"Hanshu " records: "Zhongshu served as an official, Xiahou was imprisoned, Suimeng was killed, and Li Xun was exiled. This is the great precept for scholars." It can be seen that the ancients of our country had already formulated a banishment system to punish prisoners.
The so-called exile is a punishment in ancient times, which is to exile prisoners to remote areas, far away from home. The journey is long and very difficult. So when in ancient times female prisoners were exiled thousands of miles away, why did the officials rush to escort them? The reason is too real.
The "Penalty Chronicles" of the Sui Dynasty period recorded that prisoners were exiled to remote areas thousands of miles away, with specific lengths of exile, and the punishment of being beaten with sticks. After arriving at the place of exile, they had to do hard labor every day.
If you want to rescue an exiled prisoner, you have to pay a certain ransom, and the amount depends on the distance of the exile. For example, if you are exiled for a thousand miles, the ransom is eighty catties of copper coins , and for each level, ten catties will be added. For those who are exiled for two thousand miles, the ransom will be hundreds of catties of copper coins.
As for the places of exile, most of them are in the Lingnan region, or the northeastern region . Because the dynasty capitals of the past dynasties chose the Central Plains, which is located in the plains, has vast resources, and has a pleasant climate. In ancient times, the Lingnan and Northeast regions were not only desolate, but also had a very bad climate and environment, so most places of exile were chosen there.
In ancient times, when male prisoners were in exile, their living environment and the conditions they faced were better than those of female prisoners. What is the reason for this?
One reason is that in ancient times, the journey to exile was long and usually involved many hardships. Prisoners could only walk from their hometown to the remote areas where they were exiled. The hardships can be imagined.
In addition, many women in ancient times stayed at home and were not as healthy as men. Like some dynasties that had begun to bind feet, female prisoners were even more difficult when they were on the road. Many female prisoners' bodies were already unable to bear the stress before they arrived at their place of exile, and it was common for them to fall ill on the way.
Since being exiled thousands of miles away is a hard job, why are the officials rushing to escort him? We all know that society in ancient times had a feudal system and the feudal ideology that men were superior to women, and the same was true for female prisoners.
In ancient times, female prisoners would be beaten, scolded and punished by the officials on their way to exile, and those female prisoners who were beautiful might even be treated with contempt by the officials. Some officials with evil intentions would take advantage of the opportunity to escort female prisoners.
In addition, there is a very practical reason. In ancient times, the official job was a job. Even though it was a job in a government office, the salary was actually not much. An ordinary official could earn up to eight taels of silver a month. The reason why officials rush to escort prisoners to exile thousands of miles away is because they can make extra money.
Some of the exiled prisoners had good family backgrounds, so when they were being exiled, in order to make the prisoners suffer less on the way, their family members or friends would pay the escorting officials with taels of silver. In order to protect the chastity of female prisoners, some spend a lot of money on official duties.
Therefore, any ordinary official will rush to escort prisoners, after all, there is a lot of money to be made from it. The reason is too real. Fortunately, we live in an open and equal society, and those punishments of exile have long become history.
