introduction
The ancient saying: "The prince breaks the law, and the common people sin the same", which means that even if the prince breaks the law, he must be punished like the common people, which is from the "History of the Shang Emperors" and is used to enlighten and teach future rulers. However, in a hierarchical feudal society, it was actually difficult to do "the prince breaks the law, and the common people sin together".
As the saying goes, "No one is perfect, no one is perfect," and no one is flawless. If a person makes a mistake, the elders will usually teach: "Knowing the mistake can be changed, and it is very good." "If the person is stubborn and has a strong background. The elders would say, "The wicked have their own heaven to clean up." For example, in Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Cao Cao's behavior of "cutting his hair and acting as the head" is recorded, which is of course more worthy of respect in the eyes of modern people.
▲Cao Cao stills
01
In the history of the Qing Dynasty, there was such a rampant type of people, the people did not dare to provoke, the government did not want to take care of it, and even the emperor had a headache for this. This kind of person is the descendant who helped the Manchu Qing enter the customs and obtained the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. This special group, of noble status, almost no legitimate occupations and official positions, all of them were lived by the royal servants, and most of them were idle people, and they always wore golden belts around their waists, and once they appeared in the street, the people saw it, and always hid far away, as if they saw the plague god. Even the government has no way to take them.
The golden yellow belts worn by these Qing Dynasty clansmen are their exclusive symbols. It is said that it was because their ancestors made great contributions to the Aishin Kyora family, and although their descendants were not granted corresponding official positions and real power, they also had many privileges.
▲ Eight Flags children smoking a big smoke old picture
At the beginning of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, these "yellow belts" only had a few hundred people, but by the Jiaqing period, they had grown to tens of thousands. They have nothing to do all day, always using their identity to run amok in the capital. Smashing shops, bullying men and women, almost all evil. With the privileges granted by the royal family, it is extremely rampant, and it has reached the point of lawlessness.
02
During the Jiaqing period, there was a case of the eight flags being forcibly occupied. Let Jiaqing be furious and punish him with a felony, which shows his madness. In the thirteenth year of Qing Jiaqing (1808 AD), there was a idle Eight Flags disciple named Min Xue, who was wandering the streets one day and saw a vendor selling baked sweet potatoes, and he suspected that the peddler was a liar. Because it was July, he thought that there were no white potatoes at all, so the vendors must have fooled people. The peddler asked him to take a closer look, and after Min Xue tasted a few, he knew that he was wrong, but he was ashamed and angry and did not want to give money. It is unreasonable to say that the peddler is a liar.
▲Portrait of Jiaqing
When this peddler first arrived, where did he know that these Eight Flags disciples could not be provoked, and their anger rose from their hearts, and they directly quarreled with MinXue. And explained that the white potatoes he baked were saved last year, not this year's white potatoes. This Min Xue was usually rampant, where there was room for people to argue with him, and immediately together with the family, beat up this sweet potato vendor fiercely. Just as a patrolling officer and soldier passed by, they saw someone making trouble, and without saying a word, they arrested Min xue and the seller of white potatoes together in the yamen and prepared to convict him.
Min Xue immediately revealed his identity and began to make a big fuss about the official government yamen, commanding his family members to beat up the official government servants, and for a while they made a lot of noise and felt angry. In the end, the weapons storehouse in Yamen was simply demolished. Such bold, lawless behavior, and the final result of the treatment, is astonishing. This Eight Banners disciple Minxue was only sentenced to twenty-five big boards and fined feng lu for one year. What was even more astonishing was that both Shangshu and the prince at that time interceded for his guilt. Although Jiaqing insisted on heavy responsibility at that time, it still could not change the style of the Eight Flags disciples.
▲Qing Dynasty local Yamen case trial old photos
03
So, for such and such lawless and arrogant Eight Banner disciples, as the emperor of the Qing Dynasty's supreme ruler, did he allow them to do whatever they wanted? This is actually the drawback of the feudal system, on the one hand, in addition to the historical reasons of the special background of these Eight Banners disciples, and the special relationship with the Qing Dynasty royal family. At that time, the law also stipulated that these people with royal privileges could kill people without paying for their lives, and ordinary yamen could not convict them, and they had to be handed over to the yamen to handle it.
And these rulers of the great gate all know each other. There are many relatives who are still related to each other, and naturally cover up for each other. On the other hand, the emperor was hindered by the power of their family, and he was also worried that they would unite against him, after all, if there was a stalemate, the situation would not be easy to clean up. Therefore, if you have to turn a blind eye, as long as it is not a heinous crime, it is not good to have a seizure.
▲ Old photos of the Eight Flags disciples
epilogue
It is worth mentioning that "the wicked have their own heavens to clean up", and after the demise of the Manchu Qing government, the fate of these imperial relatives and nobles was not good. Without the government, they had no skills, so they could only beg on the street like beggars. Some families still have a little savings, and they can barely become sellers and continue to live. Such an ending is also really sad.
Resources:
Chronicles of the Shang Emperors
Romance of the Three Kingdoms