Historically, the most famous story of letting prisoners go home is the "Tang Taizong Indulgence Prisoner". In the sixth year of Zhenguan, in order to calm the people's hearts, Tang Taizong had a sudden idea, released three hundred and ninety death row prisoners home to reunite with their families, and agreed to return in the autumn of the following year to serve their sentences. As a result, all the prisoners returned to prison on their own as scheduled, and Emperor Taizong praised them for their sincerity and trustworthiness, so they pardoned the capital crime. Bai Juyi's poem "Seven Virtues Dance" wrote: "Three thousand resentful women were released from the palace, and four hundred death row prisoners returned to prison." "That's what it says.
During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, there was also a story of local officials returning home for the New Year, which was comparable to the "Tang Taizong indulgence prisoner", that is, "Chen Yao released prisoners". This story is still widely circulated in Taiwan and chen's hometown of Leizhou Peninsula, and is popular among the population. It has been adapted into TV dramas and dramas, and is deeply loved by audiences. This incident is recorded in Liu Shixin's "Cantonese Crumbs" of the Qing Dynasty: "(Chen Yao) transferred to Taiwan, and its incorruptibility was like gutian. The prisoners are still at home, and the government has revealed the participation and the prisoners are all returned to prison. ”
In September of the 42nd year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Chen Was transferred from Gutian, Fujian to ZhiXian county, Taiwan. In the early Qing Dynasty, Taiwan was still in a semi-civilized state. The government regarded the Mountain People and other ethnic minorities as barbarians, colluding with the local local tycoons and inferior gentry, wantonly fishing and meating the people, indiscriminately paying taxes, and taking people's lives, so the people's anger boiled over. The local Fan Society and the Civil Society were in turmoil one after another. The former Renzhi County took high-handed measures to arrest and imprison three hundred innocent people on the charge of rent resistance.
Chen Yao made a private visit all the way on the way to office, and he already knew that it was in it. After arriving in office, he carefully reviewed the case file and did not hesitate to enter the cell as a doctor to understand the truth. After many investigations and evidence collection, it was known that these prisoners were originally good citizens, and they were innocently detained as prisoners because they could not pay the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes of the promiscuous faction. Chen Yu immediately wrote to the prefect to demand the release of the prisoners, but the approval was delayed. Day after day, waiting until the twenty-seventh day of the waxing moon to receive the official documents, the prefect rejected Chen Yao's submission on the grounds that he could not indulge in "shengfan" and breed people.
At the time of the new year, Chen Yao sympathized with the innocent imprisonment of the people, who were filthy and sick in prison, while his parents, wives and children were helpless and cried day and night. Chen Yao, who loves the people like a son, resolutely disregarded his career gains and losses and personal safety, and Chinese New Year's Eve a notice on the day of the release of the prisoners to go home and reunite with his family.
After hearing the report, the prefect was furious and demanded that Chen Yao be brought to justice on the grounds that Chen Yao had opened a prison and released the criminal without authorization, violating the law of the land. Soon, the imperial court did indeed send personnel to investigate and handle the case, and if the situation was true, it would not be tolerated. After the news spread, the released prisoners and their families went to tell each other one after another, and they all decided to return to prison and await trial immediately, preferring to go to prison rather than involve "Chen Qingtian" one after another. The first thing Chincha did when he arrived was to go straight to the cell to count the prisoners, but there were two more people in the counting. It turned out that one of these two benevolent brothers was afraid that the father would not be able to top the son, and the other was afraid that the brother would not come to the top. After careful investigation, Chincha was amazed and very moved, and decided not to hold Chen Yao responsible for the crime, and to bring his moral integrity to the imperial court. Later, the imperial court ordered the release of all innocents. Since then, the deeds of Chen Yao's release of criminals have been rumored to be beautiful talks on both sides of the taiwan strait.
Chen Yao (1656-1718), Zi Wenhuan, Meichuan, Leizhou, Guangdong, Qing Kangxi Thirty-three Years (1694) Jinshi, successively served as GutianZhi County, Taiwan Zhi County, Chief of the Punishment Department, Punishment Department Wailang, Bingbu Langzhong, Sichuan Admiral Xuezheng, Taixia Bingbei Dao, Biaoyuan (Hunan) Inspector, Fujian Inspector and Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. Chen Yao was praised by the Kangxi Emperor as "the outstanding person in the clean and honest" because of his honesty, hard work, self-respect, and love for the people, and was posthumously awarded the title of Libu Shangshu and given the title of "Qingduan".