"A-Liang, where is the county magistrate in the county government office?" Ren Peacock asked her younger brother A-Liang. She only heard from her parents that the county magistrate was in the Huayuan county government office, but she didn't know where it was yet.
"Sister, all the albums and atlases of grain and field taxes and taxes are in the Jiage warehouse in the county. I guess things like county annals and local chronicles are also in the Jiage warehouse. We must go to the county government office."
A Liang's words made Song Siyuan curious. What she was curious about was the three words "jiageku".
The Jiage Library began in the Song Dynasty. It was a place used by the ancient government to store documents such as military records, official dispatches, taxes and corvees, household accounts, fish scale albums, etc. In short, all upstream and downstream files issued by the government must be kept. It was classified into the Jiage Library, and the files were collected using the Thousand-Character Numbering System. From the following dynasties until the previous dynasty, the system of collecting documents and accounts in the Jiage Library was basically followed!
In the past, Fengtian also had a Jiage Library, but it was later replaced by a document room. Now that I heard the word Jiage Library again, I became particularly curious.
"The cabinet library here still exists?"
At least ten years ago, the Government of the Republic of China demanded that government agencies at all levels transform into modern institutions.
A Liang finally knew what she was curious about and explained: "Yes, although Huayuan County is a water transportation hub in the southwest, it is still a small county in the final analysis. How can we spend more money to build a county government building, let alone transform it into a modern institution?" , now the county governor still uses the government office of the previous dynasty, but in accordance with the above requirements, modern institutions such as the Household Registration Section, the Business Section, the Transportation Section, and the Public Security Bureau have been allocated. As for the cabinets, they are tidied up and used for storage. information.”33
"Then, will they let us in? The Fengtian Coffin requires an official certificate from the Political Yuan to enter, and the certificate must be given for official purposes. We are going to check the records of the Luohua Cave Girl. Don't give it to us then. Stopped."
Song Siyuan's worry is not unreasonable. As early as the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Jiage Treasury was an important place for government accounts at all levels. Anyone who enters the Jiage Treasury without permission will be punished. Even now, the Document Library will not allow local official documents to be hidden because they have hidden them. A lot of people come in.
"Don't worry, I'm an old Taoist priest."
Yue Guanchao saw the old Taoist priest saying he was sure, and didn't quite believe what he said: "Master, this is not just pretending to be a ghost. After leaving Tudong Town, you probably want to scare them with ghosts and ghosts."
"Tsk~ Old Taoist priest, am I that kind of person?"
After saying that, the old Taoist priest secretly took out a piece of official paper from his treasure bag. The paper was white and beige in color, with clearly visible ink marks. There was red ink mud covering the bottom, and the words "Walking in the countryside, Mr. Yin Yang travels to Tianchen" were written on it. , looking up is Huahuan County.
"You think that I, the old Taoist priest, am just an unknown wild Taoist. Look at this document. I am a person with a license from the Political Yuan. Whenever there is a need for criticism in the countryside, I, an old Taoist priest, need to be there to write it. Others write it for the Political Yuan. I don’t even acknowledge it.”
What is disaster list?
People are born and die, and they must be recorded in the official account books when they are alive, and they must also be recorded in the underworld accounts after death. After a person dies, Mr. Yin and Yang will issue information about the deceased's life expectancy and return to evil spirits based on the deceased's gender, birth date, and year of death. The funeral notice will be posted on the door of the host's house during the funeral to inform visitors about taboo things to do.
This thing is not only needed for funerals. When leaving the city for burial, it must also be shown to the officers and soldiers leaving the city to make sure they are not wanted criminals, thieves or bandits. They will let it go. It can be said that the disaster list is the government's confirmation of the people. The accounting document of the death is also the certificate for leaving the city for burial.
The old Taoist priest's stern eyebrows explained: "When Mr. Yin Yang approves the list of disasters, he needs to go into the cabinet to check the identity and age of the deceased, and whether they match the account books. If they don't match, you can't just criticize the list randomly. Those three When the bastard sent the person back, he left me the errand of the disaster list. Later I will tell him to go into the treasury to check the deceased's account, and you can take advantage of this interval to read the records of the Luohua Cave Girl."
"How about it?"
Hearing this, everyone had a confused smile on their face. The old Taoist priest had more evil ideas than the young people. Lan Ruling could learn the personality of ghosts and spirits, which was better than Lan Ruling.
After a while, they crossed half of the city and came to the Huayuan County Government Office in the north of the city. It was indeed the appearance of the government office in the previous dynasty, but the people walking around were all dressed in modern attire. Other vertical plaques.
Walk into the county government office and explain your intention.
The old Taoist priest and the others were brought into the Jiage Treasury. Ren Peacock winked at A Liang, and he handed over a few silver coins to the old man who managed the Jiage Treasury: "Old man, this is a little money for drinking. We have delayed your time, you Just be patient."
The old man understood and just said "Hurry up", weighed the money and walked out of the warehouse, leaving only a few of them inside.
After he left, everyone looked around and saw that the library was about the size of three private houses. It was filled with grid bookshelves and various materials were bound in the archives. It was neat and elegant.
They found the county annals over the years. Song Siyuan opened the records belonging to the Luohua Cave Girl, sat at the table and browsed the records of previous years. After waiting for an hour, she read all the records about the Luohua Cave Girl.
"How is it? What clues have been found in these records of the Luohua Cave Girl?" Ren Peacock asked with concern.
Song Siyuan took a deep breath and explained: "The earliest record of the Luohua Cave Girl comes from fifty-five years ago..."
At that time, Tianjing of the Taiping Kingdom was captured, and the imperial army began to hunt down the Taiping rebels in the south. Xiangxi also began to suppress the bandits at the request of the government. In order to eliminate the rebels as soon as possible, Xiang organized a case investigation bureau to clear out the Taiping forces involved.
The government at that time understood that the rebels were mainly concentrated in the south. After their defeat, if there were any participating generals who survived, there were only two options left. Either rely on the cargo ships on the Yangtze River to go overseas to the West, or escape to the southwest mountains. .
The two roads are different. The former is far away and in the territory of another country. The former government was afraid of foreigners and did not dare to mess with foreigners. It was the safest. However, the conditions for crossing the ocean were harsh. If you want to go overseas, you must have strong financial resources or great connections. At that time, the Taiping Kingdom Most of the rebels were common people from southwestern Lingnan. Except for some senior generals, the rest of the rebels did not have the conditions to travel far away.
So, since it is impossible to cross the ocean, the only option left is the latter - to go far to the southwest, relying on the hundreds of thousands of mountains and ruined mountains and rivers in the southwest to cover their whereabouts.
Western Hunan is exactly the east gate of Shiwanda Mountain. It was also the sphere of influence of the Taiping Kingdom. The former government knew that it was common practice to take a boat from the Xiang River to the southwest, so they ordered the governor of Hunan Province to set up a case investigation bureau, hoping to quickly annihilate the Taiping State here. The remnants of the country.
The case investigation bureau, the case investigation bureau, is called the case investigation bureau. In fact, it is a large prison.
There is no way in or out of this place. Although it was set up to arrest the Taiping rebels, it was also responsible for arresting and correcting thieves behind the scenes. In addition, there were many Taiping rebels in western Hunan crossing the border to hide. If they were caught, they would be found to be in the mountains. The thieves and bandits were imprisoned without asking the reason. If they were remnants of the Taiping Army, they might be beheaded at Caishikou for treason.
In order to deter other rioters and bandits, a large wooden frame is displayed outside the case investigation bureau, on which hanged corpses are hung all year round, as well as piles of human heads. Even a gangster will feel terrified when he walks in front of the case investigation bureau. tremble.
Not to mention thieves, even if good people enter the case investigation bureau, they may not be able to escape. Behind their backs, they all ask the chief case officer so-and-so to shave their heads. This shows how bad their reputation is. The people in western Hunan hate evil as much as they hate enemies, and they despise life and death over integrity. If Just for arresting thieves and bandits, the reputation of the Case Investigation Bureau is not that bad. They are called the Palace of Hell behind their backs entirely because they have harmed all good young people!
In western Hunan, in addition to rebels and bandits, there are also young and middle-aged people who have never been involved in rebellion. These people are not bandits or rebels. They are law-abiding people who were born in Hunan. They just want to find a job to take care of their families in troubled times. Logically speaking, they It is impossible to be related to the traitor.
However, the official word means what it says. Since the rioters are all young and middle-aged people, then the existing young and middle-aged people may not be able to become rioters. When the case investigation bureau cannot catch the gangsters, they will arrest the young people who look too vicious. Put them in jail to induce confession and torture.
If you don't say that you are a rioter, then you will be locked up and asked about the details of your becoming a bandit until the person can't help but let go. Even if he cannot be convicted, at least it can be far-fetched to say that these people want to become a bandit. , so there is a reason for punishment.
The Case Investigation Bureau has always been strict in dealing with suspected crimes. Within a few months of its establishment, more than 400 people had been killed. Could these people be all remnants of the Taiping Army?
That’s not necessarily true. At least 50% of those who were beaten and found guilty were sentenced to death unjustly, so that the name of the Case Investigation Bureau was actually a large-scale unjust prison. From then on, the reputation of the Case Investigation Bureau in western Hunan was basically the same. It is the same as Yama Palace.
Over the past few years, the folk customs in western Hunan have deteriorated greatly. Since good people can get away with disasters by farming at home, why not live happily as bandits?
The first Luohua Cave girl appeared in an era when the ancient roads in western Hunan did not exist and people were addicted. She was Ma Chunxiu, a citizen of Qingxi Village in Huahuan County. Her parents had already arranged for her to be engaged, but her future husband... He was arrested for leading the rioters into the mountains.
Although this person argued in every possible way, the case investigation bureau still sentenced him to beheading for treason and conspiracy. The woman thought that the case investigation bureau would let her go, but in the end what she waited for was that her future husband-in-law was beheaded.
These people who were beheaded were all gangsters who were related to the rebels. They were not allowed to collect their bodies after their heads were beheaded, so that they could expose their bodies in the wild and not be restrained until the corpses rotted.
Ma Chunxiu fell in love with this young man and thought that at least she had to take the whole body back for burial, so she waited outside the case investigation bureau for half a month regardless of her family's objections. During this half month, she witnessed the decay and deformation of the body with her own eyes. Dead, with all thoughts and desperation, he was already in a daze, barely holding on until the body was restrained, and then he passed out from grief.
When she returned, she felt someone calling her name while unconscious. When she opened her eyes, she found that she had been taken back to the village by her family and was walking near the Bailong Cave. Out of curiosity, she walked into the cave entrance to find the source of the sound and waited until she came out of the cave. Her face looked red and charming, as if she was a different person, without any sadness at all.
This change made her family worried. After a few days of not eating or drinking, she began to lose consciousness. Later, a fellow villager told her family that she was chosen by the cave god to become the Luohua Cave Girl.
At that time, the common people only knew about the Luohua Cave Girl but had never really seen it. Seeing Ma Chunxiu's appearance was the same as that of the Cave Wife, they naturally thought that she had been fallen into the cave. Then they heard that they passed by the Bailong Cave. That strengthened the rumors.
At the request of the villagers, her family had to dress her up beautifully and send her to Bailong Cave to become a Luohua Cave girl.
Since then, the number of Luohua Cave girls gradually increased in Western Hunan!
Some people died, but not completely...
