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Ling Chi's execution, also known as a thousand knives and a thousand knives, is an extremely cruel extra-legal method, an extra-criminal punishment. I once saw an old photograph of the Qing Dynasty, a person who was about to be executed with a thousand knives, and his legs were twisted and deformed, which showed the cruelty of this criminal law and its horror in the minds of the people.
Ling Chi was enshrined in the national penal code and became an official decree, first seen in the Liao Dynasty, The History of the Liao. The Criminal Law Chronicle clearly records that "the death penalty belongs to the category of hanging, beheading, and lingchi". It was abolished by explicit order in the 31st year of the Qing Dynasty (1905 AD). At that time, in order to alleviate the contradictions at home and abroad, the Qing government had to follow the trend of the times to carry out some reforms, called the "New Deal", and the minister of law, Zhang Jiaben, when revising the law, made an invitation to delete Ling Chi, beheading, corpses and other tortures.
Ling Chi became the Fa-rectification from the Liao Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, and was explicitly abolished by decree, which can be said to have begun in "Beijing and ended in Beijing". Where the Liaojin execution ground is, I am afraid it is difficult to investigate now, the Yuan Dynasty execution ground is in ChaiShikou (now the south of Jiaodaokou). The execution ground of the Ming Dynasty, in the West Fourth Arch Building, the execution ground of the Qing Dynasty, in Caishikou. In the more than 1,000 years from the Liao State to the Qing Dynasty, it is difficult to investigate how many prisoners were executed by Ling Chi. The "Great Ming Law" clearly records: "Plotting rebellion against the great rebellion, whoever plots rebellion, is said to be plotting against the society, the great rebellion, the conspiracy to destroy the temple, the mountain mausoleum and the palace, but the conspirators are not divided into leaders and subordinates, and they are all executed." It can be seen from this that Ling Chi was specifically used to execute those who endangered the supreme interests of the ruling class, with the aim of making prisoners suffer more than just a knife. Let those outlaws who shout that "their heads have fallen out of the big scars of the bowl, and they are a good man twenty years later" feel that "people's hearts are like iron, and official laws are like furnaces", and it is not so easy to seek death. Thus playing a deterrent effect of extralegal law and extraterritorial behavior.
According to some eyewitness rumors at the time, the first knife was called "sacrificial heavenly meat", and the executioner cut off a piece of the prisoner's pectoral muscle and threw it into the sky. The second knife is called "blindfold", the executioner cut off the flesh on the prisoner's forehead, shrugged to cover the eyes, in order to avoid looking at each other during the execution, the prisoner's eyes emitted an unusually cold and frightening fierce light, so that the executioner hairy hands and feet.
There are not many records of Ling Chi in the text of the book, only that it is said that "the muscles have been exhausted, and the breath is not exhausted, and the liver and heart are connected and the audio-visual still exists." It is the main purpose of Ling Chi's execution, and the executioner must not violate it. However, in the process of specific implementation, there seems to be no fixed legal procedure.
Many years ago, at the Baoguosi Antique Market in Beijing, I had the privilege of witnessing Ling Chi's execution device. The price was not high, at that time I intended to collect, and I was afraid that its yin qi was too heavy, and I did not start it, which is still quite regrettable. The instrument of torture is loaded by an elm box, which is more than two feet long and less than a foot wide, and after opening, it is divided into two layers, the upper layer is a large torture instrument, and the lower layer is a small torture instrument, of which there are dozens of small knives, large knives, machetes, pliers, small hammers, and small clips. It is really difficult to see such rare objects today.
During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Jin, the grand eunuch who was in charge of the ceremonial superintendent, and the eunuch Liu Jin, who set up the "East Factory" and the "Inner Factory", was executed for three days and three nights when Ling Chi died, and the 3357 knives were slashed. Take a drink of ten knives first, and on the first day you should cut 357 knives, such as large nail clippers, and cut from the chest to the left and right of the chest. It is said that he was able to speak when he was pressed back to the prison that day, and the next day he lost more than 1700 knives, and after returning to the prison, he poured rice soup and the breath still existed, until the third day, all the 3357 knives were cut.
Since the late Ming Dynasty anti-Qing general Yuan Chonghuan left the town of Liaodong, he repeatedly defeated the Qing army and achieved an unprecedented victory in Ningyuan, and the Qing Taizu Nurhaci was wounded by the cannon and died of depression. Emperor Taiji attacked Ning Jin and did not ke, had to avoid the frontal battlefield, took the Inner Mongolia region directly to the city of Beijing, Yuan Chonghuan returned from outside Shanhaiguan to rescue the Beijing Division, a day and night rush, outside the Guang'an Gate, defeated the Qing army, turned the crisis around. However, the suspicious Chongzhen Emperor fell in love with Emperor Taiji's counter-plan, destroyed the Great Wall, and executed Yuan Chonghuan Lingchi for the crime of rebellion. The place of execution was under the South Arch of the West Fourth Arch. The citizens of Beijing did not know the truth, and they also hated Yuan Chonghuan to the bone, and there was a situation of "buying his flesh and eating it, leaving blood on his teeth and cheeks, and hating it endlessly" to dispel the hatred in his heart, and Yuan Chonghuan, when he was executed, "bowed his head and did not say a word, but sighed endlessly." It was not until the Qing Dynasty revised the "History of Ming" and consulted the "Manchu Old Files" that the truth of Yuan Chonghuan's case was made public, and the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty rehabilitated him and established an ancestral hall, and Yuan Chonghuan's death can be described as a major unjust case in the Ming Dynasty.
Who was the last criminal in history to be executed by Ling Chi? He is Kang Xiaoba, who made a big fuss in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty, Kang Xiaoba, nicknamed "Kang Eight Taiye", this person is a famous villain in the Nancheng area of Beijing, and he is also a murderer, this person is brutal, just to give an example, it can be seen. Once Kang Xiaoba was cutting hair in the shaving shed, the shaver and an old customer waiting to shave their faces chatted, the two scolded Kang Xiaoba for being clean and hulai, and would not be able to die in the future, Kang Xiaoba asked the two after cutting his hair, "Do you two know Kang Xiaoba?" The two replied, Who knows this kind of? Kang Xiaoba smiled and said, "Then Kang Eight Master told you two to be a ghost, right?" Saying that, he pulled out his gun and killed the two of them, and said to another customer waiting for a haircut: "Count your luck, when these two Hun but scold Kang Eight Ye, you have oral virtue, there is no cavity, I will keep your mouth, pass a letter to people who want to live for a few more days, and less talk to Kang Eight Master behind your back." ”
Later, Kang Xiaoba was wanted by the government and was said to have been captured by the shape boxers Shang Yunxiang and Ma Yutang, but according to Ma Yutang, Kang Xiaoba did not have any kung fu at all, but only with a strong physique, coupled with the revolver, he dared to do evil everywhere. Soon after, Kang Xiaoba was sentenced to death at Caishikou, and most of the rumors about the execution in old Beijing came from witnesses to Kang Xiaoba's execution. In fact, the time of Kang Xiaoba's execution was not at three o'clock in the afternoon, but at dawn, the witnesses were not too many, at that time the execution had not been used for a long time, and there was no specific clause on the Qing Law, so the executor hastily ended this villain, it is said that only eight knives were cut, friends who are interested can search for pictures on the Internet, because they are too bloody, they will not be detailed here, nor will they be pictured. Kang Xiaoba's death can also be regarded as a conclusion to the execution.
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