Whether in modern times or in ancient times, those who break the law are punished, and depending on the size of the crime you commit, they are punished in various ways. And the heaviest is the death penalty. The so-called murder pays for life, and the death penalty for murderers is a matter of course. But there are exceptions in any era, and in ancient times, those who were sentenced to death also had ways to be exonerated, and today we will look at several ways to exonerate the death penalty.
The first kind of listening is very painful, that is, palace punishment, that is, castration, eunuchs who want to enter the palace will have such a procedure, do a purification operation, and remove the man's life root before entering the palace to serve. And sometimes some big people can also use this method to avoid capital crimes, such as Sima Qian. If he had not endured the humiliation and burden of the palace punishment, we would not have had such a remarkable work of "history" in the future. But this kind of punishment obviously hurts men's self-esteem, and I don't know which emperor came up with it.
The second is the death-free gold medal given by the emperor himself, and friends who have seen the Yang family general know that this Chai family has a death-free gold medal. But let's not say how much this kind of thing is, just whether it works or not depends on whether the emperor recognizes it or not. There was a gold medal given by the emperor, but in the end the minister was executed. Such things did not happen in that feudal era, so this method depended on the mood of the emperor and not the gold medal itself.
The third way is to bribe officials with money, which is really a good way in ancient times, as long as there is enough money, basically there will be gains. But the premise of this method is not to expose your transactions, do not encounter the emperor's private investigation, and if you are lucky enough, you may be able to avoid the death penalty and then find a scapegoat to get out; but the cost is high and the danger is not small.
The fourth method is that there is no way out, generally speaking, it is asked to be beheaded after the autumn, which means that the death penalty is carried out in the autumn, and it may also be necessary to go to Kyoto to be tortured. During this period, if the emperor is in a good mood, or if the old emperor dies and the new emperor takes the throne or something, he will grant amnesty to the world, and in addition to conspiracy, the death penalty will also become a living crime. But this opportunity is not easy to find, really have to try your luck. Therefore, most people will choose the first one, and the good villains can still survive. But if the first one can't be done, in the end it will only be resigned to fate. Of course, there are also extremely vicious people who will choose to rob the court, but only those who have committed many evils such as thieves or bandits will do so, because their sins are too great to have a chance of exoneration. Knowing these four methods in ancient times, what do you think, in fact, the laws of modern society are much more reliable and much fairer, right?