Why didn’t the death row prisoners who were released by Li Shimin go home for the New Year just escape?

Article | Feiyu tells the history

Li Shimin launched the Xuanwu Gate Incident, stepped on the blood of his brothers, and carried the reputation of being unfilial to ascend the throne that made countless people crazy. .

There is no doubt that Li Shimin was in the wrong position, but there is no doubt that he was a good emperor.

If Li Jiancheng really became the emperor, then the history of the Tang Dynasty would be completely rewritten. Perhaps there would not be the only empress Wu Zetian in history, and perhaps there would be one less prosperous age - the Zhenguan Period. rule.

Li Shimin became emperor and created a prosperous age.

This has led to a very low evaluation of Li Shimin in history. If it can be summed up in one sentence, it is that the merits outweigh the faults. After all, the throne is subject to change. Who can be the emperor, for the common people? It doesn't matter, what matters is that they can live a good life.

Obviously, the prosperous age created by Li Shimin allowed the people at that time to enjoy peace.

Perhaps Li Shimin also deeply felt that if he did not make some political achievements, he would be black and shiny in history. In order to make himself more popular among the people, Li Shimin did a lot of good deeds.

As Bai Juyi sang in "Dance of Seven Virtues":

Three thousand resentful women were released from the palace, and four hundred prisoners on death row returned to prison.

This is a summary of two things that Li Shimin did that won the hearts of the people. The former is about Li Shimin releasing the maids in the palace, giving them freedom, and letting them find their own happiness. .

The latter means that Li Shimin released 390 death row prisoners to go home to visit relatives, and then interrogated them when they returned in the autumn. As a result, all of them returned the next year, and no one escaped.

Why didn't these prisoners take the opportunity to escape, but instead went back to die? What happened? Are these prisoners not afraid of death, or is Li Shimin's majesty too high for them to not return? What happened to these prisoners in the end?

Let’s take a look. Li Shimin: The prisoners are too pitiful. Let them go home before being beheaded

After Li Shimin took over, he attached great importance to criminal cases across the country, especially beheading cases, which had to be reviewed personally. They would only be executed later. It was precisely because of this caution that there were not many death row prisoners during Li Shimin's reign. An emperor who managed everything on a day-to-day basis could do this, which is enough to be called a wise emperor.

In 630 AD, Li Shimin was in his fourth year as emperor. In this year, there were only 29 prisoners sentenced to death in the country. Two years later, at the end of the sixth year of Zhenguan, these prisoners There were 390 such prisoners (historical data also say it was 290). Of course, this does not mean that the security of the Tang Dynasty has deteriorated. Even if there were 390 people, they were very inconspicuous at the time.

When Li Shimin personally tried and reviewed these cases, he also went to the prison to see the prisoners. Li Shimin was very sentimental, because the eyes of these prisoners showed despair, which was similar to that of the people outside who were preparing to celebrate the New Year. Compared with excitement, they are so pitiful.

These prisoners were originally scheduled to be executed in the autumn of the following year. Their time on earth was only a few months. No matter how heinous things they had done before, Li Shimin decided to let them be executed before they were beheaded. I'll go back home and have a look, but the premise is that these people must come back to die before asking for death. Minister: Your Majesty, you must not act like this. These people may not come back.

When Li Shimin was about to issue this imperial edict, many ministers immediately expressed their opposition because these prisoners were extremely evil people. Let them Going home will undoubtedly put these people back into society. Regardless of whether they can cause riots, these people will definitely take the opportunity to escape. If you want to catch them again, it will take a lot of effort.

Li Shimin didn't take it seriously after hearing this. After all, he had already opened Chrysostom, so there was no reason to take it back. So he ignored the objections of the ministers and asked officials to register the prisoners one by one, and then let them go. Everyone went home.

Time passed very quickly, and in a blink of an eye, the appointed day for these prisoners was coming. At that time, many people thought that there would be very few prisoners who would come back. After all, they would be questioned and executed if they came back. He might still live a little longer, so he waited to see Li Shimin's joke.

What everyone did not expect was that all the prisoners came back on the appointed day, and none of them escaped. Li Shimin felt very touched, and of course he was very proud, so Chrysostom opened his mouth again , all the prisoners who should have been executed were pardoned.

Perhaps these prisoners never expected that they had already arranged their posthumous affairs, but in the end they were freed. They all kowtowed to express gratitude and shouted that Li Shimin was a wise king. Prisoner: We don’t want to go back, we have to go back

Why did these prisoners go back to die and no one escaped? This matter is incredible when you think about it carefully. After all, in the face of death, everything They are all insignificant. Before these prisoners were imprisoned, they must have been extremely vicious people who committed unforgivable mistakes. It is unrealistic to expect them to have a high level of consciousness.

But they did go back, otherwise "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", "New Book of Tang", "Old Book of Tang" or Bai Juyi's "Seven Virtues Dance" would not have recorded it. So what is hidden behind it?

Let’s put aside Li Shimin’s kindness and simply say whether it was possible for the prisoners to hide at that time. In fact, there was no possibility.

Although during the Tang Dynasty, it was not possible to collect all the information of a person by simply entering the ID card, but the household registration system was also quite complete at that time. In addition, monks who could escape could not escape from the temple, and they could not leave the temple. It is impossible to drag the entire family into hiding in the deep mountains and forests.

In addition, although these prisoners were released home, they were inevitably monitored. After all, with the development of the post station system in the Tang Dynasty, the information of these prisoners was sent back to their local officials so that they could closely monitor them. The whereabouts were so easy that these prisoners did not dare not go back.

Of course, there is another possibility, that is, Li Shimin wanted to put on a show to the world. He may have made an agreement with these prisoners when he sent them home. If they are willing to come back on time, their sins will be forgiven. If they don't come back, they will be punished by the Nine Clans.

In this way, these prisoners who knew that they would not be executed would of course go back on time to "accept death." Ouyang Xiu of the Northern Song Dynasty also clearly pointed out in "The Theory of Indulgent Prisoners" that this was a political scam. The deal made between Li Shimin and the prisoner, in this way, Li Shimin gained a reputation and the prisoner received a pardon, it was a win-win situation.

Ouyang Xiu's conclusion is very likely, because Li Shimin had not been on the throne for long at that time, and the people still remembered his brother-killing and ascended the throne. Li Shimin wanted to win people's hearts by releasing prisoners. Then improve their image in the minds of the people.

It can be said that Li Shimin did succeed. Even though his motives were impure, and even though it was probably just a show, the prisoners returned on time and were pardoned by Li Shimin, which still became a good story at the time. , Li Shimin's "benevolence", after this incident, was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and was loved by the people.

What do you think about this?

References: "Zizhi Tongjian", "Old Book of Tang", "New Book of Tang", "Long Prisoner Theory", etc.

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