After the mute saw Qin Tai, he simply told Qin Tai everything he knew through Zhanxiao's translation. The people who were spying on Qin Tai and Zhan Xiaoxiao outside also had no reaction to this mute. Mainly because this mute not only does not speak, but is also stupid, and those who know him know that the mute does things with his head down all day long, and never causes trouble. Through everyone's understanding of the mute, I believe that the mute knows not many secrets, and he is not a person who likes to do a lot of things, so the mute continues to stay in the prison of the criminal department. But no one expected that it was this mute who knew too many secrets.

Speaking of the prison of the Criminal Department, we have to mention the "Ming Law" and the prison management system of the Ming Dynasty. The "Law of the Ming Dynasty" was written by Li Shanchang, the first prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, on the order of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It is said to be the most complete law in the entire ancient Chinese history, and it was basically followed by the Qing government when it was in power. This law not only suited the social situation of the time, but also defined the norms of behavior. The most important feature of this law is that it is prudent in sentencing, and the punishment for some minor crimes that do not seem serious is very severe. Li Shanchang followed Liu Bei's famous words during the Three Kingdoms: "Don't take good as small, don't do evil as small." "Li Shanchang is a big man who has lived in the people for a long time, and he knows that some criminals have often made small mistakes since they were young and have not been punished accordingly, which has led them to see that they have grown up with courage and dare to do any bad things. In order to deter future generations, in order to make everyone dare not make even small mistakes easily, it is necessary to be cautious in sentencing major cases and severe sentences in small cases. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang hated corrupt officials, so he added a strict punishment for corrupt officials.

According to this law, the common people, who were still unruly at that time, were regulated, so that everyone began to keep to themselves and did not dare to easily violate the punishment. If a corrupt official embezzles more than 10 taels of silver, he will be disgraced and dismissed, and the embezzled silver will be doubled. Anyone who embezzles more than 50 taels of silver is sentenced to death. In order to deter corrupt officials, Zhu Yuanzhang specially ordered such corrupt officials to be skinned and shown to the public, and they would not be happy if they died. The punishment for the common people is also very heavy, for example, if the common people are innocent and fighting, they will have to "beat the board" or serve hard labor if they cause adverse effects; If a common person shows a weapon in public, such as a kitchen knife, he is deliberately causing trouble and attempting to injure someone, and he will be imprisoned for more than a month. If you really hurt someone, you will be imprisoned for more than ten years if you kill someone, and if you kill someone, you will be sentenced to death, and you will be executed together after the autumn; Stealing from people is punishable by beating 30 boards and even imprisonment for 10 to 30 days; Adultery without causing human life is punishable by imprisonment for five to ten years, or even longer. If it causes someone to die, the adulterer **** will pay for his life.

Each region has its own prison, the county has the county jail, the state capital has the state government's prison, the province has the prison under the procurator, and the state has the state prison, which is the prison of the criminal department. According to the regulations, not only are local officials promoted to the court for judgment, but ordinary punishments are carried out in local prisons. For penalties of less than one year, the higher authorities will not interfere in the review. For cases that are more than one year old and less than five years old, the higher-level department should inquire into them once and periodically send someone to conduct a centralized review. Cases that are more than five years old require the approval of the higher authorities, cases that are more than 10 years old require the consent of the higher authorities before the verdict can be pronounced, and ordinary homicide cases or death row prisoners require the consent of the provincial prosecutors, and even report to the criminal department for the record. In general, major and important cases need to be pronounced by the provincial prosecutor's yamen or the Beijing Criminal Department, and death row prisoners need to be examined by the criminal department, and death row prisoners are generally executed together. Every autumn day, after being approved by the Ministry of Criminal Justice, the whole country kills all the condemned prisoners on this day, and the "autumn execution" in the capital is the most spectacular.

The prison of the Criminal Department holds the vast majority of felons, as well as a large number of death row prisoners awaiting the "autumn execution". These felons are either murder and arson, or the circumstances are serious, and they are not likely to be released from prison for the rest of their lives, which means that they are all sentenced to life imprisonment. But there are also some fixed-term sentences, and they count the days every day and want to leave the prison as soon as possible. Death row prisoners also count their "good days", not only can they eat a good meal to feed their stomachs, but also can get rid of such painful days. In fact, the main thing is that you don't have to endure the torture before death. The managers of the prison of the Criminal Department and the condemned prisoners all know that death is not terrible, waiting for death is the most terrible thing. Knowing that he is going to die, he has to endure fear and fear every day, and he has nightmares, which is the greatest torture of every condemned prisoner. These people would rather die early than live this life of scaring themselves.

As long as there are unwilling prisoners, as long as there is a gap between the rich and the poor, there will be "small actions" in any prison. Although every prisoner went to prison for fear that they would kill themselves or harm others, some of their ornaments, such as necklaces, rings, etc., were confiscated. But the prisoner still has his family, and his family is outside. If the people in the prison want to live better and suffer less, they have to bribe the jailers and cell bosses. Some small cases, or not heavy imprisonment, cell bosses or jailers can make people's lives taste in it. Even if some serious offenders have enough money, they can make the prisoner feel better in prison, or even get a reduced sentence. Some even believe that cell bosses and jailers have the right to let prisoners leave prison early. In fact, not only are there not many such things, but they are also very risky, and they hardly really happen. But there are also some people who have spent a lot of money to do this kind of thing.

In a file of the Criminal Department, there is a file of such a case. There is a cottage near a county in the south of the river, where businessmen or ordinary people are often robbed passing by. No less than a dozen people died at the hands of these robbers, and maybe even more. The county government reported to their superiors, and the superiors reported to their superiors, but the provincial officials were gone. Unexpectedly, this gang of robbers robbed and killed a family, and they happened to be the father-in-law of a hundred families in the army. This hundred households were ruthless and asked his superiors to let him take people to quell this gang of robbers, and the superiors agreed to this request. Baihu took his soldiers and killed the cottage and captured this gang of robbers. When their leader was taken back to the county office, the people in the neighborhood applauded. But the county jail was unlucky, because they received threats. According to the procedure, the county government should take good care of this leader and wait for the people in the province to extract the prisoners. After the prisoners arrived in the province, they were convicted by the people of the Yamen and reported to the Criminal Department for approval. In terms of the crime of this robber leader, it is definitely a capital crime, and he will definitely be killed this autumn. However, the army did not catch it, and a robber escaped, and in order to save her husband, she found the head of the county jail and asked the head of the cell to find a way to release the prisoner. The cell boss didn't agree, but he couldn't resist the temptation of real money, and there was still some incriminating evidence in the hands of this woman, so he promised to help privately. Soon after, the chief fell ill, and fell ill suddenly, and died in less than a day. The county government issued a death certificate, and everyone was worried that the deceased would be infected, so they immediately dealt with the deceased simply. In fact, this is a good cooperation between the cell boss and the servant, and the purpose is to arrange for the leader to leave the custody smoothly. If it weren't for the fact that the couple had committed crimes in other places and were denounced, no one would have known that this was a trick of the cell bosses. For this reason, the cell leader not only lost his job, but was also escorted to the capital as a felon. He is currently serving his sentence in the prison of the Criminal Department on charges of knowingly committing a crime and helping a prisoner to escape the crime and breaking the law knowingly, and has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. If it weren't for the fact that this cell boss had some way of his own, he might not have given such a lenient sentence.

Ordinary prison guards did not dare to make any big moves, let alone take the initiative to extort money from the prisoners' families. Generally, it is to share the benefits, which means to take care of the prisoners inside. At most, I don't deliberately trouble this prisoner, and I just beat the prisoner lightly. If you want the prisoners to be well fed, not to work, and to sleep better, you usually need to pay more. Generally, there are clearly marked prices in prisons for everyone's reference. Generally speaking, it can be said that it is best to live comfortably, eat well, and do not have to do heavy work. If you want to eat well, live in a high bed and soft pillows, and don't have to work, you have to spend a lot of money every month. If you want to have this ability, it is better to spend a sum of money to directly "buy out" the prisoner, or let someone go to jail on your behalf. "Spending money on things" or asking someone to go to jail on your behalf sounds weird, but in fact, this kind of thing is very common in prison. When a rich son is imprisoned for committing a crime, and the son's family spends a sum of money to donate to the government or directly under the leadership, the yamen can justifiably reduce the prisoner's sentence with the clause of "loyalty and filial piety are easy to commit." If the sentence really can't be commuted, you can pay someone to go to jail instead of the real prisoner. Some elderly people who have no children to support them might as well live in prison. Because they are old, they don't have to do any work, at least they can solve the problem of food and shelter in prison. These people can buy coffins or take care of the aftermath as long as the price is right and they have some money to buy a coffin or take care of the aftermath in the future.

The prison is a little different from other prisons in that it does not allow the families of prisoners to visit the prison. The prison of the Criminal Department is full of felons and death row prisoners, and according to the rules, outsiders are not allowed to enter. Therefore, the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice is the only prison that does not allow family members to visit the prison, and this rule has not been broken. For this reason, some prisoners want to communicate with the outside world only through cell bosses, prison guards, and miscellaneous servants. The prison of the Criminal Department also has its own market, for example, bring a message for 10 yuan, bring a letter for 50 yuan, send a message to it for 100 yuan, bring a letter for 200 yuan, bring at least 500 yuan for things, and bring a small bag of 300 yuan for food. Don't send things that are only available inside, and don't bring tools or medicines to people inside. The things that were brought in were usually food, use, and some clothes or books. However, there are not many people who can afford it, and even fewer people are willing to pay a lot of money for people to bring in good things.