The local people are savage and uncivilized. So, those female prisoners went. It was a narrow escape. After the Song Dynasty, the number of places where female prisoners were exiled increased. Like Ningguta, Youzhou and even South Korea, they have all become exile places. Yes, you are right. Korea (Korean Peninsula) used to be the place where we exiled prisoners. According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Chen Youliang's son and wife to North Korea.
It is said that Chen Youliang's daughter-in-law died soon after she arrived. First, she was ill because of acclimatization, and the local area lacked medical care and medicine. When she is ill, she can only wait for death. Second, because she is overworked, she washes and cooks all day, and she is exhausted to death! Of course, there may be other reasons, so we don't know. In short, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the increasingly standardized exile system, the fate of female prisoners increased, and there were many possibilities besides washing and cooking.
The Daming Law of the Ming Dynasty clearly stipulates that unless a woman commits a heinous crime, all ordinary exiles should be taken into the custody of their husbands or relatives. Please note that this only restricts the personal freedom of these female prisoners and does not allow them to go to prison. Why? Because once a female prisoner is in prison, she will be bullied by various forces, and the outcome is often extremely tragic.
Therefore, female prisoners in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, after being exiled, can still stay with their relatives and do their duty as women. Of course, this is the first thing they can do. What else can we do? In A Dream of Red Mansions, we find that female prisoners may become domestic slaves such as jailers. Although their status is a little low, it is better to be a domestic slave than to die. Moreover, after being a domestic slave, if you behave well, you may even get ahead!
Ladies and gentlemen, what happened to ancient female prisoners after they were exiled? In addition to the two mentioned above: being locked up at home or becoming a domestic slave, the most common is the third, that is, being destroyed and eventually dying, or being sold to a brothel. Pu Songling hinted at this ending in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio. He wrote about a woman named Wu. She was a ghost, and then she went to the underworld and was put in prison. The jailer made things difficult for her and tortured her in every way. Still say here that you want to be a chaste woman!
According to historical records, during the Qianlong period, there was a magistrate named Zhu Le in Pingyang County, and three women were sentenced to exile within one year. An official named Zhu Jin discussed with Zhu Le and bought these three women at a very low price, dressed them up and sold them to brothels at a high price. Later, this Zhu Le simply colluded with Zhu Jin, deliberately misjudged some women, and then quietly sold them. Ladies and gentlemen, there are about three endings for female prisoners in ancient times.