In the morning, Fang Jingzhai first went to the teahouse outside Guangchumen. During the chat, he took the opportunity to ask some tea guests about Jiao Yingyuan. As expected, none of those people had anything good to say about him. They all said that this man was a gambler, even Gongzhong.
The ancestral home has to be sold to pay off debts, which is really a waste of money.
In the afternoon, the men he sent to inquire around Jiao's mother's residence also came back to report, saying that whether it was the clerks and shopkeepers in the surrounding shops or the neighbors selling vegetables, everyone said that Mrs. Wang was upright and amiable, but ever since she was a child
The son started to fight and bite in lawsuits, and the old lady went to the Yamen several times to testify, and her health became worse than before.
By this time, Fang Jingzhai had already decided that regardless of whether this case was a false accusation or not, Jiao Yingyuan's character was really bad. From his perspective, as an old prisoner, Jiao Yingyuan had dared to make false accusations many times before, which was inconsistent with the court's "catching the big and letting go of the small" treatment in the criminal name.
The method has a lot to do with it.
There is a very obvious feature in the litigation cases in the Qing Dynasty, that is, false accusations are very common. There is a saying among the people that "no lies, no complaints" about litigation. The person who complained was either for profit, revenge, or to win the lawsuit.
They often exaggerate or even make up nonsense during litigation.
In these days, a lawsuit generally has to go through four steps from beginning to end, namely, release of complaint, approval of dismissal, trial and review. Only when these four steps are completed, a lawsuit is considered complete. The release of lawsuit in civil cases is
Only on the 3rd, 69th and 9th day will the imperial examination be accepted. On other days, the government will not accept the application.
The judicial system of the Qing Dynasty followed the "cautious punishment" principle of the previous Ming Dynasty. In order to prevent the officials who tried the case from abusing the punishment, the Qing court established a very strict review system, that is, cases with a sentence of more than 10 years of imprisonment must be reviewed by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Punishment.
Reexamination, and only after the reexamination is passed, the corresponding punishment can be implemented.
At the same time as the review system, there is a more stringent official accountability system. That is, if a higher-level judicial official discovers that a lower-level official has committed a wrongful conviction during the review process, the lower-level official will be severely punished, ranging from a fine to a salary.
Dismissal from office will mean moving your head.
In fact, it would be fine if the law were enforced impartially, but the key point is that the lower-level officials themselves are not clean. They would rather catch the big ones and let the small ones go, and take the punishment lightly in civil cases, than take the slightest risk.
When hearing cases of false accusations, prefecture and county officials often do not make judgments in accordance with the law in order not to cause unnecessary trouble, and mostly give lenient sentences to those who make false accusations. This is why Jiao Yingyuan's previous three false accusations were all reprimanded.
As a result, in order to get their cases taken seriously, people often disguise minor cases as serious cases in order to get attention. Because when it comes to serious cases such as murder, robbery, and rebellion, local officials must accept them regardless of whether they are willing or not.
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However, there is another question that puzzles Fang Jingzhai. As a supervisor, Jiao Yingyuan should know the consequences of false accusations of rebellion. He had made three false accusations before but did not involve serious cases. Why did he accuse his cousin Jiao Xun, other literati, and himself this time?
What about the three younger brothers who rebelled?
You must know that the punishment for false accusers in the "Qing Code" is very severe. Basically, for any crime that is falsely accused of others, he will be punished with double the crime. Rebellion is taken very seriously from the court to the local government.
Once it is found that the accusation is false, the accuser will not escape a Lingchi fate.
After he returned to the government office in the evening and reported to Ma Huiyu, Magistrate Ma issued a ticket the next morning and wrote an official letter, asking his subordinates to take it to the Jiangdu County government office to arrest Jiao Yingyuan.
At this point, both Ma Huiyu and Fang Jingzhai still wanted to follow the principle of minimizing major issues. After all, Jiao Xun's wife was the cousin of Xinke Hanlin Ruan Yuan, so they did not dare to be rash.
Unexpectedly, when his men came back with Jiao Yingyuan and Fang Jingzhai interrogated him personally, things took a complete turn. Jiao Xun's conspiracy was probably true. But the reason for Jiao Yingyuan's report shocked Fang Jingzhai. He
In all my life, I have never seen such a vicious and shameless person!
It is said that in February this year, Jiao Yingyuan was really poor and could not survive anymore, so he wanted to sell the part of the clan public housing where he lived.
His behavior is completely whimsical. The ancestral house is the root of a family. Even if the land is sold, the house cannot be sold, not to mention his mother Wang and his three younger brothers. Even relatives such as Jiao Xun who heard about it all
If he disagrees, Jiao Yingyuan will be disgraced.
More than ten days ago, Jiao Xun's mother heard about this, so she asked Jiao Xun to donate 150 taels of silver to her cousin. Jiao's mother thought that she was going north with her son anyway, so she might as well help her before leaving, so as not to save her sister-in-law.
It's difficult to do it with the Luowang family.
Jiao Yingyuan was somewhat surprised to get the money, so he bought some gifts and went to his cousin's house. His purpose was not as simple as saying thank you, but to see if he could get more money. Although 150 taels of silver was a lot,
But it was a drop in the bucket for his previous debts.
Unexpectedly, when he went to Jiao Xun's house, Jiao Xun happened to be not at home. Jiao's mother asked her servants to call her son back, and also told Jiao Yingyuan to have dinner before going back.
After March, there were only three servants left in Jiao Xun's family, and the others were dismissed a year ago. The book boy followed Jiao Xun out, there was a janitor in front of him, and there was a maid in the backyard, and they were all given to Jiao Yingyuan.
It was an opportunity. This guy actually sneaked into his cousin's study and rummaged around, hoping to find something valuable to take away.
Unexpectedly, he didn't find the valuable plaything, so he actually found a booklet on the bookshelf. Not to mention that the contents inside were all about the history of the resistance against the Qing Dynasty in the late Ming Dynasty. There was also a piece of paper stuck in the middle, which was exactly the same.
It's Jiao Xun's handwriting, which reads: "If you hold a pair of scissors, half of my head will be cut off; the Chinese will become barbarians, and their lives will be worse than death."
This shocked Jiao Yingyuan. He hurriedly put the book back, took out the paper signature and put it in his arms, and then quietly left the study. When Jiao Xun came back in the evening, Jiao Yingyuan mentioned the matter of borrowing money.
When Xun heard this, he became angry, scolded his cousin and kicked him out.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After returning home, Jiao Yingyuan became more and more angry and felt that he had no way out, so "new and old hatreds" were superimposed on each other. The evil of human nature
Completely aroused in despair.
He decided to use Jiao Xun's handwritten anti-poetry as a breakthrough to concoct a major case and use the hands of the government to "execute the nine tribes", dragging all those who had any faults, including his mother, brothers, and tribesmen, to death.
Go to hell and be buried with him!
As for the fact that Zhong Huai and Huang Chengji were also involved in the rebellion, which he mentioned in the anonymous letter, there was actually no solid evidence. Instead, he thought that his cousin had always had a good relationship with these two people, so he thought that he could drag one down, but the result was that
He was really fooled.
The matter was of great importance, so Fang Jingzhai first took people to Jiao Yingyuan's house to retrieve the hidden pieces of paper, and then reported it directly to the prefect Ma Huiyu. Ma Huiyu was also extremely shocked after hearing this, but he was also a Jinshi and had served as an imperial scholar, so he was so shameless about Jiao Yingyuan's shamelessness.
He was so angry that he was shaking all over.
When the case has developed to this point, it is no longer a simple false accusation. Moreover, the two of them did not know the relationship between Jiao Xun and Beihai Town, so Ma Huiyu first sent someone to send a report to Chang Lin, the governor of Jiangsu, and at the same time sent a large number of soldiers and officials to submit the false accusation letter.
All relevant persons were locked and imprisoned.
The governor's office of Jiangsu is in Suzhou, which is only more than 200 miles away from Yangzhou. Governor Chang Lin was also surprised when he received the report from Yangzhou. Now the imperial court has been repeatedly defeated in the north. Although it is covered up in every possible way, it cannot escape the eyes and ears of the world. Seeing
Qianlong's Wanshou Festival was coming soon, and something unexpected happened under his rule. So Chang Lin reported it to Shu Lin, the governor of Liangjiang, and at the same time decided to go to Yangzhou to handle the case in person.
The reason why he dared to make such a decision was that he already knew that Mr. Taiwan was involved in a lawsuit and that he might lose his official position. Moreover, due to the power structure of the governor-governor system in the Qing Dynasty, the governor was not a subordinate official of the governor, but had a parallel relationship.
Not to mention what arrangements will be made in Nanjing, after Jiao Xun, Zhong Huai and Huang Chengji were detained in the government office, the city of Yangzhou immediately exploded.
After Jiang Fan learned about the case, he was frightened. He thought hard for a long time, and first wrote two letters, asking his family members to go to Baoying and Changzhou respectively to Liu Taigong, Duan Yucai and Hong Liangji.
Report the news. Then, he left Yangzhou by boat overnight, planning to go to Qingjiangpu for help.
Unlike Jiao Xun, who was young and liked to stay at home, Jiang Fan's family has been practicing medicine for generations, and the Tianruitang Pharmacy on Duozi Street belongs to the Jiang family. Once Jiao Xun and the other three are unable to bear it and give themselves up, who knows how many people will be implicated.
When they passed by Xuzhuang after returning from Beihai Town last year, Wang Changsheng informed Jiang Fan, Hong Liangji and others about the contact point and contact method of Qingjiangpu.
On the second day after Jiang Fan's departure, Yangzhou prefect Ma Huiyu received a reply from the governor Chang Lin, asking him to interrogate the criminal first and wait until the prosecutor's office and the governor arrived before opening a court hearing.
Because Jiao Xun, Zhong Huai and Huang Chengji were all famous, Ma Huiyu personally wrote the document, while others, such as Jiao Yingyuan's mother Wang, three brothers and several creditors, were handed over to Jiangdu County and Ganquan County respectively.
Trial. Such a big thing happened under the rule, and Jiangdu County and Ganquan County cannot be blamed for it, so they don't care about anything at this time and just want to investigate thoroughly.
At first, Jiao Xun just said that he was wronged. He was a "homeboy" and was falsely accused for no reason just because he lent money to his cousin Jiao Yingyuan. Now he actually bites him to rebel, which is really ridiculous. But his friends Zhong Huai and Huang Chengji are even more
It has nothing to do with this matter.
Ma Huiyu had already understood what had happened. At this time, he didn't talk nonsense and directly took out the booklet copied from Jiao Xun's home and the bookmark with Gu Yanwu's poems and essays.
"Let's take a look! These are the bookmarks with anti-poems that your cousin Jiao Yingyuan found in your study, and the anti-poems that the police officers found in your study!" Ma Huiyu slapped the wood to wake him up, and shouted: "Jiao Li
"Tang, my government can immediately ask Xuezheng to revoke your reputation and serve you with a severe punishment! I think you have a reputation for talent, so you can treat others with courtesy."
Jiao Xun was stunned when he saw this book. He brought this book back from Beihai Town. Because he was so sad and angry when he saw the content about "Nai Fa Order" in the book, he couldn't help but wrote Gu Yanwu's "Broken Hair" on the bookmark.
"Poetry". At this time, his mind was in chaos, and he could not figure out how Jiao Yingyuan got this bookmark.
"Jiao Litang, hurry up and call us!" Ma Huiyu narrowed his eyes, stroking his beard and said: "Haven't you ever heard of the saying, 'Destroy a family's county magistrate, destroy the family's governor'?" The lives of hundreds of Jiao family members are in danger.
, it’s all in one thought.”
Seeing Jiao Xun's forehead sweating, Ma Huiyu knew that his words had worked, and continued: "Since I took office, I have heard that you are extremely filial to your mother. Even so, don't you think about your mother and wife?
You have fame, but they don't have official orders. Why can't you ask for anything under three trees? Even a stubborn person can't survive it."
The so-called "three wood" is actually torture, also called stick clamping. There are finger clamps and ankle clamps. For female prisoners, fingers are clamped.
Although the five logs are small, they are far more powerful than sticks. As the saying goes, "ten fingers are connected to the heart", the pain caused by flexing the fingers is unbearable. As long as it is used, Guan Bao will drive the victim to death.
Ji Xiaolan once recorded in his notebook "Luanyang Xiaoxialu" that a daughter-in-law who was falsely accused by her mother-in-law committed suicide in front of her because she could not bear the torture of holding her fingers.
Precisely because this kind of punishment is too cruel, it is clearly stipulated in the "Regulations of the Qing Dynasty" that only those principals or accomplices in major cases who, after repeated detailed investigation, still do not tell the truth, or who have inconsistent testimonies, are allowed to use a clamp;
Criminals are not allowed to use clamping sticks. In addition, clamping sticks are not allowed to be used repeatedly and are only allowed to be used once on the same prisoner.
As soon as these words came out, Jiao Xun was sweating profusely and trembling all over. Magistrate Ma picked up the teacup and drank slowly.
As the saying goes, things hurt their own kind. In fact, Ma Huiyu felt very sorry. If something like this happened, Ruan Yuan, who was an official in Beijing, would definitely be implicated. Although he may not be involved in the rebellion, his future career may be difficult.
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This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! A quarter of an hour later, Jiao Xun, who was soaked in sweat, knew that he would not be able to escape this disaster. Although he had planned to take his family to Beihai Town, after all, he
He is not a tenacious "revolutionary fighter". Furthermore, Jiao Xun has been immersed in learning these years and does not have much experience in the affairs of the human heart.
"Okay! I'll do it. I just ask you not to force confessions from my old mother and weak wife. They don't know anything."
Ma Huiyu had a look on his face, raised his hand to hold the booklet and asked, "Where did this book come from?"
Jiao Xun secretly said sorry to Jiang Fan and others, and then said sadly: "The students got it from Beihai Town."
"Pfft!" As soon as he said this, Magistrate Ma couldn't hold back a mouthful of tea, and it all sprayed on the face of the clerk next to him.
"You, you..." Ma Huiyu stood up tremblingly, pointing his halberd and glaring angrily: "You mean the Northern Pirates?!"
"yes......"
Damn it! Magistrate Ma’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. He had been an official in the Ministry of Personnel for many years and had constant correspondence with his colleagues and relatives in the capital, so he knew everything about what happened in Tianjin last year. At this time, he was thinking
I hate that Jiao Yingyuan so much that a false accusation case actually pulled Beihai Town out.
If he had to write an anti-poetry, print an anti-book, etc., Ma Huiyu would not be polite at all. He would directly ask the academic administration to revoke Jiao Xun's reputation, and then put him in the yoke and put him on death row.
But the Northern Pirates had big iron ships. If they threatened the coast again for this matter, alarmed the emperor, and affected Qianlong's Wanshou Festival, even Ma Huiyu's hundred heads would not be enough to chop him off.
If he had known this...if he had known it earlier, it would be useless! He did not dare to ask any more about this matter. He would wait until the governor and the governor arrived and let them decide what to do.
Thinking of this, Ma Huiyu said to the government servant in the detention room: "Come here! Send the prisoner Jiao Litang to the prison for custody. Uh... Don't underestimate his mother and wife. Try to provide him with all his food and drink needs."