Fang Jingzhai first went to the teahouse outside Guangchu Gate in the morning, and 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 he was a gambler and even had to sell his ancestral home to pay off his debts. He was really a prodigal.
In the afternoon, the men he sent to inquire around Jiao's mother's residence also came back to report, saying that everyone, whether it was the clerks and shopkeepers in the surrounding shops or the neighbors selling vegetables, said that Mrs. Wang was upright and amiable, but since her eldest son She started to fight and bite in lawsuits. The old lady went to the Yamen several times to testify, and her health became worse than before.
By this time, Fang Jingzhai had decided in his heart that regardless of whether this case was a false accusation or not, Jiao Yingyuan's character was really bad. In his view, as an old criminal, the fact that Jiao Yingyuan dared to make false accusations many times before had a lot to do with the court's "grasp the big and let go of the small" approach in criminal matters.
A very striking feature of litigation cases in the Qing Dynasty was that false accusations were very common. When it comes to litigation, there is a saying among the people that "nothing is true without lies". The complainants often exaggerate or even make up nonsense during litigation, either for profit, revenge, or to win the lawsuit.
In these days, a lawsuit generally has to go through four steps from start to finish, namely, dismissal, approval, trial, and review. Only when these four steps are completed can a lawsuit be considered complete. Civil cases will only be accepted on three, six or nine days, and the government will not accept them on other days.
The judicial system of the Qing Dynasty followed the principle of "cautious punishment" of the previous Ming Dynasty. In order to prevent trial officials from abusing penalties, the Qing court formulated a very strict review system, that is, cases with imprisonment or above must be reviewed by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Punishment. The corresponding punishment can only be implemented after passing the review.
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, if the law is enforced impartially, that's fine. But the key point is that lower-level officials themselves are not clean. They would rather focus on the big and let go of the small in civil cases, and take the punishment lightly 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. Most of the false accusers are given a lighter sentence. This is why Jiao Yingyuan's previous three false accusations resulted in a reprimand. reason.
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 serious cases such as murder, robbery, and rebellion must be accepted by local officials regardless of whether they are willing or not.
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 and none of them involved serious cases. Why did he accuse his cousin Jiao Xun of conspiring with other literati and his three younger brothers this time?
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. Conspiracy is a matter that is taken very seriously from the court to the local level. Once it is found to be a false accusation, the framer will not escape a harsh fate.
After he returned to the government office to report to Ma Huiyu in the evening, 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 personally interrogated him, things took a complete turn. Jiao Xun's conspiracy was probably true. But the reason why Jiao Yingyuan reported it made Fang Jingzhai amazed. In his entire life, he had 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.
This behavior of his is purely whimsical. The ancestral house is the root of the family. Even if the land is sold, the house cannot be sold. Not to mention the mother Wang and three younger brothers. Even relatives such as Jiao Xun who heard about the matter disagreed, making Jiao Yingyuan disgraced.
More than ten days ago, Jiao Xun's mother heard about this and asked Jiao Xun to donate 150 taels of silver to his cousin. Jiao's mother thought that she would go north with her son anyway, so she might as well help her before leaving so as not to make things difficult for her sister-in-law Wang.
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 is a lot of money, it is really a drop in the bucket for his previous debts.
Unexpectedly, when he went to Jiao Xun's house, Jiao Xun happened not to be 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 years ago. The book boy followed Jiao Xun out. There was a gatekeeper in front of him and a maid in the backyard, which gave Jiao Yingyuan an opportunity to take advantage of. This guy actually sneaked into his cousin's study and rummaged around, hoping to find something valuable to take with him.
Unexpectedly, he didn't find the valuable plaything, so he dug out a booklet on the bookshelf. Not to mention that the content inside was 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 said "If you hold a pair of scissors, half of my head will be cut off; the Chinese will be barbaric 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 brought up the matter of borrowing money. When Jiao Xun heard this, he became angry, scolded his cousin, and kicked him out.
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, and the evil of human nature was completely aroused in despair.
He decided to use Jiao Xun's handwritten anti-poetry as a breakthrough point 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 clan members, to death. Go to hell and be buried with him!
As for the fact that Zhong Huai and Huang Chengji mentioned in his anonymous letter were also involved in the rebellion, there was actually no 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 it turned out that He was really fooled.
The matter was so important that Fang Jingzhai first took people to Jiao Yingyuan's house to take out 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 a member of the Imperial Academy, and he was trembling with anger at Jiao Yingyuan's shameless behavior.
The case has developed to this point and 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 a report to Chang Lin, the governor of Jiangsu, and at the same time sent a large number of soldiers and officers to imprison all the relevant persons in the false accusation letter.
The Jiangsu Governor's Yamen is in Suzhou, which is only more than 200 miles away from Yangzhou. Governor Chang Lin was also surprised after receiving 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 that Qianlong's Wanshou Festival was approaching, something like this happened under his rule, so Chang Lin reported it to Shulin, 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 this decision was that he already knew that the Taiwanese leader was involved in a lawsuit and might lose his official position. Moreover, due to the power structure of the governor-general system in the Qing Dynasty, the governor was not a subordinate official of the governor-general, but had a parallel relationship.
Not to mention what arrangements will be made in Nanjing later, 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 report the news to Liu Taigong, Duan Yucai and Hong Liangji. Then, he left Yangzhou by boat overnight, planning to go to Sheyang Lake to seek help.
Unlike Jiao Xun, who likes to stay at home when he is young, 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.
Just when Jiang Fan was heading to Qingjiangpu, Yangzhou prefect Ma Huiyu received a reply from the governor Chang Lin, asking him to interrogate the criminal first and wait for the prosecutor and the governor to arrive before opening a court hearing.
Because Jiao Xun, Zhong Huai and Huang Chengji all had great titles, 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. Jiangdu County and Ganquan County are to blame for such a big thing happening under the rule, 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 unjustly accused. He was a "homebody" and he was falsely accused for no reason just because he lent money to his cousin Jiao Yingyuan. It is ridiculous to actually bite him and rebel now; as for Zhong Huai and Huang Chengji, they even shouted that they were wronged.
Ma Huiyu had already understood what had happened. At this time, he didn't say anything nonsense and directly took out the booklet copied from Jiao Xun's home and the bookmark with Gu Yanwu's poems written on it.
"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 in his wake and shouted: "Jiao Li Sir, I can immediately ask Xuezheng to revoke your reputation and serve you with a severe punishment! I think you have a reputation of being talented, so you can be polite to others."
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 couldn't figure out how Jiao Yingyuan got this bookmark.
"Jiao Litang, hurry up and call us!" Ma Huiyu narrowed his eyes and stroked his beard and said: "Haven't you ever heard of the saying that 'the magistrate of the county is destroyed, the governor of the family is destroyed'? The lives of hundreds of Jiao family members are in danger , it’s all in your mind.”
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 a reputation, but they don't have a mandate. Under three trees, why can't you ask for anything? Even a stubborn person can't survive it."
The so-called "three wood" is actually torture, also called clamping sticks. There are those who pinch the fingers, and there are those who pinch the ankles. They always pinch the fingers of female prisoners.
Although five small logs are small, their power is far greater than that of a stick. 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 make the victim's soul fly away.
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 the court 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 still do not tell the truth after repeated detailed investigation, or who give inconsistent testimonies, are allowed to use clamps; usually Criminals are not allowed to use sticks. In addition, the clamping stick is not allowed to be used repeatedly and is only allowed to be used once on the same prisoner.
As soon as these words came out, Jiao Xun suddenly sweated profusely and trembled all over. Magistrate Ma picked up the teacup and drank slowly.
As the saying goes, things harm their own kind. In fact, Ma Huiyu felt quite sorry in her heart. If something like this happens, Ruan Yuan, who is an official in Beijing, will definitely be implicated. Although he may not be involved in a rebellion, his future career may be difficult.
A quarter of an hour later, Jiao Xun, who was soaked in sweat, knew that he could not escape this disaster. Although he had planned to take his family to Beihai Town before, he was not a tenacious "revolutionary fighter" after all. 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 looked pleased, 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 sip of tea and sprayed it all on the face of the clerk next to him.
"You, you..." Ma Huiyu stood up tremblingly, glaring with his halberd finger: "You mean the Northern Pirates?!"
"yes......"
I’ll give you a girl! Magistrate Ma suddenly felt a thump in his heart. He had been an official in the Ministry of Civil Affairs for many years and had constant correspondence with colleagues and relatives in the capital, so he knew everything about what happened in Tianjin last year. At this moment, he hated Jiao Yingyuan in his heart. A false accusation case actually pulled Beihai Town out.
If he wrote an anti-poetry, printed an anti-book, etc., Ma Huiyu would not be polite at all. He would directly call the academic administration to revoke Jiao Xun's reputation, and then put him in the yoke and put him in death row.
But the Beihai 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 I had known this... if I had known it, it would be useless! He didn't dare to ask any more about this matter. Let's wait until Nie Tai 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. Hmm... Don't underestimate his mother and wife. Try to provide him with all his food and drink needs." , but no visits are allowed.”
"嗻!"
