【Northern Song Dynasty

page views:1 Publication date:2023-03-24

Author: Zhang Erhecha
Published on September 28, 2017 001
Word Count: 11816
Northern Song Dynasty? Xia Zhiyuan – A Study of the Female Criminals of
the Yang
Family Part One Yuan Yi, a senior official in the Ministry of Justice, looked across the edge of the desk and down to the ground. Before his eyes rose
a pair of bare buttocks and two bare feet, bound in long wooden shackles, suspended in mid-air above the bluestone ground
.
It was a woman's buttocks. The woman was completely naked, without a single piece of clothing
covering her from shoulders to ankles. The undulating soles of her bare feet and the two semicircles of her rolling buttocks were made of flesh. Although they
were filthy, muddy, and bloody, the skin stretched by the flesh still shimmered somewhat. Such a
thing was directly in front of a man's eyes; that man would probably feel some turmoil. Yuan
Yi, however, kept his eyes down, sitting upright and solemnly, pretending that he felt no turmoil. Yuan Yi heard
another man sitting beside him speak.
"Beat them. Beat them hard."
This was probably how male officials conducted trials. A row of men sat behind a
long sandalwood table, where delicate tea swirls in ceramic pots and porcelain cups. Yuan Yi knew this opening
was meant to dampen the criminal's spirit. The female prisoner, her back to the interrogating officials, knelt outside the table. Her head,
face, and arms were bound tightly by two large wooden boards. The bottom edge of the rectangular neck and hand yoke touched the ground, forcing
the woman inside to bend over, face down, maintaining a kneeling posture
. Another pair of leg yokes restrained her legs. Long, thick wooden planks spread her ankles,
locking them two feet apart. A pair of protruding ankle bones jutted out from the outer side of the planks,
secured with heavy black iron rings.
Next came the flogging. Two burly men stood on either side of the woman's bare buttocks,
wielding two split bamboo strips in a near-circular arc, the sharp cracks echoing across her trembling flesh.
The sound was crisp and clean, yet the aftertaste was somewhat lingering. The
lingering sensation came from the elasticity of the flesh, combined with the tearing force of the bamboo strips' edges and sharp points cutting into her skin. The woman
cried out intermittently from the other side of the cangue, her voice hoarse and not very loud. Her
ankles were shackled with heavy iron chains, and her large feet twitched and bounced a few times, but couldn't make much of
a sound.
Yuan Yi knew, of course, that anyone who had spent so much time in such a place wouldn't have much
strength left to cry out in pain. The man next to him said again, "Stop." The other
man said, "Help her up. Let's see.
Let's see her face." Two men restrained the woman, lifting her body into a roughly
straight position. Her shoulders were spread, her hands bound, and a large, hard wooden yoke supported her weight on these three points of support. Her bare feet,
with their sharp, angular frame, were wedged between the clumsy, long planks, along with thick, black iron
rings and chains, dragging and clattering as they turned on the blue bricks. Turning around, two large, perky, and swaying
breasts appeared—a woman's bosom. At times like this, perhaps it should be simply called…
a breast?
Beneath his eyes lay a row of round, full mounds of yellow flesh, two large, erect, purplish-black nipples
, bumpy and upright. Even if they were on the breasts of a general capable of leading troops into battle, a man's most direct
reaction would probably be to exclaim in his heart, "Such magnificent breasts!"
Let's not mention any of those terms like "lotus seedpod" or "soft peak."
The naked woman was tall with long legs, her wrists bound. Her two long, ape-like arms were crouched
beneath thick wooden boards, but her strong arms, slender waist, and wide, flowing hips
were striking. Even more horrifying were the
old and new bruises on her naked body, raw and torn, red and swollen. Her hair had long been ripped apart, leaving her no chance to comb it; her long, disheveled hair
obscured her face.
Yuan Yi had seen that face before. Yang Zongbao's wife, Yang Mu, had led the Song Dynasty's border troops and held a
court title. In recent years, she had made appearances in the officialdom of Bianjing. The customs of the time were flexible
; it wasn't that women had to remain hidden behind the curtains of their chambers. However, women who truly rose to high positions were
rare, making them easily memorable. When Yuan Yi
met Yang Mushi at a welcoming and farewell party for fellow villagers and friends in the capital, she was dressed in a traditional Chinese dress and skirt. Aside from her tall, handsome figure and somewhat heroic air, her
demeanor was almost that of a quiet, ordinary woman. Since migrating to Bianjing (Kaifeng), the Yang family of Shanxi had lost
its land and population to maintain, and no army capable of fighting in the field. Although the women of the Yang family
were renowned for their military prowess, they always maintained a cautious and discreet attitude while living in the capital, deliberately avoiding any semblance
of their military identity.
The Yang family, favored by Emperor Taizong, owned a thousand acres of land in western Beijing for farming and grain storage. Yang Mushi had taken in
some widows and young women from the northwest refugees, many of whom were relatives of soldiers who had died in battle. Aside from business dealings
, the Yang family may have possessed some compassion and kindness, unable to bear seeing their loyal relatives wandering the streets and villages, reduced
to the point of selling themselves out of desperation.
After the former Prime Minister and Vice Minister of the Chancellery, Kou Zhun, was dismissed from office, the Councilor Ding Wei, acting on the Emperor's orders, handled
the Yang family's treason case. The core of the case was to present evidence that Kou Zhun had secretly contacted the army and supported the establishment of the Crown Prince.
Prior to this, in the fourth year of the Tianxi era, news began circulating in the capital that the Emperor was seriously ill, and the Crown Prince was very young
. Kou Zhun strongly advocated that the Crown Prince oversee the country, leading to a fierce conflict with Empress Defei and Vice Minister Ding Wei. The Yang family elders
had a close personal relationship with Kou Zhun in their early years, and the women now implicated in this incident were merely innocent bystanders suffering collateral damage.
However, this was the natural order of the dynasty. Yuan Yi himself had been navigating the officialdom of the capital for many years, serving in various departments
, and was naturally well aware of the ways and practices of the dynasty. Ding Wei's residence detained the suspect and interrogated him independently for a
month and a half. Now, he has informed the Ministry of Justice to send personnel for a review and conclusion of the case, clearly seeking procedural approval. Yuan
He himself was merely a figurehead bearing the seal of the Ministry of Justice. He thought that as long as he maintained a
dignified and solemn posture, keeping his eyes downcast and his mind at ease, that would suffice.
On the stone slab beneath the table, a woman in shackles and chains staggered, kneeling and banging her head on the ground,
muttering the usual refrain of a convict paying homage to Minister Yuan Yi of the Ministry of Justice. Only after she straightened her knees and
struggled to toss her disheveled hair a few times could she finally manage a pose of looking up at him. Yuan Yi
even stared at the woman for a moment, then subconsciously reached for his teacup. He had to find
a way to break the awkwardness. Yuan Yi felt that for a woman of high rank and a renowned warrior to
maintain composure in such a humiliating situation, displaying her naked body to an official of even lower rank,
was a remarkable and respectable feat.
Besides Yuan Yi, the other men present were staff members of Prime Minister Ding Wei's household. They might not be
officials of the court, but they now wielded power in handling cases through the name of the Prime Minister's residence. The
man in charge said, "The criminal, Yang Mu, is accused of plotting against former Prime Minister Kou Zhun, who conspired to imprison the Emperor and Empress and hold the Crown Prince hostage.
Kou Zhun and the Yang family have many connections. You and your great-grandmother, Yang She, have met with Kou Zhun several times, promising to mobilize the Yang family
's military farms to the capital to force him to abdicate. The Crown Prince is currently young,
and Kou Zhun's ambition to control the court is obvious. The Yang family's accomplice's intention to expand their power is also blatantly obvious.
The case has been under investigation for over a month, and you have already confessed in detail to all the rebellious acts of collusion and plotting.
You have signed and sealed all the confessions, confirming your innocence." The Ministry of Justice has dispatched high-ranking officials to review the case. If you agree to this and take
responsibility, then we and Lord Yuan Yi can return to report. He smiled calmly at this point. …
Helping others is helping yourself. You can also be spared the torment of day and night torture and await your death in peace.
Now tell me, are all of the above true?
The woman's tone was unexpectedly calm. She said, "The women of the Yang family have never
discussed state affairs with Lord Kou Zhun. The Yang family received land from the late emperor, and those recruited to grow grain and reel silk were all commoners. The claim that they led an army into the capital is
utter nonsense."
"Ah," said the man in charge, "Well... in recent days, under questioning,
it has been recorded in black and white which month, which day, what you said at midnight, and what you said at dawn. You also signed and
pressed your fingerprint..."
"That was just something the woman made up because she couldn't withstand the beating. No one in the Yang family did these things."
"Oh, so you want to reopen this case."
"Yang Mu has no connection whatsoever with the aforementioned schemes."
"Good. Very good." The man leaned back in his chair, glancing at one end of the long table. He said,
"The maid in charge of writing, have you written down all of this?"
Besides the men handling the case and the female defendants, there were two other young women present.
From the very beginning, two young women stood silently at the outermost edge of the long table. They too were naked
, their hands and feet bound by chains. However, unlike the convict, they had carefully applied
makeup; their black hair, styled neatly in a bun, was perfectly styled, and their fair, clean skin and delicate features made them
quite attractive.
On the table at the other end lay a stack of scrolls, a brush, and an inkstone. One girl knelt, the other stood.
The kneeling girl silently ground the ink, while the standing girl, her shackled white wrists pressed together, checked
the scrolls and answered with a simple "Yes." She said, "This servant has memorized it."
The man in charge laughed again, this time turning to face Yuan Yi: "The daughter of a convict accused of treason,
bought as a maid by the household. Her looks aren't anything special, but what's remarkable is her beautiful handwriting.
During trials, having two naked female slaves as scribes can be called charming and amusing.
Of course, such things can't be expected in the main hall of the Ministry of Justice, but high-ranking officials and nobles can indulge in it at home
. The important thing is that you have power or favor; even if you steam your own wife alive to serve as
a drink to guests, it can still become a chivalrous tale of prioritizing friendship over lust and displaying unrestrained heroism.
" He said, "Girl, what have you written down?"
The girl said yes. She lowered her eyes and looked at the paper.
"The Lord asks: The convict Yang Mu, investigated, former Prime Minister Kou Zhun conspired to imprison the Emperor and Empress, and to hold the Crown Prince hostage to oversee
the country…"
He continued reading until "The Lord asks: Good, then you're going to overturn this case."
"The prisoner replied: Yang Mushi has no connection whatsoever with the aforementioned schemes."
"What is this little girl saying?" The man frowned. "Wrong, fabricated, incomplete, omitted—the recorded
answers are incoherent, untrue, utterly absurd. How can a servant act like this?" He
gestured with his chin towards the strongmen outside the table: "This person can no longer be used. Drag her over and cut off her hands."
The female slave knelt, her face deathly pale, stammering a few words of explanation, but of course, no one cared
what she said. She was swiftly dragged to the prisoner Yang Mushi's side and pinned down.
It took some time to bind her forearms with rope to seal the blood vessels, but then her wrists were haphazardly slashed
seventeen or eighteen times—perhaps intentionally to avoid a quick death. The girl's fair body writhed and struggled on the bluestone floor
, emitting one agonizing wail after another. The naked body remained kneeling,
half-hanging in the corner of the wall. Since she had no hands or wrists, the only support for her was
a sharp iron hook piercing through her limbs.
"Is it alright? Hmm, good." The official in charge slowly poured tea with his left hand. "What a pitiful child, tsk
tsk. Yang Mu, shall we go back to your business?" He raised his right hand, making a vague
gesture in the air.
The men on the other side of the table grabbed the female prisoner's hair, one on each side holding the yoke around her neck.
Another man, holding a short stick, swung it down hard, striking
the woman kneeling on the ground in the chest. Yuan Yi saw something like a stream of water suddenly appear in front of his eyes.
The scene churned and tumbled. The woman, held firmly to the ground by several large hands, was howling and jumping, so what he saw might
have been the woman's back suddenly arching from under the edge of the neck yoke, or it might have been her
breasts bouncing out after being struck by the stick. In any case, what he saw were some lively, red and white lumps of human flesh. The short stick
moved rhythmically, rising and falling, left and right. After a few strokes, the woman stopped screaming and only made
some hissing sounds of inhaling and exhaling. Everyone present already knew that firstly, there was a
strong woman here, and secondly, the woman was naked and being tortured. That long, strong body with full breasts and buttocks
was squeezed between the neck yoke and the ground, twisting and turning as much as possible under that powerful restraint.
Driven by the storm of pain, the torso, limbs, veins, and nerves twisted and turned, all the way
down to the undulating tendons and joints, to the jagged arches of the feet, and the bare,
coiling toes—it was like the frenzied dance of a lioness, a spectacle performed by a wandering Persian sorcerer in a brothel
.
The man who had been hitting the woman stopped and took a step back, waiting for her to catch her breath.
When he resumed his attack, he used the stick to thrust forward. The first thrust went straight to the ribs of the naked body
.
The sound of the wood hitting the woman's breasts was sticky and cloying. Yuan Yi saw that the blood and broth seeping from the breasts, which bounced wildly on the prisoner's chest,
were also sticky. But the echo of the skeleton being struck was decisive and crisp, making one think that
the human body was actually an empty cavity. The force of the blows,
once infused, must have caused the internal organs inside to convulse and twist in an unpredictable way. Yuan Yi heard
waves of vomiting coming from his stomach.
The man sitting next to Yuan Yi chatted with him about Fujian tea. The teacup he used was also
a black porcelain from the Jian kiln of the Fujian system, as solid as iron. In the face of adversity, one must remain calm; both of them pretended not to care about
the banging, clanging, and creaking sounds outside the table. The two of them
commented on the differences and merits of using Jian kiln and official porcelain for tea preparation, then glanced at the situation in the room.
The woman in the room was sobbing and panting. Her hair was being pulled up, her face raised, her eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth completely filthy. She was forced to raise her face so that 　　the men could clearly see
her humiliated state .
The old wounds on the woman's ribs and abdomen were now covered with fresh red swelling and bruising
. She was wearing leg shackles, so apart from the strong muscles around her waist and abdomen, her thighs were parted,
revealing the light brown mound and dark hair beneath her groin. Everyone seemed to pause, there was
a brief moment of quiet silence, then the kicking resumed. Someone raised their foot and hooked, the instep
striking the woman squarely in the crotch. Yuan Yi didn't close his eyes; he heard a scream. Normally, abdominal muscles are
defined, flat and dormant, but he felt that the woman's stomach exploded like a fighting rooster's neck
feathers. Her bound thighs were actually twisting wildly within a limited space, and now he
saw yellow urine trickling down from beneath that bulging, round mound of flesh.
"Alright, alright," the man in charge spoke again, his tone tinged with weariness
. "Yang Mu, are you feeling better now? Have you come to terms with it?"
"This woman from the Yang family, listen carefully, I'll ask you one more time. If you still have anything to say,
then say whatever you want."
"I don't want to say anything, I don't want to say anything… it doesn't really matter."
"You, the girl grinding ink, stand up. Get the pen. You take notes."
On the day Yuan Yi attended the joint trial at Prime Minister Ding Wei's residence for the Yang family's alleged collusion with Kou Zhun in a rebellion, the head of the Prime Minister's residence,
under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice, interrogated the woman three times. Yang Mu denied everything from beginning to end. Yuan Yi believed that in
the entire month leading up to this day, she must have said a lot. She would say whatever Ding Wei wanted her to say
; after being beaten to that extent, that's how it was. Yuan Yi also believed that the three parties present, including the accused
herself, knew that her denial wouldn't lead to any real possibility of acquittal. Since Kou Zhun had been exiled from the capital,
the current political situation was dominated by Lord Ding Wei. As long as the imperial court's trust in the councilor Ding Wei remains unchanged, the women of the Yang family
cannot escape the charge of treason. Ding Wei intends to use this incident to drive the final nail into Kou Zhun's
coffin. He can continue to beat and retry, even beat the criminals to death, and the case will only be closed with a statement that the evidence
is conclusive and the defendant committed suicide out of fear of punishment. Even so, Yuan Yi understands Yang Mu's
reasons for her desperate attempt to overturn the case today. Precisely because the case is beyond overturning, she chose to launch her attack today, with herself as an outsider witness
, aiming to drive a wedge into the rigid official documents and leave a fabricated
mark. The Yang family has at least denied these accusations and framing; this is a flag raised, a stance taken.
Perhaps this purely posturing, this empty rhetoric, has no meaning in the short term, but who
can clearly know the future? On the other hand, Ding Wei could have chosen to have the woman strangled in
the basement of his mansion. The reason for informing the Ministry of Justice was merely to create a facade and a fabricated
legitimacy. Decisions made for political reasons can be reversed for the same reasons. People
gamble with fate on the probability of the dice roll, and even the smallest probability is still a probability. At least she wanted the outside world
to know that there had been another version of events and another possibility. And Yuan Yi herself was
the only person outside the iron curtain of Ding Wei and his gang, with only one chance.
One more time. The presiding judge read the charges aloud, and the defendant calmly and methodically refuted each one.
Even as the woman sobbed, tears and saliva streaming down her face, and the cangue around her neck was soaked with
green and yellow bile and gastric juice, she still tried her best to control herself and maintain the calmest possible voice.
After the perpetrator denied the charges for the second time, a copper basin filled with flaming charcoal was brought out from the lower area. Inside the basin were
heated iron skewers and branding marks shaped like small shovels. This time, the resisting and pleading criminal was pulled upright.
First, her ankles were locked to iron stakes fixed to the ground. Then, iron chains hanging from the roof were lowered and bound to
the elbows of her arms. Her wrists and neck were confined to the same plane by a neck yoke, and
as her elbows rose towards the roof, her upper body naturally twisted and leaned back, her face gradually turning upwards, revealing her large breasts
, open armpits, and protruding navel. Her ankles, however,
remained fixed in place due to the iron chains and stakes.
The young female servant who replaced her as the interrogator was also dragged outside and had her hands chopped off
. Since there was hot iron in the brazier, a red-hot, sharp iron rod was then inserted into her ear
canals, leaving her fair cheeks covered in blood. This was because the interrogating official determined that she had
not only falsely recorded her story but had also failed to listen attentively. Therefore, she needed to be deafened
as punishment. The second little girl, who had lost her hand and was deaf, was also set aside. Now everyone should focus on the
crucial matter of treason.
The entire operation would involve branding. After the iron skewers and stamps were thoroughly heated, they would be used to specifically target the delicate, tender, or
plump areas of a woman's naked body, either touching or pressing them. The former would invariably involve
the nipples, armpits, and the large and small membranes within the groin, the urethral opening, and the vulva; the latter would be the actual thighs, buttocks, shoulders, and back. Facing the woman's
fragrant shoulders and jade legs, plus the two large, gourd-like breasts in the center, the red-hot iron would be used to push
across them like a tidal wave, naturally causing everything to crumble and tremble, along with cries of despair.
But all that was needed at the beginning was the attention to those small, delicate areas. You see, the pain from the sharp points of the iron, drop by drop,
had a unique, piercing, and unsettling quality. Beyond the fiery destruction of the flower, it directly targets a woman's sense of shame and preciousness
. Imagine a woman's most cherished, most secret place, which she vows to protect for life, being thoroughly explored
, slowly roasted like half-cooked meat over a gentle fire. Even if she painstakingly clings to the idea of chastity and purity,
at this point, her defenses are likely to crumble. Her beautiful, jade-like appearance is gone; what is the point?
Where can she go to preserve her original heart?
Beneath the fiery iron seal, what overflows from the charred skin is not vibrant blood, but murky oil.
After a cloud of smoke rises, Yuan Yi sees one of the large, black fruits, like a congealed, stagnant nipple
, blooming into a cluster of petals, delicate stamens, and glistening, vibrant flowers.
The presiding man turned his face away. This time, he was discussing with Yuan Yi the appropriate
jujube-shaped tables and chairs, as well as the boxwood bed, for the tea ceremony. Out of the corner of their eyes, they could see
a large bucket of cold water being prepared below. A long-handled wooden ladle was scooped up and filled to the brim, splashing the
woman's entire body. The supervisor on the platform showed some sign of loosening the restraint, while
the men administering the torture began to show signs of impatience and restlessness. Several burly men began to remove
their shirts, revealing their muscular chests. One of them pressed his muscular chest against the side of the woman being tortured
, rubbing it against her. One hand cupped her ample buttocks below the waist, while the other vigorously kneaded
the other breast that hadn't yet been branded. "
What a fine body," the man said. "The female general's big white buttocks, the female general's beautiful breasts."
He said, "General, please forgive me, allow me to properly serve this beautiful woman's body..." He exerted even more
force, kneading, grabbing, twisting, and pinching her nipple, pulling it out two inches.
"Is it good? Is it good?
Do you want that?" The man lewdly stepped aside. The branding iron, still red-hot, 　　was pressed directly onto
the remaining nipple . 　　From the initial, meticulous exploration to the final, more general act, every part of the woman's body was branded. At this point, the chains on the beam were lowered, 　　and the dying female prisoner slumped to the ground. Someone pulled her head and face, this 　　time lifting a wooden bucket, scooping it up by the bottom and tilting it forward. A torrent of water crashed and swirled across her head and face. The torrent was 　　like a swirling, tangled mess of her long, loose hair. A look of furrowed brows and utter despair flashed across 　　her face amidst the raging water and wind. The second bucket of water was poured over the woman's 　　naked body. The man teased, "Wake up, beauty, wake up! 　　Wash your face, wash your damn cunt, get up and greet the guests!" 　　In short, Yuan Yi, the Ministry of Justice official present at the joint trial that day, waited until the third 　　round of questioning the female prisoner. The female prisoner, covered in bruises, whimpered weakly, and no one could tell 　　whether she had confessed to the heinous crime of treason this time. 　　The official in charge of the Prime Minister's residence stood up straight and bowed to the supervising Ministry of Justice official in gratitude. In short 　　, the gist was that the woman had suddenly fallen ill during the interrogation, fainting and losing consciousness, 　　making it difficult to clarify the key points of the case in such a rush. Perhaps she needed medical treatment 　　before the trial could be postponed. A well-thought-out plan was needed. 　　"Take your time, take your time," Yuan Yi echoed several times. He took his leave of the Prime Minister's residence and hurriedly returned to his department to 　　report. 　　Part Two 　　The woman, now standing upright, saw the barren beach and water. Loess plateaus, mountains. And behind her, the ten-mile-long pavilion, and the ten-mile- long pavilion again 　　. 　　The woman couldn't remember if this was the fortieth or fiftieth pavilion after leaving Bianliang City to the west. She only saw 　　three mud-brick and tile houses facing forward. These were inns built beside the river ferry, providing resting places for traveling officials and soldiers 　　. The woman stood on the other side of the main road outside the inn, but her upright body, 　　with legs spread, faced the door of the inn. A cangue was around her neck; she couldn't see her own feet, but she could feel 　　their pain, their bitterness, and their cold. Standing barefoot on the cobblestone beach in early spring, the roughness, 　　the chaos, and the feelings of destitution and humiliation were certainly foreign to a female official of the Song Dynasty. 　　After walking the first thousand miles barefoot , it wasn't quite a natural habit yet. 　　Thick iron chains around her ankles, weighing ten pounds, made walking, something so natural and fluid, become...

The arduous labor of dragging and carrying is not merely a physical burden; it is a constant clamor and disturbance along a thousand miles,
a humiliating and ostentatious spectacle.
A woman's face is meant to be seen by all, and so are her feet. A woman who has experienced countless battles and campaigns
is not a woman who has never walked;
it is simply a different matter to wear soft lambskin boots and gait with ease. If, in the central military tent, she were
to adorn her toenails with cinnamon juice under her husband's watchful gaze, the pair of bare feet they saw then
were strong and beautiful, their bones robust and full, their joints gracefully curving, enticing the young marshals of the imperial border armies
to steal a glance at the large feet of the young female general, a former lord of a fortress beyond the borders—such
a thing would naturally be considered a private pleasure of the boudoir. When they are filthy and muddy, coarse and vulgar, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws
, though millions and thousands of miles have passed by, that is the life of a village woman, or a slave or convict.
The woman of the Yang family is a daughter of the northwestern mountains, where war has raged for a century, and powerful clans have stood side by side. She has not been
unaware of slaughter, plunder, enslavement, and rape. She has indeed seen love; years ago, with her bold and straightforward
nature, she chose to marry the young master of the third generation of the Yang family, who guarded the frontier for the Song Dynasty. But she has also witnessed
much death. If, in such a century of war and bloodshed, fighting and killing
were merely the fate of the children of the frontier, then dying on the battlefield was almost a glorious reward. The era of war
is not merely a whirlwind advance; war inevitably breeds both the orthodox and the unorthodox, schemes that appear to be true but are actually false. For every
successful frame-up, there are countless innocent souls who die unjustly. The woman, trapped in the dungeon of the Song Dynasty prime minister's residence, enduring brutal torture and
forced confessions, was prepared to die, even if it meant a prolonged and agonizing ordeal.
But fate took a different turn, and she had no idea when it would end.
First, in the first year of the Qianxing era, the emperor died, and the eleven-year-old crown prince ascended the throne, with Empress Dowager Liu E ruling from behind the curtain. Liu E's first
priority was to eliminate the real trouble caused by Ding Wei, her former political ally. A powerful former official
was not someone she and her son needed; she still had many relatives to consider. That year,
the situation developed rapidly. In June, Ding Wei was dismissed from his post as prime minister and
exiled to Yazhou, the same far south as his longtime political enemy, Kou Zhun.
The two Yang family members, She and Mu, were taken from Ding Wei's home and imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice also reported that Yang Mu
had not fully confessed during the retrial. Of course, deposing Ding Wei did not mean the innocence of his political enemies. Kou Zhun had indeed
opposed Liu E's interference in politics, and Liu E would never forgive him. As for the aftermath of the Yang family's involvement, that was not a very important
matter. Showing mercy and sparing the lives of those women... was not out of the question.
"The people are counting on those widows to serve the country loyally and conquer Liaodong and Xia, aren't they? Let them go to the west to fight
." Yuan Yi heard such rumors in the Ministry of Justice, which were said to be the Empress Dowager's edict during her regency. The final verdict
was that the She and Mu clans had formed a faction with Kou Zhun for personal gain and misconduct, and therefore stripped the titles and honors of their ancestors for three generations and exiled them
two thousand miles away to serve as laborers on the frontier. The plot of the conspiracy to rebel is no longer mentioned,
but many people probably still covet the land bestowed upon the Yang family. Therefore, another charge is added: the arrogant and unemployed vagrants are corrupting the local area.
At the same time, an order is issued to register and screen the tenant farmers and laborers working on the Yang family estate, selecting able-bodied men and women to be escorted two thousand miles
away to serve in the army, forced to work alongside their masters building cities and roads, to be treated like cattle and horses.
The Yang family was once a crucial stronghold relied upon by the dynasty as a bulwark against the Liao Kingdom, managing the northern frontier for many years and monopolizing military, economic, and administrative power within its territory
. After several generations of male leaders died in battle, their power waned, and they migrated inland. However, the family soldiers
, generals, relatives, and children they brought with them were remnants of years of warfare, possessing both a warlike nature and skilled combat abilities. These
people often resided near the capital, and it's not entirely unreasonable to consider them a destabilizing factor. Given the opportunity,
they were eliminated together.
Because of their severe injuries and illnesses, and fearing they could not withstand the long journey,
the two female prisoners from the Yang family, surnamed She and Mu, who had been sentenced to exile, received medical treatment and medication in the Ministry of Justice prison until the following spring when they were transferred to the army.
It was not customary for soldiers to guard the prisoners throughout the journey, but at that time the empire was preparing for war against the Western Xia, and
the army had many official business trips between Henan and Shaanxi. Finding a convoy about to depart to take the prisoners along
was just a convenient arrangement.
The army that escorted them prepared an oxcart for the old woman, with a wooden cage with drafts on all sides. The old woman,
like everyone else, had to wear shackles, handcuffs, and leg irons; since she would be confined in the cage for the entire journey, physical strength was not a
major concern. Her granddaughter-in-law, on the other hand, was in her prime, plump where she should be and
lean where she should be, able to walk and work like an animal—she deserved to suffer more.
The mother-in-law and granddaughter-in-law were only allowed to put on
the linen garments made for prisoners after they entered the Ministry of Justice's jail. The linen garments fell straight down from the shoulders, covering
about two inches above the knees; it didn't matter whether it was a long robe or a short apron, it was just the cheapest form of cover. The woman
's long cangues around her neck and hands weren't changed; they were simply labeled with an official seal, to
be inspected and removed upon arrival at her place of service.
This would become a major problem. Exiles were required to wear cangues, but the protective headbands
didn't restrict the hands. The long board with three holes—wider at the top and narrower at the bottom—was always used for confining prisoners in jail;
the two smaller holes were for the wrists to be threaded through and chains fastened, preventing the hands from being pulled back. The problem now was that,
once on the journey, this tortured woman couldn't do anything by herself.
She couldn't change clothes, bathe, or relieve herself.
The woman stood upright on the desolate riverbank, facing the hillside and the inn's guesthouse, slowly spreading
her legs. She knew her legs were long, and she knew that the two
calves exposed beneath her hempen dress were strong, the knees hard and wrinkled, the muscles firm and supple. The three soldiers surrounding her
glanced at her casually, one of them picking up a short wooden stick and teasing her from below. He used the stick...
Her linen apron was pulled up higher than her hip bones. The woman wasn't wearing a bra or undergarments underneath. Her
cleavage was exposed like a landscape painting. The man poked at her flesh and hair with a stick a couple of times and said
, "Pee!"
This was the woman being exiled a thousand miles away. Before resting at the post station for the night, she was led to the roadside outside
and made to urinate. She wasn't allowed to squat; she had to be perfectly aligned with the door.
She couldn't see the urine gushing down. She could feel the drops splashing on her feet.
The soldier also stepped aside, and after he and his stick had moved two steps away, the woman felt
her prison clothes, which had just been lifted, slide back down her lower abdomen, covering her genitals, her bare legs, and the flowing
urine.
The hot, wet cloth clung to her thighs, and now the urine flowed down her bare legs to the ground
. The soldier said, "How filthy are you, woman? At your age, you still
wet your pants! Even puppies pee!" He swung the wooden stick he'd pulled from the front behind him, slapping it hard on the woman's buttocks.
"Don't hold it in! Finish it!"
"Finished?" This time, the soldiers grinned. "Come on, come on, there's a big river over there. We'll
wash you clean up where you peed.
" Standing up to urinate wasn't the worst thing on the journey. The woman, dressed in prison clothes and barefoot, walked along the streets of Bianjing
. The wooden cangue around her neck was chained to the ox-drawn prison cart in front of her. Inside the wooden cage of the cart,
her great-grandmother's disheveled white hair fluttered. "Want to relieve yourself during the day while we're traveling?" The escorting
soldiers looked at you and laughed. Anyway, the old ox pulling the cart at the front wouldn't stop, and no one would
pull its nose to make it stop. "Watch yourself, do whatever you want." After leaving Bianliang,
the woman relieved herself along the way. She hadn't bathed or changed her clothes for three days, and both she and her clothes
reeked. Three days later, the soldiers led her to a small ditch by the roadside, took a sharp knife
, and sliced her linen sweater in half along her chest and under her armpits. The collar
and cuffs of the upper half were cut off and thrown away, and the lower half, unbuttoned, was a wide strip of linen, which was also
tossed aside. At that time, Old Woman She was also led out of the prison cart and walked unsteadily to the riverbank.
"You old hag, wash your grandson's wife's clothes!"
After washing the clothes, the old hag also bathed herself. She wore a yoke around her neck, but not her
hands. The old woman, using her chained hands and feet, still managed to do all these things, albeit tremblingly.
The soldiers personally bathed their wives, who were hampered by the cangue. The young woman, now naked, stood in
knee-deep water. A man's arm pulled her back, and another large hand
reached up from her cleavage. The man in front, of course, didn't stop, slapping her
breasts repeatedly, making them sway. The man's hands were calloused and rough, and her own cleavage was covered in calluses and
scars from hot irons, yet the rubbing and scratching still produced
a sensation. It was both disgusting and pleasurable, like a swarm of toads
crawling along her naked skin. The more pleasurable it was, the more disgusting it became.
The washed clothes were hung on the wooden cangue to dry .
When the mother-in-law and granddaughter-in-law returned to the inn, they were completely naked. The officials hadn't provided an extra set of clothes, and the soldiers had no choice.
Ignore the pointing and whispering of the idlers in front of and behind the inn. Back in the room,
she squatted naked on the floor, surrounded by a dozen or so soldiers, all burly and boisterous men. They said,
"Hey, you there, wife, we've all eaten. What are we going to do now?"
"Old woman," the soldiers replied, "watch how we make your wife scream with joy, so happy she
's practically floating on air."
From then on, the woman always traveled naked, her shoulders and arms exposed. A wide strip of linen
was gathered around her chest and armpits, torn and crumpled into ribbons, roughly tied from her shoulders to her apron
. This made it very convenient to take it off and put it back on whenever she wanted. She had walked, touched, and even slept in those fifty long pavilions,
enduring sun and rain all the way. Her only apron had naturally become
nothing more than scattered tattered pieces of cloth. Even if she couldn't see it, the woman knew that the bumps and ridges of her
skin were exposed to the light and wind, faintly visible. No matter how much light and wind she was exposed to, her neck
was held by the oxcart, preventing her from stopping for even a moment. Countless villages, post stations, and countless pointing
fingers of passersby along the thousand-mile journey all flashed by. The soldiers joked, using their rifle barrels to tease her long legs: "Sure enough
, she's a woman who's been a general and ridden fine horses. Her two legs are so smooth and easy to show, so obedient, so compliant, tsk tsk,
just like two white poplar trunks growing on the loess plateau."
They weren't actually doing anything to wrong her. This is how we're supposed to pass the
time. It's all been specially instructed by the doctors and generals above us, so please bear with us, sister-in-law. We servants
are as lowly as you can imagine; we're just a bunch of dogs paid by the court. If an official says "bite,"
we have to pounce and bite!

URL 1:https://www.sex3p.com/htmlBlog/171130.html

URL 2:/Blog.aspx?id=171130&aspx=1

Last access time:

Previous Page : 【Hungarian Dance】(1) Divorce

Next Page : [A stunningly beautiful nurse at the Beijing Military Region Hospital]

增加

comment Open a new window to view comments

Contact Information

【Northern Song Dynasty

comment Open a new window to view comments