The execution time of the death penalty is generally set in autumn from ancient times to Qing Dynasty.
There is a saying in Zuo Zhuan that "there are rewards in winter and summer, and there are penalties in autumn and winter"
The reason is that the vegetation withers in autumn, showing a cold air. At this time, the execution is in line with the cold force of heaven.
Historically, except for the Qin Dynasty, the death penalty could be executed throughout the year, and all other generations executed prisoners after the autumn, which was often called the "autumn decision" in ancient times. The specific month of implementation is slightly different from generation to generation.
During the Western Han Dynasty, it was stipulated that the death penalty could not be executed again from 10 to the early spring of the twelfth lunar month.
In the Ming Dynasty, the death penalty was stipulated to be executed after the autumnal equinox and before beginning of spring. If someone is executed after beginning of spring and before the autumnal equinox, there will be 80 people.
The Tang Dynasty also stipulated that those who were not executed between the autumnal equinox and beginning of spring would be sentenced to one year's imprisonment.
There are also certain restrictions on the specific implementation date.
For example, the Tang Dynasty stipulated that the death penalty should not be executed on the big memorial day, the second anniversary of the Qi Dynasty, the new moon, the full moon, the first quarter moon, the third and twenty-fourth solar terms, holidays and rainy days.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were days when punishment was forbidden, that is, the first day, the eighth day, the fourteenth day, the fifteenth day, the eighteenth day, the twenty-third day, the twenty-fourth, the twenty-eighth, the twenty-ninth day and the thirtieth day of each month, plus twenty-four solar terms, rainy days, sunny days, big festivals and leap months. Besides, there are only a handful of days in a year when the death penalty can be executed.
On the day when it can be executed, the specific execution time is also stipulated.
If the execution must wait until noon during the day, if the execution must wait until dawn at night, this is the practice of past dynasties.
Like other executions, the place of beheading is usually in the city.
Most of them are from the Spring and Autumn Period. Anyone who cuts off the head of a prince or a scholar-bureaucrat is just outside the palace gate.
For example, the Five Dynasties Gate in Bianjing (now Kaifeng) in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Wumen in Beijing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties; Anyone who beheads ordinary death row inmates will do so in the market.
For a city, the execution place is sometimes fixed and sometimes not fixed. In the Qing Dynasty, people were killed in Beijing, usually in food markets. According to legend, in the Qing Dynasty, people in Suzhou were often executed in busy streets at dawn. When the citizens knew that they were going to kill people in this street, they all paid the executioner in advance. If anyone fails to pay or underpays the education fee, the executioner is going to execute in front of his shop, and the family will feel very unlucky.
Since the Spring and Autumn Period, it has been stipulated that beheading must be carried out by supervisors.
The adjudicator may be the official who initially tried the case, or other officials appointed by the court or superiors.
Before the specified time, the prison officer took the prisoner out of the prison and took him to the execution ground, and the way of detention was also stipulated.
According to the regulations of Chen Shi in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the condemned man will be executed. When you are escorted, you should take an exposed car (the car can't be covered, just like the so-called convertible now), wear three instruments (that is, neck instruments, hand instruments and foot instruments), add pot hands, remove them when you arrive at the execution ground, and then execute them.
In ancient times, it was also stipulated that the names and major crimes of prisoners should be written on mobile phones, which made people clear at a glance. This rule existed in the Zhou Dynasty, and it is called "Ming Gui" 4, which has been in use ever since. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a wooden board with the prisoner's name and crime was always inserted behind the prisoner, commonly known as the "desperate card", which had the same effect as "winning numbers".
After the prisoner was taken to the execution ground, it was stipulated that the prisoner should be given a meal. At this time, the prisoner is not allowed to gag and block his ears, and the prisoner's family should be allowed to say goodbye to him. Prison officials should personally observe the interviews with prisoners' families and judge whether the prisoners are true or false, so as to "identify themselves", otherwise mistakes will easily occur.
Torture in China can be divided into three types: death penalty, punishment and torture.
The death penalty can be divided into 18 kinds: death penalty, dismemberment, beheading, waist cutting, skinning, branding, cooking, gut pumping, laparotomy, shooting, drowning, strangulation, poisoning, burning, nailing the skull, burying alive, cannibalism and others!
Among all these death sentences, the most attractive and technical one is the year of death. First of all, it should be noted that year-end or similar year-end methods have existed in China since ancient times. After the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Liu Yu was abolished. Ming Di's eldest son, 472.
After he acceded to the throne, he reigned for five years. He was arrogant and violent. He didn't kill anyone for a day, but he was unhappy. He was killed by Xiao Daocheng and died at the age of fifteen. ) I used to chop people myself. However, as a formal means of death penalty, it is generally believed that it began in the Five Dynasties. Lu You once said: There are many seasons, so the conventional method is not enough, so we started from a special place outside the law. The muscles are exhausted, but the breath is not exhausted. The liver is connected with the heart, and the audio-visual is specially preserved. "It should be said that at that time, Nian was already a very artistic killing method!
In the Song Dynasty, the title of the year was commonly known as cut. Because imprisonment was widely used in the Song Dynasty, when people retaliated against their enemies, they also hacked people to death like the official imprisonment. The Annals of Criminal Law in the History of Song Dynasty stipulates that those who are in the middle of the year should cut off their branches first, which is a judgment.
As for the number of knives in Ling Chi's early days, there is no record. The earliest record is the Yuan Dynasty! In the Yuan Dynasty, at the end of the year, prisoners were chopped to pieces by 120 knife. Now it seems that there are quite few, and it is obviously impossible for them to have a good time, whether it is hands-on or viewing. In the Ming dynasty, there was obvious progress, and the number of zero-cutting knives in the Ming dynasty far exceeded the previous generation. There were two cases of Hu Daming's execution in Ming Dynasty, and the number of knives was clearly recorded. One is Liu Jin, the eunuch of Zheng De, and the other is Zheng Maner, a scholar in Chongzhen period. Zhicheng Deng's "Bone Dong Xu" Volume II said: "Secular words, the inch penalty in the Ming Dynasty, Liu Jin is 4,200 knives, Zheng (human to ear) is 3,600 knives. Li Ciming also said in his diary. " It may be a misinformation to record the number of knives that Liu Jin was cut. In fact, Liu Jin was cut by 3357 knives, because Zhang Wenlin, one of the officials in charge of the criminal department in Henan, recorded the whole process: according to the law, Liu Jin was sentenced to 3357 knives in three days, and was cut by 357 knives on the first day, to 10 knife. Wait until the prisoner wakes up, then cut the second knife 10. On the first day, after the knife was cut, it was dusk. I took Liu Jin back to prison and untied him. Liu Jin woke up to eat the last dinner and drank two bowls of gruel! The next day, he continued to be tortured. In view of Liu Jin's shouting yesterday and revealing many palace secrets, she stuffed a big walnut into her mouth. Still cutting 10 knife, take a break and shout, but after cutting dozens of knives, Liu Jin gave up his breath and failed to cut enough for three days. Of course, even if the prisoner dies, the rest will be cut!
Car crack! Simply put, it is to dismember people with animals. In China, car cracks are usually cows or horses! There are similar criminal laws abroad, and the animals used are camels and elephants! In fact, people rarely can be separated smoothly! It has been recorded that someone divided it into three times. The first two times, the prisoner's joint ligament was completely broken, but his limbs were constantly broken. He had to cut his limbs slightly with a knife and succeeded for the third time.
The history of car cracks is longer than that of! "Zhou Li Qiu Guan Shi Lang" has a record: "Swear to control the car." This car is actually a crack. After that, whether in the pre-Han Dynasty, the post-Han Dynasty or the Three Kingdoms period, the punishment for car cracks has been going on endlessly. According to records, in the Northern Qi Dynasty, the death penalty was divided into four grades, and the heaviest one was chopping a car. The death penalty in the Northern Zhou Dynasty is divided into five grades, and the fifth grade is car crack. These are all official laws stipulated by the court. After arriving in Liao, the cracks in the car were basically invisible (unfortunately).
Beheading, there is nothing to say, just beheading! Among all kinds of death penalty, the artistry is relatively low, but the technical requirements are not low! It is impossible for a novice or a layman to cut off his head smoothly! It is recorded that an executioner cut off the prisoner's head with a 17 knife! It should be noted that although beheading is common, its history is not very long, and it was only recorded in the Qin Dynasty, but beheading at that time meant cutting the waist. After the Qin Dynasty, beheading gradually became popular.
There were three kinds of death sentences in the Zhou Dynasty: chopping cars, beheading and killing people. One of the "chop" is the waist chop. P in the historical records of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it is written that people are put to death, mostly referring to beheading. Waist cutting, as the name implies, is to cut people in half from the waist. The earliest instruments of torture were axes and wooden anvil. With the "technical progress", the straw cutter and the straw cutter are gradually used. Because there are no important organs at the waist, prisoners usually scream for 30 to 60 minutes before they die, so this is a relatively easy and pleasant way to die!
Skinning is a relatively high technical requirement in the death penalty, even higher than the year of death. Like other death sentences, peeling has a long history. During the Three Kingdoms period, the State of Wu once skinned people, but before the Ming Dynasty, skinning generally meant skinning people. Of course, peeling is more ornamental in the death penalty. Someone once skinned a prisoner and made him dance to enjoy it. In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a criminal law to peel the whole skin of people, and peeling was very popular in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that the Ming dynasty general aquamarine was skinned. When Zhang captured Chengdu, he also saw the skin of aquamarine stuck on the idol at the city gate.