History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
During the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the new institutions such as the East Factory and the Jinyi Guard, there was also a fresh punishment - the court staff, that is, the ass of the hall with a stick. In fact, the court staff first began with the Ming Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Later Han Dynasty said: During the Ming Emperor's time, political affairs were severe, so the secretaries were all whipped." However, this kind of punishment is unaffordable for ordinary people and is specially tailored for the minister.
The ancients often said that the punishment is not a doctor, so why would they attack the minister? This is also due to Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicion of his subordinates.
In fact, this suspicion is not difficult to understand.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court had no discipline to speak of, corrupt officials and corrupt officials were everywhere, and the people's lives were very difficult, and at this point, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born into poverty, was deeply aware of it. When his eldest brother died, he could not find a place to bury, and his hometown was plagued by locusts, and people had no harvest and had to dig up wild vegetables to eat. If you can't fill your belly like this, you have to go and ask for food. Zhu Yuanzhang survived in such a difficult environment and became a new ruler, Zhu Yuanzhang was certainly dissatisfied with the social reality and the previous ruling class, not only dissatisfied, but even, it can be said that he hated it.
It can be said that this difficult period had a very great influence on him at that time, so when he became the one who made the law, he had to restrain the officials and the upper class. According to historical records, he once said: "When I was in the midst of the people's struggles, the officials I saw never sympathized with the people's feelings, not only greedy for money and lustful, but also drunk and misbehaved, which was really infuriating." ”
Therefore, on the basis of summing up the previous lessons, Zhu Yuanzhang paid full attention to the role of the code in governing the country. Therefore, in order to rectify the imperial program, he had strict supervision over the officials, and if anyone made a mistake, he would definitely be punished severely, so there was a specific punishment of the court staff. With this punishment, the imperial power was magnified, and this made it easy for the ministers not to disobey the emperor's orders, so that the entire government was more in the hands of the emperor alone.
The staff is generally made of chestnut wood, the end of the blow is cut into a mallet shape, and it is wrapped with iron, and there is a barb on the iron, and when the stick is struck, the executioner pulls it again, and the sharp inverted hook will tear off a large piece of the flesh of the belt on the prisoner's body. The place where the staff was enforced was in the courtyard of the palace, and as long as any minister disobeyed the emperor, he would be dragged into the courtyard and beaten to death.
Obviously, this is out of line and not pretty. Therefore, in the Chengzu period, the place where the punishment was imposed changed, and it became the noon gate of the Forbidden City.
There were two small houses on the east side of the Royal Road at the Noon Gate, and these two houses had the handle of the Jinyi Guards, and when the ministers who needed to be given the staff were pressed over, the people were tortured under the strict supervision of the Forbidden Army. At the time of torture, the beaten person's wrists were tied with ropes and he wore prison clothes to the noon gate. Every time he walked through a door, it closed behind him, and when he reached the spot, there were more than a hundred lieutenants on the scene, standing on either side with sticks.
In addition, there were also the people of the Celebrant and the Guards of The Golden Robes and their retinue. When he saw the prisoner walk in, he immediately drank: "Hit the stick!" "A man came out and hit hard with a stick in his hand. If, sensing that the commander is not satisfied, the commander will also ask the person who hits the stick to use more force and hit harder. Every five hits, you have to change people and follow the previous steps. In order to be afraid that the person who hit the stick will lose his strength, and the beating will not be as heavy as at the beginning.
What's even more cruel is that there is a group of people around there drinking and thundering, which makes people afraid to listen.
Those who were struck by the scepter were stripped of their clothes, and they were beaten by more than a dozen people in a row, adding up to more than 50 sins. Not only that, but after being beaten, they must be wrapped up with a cloth, and then they will fall to the ground with all their strength. Such a harsh punishment resulted in nine out of ten people dying after being tortured. Although this statement is a bit exaggerated, it does reflect the harshness of the court staff.
However, there are also many extrajudicial acts of grace, and if the person directing the stick notices that the emperor does not want to punish the tortured person, he will shout a specific password to make the person who beats the stick lighter. Of course, if the opposite is true, it will be made to the point of playing to please the emperor. Although Zhu Yuanzhang's original intention was to make the decree more stringent, in fact, in the process of implementation, there were still people who did not discipline and observe discipline.
In fact, the most important punishment of the court staff is not to let this person die, but to make him suffer insults, if it is a woman, after that, most of them choose to commit suicide.
In the beginning, hitting a stick was hitting a stick, not taking off clothes, and later, it began to take off clothes, and the phenomenon of killing people was also a later phenomenon. During the Ming Wuzong period, because of the opposition to the emperor's southern tour, there were 146 ministers who were beaten with sticks, of which 15 were killed, and even if they did not die, nine out of ten people would be left with lifelong disabilities, which can be said to be shocking.
Later, in the time of Zhu Houxi, because some ministers opposed him posthumously crowning his biological father as Emperor Taishang, he was furious and used a court staff on 134 people, killing 17 people at once. This frightened the court officials into shutting their mouths, and in the end, he did what he wanted to do smoothly. Ming Huang Dao Zhou "JieHuan Yuan Gong (Yuan Keli) Biography": "And in the Imperial History Platform, when his Imperial History touched anger, he put the court staff, and the government of the Imperial History of the Imperial History begs for help, and the auxiliary ministers are above the meaning of the words." ”
The appearance of the court staff has its positive intentions, at least it prevents the ministers from using their power against the imperial power, so that the policies of the imperial court can be better implemented. However, this punishment was not in daming's laws, so when it was imposed depended on the emperor's preference, from this point of view, this punishment seriously undermined the judicial system of the country.
In addition, with this punishment, even if some ministers wanted to be loyal and direct, they were forced to give up because of their fear of the court staff, so the court was still degenerate and decayed.