Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2140 Another idea
A strong stench of feces, urine and mold came to his nostrils, and Xie Youren immediately covered his nose.

The light in the cell was extremely dim, and it took him a long time to see the appearance of the room clearly: thick brick walls, mud floor, and only a bamboo plank inside, with some black and moldy straw piled messily on it.There was a clay pot in the corner, emitting a foul stench.

The cell door is narrow and the window is small, the window frame is strong, and only a little light can pass through. The cell is dark and damp. The walls of the walls are stained with mildew, and there are moss under the corners. One can imagine the humid and harsh environment here.No wonder the ancients killed a lot of prisoners—it is very easy to get sick in this environment, and without medicine and good care, they would die in an instant.

The prison boss laughed and said: "It's dirty and smelly inside, sir, don't stay for long - it's dirty your old eyes!"

Xie Youren shook his head: This ghostly place is too scary.But he didn't say anything, there were so many things going on right now that he didn't even bother to deal with them.He remembered that he had issued a special notice on the "Guangzhou Long Prisoner" incident, asking the "directors" everywhere not to release all the detainees easily—now he can fully understand the actions of the soldiers—is this a hell on earth!

Hearing that the chief is going to come to the cell to have an aesthetic review in person, all the prisoners in the prison came out to welcome him.Xie Youren took a look, but he didn't look very vicious, it was not much different from the ordinary people of Ming Dynasty he saw, and their clothes were also dusty.

However, he heard from the elders of the Social Work Department that it is true that the yamen servants are low in status, but they have their own way of making money.

After passing through the long and narrow courtyard, there is a "D"-shaped courtyard with ordinary prison cells. This is the so-called "death prison".

The death row is not big, the east side is the cell where the death row prisoners are held, and the south side is two huts, which are the places where the prisoners spend their daily lives.There is a small shrine inlaid on the west wall of the courtyard-the prison head said: This is the "Temple of Prison".

It turns out that there is no house in this "Prison Temple". If the area under the eaves above the shrine is included, it is less than half a square meter.Not to mention trial, even shelter from the rain is barely enough.

There is a hole in the north corner of the "Prison Temple", which can go straight to the outside. The cell chief said it was called "Death Prisoner's Cave"-in fact, death row prisoners are usually executed in the execution ground. According to the rules, corpses cannot go out through the gate, so they are all dragged outside through this hole.

This place is too small!Xie Youren secretly slandered that the entire Wuzhou prison was only occupied by this small area.He roughly estimated that the area was only more than 600 square meters - how many prisoners could be held here?
Since the "Prison God Temple" is not a "temple" at all, naturally there is no way to interrogate in the temple, so the place where the trial is conveniently moved to the two huts in the south, one of the two huts has a bed for prisoners. They rested, but the outer room was where the prisoners were tortured. There were all kinds of shackles and torture instruments beside the wall, and they were still stained with black blood stains, which was indescribably eerie.

Xie Youren glanced at it with some disgust, and regretted why he didn't take him to the court for trial. Now that he has come, it is inconvenient to go back on his word, so he can overcome it here-these instruments of torture can also be regarded as exaggerating the atmosphere.He nodded: "Just here, bring the person here."

The two prisoners responded and hurried away.The prison chief hurriedly brought a chair to the center, which became Xie Erren's "official seat".

Not long after, the two prisoners brought the female assassin in.

It is said to be a "belt", but it is actually a "frame". Not only is the hair unkempt, the clothes are torn and messy, and the embroidered shoes on the feet are gone.Xie Erren was taken aback as if he had been severely tortured—is this the case?
He frowned and said, "What? Someone has already tried it?"

The two prisoners smiled awkwardly, but the team leader already knew what was going on, and hurriedly said: "This woman was very restless after she was imprisoned. So I taught her some 'rules' - these are the old rules in the prison."

Xie Erren nodded, seeing the female assassin's description was terrified, and there were bloodstains on her clothes, it was obvious that the "religious rules" were quite cruel.He was also vaguely aware of all kinds of cruelty to prisoners in Daming Prison, and couldn't help feeling sympathetic to this woman in his heart.

"Your Majesty!"

Following the prison chief's scolding, the woman trembled for a moment, and immediately collapsed on her knees. When she knelt down, she probably touched some painful place, her body trembled again, and she only knelt on her side cautiously.

It was only then that Xie Erren could clearly see the woman who wanted to kill him. He saw that the woman was in her early twenties, and her appearance was not particularly outstanding.The texture of the clothes, fair skin, bound feet and other physical characteristics all show that she is not a low-level commoner, at least at the Xiaojiabiyu level.

Judging by her appearance, this half-day effort must have suffered a lot.She is a weak woman, why did she suddenly want to assassinate herself?

Although the person in front of him came to take his life, Xie Erren couldn't hate her anymore.On the contrary, there was some sympathy in my heart.

After a long silence, Xie Erren asked, "Who are you? Why did you assassinate me?"

The woman raised her head and glanced at him, with surprise, hatred and fear in her eyes, seeing him staring straight at her, she quickly turned her head sideways, and said in a trembling voice:

"Even if it falls into the hands of Er and others, what else can I say, if you want to kill or cut it, take it as you like!"

His voice was weak, but what he spoke was not the Guangzhou vernacular that is popular here in Wuzhou, but an official dialect.Xie Erren was startled:
"Aren't you a local?"

The woman was silent, and the jailer next to her scolded: "The master asked you something! Answer it well! If you are dishonest for a while, the master will serve you well!"

This sound was very effective, the woman trembled all over, and said in a low voice:
"Cai Lan, a daughter of the people, is a native of Chengtian Mansion, Huguang."

Where is Huguang Chengtian Mansion?Xie Erren didn't know, he probably knew it was in Hubei and Hunan.

How did a Laker come to Wuzhou, Guangdong?Xie Youren knew that women in the Ming Dynasty could not travel alone, let alone travel long distances.Most of them came to Wuzhou with their father or husband.

After further questioning, I found out that Cai Lan came from a scholarly family and had been engaged since childhood.The fiancé found a job in Wuzhou last year, so he sent someone to pick her up to get married.

Unexpectedly, not long after Wuzhou, Wuzhou fell into the flames of war, her fiancé committed suicide, and the servants fled. She was left alone here with no one to rely on.Then he had the idea of ​​avenging her husband and then dying herself.

"Suicide?" Xie Erren was a little puzzled, "Since your fiancé committed suicide, what does it have to do with me, Da Song?"

"My husband is Xing Chenghuan." Cai Lan sobbed softly when she mentioned her husband's name.

Who is Xing Chenghuan?Xie Erren was at a loss for a moment, but it was Zhao Fengtian who reminded: Xing Chenghuan is an aide in the prefect of Wuzhou.After the magistrate committed suicide, he also committed suicide in Ertang, leaving behind two deadly poems.

"It turned out to be him." Xie Erren suddenly realized, and secretly scolded Xing Chenghuan: You are not an official of the land, why commit suicide?Leaving this young wife alone!She even got her to assassinate me, the chief, what a crime!

Looking at Cai Lan again, kneeling on the ground and crying sadly, there is something touching about Lihua falling in the rain, Xie Erren's heart moved slightly - this little lady is quite lovely.

With this thought, his heart softened, and he said in a slow tone: "So that's the case. But your husband is so boring, he is not an official of Ming Dynasty, why bother to commit suicide with the prefect Hu? Leave you alone Living in a foreign country! It's really heartless!"

What he said was "unsuitable for the official style", both the jailer and Cai Lan were taken aback.Only Zhao Fengtian has been by the chief's side for a long time, and he understands the thinking patterns of the elders very well, but he just stands solemnly with his mouth puffed up and doesn't speak.

"Our senate's attack on Guangdong was to punish the people and save the suffering people of Ming Dynasty. It's just that the prefect Hu is stubborn—at least he has received the favor of the Chongzhen emperor and served as an official for several years. My son, I have been paid for several years. Your husband is only an ordinary scholar, and he went to commit suicide with the prefect Hu! What a fool. I really failed a good woman like you." Xie Erren felt that there was nothing to ask, and he thought Having thought about it, the original plan of "executing on the spot" or "returning to Lingao for disposition" has been cancelled. Under the influence of pity and pity, he came up with the idea of ​​"reform".

To be honest, Xie Youren is not short of women, and Cai Lan is not a beautiful woman with a devil figure, but what can give people a sense of accomplishment more than transforming a woman who hates you to the bone as an "enemy" so that she finally gives up her heart? ?As the saying goes, the greatest joy of a man is to subdue the mob, defeat the enemy, seize everything he has, ride his horse, and accept his beautiful wife and concubines.

Xie Youren said, "Although she intends to assassinate, there is a reason for the incident, and I have no intention of going into it. A poor lonely woman does not need to be imprisoned anymore. Help her tidy up and take her to the Earth Temple first. Let's wait and see."

This land temple is also a building in the local yamen. It is located on the east side of the courtyard between the gate of the yamen and the second gate, facing the gate of the prison to the west.

The Land Temple in this local yamen is a feature of the Ming Dynasty, which was also an invention of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.It is said that the emperor, who was born as a beggar, had witnessed the corruption of officials in the late Yuan Dynasty among the people, so after the founding of the country, he took advocating a clean government as an urgent task to consolidate the regime.In addition to setting up the ring stone of "God is hard to be bullied" in the yamen, the whole country is ordered to "set up a special temple in the prefecture, state, county, and Weizhizuo to worship the land."In addition to "sacrificing the land", all officials who have embezzled more than 60 taels of silver will be shown to the public before "peeling the real grass".It is said that the skinning place is in the Land Temple, so it is also called "Pichang Temple".

-----------------------------------

Next update: Volume 345 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter [-]

(End of this chapter)