法苑珠林 78.48

78.48

梁武帝欲為文皇帝陵上起寺。未有佳材。宣意有司使加求訪。先有曲阿人姓弘忘名。家甚富厚。乃共親族多齎財貨。往湘州治生。遂經數年營得一栰。可長千步。材木壯麗世所希有。還至南津。南津校尉孟少卿。希朝廷旨乃加繩墨。弘氏所賣衣裳繒綵。猶有殘餘。誣以涉道劫掠所得。并刻造作過制。非商估所宜。結正處死。沒入其官栰。以充寺用。奏遂施行。臨刑之日。勅其妻子。可以黃紙百張并具筆墨置棺中也。死而有知必當陳訴。又書少卿姓名數十吞之。可經一月。少卿端坐便見弘來。初猶避捍。後稍欵服。但言乞恩嘔血而死。凡諸獄官及主書舍人。預此獄事及署奏者。以次殂沒。未出一年零落皆盡。皇基寺營搆始訖天火燒之。略無纖芥。所埋柱木入地成灰。

Emperor Wu of the Liang wished to build a temple above the mausoleum of Emperor Wen, but lacked fine timber. He made his intention known to the officials, ordering them to search for it. Previously, there was a man of Qu'a surnamed Hong whose personal name is forgotten; his family was very wealthy. Together with his relatives, he took a great deal of wealth and goods and went to Xiangzhou to engage in trade. Over the course of several years, he managed to procure a raft about a thousand paces long, of magnificent timber rarely seen in the world. When he returned to Nanjin, Meng Shaoqing, the Commandant of Nanjin, seeking to flatter the court's wishes, applied the law with extreme severity. Because Mr. Hong still had some leftover clothing, silks, and coloured fabrics that he had been selling, Shaoqing falsely accused him of having obtained them through highway robbery, and also charged him with constructing [a raft] that exceeded proper regulations, which was inappropriate for a merchant. He reached a final conviction sentencing him to death and confiscating the raft for the state to use for the temple. His memorial was subsequently approved and carried out. On the day of his execution, Hong instructed his wife and children: 'You may place one hundred sheets of yellow paper together with brush and ink in my coffin. If there is consciousness after death, I will surely lodge a complaint.' He also wrote Shaoqing's name several dozen times and swallowed the paper. After about a month, while Shaoqing was sitting upright, he saw Hong coming. At first he still tried to ward him off, but later gradually submitted in confession, merely crying out, 'Mercy!' and vomiting blood until he died. All the prison officials and court recorders who had participated in this judicial case or signed the memorial passed away one after another; before a year had elapsed, they had all perished. When the construction of Huangji Temple was just completed, heavenly fire burned it, leaving practically not a speck behind; the pillar timbers buried in the ground turned to ash.