When it comes to torture in ancient China, Ling Chi is probably the strongest one. The ancient Chinese paid attention to benevolence and generosity, but they were not at all merciful to criminals. For criminals, lingchi's process is simply more terrifying than death. For example, Liu Jin, a eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, was sentenced to 3357 knives and executed in three days. The terrible thing is that the prisoner cannot die in this process, and every few knives are stopped to ensure that the prisoner is fully awake.
From this point of view, the disciplinary significance of Ling Chi's torture far exceeds the punishment itself, so most of the people who are generally tortured are people who have committed the most heinous crimes. In addition to Liu Jin, the famous criminals who were subjected to Ling Chi in history included Zheng Huan, Yuan Chonghuan, Shi Dakai, and the young king Hong Tianguifu (who was only 15 years old at the time of his execution). However, in the late Ming and Qing dynasties, the scope of Punishment for Ling Chi became wider and wider, and in addition to power rebellion, such as beating and cursing parents, sons killing their fathers, wives killing their husbands, and even failing to pay taxes on time could be subjected to Ling Chi. It can be said that Ling Chi is on the one hand a punishment for criminals, and on the other hand, it is also used by the rulers to take revenge.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, there was such a figure, or not a figure at all, just because of his misdeeds, and even alarmed the imperial court. After being captured, he was sentenced to death by Ling Chi, and a total of 3784 knives were cut, even more than the knives suffered by Liu Jin and Yuan Chonghuan. This person's name is Kang Xiaoba, known as "Kang Eight", who let him suffer such torture?
Kang Xiaoba has a nickname called Wu Bald, probably surnamed Wu, a Hui person. Because in his early years, he inherited a family surnamed Kang from Donghuangzhuang in Beijing, so he changed his surname to Kang. The ancient Chinese believed that "human nature is inherently good", but this Kang Xiaoba was just the opposite. He was stubborn by nature, simply a beast. A rich man saw that Kang Xiaoba was fierce and fierce, so he recruited him to be his servant. The rich man also specially bought a gun from the Japanese and let Kang Xiaoba use it to protect the rich man.
However, Kang Xiaoba had a gun in his hand and people floated around, showing off everywhere and bullying people. The rich man's left and right persuaded, "If he gets into trouble, he will definitely implicate you." The rich man thought it was right, so he asked Kang Xiaoba to return the pistol. Kang Xiaoba does not give. Later, on a trip, the rich man looked at the desolate scenery on both sides of the road and was a little frightened and wanted to return to the city. Kang Xiaoba pretended to give the gun to the rich man to strengthen his courage, but he shot the rich man with one shot. Since then, he has intensified his misdeeds.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, many people used the excuse of "taking the Heavenly Path" as an excuse to stand on their own, and there were many bandits. However, some bandits could not get along with the imperial court, and it was not difficult for the common people. However, Kang Xiaobacai didn't care who the other party was, as long as he didn't look good, or heard the other party say bad things about himself, he would definitely shoot and kill. Later, the bad reputation of "Kang Baye" became louder and louder in the Beijing-Tianjin area, and later alarmed the imperial court. In order to catch this bandit, the imperial court also sent a luxurious lineup.
A yang surnamed Catcher pretended to run into Kang Xiaoba, falsely claiming that his mother was ill, but in fact had already laid a net of heaven and earth. Later, with the help of the famous shape boxers Ma Yutang and Shang Yunxiang, this bandit was taken down. Originally, when Empress Dowager Cixi heard that there was such a bandit and still needed to be arrested by a martial arts master, she thought it was a strange person and proposed to meet him in person, maybe a talent could still be used by the imperial court. As a result, when they met, they found that the other party was a thin and small lewd man, and they couldn't help but be disappointed and disgusted. In fact, this Kang Xiaoba didn't have any skills, Master Ma Yutang said, this bandit relies on that pistol, and he actually doesn't have much kung fu.
Cixi buried Kang Xiaoba on the spot, but this Kang Xiaoba was also a hard bone, and scolded: "If you want to rob the emperor, you will rob the imperial bar, and if you want to rape, you will rape the imperial concubine." Originally, Cixi did not take this Kang Xiaoba seriously, but when all was said and done, the empress dowager was furious and immediately ordered that Ling Chi be executed. As we said before, this "Kang Eight Master" who did nothing evil was not a figure at all in history, but he ended up with a more "high standard" than some big figures.
Kang Xiaoba was stabbed nearly 3,800 times in three days, but in the process of execution, Kang Xiaoba behaved like a man. He started laughing in the air, but although the pain was unbearable, he didn't make a sound. After the execution, Kang Xiaoba was not dead, only a skeleton wrapped in skin, and his heart was still beating. The onlookers all applauded, and this evil man was also punished as he deserved.
It is worth mentioning that only 1 month before Kang Xiaoba was executed, a slave named Fu Zhuli was also sentenced to Ling Chi for killing his master, and his execution process was completely and clearly recorded with a camera, which was really unbearable. Only two weeks after their deaths, this cruel punishment finally disappeared from Chinese history.