In ancient times, there was a very unique way of punishing prisoners, that is, exile.
Exile is the transport of prisoners from one place to another, usually in areas where living conditions are very difficult.
Prisoners and escorts also suffer on the road, but why are the servants scrambling to escort female prisoners to the penal colonies?
exile
The penal measure of exile can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty, and subsequent dynasties also followed this punishment measure, and some princes and ministers who committed crimes were not directly executed by the emperor, but were exiled to other regions with their families, and the emperor used it to show his holiness.
But the emperor did not choose those good places, and the places of exile were generally remote and desolate places, such as during the Ming Dynasty, the emperor liked to exile people to the Yunnan-Guizhou region.
The emperors of the Qing Dynasty liked to exile people to the ninguta region in the northeast, which were very remote, usually thousands of miles away.
In addition, in ancient times, when transportation was extremely inconvenient, there were generally two ways to travel, either walking or taking a horse-drawn carriage.
Naturally, the emperor did not give the prisoners such good treatment, so the prisoners who were sentenced to exile had to walk on their own feet.
These prisoners also have to wear heavy shackles and shackles, the lightest shackles are also 20 pounds, the heaviest can be 40 pounds, wearing this thing to rush the road, it is simply a blunt knife grinding flesh.
According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, these prisoners had to walk at least 25 kilometers a day, so in ancient times, many prisoners could not stand the hardships of the road and chose to commit suicide.
For example, in a case in the Qing Dynasty, 61 people were to be exiled to the Ninguta area, but only 20 people finally arrived at their destination.
The servants in charge of escorting not only had to endure the arduous trek, but if they could not deliver the prisoners on time, or if the prisoners escaped halfway, they would be questioned, so they did not like this kind of drudgery.
There are always exceptions to everything, and if it is a female prisoner who is escorted, these servants will rush to escort them.
Benefits of escorting
The biggest benefit is having extra income. As the saying goes, having money can make ghosts push and grind, and the servants will naturally meet with the eyes of money.
Although the ancient servants worked on official duties in the official palace, they were not formally organized, and the amount of wages depended on how much conscience the county order had.
And those exiled prisoners are generally either rich or expensive, because the poor and powerless are directly beheaded, and the families of these prisoners will put together a large amount of money to give to the servants, hoping that the servants can take more care of the prisoners on the road.
The money that a large family casually gives to take care of relations is worthy of the income of a decade or two of servants. If these families are particularly rich or powerful, they can also get horse-drawn carriages to help them on the road.
Even if the family was not very wealthy, in order to make the prisoners suffer less on the road, they would make up a little money, and although this little money was small, it was worth a year and a half of salary for a year and a half.
Along the way, the money for the sharp stay in the hotel will also be taken care of by those people's families, which is equivalent to eating and drinking for free, traveling at public expense, and returning to receive various reimbursements from the government.
The second important key reason is that it is too hard to work in the government, and although they are not formally organized, they have a strict working system.
Every day, he had to get up very early to go to work at the yamen, most of the time he stood to watch the officials try cases, and in his spare time, he was busy arresting criminals, which could be described as very busy.
If the leader at the top is a bad temper, he will be reprimanded and scolded by the leader every day, and he will be very depressed.
But escorting prisoners is different, one after another for half a year, you can eat and drink at public expense on the road, you can also use it as a free tour, and you don't have to be angry.
Reasons for choosing female prisoners
So why exclude male prisoners?
This, of course, has to do with risk. In ancient times, women were wrapped in small feet, which made it difficult for women to have the strength of men's feet, even if they escaped, they could be caught.
Secondly, women have little strength and weak body, and generally only do some needlework, but men are different, with great strength, and may also have some punches and feet.
If the prisoner is escorted, it is easy for the prisoner to escape, or the prisoner will struggle to resist, causing a lot of trouble for the escort.
If the prisoners escape and the news gets out, the servants are finished.
On the other hand, these servants are not necessarily serious people, and many of them have the heart to pick up oil.
If you encounter those female prisoners who have a bit of a posture, the servants will naturally not let go.
Women in ancient families generally paid attention to maintenance, whether it was figure or face, they were much stronger than women who often did rough work and heavy work in ordinary people.
The low wages of the servants naturally made it impossible to hang out in the Qinglou, which was a high-consumption place, and they could not even enter the door, and these female prisoners from famous families naturally became the only choice to satisfy the dirty ideas in the servants' hearts.
Now that the feudal system has become a smoke cloud of history, exile has also disappeared and become a term in the history books.
Modern society has established a more humane punishment system, which can better protect the rights of prisoners, of course, it is also hoped that there will be fewer illegal and criminal acts and social order will be more stable and orderly.