Chapter 488 The Ming Dynasty in the eyes of international student Newton
Author: East Zhejiang Pifu
Chapter 488 The Ming Dynasty in the eyes of international student Newton
There is no doubt that the execution scene Isaac Newton saw at the entrance of Qiantang County Official Lane,
In the autumn of the fourth year of Xiaokang, the Ming Dynasty court officially began to close the net, and carried out the final liquidation of the gangsters who had previously violated the anti-reform laws, but actually obtained fraudulent loans from the court's Huinong Credit.
Zhu Shuren used the two white gloves of Yao Qisheng and Zhang Shipeng, Yao Qisheng played the white face, and Zhang Shipeng played the red face, released the water to raise the fish to lure the snakes out of their holes, and finally caught them all, and achieved very good results.
And Zhu Shuren asked himself, after all, he is a civilized person who came back from the 21st century, so there is no problem of "killing without teaching" when he releases water and fishes, because he has a very good sense of scale -
Even according to the laws of the 21st century, financial institutions still have two years of "limitation of action" after discovering that they have been defrauded and infringed upon.
If the water is released to raise fish for more than two years, it can be said to be fishing law enforcement, and they will be punished without instruction.
From the second year of the Ming Dynasty when the Ming Dynasty began to grant loans to benefit farmers for annexing land, to the fourth year of the Xiaokang Autumn Harvest Network, if we count from "knowing or possibly knowing the fact of being infringed", it is definitely less than two years.
There is no problem with this according to the statute of limitations of litigation law in the 21st century. If it were moved to the 17th century, it would be an absolutely benevolent government, more benevolent than Confucius' execution of Shao Zhengmao.
As the court tightened its net, those ringleaders were immediately dealt with severely and severely after being caught with enough evidence. Other ordinary people who cheated and failed to repay their loans were sentenced to exile.
After all this is implemented, the court's propaganda department will need to step up its propaganda efforts and make the noise louder, thus serving as an immediate demonstration, learning from past mistakes, treating illnesses and saving lives, so that latecomers can learn from it and learn about the court's evidence-gathering capabilities and enforcement efforts.
…
Newton and the captain were also relatively wealthy and did not want to just crowd on the street and watch the fun.
Captain Morton took out a silver coin, invited Newton to the teahouse on the corner of the street, ordered some refreshments, and watched and inquired from a high position——
The Guanxiangkou of Qiantang County in the Ming Dynasty was basically equivalent to the old Xinhua Bookstore on Jiefang Road in Hangzhou at the beginning of the 21st century.
Dr. Tea placed the Yuqian Longjing from the Longquan kiln in front of Captain Morton and Newton, and also served four-color snacks.
Newton carefully picked up the tea set, which seemed to sell for several pounds in the UK. When he saw the yellow-green soup inside, he was a little scared. He always felt that this thing looked like voodoo soup.
Captain Morton obviously knew a lot more than him. He took a sip proudly, and then said in a tone that would educate the country people: "Don't worry, the tea is originally green. It turned brown after it fermented across the ocean."
Newton then took a sip: "The tea in London is much richer than this."
Captain Morton couldn't help but laugh: "In the Ming Dynasty, light tea is more expensive. If you want strong and bitter tea, the kind of tree leaves that cost just a few pennies a pound can be cut with a sickle."
Newton was shocked: "What? The cheapest tea in Ming Dynasty only costs a few pennies a pound? Then you have the nerve to sell it for eight shillings in London?"
Captain Morton spread his hands and said: "My two years of sailing time, supplies, and risks are free of charge? I have only increased the price thirty times and I am already very conscientious. It is completely for the sake of God."
The two chatted for a while about tea leaves and tea sets, and soon brought the topic back to executions. Newton sat on the second floor, and his field of vision became more comprehensive. He finally saw the complete picture of the torture instrument in front of him, and he couldn't help but marvel.
"Didn't those Ming people say that the chief criminal was sentenced to beheaded in half? How could such a huge torture instrument be needed for execution? This looks like a pulley guillotine that relies on its own gravity? Have you seen it before?" Newton quickly analyzed
Having understood the principle of torture instruments, he is worthy of being a future master of mechanics.
Captain Morton shrugged: "I didn't see him seven years ago. Just ask the tea seller. Speaking of which, if you really plan to travel to the Ming Dynasty and study abroad, you should learn Chinese well and always count on me to translate.
How's that?"
"I have studied hard! I have recognized thousands of Chinese characters in the nine months on the ship! I can also translate their meanings! I just haven't mastered the spoken pronunciation yet!" It was about the dignity of the academic master, and Newton immediately pointed out the malicious intent of the other party.
The unreasonableness of speculation.
In ancient times, Koreans and Fuso people learned Chinese like this. They first learned to read and write on paper, and then to interpret. Because there are dictionaries for writing, but there is no phonograph for spoken language, and there is no way to store standard pronunciation.
This situation was especially serious during the reigns of Emperor Shenzong and Zhezong of the Song Dynasty. Groups of Fusang monks and businessmen came to China. Even if they knew Chinese, they pretended not to know it. Then they respectfully gave gifts, kowtowed to study, and talked to Su Dongpo in writing.
Su Dongpo was impressed by the other party's sincerity in learning, and without suspecting fraud, he wrote a small note in reply. Unexpectedly, those despicable Fusang people turned around and sent back the Fusang rubbings and engravings. Even if they just said "Have you eaten?", they would have to be framed.
As a treasure of the temple.
Today, Newton's difficulty in learning Chinese is almost the same as that of those despicable Fusang people.
Captain Morton didn't have time to criticize Newton's Chinese learning level. After asking Dr. Tea in Chinese, he came to Newton again to learn and sell:
"I heard that this kind of torture instrument was just invented in the past two years. It is said that the regent personally ordered the Academy of Sciences to develop a beheading tool that is more merciful and labor-saving for the Ministry of Punishments to use to replace the traditional lingchi, waist beheading and beheading.
This kind of guillotine uses a pulley to roll up the heavy blade and cut it directly by gravity, so there is no need to rely on the executioner's experience——
It is said that this is because the Ming Dynasty has good political governance. Compared with the past, the number of prisoners executed every year has been greatly reduced. It is no longer possible to maintain the skills of executioners in various places. After the older generation of executioners quit their jobs, the new generation of executioners have no choice but to use their skills.
guillotine."
It turned out that the instrument of torture that this group of British people saw was the guillotine, which would have been built one hundred and twenty years later. Moreover, the guillotine that Zhu Shuren ordered was built in one step without any detours——
Historically, the guillotine invented by Louis XVI at the beginning had a flat blade, which was easy to get stuck, and the reliability of beheading completely at one time was not high. In the end, during the French Revolution, the guillotine often cut people at once, so they thought of improving it.
Bevel blade.
In this way, when the heavy knife body is smashed down, the pressure can be increased, and it can be pulled from one side to the other side to cut off the cervical vertebrae, or even be used to cut in half.
In the Ming Dynasty, during the years when Zhu Shuren ruled the country, the death penalty has been decreasing year by year. Of course, it is also an extraordinary virtue and worthy of special mention - after all, according to the actual records of the Tang Dynasty people, Li Shimin originally advertised himself as the "Government of Zhenguan".
The important indicator is "During the Zhenguan period, the year with the fewest executions, only about thirty people were executed in the country."
People from the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple have also read history books, and they have often praised this indicator in recent years. When the guillotine came out this time, it was regarded as ironclad evidence that "because there were too few executions, the executioners were unfamiliar with their skills and were incompetent" and publicized it.
At the same time, in order to make full use of the product of this virtue policy, even the Lingchi passed down from the Song and Liao dynasties was abolished, which can be called an eternal virtue policy.
Of course, considering that there are still too many heinous crimes of treason and treason, in order to keep in line, the span cannot be too large at once. The ordinary cut in half is not enough, so multi-stage cuts in half were temporarily added.
Before, Ling Chi could cut with at least eight cuts, and up to more than 3,000 cuts. After changing to the guillotine cut in the waist, the heaviest and heaviest level was only eight cuts in the waist, and then there were five cuts, three cuts and the most common one.
Newton and Captain Morton watched curiously for a while, and the execution soon began.
The most serious criminal today is the inventor of this round of Hangzhou government's pilot scheme to cheat farmers. He also organized and taught his own techniques, and developed thousands of transferred farmers who met the loan application conditions to cash out, and drew money from them.
The commission earns the bulk of the price difference, which directly involves at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
What's more important is that even if this kind of scum is passed down to future generations, it will still be classified as "fraudulent financial institutions", and the sentencing is several levels heavier than ordinary fraud. What's more, in the Ming Dynasty, anyone who dares to defraud the Ming court's direct loans will be sentenced in the end.
Cut in half with three swords.
The executioner first stuffed the man's two lower legs under the guillotine, then put down the guillotine with a bang and cut off both of his knees below. Then he moved it below the waist and hips, and cut him again. Finally, before he died from blood loss, he cut his neck.
Go up, and finally fall down, three swords and four sections.
Newton was horrified when he saw it, and thought to himself: If he were the most serious criminal in the Ming Dynasty, he would probably have to be cut into pieces from the feet up, eight times and nine sections. I don't know what kind of serious crime it was that would warrant such a capital punishment.
While these foreigners were amazed, it was also the first time for ordinary people in Hangzhou to see this kind of instrument of torture in action. When it was invented a few months ago, the guillotine had only been used in Nanjing.
Naturally, the people were also very interested. After seeing the three-sword and four-segment figure, they also looked at several other relatively minor organizers, and all of them were cut in half and then beheaded.
There were only seven or eight people who were sentenced to death. After beheading, the government brought hundreds of people who were shackled to the public and found a few loud officials to announce their crimes and punishments.
"These are all malicious attempts to defraud the court of loans to help farmers! Those who refuse to pay after being called for! Those who fail to repay the fraudulent loans and the principal exceeds one hundred taels will be exiled to Australia to cultivate wasteland on the same day!
Those whose unpaid principal is less than one hundred taels and more than eighty taels will be exiled to Borneo! Those who have sixty to eighty taels will be exiled to Kyushu Island! Those who are between 40 and 60 will be exiled to Ezo! Those who have less than 40 taels will be exiled to Heilongjiang!
The imperial court now has a lot of frontier land for farming and reclamation! Those who dare to deceive the imperial court and want to try the national law can just see what happens to them! Today, there will be sea ships to pick up and drop off the sinners at Sanbao Pier, and send the sinners to Australia and Borneo on the same day!
The imperial court can also afford to spend this money, so it will be considered as fifty taels to buy a life, and the criminal will go to the borderland to fend for himself, and at least turn the land of birth into a mature land before death! How many of them can survive will be their destiny!"
Zhu Shuren was still very kind. When he finally asked Zhang Shipeng and Yao Qisheng to be sentenced, they did not calculate the severity of the crime based on compound interest, but only calculated the principal. If the principal was one hundred taels, he had no intention of paying it back until the ten-year mortgage payment.
At the end of the term, the total principal and interest will be at least more than three hundred taels.
After the official announcement, seven or eight hundred severely punished people were escorted to the south of the city. They left the city gate and went straight to the pier on the Qiantang River. There were several four-masted high-speed sailing boats waiting there.
About 200 prisoners were transported to Australia and Borneo respectively.
The people watching nearby had rarely heard of where Australia and Borneo were, and most people didn't like to learn geography.
At this moment, I just experienced the visual stimulation of slicing and cutting in half, and I immediately learned geography literacy. The learning effect is very good.
While everyone was whispering, they quickly understood that "Australia is a smoky land in the extreme south, four times further south than the distance from Jiangnan to Vietnam, and Borneo is at least three times further south than Vietnam."
If you go to Australia because of the unaccustomed climate, at least eight out of ten people will die in three years, and if you go to Borneo, at least half of them will die in three years. If you can survive the first three years and your body adapts to the local miasma, poison, snakes, insects, rats, and ants, then you will be better off in the rest of your life.
The chance of coming down is better.”
After hearing that it was so terrifying, most people who originally thought of taking advantage were immediately frightened. The benefits and costs, as well as the risk of being caught, are really disproportionate.
The key is that the court seems to be very efficient in auditing accounts now, so those people have probably been targeted for evidence collection.
…
Ming Dynasty's handling of financial fraud was enough for Newton and others to eat for an entire afternoon.
After finishing the tea and dessert, Captain Morton couldn't help but ask Newton to comment: "How do you think the management of economic crimes in Ming Dynasty compares with ours in the UK?"
Newton shrugged: "To be honest, it seems more sophisticated than the British. At least they have the same strict provisions as Roman law, and sentencing and evidence collection are also stricter than the British. I came to Ming Dynasty this time, can I learn something useful?
I have more confidence in going back to save Britain."
The British have always used case law, but in the 17th century its level of sophistication was still relatively primitive, not as good as that of the Netherlands and France. In this regard, it took time for industry to gradually catch up. So Newton's words are not a knee-jerk.
As for torture, he also thinks it is normal. It is nothing more than cutting in half and chopping a few more times, but at least it does not deliberately prolong the suffering time of the criminal - Westerners nail people to racks or impale them on sharp wooden stakes until
The blood dries up and dies, but it is possible that the person dies after suffering for a day or two. Today, even the slowest one who cut in half will die within a quarter of an hour.
Captain Morton had never heard from Newton about his specific purpose of studying abroad. Now that he was led astray by Newton, he followed up and asked:
"Then what do you want to learn when you come to Ming Dynasty this time? Do you have any plans? As far as I know, if you want to engage in academics, you still have to go to Nanjing. There is no value in staying here in Hangzhou for a long time.
There is only one academy of sciences and a bunch of research institutes here in the Ming Dynasty, unlike our European counterparts where there are many universities. Their Imperial College only teaches ethics, so just think of it as a seminary."
Newton was obviously well-informed and did not even think about this problem: "Of course, my original determination when I set out was just to observe the Ming Dynasty's chemical achievements. In the past few years in Europe, I often heard rumors from Dutch businessmen who came back that the Ming Dynasty was coming again.
Created new poisons to kill insects, snakes, and rats, among other amazing achievements.
It would be great if we could learn how to save the Great Plague in London. If this matter can be solved, I will arrange for people to return to China first and translate the results. I myself want to stay and observe the Ming Dynasty's research on optics and mechanics.
Cognition.
A few years ago, I read a posthumous work by Mr. Descartes in his later years. He introduced in his book that the regent of the Ming Dynasty and one of his wives were actually people with extraordinary knowledge of mechanics. They also mentioned several things about mechanics.
sports speculation,
It's a pity that the latest results are all in Chinese, and the description in Mr. Descartes's posthumous works is not detailed enough. It seems that I must learn Chinese well in order to confirm what I have in mind."
Captain Morton didn't understand this, so he could only raise his glass and wish Newton good luck: "Then I wish you good luck. I plan to stay in Hangzhou and Suzhou to purchase goods. I don't plan to go to Nanjing this time when I come to Ming Dynasty. You can make your own decisions along the way.
Find a way."
——
It's almost getting better, so after thinking about it, I might as well save the leave request note for server maintenance on the 4th. I'll update it today and won't ask for leave.