In ancient times, there were various punishments, some of which were directly tortured on the prisoner's body, such as "five horses divided into corpses", "beheaded" and so on, but there was one punishment that was not so simple, that is, exile, which required the prisoner to be escorted to a very far place for labor.
Exile was carried out in difficult places, long distances and the possibility of dying on the way, but there had to be officials to guard the prisoners and escort them to their destinations, and many were not happy to do this errand.
But when it comes to female prisoners, it's different, many officials are not only not afraid of hardship and even rush to go, why is this?
1. The ancient system of exile for women
In ancient Chinese history, exile as a special means of punishment has lasted for more than 2,000 years. The Tang Dynasty was an important period when the ancient Chinese legal system was perfected, and the exile system in the penal system also made different provisions for women's exile.
In the Zhou Dynasty, there were special considerations for female criminals in the "Law of the Three Concubines", and the "Zhou Li Qiu Guan" recorded: "When a woman commits a crime, she sits at the head of the family". This notion of women as accessories laid the ethical foundation for the exile of women in later generations. The principle of "women are not restrained" that emerged in the Spring and Autumn Period further established the judicial tradition of differential treatment.
In the Han Dynasty's "border migration" policy, women were often exiled as family members. The cases recorded by Juyan Hanjian show that the exiled women were mostly engaged in labor such as "mending clothes".
In the Tang Dynasty, it was clearly recorded in the "Tang Laws and Regulations" that "those who should be matched by all offenders shall serve for one year in the third rate; wives and concubines follow it. If the marriage of a woman has been decided, it shall belong to her husband; The husband is unmarried, from close relatives. ”
Although ordinary female offenders have been sentenced to exile, they do not necessarily have to be exiled, and there is another way to replace them, and the punishment is carried out locally. The Law of Thieves stipulates: "If a woman commits an outcast, she shall also stay, and she shall be cut off with a rod and dwelling." ”
That is to say, the prisoner can not be exiled to such a far place, but still have to accept the punishment, there are three ways to replace, the first is to be punished with cane instead of exile, according to the level of exile to calculate how many rods to beat.
The second is to serve in the local government workshops instead of exile, and the third is to redeem the privilege, which can also be atonement with copper.
In fact, although they were exempted from the pain of exile, the suffering of these women was no less than that of exile, and the "cane dwelling" was carried out in public, which was equivalent to many people watching the punishment of female criminals with their own eyes, so that women suffered public humiliation.
This is no less psychologically harmful than exile, ancient women have always been more restrained, and many women can't accept this kind of punishment in public.
However, there are some exceptions that are not included in the retention system, such as special offences for which women who have committed serious crimes must be exiled.
In ancient times, for such a major crime as rebellion, the whole family would be severely punished, and some female family members would be exiled from each other.
The reason why there are special provisions for the exile system for female prisoners is also considered, if a woman is exiled, then her family will be dissolved, and the exile of women is not a good option for the population. According to the Turpan document "The Case File of the Wang Family of the Woman in Gaochang County, Tangxi Prefecture", the government will check whether the woman is responsible for nursing.
In addition, the cottage industry in the Tang Dynasty relied on female labor, and the "Six Classics of the Tang Dynasty" recorded that the government often recruited female prisoners to engage in "residential" labor such as textiles.
2. Escort of female prisoners
Female prisoners sentenced to exile often had to travel thousands of miles to the bitter cold of the frontier. What is puzzling is that this seemingly arduous escort task often becomes a "fat difference" for officials and errands. This is not only a simple official execution, but also an unknown road.
Compared with male prisoners, female prisoners have developed a more subtle mode of exploitation. The most direct is the violation of women by these officials, who are often dishonest, relying on the long distance and sparse population of the escort, in order to satisfy their own selfish desires, they target this group of vulnerable female prisoners.
The conditions of exile were difficult, and many women could not bear the insults, and finally broke themselves off.
For these officials, female prisoners are their resources to obtain benefits, and many female prisoners disappear while walking on the road. This is obviously impossible, and it is more than enough for a man who is an official to be subdued in strength compared to a female prisoner.
And those female prisoners who disappeared inexplicably were actually either sold by them or used in exchange for profits.
In addition, these female prisoners were also a major way for officials to exchange money, and they extorted the prisoners' families for precise extortion. For example, the news to the family that the family needs to send money regularly to ensure that the female prisoner is not abused, which is called "road care expenses", but in fact it is a clear threat.
In order to collect money, these officials would claim that there might be some accidents on the long road, and if they wanted to see a female prisoner alive, they would need money from their families to buy them.
If you want to see a female prisoner, you have to pay for it. In short, it is all kinds of extortion against family members.
In addition, escorting female prisoners can also be included in their "salary", and the escort places are mostly remote places, so officials can take the opportunity to earn a "gray income".
Prisoners are given a certain amount of rations on the way to the prisoners, and this ration is calculated on a per capita basis, and the appetite of female prisoners is often not as great as that of male prisoners, which makes these officials see "income".
In fact, the officials were not so kind, and they would never give all the rations to the prisoners, and they would deliberately withhold the rations of the female prisoners in order to make money, for example, by replacing them with moldy rice of less good quality, or simply giving them less, so that each of them could get a sum of oil and water from the saved rations.
Female prisoners often have to endure a double calamity, one is to face the harsh conditions of exile, and the other is to be vigilant to protect themselves. Looking back at this period of history, the dark deal on the road to exile of female prisoners is actually an extreme presentation of the interweaving of authoritarian power and gender oppression. Those officials who are vying for escort tasks are just a microcosm of the parasitic system.
References:
Zhengzhou University: A Study on the Exile System for Women in the Tang Dynasty
"Tang Law Discussion": Famous Laws
Legal Expo: A Study of the Exile System in the Tang Dynasty