Original Part 2 of the Ming Dynasty’s own criminal law: the Imperial Guards and the Sovereign Prisoners
During the Wanli period of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty (1573 AD to 1620 AD), those who made suggestions to the court or disobeyed the mining supervisors who made money for the emperor were easily sent to prison by Zhu Yijun. .
For this reason, the Criminal Division gave an explanation to Yang Yingwen in the matter:
"Supervision Bureau (the abbreviation of a local governor with the power to supervise prefectures and counties; the Ming Dynasty's Chief Envoy and Inspector's Envoy) Because they have the power to supervise officials, they are called supervisors), county magistrates (prefects in the Ming Dynasty), county magistrates, and ordinary people. Although more than 150 people were arrested and imprisoned in Zhenfusi Prison. They were tortured and interrogated, but they were still not transferred to the judicial department. The Zhenfusi Prison was tightly guarded and inaccessible to water and fire. The weather was hot, causing the air of epidemic disease to fill the prison. "
Jinyiwei commanded. The envoy Luo Sigong also said:
"According to the previous practice, the hot trial will be held every year, and the time will usually be scheduled before Xiaoman. Now, the hot trial system has not been implemented for two years. Zhenfu There were more than 200 prisoners in Sida Prison. They were detained for a long time without any decision, and many of them expressed their injustice by throwing tiles. ”
By the way, let’s talk about the hot trials.
Hot trial is a system implemented in ancient China in summer to relieve the congestion of prisons and reduce the occurrence of epidemics, or to grant exemptions or bail to criminals.
"Book of Rites·Yue Ling" says:
"The moon of Yuxia is used to cut off thin punishments, small crimes, and light ties."
Ming Dynasty The hot review comes from this.
The hot trial system was first introduced in the second year of Yongle (1404 AD), the reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning, the hot trial only punished minor offenders; later, it became slightly more relaxed, and anyone below the level of a fugitive could be ordered to be released from prison and wait.
In order to understand the details of the hot trial season, let’s talk about Xiaoman again.
Xiaoman is one of the twenty-four solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar. It is the second solar term in summer. Its meaning is that the grains of summer-ripened crops have begun to fill up, but are not yet mature. They are only Xiaoman, not yet full. ; The specific time is generally between May 20 and 22 of each year in the Gregorian calendar. The specific standard is based on when the sun reaches 60° of the celestial longitude.
In addition, even Lu Kui of Zhenfusi reported to Shanghui about the situation in Zhenfusi Prison:
“The prisoners in Zhenfusi Prison are very concerned about the situation. The detention was so resentful that in order to express dissatisfaction and protest, some people even cut off their fingers with a knife.”
(We have seen news reports that some Koreans cut off their fingers with a knife in order to express their protest against the Japanese. At this point, we know that the Chinese had already pioneered this in the Ming Dynasty. Can we say that the Chinese also had backbone? )
The imperial court No response was given.
However, at this time, the evil trend of accusations in the world has gradually weakened, and relatively few ministers have been arrested and convicted. By the end of Wanli, even if court officials were arrested and detained, the treatment was relatively lenient. As a result, the number of officials and civilians detained in Jinyiwei Prison gradually decreased.
During the Apocalypse Period of Emperor Xizong (Zhu Youxiao) of the Ming Dynasty (1620 AD to 1627 AD), Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, and Xu Xianchun, the governor, were the adopted sons of the eunuch Wei Zhongxian. Their party members Sun Yunhe and Yang Huan, Cui Yingyuan and others assisted him in his evil deeds and tortured Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others (the torture was brutal, cruel and dehumanizing, as is recorded in many historical materials and will not be repeated here).
At that time, the trial period was also limited for those found guilty of embezzlement, and responsibilities were supervised according to the period. If the person under trial fails to confess or admit within the specified time limit, the official school responsible for the interrogation will be punished with a cane. Therefore, the official schools used all possible means during interrogation. The general trial period is two days. If the person under trial fails to pay enough gold and silver within two days, he will be sentenced to full sentence in prison.
The so-called full torture refers to wooden shackles, shackles, sticks, 拶[zǎn] finger (putting a shackle on the finger, and then tightening it tightly, which is an old torture method), clamping stick (using three sticks) Connected wooden sticks squeeze the victim's feet, causing severe pain and bleeding on the ground. All five torture instruments are used.
During the torture process, all five poisons were administered, and the flesh and blood of those who were tortured were all ulcerated. The sound of shouts and screams filled the sky. They were in unbearable pain, and they were tossing and turning in vain.
In this scene, Xu Xianchun still yelled and scolded, looking calm. Xu Xianchun always followed Wei Zhongxian's thoughts and made a decision regarding the final treatment of the guilty. During the interrogation, the person sent by Wei Zhongxian to record the case did not arrive at the scene, and Xu Xianchun never dared to start the interrogation.
At that time, one night, Xu Xianchun ordered that the prisoners in the prison be separated into separate dormitories. After receiving this order, the jailer said:
"Tonight, there will definitely be prisoners who stand on the wall."
The so-called wall stand is a special term in prison, which means "death" ".
The next day, there was news of Yang Lian's death.
Zuo Guangdou and others were chained with their heads in prison and then pulled to death.
At that time, every person who died in prison would be kept in a state of rest for many days before being wrapped in reed mats and dragged out of the cell door. When the weather is hot in summer, the dead often rot and get maggots, which is extremely miserable. Because events in prison are very confidential, the family members of the deceased do not know the specific time of their relative's death.
After Zhu You, Emperor Sizong of the Ming Dynasty, arrested and executed Wei Zhongxian’s gang members, the children who were wrongly accused and persecuted to death looked at the prison gate and screamed, kowtowed, and wrote memorials to pay homage to their relatives.
This situation was extremely tragic. After Zhu Youjian heard about it, he felt pity for it.
Ever since the great eunuch Liu Jin instituted the punishment of flailing during the Wuzong period of the Ming Dynasty (1505 AD to 1521 AD), this cruel method has been used in Jinyiwei Prison to torture prisoners. .
The so-called standing cannon is a torture instrument, also known as a standing cage; it is long in front, short in the back, and the long end touches the ground. There is a mouth on the cage to catch the prisoners' necks, and they stand day and night until they die; there are also cases where they first put cushions under their feet, secure them around their necks, and then remove the cushions, causing the prisoners to suffocate to death while hanging in the air.
During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial censor Zhu Yinghu wrote a book about the cruelty of yoke and asked the court to abolish this punishment.
The court did not respond.
When Wei Zhongxian became a torturer, he intensified his abuse and changed the torture shackles used to set up shackles into large shackles, which further dehumanized him.
In addition, during this period, punishments such as breaking the spine, dropping the fingers, and stabbing the heart were also created, which were really cruel and inhumane.
Zhu Youjian once asked the people around him:
"What is the yoke used for?" The eunuch who was in charge of the imperial examination, Emperor Sizong of the Ming Dynasty, dismissed Wei Zhongxian's case and was dismissed from his post. He replied: "The yoke is used to punish the treacherous and evil people!"
After Zhu Youjian listened, he looked serious and displeased, and said:
"Even so, using a yoke for torture still makes people feel pitiful!"
Because Zhu Youjian In this way, Wei Zhongxian was probably aware of his situation at that time, so he was still afraid and restrained.
The scourge of Dongchang in the Ming Dynasty reached its extreme when Wei Zhongxian came to power.
However, throughout the Ming Dynasty, there was almost no time when Dongchang and Jinyiwei were not involved in each other and colluded with each other. When dealing with prison sentences, Dongchang was often able to get explicit or implicit information from the emperor about the severity of the sentence, which was often completely in line with the emperor's wishes. Therefore, there are no ties in the inner court. As for the outer court, if the court official fails to check the relevant prison cases, then the Jin Yiwei will take action to investigate and apprehend the court official. Subsequently, the captured court officials were sent to the Northern Division of the Zhenfu Division, where they were severely tortured, secretly interrogated, and finally trained in prison to ensure that the relevant prison sentences were consistent with the inner court's thoughts. After such treatment, the prison sentence will be transferred to the judicial department. Even the cases obtained by Dongchang, after torture and interrogation, will inevitably be handed over to the Town and Prosecution Department for another torture and interrogation, and then handed over to the Criminal Department to prepare the crime.
When Dongchang and Jinyiwei are not evenly matched, the common situation is:
When Dongchang is more powerful, Jinyiwei will be attached to Dongchang; Dongchang is slightly weaker. When the time comes, Jinyiwei will be superior to Dongchang.
During the Jiajing period of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty (1522 AD to 1566 AD), Lu Bing, the commander of the Imperial Guard, arrested Li Bin, the eunuch of Li Bin, and Ma Guang, the eunuch of Dongchang, to discover their secret affairs. Li Bin and Ma Guang They were all tried to death. This was a case that was accomplished because Lu Bing won the favor of Yan Song, the chief minister of the cabinet. It can be seen that the power of Jinyiwei is slightly higher than that of Dongchang at this time. At the same time, it can also be seen that the power of the cabinet ministers at this time was slightly more powerful than that of the mid-level officials in the palace.
Later, the status of Zhongguan became increasingly important, and the status of cabinet ministers was actually lower than that of the eunuchs of Dongchang. At this time, all the Jinyiwei commanders were competing for Dongchang's disciples, and they were all willing to be Dongchang's slaves.
There are generally four ways for promotion and conferment in the Jinyiwei Official School: one is to honor the guards, that is, the children of meritorious officials (multiple military positions); the other is to be sons, that is, to retain the position due to the merits of the father and brother. The third is subjects, that is, passing the imperial examination; the fourth is merit promotion, that is, being awarded the title due to merit during the period of service.
Before the Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty (1522 AD to 1566 AD), the children of civil servants in the imperial court did not bother to serve in the Jinyiwei.
In the early Wanli period of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Shouyou was the son of a famous minister (according to the "Forbidden Guards" in Volume 21 of "Wanli Yehuobian"), Liu Shouyou was a famous minister of the Ming Dynasty, the former Great Sima, Posthumously named Zhuang Xiang, grandson of Liu Tianhe, he was in charge of Jinyiwei. From then on, the children of courtiers were very happy to serve in Jinyiwei.
At that time, the scholar-officials had daily dealings with these people, so they relied heavily on them to help when the prison was in crisis. Liu Shouyou's son Liu Chengxi and Wu Mengming are among the more famous figures.
Zhu Youjian was very suspicious and could not trust his ministers.
The eunuch Wang Dehua led Dongchang and assisted Zhu Youjian with cruelty and ruthlessness.
At that time, Wu Mengming was in charge of the Jinyiwei seal. He would occasionally indulge in the punishment and prison matters, but no matter what, he still had to wait and see what Dongchang's intention was, and he did not dare to Slightly rebellious.
On that day, the governors Liang Qinghong and Qiao Ke used their friends to compare their evil deeds.
In that era, in any gentry's house, there would be some traces of people coming and going under the door. In order to avoid suspicion and avoid disaster, such families would get up very late and open the door very early and quickly. Keep the door tightly closed; most of the time, they don't dare to talk or whisper together.
When a military officer of the Imperial Guard and Banner Army visited someone's home, it was as if they were being robbed by thieves. In the eyes of the Factory Guard School, an official's home is a place for hiding stolen goods. Therefore, as long as an official is targeted, everyone will share in the benefits equally after entering the official school.
It was in this social environment and living atmosphere that those organizations and individuals who plotted to overthrow the Ming Dynasty arranged for spies to sneak into the capital to find out whether the information was true or not; those servants and traders secretly accepted the orders of the uprising groups who were preparing to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. Private activities. In such a situation, even if the public is aware of it, no one will take the initiative to report it to the officials in order to avoid being implicated.
Under this current situation, even those wealthy people who want to live peacefully and live alone cannot do it for a moment. They are terrified, cowered and uneasy, and there is no day for peace.
Those cunning and treacherous people, taking advantage of the chaos, run rampant and ask for help from everywhere. If someone goes against their wishes even slightly, they will write and frame them, fabricate charges, extract chapters and sentences, and extract meanings from words. , frame up with just a few words. As a result, dozens of people were often imprisoned and even died.
After Jiang Cai and Xiong Kaiyuan were imprisoned, Zhu Youjian personally gave instructions and ordered Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, to secretly arrest them. kill.
(As the king of a country, Zhu Youjian cannot be upright, but secretly does these despicable and despicable little actions. He is really a stingy villain. Hanging Meishan is not worthy of his crime. ! )
After Luo Yangxing received Zhu Youjian's decree, he revealed his intention and said: "Jiang Cai and Xiong Kaiyuan, even if they deserve to be punished, If they die, they should also be handed over to the court where they are located, and the prosecutor should be ordered to write down their crimes, so that the world will know clearly the reasons for their crimes. If the emperor secretly sends his ministers to kill them, the people of the world and future generations will say what kind of person the emperor is. Huh? "
Regarding this matter, many ministers happened to speak for Jiang Cai and others, so Jiang Cai and others were not executed immediately, but were detained for a long time.
As far as this matter is concerned, Luo Yangxing still deserves recognition. However, when dealing with other things, Luo Yangxing was also very violent.
The old practice of Jinyiwei is to reward those who have merit. This kind of reward for meritorious service is only applicable after apprehending those with evil intentions. Later on, most of the rewards for meritorious service were fake and fake. There were no standards at all. Among the hundred merits reported, not one was true.
The factory guards were rampant and the officials and the people were in great hardship. Regarding the hardships of the officials and the people, no matter how they made suggestions or appeals, the imperial court would turn a blind eye and be indifferent; no matter how corrupt the laws or how absurd they were, the emperor would immediately accept and obey the requests made by factory guards.
In the early years of Longqing (1567 AD to 1572 AD), Emperor Mu Zong (Zhu Zaihe) of the Ming Dynasty, Ouyang Yijing gave a brief account of the matter and spoke highly of the shortcomings of factory guards, etc., saying:
"It is easy for the servants responsible for arrests to take advantage of their power. Moreover, the rewards and promotions for these people are based on the number of cases they handle and the number of arrests. These people, by virtue of They can show off their ferocious power and claim credit, and falsely accuse others to gain their own benefits. Based on this, there is nothing they cannot do. In the meantime, some robbers have surrendered and can be exempted. They deliberately allow the robbers to implicate innocent people. Civilians came in to increase the number of criminals; they plundered people's legitimate income and property, falsely accused them of being stolen goods, and coerced powerful people in the market as perjury; they secretly forged books, carried them with them, and forged comments in demonic books, using They use false laws to frame innocent people; they never prove people with similar names and arrest them without any clear explanation; when they catch a father, if he complains that his son is filial, they will accuse his son of being disobedient. Therefore, the people who were investigated were called "chǎn" by the common saying. It can also be seen how shocking the poison is. Therefore, I ask the emperor to, from now on. A system must be formulated. For cases that are confidential, serious, or related to the national constitution, the factory guards can, in accordance with the usual practice, submit petitions to the emperor for a ruling. As for those cases where the facts and charges are not clear and have not yet been tried and decided, they must do so. After the Judicial Department drafts the verdict in detail, it will determine whether to give credit to the prosecutors based on the outcome of the case. In addition, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Criminal Justice will have to make inquiries before requesting promotions and rewards. , but after the trial, if it is determined that no crime has been committed, no one can pretend to be a case in order to obtain a reward. As for other lawsuits, the factory security officers are not allowed to intervene, so as not to infringe on the jurisdiction of the judicial department. If officers from the school and the town and government departments torture officials and civilians to serious injuries or even death, the judicial department must be allowed to participate in the investigation and management. If the judicial department condones the concealment and deliberately agrees with the factory guards, the judicial department officials must be allowed to participate in verification. This will make the merits unworthy. If it is consistent with reality, the investigation will naturally be consistent with the facts. Then the unjust prosecution of innocent people and the abuse of criminal law can be eliminated."
Zhu Zaihe did not listen to Ouyang Yijing. Suggestions.
(Recording Prisoners) began in the 6th year of the Zhengtong reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1441).
At that time, Zhu Qizhen ordered He Wenyuan and Wang Wen to try the existing suspicious cases, and ordered the eunuch Xing'an to participate together. Afterwards, Zhou Chen and Guo Jin went to Nanjing to handle the case, and Zhu Qizhen also ordered the eunuchs to participate. At this time, although the imperial court had not yet implemented the five-year trial system (one of the Ming Dynasty's joint trial systems, in which the emperor regularly sent envoys to re-trial prisoners on behalf of the emperor), the eunuchs in the capital and the inner court in Nanjing had already I was able to participate in the trial of the Three Justices Criminal Prison.
In the sixth year of Zong Jingtai of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1455), Zhu Qiyu ordered the eunuch Wang Cheng to join the three law divisions to interrogate the capital's prison sentences. This time, there was no trial in Nanjing's prison, which also set a precedent because of the disaster.
In the eighth year of the Chenghua reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1472), Zhu Jianshen ordered Wang Gao, the eunuch in charge of rites, and Song Wenyi, the young eunuch in charge of rites, to participate in the joint trials in the capital and Nanjing respectively. At the same time, the imperial court also sent commiseration envoys to various places to participate in local prison trials, and this system was established from then on.
In the 17th year of Chenghua (AD 1481), Zhu Jianshen ordered the eunuch Huaien to join the law department to arrest the prisoners. After that, the trial and prison trial must be held on the B and Xin years of the lunar calendar.
In the ninth year of Hongzhi reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1496), eunuchs from the inner court were no longer sent to participate in the trial of cases by the judicial department of the outer court.
In the 13th year of Hongzhi (AD 1500), Zhu Youtang sent internal officials to participate in the trial because Qiu Jun was in charge of the matter.
Whenever there is a major trial, the eunuchs of the inner court will go there with the emperor's order and set up Huang Gai in Dali Temple. At that time, a three-foot-high altar had to be built, with the inner-officials sitting in the middle; the court officials of the Three Dharma Divisions sitting on the left and right to accompany them; officials below the censor, doctor, etc. could only stand underneath holding the documents, submissive and careful. Listen carefully to your orders and rush to serve. The three judicial divisions review and review the decided cases. If the sentencing of the case is different from the original sentence, or the severity is different, they are all changed according to the wishes of the internal officials. In the process, they do not dare to violate the wishes of the internal officials.
During the Chenghua period of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, there was a case in which the younger brother helped his elder brother fight with others and beat him to death. Regarding this case, the eunuch Huang Ci wanted to commute the sentence to the lightest punishment, but Lu Yu, the Minister of Punishment, and others insisted that the sentence could not be commuted. So, Huang Ci said:
"If someone lives in the same room and fights with others, others will put on their hair and hats to come to the rescue, let alone the brother fighting with others!"
Lu Yu and others did not dare to argue and raise objections. As a result, they distorted the law and made a judgment.
During the trial in the 34th year of Wanli Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1606), the imperial censor Cao Xuecheng was detained in prison for a long time because he made suggestions to the emperor. The officials asked for his pardon, but Zhu Yijun refused. . At this time, Shen Yingwen, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, acted as the minister of the Ministry of Punishment. He collaborated with the chiefs of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple to issue a written opinion and submitted it to the eunuch Chen Ju, asking him to forgive Cao Xuecheng's sins. Then there will be a joint trial, and after the case is decided, they will also sign the memorial together. Next, Chen Ju reported to Zhu Yijun privately, saying that Cao Xuecheng's mother was old and should be cared for. As a result, Zhu Yijun relaxed a little and finally released Cao Xuecheng. This is a beautiful thing. At the same time, it can also be seen how powerful the eunuch's power is.
Commanders of the Jinyi Guards can also participate in the criminal and prison trials conducted by the Justice Department outside the Meridian Gate. In addition, they can also participate in joint trials of cases inside and outside the Chengtian Gate after the Autumn; however, they will not participate in the grand trial.
After executions of prisoners on death row every year, the relevant departments will use pictures and texts to post the portraits and charges of each executed prisoner on the outer wall of the Jinyi Guards Office for the public to watch and think about.
After the death of those eunuchs in the inner court who were ordered to participate in the review, they could write murals in their tombs. The content of the murals is that the eunuch is sitting north and facing south, and beside him is The superiors of the Judiciary Hall, as well as the censors and criminal doctors led the prisoners to bow and obey orders, taking this as a kind of honor to show to future generations.
In the second year of Chenghua of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1466), the emperor ordered the eunuchs of the inner court to kill the bandit Song Quan.
During the Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, a eunuch violated the law. Zhu Houcong issued an edict and exempted him from arrest and interrogation, but only handed him over to the Supervisor of Ceremonies for processing.
For this reason, Lin Jun, the Minister of Punishment, said:
"The inner court and the outer court are originally one. If there are eunuchs in the palace who break the law, they should be handed over to the judiciary for trial. To clarify the crime and deal with it fairly, the eunuch's crime should not be handed over to the ceremonial supervisor and the ancestral system should be abandoned."
Zhu Houcong did not adopt it.
According to the system established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs were not allowed to read or interfere in government affairs. Their duties were nothing more than cleaning up the palace.
In the last years of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang burned the torture instruments of Jinyiwei Prison and issued an edict stating that he probably wanted to show the world and future generations that Jinyiwei Prison would never be used again.
However, out of various selfish desires and dark psychology, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, violated his rule that he would no longer use the Imperial Guard Prison. As a result, he left great troubles to his descendants and destroyed many people in the world. He was loyal and kind until Jiangshan Sheji was occupied by the Qing Dynasty.
The gentleman deplores it, woohoo!
(End of this article)