The criminal nemesis of the Tang dynasty-"bad guys" who are good at catching thieves and will catch stolen goods. What job is it?

I believe that friends who have watched "The Twelfth Hours of Chang'an" must have a lot of curiosity and questions about the most critical term-坏人.

Are there any bad people in history?

If so, what are they doing?

In addition to hunting down fugitives and maintaining public order, does it have other functions?

Stills from "The Twelfth Hours of Chang'an"

If you want to answer these questions, you have to start with the composition of the grassroots administrative units in the Tang Dynasty.

Generally speaking, in the county-level administrative unit of the Tang Dynasty, county order is the highest official , followed by the county magistrate — 县丞, and then “ County owner's book " and "县卫".

Needless to say, the county magistrate is in charge of a county, and the county prime minister assists the county magistrate in handling affairs, such as drafting documents, county treasury management, etc., and the county master’s book has review and inspection of county officials, as well as holding Some judicial functions.

As for the county lieutenant, he is equivalent to the current head of the police station, in charge of justice, maintaining public order on one side, and fighting crime.

However, in the county office of the Tang Dynasty, since each official was in charge of affairs was very complicated and his daily routine was relatively busy, if criminal activities such as robbery and robbery occurred in the county, these county officials might not be able to go to the scene. Investigate, let alone spend time hunting down thieves.

Therefore, once there are illegal activities in the county, the county lieutenant will usually instruct his subordinates to investigate and arrest, and this kind of "subordinate personnel" is a mystery rarely recorded in historical materials. Occupation:

bad people .

Stills of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an"

Then the question is, except for the bad people in film and television works such as "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", what are the real bad people in history? What kind of face is it?

How do their daily investigation activities go?

Speaking of these problems, since there are few historical records of bad people, if you want to figure out the true image of bad people, you have to bring up an extremely rare case.

This case was recorded in the Tang Dynasty Review Notes novel "朝野佥载" , most of which belonged to the anecdotes of the ruling and the wilds under the rule of Wu Zhou, and some anecdotes from the Taizong and Xuanzong periods, and Sima Guang later When compiling the "Tong Jian of Zi Zhi", it was also based on the records in "The Assassin". From this perspective, the "Assassin as the Assassin" is a notebook novel, but it has certain reference value.

And the case we want to talk about related to "bad people" happened in Chang'an County during the Tang Taizong period. It was an inconsistent case involving relatives' fornication:

Zhenguan years, 尚书左丞李行廉's younger brother, Li Xingquan, has a son with his ex-wife, named 李忠.

Stills of "Li Shizhi" from the left side of Chang'an Twelve Hours

Later Li Xingquan was widowed in middle age, so he married another wife, who was Li Zhong's stepmother.

And this Li Zhong is unlearned and idle. Taking advantage of his father's absence, he and his stepmother committed adultery and hid secretly. When Li Xingquan returned home and could not find his wife, he asked Li Zhong, but Li Zhong lied. , Stepmother was ordered to be called into the palace . After Li Xingquan learned about it, he didn't ask much on the surface, but in private, he informed his brother Li Xinglian of the matter.

Li Xinglian, as the Prime Minister of Shangshu Zuo, is naturally able to face the saint. Li Zhong never expected that his uncle would ask his superiors for this, saying whether my sister-in-law was called into the palace by order. thing? If this happens, what do you call into the palace?

The Tang Dynasty under Taizong Li Shimin had strict laws and regulations, so after receiving Li Xinglian’s inquiry, Shangfeng officials asked the palace to find outThe situation, who knows, the palace soon sent a reply, saying that there was no call for Li Xinglian's younger brother-in-law to enter the palace, let alone any edict document for calling him into the palace.

When Li Xinglian told his younger brother Li Xingquan about this, he never expected that something more unexpected happened at the same time!

An unscrupulous person came to report, saying that during the street tour, he saw Li Xingquan’s wife lying on the street with a silk scarf around her neck.

Changan City West City Street Art Picture

This matter quickly attracted the attention of Chang'an County Office, so the messenger took Li Xingquan’s wife to the Yamen for questioning, and whether it was true When he was ordered to enter the palace, Li Xingquan’s wife said: “Last night I met a mysterious man in purple robe who was suspected of being a high-ranking official. I didn’t expect to tie myself up in the middle of the night and threw him on the street. He left without knowing his name and identity.”

So the suspicious point of the incident quickly shifted from the disappearance of Li Xingquan’s wife to the mysterious "Purple Robe Man." The county lieutenant in charge of the local justice ordered the bad guys. Follow Li Xingquan's wife and Li Zhong for a secret investigation.

At the same time, Li Zhong was very apprehensive. He went to see the Gua Master for divination to see if the matter of harboring his stepmother would be revealed?

When Li Zhong walked out of the Gua master's residence, he was discovered by the bad people scattered in the city. The latter was very suspicious of Li Zhong's abnormal behavior, so he directly took Li Zhong to the Yamen. After

was brought to the Yamen, the official in charge of the trial was Wang Yu, the magistrate of Chang'an County at that time. At first, Li Zhong insisted that he had no knowledge of the stepmother’s harbouring. However, in order to discover more If there were more clues, Wang Yu used the tricks, put Li Zhong and stepmother in the same room, and then sent bad people to hide in the room to listen in secret.

Never thought, I really heard Li Zhong’s secret conversation with his stepmother. The two directly confided in their adultery during the conversation, and the bad person who recorded the conversation without fail, then kicked in. Li Zhong The two were shocked on the spot and pleaded guilty.

This time the truth came to light. It turned out that Li Zhong and his stepmother had a secret fornication. In order to deceive Li Xingquan, he fabricated the lie that he was ordered to be called into the palace.

Volume 5 of "Morning and Wilderness": In Zhenguan, Zuo Cheng, Li Xinglian, brother Xing, interprets his former wife loyal to his former wife, and his stepmother, and then hides secretly, saying "the money chases inside". Xing Lian didn't know it, so he asked about it, and Feng Chi was extremely anxious. Later, the mother cheated to lexiang in the street with a scarf. Chang'an County cross-examined him, saying: "Someone deceived and summoned, and a man in purple robe saw him staying overnight, but he did not know his name. Le Xiang sent to the street." Faithful and apprehensive, he asked privately. Suspected by bad people, sent to the county. Xuan Xuan ordered one person to listen to the case, and one person to go under the command of the newspaper chief and slightly lock the door. The son and the mother said: "It must not be inherited." And in private words. When Xuan opened the door, the person involved in the case also rose. The mother and son were shocked, and they were able to bear the law.

Through this case, we can probably summarize two unique characteristics of bad people:

First, if you are scattered in the city, you find any behavior or situation related to "bad", Investigate immediately.

If Li Xingquan’s wife was tied up and thrown on the street, it was the unscrupulous person who was the first to discover and report it. It can be seen that the undesirable person at that time was indeed a patrol in the city, similar to the current security system. The post of "巡警", patrols along the street, and reports illegal and suspicious incidents immediately. It belongs to the grassroots force to maintain urban security.

Stills from "The Twelfth Hour in Chang'an"

Second, according to the behavior of the follow-up investigation of bad people, it can be known that their law enforcement behavior has a certain degree of particularity, which is generally not Fettered by the formal process, special measures are taken to deal with special circumstances.

For example, Li Xingquan’s son Li Zhong confessed to various doubts, but the county lieutenant who was responsible for handling the case did not bluntly point out the case. Instead, he arranged a bad person to secretly follow the suspected Li Zhong, and he found that Li Zhong had a guilty conscience. For peace of mind, he went to the Gua Master for divination, and then took him to the government for interrogation through this doubt.

From this we can know a detailedIn this section, the nature of the work of bad people is sometimes more like plainclothes, because if they wear official robes to track the suspect, they will inevitably be detected by the suspect, and the bad person’s successful tracking and discovery of obscure clues is enough to show that they already have With the concept of plain clothes, he is also good at tracking this special investigative skill.

"The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" "Dark Pile" Xiaoyi

In summary, the case of Taizong mentioned above is enough to become a "bad person". It is an important evidence of Tang Dynasty society. In addition to the unity and order shown in the film and television works, the bad people often use some special methods to investigate the case within the scope of the legal system. According to the legal principle, the case in the county is generally The county lieutenant should take the lead in the investigation, and the relevant arresters will work together to investigate and deal with it. However, due to the fact that the county lieutenant is in charge of too much affairs and the arresting staff is insufficient, "bad people" with special characteristics have emerged. It is to make up for the "insufficiency of the police force," on the one hand, it also gives it certain functions and powers of law enforcement, so as to maintain public order.

If you want a clear definition, I personally think that the so-called "bad people" are more like the current assistant police or auxiliary police.

is not officially established in government agencies, but has some basic law enforcement powers. According to the public security environment and the criminal activities faced, certain measures can be taken, and at the same time, it can help the yamen to solve some daily affairs, such as maintaining the street Public security, arrest criminals and other duties.

And speaking of bad people, naturally, I have to mention a more important duty, which is the position under the county lieutenant who is in charge of "bad people":

Bad handsome.

Stills from "The Twelfth Hour in Chang'an"

Regarding the record of bad handsome, I carefully read the history books, except for which is widely circulated on the Internet, "The Appellation Record" by Liang Zhangju "In ", quoted the record of in "Said Ling Su":

Jishifanyi was called a bad person in the Tang Dynasty. There are bad handsome masters, that is, who is the big Han.

Regardless of the position of "大谁何" in the Han Dynasty for the time being, but through the five words "bad handsome master", we can see that above bad people, there are A small official who is responsible for the daily management of bad people is a bad handsome.

However, this is the historical data of the Qing Dynasty. No matter how you look at it, it is a bit one-sided. After all, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is far from the Tang Dynasty, and it has a history of more than 1,200 years. The official historical data and folklore in the middle have experienced twists and turns, and it is difficult to guarantee their 100% authenticity. In order to verify whether the bad handsome actually exists, I found another case in historical materials to illustrate the authenticity of the bad handsome.

This case is also included in "朝野佥载" Volume 5 , which occurred in the later period of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Zhongshu Sheren 郭正一, for some reason, was involved in a bizarre The origin of the case is roughly as follows:

Guo Zhengyi, a member of Zhongshushe, is responsible for issuing edicts and other important tasks for Zhongshu Province. However, when Taizong Li Shimin expedition to Goguryeo that year, Guo Zhengyi went with him. After winning back to the court, Guo Zheng Once I got a beautiful and beautiful Goguryeo maid named Yusu.

Because this maid is so beautiful, Guo Zhengyi loves her very much, and the maid gradually gains Guo Zhengyi's trust, and finally Guo Zhengyi arranges her to help him manage the small vault at home.

Even at night, Guo Zhengyi was hungry and wanted to eat supper, and he would never let anyone other than Yusu cook it. It can be seen that Guo Zheng believed in Yusu and believed that Yusu was also very respectful and trusted. Yourself.

However, this is not the case. One night when the porridge was being cooked, Yusu took the opportunity to poison the porridge. As a result, Guo Zheng became poisoned on the spot after drinking the porridge and struggled to take the medicine to get better, but the house was full. Looking for Yusu, but no trace, a dozen pieces of gold bars and silver cakes in the vault were also lost.

Guo Zhengyi realized that from the first day when Yusu entered the mansion, he had always hidden evil intentions. Fortunately, he still trusted her so much. However, Guo Zhengyi, who was too late to regret, was gone.Fazi had no choice but to report the matter to the emperor. After Tang Gaozong learned of the incident, Longyan was furious and issued an edict overnight, ordering Chang'an and Wannian counties to jointly arrest the maidservant Yusu.

However, after searching the whole city for three days, he has not been captured.

In desperation, the bad handsome Wei Chang (chǎng) decided to go out in person. He first tied up three domestic slaves of Guo Zheng’s family, covered the faces of the three with a black cloth, and went to Jinwuwei to place them in there. The guard box on the street tied up four street guards and asked whether he had seen suspicious persons inquiring about Guo Zhengyi's house recently.

Jie Zuo really provided a piece of key information, saying that a Goguryeo person wrote a letter to the groom of Guo Zheng’s family. There is a very meaning in the letter:

There is a space in Jinchengfang House.

So bad handsome Wei Chang immediately led the bad guys to this empty house in Jinchengfang. When everyone arrived at the scene, they found that the door was locked and the windows were closed, so he broke into the door immediately. Sure enough, he found that the maidservant Yusu was among them, along with the grooms of Guo Zheng's family and several Goguryeos, and arrested them on the spot.

After interrogation, Wei Chang learned that it turned out that it was the groom of Goguryeo and Guo Zhengyi who intended to steal Guo Zhengyi’s gold and silver jewelry through Yusu, who was in charge of the vault. After the incident, he promised to take Yusu away from the university. Tang returned to Goguryeo.

However, what they didn't expect was that even though the inside should be combined with the outside and the plan was well-planned, they were cracked by the bad handsome Wei Chang in one fell swoop.

and the people involved in the case, including Guo Zhengyi's coachman, were finally taken to Dongshi Wenzhang.

Volume 5 of "Morning and Wilderness": Guo Zhengyi, a member of the Book House, broke Pyongyang and got a Korean maid, named Yusu, extremely beautiful, so that he knew the treasure house. The porridge must be boiled overnight. Yusu is the poison of the advance, and he is anxious and said: "This maid medicine me!" Suo soil slurry and licorice are taken to relieve it, and it will stop for a long time. Can not find the maid, and lost more than ten things. During the recording, the edict ordered Chang'an and Wannian to catch the thief, but did not get it for three days. Wei Chang, the bad coach, has a strategy. He chooses other slaves and chooses three young and upright people. The four guards were bound and asked who had come in ten days. The guard said: "There are people who have invested in Goryeo to leave books, and the payers are sent to catch horse slaves, and the books are there." Jianyun "There is an empty house in Jinchengfang", even more speechless. Go to the empty house in Jinchengfang and search it. At the first house, the house is sealed, the lock is broken, and the maidservant and Goryeo are in it. The torture was to throw in the Goryeo to capture the horse slaves, and then be killed in Dongshi.

To sum up, it is the description of bad handsome in historical materials of the Tang Dynasty. Throughout various historical books, there are few mentions of bad handsome and bad people. In the case, it is not difficult for us to find the behavioral characteristics of bad guys:

First, unlike the "informal organization" of bad guys, bad guys have a certain grade.

can be tied to the "streetman set up by Jinwuwei", it can be known that for streetmen, bad handsome belongs to Shangfeng, otherwise I want to rely on the bad guy's grassroots status, I would not dare to leapfrog to provoke Jinwuwei Yes, however, in the above case, it can be seen from the bad commander Wei Chang daring to tie up four streetmen that his rank is at least higher than that of the grassroots staff under King Wuwei, and should be within the scope of "little officials".

and he directly obeyed the county magistrate, " recorded, ordered Chang'an, Wannian seized the thief, and won't get it for three days." , the sentence "Edict Changan" , Wannian catches bad spine and seeks thieves", it can be seen that it is the emperor's order that the county magistrates of Chang'an and Wannian should apprehend criminals through bad people. Here it is mentioned "长安，万年 "The word is not a place, but refers to the county magistrates of the two counties. Because the edicts are usually directly issued to the highest officials in the county, they are naturally the county magistrates, and the county magistrates did not send them to others. It can be seen that the bad commander is actually directly subordinate to the county magistrate. Although the bad person is a subordinate, the grade of the bad commander is not much different from that of the county lieutenant. Although strictly speaking, the county lieutenant is an official, and the bad commander is just Leaders at the “chief” level, but at least they also have corresponding powers.

So after getting instructions from Shangfeng, the bad guy started to order bad guys to do it in the city.Manhunt.

(Note: is bounded by Zhuque Street in Chang'an City, with Chang'an County in the west and Wannian County in the east, and "Jing Zhaofu" is in charge of various livelihood affairs in Chang'an City. )

Schematic diagram of Tang Chang’an city

Second, bad handsome or even bad guys and the street pawns set up by Jinwuwei actually have no linkage, and they are all independent errands.

Judging from the fact that Wei Chang wants to tie the street pawns to ask for information, the street pawns under normal circumstances should rely on the name of Jin Wuwei and ignore the bad handsome, otherwise the bad handsome Wei Chang does not need to use such violence at all The method of compelling intelligence, through this detail, we can also see that in fact, the establishment of bad handsome, or the entire establishment of bad people, is different from the daily public security system of the Tang Dynasty.

Why do you say that?

Because Jinwuwei has been responsible for curfews and daily market security since the establishment of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. According to the legal principles stipulated in the "Law of the Tang Dynasty", urban security issues after the curfew should be governed by Jinwuwei. The yamen were responsible. For example, people wandering in the street after the curfew, or people drunk fighting and fighting, these things need to be solved by Jin Wuwei, and the street guards at the time were the security officers who came forward to solve such incidents.

But unscrupulous people investigate and handle public security cases. For example, when the property of Guo Zheng’s family was stolen, the streetman in charge of street security did not take the initiative to provide information. Instead, Wei Chang was forced to ask questions through coercion, apparently in charge of public security. There is no linkage between Jinwuwei and the bad people who arrested the criminals. I even dare to say that Jinwuwei and other institutions affiliated to the court do not look down on bad people.

"Book of the Old Tang Dynasty": left and right Jin Wuwei, Qin Yue Lieutenant, in charge of patrolling... In the second year of Long Shuo, it was changed to left and right Jin Wuwei, with ancient names.

(Note: patrol: inspection)

"Golden Wuwei"

in "The Legend of the Demon Cat". It is because when the Tang Dynasty government requisitioned bad people, they recruited bad people, that is, people with criminal records.

"Bad" article in "Language Dictionary of Tang and Five Dynasties": Tang Dynasty government requisitioned evildoers to serve as small officials arrested and called "bad", also known as "bad spinal rotten" , Its manager called the "bad handsome".

It can be seen that for Jin Wuwei, who has a formal establishment, eats the central finances, and carries the golden rice bowl, the small officials who used to be rapists, such as bad people, are not in their eyes. They are bad. People are criminal investigators recruited by local government, which is what we commonly call grassroots units. Such positions are usually not included in the official establishment. At the same time, salaries and other benefits are also what the common people say "eat local finances", so regardless of grade From the perspective of identity, function, and even background, the social status and professional rank of bad people are all under the King Wuwei who eats the royal food.

Only bad handsome, equivalent to official employee status recognized by the government, possessing a certain grade, so I dared to make "連金吾卫所found " which seems to be suspected of the following Deviant behavior.

"The Twelfth Hours of Chang'an" poster

Generally speaking, through historical materials, the mystery of the special profession of bad people has been revealed, and I can see that more is actually The sadness of bad people is that on the one hand, they do all the dirty work every day, but there is no official organization, and the treatment is not satisfactory. On the other hand, they have to endure the cold eyes of the world and the unwelcome of colleagues. (Let’s be regarded as colleagues). It is not much different from the temporary workers we often talk about now.

But on the other hand, if the recruited criminals become bad people, then they can be excused for being cold-eyed by the world. After all, they violate the law and discipline first, and then they will be tired afterwards. It can be regarded as making up for the merits and making atonement for myself.

But looking at ancient times thousands of years ago, stillThousands of years later, the purpose of establishing security officers is nothing more than to enable the people to live and work in peace and to maintain a stable social order, which also reflects the strictness and importance of the law.

So no matter when, we must be honest citizens who abide by laws and regulations. This truth can be applied to the past and present.

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attention of: poly-money products, for more history and culture anecdotes with you find the larger world ~!

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References:

"The Asano" Vol. 5 ：

Zhengguanzhong, Zuo Cheng, Li Xinglian and his brother Xingquan were loyal to his former wife and his stepmother. Then he secretly hid him, saying that "I chase into the house". Xing Lian didn't know it, so he asked about it, and Feng Chi was extremely anxious.

Later, the mother cheated to lean Xiang in the street with a scarf. Chang'an County Xiezhi said: "Someone cheated and called out. A man in purple robe saw him staying overnight, but he did not know his name. Le Xiang sent him to the street."

Faithful and apprehensive, he asked privately, but was suspected by bad people and sent to the county.

Xuan shilling listened to one person under the bed of the case, ordered one person to call the chief of the newspaper, and slightly locked the door. The son and the mother said: "It must not be inherited." And in private words. When Xuan opened the door, the person involved in the case also rose. The mother and son were shocked, and they were able to bear the law.

"Appellation Record" quoted "Said Ling Su" : Jishi Fanyu, known as a bad person in the Tang Dynasty, there are bad handsome masters, that is, who is the big Han.

Volume 5 of "Chaoye You Zai":

Guo Zhengyi, a man from Zhongshushe, broke Pyongyang and got a Korean maid, named Yusu, extremely beautiful and brilliant. Treasury.

The porridge must be cooked with jade.

Yusu is poisonous, and he is anxious and said: "This maid medicine me!" Take soil slurry and licorice to relieve it, and it will stop for a long time.

Can't find maid, and lost more than ten things.

Recording, the edict ordered Chang'an and Wannian to catch the bad spine and beg the thief, but did not get it for three days.

Bad coach Wei Chang has a strategy, chooses other slaves, chooses three young and upright people, and the shirt is full of guard. The four guards were bound and asked who had come in ten days.

The guard said: "There is a book left in Goryeo, the payer is sent to catch the man slave, and the book is there."

Jianyun "There is an empty house in Jinchengfang" , More speechless.

Go to the empty house in Jinchengfang and search it.

To a house, seal the front secret, break the lock, and the maidservant and Korea are in it.

torture, it is to cast the Goryeo to capture the manu Zang, and Feng Chi was killed in Dongshi.

"Old Tang Book": left and right Jin Wuwei, Qin Yue Lieutenant, patrolling...In the second year of Long Shuo, it was changed to left and right Jin Wuwei, and the ancient name was also adopted.

"Bad" article in "Language Dictionary of Tang and Five Dynasties": Tang Dynasty government requisitioned evildoers to serve as small officials arrested and called "bad", also known as "bad spinal rotten" , Its manager called the "bad handsome".