Liang Tianlai’s personal experience
Believe in Feng Shui, this is where the shocking case started
Liang Tianlai was the victim of the "Nine Lives Strange Injustice", and the perpetrator was his cousin Ling Guixing. Ling Guixing's father, Ling Zongke, was the uncle-in-law of Liang Tianlai's father, Liang Chaoda. Uncle Lang and his uncle opened a silk and satin shop in Nanxiong, Guangdong in their early years, and the shop's business was booming. Later, Ling Zongke had some savings and returned to the provincial capital to enjoy his old age. The store business continued to be managed by Liang Chaoda. Soon, Ling Zongke and Liang Chaoda died of illness one after another, and the store business gradually declined. Liang Chaoda had two sons, the eldest son Tianlai and the second son Junlai. Ling Zongke left only one son, Mingguixing. After discussion between the three of them, the shop closed and each of them looked for a way out. Liang Tianlai and his brothers returned to the provincial capital and opened a "Tianhe" candy shop in Bafu, while Ling Guixing wanted to pursue an imperial examination career. Originally, the matter had come to an end, and the old cousins were at peace with each other.
Ling Guixing failed in his first attempt and actually believed in Feng Shui. He found a Feng Shui master named Ma Banxian and went to the Ling family's ancestral grave in Tan Village, Panyu to see the Feng Shui. Ma Banxian believes that the ancestral tomb of the Ling family has exposed writing on the east side, fierce officials on the west side, towering Xuanwu in the back, flat Suzaku in the front, and solid surroundings. There should be one champion and three Jinshi. Gongsheng and scholars can continue throughout the generations. Ling Guixing is excited The heart is full of joy. But Ma Banxian also said: It is a pity that there is a "stone chamber" in front of it (Guangzhou people call granite stone granite, and houses built with granite are "stone chambers". For example, the Gothic-style church located on Yide Road in Guangzhou City is commonly known as "stone chamber"). If it is removed from the evil position, it will be perfect. The "Stone Chamber" is the property of Liang Tianlai's family. Ling Guixing and Liang Tianlai negotiated to buy it at a high price. The "Stone Room" was built by Liang Tianlai's father during his lifetime to store valuables and prevent theft. In addition to using stones for the house and the ground, sand piles 1.2 feet deep were dug around the ground and there were three doors. Father Liang confessed many times during his lifetime that no matter what his family background was, he would not be allowed to demolish or sell it within three generations. Liang Tianlai declined Ling Guixing's request. A shocking case started from this.
To kill people by colluding with gangsters
In order to occupy the "Stone Chamber", Ling Guixing conspired with his uncle Ling Zongkong, cousin Ou Juexing and others, and decided to collude with Lin Da and a group of gangsters , started their criminal actions in the name of robbery.
One night, Ling Guixing and others divided the dozens of people who had gathered into four groups: the first group of people set off more than ten baskets of firecrackers all night long, covering up the sounds of robbery and murder with the sound of firecrackers; The second group of people used "stuffy incense" to fume out all the watchmen and shedmen who were on duty or in shifts; the third group of people were responsible for receiving the government personnel who came after hearing the news, and falsely claimed that the Ling family was for elimination. They just set off firecrackers for "Yin Qi" and then treated them to a feast. The fourth group of people went directly to the Liang family in the name of robbery, intending to capture the Liang Tianlai brothers and kill them after Ling Guixing confirmed them.
Unexpectedly, the two brothers Liang Tianlai returned to Guangzhou "Tianhe" Sugar Store before the incident.
Liang Tianlai’s family members were shocked when they heard about the robbery. In panic, they all hid in the stone room. There was a group of robbers in Lin Da who used hammers to break open the first wooden door. They burned the second iron door with firewood and charcoal. After the iron door was burned until it deformed, they used hammers and axes to open it. The third solid stone door cannot be opened. The bandit leader Lin Dayou came up with a poisonous plan, using tung oil and charcoal, and blowing the poisonous gas produced by burning into the cracks of the door with a bellows...
The next day, brother Liang Tianlai hurried back after hearing the news and reported it to the official. Officials rushed to the scene of the crime, hired masons to cut open the stone door, and finally carried out eight people. Grandmother Ling was still alive, so she immediately gave her life with ginger soup and boiled water. All the other seven people died, including Liang Junlai's wife who was pregnant. This serious case of seven corpses and eight deaths quickly spread throughout the provincial capital.
After years of life and death, he was finally redressed
In order to prevent Liang Tianlai from filing a lawsuit, Ling Guixing spent tens of thousands of taels of silver to bribe the county magistrate, magistrate, inspection, Fuyuan, Taiwan, and Zhi Taiwan and other officials at all levels. In the past few years, Liang Tianlai had encountered obstacles in redressing his grievances. He became sick with anger and almost died. Liang Tian came to Beijing to complain, but was intercepted and killed by five groups of people sent by Ling Guixing's cousin Ou Juexing. The witness of the case, the beggar Zhang Feng, refused to be bribed with money and was crushed to death, resulting in a strange injustice of nine lives in one case.
Liang Tianlai escaped death and finally arrived in Beijing and submitted a complaint to the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
Chen Shi, the censor of the capital, saw that the case was serious and involved many officials, so he did not dare to deal with it immediately. One day, Chen Shi met Kong Dapeng in the court room who was responsible for supervising the Yellow River water conservancy project and returned to Beijing (Kong once handled the case in Guangdong, but was transferred before the case was concluded). When Kong learned that the case was unjust, he urged Chen Shi to report it. Emperor Yongzheng was very angry after receiving the memorial, and immediately appointed his ministers Li Shimei and Kong Dapeng as imperial ministers to make a special trip to Guangdong to investigate the case.
When the two imperial ministers arrived in Jiangxi, Li Shimei met his nephew Li Feng, who had been used by Ling Guixing and was coming to surrender. Li Feng suggested that the imperial envoy should not go directly to Guangzhou, the provincial capital, to arrest those involved in the case, because Ling Guixing had already bribed officials at all levels and could easily leak the news. Ling Guixing was preparing to flee abroad, and there were as many as thirty or forty people involved in the case, making it difficult to catch them all. Li Feng proposed that he write a letter saying that the imperial envoy promised to be accommodating, but the confession must be consistent. When Ling Guixing and his group gathered to discuss confessions, they took the opportunity to arrest them all. The two imperial envoys adopted Li Feng's strategy. When they arrived in Shaoguan, Guangdong, they ordered Wan Fu, the commander-in-chief of Shaoguan, to appoint a capable subordinate to arrest the criminal according to the list. After Wanfu received the order, he immediately assigned garrison Ye Jian to perform tasks in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, and Tancun, Panyu.
The entire arrest process went very smoothly, and the police arrested more than 30 criminals. The main criminal Ling Guixing was sentenced to death. Thirteen people including Ou Juexing and Lin Dayou were beheaded, and 15 other criminals were hanged. Some of the officials involved in the case were sent to the army, some were demoted and transferred, and some were handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for processing. Officials who can decide the case immediately will investigate the facts before handling the case. Feng Shui master Ma Banxian was also sentenced to five hundred boards, "shackles" (jailed with wooden shackles) for one month, and "deqi" (deported back to his place of origin). On the day when the verdict was announced, all the criminals were taken to Tianzi Pier in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, and executed in public. This case of a strange injustice involving nine lives was finally cleared up.