The ancient emperor was the lord of the world, the words spoken were holy wills, no one could disobey, even if the emperor's approach was wrong, no one could stop it if he insisted on going his own way, not to mention that the feudal society was hierarchical, even if the emperor let a person die, this person would prostrate himself and give thanks, generously to death, this is the so-called "the king wants the subject to die, the subject has to die" foolish loyalty.
Speaking of this, it is necessary to mention the emperor's unique "death- system", death-giving is the emperor's privilege, along with the continuous development of the absolute monarchical society, to a certain extent, "giving death" maintains the feudal monarchy, which is conducive to the stability of the country, but it makes the ministers around the emperor cautious everywhere, afraid that a little carelessness will anger Long Yan, do things to be afraid of hands and feet, and do not use administrative enthusiasm.
The system of giving death can be followed as early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and since then, successive dynasties have not abolished it, the reason is that giving death conforms to the needs of autocratic rule, allowing the will of the monarch to be transformed into law, and the use of the death system by the king is also the main reason for its long-term continuation.
First of all, the death system can strengthen the dictatorship, the monarch holds the country's legislative, judicial, and administrative powers, but a person's energy is limited after all, so the three provinces and six ministries, the cabinet system and other administrative institutions were born, relying on ministers and clan relatives to help handle state affairs, but to a certain extent, it dispersed the imperial power, the emperor only used the highest power in his hand to form a shocking deterrent to the courtiers, the death system is such a tool to maintain the dictatorship, the emperor can transcend any law, decide anyone's life.
The system of giving death can deepen the loyalty of courtiers and people, successive kings have continuously strengthened the concept of "loyalty to the king", the system of giving death is the test of the idea of loyalty to the king, the so-called "the king wants to die, the subject has to die" is the highest realm of loyalty to the king, from the bottom of the heart to the ministers play a subtle role, let them think that obeying the emperor's wishes is the greatest loyalty.
In the absolute monarchical system, the unconditional obedience of the courtiers to the emperor, and even the sacrifice of their lives for it were regarded as "Spring and Autumn Righteousness," "the death of the monarch, the death of the loyal subjects", which aggravated the blind worship of the idea, the king gave death as a tool to consolidate power, and the ministers regarded the death as a way to be loyal to the monarch and maintain dignity, and in this way to obtain spiritual comfort.
"Death" as a kind of death, compared with other death penalties have its particularity, it is not a formal national law, has never been included in the punishment, more importantly, the death has no corresponding crime and scope of application, so it is a good means for the emperor to eradicate dissidents, whether it is the major crime of "rebellion" or "dereliction of duty" and "arrogance" and other faults are applicable, completely depending on the attitude of the king.
So is there anyone whose king has given death and is not willing to die? Naturally, there will be, there are no shortage of cases in history where some celebrities have been given death, Zhao Gao falsely passed on the holy will to let Fu Su commit suicide to accompany Qin Shi Huang, a generation of warriors Bai Qi was undefeated in his life, but after Qin Shi Huang gave his will, he drew his sword and killed himself, these are celebrities who were given death by the king, of course, they all chose to obey the holy will.
Heaven and earth are the biggest in life and death, when a person is faced with a choice of life and death, what benevolence and morality are not as important as living, Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei decreed that the empress should die, but the empress insisted on not complying, and said that this was the purpose of resistance, what was the outcome? The eunuchs who had gone to preach the message rushed forward, and Sheng Sheng poured poisonous wine into the queen's mouth, giving death was a decent statement, and if he was not decent, naturally someone would "assist".
From this, it can also be seen that although the emperor will not give death to the public, there will also be "executioners" on the side, if there is a rebellion or irresistible thing, these people will take matters into their own hands, and one of the consequences of doing so is that it will involve their own family and friends, for this consideration, almost no one will choose to flee.
Of course, there will inevitably be some changes in the process of giving death, it is said that the Qing Dynasty minister Zhao Shuqiao offended Cixi, was given death by Cixi's edict, a dry old eunuch found Zhao Shuqiao and watched him swallow the poison, but a few hours passed, there was no sign of poison, Zhao Shuqiao was still in good spirits, the eunuchs were not good at dealing with each other, they had to let Zhao Shuqiao swallow a large amount of opium again, the result was still no sign of death, and finally the eunuchs were anxious, and they smothered old Zhao with bedding, which can be described as the most difficult to give death.
It is said that there is a reason for such a tortuous death of Zhao Shuqiao, Zhao Shuqiao was a military minister at the time, no less dealings with soldiers, the body is very tough, not to mention That Zhao Shuqiao is also selfish, the poison of the reward is not completely swallowed, and he is still looking forward to someone to help him at the critical time, but his wishful thinking has failed, and Cixi has not been soft-hearted.
These two are examples of failure to escape the scourge, is it not true that so many people in history have not succeeded in escaping? Don't say that there is really, this person is named Jia Daochong, Jia Daochong is a court entertainer, often in and out of the palace, and there is a bad problem that loves to drink, drinking too much on the mouth does not put the door, spreading court gossip everywhere, the emperor is not happy is not like to drink, directly let people send two glasses of poisonous wine.
The poisonous wine was placed in front of him, Jia Daochong could only admit it, and when he took the poisonous wine, he was going to drink it all, just at this time, the son Jia Zhizhi pleaded with the eunuch to allow the eunuch to worship the four gods before his death, the eunuchs felt that the requirements were not excessive, so they approved the last wish, did not expect that when Jia Daochong and the eunuchs were not paying attention, Jia Daochong took the poisonous wine and drank it all, and he prostrated his head to his father, willing to die for his father, saying that Jia Zhi said that he had a big life, and he did not die when he slept, but he fell disabled.
After the eunuchs returned to the palace to resume their lives, they explained the reason to the emperor, and the emperor was greatly moved, and withdrew the will to give death and changed it to exile, so Jia Daochong left a life, which is also the only person recorded in ancient books to escape death.