How scary is Ninh Co Thap, the exiled prisoners are all terrified?

Exile to Ninh Co Thap became a terrifying obsession for Qing Dynasty prisoners. Many prisoners even agreed to die rather than be exiled to this place. Why is that?

A wasteland, from heavy rain to snowstorms all year round

Exile was an ancient form of punishment, and it was the second most severe punishment. Depending on the crime convicted, prisoners will be sentenced to different levels. The distance of exile was less than 3,000 miles.

During the Qing Dynasty, prisoners who committed crimes would be exiled to Ninh Co Ta. This is a key frontier area in the Northeast border during the Qing Dynasty, now in Heilongjiang province (China). Therefore, the court attaches great importance to the development and construction of Ninh Co Thap. This land needed many people to live and develop, and naturally, this Ninh Co Thap temple became one of the options for the Qing Dynasty to exile prisoners.

The natural climate here is harsh and sparsely populated. The surrounding area consists almost exclusively of primary forests, wasteland and swamps. No people, but all kinds of wild animals. In winter, Ninh Co Thap will be covered with snow, the wind will be fierce, and the minimum temperature can reach minus 50 degrees.

Scholar Ngo Trieu Khien also wrote: "Ninh Co Thap is the poorest in the world, from spring to mid-April, there are strong winds, thunder and lightning; from May to July it rains continuously; from mid-August There was snowfall; by September, the rivers were all frozen. As soon as the snow touched the ground, it immediately turned into ice, thousands of miles away, only seeing white snow."

Exiled prisoners must travel 50km per day within the specified time

On the way to the place of exile, the prisoners wore chains weighing dozens of pounds and were escorted by soldiers. With chains on their bodies making it difficult to walk, the Qing Dynasty required exiled prisoners to arrive at the place of exile within the specified time or else they would be punished.

To avoid overtime, soldiers often urge prisoners to walk at least 50 km every day, and do not allow prisoners to rest even in bad weather. Furthermore, women in the Qing Dynasty had their feet tied, and using their small feet to walk 50 kilometers a day was cruel.

During the long journey away from home, the prisoners were not allowed to eat three meals a day. The Qing Dynasty stipulated that the daily food distribution for exiled prisoners was 8 taels, less than a kilo. If a prisoner under 15 years old is only allowed to eat 4 ounces. But even though the amount of food was small, if they encountered a team of bad soldiers, 8 ounces of food would be invaded, and they would not be fed and starved for 50 km.

The attitude of the soldiers determined the quality of life of the exiled prisoners along the way. And an important influencing factor is whether exiled prisoners pay bribes or not. However, having been sentenced to exile, how can the prisoner still have money to bribe? If a bribe is not obtained, the soldiers will be dissatisfied, and will of course cause difficulties for death row prisoners on the way to be escorted.

The journey was long, passing through primeval forests on the way. Most of the criminals exiled here were eaten by wild animals, otherwise they would have starved to death on the way. Therefore, the death rate of prisoners during the escort process was very high. According to records, only 1/3 of the exiles were able to reach Ninh Co Thap.

Even if Ninh Co Thap can be safely reached, the suffering is not over for the exiles. In winter, Ninh Co Thap will be minus 50 degrees, prisoners will have to face not having a coat and only having thin clothes to fight the scary cold every day. In short, in the middle and early Qing Dynasty, this place was not a place for people to live at all.

Prisoner life

The exiled prisoners were not completely imprisoned, but had to perform a variety of hard labor, such as clearing wasteland and farming, logging and quarrying, and building bridges. road. Prisoners work day and night, have little time to rest, and eat little, so most of them are skinny. When officials are in a bad mood or have a tyrannical nature, they will be beaten to a pulp. The purpose of these things is to take advantage of the hard labor of criminals to build and improve the shabby land of the royal family.

Endless loneliness is also a terrifying punishment for prisoners. They only had to work day after day, with no hope or expectation on the day, the chance of the emperor pardoning the prisoners in Ninh Co Thap was almost zero.

You may ask why you didn't choose to run away. In fact, this area is mostly uninhabited and wild animals often threaten to attack. Maybe you became food for the animals as soon as you went out.

And if the prisoner tries to escape, the family will have to bear the consequences. After all, at that time, the emperor had a lot of power. The female prisoners exiled to Ninh Co Thap were imprisoned for the rest of their lives. Many of them did not die from illness but also died from depression and loneliness for decades.

Prisoners exiled to Ninh Co Thap generally have to serve 10 years in prison, and then be released depending on circumstances. However, many people have difficulty persevering for 10 years and die in the middle.

Because the life of prisoners in Ninh Co Thap Pagoda was worse than death, in the Qing Dynasty, people often said that "it is better to go to Huangquan Road than to go to Ninh Co Thap Pagoda".

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