Ancient Chinese criminal law can be said to be the result of the cruelty of mankind, and Lingchi is the most creepy one among them.
The so-called lingchi is commonly known as "cut into pieces by thousands of knives". In other words, it means that the inmate is tied to the stigma, and then the executioner uses a sharp knife to cut off the flesh on the inmate's body in small pieces. As for how many times the unlucky inmate should be killed, it depends on the person who has the right to decide his fate.
As a criminal law, Lingchi started in the Five Dynasties. At that time, it was usually eight to one hundred and twenty to Zhu Ming, and this number was upgraded to one thousand to three thousand. If a flesh and blood body wants to die before it has to bear a thousand or even three thousand swords, it requires the executioner's precise skills.
Obviously, the process of death has been delayed so long, with only one purpose, that is, to warn the world through the extreme pain of the tortured: if you dare to commit crimes, this is the end.
: The most famous Lingchi sentenced people in history are probably the following four people, three of them are Ming people, and one is Qing people.
One, the eunuch of the Ming Dynasty Liu Jin . Liu Jin was sentenced to 3,357 swords and completed in three days. On the first day, he slashed 357 pieces of nails. The first one started from the chest and cut off his nipples first. In the evening, Liu Jin was taken back to the prison. This guy covered in blood and lost 357 pieces of nail-sized meat on his body, he actually had the intention to drink two bowls of porridge.
The next day, Lingchi continued. Perhaps he couldn't stand the pain, Liu Jin loudly exposed the scandal in the palace to the onlookers. The deceased officer had to use walnuts to block his mouth. After cutting dozens of other cuts, Liu Jin died.
The second is the famous anti-Jin general Yuan Chonghuan in the late Ming Dynasty. Because he was conquered by the Qing Dynasty's counter-espionage plan, Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned by the newly reused Chongzhen , and later ordered Lingchi to be executed.
"The Northern Lights of Ming Ji" records two details about Yuan Chonghuan's suffering from lingchi, which are two touching details. One of the details of
, Yuan Chonghuan was late by Ling and "the flesh and flesh have been exhausted", but he had not yet died, "the cry between the heart and lungs is endless";
, the second, "The people buy a piece of silver and buy a piece of meat, as big as a finger, and put it on. When eating, he must scold him, and in a moment, Chonghuan's flesh will be sold out." In other words, the final outcome of this Guozhi Gancheng, which worked hard for the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, was that he was eating it one by one by one by his compatriots.
The third is the late Ming Dynasty literati Zheng Jun . Zheng Zheng was from Wujin, Jiangsu Province. He was born in a family of officials and was smart. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 18 and passed the imperial examination at the age of 28. He wrote good articles.
Due to the frame-up of Prime Minister Wen Tiren , Zheng Zheng was imprisoned for four years in Chongzhen eleven years after the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the capital suffered a severe drought for a hundred years. In an era when he believed in the resonance of heaven and man, the authorities believed that this was caused by unjust prison. But when Wu Mengming, a comrade of the Jinyiwei, reported Zheng Xu as an unjust case, he was unexpectedly overreaction by Chongzhen: not only did he not admit that Zheng Xu was wronged, but instead believed that Zheng Xu had no choice but to die, and ordered "Zheng Xu to be cut off and executed."
In an extremely dictatorial country, since the imperial edict was issued, no one could change Zheng Xu's fate, unless the dictator himself, but generally speaking, dictators could not deny themselves. Even if they knew they were wrong, they would have to go all the way, because they thought this was wisdom and decisive.
At that time, historian Ji Liuqi personally went to the execution ground to watch and left a detailed memoir:
At dawn on the 26th, Lingchi Zheng Zheng's imperial edict was issued, and the original guessed verdict outside was not correct. Xu Xi came here very early that day and headed to the west market together, which is the Sipailou under the Ganshi Bridge, as the folk call it. It was still early and there was no one around. Only workers in some places were building the base areas, erecting a piece of wood with branches under the East Archway.
The old rules were executed in the west and lingchi in the east. In the tent sat the executive officers such as the Sun Xian and Dali Temple Shaoqing. After a while, each of the executioners came with a small basket in his hand, which contained tools such as iron hooks and sharp blades. They took out their knives and hooks and ground them on the gravel. At the second moment of Chen and Si, the viewers were like mountains, and the roofs were filled with people, and the sound was noisy.
Zheng Zheng was taken down to the south pavilion, sitting in a big basket, barefoot, and was still nagging to a child servant beside him to explain his funeral. The person watching next to him said: The Censorate has not arrived yet, and he will have to wait a while before he will execute the execution.
A moment later, Zheng Zheng was taken into the field from the crowd. When he saw Hengmuya, he asked curiously: What is this for? In the midst of the crowds, someone read the imperial edict, and the last sentence was very loud, "According to the law, you should cut three thousand and six hundred knives." Hundreds of executioners responded loudly together, like thunder, which was terrifying. After the cannon fired, the viewers stood on tiptoe and raised their heads, as if they were more than a foot tall all of a sudden, and they were extremely crowded. They could not see the execution at all, and they did not know how to cut it. The rope as big as a finger was tied to the wood, and a man stood up behind it, reached out to get the bloody thing from below and put it on the Hengya. When everyone looked carefully, they found that it was Zheng Jun's liver and lungs, which were shocked. After a while, the rope was put down again, and this time it was Zheng Xu's head hanging. After the head, Zheng Zheng's body was hung on it, and his back was still the whole, but he was cut into a hedgehog shape with a knife. In a moment, a man holding a small red flag rushed to the east, and was said to have gone to the palace to report the number of Lingchi swords to the emperor.
until noon, the lingchi ended, and the sky was extremely dark and miserable. On the way home, I saw many people who bought Zheng Feng's meat. I heard that it was used as a raw material for treating sores. ——A scholar-official who had been talented and famous for many years actually cut the medicine for hemorrhoids with one knife. Ji Liuqi sighed: "Twenty years ago, the integrity and fame of the officials were even more amazing. He even made great contributions to the skin with Gan Ganpi. It was also very strange."
Fourth, Shi Dakai, a general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the late Qing Dynasty. After Shi Dakai fell into a desperate situation in the Dadu River, he took the initiative to surrender to the Qing army, hoping to save tens of thousands of subordinates by sacrificing himself. Sadly, his subordinates were still massacred, and he and several important generals were sentenced to storm.
When he was tortured, Shi Dakai's general was in pain and screamed repeatedly. Shi Dakai, who had originally said nothing, sighed and said: Why can't he bear the pain for this moment? If you think we will catch them, we will not deal with them the same way! After saying that, he didn't say anything else and let the executioner cut off his flesh piece by piece.
The place where Shi Dakai was punished is located in Kejia Lane, Chengdu, located in the city center. With more than 100 years of changes in the times, it has developed into a hi- Chunxi Road business district.
