Why there were cases of false accusations and theft in the Qing Dynasty, I read Zheng Xiaoyou's "Cases and Punishments in the Qing Dynasty" and had a clear understanding.
First of all, let's talk about the reasons, the first is the performance appraisal system of the Qing Dynasty. According to the laws and regulations of the Qing Dynasty and the regulations on punishment, if a robbery case occurs in a locality and the local civil and military officials fail to catch the thieves within a certain period of time, they will be guilty of "neglecting defense", and they will be punished by the provincial governor and punished by the officials. Generally, if the case is not solved within the time limit, it is demoted to one level. The grade of Zhixian County in the Qing Dynasty was Zhengqi pin (正七品), and if it was demoted to one level, it was basically an idle post. If there was a mistake before, it would be difficult to lose the official position. According to the methods of solving cases at that time, it was difficult to catch people. Arrested robbers were tortured to death during arrest, escaped on the way to the release or were hijacked by accomplices, died or escaped from prison while in prison, and magistrates were punished accordingly. Under such circumstances, if we can conceal theft and not report it, and turn big things into small things and small things into nothing, it is undoubtedly the most beneficial for local officials to preserve their official positions. And some officials, for the sake of official positions, will do things that slander and steal and torture confessions.
Second, there is the local fiscal system. Qing Dynasty officials are low-paid system, they are difficult to feed, Zhengqipin County ordered a year salary of 119 taels, equivalent to 23800 yuan now, it is difficult to support themselves, not to mention the salaries of subordinates, office expenses and other expenses. Moreover, the trial and transfer procedures for major criminal cases in the Qing Dynasty were very complicated, and the robbery case, as the death penalty case with the largest number of people involved, roughly had to go through the county, the prefecture, the inspection department, and the governor's four-level government office for trial, and the case file was sent to the Beijing Punishment Department for review, and the emperor approved the execution. A dozen or even dozens of parties, prisoners, witnesses and their relatives were sent between all levels of government in the province at a very high cost. Local governments simply cannot afford it.
Tell me about the case of Xu Wenjing during the Jiajing period. On the night of June 30, 2011 in Jiaqing, a major case occurred in Tai'an County, Shandong Province, located at the foot of Mount Tai. A gang of robbers broke into the home of the rich man Xu Wenxuan at night, and the family ding counterattacked with firearms, and the robbers retreated. Afterwards, it was found that Ding Bai Yongzhu was dead. The next day, Xu Wenhuan went to the county seat to report the case. Three days later, Wang Rubi of Zhixian County personally went to Xu's house for investigation. Wang Rubi then induced Xu Wenxuan to say: "If you are the masters, it is enough to kill the hired workers and only sentence them to imprisonment, not to mention that your family is rich and can pay money to atone for your sins." Why pretend to be a theft and commit a felony? Obviously wanting to slander Liang as a thief, Xu Wenwenwen was born into a rich family and knew this kind of doorway in the officialdom at that time. After Wang Rubi left, he immediately entered the city, found his friend Vice Admiral Tai'an, and through him paid Wang Rubi a bribe of 3,000 taels of silver. Unexpectedly, Wang Rubi not only refused to accept the silver, but also detained Xu Wenhuan. Xu Wenxuan heard the sound of the wind and fled home overnight. However, for Xu Wenhuan, there was good news soon. The capture of two suspicious men, Yang Jinzhong and Zheng Erbiao, in Licheng County, Jinan Province, confessed that they had accompanied their accomplices Wang Dazhuang and Wang Sanzhuang and eleven others to rob Xu Wenxuan's family of Silver Two and Clothing in Tai'an on June 30, and shot and killed his family warrior Bai Yongzhu with a shotgun. The Licheng raiders obtained a robe and two pawn tickets from them, both of which were obtained from the Xu family's robbery and sharing of the stolen goods. The scribe of the execution room in Licheng County had an old friendship with Xu Wenxuan, so he informed Xu Wenhuan of this matter. Xu Wenxuan received the letter, immediately rushed to the provincial capital to confess the stolen goods, and copied the confession of the second thief, and went to the criminal case in charge of a provincial criminal case to complain about the injustice of Wang Rubi of the county's Zhixian County.
Unexpectedly, Xu Wenhuan's luck was not good. Cheng Guoren, who was then an envoy to Shandong, was Wang Rubi's fellow countryman, and he had served in the Hanlin Academy, and his eldest son was also a township and a second test in the same year, which can be described as a good family and one heart. He ordered Dai Qi of Zhixian County, Changqing County, to carry a warrant to Tai'an for trial with Wang Rubi. Wang Rubi said Xu Wenyi, if you don't have a ghost in your heart, why did you bribe me 3,000 taels, it is clear that you killed the family. Cheng Guoren learned of Wang Rubi's refusal to bribe, and became more and more convinced of his claims, so he sent Xu Wenhuan to the jinan prefect for strict trial. Hu Zufu, the prefect of Jinan, adhered to Cheng Guoren's intention to extort confessions by torture, and finally beat him into confession. Xu Wenhuan was sentenced to "the law of parents beating and killing hired workers" and was intended to be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment with a sentence of imprisonment, and a group of robbers were given a light sentence. The Criminal Investigation Department rejected it, holding that there were doubts. The Xu family scattered their family wealth, Xu Wenxuan's brother entered Beijing and reported to the Metropolitan Inspection Yuan, Jiajing was shocked, and sent Wen Chenghui as an envoy to Shandong to accept Xu Wenxuan's case.
Wen Chenghui arrived at his post, and the facts of the case were clarified. Wang Rubi falsely accused Liang of being a thief, and Xu Wenhuan was not guilty. Cheng Guoren obstructed from this, first sending Wen Chenghui to provide disaster relief, but was rejected. The second trick was to find someone to frame Wen Chenghui, and Jiajing dismissed Wen Chenghui from his post and ordered Tong Huai to take over as an envoy to Shandong. Cheng Guoren immediately asked to recuse himself from Xu Wenxuan's case, and Tong Huai tried it on his behalf.
Cheng Guoren first transferred Wang Guo, the prefect of Wuding Province, for retrial. Wang Guoyin, who had been appreciated by Wen Chenghui, refused to echo Cheng Guoren and still reported it according to Wen Chenghui's original plan. Cheng Guoren removed Wang Guo from his post and sent Yang Shichang, the prefect of Dengzhou, to try him. Yang Shichang is also a person approved by Wen Chenghui, and after arriving in Jinan, he only sat in one hall, saying that he could not get sick, and it dragged on for more than a month. Cheng Guoren had no choice but to conspire with Tong Huai and order a trusted official to act as the governor of Jinan Province. The new judge tortured the offender to extract a confession and taught the confession to be false.
At this time, Xu Wenhuan escaped from prison and went directly to the capital to file a complaint, and the second Beijing prosecution. When the Jiaqing Emperor saw Xu Wenxuan's grievances, he sent Wenfu, a servant of the Qin Dynasty Punishment Department, and others to take Xu Wenxuan back to Shandong and retry the case in its entirety. Cheng Guoren had no choice but to throw away the bodyguard car, slightly delete Wen Chenghui's draft, and use Tong Huai's name as a draft. Wen Fu and the others went to Jinan, and after the interrogation, they released Xu Wenhuan and beheaded Wang Dazhuang and others according to the law of bandits. The first-instance judge Wang Rubi was sent to Xinjiang, and the other officials who undertook the preliminary trial were dismissed from their posts and demoted according to the discussion of Cheng Guoren and Tong Huai.
Once refuted, twice Beijing controlled, and finally the truth came out. It can be seen how important the assessment setting of KPIs and the problem of budget are.