Since ancient times, dynasties have been determined by wars and have been revived by criminal law. As a rule and regulation, the law is not only a weapon for maintaining social order and preventing criminal turmoil, but also a rule of activity that people need to rely on for their daily production and rest. Therefore, the penal law can also be regarded as the cornerstone of the stability of a dynastic regime. With the change of dynasties and the change of times, the content of the law is constantly adjusting and changing. Especially in the era of feudal dynasties, in order to prevent people from committing adultery or plotting to usurp the throne, the legal system was quite harsh and even cruel. Different from the scientific and technological means of modern civilization, in ancient times, it was necessary to use severe punishment to deter subjects and make them dare not have different intentions.
Speaking of the harsh punishments of ancient times, people always can't help but think of the cannon burning punishment invented by the fox spirit Su Daji, the Shang Martin Che Split, Sun Tzu's Punishment, the Qin State Inscription And Appeasement Punishment in the Spring and Autumn And Warring States Period, and the Palace Punishment and Ren Yan punishment of the Han Dynasty. In short, the means of criminal law can be described as ever-changing, and it was only in the Sui and Tang dynasties that a criminal law system based on the five punishments was formed, which has been influential to this day. Other appalling criminal laws, such as the Ming Dynasty's Execution of a Thousand Knives and the Ten Great Tortures of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, were mostly the products of the poison of the feudal era. In any case, exile is probably the most comfortable form of criminal law one can think of compared to these criminal laws. But is this really the case?
In film and television dramas or movies, you can often see that when the emperor wants to kill a person, but when he is undecided, there will be a peacemaker who will come out and say, otherwise sentence exile, eh, the emperor who was still having a headache immediately issued a holy will when he heard that it was exile. It can be seen that exile is certainly the best means to compromise and save life, but it is also a road of uncertain life and death, in a common saying, life and death are determined by fate.
In ancient times, traffic was not as extensive as modern roads, and although there were only a few official roads in ancient times, almost everywhere were small roads with lush forests and bamboo or mountain roads with lofty mountains. And the sparse number of pedestrians coupled with the rampant occurrence of wild beasts and thieves, it can be said that the safety hazard is extremely great. If the exiled prisoners go barefoot, it is normal to walk for a few months or a year and a half. Usually, the exiled people are usually preceded by the families of high-ranking officials and nobles or eunuchs, and it is because someone has interceded that they have the opportunity to ask for their lives.
These people are either well-read in poetry or proficient in the art of power and taoism, and each of them has a good skill, but what they have in common is that they are pampered and hard-working, coupled with the whipping and anger of escorting the servants. Therefore, this arduous journey and time span made many people die of exhaustion only halfway through, and Jun did not see Lin Chong as the head of the 800,000 Forbidden Army Sect, but he was also miserable on the way to exile, and he nearly died several times.
In fact, there is a misunderstanding here that the ancient exile was mainly male, which is actually wrong. Although the ancient criminal law was harsh, it could not punish the doctor," which was a conventional unspoken rule, because exile undermined the dignity of the official's family, so most of the offending officials could actually change their sentences. Only those who fought against political opponents or angered Long Yan could have won this honor and remain exiled by their families. Therefore, most of the objects of exile in ancient times were mainly middle- and lower-level petty officials, and the proportion of women and children was quite large. And these women and children, similar to those described above, are people who cannot travel far. But the servants found a new mystery in it, whenever there were male prisoners who needed to be exiled, most of them pushed and shoved each other, and when there were female prisoners who needed to be exiled, even if they were thousands of miles away, they were like cats and mice. Why is that?
First, interest-driven
Although officials can change their sentences because of their status or because of their status or up and down, his wives and children will suffer greatly and be exiled to a place where there is no one to live, and this is likely to be eternally separated in this life. Therefore, these officials almost all scattered their family wealth, up and down, and gave enough benefits to the escort servants, hoping that they would take good care of their families for the sake of money, hoping to one day be able to reunite their families.
As we all know, yasquitty is a chore and is not high. In particular, the service of escorting exiled prisoners is a non-mainstream role in the feudal dynasty, but it is also these non-flowing roles, once they have the task of escorting, they become feudal officials who control life and death, not only officials at all levels come forward to intercede, but also the "hard fees" sent by the families of prisoners, which are often their one-year or several years.
Don't think that exile is all walking, some can hire cars and horses and other means of transportation. And the servants are also happy to spend money on these families to hire, one can reduce the risk of postponement, and the other is that they can enjoy the enjoyment without too much wind. The most important thing is that women and children, as vulnerable groups in ancient times, had too low a survival coefficient in the environment of extremely poor road conditions in ancient times, so the family members would increase the amount of "hard work fees" and let these servants take care of them more carefully.
The servants are all mixed with rice, and those who can come up with a large price to let them concentrate on their work can naturally easily clean them up. Therefore, the escort servants generally did not dare to make a mistake, but only wanted to end up with two harvests of human kindness and money. Therefore, the servants all felt that this was a good job and rushed to do it.
Second, worry and effort
Although it seems that escorting prisoners is simple, in fact, escorting servants also bears a high risk. It is not like film and television works, casually let people run away or accidentally die. Therefore, in order to prevent them from escaping and committing suicide or other accidents, they will be installed with shackles, ankle chains, iron roasts and other torture devices in advance. Women are already relatively weak, and after adding torture devices, they are even more powerless to get out. Therefore, it can only be obedient and obedient, honestly follow the servants.
As for some friends, they will say that there is no such thing as a jianghu haojie who comes to the rescue or something. First of all, the servants are all old fritters who walk the rivers and lakes, and the general situation is all in their hands, and secondly, the servants are equipped with weapons, unless they are the kind of stunts that kill the enemy a hundred steps away, otherwise before you get closer, the knife is already on the prisoner's neck. Finally, although there are many dangerous and strong people on the road, there are still few gangsters who dare to rob the officials and families who are in charge of the open fire. Maybe you robbed the prisoners at this time, and in the afternoon there will be a local garrison to flatten your cottage.
Since prisoners already know their place of exile before they set out, this known sense of fear and unknown strangeness will continue to destroy the prisoner's heart during the long journey. And the female prisoners were originally delicate and sensitive and sentimental, so they would also silently march to the destination like a fate, and did not dare to have superfluous thoughts, and the servants not only received a large amount of money, but also could be escorted with peace of mind, and the workload could be described as greatly reduced, just like the tolerance and travel with the United States.
3. Precious freedom
From the perspective of modern people, ancient infrastructure was poor and road traffic was unsafe, and medical and dietary conditions were very backward. This kind of work of walking for months and coming back for months is simply unimaginable and unbearable. This misunderstanding is actually caused by our preconceptions about modern conditions.
We must know that ancient times were a class society, and the concept of class was linked to material and spiritual civilization such as dignity, wealth, and freedom. In addition to the difficulties of survival, even the people at the bottom want to move around is whimsical. Don't feel unrealistic, this is a normal social phenomenon in ancient times when productivity was backward, and it was normal for men and women to work hard all their lives and still have enough to eat and wear. Although the servants were of low status, they were not in the bureaucratic order, and they were often called back and forth by five or six drinks. However, it is often possible to receive expatriate assignments such as escorting prisoners.
Escort missions may seem dreary, but in fact they can be rewarded with both material and spiritual rewards. For example, in order to make some personal respects, shangguans will personally give explanations to the service feet, for example, escorting the service feet in front of the prisoners and the families of prisoners will receive courtesy that they cannot feel on weekdays, as well as money and money, food, drink and entertainment equipment, and so on. The most important thing is that the servants can buy escorts to experience a sense of authority that is unique and full of words. No more looking at other people's faces and being guided by others.
Once the escorted prisoners arrive at their destination within the deadline, they can leave with peace of mind after handing over the official seal. Along the way, as long as the return date is accurate, then the white flowers and silver in the pocket and the unrestrained free body, how dashing you want to be. Like a landlord who is extremely rich and free to do as he pleases.
I am Maple Fall
Pay attention to me The old driver takes you not to get lost~
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(Figure invasion, joint deletion, thank you.) ）