Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 142 The Skinned Substitute (Third Update)
"This jailer is called Sun Heihu, nicknamed 'Black Impermanence'. He was the son of a butcher in Hejian Prefecture in his early years. After his father died, he collected corpses at the execution ground in the suburbs of Beijing and became familiar with the ways of death row inmates."

"How did you become a prison guard in the Ministry of Justice?"

"In the first year of the Jiajing reign, he replaced his uncle as a prison guard in the Ministry of Justice. Because of his cruel methods, he was even taken away by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. However, it seems that he embezzled the tribute money and was demoted back to the Ministry of Justice. Now he is in charge of the Southern Prison, which is the most lucrative outside the Imperial Prison. He is the one who collects the most exorbitant 'torture instrument rental fees'!"

"'Price for renting torture devices'?"

"It's basically a exemption from punishment, but with even more variations..."

As it turns out, without Zhao Wenhua, an insider who had served as the head of the Ministry of Justice for two years, many things would have been unimaginable.

For example, it is common knowledge that torture and abuse are carried out under the jurisdiction of the yamen, but Haiyue and Yan Shifan were unaware of the ins and outs of the matter of the exemption from punishment silver.

The so-called "exemption money" means that by paying money, prisoners could be exempted from punishment.

However, since they couldn't be so direct, they came up with another name: "torture instrument rental fee".

The idea is that prisoners' families pay to rent out the instruments of torture, so the prison guards won't use those instruments to beat the prisoners, or they will hold back when they do beat them to prevent damage to the instruments, which indirectly protects the prisoners.

Yan Shifan initially thought this was pointless and unnecessary, but Haiyue keenly sensed the difference.

Yes, there is more than one type of torture device. Even if a prisoner's family only rents one or two of them, they still cannot prevent their loved ones from being tortured.

Therefore, they should be rented separately.

That's terrible.

"Ten taels for the water and fire stick, twenty taels for the finger crushing, thirty taels for the clamping stick... Sun Heihu is very considerate. He does it himself. If someone is crippled, he will even pay for their disability."

"In addition to the cost of renting the torture instruments, there are also compensation fees. For each festering wound, the cost of removing rotten flesh is ten taels of silver, and for each broken bone being realigned, the cost is twenty taels of silver."

"There's also the last meal before execution, which is said to ensure a full stomach on the road to the underworld and a successful reincarnation as an official. The amount of money involved varies, sometimes reaching as high as a hundred taels!"

Yan Shifan was dumbfounded when he heard this.

According to this calculation, his father Yan Song, who served as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, a high-ranking official of the third rank, might not even earn as much in a month as this lowly prison guard in the Ministry of Justice.

Haiyue was considering another aspect: "You just said that this Sun Heihu is in charge of prisoner allocation, torture device distribution, and autopsy and deregistration?"

Zhao Wenhua nodded: "Yes! This man is a local tyrant in the Southern Prison, otherwise he wouldn't be known as 'Black Impermanence'!"

Yan Shifan immediately realized: "But this man is not short of money, and the jailer has no chance of promotion. If we go to find him now, how can we get him to talk?"

Zhao Wenhua smiled slightly, revealing a confident expression: "Please rest assured, I naturally have a way to get him to reply!"

Upon arriving at the South Prison, Zhao Wenhua asked Haiyue and Yan Shifan to wait a moment and then walked directly towards the entrance.

He was no longer the head of the Ministry of Justice, but a convicted official about to be demoted out of the capital. Logically speaking, he had no authority over the clerks, yet he swaggered to the prison gate, sent someone in to announce his arrival, and waited calmly, not at all worried that the other party wouldn't come out.

In less than a quarter of an hour, a man dressed in an ochre prison guard's uniform with an iron hook hanging from his waist strode out.

This man was Sun Heihu, in his forties. He didn't look like the burly, bear-like, fleshy butcher's son that one might imagine; instead, he was rather thin.

Upon seeing Zhao Wenhua waiting at the door, a hint of surprise appeared in Sun Heihu's eyes: "It really is Manager Zhao! Your..."

Zhao Wenhua raised his hand, stopping him from saying anything more: "Sun Heihu, I have come here to ask you some questions. Answer truthfully, and I will surely reward you handsomely!"

Sun Heihu was very quick-witted. He immediately turned his gaze to Hai Yan and the other man standing not far away. After observing them for a moment, he nodded slightly and said, "Master Zhao, please ask whatever you want."

Zhao Wenhua then turned around, gestured for the two to come over, and bowed slightly, saying, "Chief! Brother Donglou! Please ask him!"

Yan Shifan glanced at the jailer, whose income was probably higher than his father's, and was very displeased, but he had to hold back for the sake of business: "Are you aware of the rumors circulating in the city lately about the two Zhangs faking their deaths?"

Sun Heihu suddenly realized: "Young master, do you mean 'skinning substitute'?"

Yan Shifan was taken aback, his breathing quickening: "'Skinning a substitute'? What does that mean? Explain it in detail!"

Sun Heihu said, "That happened during the reign of Emperor Wuzong. At that time, eunuchs were rampant and the prisons were full of people, mostly from noble families. So someone came up with this idea."

Yan Shifan was shocked: "Skinned?"

Sun Heihu explained: "It's not about actually peeling off a person's skin. It's a method used in prison. First, they pretend to torture the person until they're unrecognizable, as if they've shed a layer of skin. Then, before the execution, they replace the person with someone else."

Who will replace them?

"Most of them are looking for refugees to replace them."

How can we force these people to keep quiet?

“The refugees were very willing; if they died in their place, their families could survive.”

"No one is investigating?"

"They were originally unidentified refugees, and no one would have investigated their deaths."

How much money did the government collect?

"I heard that one 'skinning substitute' can earn a thousand taels of silver..."

After inquiring about various details, the two learned that this was actually a remnant of the Zhengde era. Because at that time there were many death row inmates, many wealthy families who had offended the eunuch faction were also imprisoned and sentenced to death.

Their families went to great lengths to try to rescue them, which eventually led to this method.

After learning more about the details, Haiyue and Yan Shifan exchanged a glance and nodded slightly.

This makes sense.

Only those condemned to death who were wealthy and powerful, whose families could afford to pay bribes, could possibly escape punishment using this method. It was during that chaotic period, when the Eight Tigers wreaked havoc in the capital, that many sons of powerful and wealthy families were affected, which gave rise to this semi-public rescue method.

Perhaps the eunuch faction is fully aware of this, and may even be planning to release him for a second round of treatment!

Given the precedent, Yan Shifan was somewhat unsure: "The Eight Tigers have been running rampant for over twenty years now. Would anyone dare to replace the Zhang brothers now?"

Sun Heihu said, "In reply to your question, young master, there is absolutely no such thing as 'skinning a substitute' in the Southern Prison. We would never dare to do such a business that would cost us our heads! As for the other prisons in the capital, I don't know, but I imagine that the two Zhangs must have carefully verified the true identity before the execution. I'm afraid this method won't work!"

Yan Shifan's eyes darted around, and he said in a deep voice, "The matter of 'skinning a substitute' isn't common knowledge, is it?"

Sun Heihu said, "Only an old jailer like me knows about what happened back then; naturally, it's impossible for everyone to know."

Yan Shifan snorted: "Then why is everyone in the capital saying that the two Zhang traitors are still alive?"

Sun Heihu said, "I don't know..."

"you know!"

Yan Shifan looked at him coldly: "Other matters are one thing, but what about what happened in prison? How could you, the Black Impermanence, know nothing about it? If this major case really blows up, do you think you can remain unscathed?"

Sun Heihu's face darkened slightly, as if he were somewhat annoyed, but after glancing at Zhao Wenhua, he forced himself to remain calm and replied, "I really don't know!"

Yan Shifan was about to say something more when Haiyue gently tugged at him and said calmly, "Go ahead!"

Sun Heihu clasped his hands in a fist salute, then turned and went back into the prison.

"What's with the attitude of a jailer!"

Yan Shifan watched the other person's retreating figure and spat.

Haiyue said, "As the Han Dynasty Chancellor Zhou Bo once said, 'I once commanded a million troops, but how could I know the power of prison guards?' These prison guards have the power of life and death in the prison, and they are used to their power. They are not even afraid of officials. Can Chief Zhao really control them?"

Zhao Wenhua, who had been silent ever since he called the man over, immediately said upon hearing this, "I dare not accept such a title from the leader. Just call me Yuanzhi. This Sun Heihu is indeed arrogant. I hope the leader will forgive him for any offense he may have caused!"

Yan Shifan secretly despised this subservient attitude, while Hai Yue smiled and said, "Yuanzhi, there's no need to belittle yourself. You have seniority in the Ministry of Justice and can even command such an arrogant person. You should take the lead in this case. When it's time to claim credit, I will definitely report it truthfully!"

It was obvious who this report should be sent to. Zhao Wenhua shuddered and quickly replied, "Please give your orders, leader!"

Haiyue said, "This Sun Heihu is obviously very knowledgeable about what's happening inside the prison, but he just doesn't want to talk about it. Can Yuanzhi make him talk?"

Zhao Wenhua hesitated for a moment before replying, "Yes!"

Haiyue said, "I won't ask you how you did it, but I want you to tell the truth, not just hearsay. Can you guarantee that?"

Zhao Wenhua immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said confidently, "Please rest assured, leader, the information I gather next will definitely be the truth!"

Haiyue said, "Alright! Go ahead, we'll wait for you here!"

"Please wait a moment!"

After watching him excitedly enter the South Prison and making sure he couldn't hear anymore, Yan Shifan whispered, "Something's not right with Zhao Wenhua. Why does he have this arrogant jailer so obedient to him?"

Haiyue said calmly, "Things must be done one at a time."

Yan Shifan understood and shut his mouth.

This time, the two waited much longer, a full half hour passed, and Zhao Wenhua still hadn't come out. During this time, his pageboy Yanzhou hurriedly went out and returned with something.

Just as Yan Shifan was suspecting that Zhao Wenhua was selling spies, this man finally stepped forward and said, "I've found out. The person who was suspected of being executed last year but then came back to life was actually a misunderstanding!"

Haiyue asked, "What do you mean?"

Zhao Wenhua said, "The condemned prisoner who was executed was Dalang, and the one who supposedly survived was his younger brother. The two looked very similar, which was common knowledge in the neighborhood. However, a person who was watching the execution did not know this. He happened to see it and was so frightened that he spread the word in private!"

"That's it?"

Yan Shifan glared at Zhao Wenhua. He had thought it was some big case, but if he really went to the Ministry of Justice to investigate, wouldn't he become a laughing stock of the Yixin Society?
Haiyue asked, "Are the case files still there? Is that family still alive?"

"The case file is there! That family has moved away!"

When did you move out?

"After mistakenly identifying a death row inmate, he moved away from the capital less than half a month later."

Hearing this, Haiyue strode forward: "Let's go! To the alley where the death row inmate's family lives. There's something worth investigating in this case!"

(End of this chapter)