The story of Ti Qian's rescue of his father comes from the "History of Bian Quecang Gonglie Biography", which has been circulated for nearly 2,000 years so far, and can be described as a household name among the Chinese people. As a model of filial piety, Ti Qian was set up as an example for women in successive dynasties to learn.
Sima Qian recorded it in the Chronicle of History as follows:
In the four years of Emperor Wen's reign, people wrote to Chun Yu to be bribed, and the crime was passed on as a punishment, and chang'an in the west. There are five daughters, and they cry with them. Angered, scolding: "If you give birth to a son and do not give birth to a man, there is no messenger in a hurry!" "So the young girl Ti haunted her father's words, but followed her father's west of Chang'an. The book says: "The concubine father is an official, Qi Zhong calls him honest and peaceful, and now he sits in the law and is punished, and the concubine is in pain and the deceased cannot be revived, and the torturer cannot be renewed, although he wants to reform himself, his way is inexplicable, and he will not be able to get it in the end." The concubines wished to become official concubines in order to atone for their father's sins and to make them rehabilitate. "The book smells, the sad meaning, this year is to remove the meat criminal law."
Although this passage is written in chinese, it is not difficult to read. Through this record, later generations met an ordinary little girl Ti Qian. With great courage and perseverance, she wrote to the then Emperor Wen of Han, lamenting the cruelty of the punishment at that time, and could not give the criminals the opportunity to reform themselves, hoping that she could atone for her father's sins and give his father a chance to reform himself.
What was the punishment like at that time? Most of us are familiar with the fact that there are five types of punishments, ranging from mild to severe: control, detention, fixed-term imprisonment, life imprisonment, and the death penalty. However, the punishment at that time was not what it is now, it was still relatively backward and cruel, mainly the five punishments of slavery that were retained, including ink, sword, sword, palace, and dapu. What is corporal punishment? It is the punishment with the destruction of the body as the main feature, which refers to the other four punishments except for the Great Breakthrough. Da Pei is a collective term for the death penalty. Ink punishment is the lightest of the four types of corporal punishment, also known as tarnishing, which refers to tattooing a character on the face or forehead of the offender and then dyeing it with ink as a symbol of the offender. Execution is to cut off the nose of the offender. Execution, also known as execution, refers to the severe punishment of cutting off the hands or feet of the offender, and also includes the punishment of cutting off the kneecap. Uterine punishment refers to the removal of male genitals and the claustrophobia of women. Corporal punishment is a punishment imposed on the perpetrator's flesh, and after the punishment cannot be restored, even if the offender is rehabilitated, it will not help.
Ti Hao's father, Chun Yuyi, committed a relatively minor crime and was not sentenced to death, but to corporal punishment. Thinking that his father's body was going to be destroyed, Ti Qian was extremely sad in his heart, so he boldly wrote to Emperor Wen of Han, hoping to save his father and give his father a chance to reform himself. It is not unusual for ordinary people to write to the emperor, but it is strange that Emperor Wen of Han actually approved it and issued an edict abolishing corporal punishment. According to Sima Qian, it was Ti Qian's willingness to atone for his father's sins that touched Emperor Wen of Han, and Emperor Wen of Han's benevolent heart was greatly moved, so he issued an edict abolishing corporal punishment.
Its reform plan is: Whoever is finished, is finished as Chengdan; when he is a tuo, the tongs are chengdan; when he is a sword, he is flogged for three hundred; when he who cuts off his left toe, he is flogged for five hundred, and when he is cut off on his right toe, he abandons the city.
Is this really the case? I don't quite agree with Sima Qian's statement. Ti Hao, an ordinary girl, who has so much energy to make Emperor Wen of Han reform the criminal system and abolish corporal punishment? To say that Ti Qian's letter did not move Emperor Wen of Han may not be in line with the facts, Emperor Wen of Han should have been moved, but the reform of the penal system and the abolition of corporal punishment are by no means because of The Book. It can only be said that Ti Qian's letter was the fuse for Emperor Wen of Han to abolish corporal punishment, or it was a cause. The abolition of corporal punishment should have been thinking about it for a long time in the mind of Emperor Wen of Han at that time, and he had already made up his mind. When the matter of Ti Qian's letter to save his father appeared, Emperor Wen of Han seized this opportunity and pushed the boat along the water, initiating one of the most important reforms in the history of punishment in China.
Why did Emperor Wen of Han abolish corporal punishment? The real reason is mainly that the drawbacks of corporal punishment are very obvious.
First, we must not give people the opportunity to reform themselves. After the punishment of cutting off the nose is implemented, even if the offender is rehabilitated, the nose will not grow. After the execution is carried out, even if the offender is rehabilitated, the cut off hands or feet will not grow. After the palace punishment is imposed, even if the offender is rehabilitated, the offender's genitals will not grow.
Second, it was very unfavorable to the productive activities of the society at that time. Many offenders have been tortured, without hands or feet, not only unable to engage in productive activities, but also becoming a heavy burden on society, which is very detrimental to the state.
Third, it is easy to stir up public resentment. An important reason for the death of Qin Dynasty II is that the punishment of the Qin Dynasty was extremely cruel, and the punishment of the Qin Dynasty was a penal system based on corporal punishment.
Try to think about it, if it weren't for Emperor Wen of Han who had been thinking about it for a long time, if Emperor Wendi of Han hadn't had the idea of reforming the penal system and abolishing corporal punishment and had already made up his mind, Ti Hao, such a small ordinary girl, could change the wheel of history? Definitely not. Many people relish the story of Ti Hao's book to save his father, and make Ti Hao an image admired by thousands of people, which is a bit exaggerated and exaggerated. They want to tell people through this incident that small people can do big things, and girls can do big things. In fact, it is not true that the little man can do big things, not the little people, but he happens to be lucky, happens to be the right time, meets the big man, and meets the big man who is trying to do it. In other words, he was very clever, saw the situation clearly, read the mentality of the big people at that time, and grasped the right time to achieve unexpected success. It is not the little people who really change the wheel of history, but the big ones. Of course, whether or not you can succeed has little to do with whether the little people are girls or not. Just like the one mentioned in this article, if an ordinary girl also happens to have the right time, she will also succeed. However, such an opportunity is once in a lifetime, do not believe it, you can look at the history of China for thousands of years, how many like Ti Qian wrote to the emperor and succeeded? Seems like that's the only example, right?
As far as Ti Hao went to save his father, Ti Hao was successful, and his father was not tortured. However, Emperor Wendi of Han's penal reform did not end there. Corporal punishment has been abolished, but new problems have emerged: first, after the right toe was cut off and abandoned, the scope of application of the death penalty was significantly expanded; second, flogging was used instead of slitting and beheading of the left toe, resulting in many of the victims being killed. Did penal reform reduce penalties? It seems impossible to say that. Therefore, after the Han Jing Emperor ascended the throne, he once again carried out the reform of the criminal system, twice issued an edict to reduce the number of floggings, and stipulated the specifications of the torture device, the place of punishment, and the fact that no one could be changed during the execution. The penal reforms carried out by Emperor Wen of Han were further improved.
Ti Hao's book to save his father is commendable and worthy of recognition, but it should not obscure the vision and the truth behind the incident. Small people can succeed, but by chance. Don't be misled by this, as if a small person can do something big by writing a book to the emperor.
Author: Zhang Wei
【Original text, do not reprint】