is Salmon Island? We can look at other penal colonies first.
In the Water Margin, it has been mentioned many times that "far evil military state". For example, in the first time, in order to open the Voldemort Hall, Lieutenant Hong frightened the real people and sent them to the Far Evil Army Prefecture if he did not open it. It can also be seen from the word "far evil" that such a place is remote and remote and poor.
So, what exactly does the Far Evil Army State refer to?
Those who are called the Far Evil State Army are Nan'en, Xinxun, Mei, Gao, Lei, Hua, Bin, Rong, Qiongzhou, Wan'an, Changhua, and Jiyangjun. - "Qingyuan Articles of Law"
These places were in the Guangnan region of the Song Dynasty, which had not yet been developed at that time, had the poison of miasma, and the living environment was quite harsh. It can be said that many people who get there will die. In the "History of Song", it is said that "in the land of miasma in Chunzhou, those who deserve to die ten died eight or nine", and the mortality rate reached 80% or 90%, which is really terrifying.
However, these far-flung military states are only second-to-last, and the most dangerous is Salmon Island.
In the early Song Dynasty, the exile areas were divided into ten levels, which were in order of light and heavy, namely: Honjo, Honshu, Neighboring Prefecture, Five Hundred Li, One Thousand Li, Two Thousand Li, Three Thousand Li, Guangnan, Yuanjiaodi, and Shamen Island. By the first year of Emperor Zhezong's reign, in 1098 AD, the exile land was changed to nine ranks, and finally the Yuan evil state army and Shamen Island.
It was clear that Shamen Island was more dangerous than the Far Evil Army State, and was the most dangerous of exiles at the time.
Mortality rate on Shamen Island
Danger, the most direct measure, is mortality. As mentioned earlier, like the Far Evil Army State, the mortality rate is as high as 80% or 90%, so how high is the mortality rate on Shamen Island? Is it really higher than the Far Evil Army State?
In 1058, Wang Juyuan, who was then the envoy of Jingdong Road, mentioned the situation on Shamen Island when he reported to Emperor Renzong.
If three hundred people are allocated every year, there will be about three thousand people in ten years, and if there is only one death, two thousand people will be in charge, and now it is only one hundred and eighty, which shows its disadvantages. - "Song Hui's Draft"
Within a decade, Shamen Island, which was supposed to have had 3,000 people, turned out to be only 180 people. The mortality rate is as high as 94 percent. Even with 2,000 people, the mortality rate is 91 per cent. In fact, wang Juyuan said that a thousand people die in ten years, and the mortality rate is normal at 33%, and it is conceivable how many people have died unjustly.
Why do so many people die?
First of all, Shamen Island is very small, and there are only eighty families on it, which can only support three hundred prisoners. Most importantly, the food allocated by the imperial court to the prisoners of Shamen Island was only enough for three hundred people. However, many people are sent to Shamen Island every year, and once they exceed it, it means that someone is going to die.
The "History of Song" records that Li Qing, the owner of the village on Shamen Island, liked to kill prisoners. Whenever the prisoners exceeded their quotas, Li Qing threw these excess people into the sea to feed the fish. In just two years, he used this method to kill seven hundred people. Some prison guards would use boats to sink prisoners into the sea on the grounds that "prisoners are sick.".
Second, because these felons are basically "pardoned and not repaid" after they are assigned to Shamen Island, they all have to stay on Shamen Island, which is equivalent to life imprisonment. Emperor Shangao was far away, and no one cared about their life or death, and some jailers would deliberately kill prisoners for the sake of their money (guards gu goods and yin killed them).
Later, there was no way, Emperor Renzong, Shenzong, Huizong and other emperors had to stipulate that if Shamen Island was full in the future, the excess people would be sent to Qiongzhou, Fujian, Lingnan and other places.
Prisoners of Shamen Island
As mentioned earlier, Shamen Island was the most dangerous place of exile in the Song Dynasty, and the mortality rate was extremely high. So, who will be sent to Shamen Island?
There were officials Xu Xiong, Cao Han, and Fan Hang, who perverted the law because of their greed; there were also imperial doctors who "sat in medicine and did not refine the trial"; there were envoys who "checked the fields unevenly"; there were Zhao Zhiwei, who was assigned by the emperor because of the issue of the crown prince; there were also Li Qian, a jinshi who was convicted of writing to the emperor, and Liu Chunyi, a peasant; during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, a pair of rogue fathers and sons Dong Dechang and Dong Yu appeared in Kaifeng, and the two often blackmailed others for money, and as a result, they were also exiled to Shamen Island.
Although these people were seriously accused, except for a few people, the rest of the people had official positions under the Seven Pins, and there were even peasants without official positions. People with high official positions were generally assigned to Lingnan. So much so that when Lingnan people saw these prisoners, they all called them "Xianggong". Xianggong is a title for a high-ranking official.
What are the prisoners doing on Shamen Island?
In the Minutes of Reading the History of Public Opinion, it is said that the inhabitants of Shamen Island "
Specializing in boat crossing horses
The Lecture Notes on the Memorabilia of the Song Dynasty also say that the inhabitants of Shamen Island "
Specialize in boats and boats, and cross the horses
”。 From this, it can be known that the main work of the prisoners sent was also to build ships and transport horses for tribute.
It is precisely because Shamen Island is dangerous and the mortality rate is super high, so in the eyes of people at that time, it was a ghost gate pass, equivalent to the Ninggu Pagoda of the Qing Dynasty, and it was impossible to get out. Coupled with the long and difficult road, some prisoners will escape on the road, and some would rather die than go. Some people have to think about jailbreaking when they arrive.
In the Water Margin, the reason why Deng Fei wanted to save Pei Xuan was because he knew that if Pei Xuan was sent to Shamen Island, there would be no return. And Dong Chao Xue Ba's statement to Lu Junyi that "to Shamen Island is also death" is indeed true.
Resources:
Shao Jiannan, "Study on the Flow of People and Routes on Shamen Island in the Song Dynasty"
Dai Jianguo's "Research on Criminal Law in the Song Dynasty" Cheng Hao's "Northern Song Dynasty With a Discussion on Shamen Island"
Yang Qin, "Examination of Exile in the Song Dynasty: Taking the Situation of Liushamen Island as the Main Case"
Guo Dongxu's "Shamen Island Discussion" Tan Jinshi's "Rambling Thorn with Shamen Island"
"The Chronicle of the Unification of the Ming Dynasty", "Historical Atlas of China", "Twelve Stones of Beihai", etc.