During the Song Dynasty, there was a county seat in Baoding Province, Hebei Province, and there was an executioner named Wang Shoucheng in the county seat.
Wang Shoucheng's family has been the executioner of generations, from his grandfather's generation, to his father's generation, all the way to his generation; and he is the only executioner in this city!
Originally, there were also a few executioners in this city, all because of a legend in the city, and eventually fewer and fewer people did this profession, and later only Wang Shoucheng was left.
The legend in the city is that the executioner's hands are stained with blood, and he will not die, and he will suffer hell after death.
Wang Shoucheng's grandfather lived to be forty years old and died suddenly; his father, fearing legends, waited for Wang Shoucheng to take over his errands and returned home to retire, and eventually only lived to be fifty years old.
But Wang Shoucheng was now nearly sixty years old, still in good health, and did not have any diseases; the county magistrate sentenced a prisoner on death row, and it was still up to him to execute the knife.
Because of this, some people have targeted his fat difference.
This man was called Zhang Li, and originally his father had also been an executioner, but he had not escaped the legend of the ancient city, and he had died just after reaching forty, which frightened his mother into saying that he would not let him inherit his father's mantle.
And this zhang li, and there is no craftsmanship, but also delicious lazy to do, the family is often too poor to open the pot, seeing that Wang Shoucheng is going to work until the age of sixty, still in good health, and does not see the fulfillment of the legend of the ancient city, he wants to see what is going on.
On this day, Wang Shoucheng finished his errands at Yamen, changed out of his blood-stained clothes, changed into clean clothes, and went out of the city.
Zhang Li dressed up in disguise and followed closely behind.
When he saw Wang Shoucheng leave the city, he went to the temple on the back hill, put on a few pillars of incense, and put some copper coins into the merit box, and then chatted with a master.
The master seemed to know him, took a book of scripture from his arms, and handed it to Wang Shoucheng.
Wang Shoucheng, who looked happy, left the temple with the scriptures.
Zhang Li quietly followed Wang Shoucheng again.
Only to see Wang Shoucheng go up the back hill, in a clearing, pull out a strand of the hair of the prisoner who had just been executed, chant something in his mouth, tear off a scripture with his hand, paste it on the strand of hair, and burn it together.
When Zhang Li saw this, he pondered in his heart, but he understood a little, and quickly returned to the city to find the county commander.
Sure enough, soon after, a second executioner appeared in the ancient city, and that person was Zhangli.
Because Zhang Li was younger than Wang Shoucheng, the county magistrate's errand of executing the death penalty was robbed by Zhang Li.
In this way, Wang Shoucheng was idle, and his salary became less and less.
But Wang Shoucheng didn't care.
The people of the ancient city said: Zhang Li's execution is very disciplined, and after each execution, a strand of the prisoner's hair will be taken, and then a page of scripture will be covered and burned together.
When Wang Shoucheng heard this, he was stunned, and his face was very ugly.
More than ten years have passed, and at this time, Wang Shoucheng is already old, his life is not as generous as before, and his son has not continued to do his errands.
As for Zhang Li, after being an executioner for less than five years, he fell ill and died.
But people no longer believe in any ancient city legends, after all, Wang Shoucheng is still alive and well.
At the age of eighty, Wang Shoucheng died without illness, with a kind smile on his face.
After taking care of the aftermath, Wang Shoucheng's son, with a piece of paper, found Zhang Li's family. By this time, Zhang Li's son had inherited his father's mantle and served as an executioner.
Zhang Li's son was somewhat surprised to see Wang Shoucheng's son coming.
"This is my father's method of escaping from killing and surrendering, and my father confessed before he died, and when he dies, he will be made public, and I will bring this to me, hoping that you will be saved from the suffering of hell and reincarnation." Wang Shoucheng's son said.
Zhang Li's son, with a look of surprise, took the note and saw that it was simply written with two lines:
The executioner's rules:
The first is that the dead man's hair is covered with scriptures and burned, which is to cover up the ferocity of the prisoner.
When he saw the second one, Zhang Li's son was suddenly stunned and directly stupid.
Because this second is the most important sentence: I will not kill you, you will also die, die early and reincarnate early! You and I have no cause and effect!
This is the rule that Wang Shoucheng has always followed, and according to his son, this is the legend of a high man.