"Blue Gong Case", also known as "Luzhou Gong Case" and "Gong Case Even Record", the author is the Qing Dynasty official Lan Dingyuan, a total of two volumes and twenty-four articles. It mainly describes the author's experience in handling government affairs, trying cases, and breaking superstitions, which has high historical value.
About the author: Lan Dingyuan (1680-1733), zi Yulin, alias Luzhou, Fujian Zhangpu people. Both his father and grandfather were well-known local Confucians. Lan Dingyuan lost his father at the age of ten, and at the age of seventeen, he looked at the sea of Xiamen, sailed through the islands of the Fujian Sea, and traveled to the Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces. In the sixtieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1721), his cousin Lan Tingzhen participated in the pacification of the rebellion of Zhu Yigui in Taiwan in the first year of Qing Yongzheng (1723), and Lan Dingyuan participated in the compilation and revision of the "Great Qing Unification Chronicle". In the fifth year (1727), he was recommended by Zhu Shi of the Xiangguo, summoned by the Meng Yongzheng Emperor, and granted the order of Puning County in Guangdong, and in October of the same year, he also served as the Chaoyang Order. At the end of the sixth year (1728), he was falsely dismissed from his post and imprisoned, released in the autumn of the eighth year (1730), and died of illness in June of the eleventh year (1733), while serving as the prefect of Guangzhou, at the age of 54. The main works are mainly "Luzhou Initial Collection", "East Collection", "Platform Chronicle" and so on.
In the first year of Qing Yongzheng (1723), Lan Dingyuan was recommended to be elected to Beijing with a tribute and divided the "Great Qing Unification Chronicle". In the fifth year of Yongzheng (1727), the first assistant Zhu Shi praised Lan Dingyuan's talent and recommended him to meet Yongzheng. Lan Dingyuan played Chen Jingzhi's six affairs such as Taiwan and Hecao, and was praised by Yongzheng. In the autumn of that year, Lan Dingyuan was appointed as Puning in Guangdong and Chaoyang, which is located at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, and is known as difficult to govern, and local traitors and evildoers often provoke and instigate the people to fight for profits, and the lawyers and writers manipulate them to make profits. As a result, the place is not quiet, litigation is endless, and the prison is overcrowded. After Lan Dingyuan took office, according to the facts, he issued a government decree to crack down on local tyrants and traitors. At the same time, the unjust imprisonment was rehabilitated, the order was prohibited, and the rule of officials was changed. Lan Dingyuan also devoted himself to the indoctrination of virtue, revived schools, personally taught professions, and banned cults and obscene shrines. Because Lan Dingyuan was upright and upright, and did not buy into the unspoken rules of the officialdom, Huichao Daotailou was quite critical of him on weekdays, waiting for the opportunity to suppress and retaliate. In the winter of the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728), Lan Dingyuan, seeing that the people's livelihood was difficult, ordered the exemption of fishing boats from the case of gold, and those who were jealous took advantage of the institution to trap, fabricated charges, and planted more than a thousand stolen goods, and played on six counts, so he was dismissed from his post and imprisoned.
The book "The Case of the Blue Gong" is after Lan Dingyuan was impeached and removed from office. In prison, the typical cases handled by Zhichao for fourteen months were posthumously recorded into a book, narrated from a first-person perspective, and the senior government benefited people. Kuang Minben's preface in the spring of the seventh year of Yongzheng said: "Sir listens to the lawsuit like a god, and if there is a treasure between Filial Piety and the legacy, it is difficult to understand whenever there is doubt." The void is quiet and quiet, and it seems to have another hook technique. Although he is a cunning lawyer and an old thief, he who says that words cannot be difficult, and those who cannot obey the responsibilities of officials, when they see Mr. Li, they do not know where to go, and they do not wait for punishment but lose their feelings." Compare it to the Song Dynasty Bao Zheng.
Article 14: Lynching at Yunluodian
On the fifth day of the first month of February in the year of Pengshen, a man with the appearance of an official came to the eastern outskirts of Puning County.
He was followed by a man who was picking up luggage, and two people like caravans, carrying a scaly and haggard-faced man to the inn opened by Qiu Xing.
The next morning, the first to pick up the luggage set off, following the road leading to chaoyang. The injured man had not yet gotten out of bed, and the official and the two sedans were preparing to hit the road. The shopkeeper, Qiu Xing, stepped forward to inquire, and the official messenger pointed to the wound number lying down and said, "He is a money thief." I was thinking of investigating and investigating the officials, but I couldn't leave because I was sick. After a while, the official and the two caravans also left. Qiu Xing was busy going to see the sick man, but it turned out to be Qiu Ashuang of the Ben family.
When he asked him, he couldn't answer, but just compared it with his hand, which meant that he had been beaten and badly injured, and I was afraid that he would die soon.
Qiu Xing was shocked and frightened, and immediately reported to the township mayor Gao Boyou and jointly chased after the official and his party. It took about two miles to catch up, and the three people who brought back the official and the sedan together. Gao Boyou asked what was going on? Only then did I know that the official was a scribe from Haiyang County, named Li Zhenchuan, who had returned from the provincial capital. Go to Kwai Tan and hire Qiu A to pick up luggage.
Staying in yunluo shop, he lost four or two pieces of silver at night. Qiu Ashuang confessed to stealing, but did not repay it, so he pulled him to Puning County and pursued him. The other two were named Lin Axiong and Wu Awei, and Qiu Ashuang was a buddy.
Qiu Ashuang has an older brother named Qiu Axiong, who works as a jailer in Puning County. Qiu Xing called him to see Ah Shuang, who was unable to speak and had lost his breath just after noon.
Therefore, the two of them jointly reported this case to the county lieutenant, and Li Zhenchuan and the three of them were imprisoned and imprisoned, and at the same time, they went to Chaoyang to report to me.
I returned to Puning for inspection in the starry night. It was seen that Qiu Ashuang had marks of wooden stick injuries on his right forehead, rope binding wounds on the thumbs of both hands, hoop scars around his head, and wood chip wedge wounds on his left and right foreheads. The back of the head, cheeks, armpits, and lower body were all burned by the fire. The wounds on his body seemed to be marks left by the random pumping of rattan. I couldn't help but sigh, "Alas! How miserable! Who is so rebellious, it is too much! Don't say that he is a scribe in a neighboring county, even if he is a prominent official in the dao, if he commits this poisonous hand, I will definitely let him pay for his life! ”
Interrogated on the spot, Li Zhenchuan admitted that he had lost two silver pairs, suspected Qiu Ashuang of stealing, and used a wooden bolt to break the bed and injured Qiu Ashuang's forehead horn. As for the rest of the wounds, they were all done by Cai Gao and four soldiers of the Yunluo garrison, and had nothing to do with themselves. Wu Awei and Lin Axiong also said that the things such as bundling, hooping, and grilling were indeed done by soldiers interrogating thieves and recovering silver for guests. If you think it is untrue, you can interrogate Xu Abing, the owner of the Yunluo store.
I thought to myself: Such a punishment can only be done by the battalion soldiers who hunt down the robbers, and I am afraid that what they say may not be unreasonable. But I also saw that the thumb of Wu Awei's left hand also looked like a wound bound by a rope. Asked him, he denied it. I didn't believe it, and looked at his right finger again, just like his left finger. Putting the hands together, it is obvious that two thumbs are tied with a string and suspended on the beam. Locals refer to this bundle suspension as the "double flying swallow". Looking at his head again, there are also scars from hoops. Undoing his clothes, he saw burn marks between his ribs. I said, "Oh! Strange! The scars on your body are no different from those of the deceased, only lighter. But why are you silent?
When I asked, I said no. It seems that the silver was not stolen by Qiu Ashuang, but actually stolen by you! That's why you don't dare to say. Who injured you? You should make it clear. Wu Awei said, "It was also Cai Gao who hit him." I said, "Cai Gao is so brutal and fierce, why don't you say it?" Wu Awei said: "Li Zhenchuan did not let me say, I am afraid that I will be used as evidence of the murder case, implicated in the torture and die." I said, "What Cai Gao did, why didn't Li Zhenchuan let you say it?" Where is the truth? Wu Awei said: "Li Zhenchuan is pitiful, I am a poor man who does small business, afraid of being involved and sent for interrogation, and I have no one to live on." Losing silver is his own business, I'm afraid he will be burdened by Cai Gao, and it will be inevitable, so why should he involve me again? It wouldn't do him any good to bother me more. ”
I recorded their confessions in their original form and filled them out in the bulletin booklet. At the same time, a document was sent to the Yunluo defenders, and Cai Gao and the shopkeeper Xu Abing were interrogated. Cai Gao was full of grievances, while Wu Awei and Lin Axiong still echoed the accusations. So I sent a document to the Huilai defenders to remove Cai Gao from his post so that he could be tortured. The names of the officers who condoned the soldiers' connivance were traced on the one hand, and attached to the reporting documents. He also summoned both the prisoners and witnesses, interrogated them carefully, and carefully deliberated them, but Xu Abing's confession was very different from others. According to him, Li Zhenchuan had a nephew of his own family who was abroad divining for a living and could not support himself. The day before, I came to the Yunluo store, and I met Li Zhenchuan by chance in the evening of the third day of the first year and lived together. He begged Li Zhenchuan to borrow him for the road fare so that he could return to his hometown. Zhenchuan promised to lend him money.
But at dawn the next day, Li Zhenchuan found that he had lost four or two pieces of silver and eighty pieces of money, so he said to the people who lived with him: "The official silver has been stolen, it concerns the locality, if you do not cooperate to track it down, you will all be implicated!" All the people in the store were horrified and questioned each other.
Employee Lin Axiong and others said that Qiu Ashuang had not slept all night, opened the door twice, and went in and out. So everyone thought that the official silver was stolen by Qiu Ashuang and directly pursued him. Qiu Ashuang was not convinced. Li Zhenchuan said: "Steal official silver, kill it!" He then picked up the wooden bolt of the folding bed and injured Li A's double forehead horn. He also ordered his nephews to bind Ah Shuang together. The nephew hated Ah Shuang for stealing the money so that li Zhenchuan promised him the money to be wasted, so he tied Qiu Ashuang's two thumbs with a thin rope and hung them on the beam. He drew a long and hard strip of wood from a bundle of firewood and whipped ah shuang dozens of times. Everyone urged Qiu Ashuang to confess, but Qiu Ashuang still did not accept it. Li Zhenchuan's anger rose, and together with his nephew, he tied a circle with bamboo pieces and hooped it on Qiu A's head. Two wooden wedges were cut out and inserted into the left and right forehead corners to make the circle hoop tighter, and both of Qiu Ashuang's eyeballs bulged out, but they still did not accept it.
Li Zhenchuan's uncle and nephew then lit it with mountain thatch and burned the back of his head, cheeks, armpits, and lower body. Qiu Ashuang said, "Wu Awei slept in the same bed as me, so why didn't he interrogate him?" ”
Li Zhenchuan's uncle and nephew also suspected that Wu Awei and Qiu Ashuang had colluded to steal money, and also tied Up Wu Awei and punished him by punishing Qiu Ashuang. Wu Awei was also not convinced. Li Zhenchuan, because of His Shuang's stubbornness and inability to chase down the lost silver, went to the garrison to talk about it. Considering that the general Wang Dazhen was concerned with the locality, he sent the soldier Cai Gao to Yunluodian to inquire. Qiu Ashuang felt that he was not spared and prevaricated. Cai Gao also thought that he was a thief, and persuaded Zhenchuan to untie him and search for the lost silver, but in the end he found nothing, so he returned to the military camp to report. The king said, "The interrogation of thieves is the business of a civilian official. Li Zhenchuan took Qiu Ashuang and others to Puning and went to the county court to investigate. Li Zhenchuan's uncle and nephew then asked Lin Axiong, Wu Awei, and Qiu Ashuang to testify together in Puning. Just a few miles away, Qiu Ashuang said that the silver was in the store. Li Zhenchuan and others took Qiu Ashuang back to the store and searched around, but there was still no trace. When the sun was about to set, Cai Gao came to yunluo shop again, fearing that Qiu Ashuang would escape late at night and get involved in the place, causing Li Zhenchuan to tie Qiu A's hands and feet and sleep. By the dawn of the fifth day of the first month, Qiu Ashuang was seriously injured and could not walk. Li Zhenchuan promised to provide Lin Axiong and Wu Awei with wine and food, and asked them to carry Qiu Ashuang to Puning, still trying to chase out the lost Silver Two. Unexpectedly, Ah Shuang died suddenly.
That was the truth at the time.
I didn't believe Xu Abing's words, ordered him to be executed, and said to him: "Li Zhenchuan, Lin Axiong, and Wu Awei have already made things clear, how can you listen to your clever words?" How many bribes do you have to take, and you want to excuse sinners and frame innocents? Xu Abing said: "The sky is on the top, and I don't dare to say anything about it." Please calmly and carefully examine, wait until the water comes out, if Qiu Ashuang is not injured by Li Zhenchuan's uncle and nephew, I am willing to pay for my life! "Ask him what is the name of Li Zhenchuan's nephew?" Xu Abing said, "I don't know, just ask Li Zhenchuan." "Ask what are the names of the four battalion soldiers?" Xu Abing said, "There was only one Cai Gao that day, and there were no other soldiers. You can't even pinch me, and you can't make the names of four soldiers. ”
I summoned Wu Awei, Lin Axiong and Xu Abing to confront me. Xu Abing scolded the two men for framing goodness with a bad conscience, saying that they would be struck by five thunderbolts in the future. Wu Awei and Lin Axiong did not dare to argue with Xu Abing. I let the two be sentenced, and both of them said: "What Xu Abing said is true, and we listened to Li Zhenchuan's words the day before yesterday." He said that human life is at stake, that the matter is so important that it involves endlessly, that your family is poor and that you cannot afford to buy a coffin and bury the dead, so as to seek peace with the plaintiff. It is better that the three of us join forces to give Ah Shuang a battalion to kill. The defenders were bound to be afraid and ask for peace. At that time, Qiu Achu had to bribe and bury the body, and several of us would be in trouble. Therefore, the plots such as bundling, hooping, and grilling were all pushed to the battalion. And the wooden strip is finely wounded, said to be hit by the bowstring. Now, the officers of the garrison refused to rest in peace, the murder case had been reported, Xu Abing was alive and now, the human and physical evidence was conclusive, how could I wait for my conscience and not tell the truth? Qiu Ashuangshi was killed by Li Zhenchuan's uncle and nephew, and had nothing to do with the battalion. ”
I now understand that during the autopsy and interrogation, Wu Awei Yaming was injured, but I didn't say that there was an emotional flaw in the original. If it wasn't for Li Zhenchuan's abuse, why did Li Zhenchuan tell him not to tell the truth? So he interrogated Wu Awei again and asked him: "You were beaten and injured that day, and you also said that cai Gao did it; why do you say that you have nothing to do with the battalion soldiers today?" Wu Awei said: "Because it was the messenger Li Zhenchuan who injured me, he told me not to say." Because I hit his plan and hoped that the case would be closed, I was silent on the spot. If Cai Gao really binds me, hangs me, hoops me, and roasts me, will I be willing to cover for him? Today's confession is all the truth, even if the beheading falls to the ground, I dare not say that the murderer is not Li Zhenchuan's uncle and nephew. ”
I interrogated Cai Gao again, and Cai Gao was not convinced until he died. So I interrogated Li Zhenchuan, and Li Zhenchuan sighed and said, "This is a wrongful deed in a past life, and I would rather die than die, and there is nothing to say." I asked, "Qiu Ashuang died at the hands of whom?" Li Zhenchuan said: "Died at my hands." I said, "Ah Shuang is strong, with your thin body, how can you control his death?" It seems that you must have been bribed by Cai Gao to bear the guilt for him. Li Zhenchuan said: "There is a nephew Li Axian who helped me and killed Qiu Ashuang." I didn't take a bribe. So he described in detail the situation of the beating, hooping, and roasting Qiu Ashuang that day, without concealment. What Li Zhenchuan said was all consistent with what Xu Abing said.
I asked him why his confession didn't mention Lee Ah Hsien? Where does ah xian's family live? Do you have parents or wives? Li Zhenchuan said: "At that time, I wanted to push it to the battalion soldiers, and peace was settled, so I did not mention Ah Xian, and even I did not admit it, so today I had to tell the truth." Ah Xian's family is in Evil Creek, where Han Wengong expelled crocodiles. There are no parents and no wives. Alone, eating and sleeping. Since he left Puning to go home first, he had not heard from him for months, and he did not know whether he had come out to travel around the country again. ”
I sent a circular to Haiyang County on the night of the stars, and specially sent someone to guard and arrest him, and sure enough, Li Axian was arrested and arrested. When interrogated in court, he did not wait for the punishment, and he quickly confessed the situation of torturing Qiu Ashuang to death with his uncle Li Zhenchuan and his uncle Li Zhenchuan that day, which was consistent with the confessions of Xu Abing, Li Zhenchuan, and others. I said, "Oh! Yes! So he wrote a confession and formulated Li Zhenchuan to compensate qiu Ashuang for his life, and Ah Xian's staff was heavy and exiled for three thousand miles. Cai Gao and Xu Abing failed to persuade them, and Wu Awei and Lin Axiong made false confessions at first, and each hit eighty heavy staffs. They were dismissed to the prefectural court for interrogation and clarification, and then transferred to the provincial yamen.
Lord Tai took the initial report of the document as a basis, and the result of this interrogation was that Li Zhenchuan and Li Axian were the culprits of the murder, which was inconsistent with the original text, and the retrial was rejected. I was again humble and quiet, conducted a detailed investigation, and when there was nothing suspicious, I was still sent under the original sentence name, which greatly violated the will of Lord Taitai. At that time, he had to sentence Cai Gao to be a murderer in order to track down the crime of lax discipline of the officers of the Yunluo garrison for not exercising strict control over his subordinates. Seeing that I did not overturn the case according to the documents he dismissed, I was indignant and planned to add a crime that was easy to settle and dismiss me from office.
I said, "Is it not my doing to kill innocent people in order to protect my own name?" It is better to dismiss the official and resign, go into the mountains to study, and still lose my innocent nature! ”
Lord Tai tai also transferred me to the province, asked me to review it, and reprimanded me in person: "You are arrogant and willful, and you have no superiors, how did I refute the original documents?" How dare you turn a deaf ear! If this case had not been committed by the battalion soldiers, how could this torture have been used? If you have checked the report like this before, and now you have concluded the trial like this, there is no difference between the front and the back, how can you go to the Punishment Department to close the case? Now that this case is being retried, you should be careful! ”
I said, "How dare you be willful?" The interrogation has been strictly according to the adult's text, and the prisoner's witness has not moved his mouth, what can I do? People along the seashore can do anything to be robbers and catch robbers. Things like beating, hooping, roasting, etc., did not have to wait for the battalion soldiers to do it. As a county official, doesn't Li Zhenchuan understand that murderers pay for their lives? Li Axian was not tortured, and he was willing to confess his sins, was this a ghost that sent God? Human life is at stake, and killing people cannot be completed without paying for their lives, is it something that others can force? Cai Gao is indeed innocent. He was not the only one who refused to do so, but I am afraid that even those who accepted his fate were not at ease. The original notification was based on what they said at the time. If the facts are tried today, the instrument will be drawn up according to the facts. Even if the Ministry of Punishment rejects it, I have no way. The loss of official affairs is small, and the killing of innocents is a big thing. I just have to wait for the impeachment and dismissal!" ”
When lord Taitai heard this, he was furious, and he even jumped and shouted, quarreled and scolded, and he wanted to write a text to participate in the impeachment. The people around me were busy reminding me, "Take off your hat!" Kowtow your head! Thanks! I smiled and said, "I might as well take off my hat, but how can my head ring?" I haven't really learned it yet! This made Lord Zhentai laugh, but his anger still did not subside, and he said, "You should be humble and retrial, and you don't have to be stubborn." I said, "Don't dare." ”
I thought to myself: The deadline is approaching, and if we wait for another interrogation, we will send it to the government, and if the government interrogates and sends the palace to the palace, it will be too slow and too late. Therefore, the case file and the offender were brought to the prefect's office for trial. The rebuttal of the torture was mainly based on the prefect Hu Daren, and I only watched and listened carefully from the side. The servants were also on the sidelines, recording their confessions together. As a result, Li Zhenchuan, Li Axian, Cai Gao, Xu Abing, Lin Axiong, and Wu Awei insisted on confessing as before and remained unchanged until death. I changed the question, added a new confession, and then recounted the original judgment and brought it to report to Lord Tai. After seeing the anger, Lord Tai scolded: "You just changed the question, and the confession and judgment are still the same as before!" What a sight-dropping boss, who barked at my words like dogs! I said, "Don't you dare!" The question is from the questioner and can be changed.
Confessions are made by prisoners, and life and death are at stake, but can they be changed by the officials? Since the confession cannot be changed, it is difficult to change the sentence. Today's case is really righteous, please ask the adult Tokusatsu to personally try it. If I find that there is a mistake in it, I bear all the guilt. Lord Zhentai said, "I want to personally try it, and if there is any other affection, it will certainly be impeached against you!" I said, "Willingly." "Say goodbye and stride out. My colleagues were all sweating for me. I said, "I have been poor since childhood, so that I have today." Whether an official has it or not, what is the importance? In order to protect the official, kill the innocent to please the superior, can this official be another official? ”
After a few days, Lord Gutai personally interrogated him. He suspected that Li Zhenchuan and others had been bribed by Cai Gao to impose additional punishments on all prisoners and witnesses. Li Zhenchuan said: "I have been in Yamen for decades, don't you know that the murderer pays for his life?" Even if there is a bribe of thousands of dollars, and there is no life to enjoy, what is the use of this bribe? Because I was reluctant to give four or two pieces of silver, I killed one person in my throat. If the death penalty is blamed on an innocent person today, it is equivalent to killing another person. I was not wronged in this case, and even if I were to be killed, there would be no other confession. ”
Li Axian said: "If I do not confess guilt to murder, I should be sentenced." Having confessed and understood, and did not dare to blame others again, why did he go to jail again? Cai Gao said, "Even if I die today, I don't dare to pay for my life on behalf of you, so that Qiu Ashuang will complain about the Nine Springs." ”
Xu Abing, Lin Axiong, and Wu Awei also said that the previous confession was true, and today's death cannot be changed anymore.
Lord Tai looked back at the scribe and smiled, "Your hands and feet are so exquisite, I can't turn over the case, and I can't go to the sentence if I want to!" The scribe said, "This is the truth, and no one has done anything about it." So is it okay to report this case to the Inspector General? Lord Tsutomu said, "All right! The result of the case was immediately reported to the inspector. The Inspector said, "That's it." "The case was closed according to the original judgment. Li Zhenchuan and Li Axian also died in Panyu County Prison within a few days, and did not wait for them to be punished.