In the movie "Manjiang Hong", Wu Yichun, the deputy chief of Wu, who was regarded as a confidant by the emperor, held a death-free gold medal, but was killed by a knife in the hands of He Li, the great secretary under Qin Huan. It is estimated that they are asking questions: Have you read history, there has never been a gold medal in history that is useless.
The official name of the death-free gold medal in ancient times was "Golden Book Iron Coupon", or "Danshu Iron Coupon", also known as "Golden Book Iron Coupon", "Golden Coupon", "Silver Coupon", "World Coupon", etc., and the province was called "Iron Coupon".
The death-free gold medal is a kind of privilege certificate awarded by ancient Chinese emperors to meritorious and heavy ministers, commonly known as "death-free card". As the name suggests, the death-free gold medal is exempt from death, and the holder can be exempted from one death if he encounters a major crime. Although the death-free gold medal is not a real document prescribed by law, but a form of commendation, the person who holds the death-free gold medal will also be regarded as the emperor's cronies and favorites, and have a prominent status.
In Chinese history, there are many records of death-free gold medals. Here are some important records:
1. Han Dynasty: A golden book and iron coupon issued by Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, to the meritorious minister Xiao He, with the words "Xiao He Xiangguo" engraved on it, and granted him the exemption of nine capital crimes.
2. Tang Dynasty:
According to the "Forty-five Heroes of the Tang Society" and the "Old Book of Tang Lineage VII". On August 6 of the first year of Wude, Li Yuan was made a meritorious minister, and a full twenty death-free gold medals were struck: Shang Shuling Qin King Li Shimin two pieces, Right Servant Shooting Pei Yin two pieces, Nayan Liu Wenjing two pieces, left Xiaowei general Changsun Shunde, right Xiaowei general Liu Hongji, Dushui supervisor Zhao Wenke, Right Tunwei general Dou Jun, Wei Lieutenant Shaoqing Liu Zhenghui, Hongluqing Liu Shilong, Commander Yin Kaishan, Zuo Yiwei general Chai Shao, Neishi Shilang Tang Jian, Kube Langzhong Samurai Yu (yuē), Hussar general Zhang Pinggao, left Xiaowei Changshi Shi Xu Shixu, Li Sixing of the Third Unified Army of the Left Army, Li Gaoqian, General of the Left Wuwei, and others each had one piece.
In August of the fourth year of Qianning (897 AD), Emperor Tang Zhaozong gave Qian Li the envoys of Zhenhai and Zhendong in Zhejiang, also known as the Qian Wang Iron Coupon, one of the four existing Danshu iron coupons in China, and the earliest of the four Danshu iron coupons.
3. Ming Dynasty: Li Shanchang, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, holds the Danshu iron coupon, which can be exempted from nine capital crimes. His descendants also inherited this honor and enjoyed it hereditarily.
4, Qing Dynasty: In the eyes of Qianlong, Helong is likely to be a person with good charm and ability, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a "dragon and phoenix among people", and then Helong was rewarded by Qianlong with a "Danshu iron coupon", to the effect that there is a high probability of avoiding death in the event of a mistake in the future.
5. Others: In addition to the above dynasties, there are many scattered records of death-free gold medals. For example, there are records of such honorary documents during the Yuan Dynasty and the Republic of China.
Is the death-free gold medal really death-free?
The first thing to say is that at least everyone who has watched "Manjiang Hong" knows that Wu Yichun is not exempt from death, and the death-free gold medal seems to have accelerated death, earlier than Zhang Da.
Here's a look at which of the people who have been awarded the death-free gold medal in history and have not:
Zhao Wenke, the Duke of Xinxing County: First he was defeated by Liu Wuzhou's general Song Jingang, and later he lost Taiyuan City under the command of Li Yuanji. Li Yuan did not cure Li Yuanji, but sent Zhao Wenke to death in prison.
Liu Wenjing in the Tang Dynasty: The death is unknown, and the cause of his death cannot be explained to this day, because according to the "Old Book of Tang", Liu Wenjing's home is "haunted": "There were several monsters in the house, and Wen Qi (Liu Wenjing's younger brother) was worried, so he summoned the witch under the star and was given a knife, which was a method of disgust and victory." "It was not a crime to do something ridiculous at home like this, and the county officials who did it a thousand years later often did it, and the county order was not punished for it - they fell because of other corruption cases."
Liu Wenjing was unlucky because he, like Dong Cheng and Huang Kui during the Three Kingdoms period, was pitted by concubines: "Wen Jing had a concubine who fell out of favor, so he sued his brother, and the concubine brother changed." "What a strikingly similar scene! The person in charge of hearing Liu Wenjing's case was his nemesis Pei Ying, and the result was, of course, beheading and raiding the house: "Kill Wen Jing and Wen Qi, but still have no home." ”
Li Shanchang: He was one of the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty. In the Hu Weiyong rebellion case, Li Shanchang was implicated, and although he did not participate in the rebellion, he did not report it to Zhu Yuanzhang, which made Zhu Yuanzhang have killing intent on him. In the end, in the twenty-third year of Hongwu, Li Shanchang was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang on charges of treason, ending his legendary life.
Hejun: Executed by Qianlong's son Qingrenzong, before dying, Hejun took out his "Danshu Iron Ticket" to save his life, but when Helong saw it, there were only 3 words on the Danshu Iron Ticket: "Keep the whole corpse".
It can be seen that in history, the death-free gold medal is not exempt from death, and Wu Yichun, the deputy chief of Wu, probably still read less history books, and wanted to bet on the death-free gold medal, but missed his life. In ancient times, a king let his subjects die, how could the courtiers not die?