Rise From the Humble

Jingnan Prison is located just outside the southwest Yimen of the Jingnan County Government Hall. In fact, in ancient times, the cells at the grassroots level were basically located southwest of the Yimen of the county government. Only a few county offices set the cells southeast of the Yimen. They all belong to the "south" direction of the county government. For this reason, the ancient prison was commonly known as "South Prison".

Zhu Pingan put away the sign-in book and took Liu Mu and Liu Dadao to the Jingnan cell together.

In order to better understand the situation of the cell and the prisoners, Zhu Pingan called Zhang Danian, the prison warden, on the way.

In fact, it would be more appropriate to call Dian Shi Li Da, who is in charge of public security and criminal affairs. However, Dian Shi Li Da asked someone to take leave today and did not go to work. Zhu Ping'an had to call Zhang Danian, the prison clerk.

The prison cell in Jingnan County is a masonry structure with a cell wall nearly five meters high and a two-story courtyard wall that looks old. There are iron caltrops tied on the wall and a watchtower. There are also two cell doors. Guards patrol the cell. Security is tight.

"Zhang Dianli, how much does the prison cover? How many cells are there?" Zhu Ping'an asked Zhang Danian, the prison official.

"Back to the County Lord, our Jingnan County Prison covers an area of ​​about six acres and is divided into two courtyards: the inner prison and the outer prison. The outer prison holds temporary and short-term prisoners, and the inner prison holds serious criminals. There are two cells and jailers in the inner and outer prisons. There are 68 cells, including 35 men's cells, 20 women's cells, 3 water cells, and the rest are jailer's cells and torture cells." Zhang Danian, the jailer of the torture cell, replied.

Zhu Pingan nodded and stepped into the outer prison.

After hearing the news, the prison wardens and others rushed over and knelt down to salute. Zhu Pingan waved his hand and asked them to stand up.

When entering the prison, the first building is the Prison Temple, which is dedicated to the prison god who manages the prison and is also the prison's patron saint.

There are two prison gods enshrined in the Jingnan Prison Temple. One is Gaotao, who lived at the end of primitive society. Because he was appointed by Shun as an official in charge of criminal law and created prisons, he later became the prison god; the second one is Gaotao. Xiao He, the prime minister in the early Western Han Dynasty, was also revered as the God of Prisons because Xiao He once served as a jailer and later helped Liu Bang establish the legal system of the early Han Dynasty - the "Nine Chapters".

On every first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, the prison will hold worship activities at the Prison Temple to pray for the protection of the Prison God. When wardens and supervisors take office, they will also come to worship the prison god. Zhu Ping'an followed the local customs when he went to his hometown, and he also offered a stick of incense when he entered.

After leaving the Prison Temple, Zhu Pingan first went to the outer prison.

As soon as he entered the outer prison, Zhu Pingan felt as if he had entered a vegetable market. There were too many prisoners in the cell, and it was almost overcrowded. It was as if Jingnan Prison had become the most suitable place to live in Jingnan County. Not a single cell inside was empty, and every cell was filled with prisoners. On average, there were no less than ten prisoners crammed into each cell, and the smallest cell was crammed with five prisoners.

what happened?

Isn’t there a mountain of cases piled up in Jingnan? ! Why are there so many prisoners in this cell? !

Zhu Pingan was stunned by the many prisoners inside.

"My lord, it's unjust, it's unjust."

"I didn't commit a crime, let me out."

"Please, sir, please let me out. I have an old man above me and a young man below me. I am the only labor force in the family. Without me, how can the family survive? It's almost time to harvest the rice. How can they, the orphans and the widowed mothers, harvest the rice?" ah."

"Guan Guan, let me go out. It's drought and waterlogging, and there's no harvest in the fields. Let's take care of them all."

When the prisoners in the prison saw someone coming in, especially when they saw Zhu Pingan in official uniform, they all became angry and grabbed the fence to cry out, plead for mercy, or simply vent their insults.

"Be patient! Do you want to be whipped again?!"

The jailer came forward with a whip and swung the whip several times at the most noisy cells to shock the prisoners and make them quiet.

"Why are there so many people in the cell? What crimes have they committed?" Zhu Ping'an turned to ask the warden Zhang Danian and the accompanying jailers.

"Go back to the county. Most of these prisoners are refusing to pay taxes because they failed to pay taxes. There are about a hundred of them."

Zhang Danian, the prison official, replied.

In ancient times, money and grain taxes accounted for a large proportion of fiscal revenue, so the management and punishment of taxes were relatively strict. For those who refused to pay taxes or resisted paying taxes, the county government could indeed arrest them as a warning to others.

Zhu Pingan nodded when he heard this, then took two steps forward and approached the cell with the largest number of people and the biggest commotion just now.

Several jailers wanted to show off in front of Zhu Pingan and carefully protected Zhu Pingan as if facing a formidable enemy.

Zhu Pingan waved his hand and stepped forward.

"Why were you put in prison?" Zhu Pingan asked gently.

"I didn't pay taxes." The prisoners in the cell replied with different voices, their attitudes were either cautious or full of resentment.

"But we didn't refuse to pay on purpose. Last year there were droughts, floods, and pirates. All the rice was destroyed. We paid all the old grain at home, but it was still not enough. I really had no choice."

"That's right. Natural and man-made disasters are coming. The fields are harvestless and there is not enough food to eat. How can we pay taxes?"

"Our village has not encountered pirates or Japanese pirates. However, because our village is located downstream of the river, waterlogging has flooded all our villages. Whether it is dry fields or paddy fields, all the crops in the fields have been soaked and not a single grain of food has been confiscated. .”

"Hmph, the word "official" has two meanings. The drought and floods are so serious. Not many people are dead. I don't see you officials coming to provide disaster relief. You are very active in collecting taxes. You don't care about the life and death of the people. If they don't pay taxes, they will be arrested."

"Sir, I don't accept it. It's not our family that hasn't paid taxes in the village. Why should I be arrested? I am the only labor force in the family. My mother is old and has inconvenient legs and feet. My mother-in-law has a weak body and children. I know how to run away, and now we are about to harvest rice. What will happen to our family without me?"

The prisoners replied in a variety of ways, all with the same meaning. Floods and droughts occurred frequently last year, and pirates and Japanese pirates broke out in some villages, resulting in a serious reduction in crop yields, even to the point of no grains in some villages. As a result, they were unable to pay taxes and were imprisoned.

So, Zhu Pingan understood clearly after listening to the prisoners' explanations. In order to have a clearer understanding, Zhu Pingan went from prison to prison to learn about the situation. The situation was similar to the first prison, with minor differences.

After getting to know the outer prison, Zhu Pingan went to the inner prison. The outer prisons were overcrowded, and the inner prisons were also overcrowded.

In addition to overcrowding in the outer prisons, some prisoners who have not paid taxes are being held outside the inner prisons, and more prisoners are due to the backlog of cases. Due to the backlog of cases and the delay in trial and processing, the suspects are kept in jail. For every case piled up, a suspect is imprisoned. Old prisoners are piled up without trial and processing, and new prisoners are imprisoned. , the number of cases accumulates, which leads to an increase in the number of prisoners in internal prisons, and eventually leads to overcrowding.

If officials do nothing, the people will suffer.

Zhu Pingan was deeply moved and made up his mind.