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introduction
In ancient times on the mainland, there were many punishments, some of which were simply inhuman, and among the many punishments, one was well known to the audience, that is, the beheading shown by the ancients.
Generally, only those who are extremely evil or have committed great sins will do so, also to warn the people.
For the ancients, beheading was a spiritual insult, and the ancients talked about the parents who suffered physically, and paid attention to the loss of a full beard and tail. However, beheading makes people decapitated, which is undoubtedly humiliating, and the person who is beheaded cannot enter the family ancestral grave, which will be considered incomplete.
(Ancient beheading)
Therefore, in ancient times, beheading, the knife must be a heavy responsibility, and the prisoner often knelt during the execution and accepted the slaughter of the executioner. Why did they choose to kneel? It has become a question in the hearts of many people, saying that there is gold under their knees, why did they not resist and kneel?
First, the ancient head is difficult to break the neck
The beheading of the ancients is also known as the beheading. The meaning of the cane is that after the decapitation, the head will be hung high for public display, because the animal will eat its parents after birth, leaving only one head.
For the ancients, beheading was also the most unseemly way to die, otherwise they would not often chant about leaving a "whole corpse".
In terms of decapitation, the first thing to train is the technique of the executioner. It must be known that the broken bones of the human body are still connected to the tendons, and some beheading requirements, in order to let the executioner not cut off all the skin, but to keep, meaning the whole corpse. This is more of a test of technology, and the cervical vertebrae at the neck are not so easy to cut off.
(Executioner)
In history, there have been 17 consecutive slashes before they were successfully executed. For the beheading of the ancients, I am afraid that the most difficult thing is also here, in a record of the Qing Dynasty, there was a mention of a military general. The military general acted unleashed, had bad thoughts, and after being arrested, he was sentenced by the emperor to behead and show public and escorted to Caishikou.
At this time, in the process of transportation to the execution ground, the military general said that he was a Manchu and did not want to die by the Han people. Baturu, who had escorted him, agreed to his request and prepared to be killed on the spot. And in the process of being beheaded, the military general's head could not be cut off.
And such things are not uncommon in ancient times, and executioners who can cut off their heads with a knife have practiced their skills to the point of perfection. Most of the executioners did not kill with a single knife, but added pain to the dead. How could the martial general die, so he had to take the initiative to uphold Barutu, saying that if he cut the tendons with a knife first, he could cut it.
(Ancient beheading, picture and text have nothing to do)
So when decapitated, will the human body still react? According to research, the last thing that people disappear is hearing. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, after a first-fought Qingming was about to be beheaded, his family looked at his dead head and relieved him that the rest of the people were safe and sound, and then his eyes closed.
And the ancients chose to behead for a reason, we can often see who cut off whose head and sacrificed to whom to show sincerity in war, or in power struggles. For example, at that time, Jing Ke's assassination of Qin was to present Fan Yuji's first rank as a gift to the King of Qin.
And the reason why the first level is so important is because it is difficult to fake, and it can also show that this person is really dead. Showed his sincerity. So for beheading, it is also a kind of surrender. And hanging the first level high is even more of a shame, in this way, to show the power.
(Cut off the first stage)
Second, when the ancients beheaded, why did the prisoners choose to kneel?
Before beheading, the ancients generally gave the prisoner the last meal, commonly known as the "severed head meal", and the severed head meal would also be as rich as possible to meet the prisoner's requirements. Because after eating this meal, you will walk on the Huangquan Road, so don't be a starving ghost. When prisoners are substituted for execution, they generally wait for the good time to be beheaded.
This involves the "three o'clock at noon" that we often refer to, and we often see film and television works that often shout that the three o'clock at noon has arrived and that the execution is carried out immediately.
So why do you have to wait until this time, according to the ancient timekeeping method of the mainland, from eleven o'clock to one o'clock in the afternoon, it is called noon, and the three o'clock at noon is also regarded by the ancients, which is the most vigorous period of the day.
(3:00 p.m.)
After all, it is a matter of life and death, for the ancients also involves metaphysical yin and yang, killing when the yang is at its peak can reduce the yin qi of the prisoner, and the person killed at this time, even the ghost can't do it, so there is no way to seek revenge. Still others believe that this is the time when a person's spirit is weakest, and the pain he feels is the least, which can make the prisoner walk better.
What sins were committed in ancient times that would have been chosen to be beheaded? Generally speaking, it is malicious murder, or the killing of children, especially the protection of children, and even more so in the Ming and Qing dynasties. And in ancient times, families were often implicated, and generally a family was beheaded, and the rest of the people would not be able to raise their heads.
In ancient times, women were even more demanding, and if a woman was found to have committed adultery with a foreign man, she would also be charged with a crime, and both would be killed. Generally, at the time of execution, prisoners are asked to kneel down and accept the punishment. You know, many people kneel to their parents, but before the execution, they are forced to kneel, but few people resist, why is this?
(The ancients knelt when executed)
First of all, the first reason is that ordinary death row prisoners are not treated well in prison before they are executed, or even suffer a punishment first, and finally it is their turn to be beheaded. Many prisoners were exhausted and beaten in prison, so when the jailers slipped them to their knees at the execution ground, they were powerless to resist.
Therefore, instead of kneeling voluntarily, kneeling at this time is also "forced" to volunteer, and they also know in their hearts that they are powerless to resist, so at this time, it is not important whether it is kneeling to execute. In fact, from here, we can also know that the average ancient death row prisoner knows that he will definitely die, and he will not have more will to survive.
The second reason for kneeling is related to ancient ritual law. People kneel to the Son of Heaven and high-ranking officials, so generally speaking, when prisoners see the officials supervising the execution, they are originally meant to kneel. Therefore, kneeling at this time is also understandable, officials judge the people, and superiors judge subordinates, they should kneel.
(Kneeling criminal)
And many people are just righteous, rather than give in, and when they encounter such a situation, they will also be forced to kneel down by the officials next to them to show their submission. In fact, it is just a bad custom under the ancient feudal society, these officials must show their official prestige wherever they are.
The third reason for kneeling is because kneeling to receive the execution will be less painful. As we mentioned earlier, the requirements of ancient executioners were very high, but many people still could not be killed by one sword, and even had to be slashed several times in a row. If the prisoner kneels and leans down, it will also be easier for the executioner to exert force.
And this can greatly alleviate the pain of beheading, after all, people are always afraid of death, if you can directly end your life, it is okay not to feel the pain. But if you want to keep watching yourself die, I am afraid that this result is even more unacceptable.
(Ancient executions)
Therefore, in general, in this case, ancient prisoners would take the initiative to kneel to achieve the purpose of mitigation. It is also worth mentioning that actively kneeling is nothing to them. In the face of death, everything is downlooked, there is no need to fight anymore. And generally before the execution, basically will not eat anything other than eating the severed head.
At this time, the prisoner's physical condition is not good enough, and it can be said that he is unable to support himself to stand. So to sum up, the prisoner will choose to kneel during the execution, anyway, it has reached the last moment, and it is probably resigned.
Third, why did the ancients choose to behead after the autumn, and what punishments were there in ancient times?
The ancients were very particular about life and death, and generally for the decapitated criminals, they would also add a sentence, "Ask about beheading after autumn." So do you know why you chose this time after autumn? And what's the point? First of all, in the book "Li Ji" in the mainland, our door first discovered the meaning of "asking for beheading after autumn".
(Ask chop)
When the autumn breeze rises, when the frost falls, "the eagle is a sacrificial bird, and it is slaughtered with the beginning." And in the spring, the looting and killing should stop. During the Western Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu believed that paying attention to the unity of heaven and man, there were four seasons on this day, so the emperor, as the son of heaven, should be divided into four stages according to the seasons so that they could correspond to each other.
For example, spring should be celebrated, summer should accept the last time, and the punishment will be carried out in autumn and winter, they believe that this is the will of God and cannot be violated. Therefore, when the execution is usually carried out, autumn and winter are chosen, and such a provision is even written into the law. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were regulations that could only be killed in autumn and winter.
And this is the origin of the post-autumn questioning, in fact, the post-autumn questioning beheading is also a kind of suspended sentence in disguise, at this time the prisoner will be locked up in prison, waiting for death to come,
So what other punishments were there in ancient times? I'm sure you must have heard of the five-horse split corpse, also commonly known as the car crack. The limbs and head of the person are tied to ropes, put on five horses, and then the five horses run to different places at the same time, and the body is directly torn apart. Historically, Qin Shi Huang's mother's male pet was killed by a car.
(Car crack)
There is also Ling Chi to death, Ling Chi is extremely torturous, he will not let you die directly, but will cut off the flesh on the prisoner one by one. He kept feeling pain, but he couldn't die immediately, and in the later stage, the prisoner didn't have a good piece of meat on him, which was daunting.
There is also a type of waist beheading, which is a punishment handed down from the Zhou Dynasty to cut people off from the waist. During the Zhou Dynasty, people ate people, so they used this method to eat human flesh. And the cruelty of the waist chopping made people unbearable, and it was not until the Yongzheng period that the waist chopping was abolished.
(Waist chop)
In modern times, these punishments are explicitly forbidden, and beheadings were officially replaced by executions in 1905, and these ancient punishments are denied by modern civilization because they are too cruel and have lost their humanitarian spirit.
Resources
Why is the "head of the flag" called "the head of the flag"[J]. Health Care Guide:Middle-aged and Elderly Health, 2013(3):29-29.
Lili. From Ling Chi's beheading to shooting[J]. National New Bibliography, 1998(4):2.