01
A man stood upside down with a potato hanging around his neck. The executioner shook his wrist slightly, and the potato was immediately split into two, while the man's neck was intact. Such precise control is probably impossible without 30 years of training. In addition to being precise, the executioner's force breath is usually very large, and the wood is split into two in an instant. According to records, ancient executioners usually slashed twice, which is different from the answer in modern people's minds.
The first cut is to make a cut on the prisoner's neck, which is called skin opening, in order to better carry out the next cut. The second knife is aimed at the stock. When the hand is lifted and the knife is lowered, the head falls to the ground. In fact, it takes two knifes to behead the person. It is only the very short interval between the two processes of the skilled executioner that makes people mistakenly believe that it is beheading with one knife. Of course, we do not rule out the existence of some superb executioners who decapitate people without cutting the skin. The executioner showed off his knife skills by placing a piece of paper on the knife. Then he rotated the knife with great force and the blade was extremely sharp, and the paper was cut immediately. In order to let the audience see more clearly, the executioner asked his companion to hold the piece of paper. The next second he waved it hard, and the paper was actually chopped into pieces, while his companion's hand was unharmed. Such a terrifying sword technique can truly hit wherever you point, without even a single bit of error. After a while, the executioner began to simulate beheading. The two ladies were bent over with a wooden stick connected to their necks. The executioner suddenly struck hard and the stick split into two. However, the two ladies could not feel any weight. The sharp knife technique had already been used and the executioner did not feel anything.
02
Can the executioner of history cut it across the board?
The answer is not necessarily. This depends on whether the knife is sharp and whether the executioner is ordered to "torture" the victim. Among those who were tortured was Tan Sitong, known as the "Six Gentlemen of 1898". As a representative figure of the Chinese reformists, Tan Sitong participated in and led the Reform Movement of 1898 and supported Emperor Guangxu's rule. In 1898, he was summoned to Beijing by Emperor Guangxu and participated in Emperor Guangxu's reform movement in the same year. However, it ultimately failed due to Emperor Guangxu's fledgling power and Cixi's premeditated arrangements.
Cixi seized power, deposed Emperor Guangxu, and ordered the arrest of reformers. Some reformers fled abroad, but Tan Sitong insisted not to flee and tried to find ways to rescue Emperor Guangxu. He was finally arrested on September 24 of the same year and beheaded four days later along with five other people at the vegetable market. Cixi hated him for supporting Emperor Guangxu, so she ordered him to be executed with a blunt knife. It is said that it took thirty cuts before the head of the reform hero was cut off. If the knife is blunt, beheading will be troublesome. And the knife will naturally become dull if it is used too much.
This kind of thing happened in Anhui during the Republic of China. Because there were so many people executed, the knife was blunt, and no one was willing to sharpen such a "full of resentment" knife, so many of the prisoners who were executed were not fatal with one knife. There are even such examples abroad. Such was the case with the famous "Infant Queen" Mary Stuart. Mary Stuart, known historically as Mary I, was the queen of Scotland and was famous for her beauty. However, her beauty did not bring much luck to the queen. She was sent to France for political reasons when she was a child, where she grew up and later married Francois II and became the queen of France. After the death of Francis II, she returned to Scotland to succeed her as queen. A series of coups followed, and she was eventually imprisoned in England by her cousin Elizabeth I for eighteen years. In the end, Elizabeth executed her on the pretext that Mary I wanted to murder herself. During the execution, the executioner struck Mary I three times before killing her. Therefore, when the executioner is executing the execution, he may not be able to succeed at the first time due to various factors, which causes great pain to the person being executed.
03
It is undeniable that there were executioners in ancient times who could "cut through the mess with a sharp sword". There is a short story in "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", the title is "Good Knife":
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and bandits were rampant in Mr. Pu Songling's hometown of Jinan Prefecture. Counties under the jurisdiction of Jinan Prefecture had to recruit soldiers and horses to protect one party.The government has set a rule that once a thief is captured, he will be beheaded.
Among the counties, banditry in Zhangqiu County is particularly serious, and the government arrests particularly many thieves.
Most of the executioners were temporarily recruited from the army, and they also used the swords provided by the army. There was an executioner with a sharp knife that could often behead people with one blow.
One day, Zhangqiu County Government caught more than ten thieves. The county magistrate ordered these people to be beheaded at caishikou.
One of the thieves knew the executioner and secretly begged him: "Brother, I heard that you are the fastest with a knife and never use a second knife to behead. Please kill me, brother!"
The executioner listened and agreed, asking the thief to follow him closely.
During the execution, the beheading cannon was fired, and the executioner shouted and slashed with his sword, making a fierce wind.
In the blink of an eye, the thief's head fell to the ground.
The head rolled and fell a few steps away, but he was still able to speak and praised loudly: "What a sharp knife!"
Although this story is exaggerated and artistically processed, it also tells us: in ancient times, there really were executioners who raised their swords and fell with their heads.
In ancient China, beheading was not that simple. I believe you already know that beheading does not mean that the executioner lifts the knife and drops the head with one blow. Everyone, do you think the punishments in ancient China were cruel?
