Gu Chengtong, who was the leading wealthy businessman in Wuxi at that time, started by pouring grain, after all, Wuxi is the land of fish and rice in China, with abundant products, and has always been the "granary" that China relies on the most. Emperor Kangxi, the Ming Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, was well aware www.biquge.info of this truth: the three feudal domains, the collection of Taiwan, and the conquest of Geerdan, the focus of everything is on the south of the Yangtze River, and the south of the Yangtze River cannot be chaotic, it is an important place for me to pay taxes and collect grain. Therefore, since the Qing Dynasty, the capital industry in the south of the Yangtze River has been extremely prosperous. Gu Chengtong's fortune depended to a large extent on the richness of the land south of the Yangtze River. Zhang Xun was restored, Gu Chengtong saw that Zhang Xun was the end of the strong crossbow and could not conform to the trend of democratic society, so he predicted that Zhang Xun would fall, so at this time, the grain was the best time to make a fortune. Therefore, he found the largest supplier of Minliang at that time and purchased it at a price of three silver dollars per quintal. (Editor's note: Many readers don't understand what the purchasing power of the silver dollar was at that time, so let's give you an analogy: a silver dollar can ensure that a family of five can go to the best restaurant in Beijing for a meal, and then take a foreign car back and forth, and still have some change left when they get home.) Ox fork, right? Of course, due to the limited economic conditions at that time, the cost of labor and raw materials was extremely low, and the actual purchasing power of this silver dollar in today's society was greatly reduced, but according to the common standard of comparison of rice prices, one silver dollar should be more scientific than 200 yuan now. A load of rice is about 200 catties, more than 600 yuan to buy, and the price of today's price is quite expensive, let alone that era? Gu Chengtong also grasped the reason that the country was in turmoil and the people's grain was bound to soar, so there would be high-price purchases.

Then the next deal is a bit tricky. After Gu Chengtong negotiated the price with the supplier of Namin's grain. Agree on the manner in which the transaction is conducted. The supplier finally said, "I've been getting a lot of eyeliner lately. It's not safe to put it anywhere? So be it. There is a place in the east of Wuxi City, called Fan Taoling, the place of execution, on weekdays, no one dares to go, you bury the grain in this place......" said, the supplier took out a map, pointed to a certain geographical location in Fan Taoling, and said: "After I get the grain payment." It will be shipped to you. ”

Gu Chengtong was shocked, I don't know why the supplier chose such a treacherous place as a place to hide money? After confirming it a few times, the supplier insisted that it was Fan Taoling.

It's not that the vendor doesn't know that Fan Taoling is a magical place. Putting the money there is the same as death! It's just that the supplier has another plan: to save people. The supplier had a brother who, like him, was in the business of pouring grain, but he was unlucky, and when he traded silver dollars, he was spotted by eyeliner and caught red-handed. According to Zhang Xun's set of laws, he was sentenced to beheading. Wu Xi's death sentence was, of course, carried out in Fan Taoling. The supplier tried to save his brother. Bought off the executioner. In those years, the execution of the death penalty was like a mustard of human life, and there were not too many strict procedures, and the author checked the information on the execution procedures in the Republic of China: in the Republic of China, the death penalty was divided into two types: beheading and shooting. Usually, for people who commit crimes, they are executed by beheading, how to say? Bullets are expensive, and it's not worth wasting bullets for death row prisoners! Therefore, until the liberation of China in 1949, there were still many places where there was the phenomenon of beheading! Executions are generally aimed at people who are soldiers, which is understandable, people who are soldiers die under bullets, more or less still have a bit of military dignity, and the internal affairs of soldiers do not need the intervention of outsiders such as executioners, in view of this reason: the beheading of the Republic of China is mostly used for the people, and the execution is mostly used for soldiers! The execution process of beheading is relatively simple, during the Republic of China, many people are illiterate, and they don't even have the least identification, if you have read Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q", you will know that the government of the Republic of China executes the people so casually, the name is not known, write the word "Ah Q", you can directly ask the beheading, Ah Q doesn't even know how he died, until the execution, he is still comparing how to draw a circle to draw a little rounder! Especially in the late period of the Republic of China, some local government officials often used the heads of ordinary people to pretend to be "communist bandits" in order to solicit merit. According to the official statistics of the Republic of China: According to a monthly statistical table in July 1945, a total of 627 "communist bandit" leaders were executed by local governments, and countless people related to "communist bandits" were executed, and 627 "communist bandit" leaders were executed in one month? I don't know how Chairman Chiang understood it at that time, but if he had been advancing at this pace every month, not to mention that there would have been 1949, and even the words "if you go outside, you must first settle down", you don't have to come from Chairman Chiang's mouth!

Identification is the most important part of the execution process. In the past, there would be a parade before the execution of the death penalty. In addition to setting an example, the most important part of the parade is to verify identity. How to understand? In the past, due to poor transportation, people's range of activities was limited, and basically everyone knew each other. The death sentence was sentenced, and when the parade, everyone would go to see it, "Oh, this is Zhang Moumou." ", "Ah, this is Li Moumou next door", "Yo, this is the son of the old Wang family." ”…… Everyone can look at the card on the back of the condemned prisoner (before the execution of the death row prisoner, there will be a white long card inserted behind him, with the charges and names of the condemned prisoner, such as: murderer Zhang Moumou. Yes, then there is no problem. If people are saying "Ah, isn't this the son of the old Zhang family, how can you call Li Moumou?" "Then there's a problem. The executive officer usually further verifies the identity of the condemned prisoner. This should be the only step in ancient times that could verify the true identity of the condemned prisoner.

Then again, the supplier's cousin was sentenced to death for illegally using silver dollars in business. This capital punishment is not the same as murder and arson, this crime is made up on an ad hoc basis, and strictly speaking, it is an emergency mechanism. The execution is relatively casual, and the interrogation process is relatively simple, and it may be that in the end, the judge is not impressed by the object of the interrogation, unlike the murder and arson, where it is necessary to collect evidence, hear evidence, defend the judicial defense, and finally pronounce the sentence, the interrogation process is very long, and the judge is impressed by the object of the interrogation. And this execution with silver dollars belongs to the execution of the right line, and the passing of the court is just a formality. Judges are sometimes reluctant to go to court, and it is enough to issue an execution order. In this way, the supplier has an opportunity to rescue his younger brother. He bribed the executioner to release his brother.

Although you can fool the past in terms of identity, someone has to die, right? A person sentenced to death can't even see a corpse, right? That's not a good idea. So there has to be a substitute for the dead, and some people may ask, who wants to be this substitute for the dead? This question is difficult for the executioner. There is a proverb in the south that says, "No matter how hungry you are, you will not eat the wine and rice that the executioner asks." "What do you mean? is to wait for the executioner to invite you to drink and eat, that is, to get you drunk and make you a substitute for the dead.

The vendor negotiated with the executioner to get his brother's life back for 300 silver dollars! Since it was a silver dollar transaction and it was risky, the executioner asked the supplier to bury the silver dollar in the place where the execution was carried out, so that after the execution was carried out at the execution site, the executioner could take the silver dollar and leave the country! The place of the execution ground - Fan Taoling. This is why the supplier asked Gu Chengtong to bury the silver dollar in Fan Taoling.

Take people's money and eliminate disasters with others. The next thing the executioner has to do is to find a substitute ghost as soon as possible, and when the war is in chaos, it is really simple to find a substitute ghost. The executioner looked for a refugee in the bazaar who was about the size of the supplier's brother, and then accosted him, saying that there was a manual work that could earn money, and asked the refugee if he would like to do it. The executioner said to the refugees very frankly: "Since you are willing to come and work as a coolie, then you are my brother!" Today I'm going to treat you to a big meal. (To be continued.) )