White-robed Minister

Chapter 148, Chapter 0146: [Magistrate Wang's True Purpose]

The stick used for execution is called a "magistrate's staff".

It's not the thick, long fire and water stick depicted in movies and TV shows; that thing can kill someone if you're not careful, and even someone with ancestral execution skills can't control it.

The ancient practice of caning was not intended to kill people.

Both the Song and Ming dynasties used thorn canes.

During the Qing Dynasty, bamboo clappers were used instead, which were much less powerful.

Take the Song Dynasty as an example, there are three types of thorn canes.

To make it easier to understand, we have converted everything to modern units.

The first type is the interrogation rod (used in torture to extract confessions). It is approximately 1.09 meters long, with a diameter of 1.4 centimeters at the larger end and 1.09 centimeters at the smaller end.

The second type is the cane (or punishment). It is about 1.09 meters long, with a diameter of 0.84 centimeters at the larger end and 0.53 centimeters at the smaller end.

The third type is caning (a form of corporal punishment). It is about 1.09 meters long, with a diameter of 1 centimeter at the larger end and 0.68 centimeters at the smaller end.

Doesn't it look less scary now?

You can still kill someone!

When being flogged, one usually has to lie prone, but can stand when being granted leniency.

However, one must sit while being struck with a cane. This posture can reduce some of the force and prevent accidental death or maiming.

At this moment, Wang Tonglu was the first to be executed.

He was forced to sit down by the officials, and although he was struggling desperately, he stopped moving after hearing one sentence. The executioner said, "If you don't move, I can control my strength. If you move, I won't be responsible if you're beaten to death."

The executioners used the third type of staff.

It was a little over 1 meter long. The official held the end with a diameter of 1 centimeter and used the other end with a diameter of 0.68 centimeters to strike it.

Hearing the whooshing sound behind him, Wang Tonglu quickly leaned forward, trying to dissipate more of his force.

The executioners, who were initially holding back for fear of killing or maiming Wang Tonglu, saw that he dared to cheat and evade punishment, so they increased the force of the second beating and no longer held back.

"what!"

Wang Tonglu let out a scream, feeling as if his back had broken.

"good!"

The people outside the lobby cheered and applauded.

The executioner said, "Sit tight and don't ask for trouble. The more you try to dodge, the harder I'll hit you, since I can't control my strength."

This thing not only directly damages the spine, but if the force is too great, it can also injure internal organs.

The second blow struck with force, and Wang Tonglu felt his internal organs tremble. Terrified, he cried out, "Spare me! Hold back! Don't kill me!"

"beside!"

For the third blow, Wang Tonglu did not dodge in advance, and the executioner also slightly reduced the force.

But Wang Tonglu was still crying out, "It's broken, it's broken, the spine is broken!"

Wang Daochen, that old man, was also present at the execution.

His buttocks were bruised and battered, and he could only stand by holding onto a pillar in the main hall. Hearing his son's heart-wrenching cries, Wang Daochen couldn't bear to look at him and turned his face away, silently shedding tears.

Wang Shun, who was acting as a witness to the IOU, was waiting in line to receive his cane when he saw this scene and collapsed to the ground in fright.

Chen Xiaoyi smiled.

He had imagined revenge countless times, but none of them had been as satisfying as this. Watching his enemy being beaten on the back with a stick was incredibly exhilarating; he hoped to kill Wang Tonglu on the spot.

Whether it's caning or corporal punishment, the clothes have to be removed before the beating.

The spine was struck, and the first blow broke the skin. After several blows, the skin was torn open, and the spine could be vaguely seen.

Fearing to kill the person, the executioners did not strike the same spot repeatedly, but instead struck two or three times before moving to another location. This resulted in a long stretch of the back being gradually torn apart by the blows.

From below the shoulder blades to above the waist, the entire back was a bloody mess.

When the sixteenth blow was struck, Wang Tonglu suddenly fainted, and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Unable to hear his son's screams, Wang Daochen turned around to check on him, thinking he had been beaten to death. He cried out in anguish, "How could this happen? How could this happen!"

As he continued wailing, he questioned Xu Lai again: "Judge Xu, we have no grudge against each other, why are you driving my family to their deaths?"

Xu Lai did not answer, but looked at Chen Xiaoyi.

Chen Xiaoyi glared at Wang Daochen: "When you were pushing my family to the brink of death, why didn't you think about this day? You deserve to be beaten to death!"

"good!"

The crowd outside the hall cheered again.

When Chen Xiaoyi decided to plead his innocence, he had already made up his mind that he would escape regardless of whether he won or lost the case. He could not stay in the village and wait to be retaliated against.

He either sold the land he had taken back to the government at a low price or to his uncles or neighbors, using the money from the land sales to find a new place to live.

Therefore, he is not afraid of these wealthy people!

The executioner asked, "Signatory, the prisoner has fainted. Should the remaining strokes be saved for later, or should we splash him with cold water to wake him up before continuing?"

Xu Lai went over to take a look and saw that blood was trickling from the corner of Wang Tonglu's mouth. He then instructed, "The rest of the strokes are just a token gesture."

So the official in charge of the execution tapped him lightly a few times. Then he said to Wang Shun, "It's your turn."

Wang Shun rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot.

Xu Lai said, "Wake him up with cold water, finish the treatment quickly. Where's the trauma doctor? Treat Wang Tonglu's injuries quickly, we can't put a cangue around a corpse's neck."

What do you mean by saying that cangues can't be put around a corpse's neck? Does that even make sense?!

"A cruel official! A cruel official!"

Overwhelmed with grief and indignation, Wang Daochen clutched his injured buttocks with one hand and pointed at Xu Lai with the other, gritting his teeth as he said, "You are unworthy of being the top scholar; you are nothing but the likes of Zhi Du and Lai Junchen!"

"Lai Junchen is a treacherous and wicked man; I disdain to associate with him."

Xu Lai said loudly, "But Zhi Du was selfless, upright, and incorruptible. When he served as a local official, no one picked up lost items on the road. When he became the governor of Yanmen, the Xiongnu feared his reputation and dared not invade, only carving his wooden statue as a target to vent their anger. Lord Zhi is truly my role model. I only regret that I was born a thousand years too late to serve in the same court as him!"

"You—you—"

Wang Daochen was both furious and shocked. Zhi Du was a notorious cruel official, yet Xu Lai had openly stated that Zhi Du was his role model.

How did Zhi Du govern Jinan Prefecture back then?

More than 300 powerful clans in the area were causing havoc and were beyond the reach of the law. After Zhi Du took office, he didn't even bother to investigate the cases. He directly executed the entire families of several powerful clans, which terrified the other powerful clans so much that they dared not commit any crimes again.

Even the common people were frightened by Zhi Du. During his tenure, Jinan Prefecture truly achieved a state where no one would pick up lost items on the road.

What did Xu Lai mean by what he just said?

Did they intend to kill the entire family of a powerful clan in Yingtian Prefecture?

Xu Lai met Wang Daochen's gaze, his eyes clear and his expression calm: "You can give it a try."

The more calm and collected Xu Lai appeared, the more terrified Wang Daochen became. He finally realized that this young judge was far more audacious and ruthless than he had imagined!

"what!"

"Spare me, spare me—"

Wang Shun had been awakened by being splashed with cold water. He sat in the hall receiving the caning, letting out screams and pleas for mercy.

After the caning was finished, Xu Lai struck the gavel and said, "After treating the injuries of these three, put them in prison under strict guard. Wang Tonglu and Wang Shun will be paraded in cangues starting tomorrow. Court adjourned!"

Officials and common people gradually dispersed.

Xu Lai called Wang Chunzhong aside for a private talk: "Magistrate Wang, your real purpose is to investigate the land in Yucheng County, isn't it?"

Otherwise, using my method today, the case could be closed.

Wang Chunzhong, however, denied it: "The Emperor issued an edict to redress the wrongful conviction, and the prefectural government also sent a document to me requesting that I investigate the case. As the county magistrate, I should investigate thoroughly in accordance with reason, law, and morality."

"Investigate thoroughly, my foot! Wang Chunzhong wants to investigate the county's farmland and take advantage of the investigation to make a big fuss, clearly using Xu Lai as a pawn."

With Wang Chunzhong's methods, how could he possibly fail to deal with the slow-moving officials who were clearing the fields, as well as those two-faced village clerks? He deliberately pretended to be unable to handle the situation, and dragged the government office into the mess to help him investigate the fields.

Seeing Xu Lai looking at him, Wang Chunzhong smiled and said, "During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, Yucheng County had 110 million mu of registered land (the Song dynasty's 'mu' was relatively small). During the reign of Emperor Renzong, it dropped to a low of 52 mu. Wealthy households concealed more than half of their land holdings. Doesn't Judge Xu want to investigate and uncover this?"

"Then let's take a look," Xu Lai said with a smile.

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, the peak area of ​​registered cultivated land in the country was 524 million hectares.

Emperor Renzong of Song was too benevolent. After decades of turmoil, the total registered arable land area in the country was reduced to 228 million hectares.

Less than half remain!

Do you really think that Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu and other prime ministers have been holding their positions without doing anything all these years, only knowing how to be busy with internal strife?

They tried their best to select virtuous and capable officials, encouraged local officials to reclaim wasteland, and encouraged them to investigate hidden land, doing everything they could to clean up Emperor Renzong's mess.

To this day, after only eight years in power, the total registered arable land area in the country has recovered to 440 million hectares.

Of course, most of the restored registered land belonged to the land reclaimed by the local government, and only a small portion were hidden lands that were discovered during the investigation.

When Han Qi and Ouyang Xiu were local officials, they reclaimed 9600 hectares of wasteland on the border of Shanxi.

Wang Chunzhong suggested, "Let's first investigate the hidden farmland in Yucheng County, and then use this as an opportunity to establish our authority before investigating the hidden farmland throughout Yingtian Prefecture. What do you think?"

"I'll give it a try," Xu said. "I'm just signing the judgment; this kind of thing requires the approval of the prefect and the vice-prefect."

"Then let's investigate the hidden fields in Yucheng County first," Wang Chunzhong said with a smile.

When Xu Lai and Wang Chunzhong were discussing the clearing of the fields, the people who left the county government office were still reluctant to leave.

They discussed the trial proceedings of the day, laughed about the gruesome execution of the three prisoners, and repeatedly brought up the court's legal lending standards.

Many people even made a pact to come back the next day to watch the spectacle of the prisoner in shackles.

That was fantastic! It was definitely worth the trip!

These people went home and told their families about it, and their families then told the neighbors.

The news spread extremely quickly.

It's estimated that in just a few days, everyone in the county will know that a very young judge named Xu has dealt a severe blow to the wicked in accordance with the law.

The following day, Wang Tonglu and Wang Shun were escorted to the county government office.

The officers told them, "Either stand or kneel. We'll find you a shady spot so you don't get heatstroke and faint."

.

The shackles worn by death row inmates weigh 35 kilograms.

The shackles worn by prisoners sentenced to imprisonment or exile weigh 20 jin (approximately 1

These two men were convicted of caning, and their shackles weighed only 15 kilograms. They were among the lightest types, and it wasn't particularly difficult to hang them around their necks.

The act of displaying someone in shackles did not mean parading them through the streets in chains, but rather standing outside the county government office, or in a busy downtown area or market. They were displayed during the day and taken back to the prison for guarding at night.

Their crimes were written on the shackles.

Many people came specifically to watch the spectacle, pointing and whispering about them, and occasionally someone would spit at them.

The two men were too ashamed to care about their appearance; their backs ached terribly. Although they had applied ointment yesterday, it hadn't completely scabbed over yet. Adding to the heat, flies, drawn by the stench, began to swarm and crawl all over their vests and clothes.

"Wrong! No throwing stones!" The guards in charge quickly stopped them.

A passerby awkwardly laughed as he threw away the pebble, then spat out two mouthfuls of saliva.

Wang Tonglu neither dodged nor avoided the attack, but simply kept his eyes closed. He dared not move at all, for any movement would aggravate the wound on his vest.

At the same time, officials went to the countryside and posted notices everywhere, including at village entrances and along roadsides, to publicize the tenant farming policy following the government's investigation of hidden land.

Furthermore, wealthy households were encouraged to voluntarily declare their hidden lands. As long as they made up for the taxes owed over the years, the government would not pursue their responsibilities. This implied a hidden message: if the property acquired through various dirty means could be taxed normally, the government would turn a blind eye.

In the eyes of those in power, quickly uncovering the hidden farmland is more important than seeking justice for those farmers!

If one does not conceal land ownership, annexation is not actually a problem.

Because the Song Dynasty had its own heavy corvée labor system targeting wealthy households, forcing them to automatically divide their property and be demoted. No matter how much a wealthy family acquired in one generation, once their parents passed away, the brothers would definitely quickly divide the property among themselves.

As wealthy households continued to divide their assets, wouldn't the land, viewed from a national perspective, essentially become unconcentrated and unmerged?

Large clans like the Chen family of Yimen, who refused to separate even under duress and required a forced dismantling order from the imperial court, were actually extremely rare and can be disregarded.

Regardless of whether it's in the north or south, it's normal for wealthy families to have a dozen or so members. Managing dozens of people becomes very difficult, with all sorts of daily conflicts arising, and even the families themselves have to make a fuss about dividing the property quickly.

If a family has over a hundred people, they will definitely be regarded as an oddity, and even the scholar class would think they are crazy.

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