The king and his minister who were walking on the Lingbo Weibu soon joined hands to a secluded place in the prime minister's mansion. After the pretty maid served two bowls of fragrant tea, Zhang Di and the big inner master who were accompanying the guards were guarding the door. The idle people were not allowed to enter and exit. Zhao Ji and the prime minister Cai Jing began to talk about some serious matters with the drunkenness.

"My dear, let me talk to you about the things in the west."

"God bless my emperor. When the heavenly soldiers arrive, they will be sold to the barbarians from all over the world, praise the prosperous times, and enjoy peace forever..."

Zhao Ji frowned, and quickly interrupted the unsatisfactory attitude. After writing for a long time, Cai Jing, who was ready to give a compliment, said: "You and I are not outsiders, so there is no need to talk about these officials' words. You should know that the purpose of my coming here is not just to eat your meal and drink your wine."

Zhao Ji was afraid that Cai Jing would have misunderstood, and he was really stirred up by the exotic woman on the stage just now. In order to save time, he even took out the single-line version of "Journey to the West" in his arms and put the matter on the table.

"Official, I have found out this clearly. This is the latest issue of "New Youth", and "Journey to the West" has begun to be serialized again." Cai Jing handed over it, and it was the same as Zhao Huanhuan's fifth sister. Like her daughter, Zhao Ji couldn't help but snatch the tabloid from the official's hand, and took the candlelight and started reading Cai Jing in the audience as air.

"What a pity." After about a cup of tea, unlike Zhao Huanhuan, Zhao Ji didn't seem to have such a big reaction. With his keen sense of lyrics, this new episode's serialization is simply another person.

"Official, I have read this tabloid more than ten times, and it seems..." Cai Jing is also a master in calligraphy and painting. Don't he know the tricks here? But he can't say this from himself. It is the most clever way to let the "Journey to the West" point out the flaws in it.

"The painting is still the original painting, but things change, the words are even more rough and the plot is pretentious. This Sun Xingzhe can kill the scholar."

"My emperor is wise." Gong Gong nodded repeatedly. When the emperor was angry, he buried a million corpses and bleed thousands of miles away. When Kunshan was angry, Brother Long also refused to be a disciple and robbed the earth with his head. But where did this Sun Xingzhe go to find him? Do you have to arrest and kill all the artists who learn monkey performances or those born in the year of the monkey? Unfortunately, half of Cai Jing's grandchildren seem to be a digging of graves. Isn't this? Gong Gong's words are completely taken as a warning to him.

"Is this Wu Chengen also a person who seeks fame? Or is there someone else behind it?"

"Official family, this was sent by the Meteor Horse an hour ago." Cai Jing quickly presented the letter of the citizen to the latest issue of "New Youth". The ups and downs are his specialty. If he had no backup, how could he sit in the position of the public minister for so many years? It is even more impossible for him to hand over the "New Youth" to Zhao Ji and shoot himself in the foot. The public minister never did it.

The original text of the letter to the citizen is as follows: Dear readers, I solemnly declare here that the latest issue of Journey to the West serialized: ‘Chapter 55’, the author does have another person. We have made a solemn apology for this irresponsible report. Chengdu Prefecture is in a mess. I am really unwilling to write, and the subsequent plot will be delayed. I hope all readers will understand, but don’t worry, when the situation stabilizes, I will update it for the readers.

The feeling of depression in Zhao Ji's heart went smoothly. Although the update of "Journey to the West" seemed to be far away, it was much better than a sudden break in the middle.

"I decided to let the Western Shu area exempt from tuition for one year." Zhao Ji felt that this seemed not enough. His work must be bigger. In this way, the time for meeting with the new episode of "Journey to the West" would naturally be shortened. He quickly changed his words and said, "No, in three years, my dear will issue an order today and send it to Chengdu Prefecture with a meteor horse and report it to the public. Don't miss it."

This almost verbal imperial edict completely blocked the second half of the Prime Minister's words, but he still wanted to insist: "As a parent official, Wu Bo's crimes are unforgivable and must be severely punished."

"Exile to Shaman Island." Zhao Ji almost blurted out.

In the Song Dynasty, according to the severity of the crimes of the criminals, there were various methods of exile. The places of exile were mainly prison cities established by the garrisons of various prefectures, such as the Cangzhou prison city that was frequently mentioned in the "Water Margin".

There are many records about the disposal of "Water Margin", including Wu Song was sent to Cangzhou Prison Camp, Song Jiang was sent to Jiangzhou, and Lu Junyi was sent to Shaman Island. It can be seen that the disposal was frequent in the Song Dynasty. Another method was lighter, that is, directly classified as labor service in the local prefectures. The farthest distance for exile was three thousand miles, and the closest was five hundred miles.

In the first year of Yuanfu in the year of Emperor Zhezong (1098), the emperor issued an edict: "The sinners should be given more than 500 miles, all of which are given to Shaanxi, Hedong, and the general army of all the routes and the generals of the ranks were stopped." There are two types of people above: exile "a place with evil miasma in Lingnan", and the heaviest one is Shamen Island.

Song system: There are fixed quotas for the criminals of Shaman Island, and only 300 officials gave grain to them, which overflowed... but it is a custom. In the third year of Qianyou in the Later Five Dynasties (950), a deputy governor who lost the city was exiled here. Shaman Island has since been used as a place for exile for the serious criminals. More than ten years later, at the beginning of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, Taizu personally ordered the military criminals to be distributed to the island, and this place became a "concentration camp" for severe criminals.

According to the history of the Song Dynasty, "those who commit crimes and receive loans are mostly affiliated with Shaman Island in Dengzhou and Tongzhou Island, and all have troops stationed in a guard." "At the beginning, when a woman was guilty of being in vain, she also held a needle and served as a servant. At that time, the imperial edict was dismissed. At the beginning, those who committed crimes and had to pay their lives to death should not be reopened to Shaman Island, and only the prison cities of the states." A year or two later, Shaman Island was also used as a place for exile for serious crimes. Since those who were exiled to Shaman Island were forgiven for death, "traveling through the road" also happened frequently, so the court stipulated more than once: "If you pass the thieves, you must choose a yamen school to pass the imperial examination."

Where is Shamen Island? Both "Water Margin" and "History of the Song Dynasty" mention it is in Dengzhou Prefecture, Shandong. "Reading History's Fangyu Ji" also records that it is said that it is in Dengzhou "60 miles northwest of the sea, if a boat traveler in the sea must moor here to avoid the wind. During the Five Dynasties, Shamen Village was set up." The "Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Place Names in China" makes it clearer, "Shamen Island is 60 miles northwest of Penglai County, Shandong."

What are the identities of those sent in? According to the History of the Song Dynasty, Criminal Law Records, "The person who commits the death penalty is mostly given to the Shaman Island in Dengzhou." Most of these prisoners were ordinary people such as farmers, workers, merchants, etc., but there were also some convicted officials. For example, in the History of the Song Dynasty, there are many officials who are assigned to Shaman Island, such as corrupt officials who accept bribes, poor field prosecutors, imperial doctors who practice medicine without precepts, astronomers who make mistakes in their work, etc.

At the trial site, these prisoners had already had the words "Sharmony Island" on their faces, about seven inches long. When they arrived at Shamony Island, they were imprisoned day and night by the garrisons on the island. The garrisons here belonged to the navy and were equipped with a certain number of ships. Three years ago, a prisoner escaped from ships, which alarmed the court. Since then, the control of ships has become much more severe.

In the third year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty, Guo Zhigao, the governor of Dengzhou County, wrote a letter to request that 300 additional sailors be sent to guard Shamen Island and to arrange the fastest swordfish ship at that time to strengthen the control of criminal prisoners.

When the prisoners arrived at Shaman Island, they had to serve in work every day, and they had a heavy task. "Reading History and Fangyu Minutes" records: "In the first year of Gande, the Jurchen Kingdom sent envoys to offer famous horses and ordered the people of Shaman Island in Dengzhou to be taxed, and ordered them to specialize in boats and ferrying horses." It can be seen that the work service in Shaman Island prisoners mainly refers to horse raising, shipbuilding and other matters.

The moment he was sentenced to exile on Shaman Island, it can be said that he was almost sentenced to death. It was simply the Shura hell of the Song Dynasty. "Song Huiyao Edited Drafts" records: In the third year of Song Jiayou, Wang Juyuan, the Jingdong Road Transport Author, reported to Emperor Renzong that the prisoners sent to Shaman Island "as planned, there were 300 people every year, about 3,000 people in ten years. Except for one cent of death, there were 2,000 people in charge, and now only 180 are worth it, which shows the disadvantages."

According to Wang Juyuan, in the criminal prison system at that time, the mortality rate of prisoners reached one-third, that is, about 33%, which is still acceptable, while the mortality rate of Shaman Island was as high as 94%, which is really too terrifying and unbelievable.

In the official "History of the Song Dynasty: Criminal Law", one mentioned that the prisoners who assassinated Shaman Island "mostly those who reach the end died", and the other said that "there are many people who suffer from malaria in Chunzhou, and eight or nine out of ten people who reach the end" were mentioned, that is, the mortality rate was as high as 80-90%.

The reason why the mortality rate is so high is mainly due to the shortage of food. The grain supply on Shaman Island is self-sufficient and is supplied by more than 80 island households on the island. At the beginning, the number of prisoners sent in was not large, and the supply of prisoners could keep up. Later, more and more places were required to send prisoners in various places.

The management authorities of Shaman Island have always been the military commander, so Shaman Island is also called Shaman Village, and the chief is called the custody and the village master. The island's criminal offender quota was set. In the sixth year of Xining (1073 AD), the Criminal Court issued a rated number of people to the island from 200 to 300, which was far from meeting the needs of various places. The court only provided rated rations for 300 people, but since the slaughter rations was customized by the court, the maximum number of prisoners reached about 1,400, and the supply of rations was not enough for the prisoners to be sent. Therefore, the island was overcrowded, and the limited grain output of the island households could not be insufficient. Of course, the prisoners were killed in groups, so they starved to death in groups.

During the Xining era, the village leader Li Qing lost his humanity and did not have enough food to feed these prisoners. He simply threw the excess prisoners into the sea and killed more than 700 prisoners in two years. From this, it seems that the fate of the offender who was assassinated on Shaman Island was extremely tragic. The life and death were captured by Shaman Village leader, and the prisoners were imprisoned on the day and night, and were neighbors with death. There was no guarantee of personal safety and the day was not guaranteed.

In the third year of Tianxi, two civil officials came to the island. The Shamenzhai prison guard Dong failed to ask for bribes, falsely accused the rebellion, and killed the two. His son went to Beijing and beat Deng Weng Gu to complain, but he died without evidence and left it alone.

Another reason for the high mortality rate of prisoners is that the custody conditions on Shaman Island are too poor. A large number of prisoners are crowded in narrow and dilapidated prison rooms, and there is no medical condition at all. Once an infectious disease occurs, it will quickly spread and lead to a plague, causing a large number of prisoners to die. Some of them are thrown into the sea before they die.

Due to the serious shortage of food and no medicine, Shaman Island can only cruelly interpret the jungle law of the strong. That is, keep the prisoners on the island within 200, otherwise they will not be able to survive. Therefore, no matter how many prisoners are worthy, they will be eliminated if they exceed the island's tolerance. In order to maintain this situation, the prisoners will even persecute healthy prisoners to death by various means.

Therefore, in the 17th chapter of "Water Margin", when the prefect of Jeju heard the person sent by Liang Zhongshu, "Please ask your husband to go to Shaman Island for a walk", he was so scared that he was so scared. In order to let his subordinates raise the point, Xing Hetao also solved the case as soon as possible, and he only gave him a ten-day deadline, and he stabbed the words "Diege..." in his face to put pressure on him.

In the Song Dynasty, civil officials were rarely beheaded directly, basically, just demoted and exiled, and continued to eat imperial grain in another place. One day the emperor was in a good mood and could return to Bianjing to become an official. In the Song Dynasty, the high-ranking officials who entered and left the Song Dynasty read through the "History of the Song Dynasty" and were everywhere.

For example, Su Dongpo was exiled to Huangzhou (Xuzhou), leaving Huanglou in the local area. Later generations compiled the poems he wrote during this period into a book called "Huanglou Collection". The farthest one is Hainan Island. However, he was open-minded and said: "There is no food, no medicine, no room, no friends, no charcoal in winter, and no cold spring in summer, but it is not easy to find all of them, and most of them are gone. Only one blessing is that there is no miasma."

The Li people living on the island at that time did not get along well with immigrants from the mainland. Locals could not read and write, but were honest. They were lazy to farm and made a living by hunting. Like in some places in Sichuan or Fujian, they were also women operating, and men took care of their children at home. Women of the people chopped wood in the jungle and carried it to the town to sell. All metal utensils such as axes, knives, grains, cloths, salt, and pickles were imported from the mainland. They exchanged turtle shells and submerged incense, which was widely used in China. Even rice was imported from the mainland because locals only ate taro and drank white water for meals.

It is said that local residents are very superstitious. When they are sick, they will be treated by warlocks, but there will be no doctors. The only way for natives to cure diseases is to pray in the temple and kill cattle to sacrifice to the gods. As a result, many cattle transported from the mainland every year are specially used for sacrifice to the gods. It can be seen that the medical conditions are comparable to those in primitive society.

The mainlanders could never conquer the residents in the jungle. Once the officers and soldiers arrived, they just needed to retreat into the jungle. The officers and soldiers did not want to live in the mountains at all, so they naturally refused to go deeper. Sometimes the people would quarrel and dispute with the Han people, and occasionally attacked the towns. Sometimes they were bullied by merchants and could not get a fair trial in the yamen. The only way for them was to catch the person and then take back the money. It can be seen that the meat tickets were tied up from time to time, and the Han people were at risk of their lives in the local area.

In summer, people are suffering from the humidity. It is rainy in autumn, and because of the wind and rain, all ships from Guangzhou and Fujian have stopped sailing. The food is not continued, and even rice is not available. In the winter of the first year of Yuanfu in the Zhezong (1098), Su Dongpo wrote to his friend that he and his son were "like two ascetic monks". That winter, there was no food to help, and the father and son were in danger of hunger. He also adopted the old method of cooking vegetables and started to cook Xanthium as food.
Chapter completed!