The Ming Dynasty was the last Han Dynasty in China's feudal history, so it continued the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Tang and Song Dynasties in many systems, such as the Zhao Prison System. The Ming Dynasty prison system was set up for more than 260 years, but what is puzzling is that there has never been a prison escape, are the prisoners of the prison honest? What's going on here? If you are also curious, the following Xiaobian will reveal the secret.
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The so-called "Zhao Prison" is a special prison in ancient society, which is obviously different from the common "Prison of the Punishment Department" and the "Prison of Dali Temple", as well as other types of Yamen Prison. The characteristic of the zhao prison is that it is directly administered by the emperor, and the prisoners imprisoned are some princes and ministers, princes and princes in various places, nine secretaries of state officials in the imperial court, county guards and inspectors and other high-ranking officials with more than 2,000 stones. It can be seen from this that the imperial system is actually an interference of the ancient imperial power with the judicial power, and in the process of the two games, it is obvious that the imperial power is on the top, and the emperor has extralegal privileges for the prisoners of the zhao prison, and he also has the power of life and death.
According to historical records, the zhao prison system first originated in the Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and was also the embodiment of the strengthening of centralized power by Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty, as recorded in the Book of Han: "Zong Zheng had Sikong Zhao Prison; Shaofu had Ruolu Zhao Prison". By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu abolished a large number of prisons, which also marked the beginning of the decline of the prison system, so the prison system did not rise again in the Tang Dynasty, and it was only when Wu Zetian was in power that the cool official Lai Junchen and others were reused, so that the long-dormant prison system once again appeared on the historical stage, but it was also short-lived, and after the restoration of the Wuzhou regime, the prison was also abolished again. Later, in the middle and late Song Dynasty, the prison system was restored, for example, there were a large number of prisons during the Song Renzong period, and then the development of the Ming Dynasty reached a climax.
The Ming Dynasty prison system originated from The Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, but he renamed it "Jinyiwei Zhenfusi Prison", which was mainly directly managed by Jinyiwei, but its essence was still Zhao prison. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380 AD), the famous "Hu Weiyong Case" broke out, a large number of high-ranking officials were involved, and the person in charge of this case at that time was the "Jinyi WeiZhen Fusi Prison", many officials were trapped in the Prison of Zhao, and eventually did not come out alive, so in the Ming Dynasty, everyone mentioned that the Prison was discolored, and even regarded it as a purgatory on earth. In the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the zhao prison, there were also the so-called "East Factory" and "West Factory", and these were also sharp swords hanging over the heads of civil and military officials, and it was uncertain when they suddenly fell, so they also made everyone panic.
After The Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, successive emperors set up prisons, and it was not until the Ming Dynasty overthrew the prison system that completely ended, so this period of time also lasted for more than 260 years. Historians have studied and found that under the prison system of other dynasties, some prisoners escaped, but the Ming Dynasty did not escape from prison together. After research, the experts finally discovered the unbearable truth:
Truth 1: Archaeological research shows that most of the Ming Dynasty's prisons were built underground, or semi-crypts, so it was impossible to break the wall or break the window. In addition, as mentioned above, the Ming Dynasty prisons were guarded by Jinyi guards, and what you need to know is that Jinyi guards are all people with strong martial arts, after all, they are also people who protect the emperor's safety, so it is impossible for outsiders to enter the prison, and perhaps they were shot by Jinyiwei before they appeared. If there are really powerful people who can break through the wall or sneak into the prison, then they will face the Jinyi Guards when they escape.
Truth 2: Historical records record that prisoners who are imprisoned in zhao prison will wear heavy handcuffs and leg shackles, which weigh 3-5 times that of ordinary prisoners, and they are all cast in pure iron, so even free movement is a problem for prisoners, where is the strength to escape from prison? In addition, the Ming Dynasty was also imprisoned by mostly civilian officials, who themselves had no power to tie chickens, and they were also severely tortured, and even some people were more than half a hundred years old, do you say that they can escape from prison?
Truth Three: In the prisons of other dynasties in the past, the prisoners' food was provided by the imperial court, even if the food was very poor, but at least it could be fed, but in the Ming Dynasty's prison, the imperial court did not arrange any food for the prisoners, and all the family members were notified to deliver it on time. Therefore, many prisoners who are far away or have no one in their homes will eventually be starved to death, and some prisoners will not be able to eat enough even if they can eat. In addition, clothes and quilts are also sent by their families, especially in the winter, if there is no quilt, they will freeze to death. Therefore, even if you can't eat enough, where do you still have the heart and strength to escape from prison?
After the Ming Dynasty, zhao prison completely withdrew from the stage of history, which is a deformed judicial system, the emperors all want to strengthen the ruling authority with the zhao prison, but they all played the opposite role, so the zhao prison system was also swept into the garbage heap of history.
Resources:
"Zhao Prison" by Li Zhigang, Publisher: China Literature and History Publishing House
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written by: Special History Writer: Liu Lijiang's