"People say that on the road to the underworld, if you get to Ninggu Pagoda, you will not be afraid of ten underworlds." If officials in ancient times committed serious crimes, they would rather have their wives and daughters commit suicide than be exiled to Ninggu Pagoda. So where is this Ninggu Pagoda? And why does it make people change their minds when they hear it?
Ning Guta
In fact, Ning Guta is not a tower, nor a prison. In Manchu , Ninggu is the number six, and the tower is translated as one, so Ninggu Tower in Manchu actually means six. The current Ninggu Pagoda is located in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province. According to legend, Nurhaci’s great-grandfather gave birth to six sons, so he divided this place among his six sons, and they lived here for generations. Therefore, this place can also be regarded as the birthplace of the Manchu and royal families.
Nurhaci
Later, the Manchus entered the customs , the Manchus began to move to the Central Plains and eventually settled in Beijing, and there were fewer and fewer people here. Because of its remote location and harsh climate, it became a place where prisoners were exiled over time. However, the Manchus did not abandon this place. They sent people to guard it for generations and called them armored men.
Exiled Prisoners
Armored Man, as the word implies, is actually a person wearing armor. Most of these people are bannermen. During wars in ancient times, they put on armor and went into battle to kill the enemy. Later, when the world was at peace, they disbanded their troops and returned to their fields, responsible for guarding the border areas for the Qing Dynasty . The Qing Dynasty , in order to thank these soldiers who guarded their homes, assigned those courtiers and their families who had committed crimes to be slaves for them.
Ancient armored men
Exiling criminals to Ninggu Pagoda has two meanings. One is to punish them and make prisoners leave their homes and go outside the customs to reflect on themselves; the other is to reclaim wasteland and contribute to local development and construction. . So why has this place become a nightmare for countless criminals, courtiers, and their wives and daughters?
Ning Guta Prisoner
First of all, the journey into exile was very difficult. In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient. In addition to horse-drawn carriages, people could only walk on foot. As criminals, these people could only travel on foot. Moreover, they were also wearing shackles, anklets, handcuffs and other torture devices, which made traveling even more difficult. From the capital to the Ninggu Pagoda area, the straight-line distance is 1,400 kilometers, and the walking distance is more than 4,000 miles. A normal man would walk fifty miles a day and it would take more than two months to reach the place. In ancient times, in order to pursue the three-inch golden lotus , most women had their feet bound. If they were slower, they would not even get there in half a year.
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From the Central Plains to Ninggu Pagoda, you have to pass through many virgin forests along the way. There are few people on the road, and jackals, tigers and leopards appear frequently. These people were unable to move easily, and they were unable to resist the attacks of jackals, tigers and leopards. They had no chance to escape and eventually became food for wild beasts. The miasma in the forest is invading, and even if the prisoners are not eaten, they are likely to be poisoned and die.
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In the Qing Dynasty there were also strict regulations on the diet of exiled prisoners . The daily ration of food per person is about eight taels, and children under the age of fifteen have to be rationed in half. Eight taels of rice in ancient times is half a catty today, which means that prisoners only eat two bowls of rice a day. You have to travel for a long time without enough food. For the exiled prisoners, you can imagine the torture.
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The number of prisoners who were exiled to Ninggu Pagoda in the Qing Dynasty and died on the way can be said to be extremely high. About half of them die on the road, and in the event of extreme weather, only a third of them can reach Ninggu Tower safely.Later, the Qing Dynasty noticed this problem and ordered a ban on escorting prisoners on the road in winter, which reduced personnel losses.
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However, under such harsh conditions, very few men can survive, let alone women. Being humiliated by servants is a common occurrence, and even more so, the family members of the guilty officials will be humiliated . Many of the wives and daughters of these officials are as beautiful as flowers, and they can be bullied at will during the night. Therefore, many times, some prisoners or female family members lose their lives on the road after suffering inhuman torture, or they end their own lives for the sake of their innocence and dignity.
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In addition, according to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty for escorting prisoners, they must arrive at the place of exile within the specified time. Not only did the police officers have to accompany the criminals on such a long journey, they also had to be on guard against the prisoners escaping at all times. If someone is lost during the escort, they will be punished. It can range from being served with a stick, to being exiled to by .
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Therefore, no matter how bad the weather is, the guards will not give prisoners time to rest. If someone died of starvation on the road, they would be thrown away and fed to jackals and leopards. The guards were already tired from traveling, and if they saw prisoners stopping because they couldn't walk, it was common for them to be punched and kicked. For the prisoners who were exiled, even if they survived the difficult journey of exile, the days after arriving at Ninggu Pagoda were equally miserable.
prisoner
Ninggu Pagoda is located in Heilongjiang, the northernmost part of China, an extremely cold place. After the poet Wu Zhaoqian of the early Qing Dynasty was sent to Ninggu Pagoda, he described the local climate like this: "Ninggu is cold and bitter like no other in the world. From the beginning of spring to mid-April, strong winds are like thunder and lightning, and everyone is stunned. It rains continuously from May to July, with heavy snowfall in mid-August, and the river freezes in early September. It turns into solid ice when it reaches the ground, and there is a vast expanse of snow as far as the eye can see. "
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There are 365 days a year, and there are only four months of spring in the Ningguta area. The wind and sand are very strong, there is heavy snow in August, and the rivers freeze in September. ice. Then in the following months, there was heavy snow, and the temperature was tens of degrees below zero all year round. It is no exaggeration to say that Ninggu Pagoda is not suitable for human habitation. In the TV series "Story of Yanxi Palace", Concubine Xian's father was sent to Ninggu Pagoda by the emperor. She sent her father away with a sad look on her face and prepared thick cotton clothes for him. Even so, Concubine Xian was still afraid that she had not prepared enough.
Stills from "Story of Yanxi Palace"
It can be seen that Ning Guta is very cold . Secondly, exiled prisoners are divided into two categories. One is that he will never be allowed to enter the customs, but he can still live in Ningguta as a normal citizen; the second is that he will be relegated to slavery and live there as a slave of armoredman. From a family of officials where everyone respected and pampered them, they turned into slaves with low status, humiliation and suffering. Whether mentally or physically, it is difficult for these people to change over.
Ancient slaves
Yongzheng once ordered that the prisoners who were exiled to Ninggu Pagoda could be disposed of at will by the armored men. Without glory, wealth, and personal freedom, men need to bear very heavy government services and are used like cattle and horses; while female prisoners not only have to do heavy farm work, but also have to serve the daily life of the armored men, and even worse. They were tools for venting at will. Even if they died, no one would be responsible for their deaths.Therefore, when many prisoners heard that Ning Guta was exiled to and became slaves of armored men, they would rather end their lives than be exiled to Ning Guta .
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However, not all prisoners have a miserable fate. It is just that bad habits in some places have not changed, causing prisoners to suffer great torture. Ning GutaThe folk customs are simple and honest, and the local people respect educated people very much. The officers of Ninggu Tower called the educated prisoners "Hafan", that is, a noble person.
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The famous poet Wu Zhaoqian lived in Ning Guta for twenty-three years after he was brutally exiled. He was appreciated by General Ning Guta, and he used his own strengths to manage a teaching institution in Ning Guta, specializing in teaching Chinese to the local Manchu people, and promoted the spread of Chinese language and culture. Wu Zhaoqian later became a great poet.
Wu Zhaoqian
Some thoughtful prisoners even started businesses in the local area. Not only did he make a fortune himself, but he also led local people to make money. Very respected. At the same time, armored men often do not embarrass these exiled prisoners . If prisoners escape, the armored men will not take the initiative to report them or catch them back. If the prisoner is captured by the local police, some armored men will even take the initiative to testify that they surrendered and came back, in order to reduce the prisoner 's punishment.
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Since it is far away from the capital, the local management after arriving at Ninggu Pagoda is not very strict. As a prisoner, as long as he pays enough food on time every year, he can be exempted from the life of slavery and regain his freedom. In order to help the prisoners survive, local people will take the initiative to distribute seeds to the prisoners and teach them to cultivate and harvest. Therefore, most of the prisoners who have been exiled to this point still have great hope of surviving.
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What is really scary is not Ninggu pagoda, but the long road and countless dangers from the capital to Ninggu pagoda. Therefore, Ning Guta not only became a place of terror in the hearts of people in the Qing Dynasty, the exile of Ning Guta was even more of a nightmare for literati and even female prisoners. At the same time, it also became a sharp knife that Qing officials always hung over their heads.
