Yu Xuanji was a famous female crown poet of the Tang Dynasty, and in her short life, in addition to leaving many talented poems, she also left a controversial case. In the Tang Dynasty, where the identity hierarchy was strict, it was rare to be executed for flogging and killing the "maid" Lu Qi.
In feudal society, there were many cases of masters killing wives. According to the provisions of the Tang Law, Yu Xuanji's killing of a concubine should not be punishable by death. If the dead Green Warp is indeed the handmaiden of Yu Xuanji, then Yu Xuanji was wrongfully killed by someone for some purpose. Some people also believe that Lu Qiao is not Yu Xuanji's maid, but a disciple of Yu Xuanji, and according to Tang Law, flogging disciples is to be sentenced to death, so Yu Xuanji's killing is not an unjust case. Therefore, figuring out the identity of the green warp and the reason for being flogged, as well as the mystery of the fish, is the key to solving this puzzle.
First, the fish is mysterious and its people
Yu Xuanji is not recorded in the main history, and can only be studied through some Tang notes. She was born in the second year of Da Zhong (848) and died in the ninth year of Xiantong (868), and died at the age of twenty. She was a female Taoist priest in Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, with excellent appearance, outstanding talent, love to read, and good at composing poems and filling words.
The Tang Dynasty was a society that advocated Taoism, and Li Yuan claimed to be a descendant of Lao Tzu, the ancestor of Taoism. Therefore, many people believe in Taoism, and female Taoists are also very common. When Tang Muzong was in power, ?" There are 1,687 Tianxiaguan, 776 Taoist priests, and 988 female crowns. This shows the prosperity of Taoism.
Why Yu Xuanji went to become a Taoist monk, there are still many theories about this question. One of the more acceptable accounts now is the record in the Biography of Tang Caizi: "Xiantong Zhonghe zhen was a favor for Li Yi to fill the gap." Madame cannot tolerate it, and it is advisable to wear it." That is to say, she was originally the favorite concubine of the Tang Dynasty official Li Yi, and was driven to the Taoist Temple by Li Yi's jealous wife to become a Taoist priest.
Yu Xuanji's mother's family should be an ordinary family, otherwise she would not have been a concubine. Therefore, after being driven to become a Taoist priest, there should not be much income. She later wrote a poem that recorded her predicament at that time: "The vast nine strangers do not know themselves, and they go to the dynasty to embroider clothes." The treasure box mirror is dim and messy, and the Boshan furnace is warm and the musk smoke is slight." She also uses "easy to ask for priceless treasures, rare to have a heart." To express disappointment in Li Yi, these two poems are now familiar famous sentences.
Female Taoists in the Tang Dynasty were a group of people with a certain social status. They have a certain amount of freedom in their spirits, and they can also make some literati. Although a small number of female Taoists use their special status to resemble prostitutes, most female Taoists can still keep the bottom line.
Yu Xuanji is young and beautiful, and talented, which naturally attracts the favor of many celebrities. These people "or those who carry wine, will play the piano and write poems, and occasionally make waves", but Yu Xuanji only regards these people as objects of amusement. She already had a man in her heart, and he was Wen Tingjun, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty. Because Wen Tingjun is one of the few men who does not treat her like a prostitute, and she is talented, she can naturally get the heart of Yu Xuanji.
However, the age gap between Wen Tingjun and Yu Xuanji is very large, and Mr. Wen is afraid that marrying Yu Xuan will have a bad impact on himself, so the two are just poetry fellowship. Yu Xuanji wrote a poem to wen Tingjun: "Yunfeng is full of spring love, and the silver hook fingers of the calendar are born." Self-hatred covers the verses, and raises his head to envy the middle of the list. In the poem, it can be seen that she has given up the idea of being with Wen Tingjun, but only hates herself for being a woman and cannot become a useful talent like a man.
Second, the strange murder of the
Yu Xuanji traveled widely, and often went out to talk about poetry papers with literati and inkers. On this day, the fish mysteriously went out to visit, leaving the maid Lu Qiao to receive guests in the temple. However, on this day, an old iron who had always had a very strong relationship with Yu Xuanji came to visit, and after learning that Yu Xuanji came down the mountain, he did not wait in the Taoist Temple as usual, but left alone. Yu Xuanji suspected that Green Warp had an affair with this person, so he tortured Green Warp all night.
It may be that Lu Qian's answer angered Yu Xuanji, who "naked and flogged hundreds" of Green Warp and actually beat Lu Qiao to death. Yu Xuanji had to bury the green warp in the backyard, but was discovered by her servants. After the servant reported to the official, the fish mysterious murder case occurred.
At this time, Jing Zhaoyin of Chang'an was Wen Zhang, who was known as "sexual goods dare to kill, and people are also afraid of their cruelty". This man has always been cruel, and when he was a thrifty envoy, he killed more than 500 non-commissioned officers because the soldiers did not obey orders, and his reputation for harshness was widely known. His sentence of Fish Mystery did not go out of his usual style, and the death penalty was commonplace for him.
Knowing that Yu Xuanji was sentenced to death, many of her friends also launched a rescue. Because according to Tang Law, killing a maid is not necessarily a capital offense, So Wen Zhang kicked the ball to Tang Yizong and let the emperor decide. Although he did not know what Wen Zhang said to Tang Yizong, Tang Yizong still approved the death penalty of Yu Xuanji. This is the beginning and end of the Fish Mystery Murder Case.
Third, the identity of the fish mysterious machine and the green warp
In feudal society, everyone was artificially divided into classes, and each class had different legal rights and obligations. This is the distinction between good and bad in feudal society. The punishment of a good offender is lighter than that of an ordinary person; the punishment of a good offender is heavier than that of an ordinary person.
Yu Xuanji was born in cloth clothes and her family was relatively innocent, so she was considered to be a "good person" born. Taoism is the state religion of the Tang Dynasty, and after a woman enters the Tao, ?" Whoever violates the law shall not be punished by any official of the prefecture or county without authorization." Yu Xuanji had already reached the level of "alchemist" in the Taoist Temple, that is, the level of "Degao Sijing" in the Daoist practice, and his status among Daoists was relatively high.
Green Warp is just a handmaiden of the fish, and her name is not surprising, a maid who usually wears the "color of the untouchables" of green. In the Tang Dynasty, the maids wearing green clothes were called "Qingyi", so the green warp was 100% a pariah. What she did for Yu Xuanji in the Taoist Temple was only "holding the towel", not Yu Xuanji's apprentice. Because if she were an apprentice, she wouldn't be wearing a green.
Tang Dynasty slaves did not have an independent personality, but were attached to their masters as objects. That is, the so-called "slaves and untouchables, the law is better than the animals", their legal status is extremely low, they are things that can be bought and sold.
4. Murder in the Tang Dynasty
The Tang Law subdivides homicide into six categories, including murder, homicide, fighting, drama, manslaughter, and manslaughter, collectively referred to as the "six kills". Murder is one of the most serious crimes, and this kind of premeditated crime is the focus of Tang Law's crackdown. The "Murder of Man" in the Tang Law Shu Shu Thief stipulates that "all murderers shall be punished for three years; those who have been injured shall be hanged; those who have been killed shall be beheaded." ”
Therefore, killing refers to intentional killing, emphasizing that when killing people, the killing intention has been started, not the negligence of a temporary negligence. For this situation, the Tang Law Shu Shu Shu Dou Litigation stipulates: "Those who fight, Yuan has no intention of killing, and those who kill because of fighting, hang." Whoever kills with a blade and kills with a blade is called a fight and a blade, that is, a harmful heart; that is, if he kills without struggle, without doing anything, it is called 'killing for the sake of death': each of them is guilty of beheading. ”
Wen Zhang, who tried the Yu Xuanji case, must have believed that Yu Xuanji would "naked and flogged a hundred" lumps, and she should know that the consequences of doing so may lead to the death of lu feng. Therefore, the murder of the fish mysterious machine is a kind of killing, not some kind of manslaughter or manslaughter. Therefore, according to the verdict of "homicide", the death penalty is not a problem.
However, there is also a stipulation in the "Tang Law Neglect", that is, "Those who beat and kill others will be reduced by one class to mortals, and slaves to one class." If the one who kills the part is hanged, the slave, flows three thousand miles. "According to this rule, Yu Xuanji is the master, and The Green Warp is the slave, and according to the law, it only needs to flow for three thousand miles."
If it is believed that Yu Xuanji killed Lu Qiao by mistake, it is a manslaughter, according to the provisions of the Tang Law, Yu Xuanji is innocent, or guilty, but can be exempted from criminal responsibility. However, Wen Zhang did not think that Yu Xuanji was manslaughter, and from the perspective of modern law, Yu Xuanji, as an adult, should be able to foresee that "naked and flogged hundreds" may cause the death of others. So that's not going to be discussed.
Also a death sentence, Yu Xuanji was beheaded rather than hanged, which shows that her sentence was convicted according to the most serious "killing without incident" clause of "killing for good". The ancients were more concerned about the whole corpse, so the execution of the fish was the most severe kind of sentence in the killing, and it was publicly executed.
Fifth, why should the fish die?
The death of Yu Xuanji, on the surface, seems to be a murder to pay for his life, but in fact it is not. Her death was due to the oppression of women by the male power in feudal society, and it was due to her contempt and challenge to the male power. This contempt and challenge made her pay with her life.
In feudal society, the status of women was inferior, and everyone knew it. But a woman with extraordinary talent and beauty like Yu Xuanji has high expectations for her life, but the unforgiving reality makes her feel the loss of life. In this wandering, she was able to write such verses as "self-hatred and cover up the verses, raise her head to envy the top of the list", and issued a cry of grief and indignation for her oppressed female identity.
Because women cannot realize their social value, marriage and love are their only hopes. However, in the marriage, Yu Xuanji once again encountered misfortune, was swept out of the house by the man, and forced to become a Taoist priest. This status certainly gave her the freedom to associate with the literati, but the scribes only regarded her as a plaything and an object of amusement, and did not really respect her. Even Wen Tingjun, whom she loved so deeply, could not give her a guarantee of marriage, let alone other people. In the mainstream concept of feudal society, the female Taoist monks who could chant poetry were nothing more than a fresh plaything, "semi-prostitute". The purpose of many men's associations with female Taoists is simply to make a difference, or the ultimate goal is to play with their flesh.
Yu Xuan is outgoing and bold and open, and she associates with multiple men, but her heart is painful. Just after she was imprisoned, when people evaluated her, they used the phrase "the fish is the most lascivious, and the poetry is weak." Such vicious words as those who violate the law of etiquette and corrupt customs show the prejudice of society against them.
Yu Xuanji was usually arrogant and arrogant, and some so-called literati who had no real talent and practical learning had touched a lot of nails here, and her case was also reported by this man that she had offended the servant's brother. In fact, killing a maid of lower status was not a felony in the Tang Dynasty, and her killing was only because of her usual arrogance and arrogance, and she wrote many protestant "great rebellion" verses to challenge the patriarchal society that she could not challenge.
Yu Xuanji may not have thought that such a verse as "If you can spy on Song Yu, why hate Wang Chang", it will be considered an act of rebellion against the traditional norms of society and will endanger the established social order of the ruler. At the end of her life, on the execution ground, she recited the last two poems of her life: "The bright moon shows the gap, the breeze opens the short placket", which is the last trick of a talented woman who has been wrongfully killed to this society.
6. Summary
In the spirit of modern law, it is unjust to kill people for no reason, and it is unjust to sentence the death penalty to immediate execution. But we must pay attention to the era in which she lived, according to the law at that time, her behavior could not be immortal, so to avenge her was not to encourage the murderer to be innocent.
The Tang Dynasty was an era in which the legal system was relatively sound, and "morality is the foundation of politics and religion, and punishment is used for political and religious purposes" is the guiding ideology of Tang Law. Under this guiding ideology, Tang Lu's animals were "ritual torture." Etiquette is higher than punishment, and etiquette not only permeates all aspects of the criminal law, but even the criminal law cannot violate the etiquette. Society under the ritual law has an unequal hierarchical order, ?" The number of equals is different, the severity of the punishment is different, and there is a difference. ”
Of course, in this case, the most sympathetic is the maid Who is at the bottom of society and is not even regarded as a "person". She was a slave oppressed by the oppressed, and in the face of the beating of Yu Xuanji, she cried out before she died: "If there is no law, there is no complaint; if there is, who can suppress my soul!" "It is an indictment of feudal etiquette.
The death of Yu Xuanji is a game of law and etiquette. It was clear that the liturgy had triumphed. This also shows that even in the Tang Dynasty, where the laws of feudal society were relatively sound, the law was a kind of useless pretense, which was under the rule of man. Only in today's society with a sound legal system will the law show its impartial side to everyone.