Recently, a small-cost costume drama called "Royal Gifts of Small Works" has quietly come out of the circle and become a "dark horse" in the online drama industry in the first half of the year. First of all, this title is quite fanatic, and there is even a royal gift? What is even more fascinating is that there is a female servant who has great supernatural powers, judges cases like gods, and can be called the "Tang Dynasty version of Song Ci"?
In fact, in today's various TV series on the theme of ancient cases, we can often hear the title of "Shu Zuo". They can infer the sex, age, occupation, etc. of the deceased on the highly corrupt corpse by virtue of the remaining bones and hairs; they can judge whether the deceased died of poisoning by a certain type of poisoning before he died; they can deduce from the inconspicuous little drop of blood on the branch that the deceased is not committing suicide, but a deliberate illusion created after being murdered... Is the ancient masterpiece really so magical? What is the real masterpiece of history?
Song Ci statue
"Female servants" may exist, and it is impossible to go thousands of miles to Chang'an to "examine the editor"
The story of "Imperial Gifts of Little Servants" is set in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and the beginning of the series is about Chu Chu, a young girl from the Qianzhou Family, who came to Chang'an alone to realize her dream and take the selection examination for the works.
In fact, the Tang Dynasty did not have the title of "Servant" at all. Judging from the surviving documents, the "Yutang Gossip" of the Five Dynasties Wang Renyu first appeared "Wu Zuo", and the "Collection of Doubtful Prisons" in the early Song Dynasty was first written as "Servant As a Pedestrian". Although it is not called "Gong Zuo", in ancient times, there were people engaged in autopsy work very early, called "prison subordinates".
The earliest autopsy record, contained in the "Sealed Diagnosis Style" in the Sleeping Tiger Di Qin Jian, reflects the superb level of forensic science in the Qin Dynasty. At that time, the on-site investigation was called "diagnosis", which was carried out by the "Ling Shi" and "Prison Officers" sent by the county order. "Prison subordinates" were common in the Warring States period and were a form of hard labor punishment. The "Sealed Diagnosis" records that it is necessary to understand the case in detail, record the place of the body, the location of the body, the relationship between the body and the environment, blood stains, tool traces, and relevant physical evidence. It can be seen that the exploration methods used today have been initially formed as early as the Qin Dynasty.
In terms of autopsy, two cases were recorded in detail, one was killed and the other was hanged. In his murder, the article describes the characteristics of the injury, the relationship between the damage to the flesh, and the inference of the murder weapon. In the case of hanging, the characteristics of the rope, the way of tying the neck and the situation of hanging were recorded, and the difference between suicide hanging and other hanging was proposed. After the autopsy is completed, a written report, called a "book of the deceased", must be submitted, which is equivalent to what we call forensic conclusions and site investigation reports today.
It is worth mentioning that this record also mentions the "subordinate concubines", which are mainly responsible for the examination of women and fetuses, so the female servants that appear in the TV series are also very likely in history.
Because examining corpses was a very hard task, and the feudal ideology of ancient times was serious, in ancient times, the work was performed by low-status untouchables. Three generations of descendants of those who are engaged in the post of servant are not allowed to take the imperial examination. Therefore, as many as executioners, they were hereditary professions and were discriminated against at that time. In the play, the statement that the work is used as a family heirloom is also reasonable. So, is there an exam in the practice itself? The answer is – no. Before the Qing Dynasty, the ranks of servants were only private, and the government did not hire them. Since Hezuo was not a government official, there was no case of Chu Chu traveling thousands of miles to Chang'an to "examine the compilation" that appeared at the beginning.
The original manuscript originated from the slaughterhouse of selling coffins, and it is recorded in the "Record of No Injustice": "His servants are the slaughtering houses of many families in the south, who do not think about human lives, secretly accept the instructions of the murderer or the owner of the matter, and pinch the corpse wounds to report." It can be seen that at that time, the society's understanding of the work was still very prejudiced. Wang Junyu, a Song Dynasty man, directly classified "summer moon servants, generational tomb robberies, and law-walking servants" as "evil deeds".
During the Five Dynasties period, folk servants had formed a professional group that had begun to take shape, active in the city, and their main responsibility was to be responsible for funeral matters, or to buy lamps, candles, paper horses, or to bury corpses, or to direct dispatch, and to run a coffin business with a little savings. I have more experience dealing with dead people, and it is normal to participate in judicial inquiries and investigations. However, they only assisted in the autopsy and injury examination when the government needed it.
An autopsy of the Song Dynasty with a frontal humanoid figure
He has always been a "temporary worker", and only in the Qing Dynasty did he have an official recognition status
The Song Dynasty was a period of rapid development of ancient forensic science in China, and the song Dynasty law clearly stipulated that the officials of the inspection were "the governor of the prefecture, the county lieutenant, the second poor, the thin supervisor, if all are lacking, they must be ordered by the county." However, the actual situation of judicial investigation is that the criminal officials of the prefecture and county are often reluctant to come to the inspection in person, and use various excuses to shirk and entrust it to the inspection. Under such an opportunity, He Zuo participated more deeply and extensively in the judicial investigation. The servants are not "public people", but they have become a fixed part of the inspection staff, with the highly respected in the industry as the head of the line, and the principal as the "head of the regiment" in the folk. Pedestrians are required to obey the orders of the inspector, wash the corpses, smear them with wine and vinegar, loudly report the corpses to the inspectors and the personnel present, and sign a guarantee at the end of the inquest documents.
In the modern sense, the servant is at best counted as a "forensic assistant", which is equivalent to half a modern forensic doctor. And the real ancient forensic doctors or coroners also have to learn a lot of knowledge, turning over and dissecting corpses is not their job, this work is done by the servants, they can at most point out from the side how to turn over, how to dissect, so as to get the autopsy results. For example, Song Ci, who appeared in various ancient case-breaking TV dramas, was not an ordinary masterpiece, and he served as a judicial officer at the provincial level of the Southern Song Dynasty four times - to raise the punishment. In the TV series, Song Ci often goes to various crime scenes, in fact, in terms of his high-power position, there is generally no need to do it himself.
Based on his many years of experience in judging cases, Song Ci collected books handed down in recent times, such as "The Record of Inner Forgiveness" and "The Book of The Turtle in prison", and wrote it into the "Collection of Washed Injustices", which is the earliest forensic science monograph in the world. In the sixth year of the Qing Dynasty, this book was introduced to the West and translated into many languages, which had a profound impact on promoting the development of forensic science in the world, so Song Ci was called "the father of forensic science" by Westerners.
After the publication of the "Collection of Washed Injustices", it was immediately promulgated throughout the country and became an indispensable reference book for prison officials to handle cases since the Song Dynasty. Most of the officials and servants engaged in judicial inspection work carried a line-bound "Collection of Washed Grievances" with them. When recruiting apprentices in each prefecture and county of the Qing Dynasty, the "Collection of Washed Grievances" was an indispensable textbook, which was explained in detail by the superior supervisors, so that they could be familiar with it and be correct on the spot. If you have a problem with the examination of the corpse, open it to find a solution to it. Because of Song Ci's efforts, He Zuo was gradually promoted to an indispensable and important role in the detection of cases.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the official office revised the Song Dynasty inspector's personal inspection method, stipulating that cases were personally monitored by the inspector, and only the servant was allowed to perform the autopsy, and the servant made a guarantee, which was another big change in the history of forensic examination in China. It was not until the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty that the servants became a kind of government-set up "servants" specifically responsible for autopsies, obtaining official recognition and specific management systems such as recruitment, training, and assessment. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, further provisions were made on the responsibility and punishment of the servants, and the servants and the specific personnel involved in the inspection were untrue and eighty. Worker food is distributed in accordance with the lowest level of soap in the yamen, and the official work is "one or two for each month of food, such as two or two for three years without a month". It can be seen that although the social status of the servants in this period has improved slightly compared with the previous generation, the salary is still the minimum standard of the yamen.
Although there are few records of the works of the emperor in the history of the past, there are many descriptions of folk note novels, but the image is not very good, such as the hidden wounds of the servants, the misinspection of bribes, and the instigation of others to use the bark of the beech tree to forge bruise scars, the saponin five-fold su wood to create light light blue and red wounds, and so on. This professional status is special, and it deals with corpses all year round, in the ideological environment of the ancient feudal tradition, it is naturally difficult to be treated by people's eyes, and it has always maintained a relatively low social status.
The autopsy needs to be at noon, and the mouth contains ginger to resist the smell of corpses
There are many autopsy details in the play that are well documented. For example, Chu Chu showed her autopsy "treasure chest" as soon as she appeared, or poured vinegar on the fire to form steam and used as a smell. Ancient masterpieces have their own toolboxes, which are full of tools. There are folding hoes and shovels for grave excavation, cloth strips, garlic, ginger and vinegar used to resist the smell of corpses, and garlic and ginger are mashed and mixed with vinegar on the cloth, and then covered with mouth and nose, although it is not good, it can resist corpse odor and disease. There is also a leather jacket with various knives, hammers, and small awls made of fine iron, which are used to dissect the abdomen of the corpse.
Regarding the fact that containing ginger in the mouth can resist the smell of corpses, it is also mentioned in the section of "Examining Bad Corpses" in Song Ci's "Collection of Washed Injustices": The corpse head changes, the smell is not near, when the burning of the cang technique and soap horn are removed; the nose is coated with sesame oil, or the two nostrils of the oil are made of paper twisters, and the small pieces of ginger are still placed in the mouth; in case of inspection, the mouth is cut with a fierce closure, and the filthy gas is rushed in. The basic meaning is to burn cangshu and ginger first, then apply oil to prevent inhalation of poisonous gas, and then eat ginger to prevent prevention.
There is a set of established procedures for the autopsy, whether it is the autopsy time, pre-examination notification, or on-site burning incense, there are certain rules. At the very least, the autopsy should be at its peak at noon, and it cannot be operated alone, and an inspector must be present to supervise it.
Taking the Song Dynasty as an example, the usual steps of autopsy are: in the clear and bright daytime, the preliminary examination is carried out in a flat and bright place, and then the body is washed with warm water, and the body is smeared with wine and vinegar to make the inconspicuous scars become obvious. For unnamed corpses, the examination of personal characteristics such as scars, ecchymosis, and tattoos should be emphasized. If the body is found to be injured, it is required to carefully measure the length, width, depth and size, and let the body announce it loudly in public; if there is no abnormality, then the body will declare a certain part "complete" in the order of the parts marked in the corpse map, such as "fontanelle full" and "forehead full", and finally determine the cause of death. The whole process should be carried out in front of the relatives of the deceased, the people and even the suspects to show justice. In ancient times, the fairness of procedures seemed to be more important than the protection of the site.
There are many famous autopsy methods in this drama, such as the method of steaming corpses with white plum cakes to surface bone wounds. This method is recorded in the "Collection of Washed Grievances": autopsy and bone wounds, no traces... Or more hidden and difficult to see, with white plums smashed in the desired place, and then hugged to see. If you are not completely seen, then take the meat with white plums and add shallots, peppers, salt, and bad one to study, shoot the cake and simmer on the fire, make it extremely hot, burn the damage, and use the paper lining it first, that is, see its damage.
Another example is the "Red Oil Umbrella Bone Examination" method in the "Collection of Washed Grievances", which mentions that the bones are rinsed with lees and vinegar and placed under the oil-paper umbrella, and the wounds can be found. "If there is a beating on the bone, there is a red shade, and the bone is broken and there is a blood halo at both ends of the contiguity. Looking at the sun with traces of bones, red is clearly marked before death. If there is no blood on the bone, the damage is the mark after death. "It's actually the use of optical principles. Because the color displayed by opaque objects in sunlight is selectively reflected, oil-paper umbrella shielding can absorb some of the light that affects observation, making it easy to find scars. This principle is still used in forensic examinations today, except that the ancient oil-paper umbrella shading was replaced by ultraviolet radiation.
What is even more amazing is that in many places in the "Collection of Washed Grievances", it is mentioned that the wound should be cleaned with lees, vinegar, white plum, five-fold seeds, etc., which is conducive to preventing bacterial infection and protecting the original appearance of the wound, which is very in line with modern scientific theory.
Courtesy photo/small
Text/Beiqing- Beijing headline reporter Chen Pin
Source: Beijing Youth Daily