"Blue Gong Case", also known as "Luzhou Gong Case" and "Gong Case Even Record", the author is the Qing Dynasty official Lan Dingyuan, a total of two volumes and twenty-four articles. It mainly describes the author's experience in handling government affairs, trying cases, and breaking superstitions, which has high historical value.
About the author: Lan Dingyuan (1680-1733), zi Yulin, alias Luzhou, Fujian Zhangpu people. Both his father and grandfather were well-known local Confucians. Lan Dingyuan lost his father at the age of ten, and at the age of seventeen, he looked at the sea of Xiamen, sailed through the islands of the Fujian Sea, and traveled to the Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces. In the sixtieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1721), his cousin Lan Tingzhen participated in the pacification of the rebellion of Zhu Yigui in Taiwan in the first year of Qing Yongzheng (1723), and Lan Dingyuan participated in the compilation and revision of the "Great Qing Unification Chronicle". In the fifth year (1727), he was recommended by Zhu Shi of the Xiangguo, summoned by the Meng Yongzheng Emperor, and granted the order of Puning County in Guangdong, and in October of the same year, he also served as the Chaoyang Order. At the end of the sixth year (1728), he was falsely dismissed from his post and imprisoned, released in the autumn of the eighth year (1730), and died of illness in June of the eleventh year (1733), while serving as the prefect of Guangzhou, at the age of 54. The main works are mainly "Luzhou Initial Collection", "East Collection", "Platform Chronicle" and so on.
In the first year of Qing Yongzheng (1723), Lan Dingyuan was recommended to be elected to Beijing with a tribute and divided the "Great Qing Unification Chronicle". In the fifth year of Yongzheng (1727), the first assistant Zhu Shi praised Lan Dingyuan's talent and recommended him to meet Yongzheng. Lan Dingyuan played Chen Jingzhi's six affairs such as Taiwan and Hecao, and was praised by Yongzheng. In the autumn of that year, Lan Dingyuan was appointed as Puning in Guangdong and Chaoyang, which is located at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, and is known as difficult to govern, and local traitors and evildoers often provoke and instigate the people to fight for profits, and the lawyers and writers manipulate them to make profits. As a result, the place is not quiet, litigation is endless, and the prison is overcrowded. After Lan Dingyuan took office, according to the facts, he issued a government decree to crack down on local tyrants and traitors. At the same time, the unjust imprisonment was rehabilitated, the order was prohibited, and the rule of officials was changed. Lan Dingyuan also devoted himself to the indoctrination of virtue, revived schools, personally taught professions, and banned cults and obscene shrines. Because Lan Dingyuan was upright and upright, and did not buy into the unspoken rules of the officialdom, Huichao Daotailou was quite critical of him on weekdays, waiting for the opportunity to suppress and retaliate. In the winter of the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728), Lan Dingyuan, seeing that the people's livelihood was difficult, ordered the exemption of fishing boats from the case of gold, and those who were jealous took advantage of the institution to trap, fabricated charges, and planted more than a thousand stolen goods, and played on six counts, so he was dismissed from his post and imprisoned.
The book "The Case of the Blue Gong" is after Lan Dingyuan was impeached and removed from office. In prison, the typical cases handled by Zhichao for fourteen months were posthumously recorded into a book, narrated from a first-person perspective, and the senior government benefited people. Kuang Minben's preface in the spring of the seventh year of Yongzheng said: "Sir listens to the lawsuit like a god, and if there is a treasure between Filial Piety and the legacy, it is difficult to understand whenever there is doubt." The void is quiet and quiet, and it seems to have another hook technique. Although he is a cunning lawyer and an old thief, he who says that words cannot be difficult, and those who cannot obey the responsibilities of officials, when they see Mr. Li, they do not know where to go, and they do not wait for punishment but lose their feelings." Compare it to the Song Dynasty Bao Zheng.
Nineteenth rule is the five sticks
A man named Du Zongcheng came to report that his concubine Guo Agui had contracted an epidemic, had a fever, coma, and fanaticism, and later accidentally fell into the water and died. It was the tenth day of June, and she fell into the fish pond, and no one knew where she was. The next day, her body surfaced, only to learn that she had drowned. When he spoke, he was very sad and sorry. Du Ruohuai, the township mayor, also came to report that the situation was basically the same.
The next morning, I went to check, and according to Du Zongcheng, Guo Shi was from Haiyang and was twenty-four years old. After a year of marriage, she did not have children, and there were no foreign relatives. I listened and asked him, "Is your wife here?" He said: "The wife of the Lin clan, thirty-eight years old, has two sons and two daughters. Sons Ah Zun and Ah Xian are more than ten years old. The younger daughter is still in her arms, and the eldest daughter, Ah Duan, is four or five years old. Guo Shi fell into the water due to illness, and there was no beating or coercion. "Du Ruohuai, the township mayor, Du Liwei and Du Zongjiong, and his brother Du Yimei, who lived together, all said that they did not know when they fell into the water, and they had not heard of a fight.
I asked Xue Shun and Zongcheng to go to the inspection first and sing the report on the spot, so as to test it with my own hands. I beckoned Du Zongcheng's children to come to him and looked at them one by one. Azunju, I didn't ask. Ask Ah Xian, don't tell the truth. I told everyone to back off, and I asked the little girl Ah Duan to come to my seat and inquire in detail.
Ah Duan did not say at first, repeatedly asking, or whether no one beat him. I said, "Ah Duan lied to me, I already know that Ah Gui was killed by your mother, but I just want to ask you the reason for the incident." Why did Ah Gui offend your mother? Why did your mother beat Ah Gui? You don't tell the truth, you cut your tongue. He said and pulled out a knife and put it on the table. Ah Duan was afraid and did not dare to answer. I said, "Don't be afraid! Just say that Ah Gui was beaten for something, and let you go. Duan said, "Because of stealing sugar." On the ninth day of the first month of this month, my mother put the sugar in the urn and suddenly disappeared. Knowing that it was Ah Gui stealing, my mother was very angry, so she beat her. When my father came home, my mother mentioned it again, and my father also hit her twice with a fan. That night, Ah Gui refused to sleep and sat until midnight. The next morning, I didn't see her cooking, so I went to look for her, and I couldn't find it. I asked, "What did your mother hit her with?" He replied, "Wooden sticks, a foot and a half long." I said, "Where is the stick now?" Ah Duan said, "Behind the door of my mother's house." I said, "Go get it." Ah Duan promised, "All right! ”
At that time, I whispered a secret question, and Ah Duan also answered in a low voice, and no one in the Du family knew and guarded against it. I ordered Zheng Ke, Zheng Ying, and others to carry Ah Duan straight into their house, and then I found a small wooden stick from behind the door of Lin's room. Du Zongcheng's mother hurried forward to grab it, but it was too late. When I looked at the stick, it was only a foot and a half long, so I sealed it and handed it to the scrivener.
Guo Agui's body was re-examined, and both cheeks were slapped, and his hands and feet were beaten in four places. The horns of her forehead were broken, and there was mud and sand in her mouth, nose, and nails, which showed that she was beaten and thrown into the water and died. Lin shi was called for interrogation, but she did not tell the truth anyway. I showed her the stick, which was one foot and five inches long, and said, "The evidence is here, so what's the use of you lying again?" Lin Shi still made up lies, and used clever words to cover up. I said, "The rod rises, the wound matches the blow of the rod, and I know everything you have done; even if your mouth is three feet long, it is useless." But concubines stealing sugar are against family law. As the hostess, you supervise, beat, and teach, and it is also a matter of course. Moreover, the injury was not fatal, it was she who threw herself into the water and died. If you speak bluntly and do not conceal it, I will end it for you, and save you from being dragged down, isn't it also good? "The Lin clan is still fragmented and does not tell the truth. I said, "Do you think I lied to you?" The wife only beats the concubine, and there is no coercive clause in the law. As soon as you tell the truth, you can close the case. Lin always replied that there was no beating. I said, "If you hadn't beaten you, then the case wouldn't have ended." The scars are obvious, who do you rely on? ”
Lin said: "The scar was broken in the pool. I said, "You woman is so treacherous and slippery, and the seven scars on the corpse can be covered up by your three-inch long tongue?" He Ri Guo's relatives came to sue about the murder case, implicating the Lin and Du families, once the fight broke out, the murderer's men had no control, and there were really others who were injured, and you were only greatly involved! ”
Lin still did not admit it, so I took everyone in the case to the county hall for review. Linxing said to her family: "The Lin clan is jealous and kills concubines, and the crime is very serious. Now listen to Ah Duan said that it was because Ah Gui stole sugar, and Lin Clan beat her, this matter could have been exonerated. But Lin refused to admit it, so he failed to close the case. Ah Duan told the truth, it is really a benefactor of your family, I will now hand her over to you and so on, take a good look at her, and entrust the neighbors to guard and protect her. If anyone dares to beat Ah Duan, or if Ah Duan occasionally has other accidents, I will definitely investigate and punish your own family and your neighbors together. Be careful. ”
The next day, October 16, during the interrogation in the lobby, Du Zongcheng himself admitted to injuring Ah Gui twice with a fan. I laughed and said, "How can a fan hurt?" Why don't you tell me who struck the six or seven fist and stick wounds? Zongcheng had nothing to answer.
Lin was called for interrogation, but Lin still did not admit it. I said, "You just need to say who injured Ah Gui and let you go." Lin Argued, insisting that Guo was not injured. I said, "This woman is so vicious!" So he ordered her to be tortured, and she looked unchanged. Pinching her fingers, she still did not admit it; tortured twenty, or did not admit it. I sneered, "What a ghost!" If you tell the truth yourself, there is no sin, and I have already said all the words before. Now you must say that there is no injury, so how can the deceased be blind? Moreover, I have personally examined the wounds in detail and checked the wounds, which match the rod everywhere. You're going to play tricks on you and punish yourself!" This is the ghost of the Guo clan who is on the side to attract and not let the jealous woman escape the law. I see your ten fingers, very unkind, fierce. It seems that you have to suffer a lot of pain to punish the world's lions and jealous women. ”
Du Zongcheng said to his wife, "Things are already difficult to hide, let's tell the truth!" The township mayor, du ruohuai, Du Liwei, Du Zongjiong, and other neighbors also advised: "Niangzi! There are gods three feet above the head, and I am afraid that no one can deny it. You dare to be bold, you don't have to think wildly, shirk to others, and ask for yourself! ”
At this time, Lin Shi said bluntly: "Because Guo Shi stole four or five pounds of sugar, I was very angry, and I incited several mouths on her left and right cheeks." Guo Shi also argued, so I hit her left hand, right buttocks, and two ankles with a wooden stick. When she threw water that night, I really don't know. The next day I saw the body emerge, and I regretted it. I said, "Is that what you're using?" She said, "Yes." I asked, "Then why not tell the truth?" She said, "I don't dare to say it." Then he asked Du Zongcheng and his neighbors, "Is it true that it is not for other reasons?" Didn't anyone else beat you? They all said, "No one else beats you, and what Lin said is true." I said, "Oh! As the saying goes: 'Know that the lamp is fire, and the rice has been cooked for a long time!' Could this be to say Lin's? If she had confessed at the outset, why should she have to impose a penalty? The wife beat the concubine without the legal provisions of the law to coerce the punishment, so the Guo clan refused to be willing, so that you would be affected by ten fingers and retaliate, and now it is okay! "I have ordered Du Zongcheng to bury Guo Houhou and sentence him to ten stones of rice for use as food for prisoners, as a warning against those who have filed false complaints."
After four months, Du Zongcheng's enemies plotted to launch a man named Guo Ruzan, accusing Du Zongcheng of raping and killing the corpse, and enlisting Du Liwei and eight or nine other people to frame them together. However, seeing that the case file was clearly written, he could not realize his desire to frame him, but instead fled, not daring to confront Du Zongcheng. After Du Zongcheng and his wife knew, they were really happy and afraid, and they were glad that the case was closed so that they could avoid being harmed again.