In 1911, Chaoshan "murderous prefect" Chen Zhaotang was escorted to the execution ground, stuffed feces in his mouth, and was shot 19 times
In the 34th year of Guangxu (1908 AD), a sensational news came from Chaozhou City, saying that 300 heinous bandits were executed under the hands of Chen Qingtian, the prefect of Chaozhou.
When the news spread throughout the city, the people did not feel as happy as expected. Instead, they returned to their homes and closed their doors, leaving the streets of the city deserted.
Three years later, another shocking news came from Chaozhou, this time that "Chen Qingtian" would be executed by the revolutionaries. After the people heard the news, they actively ran to tell each other, clapped their hands, and helped the old and the young to go to **.
What's going on?
Chen Zhaotang is the son of an official eunuch who was born in Guiyang, Hunan Province in the ninth year of Xianfeng of Wenzong of the Qing Dynasty. His father, Chen Shijie, was a close confidant of Zeng Guofan, and made great achievements in the suppression of the Taiping Uprising, so he was recommended by Zeng Guofan and was appointed as the governor of Shandong and became a feudal official. Chen Shijie was born with a golden key in his mouth and is a typical second-generation official.
The Chen family naturally hopes that their children and grandchildren will continue to be prominent, especially for Chen Zhaotang's father, who expects his son to make a difference in officialdom and even surpass his own glory. To this end, Chen Shijie did not hesitate to spend a huge amount of money and hired Wang Minyun, a great writer of the late Qing Dynasty at that time, as a teacher for the nephews of the Chen family to provide them with superb education.
Under the careful guidance of Wang Minyun, most of the first in the Chen family became talents, among which Chen Zhaokui and Chen Zhaowen were high school scholars and became the editors of the Hanlin Academy, enjoying the reputation of "one brother and two Hanlin", which is enviable.
Chen Zhaotang became an exception, he did not show a competitive side, which disappointed his father. Chen Shijie spared no expense to hire famous teachers for his son, and also let him study in a series of famous academies, including Sizhou Tiancangyan, Changsha Yuelu Academy, Chengnan Academy, etc. However, since he was 16 years old, he began to participate in the scientific expedition, and he fell to Sun Mountain for 14 consecutive years.
In the fifteenth year of Guangxu (1889), Chen Zhaotang entered the year of establishment and completely lost confidence in the road of scientific research. For the children of ordinary people, they may have no choice but to accept their fate and go home to earn a living. As a second-generation official, Chen Zhaotang benefited from his father's resources and financial resources, and he was finally appointed as the county magistrate of Xingwen County, Sichuan, and had a place in the officialdom.
After the mourning period expired, he went to Yunyang County, Sichuan Province in the 21st year of Guangxu (1895) to take office, and for the sake of his family honor and his own ambitions, he began his most controversial official career in the late Qing Dynasty.
When he first took office, Chen Zhaotang showed great dedication, and he did not hesitate to invest his efforts and financial resources to ensure the peace and prosperity of the party.
In order to give more children from poor families the opportunity to receive education, he actively donated funds to establish the college, showing his enthusiasm for education. In the judicial aspect, he maintained a clean and honest style, committed to ensuring judicial fairness, and did not wrongfully accuse good people or tolerate bad people, which won the hearts and minds of the parties.
When Chen Zhaotang was transferred to Dayi County, the law and order situation was quite bad, and bandits were rampant. During the day, the common people were frightened and did not dare to go on the road alone, for fear of being robbed; The little woman did not dare to be at home alone, for fear of being violated. Faced with this situation, Chen Zhaotang did not hesitate and quickly launched a governance action.
Dayi County did not have enough armed forces to fight the bandits, but Chen Zhaotang skillfully mobilized the local people to form an autonomous armed force to ensure peace in the territory.
In just one year, Chen Zhaotang completely exterminated the bandits in Dayi, causing the bandits to flee one after another, so that the public order situation in Dayi was significantly improved. Although it cannot be said that "the road is not left behind, the night is not closed", but at least people are no longer afraid to travel.
Due to his success in Dayi, Chen Zhaotang's reputation spread far and wide, and he was known as the bandit nemesis and the king of bandits. Liu Xinyuan, the prefect of Chengdu, was overjoyed when he heard the news, because at that time, banditry was rampant in Chongqing Prefecture (now Chongzhou City, Sichuan), robbery cases were frequent, and social security deteriorated, which gave him a headache. So, in the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu (1899), Liu Xinyuan quickly transferred Chen Zhaotang to Chongqing, hoping that he could bring changes to this land.
Chen Zhaotang happily took office, and he vowed to make a drastic move, **Chongqing Prefecture's banditry. Here, he not only copied the successful experience of Dayi, but also innovatively established a system of armor protection to strengthen the self-management of society through mutual supervision and timely reporting.
For those who committed minor crimes, as long as they could change their ways, Chen Zhaotang gave heavy rewards and allocated land. And for the recalcitrant bandits who refused to repent, he took drastic measures and directly cut off their noses and ears as a demonstration of deterrence.
In addition, Chen Zhaotang also set up a "rapid reaction force", once a citizen reported theft or robbery, these capable personnel would quickly rush to the scene on horseback, conduct a rapid investigation, and quickly arrest the criminals.
After more than a year of rectification and crackdown, the public order situation in Chongqing Prefecture has been markedly improved, thieves have turned back one after another, and the social atmosphere has taken a marked turn for the better, and the people have cheered for this.
Some people also questioned Chen Zhaotang's actions, arguing that the improvement of law and order was achieved on the basis of his indiscriminate killing and indiscriminate use of torture.
Chen Zhaotang's administrative methods caused quite a stir in officialdom, especially Li Chengli, the magistrate of Chengdu's Xindu District, who was quite dissatisfied with his governance style. Li Chengli even rejected a marriage proposal, and some people wanted to take this opportunity to let Chen Zhaotang and Li Chengli become in-laws, and marry Li Chengli's daughter to Chen Zhaotang's son. Li Chengli politely rejected the offer, claiming that he "can't afford to climb high".
Li Chengli was quite disdainful of Chen Zhaotang's law enforcement methods, rumored to say that he "killed 300 thieves a year", accused him of being too rude, took a way of killing bandits, and violated the laws of the Qing Dynasty. This cruel method has caused discontent and criticism in society.
Although Chen Zhaotang received the emperor's approval for his achievements, he planned to be promoted in the upcoming 26th year of Guangxu (1900) and transferred to Jianzhou (Jianyang) as the governor. On the eve of his promotion, he suddenly encountered an accident that was not in his favor.
His cousin, Xia Shouyan, was promoted from Sichuan Province to Sichuan Province to be appointed as a political envoy to the Sichuan Provincial Mission, and according to the Qing system, the two brothers could not hold official positions in the same province at the same time. Therefore, Chen Zhaotang had to change to an idle position in Jiangxi, which caused him to fall into a low point in the officialdom.
Chen Zhaotang was very depressed about this transfer, and it seemed that the hero had lost his usefulness. Two years later, he unexpectedly met a noble man - Cen Chunxuan.
During the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, Cixi and Guangxu were forced to flee, and Cen Chunxuan, as the political envoy of Gansu at the time, became the darling of the time because of his meritorious service in saving the car, and became famous and famous.
In 1902, an uprising broke out in Sichuan, and the situation was precarious, and Cixi hurriedly dispatched Cen Chunxuan to quell the rebellion. Cen Chunxuan is not a professional expert in suppressing bandits, and he feels at a loss. Fortunately, someone recommended him an expert on "banditry" - Chen Zhaotang. Hearing that this person was known for his professional skills in suppressing bandits, Cen Chunxuan readily agreed and appointed Chen Zhaotang as the governor of Qiongzhou.
With the joint efforts of Cen Chunxuan and Chen Zhaotang, the uprising of the Brotherhood was quickly put down. Chen Zhaotang thus became Cen Chunxuan's right-hand man, his personal guard.
The following year, Cen Chunxuan was transferred to the governorship of Liangguang, followed by Chen Zhaotang, who was responsible for commanding the Wu Kuang army there. Although some people in the outside world have raised all kinds of criticisms against Chen Zhaotang, he has always insisted that he is a good **. His three principles are: not lustful, not greedy for money, and not favoritism. After arriving in Guangzhou, Cen Chunxuan gave him 2,000 taels ** as a fee according to the regulations, but Chen Zhaotang "returned the amount".
At the same time, Guangxi suffered a major drought that had not been seen in a century, and the people suffered a lot. Bandits and thieves came into being, and criminal activities increased overnight, from large-scale massacres to small-scale looting of wealth and goods.
Chen Zhaotang was extremely happy with the order to be transferred to Guangxi, because it gave him the opportunity to show his talents, and what he did best was to eradicate bandits. Quickly recruited thousands of Guiyang boys, formed the "Liangguangtang Character Army", and began to carry out a crackdown on bandits in Guangxi Province, so that the bandits had nowhere to hide, and cried for a while.
In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), with the obvious improvement of the public security situation in Guangxi, Chen Zhaotang immediately transferred to Guangdong and started a new combat journey. At this time, Chen Zhaotang had already transformed from a small magistrate to a commanding general, and successfully completed the gorgeous transformation from a civilian official to a military attaché. This shift has brought him unexpected disasters.
After arriving in Guangzhou, Chen Zhaotang's self-confidence exploded, and for him, he was the great savior of the people of Limin. He believed that the court and his superiors affirmed him as a recognition of his heroic suppression of bandits. He was appointed prefect of Huizhou and began the so-called "Cleansing Township" operation, but this sentiment gradually swelled, so that he began to sweep away the "bandits" with an iron fist, without mercy. This led to the Huizhou region falling into the horror of bloody rain, and in less than a year, the common people gave him a nickname - "Chen Tubo".
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, many of the so-called "bandits" in Guangdong were actually revolutionaries, and their appeal was not to rob homes and houses, but to "oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty". This is fundamentally different from the bearded dreadlocks of the Northeast.
Chen Zhaotang showed no mercy to the forces that opposed the Qing Dynasty, pursued the policy of eradicating all forces that could shake the rule of the Qing Dynasty, and adopted harsh and ruthless methods, which can be called as cold as a harsh winter.
In his governance, the ruthlessness of the means can be described as unscrupulous. He firmly believed that only the means of maintaining social stability and legitimate authority were legitimate, so he adopted the method of not going through cumbersome procedures and not waiting for the beheading, and once the so-called "bandits" were caught, they were punished locally.
Regarding the identification of "bandits", Chen Zhaotang asked the patriarchs of various ethnic groups to make a preliminary determination first, and then he made a final decision. As a result, the real bandits are often already in hiding in the mountains and forests, and those who are executed are often innocent people.
On August 20, 1907, the "Guangzhou General Chamber of Commerce Daily" published a notice entitled "Huifu Chen Shouban Qingxiang Instruction Record", asking all the gentry and clans to cooperate, "to ensure that all the bandits in the clan are quickly tied up and punished according to their names, with a view to pulling out the **", which means that the Huizhou gentry and merchants will determine the bandits in the clan, and then carry out capital execution.
In fact, the real bandits are often on the run, and those who are brutally executed are often innocent little people. This practice caused discontent among the Cantonese people, who were outraged by Chen's actions. ** also disagreed with his approach, "Current Affairs Pictorial" once reported the case of Chen Zhaotang's indiscriminate killing of innocents with the title of "Huizhou Mansion Grass Cares for Human Life".
In one case, Robin Er, a small businessman in Yong'an, Huizhou (now Zijin County, Heyuan), was kidnapped by bandit Wu Huoguang in 1906. After receiving Luo's father's report, the Qingxiang Camp Office hurriedly attacked and captured the hostage Robin Er and the bandits together. The most ridiculous thing happened at this time.
Under the rule of Huizhou, Chen Zhaotang dealt with kidnappers and led to a large number of unjust killings. The kidnappers used bribes to bribe officers and soldiers, falsely claiming to be victims, and successfully unjustly put another person, Robin, in front of Chen Zhaotang. Chen Zhaotang ignored Robin Er's bitter arguments and finally ordered him to be executed. It was only later that he learned that he had wrongfully killed an innocent person, and that the real kidnappers had escaped. For this reason, he had to take the ** Hu Youde into custody.
This manslaughter incident has aroused widespread concern in society, especially in the commentary of the "Current Affairs Pictorial", accusing Chen Zhaotang of "indiscriminately killing innocents", which has brought his reputation to the ground. During his three-year reign in Huizhou, Chen's actions resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 people, many of whom were unjustly or innocent. On November 27, 1909, Chen Jiongming, a member of the Guangdong Consultative Bureau, also made a statement on this, saying that Chen Zhaotang had indeed done a lot of wrongwork among the more than 3,000 people killed in Huizhou.
Chen Zhaotang's unscrupulous behavior was closely related to the support of the imperial court. At that time, the imperial court used local stability as the criterion for assessing **, and tacitly and even encouraged ** to adopt similar heavy-handed measures to maintain local law and order.
In this context, local ** people have emulated Chen Zhaotang's behavior, which has spread his notoriety. When Chen Zhaotang's mentor Wang Minyun learned of his behavior, he worked tirelessly to persuade the student to change his violent style.
In the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), Chen Zhaotang ushered in his 50-year-old birthday. His mentor Wang Minyun wrote a couplet on Chen Shugan's 50th birthday, in which he implicitly persuaded him not to indulge in violence again. This reminder is expressed through the praise of Han Yu, who served as the assassin of Chaozhou in the Tang Dynasty, quoting Han Yu's "Crocodile Sacrifice Text", expressing the hope that Chen Zhaotang will not only benefit the people, but not only focus on suppression and killing.
Practicing benevolent government and eliminating the grievances of the people is the fundamental way for local officials to govern. It is only through just governance that justice can be achieved in society and local tranquility can be maintained. Otherwise, it will only treat the symptoms and not the root cause, and although there may be some superficial effects for the time being, sooner or later the problem will resurface.
Under Chen Zhaotang's rule, because of his overly brutal behavior, the injustice of killing innocent people emerged one after another. The society was in turmoil, and the people were in a miserable situation. Locals feel hopeless and faced with a dilemma: "To be a bandit is to die, and to be inappropriate is to die." "Killing people can only intensify the contradictions and stop the boiling.
In August of the 34th year of Guangxu (1908), Chen Zhaotang set a shocking murder record, reporting 300 people in one day, which made the people in the county panic. This did not cause cheers from the people, but made people afraid to go out, and fear filled the whole place.
Although Chen Zhaotang killed many people who should not have been killed, he was still able to get away with it because of his status as an official of the imperial court. However, in the end, he could not escape the punishment of the law. In the third year of Xuantong (1911), the Wuchang Uprising broke out, Chaozhou was soon recovered, and Chen Zhaotang was also captured by the revolutionaries.
In Chaozhou, Chen Zhaotang was tied to a long bamboo ladder with a long slogan with eleven characters on it: "Execute the thief Chen Zhaotang to thank the world." During the actions of the revolutionary army, he was condemned as a "thief of the people".
When the people learned the news that Chen Zhaotang would be executed, they couldn't help but clap their hands and cheer, and they helped the old and the young to go to **, and some even lit firecrackers to express their joy. In the midst of this cheer, Chen Zhaotang was tied up by five flowers and escorted to the photo wall in front of the department.
When he was about to be executed, Chen Zhaotang's mouth was stuffed with dry feces, revealing extreme humiliation. He was dressed in a five-flowered tie and had no power to struggle, but he was still determined to face the impending death.
According to the "Qing History Manuscript", Chen Zhaotang was shot 13 times by the firing squad before finally falling, and it is also said that he was shot 19 times. This does not mean that Chen Zhaotang's life is hard, but more reflects the deep hatred of the soldiers who executed him, and they fired all the guns in unison, shooting ruthlessly with all their might.
This execution was like a storm of resentment, and Chen Zhaotang's arrogant behavior led to fatal consequences. He seemed to have some understanding before the execution, and left a thought-provoking last words: "I didn't die in the king, I didn't die in the country, I died in cause and effect." ”
This sentence seems to indicate a deep awareness of his own actions, and the realization that his death was due to his own transgressions. The realization was painful, but it was too dull, because it was impossible to save his life at this moment.
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