Chapter 7 Jiangxin Prison City

Chaotian Station is located in the southwest foot of Guishan Mountain in Gutang County, Jiangning Prefecture, the North Post Road from Dongyang Prefecture, the Shiliang River Waterway and the Tangtu Post Road from Gutang County to Tuzhong County are all gathered here, the southwest of the post station is the Chaotian Swing of Jiangning City according to the natural danger, also known as Chaotian Lake, when Lin Tie and Gu Wuchen come, the ferry port where the boat stops and docks is Guabu Guabu, and the south bank is Qixia Gudu, which is one of the most important waterways to cross the river in Jiangning Prefecture, and is also called the first post in the south with Chaotian Station. After Chaotianyi, there was a private residence of Gaozu when he served as a town envoy in Jiangning, after Gaozu opened the country in Jiangning, Guishan's private residence was expanded into a palace, and after Taizong moved the capital to Yanjing, Guishan Palace was built as a Jingjue Zen Temple.

Most of the civil and military generals who came from the south to the north, and the east to welcome the west, as well as the post guards who handed over the Tang Bao Mansion had to change boats, horses, and cars or settle down to rest at the Chaotian Station; Compared with the strictness at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the official post at this time was better at management, so it wantonly allowed those business travelers who could not cross the river at night to stay overnight and collect money, as if it had become a government-run inn.

Listening to the faint bell ringing in the night of the Jingjue Zen Temple behind the mountain, Lin Tie stood in front of the steps with his hands in his hands.

Chen Enze just came back and said that Du Rong had just invited Gu Siyuan and Yongchang Xiaohou Yuan Jinsheng to visit Jingjue Temple at night, and Yang Shi and Gu Wuchen's two nephews, Gu Siming and Gu Tianqiao, were also invited to accompany him.

What is the relationship between Gu Siyuan and Yuan Jinsheng, Chen Enze heard it from the maid's mouth.

When Gu Wuchen was convicted and his wife were exiled to Northern Xinjiang, their son Gu Siyuan and daughter Gu Junxun were still young and were adopted by Gu Wuchen's father-in-law, Tang Haoxin. Although Tang Haoxin was implicated by his son-in-law and failed to be appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, as the third rank of the imperial court and the only daughter under his knees, he still had the ability to send his grandson Gu Siyuan to the country to learn from him.

Under the Guozijian of this dynasty, there are Taixue and Guozixue. In fact, Taixue only recruits 500 students to enroll, which is naturally controlled by the local Xun clan; The Guozixue only recruits the descendants of the third rank and above and the prince and above, and the great-grandchildren of the second rank or above as students.

There are Guozijian in the north and south of Beijing, and the slight difference is that if the descendants of the duke and above want to study, they can only choose to go to Beijing, and Gu Siyuan and Yuan Jinsheng met in Yanjing Guozijian.

Gu Wuchen was obtained as the deputy envoy of Jiangdong, and he wanted to take his son Gu Siyuan with him and strictly control him, so he brought it to Jiangning together, and he could transfer to Jiangning Guozi School to study, and it would not affect his future.

Yuan Jinsheng wants to inherit the title of Marquis of Yongchang, and he is forbidden to be an official according to the law, and he is also a mess in Guozixue, and he has other plans in his heart, so he also ended his studies early and returned to Jiangning.

From this point of view, Yuan Jinsheng is not a very important person.

In order to limit the royal power of the princes and grandsons of the dynasty and even threaten the imperial power of the direct royal family, although the feudal princes have a high status and can also obtain a rich supply of silver money from the fief to enjoy honor, the actual power is very limited, and it is even more restricted to collude with local tycoons.

Lin Lian thought that Du Rong invited Gu Siyuan and the others to visit Jingjue Temple at night, and most of them could know some of his situation in Shanglin and his true relationship with the Gu family from Gu Siyuan and the others. Lin Lian was not worried about this, he swore against Du Rong in front of the post house, mainly to attract the attention of Du Rong's opponent, and Du Rong could not explain these things to his opponent.

A large courtyard in the east of the post house is opened up for business travelers and tourists who go into the mountains to burn incense to stay overnight. Su Mei was worried that Lin Lian should come to Jiangning, and today she crossed the river with the sisters of Dustpan Lane to Jingjue Temple to burn incense, and met Zhou Pu and Chen Enze who came in the afternoon, but she couldn't stay to meet Lin Lian to attract the attention of others, so she asked Xiaoman to follow Zhou Pu as a teenager.

Lin Jian thought that he was in this world, and Su Mei and Xiaoman experienced all kinds of things on Changshan Island, so he was naturally the closest, and felt that only Su Mei and Xiaoman were his relatives in this world, thinking that Su Mei had also stayed in this inn before noon, and he also had a little miss in his heart.

Listening to the soft cat-like footsteps, Lin Jian turned his head, and Xiao Man tiptoed over in a cold coat to scare him.

"Your ears are so sharp...... Xiao Man saw Lin Lian turn his head and exclaimed in surprise, his expression was exaggerated and cute, and his voice was thin.

"At the ferry...... I should apologize to you. Lin Jian said.

In front of the ferry, Gu Wuchen eagerly said that he hoped that Xiaoman could be a companion for his daughter Gu Junxun in Jiangning, and Lin Jian had to hint at Xiaoman's identity to Gu Wuchen in order to avoid jealousy and hatred for the Gu family in the future. Xiao Man was very sensitive to the hint that Lin Tie gave to Gu Wuchen, her sad appearance at that time, Lin Tie was hard to forget, and it was probably difficult for future generations to imagine that a fourteen-year-old innocent girl would bear such a heavy thing. He knew that Xiaoman was hurt, and at this time, even if he wanted to apologize and comfort her, he didn't know where to start.

"What's the matter? I've forgotten it, and I forgot it all when I stepped on your knees and sat on horseback. Xiaoman shook his head innocently and said, her smile was clear and pure, her eyebrows and eyes were a little charming when she was only a young man, Lin Lian thought that when she grew up, she might be a beauty like Su Mei who brought disaster to the country and the people.

"What are you looking at?" Xiaoman stood beside Lin Lian's shoulder, tiptoed to look out, her personal was a head shorter than Lin Lian, her eyes were just blocked by the courtyard wall in front of her, she held Lin Lian's shoulder and jumped up to look out, but she still couldn't see it.

"Step on it again, and you will forget the unpleasantness before the ferry; You just need to know that in my eyes, don't talk about those officials and ladies, you are more noble than those princesses and county lords. Lin Jian bent his knees and half-squatted, letting Xiaoman stand on his lap. Afraid that Du Rong or Du Rong's side would find out, Lin Jian couldn't take Xiaoman out of this courtyard casually.

Xiao Man happily stood on his lap with one hand on Lin Bin's shoulder, supported Lin Bin's palm with the other, and asked, "Does it hurt?" I'm not heavy. ”

Only then did Lin Jian know that the little girl's body was unusually light, but she didn't look thin, and her hands were soft, and she said, "It's okay, you don't want to watch it all night." ”

The post house is built on the slope, Lin Tie stands in front of the steps and looks at the southwest direction of the sky, the sparkling water waves spread out in the field of vision, the towering Jiangning City only has a very faint shadow, and there are very faint ridge traces at the east end of the city, Lin Tie estimated the direction, thinking that it is the forbidden gold mountain of the head of the Jiangning mountains. To the east of the Purple Mountain, it is the Setshan Mountain in Moling County, which is subordinate to Jiangning Prefecture, and the famous Xixi Academy is located on the bank of Xixi at the west foot of Setset, and the Taiping Gate of the East Gate of Jiangning City is only thirty miles away.

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The Gu family also had to stay in the post house for a few days, and then enter Jiangning to take up their posts on the selected auspicious day.

The next morning, there was a carriage to rent in the inn, and Zhao Hu went to rent a carriage. There was no need to hire another coachman, Lin Tie and they pulled the carriage away, and after entering the city, they could send the carriage to the designated Jiang Ji mule and horse shop in the city to return it. This is very convenient, but the cost is quite high, and it costs two hundred copper dollars a day to rent such a carriage.

Lin Lian was afraid that Du Rong would bump into Xiaoman, so he asked Xiaoman to accompany Liu Yue'er in the courtyard and sat in the carriage early to wait, he went to say goodbye to Gu Wuchen, and made an appointment to meet again in Jiangning City, so he led the horse and drove the carriage straight to Guabu Gudu, and hired a big boat to cross the river.

Chaotiandang and the Yangtze River in the north of Jiangning City are connected together, the river water is shallow and narrow in winter, and there are more than 20 miles of water surface from Kuabu to Qixiadu at the north foot of the opposite bank, and the sandbar on the water surface is dotted. Considering that even if he went ashore from Qixiadu, it was only in Moling County, and he would have to walk nearly thirty miles west before entering Jiangning City, Lin Jian asked the boatman to directly control the boat and swing diagonally towards the Jinchuan estuary in the northeast outside Jiangning City.

The Jinchuan River is a waterway that is only three or four miles long, and it enters the Moling Lake at the northwest foot of the Purple Mountain and east of Jiangning City. Moling Lake is Xuanwu Lake after a thousand years, because there is no land reclamation for the lake, the Xuanwu Lake of this era is much larger than the memory of later generations, there are more than 40 miles around the lake shore, located in the east of Jiangning City, larger than the entire Jiangning City, and the entire Purple Mountain occupies an equal area.

Before entering the mouth of the Jinchuan River, Lin Jian saw that there was a Jiangxin Island with a relatively large area in the river nearly two miles away from the mouth of the river, and there was a blue brick and gray tile building on the Jiangxin Island to be surrounded by a high wall, and there were more rivers and islands in the Yangtze River in this section of Chaotian Lake.

"What's there?" Lin Lian asked Xiaoman, who was born and raised in Jiangning.

"Oh, that's the Jinchuan Island prison of the Jiangdong Inspectorate Yamen!" Xiaoman said.

Lin Lian's mind was a little knotted, whether it was Lin Lian's memory before or his impression of the ancient prison after a thousand years, it seemed very rare for such a large-scale prison to be built on the river island outside the city in the inland area. Generally speaking, whether it is a county jail or a government prison, or a prison according to the Inspectorate Department or a prison of the Criminal Department or a Dali Temple prison, in fact, they all have the dual nature of a detention center and a prison, because the suspects in custody must be brought to court at any time, and the yamen of each department and the prison to which they belong are generally not too far away, not to mention that they are built far away on the river island outside the city, which is somewhat like a professional prison after a thousand years.

Although Jiangxin Island deviated from the main channel of the river, but Lin Tie and their boat was inserted diagonally from Kuabu Ferry, and Jiangxin Island happened to be on the channel where they entered the Jinchuan River Estuary. ”

"It's a prison city over there, so I'm close to the boat and take people down." The boatman said.

"Prison City!" Hearing the boatman say this word, Lin Jian remembered one thing, and understood why the prison was built into a river island according to the Inspector General, which was a pending public case between Jiangning and Yanjing, the southern capital.

According to the provisions of the Criminal Law of this dynasty, the punishment is divided into five categories: flogging, cane, imprisonment, exile, and death, of which the sentence is imprisonment and hard labor, which is similar to the so-called fixed-term imprisonment after a thousand years; Exile meant that prisoners were exiled to remote and desolate places for hard labor; Generally speaking, exile is heavier than imprisonment and less severe than the death penalty. In recent years, the frontiers where heavy prisoners were fought, such as Saiwai, Jibei, Hexi, and the desert islands of the East China Sea, were either often invaded by foreign races or occupied by pirates. In fact, the actual punishment imposed on prisoners by sending them to these frontier areas exceeds that provided for in the Criminal Law. In addition, there is a concern that these exiled prisoners will be taken captive by aliens or pirates to increase the strength of the other party. In view of this situation, the Jiangning Criminal Department, the Jiangning Dali Temple, and the Third Division of the Jiangning Procuratorial Department were determined to reform the prison system and redefine the punishment, and proposed to build a prison city to replace the exile punishment, and to transfer the prisoners who should be transferred to the prison city to be held for hard labor, and no longer to exile these prisoners to more dangerous remote penal colonies.

According to Lin Bin's understanding, this should be a pretty good reform, but the establishment in Yanjing and the Jiangning Mausoleum Keeper are two opposing bureaucrats that have always been at odds. Yanjing's faction is in a proper position and right, so I feel that these mausoleum guards in Jiangning should be honest, don't be a-stirring stick, and resolutely resist the so-called prison city instead of stream punishment. Four or five years ago, there was a lot of controversy over the prison city, and there was no sound in the past two years; Especially after this year, it is said that the luxury family will surrender and annex, and they can use those overseas desert islands as exile sites again, so naturally no one will mention the matter of the prison city again.

Lin Jian thought that the discussion of the prison city had long disappeared, but he did not expect that these disgraced mausoleum guards in Jiangning were not willing to be lonely, even if the powerful bureaucracy in Yanjing strongly opposed it, they first encouraged Jiangdong to build the prison city outside Jiangning City in the name of building a new prison in the name of building a new prison, and built it on Jiangxin Island in the middle of the Yangtze River.