During the Western Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu, a scholar of the Western Han Dynasty, put forward the idea of "heaven and man induction". Later, under the suggestion of Dong Zhongshu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "exalted Confucianism alone", and in later dynasties, Confucianism also became the ruling ideology and was implemented by various dynasties and generations. In the saying "heaven and man induction", all the ceremonial activities of the state must follow the requirements of the four hours.
In the case of criminals who committed the death penalty, there was a system of "asking for beheading after autumn", why did the ancient feudal rulers implement the system of "asking and beheading after autumn"? According to Confucianism, spring represents the revival of all things, summer represents the vitality of all things, autumn is the moment when all things wither, and winter is the moment when all things give birth to life. In the minds of ancient rulers, the Confucian doctrine corresponding to the "heavenly induction" meant that autumn was the best season for those who ended the great evil, so the system of "asking and beheading after autumn" began to be implemented in various dynasties and generations.
There is also a saying about "asking and beheading after autumn", that is, the ancient rulers were more benevolent, and they were also afraid of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, so for death row prisoners, they were punished with "autumn after asking and beheading", if the prisoner really had grievances, his family could also do justice for him, and also avoided the occurrence of unjust, false and wrong cases.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the King of Chuzhuang sentenced criminals who committed the death penalty to be beheaded in the autumn of the following year, also to avoid unjust, false and wrongly decided cases. In the era when ancient interrogation technology was not developed, the probability of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases was still very large, so King Zhuang of Chu implemented the system of "asking and beheading after autumn" in order to avoid the possibility of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases. King Zhuang of Chu was worthy of being one of the five overlords of the Spring and Autumn Period, and he took the lead in implementing the system of "asking and chopping after autumn", which reflected his benevolence.
Before the prisoners were beheaded, all dynasties and generations had the habit of giving prisoners a "severed head meal", and these prisoners committed the most heinous crimes, but out of humanistic concern, before these prisoners were beheaded, the dynasties and generations still gave death row prisoners a hearty "guillotine meal" to let them enjoy the last beauty of the world. The regulations on guillotine rice were different from dynasty to generation, and in the richest Song Dynasty, the ingredients directly stipulated that "guillotine rice" should not be less than 5,000 texts, which shows that it is a hearty meal.
And in the severed rice of some dynasties, there are also ingredients, that is, a piece of smelly meat, why put a piece of stinky meat that is difficult to swallow in a delicious meal? Originally, the ancient people were more superstitious, in the legend, the dead people, to drink Meng Po's Meng Po soup, walk across the Nai Ho Bridge, in order to reincarnate again, and in the Nai Ho Bridge there is a vicious dog, every deceased who crosses the Nai Ho Bridge, if you do not give the bad dog to eat stinky meat, will be eaten by the evil dog, can not be reincarnated. Therefore, in the severed head meal of the death row prisoner, the prisoner will add a piece of smelly meat, which is what the death row prisoner brought to the vicious dog. At that time, when the death row inmates saw the smelly meat in the meal, they would be grateful to the zero, kneel down and bow down to worship the jailers, which shows the influence of ancient feudal ideas on people.
The guillotine reflects the humanistic care of ancient times, a piece of fishy meat makes the death row prisoners psychologically relaxed, safely accept the verdict of fate, the existence of things may not be comprehensible to our contemporary people, but it always has its own reason for existence, such as this piece of smelly meat.