Ning Guta, a place that frightens the exiled prisoners, how terrifying is it?

I send this to my beloved wife Wan Wan. I wish her sorrow would go away, but she is the only one left with her good deeds in this body. She is often haunted by my dreams and her worries are unforgettable. Even if Wanwan is like a minister, I can't think about it for a while, but I can't rule out Wushan Feiyun.

The above poem, I believe friends who have read "The Legend of Zhen Huan" know that it was a poem written by Emperor Yongzheng when Zhen Huan's father, Zhen Yuandao, was exiled to Ninggu Pagoda. Of course, we are not here today When I talk about this poem, I don’t want to talk about Yongzheng and Zhen Huan, but I want to talk about the "exile of Ning Guta" that is often mentioned in Qing palace dramas! What kind of place is this Ninggu Pagoda? Why does the emperor always like to send people to Ninggu Pagoda!

First of all, I want to tell you that the so-called Ninggu Pagoda is not a tower, although I always thought it was a tower. Ninggu Pagoda is actually a place name and an area. Its location is the land of Longxing in the Qing Dynasty!

1; Where is Ninggu Pagoda and how far is it?

Why the prisoners in the story were so frightened that their legs trembled when they heard that they were exiled to Ningguta? This must start from the environment at that time. Let’s not talk about what is in Ninggu Pagoda and why it makes prisoners feel scary. Let’s first talk about the location of Ninggu Pagoda!

Ninggu Pagoda is actually divided into old and new cities. The old city is on the left bank of the Songhua River, today's Jiucheng Village, Changting Town, Hailin, Heilongjiang; the new city is today's Ning'an City, Heilongjiang! The old and new cities are not far apart, only 25 kilometers away, but they are far away from Beijing!

How far is it from Beijing? According to today’s distance and transportation, it’s actually not bad. According to the map, if the whole city is elevated, the shortest distance is 1430.8 kilometers, and it takes 16 hours and 23 hours to drive. minute.

I tried to choose walking again, but the navigation ignored me at all and the result was that the distance could not be calculated. I checked the information on the Internet again, some said it was more than 3,000 miles, and some said it was more than 4,000 miles. Let’s just say it’s three or four thousand miles.

In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor and ministers went out in sedan chairs and carriages. People with better conditions can ride horses, but ordinary people can only rely on their legs to measure the earth. So if you think about it, walking from Beijing to Ninggu Pagoda is such a long distance. If you walk 30 kilometers a day, it will take more than 100 days to get to Ninggu Pagoda. In addition, you will encounter wind, rain, ice and snow on the way, and you still have to stay. A few days, if you calculate it this way, it will probably take half a year.

Maybe it was originally set out in spring, but it didn’t arrive until autumn. Moreover, the roads we pass are not all official roads, but also some country roads and rugged journeys in the woods and mountains. It would be fine if they could reach Ninggu Pagoda alive without any illness or disaster. In fact, many people could not complete the journey at all, and their lives were often handed down halfway not long after setting off.

2: How to survive in Ninggu Pagoda?

Some friends may ask, what did these prisoners do after they were exiled to Ninggu Pagoda?

Because Ningguta is a relatively remote and backward place, there are many places waiting to be reclaimed and developed. Therefore, many people were assigned to farm, burn charcoal, fight sieges, etc. Actually this is pretty good. The worst thing is that many people work as slaves for the armored men!

What should I say here? Armored Man?? The armored men were the enemies who originally fought against the Qing Dynasty. After being captured, they had to wear armor and go into battle to kill the enemies for the Qing Dynasty. They were called "armored men". Their status is very low, even lower than the lowest-level soldiers in the Qing army. Even the pawns in the Qing army who cook food and raise horses can be treated as senior officials in front of armored men, so why should they be prisoners?

When more prisoners were exiled to Ningguta, some of them were given to the armored men as slaves. Good guy, being a slave to a person of high status, does this mean that the imperial court values ??people in armor? Obviously not, but simply letting those who make mistakes live a life worse than death. Slaves are actually no different from cattle, sheep and horses, and are even worse than livestock. In the icy and snowy Northeast, livestock can be kept in sheds, eating grass and taking a nap. The slaves were not good enough and had to work. The armored men did not have extra food to feed the idlers, so many slaves were tortured to death.

3: Is there no way to survive in Ning Guta?

Having mentioned the above situation, everyone should know something about Ninggu Pagoda. Then some friends may want to ask, is there only a dead end and no other way out when reaching Ninggu Pagoda?

Of course it’s not all the case. There are also people who live a pretty good life after arriving at Ninggu Pagoda. As mentioned before, Ninggu Pagoda is located in a wilderness and isolated from the outside world, so the locals give preferential treatment to people with culture and craftsmanship. Especially the literati who were exiled.

Among the exiled literati, there are many celebrities. For example, the famous poet Wu Zhaoqian. Wu Zhaoqian was a native of Songling Town, Wujiang, today's Wujiang District, Suzhou City. He was already very famous when he was a boy!

In the 14th year of Shunzhi, he was implicated in a fraud case in the examination room and was exiled to Ningguta. He stayed there for 23 years. What could such a gentle scholar do after going to Ninggu Pagoda? If you don't lift it with your hands, you can't carry it on your shoulders. So when he first arrived at Ninggu Pagoda, Wu Zhaoqian was also very confused. When he thought that he might have to be here for the rest of his life, he felt extremely depressed and low-spirited.

But the locals respect him very much. It seems that the Chinese nation has always looked down upon scholars.

The local government officials were also relatively polite to Wu Zhaoqian and did not arrange any punishment for him. Instead, they allowed him to move freely. Later, Wu Zhaoqian used his expertise to teach others to read, and was hired by General Ning Guta as a tutor to teach his two children.

In addition to Wu Zhaoqian, there were also literati Zhang Jinyan, Buddhist scholar Han Ke and others. From then on, these exiled literati often gathered together to recite poems and paint. Facing the beautiful scenery outside the Great Wall, Wu Zhaoqian later wrote a collection of poems "Qieqie" "Collection" and "Returning Thatched Cottage Ruler Slips". It can be said to be a pretty good life!

The above is about literati, let’s talk about craftsmen. Yang Yue, who came from Shaoxing, had only a few clothes and a few taels of silver left on him when he first arrived at Ning Guta. Even eating was a problem, but Yang Yue was a very smart man, so he and his wife got the raw materials, made a kind of pastry from his hometown of Shaoxing, and sold them. There is nothing delicious in this borderland, so the pastries made by Yang Yue are very popular, and there are many people in front of the door every day. He then used the money he earned to buy food, and later became a quite wealthy man.

4: The thoughts of the Qing emperor!

During the Qing Dynasty, the land area was larger and the population was smaller than now. Why were prisoners exiled to Ninggu Pagoda starting from Shunzhi? In fact, this was all carefully designed by the emperors.

Because Ninggu Pagoda was the hometown of the Qing Dynasty and the place where the Manchus made their fortune. Although it took over the Central Plains, the Qing government never gave up on its hometown. As more and more people came to Ninggu Pagoda, some of the original systems were gradually changed, and those who worked as slaves and coolies were gradually eliminated. More people participated in the local economic construction, Ningguta became prosperous, and some local specialties such as ginseng, mink skin, and deer antlers began to be traded in the market.

So the later Ninggu Pagoda was completely different from the early one. The exiled prisoners brought the cultural knowledge, handicrafts, farming, etc. of the Central Plains to Ninggu Pagoda, making the originally barbaric and backward border land , has also become prosperous, and the most direct feeling is that the people's lives are getting better!

5: Today’s Ninggu Pagoda!

Today's Ninggu Pagoda has become a scenic spot. The place that made people tremble 300 years ago now has pleasant scenery and numerous historical sites. Also because of the arrival of a large number of tourists, it has promoted local economic development!

In the long river of history, many things just pass by in vain. Just like Chen Jiayou, who was first exiled to Ning Guta back then, who still remembers him now. Ninggu Pagoda is no longer what it used to be.