Lingchi is also called Lingchi, which is called "Thousand Pieces" by the people. The original intention of Lingchi is that the slope of the mountain gradually decreases. When it is used as the name of the death penalty, it means that when a person is executed, the bodies are cut off one by one, so that the victims die slowly and painfully.
Lingchi punishment first appeared in the Five Dynasties, and was officially named Liao Dynasty punishment. Since then, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have stipulated it as a statutory punishment, which is the most cruel death penalty.
This criminal law is mainly used to punish some of the ten evils, such as rebellion and rebellion. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, if parents or in-laws, sons killed their fathers and wives killed their husbands, it was also a felony against ethics and morality, and they were sentenced to death. But later, in order to suppress the peasants' resistance, those who failed to pay taxes on time were also punished by late death, which was particularly prominent during the Ming Taizu period.
Ling Chi's punishment is cruel. Generally speaking, it means to cut off pieces of human flesh. There are also differences in execution methods in past dynasties. Usually cut eight knives, first beheaded, then cut hands and feet, then cut the chest and abdomen, and finally beheaded. But it's actually more than eight knives. There were 24 knives, 36 knives, 72 knives and 120 knives in the Qing Dynasty. Twenty-four knives are: one or two knives to cut eyebrows, three or four knives to cut shoulders, five or six knives to cut chest, seven or eight knives to cut elbows, ninety knives to cut the part between elbows and shoulders, eleven or two knives to cut leg meat, thirteen or four knives to cut leg belly, fifteen knives to stab the heart, sixteen knives to cut head and seventeen or eight knives to cut hands.
In actual implementation, most of them were Liu Jin, an evil eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, who was chopped for three days * * * 4,700 knives. By 1905 Guangxu, the penalty of year in was abolished.
At first, the executioner would skillfully cut out the Adam's apple of the prisoner with a knife to prevent him from shouting. Then quickly bleed to dress the wound. The first part is the back, and the meat cut by each knife must be only the size of the fingernail. To kill an adult, you must use 3357 knives, and the knives must bleed and lose meat. It should be glued to it with a large white porcelain plate for the audience to appreciate and get appreciation. If the prisoner dies before the specified number of knives, the executioner will be laughed at by the audience and may lose his job.
Among all kinds of cruel punishments in ancient China, the most inhuman one was AD. Lingchi, formerly known as Lingchi, originally meant the gentle slope of the hill. Xunzi said, "Three feet on the shore, you can't board empty cars." A mountain, let the negative car climb. What is this? The year has arrived. "It means that the car can't be pulled up on a three-foot steep slope, but because the slope is gentle, the car can be pulled to the top of the mountain. Later generations took Ling Chi as the name of punishment, only taking its slow meaning, that is to say, putting people to death at a very slow speed. In order to reflect this "slow" intention, it is to cut off the human flesh one by one until the meat is almost cut, and then cut off the head by caesarean section and let the prisoner die. So the year is also called cutting, cutting, inch cutting and so on. The so-called "thousand pieces" refers to the year.
The Yuan Dynasty chopped the prisoners into ten thousand pieces, and the number of knives in the Ming Dynasty was far more than that in the previous generation, which was shocking enough. There were two famous cases of 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 Zhi, a scholar during the Chongzhen period. Zhicheng Deng's "Gu Xu Dong Ji" Volume II "Inch" said: "According to the custom, the punishment of burning an inch in the Ming Dynasty was 4,200 yuan for Liu Jin and 3,600 yuan for Zheng Zhi. Li Ciming also said in his diary. " The number of knives that Liu Jin was chopped here may be misinformation. In fact, Liu Jin was chopped 3357 times. Such a large number is really amazing. Folk women often say "you get a thousand knives" when swearing. It doesn't seem to be a function word to chop people up more than 1000 knives in ancient times.
Let's start with Liu Jin. In the fifth year of Zheng De (15 10), Liu Jin was sentenced to death for treason, and the imperial edict granted him "three days within the year", and then his body was filed. In the tenth scene of execution, Zhang Wenlin, who was serving his sentence in prison at that time, gave a detailed account:
On the same day, Hu Yuan, the then director of Shaanxi Department, was arrested and stunned. He told the above-mentioned Mr. Liu Jing, "How can I do it?" Liu Huiyan: "I'll let undergraduates help you." Respond. After the official breakfast, I asked the official to follow the company to Lang Zheng in the west corner. Liu Jin had already had an operation. The number of knives in a year, for example, 3357 knives, take a break every ten knives and shout. On the first day, you should cut 357 knives from the left and right sides of the chest, such as large nail pieces. There will be blood in the first operation, but there will be no blood in the second operation. It is said that the prisoner was frightened and blood entered his lower abdomen and calf. After the incision, the blood came out, so I think it should be Send the gold to Tianfu wanping county at the latest and let it go. Kim still ate two bowls of porridge. That's the way to prevent thieves. The next day, he was taken to the east corner. On the first day, Kim was punished, and he said a word. He gagged his mouth with hemp walnuts and died after dozens of knives. At sunrise, Liu Jin played the imperial edict with the supervisor, several feet late, filing the corpse to avoid beheading. The victim's family tried to sacrifice its meat to the dead. Filing a corpse is a big axe in the chest, and the chest counts. It's a pity to repay a thief.
When Liu Jin was in charge of state affairs, it was more evil to destroy loyalty It is true that he finally became like this, but judging from the process of his punishment, it cannot be said that it is really inhuman.
Look at Zheng Zhi. It's a pity that when Liu Jin was tortured, Zheng Zhi was tortured like this. Zheng Zhi, a native of Henglin, Changzhou, was a scholar in the second year of the apocalypse (1622). His literary talent and reputation were once famous. In the early years of worshipping the imperial court, Zheng Zhi was involved in the political disputes caused by party struggles within the imperial court. He was accused of two heinous crimes, namely "the mother of the staff" and "the sister of the raped person". After the crime, Emperor Zhu Youjian personally instructed him to execute the death penalty that year.
With regard to the detailed background and merits of Zheng Zhi's case, I don't want to make a specific textual research here, but just talk about the general process of his punishment. In the 12th year of Chongzhen (1639), at dawn on August 26th, the imperial edict was issued and implemented on this day. Some officials immediately ordered the relevant personnel to be summoned. Escort the prisoner to the west side. At that time, Xi Shi was located in the Si Xia archway of Ganshiqiao on the west side of the Imperial City of Beijing (hereinafter referred to as Xisi archway, now Xisi in Beijing), where the execution of the condemned prisoners was often carried out. According to the convention, the beheading is downstairs in the west row and the year number is downstairs in the east row. So, that morning, a group of people set up a shed next to the East Row, where the supervisor, beheading officer and others sat. A thick wooden pole was erected in front of the shed, and a fork was inserted into the wooden pole. Soon, the executioner of the execution also arrived ahead of time. Each of them brought a small basket with iron hooks and sharp knives. The executioner took out an iron hook, a sharp knife, etc. Put them in the sand and sharpen them very sharply. In the morning and the third hour, the supervisor took Zheng Zhi to the execution ground with a captain and a servant. Zheng Zhi was temporarily parked in the south row downstairs. He is sitting in a big basket, without a headscarf, shoes and socks, and is talking endlessly with a nerd about things at home. At this time, the onlookers were crowded, blocking the surrounding roads and open spaces, and the nearby roofs were full of people. An official said that the judge of Xicheng court had not arrived yet, so he had to stop temporarily. Just then, the magistrate was crowded with followers and came here separately from the dense crowd. After sitting down, he read out the imperial edict loudly. Because of the noise around, people couldn't hear what he was reading clearly, except for his last sentence: "According to the law, you should cut 3600 knives." The executioner echoed in unison, sounding like Lei Zhen. The onlookers trembled with fear. Only three shots were heard, and then the execution began. The crowd became more excited, and some people who climbed into the room stood up and craned their necks to see how the executioner chopped people. However, due to the dense crowd nearby, the execution site is far from being seen. After a long time, I saw a rope hanging from the forked thick wooden pole. Someone pulled the rope behind the wooden pole, and something was hanging from the other end of the rope, dripping with blood. It turned out to be human lungs and liver, which were hoisted to the highest point of the wooden pole. This shows that the prisoner's meat has been cut off, and he has begun to gut. After a while, put down the rope on the wooden pole, took out the liver and lungs, and hung a head, indicating that Zheng Zhi had been beheaded. Then, hang Zheng Zhi's body, with his chest on the wooden pole and his back facing the crowd. Everyone saw that the muscles on his back were cut into strands, but they were not cut off. Thousands of dense hemp clusters were like hedgehogs. At this time, the one-year punishment came to an end. Two captains waved red flags and rode fast Ma Xiangdong. They went to the palace to report to the emperor how many knives they had cut. Later, an executioner took down Zheng Zhi's body and sold some pieces of his meat. It is said that people buy these human flesh as raw materials for preparing medicines for treating scabies.
In the Qing dynasty, there was punishment for the New Year. Once the rulers catch the leader of the peasant uprising, they will always be executed in the middle of the year. For example, when the Northern Expedition Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom failed, eight generals, including Li and Li, were captured and sent to Beijing for public display. The leader of the Nian Army and Lai were defeated and captured, and were also punished in the same year. Shi Dakai, the famous leader of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was defeated in Dadu River and surrendered to Sichuan Governor Luo. However, he was not treated leniently. The Qing court ruled that Shi Dakai need not be escorted to Beijing and executed on the spot in Sichuan. Luo, the executioner who suppressed the peasant uprising, cruelly used the punishments of Shi Dakai and others. It was June 25th, the second year of Tongzhi (1862). Luo led the Qing soldiers to the big opening, while Zaifu Zengshi and Zaizhong went to the execution ground. Shihe was tied to two cross-shaped stakes face to face. When executing the title, the executioner cut Zeng Shihe first, but Zeng Shihe was in great pain and screamed. Shi Dakai scolded him and said, "Why can't you stand such a short time?" Zeng Shihe just gritted his teeth and stopped shouting. When Shi Dakai was tortured, he was cut more than one hundred times. He remained silent from beginning to end. Shi Dakai's awe-inspiring righteousness and strong will shocked the officers and men of the Qing army. Liu Rong, the envoy of Sichuan deployment, said that he was "arrogant and strong, but his words were neither supercilious nor flattering." ..... At the time of execution, I looked very happy, and I was the ugliest. "
Ling Chi's punishment lasted until the end of Qing Dynasty. After the Reform Movement of 1898, the Qing court was impacted by various internal and external contradictions and had to follow the trend and carry out some reforms on traditional disadvantages. In the thirty-first year of Guangxu (1905), Shen Jiaben, the minister of the Ministry of Justice, was asked to delete severe punishments such as Ling Chi, and the Qing court allowed him to play them, and ordered laws such as Ling Chi, beheading and slaughter to be "deleted forever, and all laws were changed". From then on, the inhuman torture of that year disappeared from the code and was replaced by beheading.