after the Han dynasty, the punishment of slapping the staff was chaotic and there were no rules. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, some dynasties used whipping, or whipping, because the whipping staff was too light. Since the Sui Dynasty, it has been officially separated from the staff, and they are all listed as one of the five punishments (namely, slap, staff, imprisonment, exile and death), in which the slap is the lightest, and the staff punishment is slightly heavier than the slap, and the number of the staff, the size of the instruments of torture, the parts to be punished and the terms of sentencing are clearly defined.
As for the number of flogging sticks, Sui, Tang, Song, Jin and even Ming and Qing dynasties all rated flogging as five grades, ranging from ten to fifty, with one grade added for every ten strokes. The punishment of the rod ranges from 6 to 1, and it is also increased for every ten strokes. The punishment in Liao Dynasty was heavy, and there was no flogging. The rod punishment was six grades, 5 to 3, and one grade was added for every 5 strokes. In Yuan Dynasty, the number of strokes with sticks was quite special. The flogging is divided into six grades, from seven to fifty-seven, with one grade for every ten strokes, and one grade for every ten strokes. This number was stipulated by Kublai Khan of Yuan Shizu. His original intention was to reduce the punishment. For the number stipulated in the Song Dynasty, "Give him a break, give him a break, and I will give him a break", so each class was reduced by three times. In fact, in Yuan Dynasty, the flogging was increased by one class, from five to six classes. As a result, except for the lowest flogging, each equivalent in the future increased by seven times compared with that in Song Dynasty. Therefore, during Yuan Dade's reign, Wang Yueqi, the minister of punishment, said: At the beginning of the country, it was stipulated that the staff should be reduced from ten to seven, and the staff should be reduced to forty-seven, and there should be no more fifty-seven grades; Caning punishment should be from 57 to 97, and there should be no more than 17. However, Wang Yue's opinion was adopted, so in the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the criminal law of * * * was always adopted.
There are different regulations in different generations about the dimensions and parts of instruments of torture. In the Han dynasty, regardless of the staff, they were all called pestles, and the size was as mentioned above. Bamboo strips used in the Jin dynasty followed the Han system: the cane was made of raw Jing, which was six feet long, with a big head circumference of one inch and a small head of three and a half. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the staff were also made of raw thorns, which were six feet long and divided into three types: big staff, staves and small staff. The big stick is one inch and three points, and the small head is eight and a half; The big head of the staff is one inch and three points, and the small head is five points; The small staff is one inch around, and the small head is pointed. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were three kinds of staff, namely, the staff used for interrogating prisoners had a diameter of three points, the staff used for the back of prisoners had a diameter of two points, and the staff used for the legs had a diameter of one point. In the Northern Qi Dynasty, there were two kinds of staff, one was four feet long, the big head was three points in diameter, the small head was two points, the other was two and a half points in diameter, and the small head was one and a half points. He was hit in the hip when he was executed, and it is stipulated that no one can be replaced when he is executed. In the Sui Dynasty, the staff was overused, and there was no fixed size. In the Tang Dynasty, the cane was separated from the cane, both of which were three feet and five inches long. The diameter of the big head of the reed is two points, and the small head is one and a half points. There are two kinds of sticks: one is called the prisoner's stick, with a big head diameter of two thirds and a small head of two thirds; The other is called a walking stick, with a big head with a diameter of two points and seven centimeters and a small head with a diameter of seven centimeters. When using punishment, it was hit on the back, buttocks and legs respectively. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, Song Taizu, stipulated that the size of the regular official staff was determined in the fifth year of Zhou Xiande (958). The staff was three feet and five inches long, the width of the big head should not exceed two inches, and the thickness and width of the small head should not exceed nine points. In the sixth year of Song Renzong Tiansheng (128), Nie Guanqing, the manager of Jixian School, wrote that since the staff system was stipulated, the length and width of the staff have been measured, but the weight of the staff is not uniform. Some officials specially made heavy staff and increased punishment, so regulations should be made. Zhao Zhen, Emperor Renzong, took his advice, and made a decree stipulating that the weight of the official staff should not exceed fifteen taels. The size of the gold and Yuan dynasties is uncertain, but it was stipulated that the diameter of the big staff should not exceed five points in gold.
In the Ming Dynasty, the cudgel punishment tools were inherited from the Tang system, with slight changes. There were three types of cudgel, cudgel and cudgel, all of which were three feet and five inches long. Well, the diameter of the big head is two points and seven centimeters, and the small head is one point and seven centimeters; Staff, the big head is two thirds in diameter and the small head is two thirds in diameter; Information staff, the big head is four and a half centimeters in diameter, and the small head is three and a half centimeters. Both the cane and the cane are made of bauhinia strips, which are hit on the buttocks during execution; The cudgel is made of bauhinia wood and is hit on the hip or leg during execution. Gaps, sticks and information sticks used by local governments should be compared and checked with the patterns of instruments of torture issued by the Ministry of Punishment, and only when the dimensions meet the requirements can they be used. That kind of instruments of torture are made of copper and are under the unified management of the Ministry of Punishment. In the Ming dynasty, it was also stipulated that it was not allowed to use animal tendons or leather glue to put nails on sticks when making shackles, sticks and other instruments of torture.
The cane used in the government offices in the Qing Dynasty began to follow the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, and later it should be a bamboo board. The big head of the big bamboo board is two inches wide and the small head is one inch wide. It is difficult to find out when this kind of bamboo board began to be used.
The above-mentioned regulations on the dimensions of instruments of torture used the standards of weights and measures at that time, and the standards of each generation were different from each other, and the standards of modern dimensions were also different. Therefore, the dimensions recorded in historical books were the figures at that time, which was equivalent to the modern measurement standards. It is difficult to verify clearly, and it only reflected the general situation of the instruments of torture in each generation.
as for the crimes committed by each generation and the number of sticks, there are many items, so there is no need to elaborate. It should be mentioned that some dynasties stipulated that those who were sentenced to be punished by flogging could pay property to make amends. For example, the criminal law of the Song Dynasty stipulates that if a sentence of flogging should be ten times, a catty of copper will be redeemed and three times will be exempted; If you should hit 2, redeem 2 Jin of copper and avoid hitting 13 times; If you should hit 3, redeem 3 Jin of copper and avoid hitting 22 times; If you should hit forty, redeem four catties of copper and avoid hitting thirty-two times; If you should hit 5, redeem 5 Jin of copper and avoid hitting 4 times. The same is true of the rod punishment. For those who should be beaten fifty to one hundred, five to ten catties of copper should be redeemed respectively, and thirty-seven to eighty strokes are not required. In the Jin Dynasty, the punishment of beating the rod was also redeemed with copper, and two kilograms of copper was redeemed for every ten strokes. If one hundred sticks were needed, twenty kilograms of copper could be redeemed without hitting. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that the punishment of beating the staff could be redeemed by copper, with half a catty of copper redeemed for every ten strokes and a catty of copper redeemed for every ten strokes. Later, it was changed to money redemption, and every ten times, 6 pieces of copper coins were redeemed. If it should be twenty times, the redemption money would always be ,2 pieces, one hundred sticks and six passes. After Jingtai, the amount of redemption money became larger and larger. In the first year of Jingtai (145), it was stipulated that 2 yuan should be redeemed for every ten feet and 3 yuan for every ten sticks. Later, the dynasties gradually increased the code, and it was stipulated that the money should be converted into silver. The amount of money redeemed by women who should be punished for crimes is even greater. There are also some officials who temporarily stipulate that they can redeem without money, but with what they need. For example, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the magistrate Wang of Rugao County, Jiangsu Province loved butterflies. Whenever someone should be punished with a cane, he asked the prisoners' families to pay the butterfly redemption. When he entertained the guests, he kept the butterflies out, flying all over the house, colorful, like the wind breaking brocade, and the king and the guests laughed for fun. Qing Keting's edition of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Volume 8, contains an article "Flying Butterflies", which describes this matter.
Although the relevant issues of the punishment of flogging were clearly stipulated in various dynasties, the actual implementation was often not in accordance with the formal provisions. Officials often used flogging only according to the subjective will at that time, and the instruments of punishment used often exceeded the official standards. As a result, the punishment of flogging in reality is much more cruel than the provisions of the official criminal law, which makes flogging completely lose its original intention of teaching punishment and become a means of simply punishing people.
At first, flogging was not within the scope of the death penalty, but in various dynasties, from the emperor to the county magistrate, flogging was often used as a way to execute the death penalty, that is, the prisoner was killed under the stick, which was called flogging or stick to kill. In the Han Dynasty, it was very common to die with a cane. After the Sui Dynasty, there were still stories about the killing of stick to kill or in the history books. In the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Emperor Wen of Sui personally ordered the killing of Li Juncai who joined the army in Chuzhou, and also killed Zhao Chuo, a young girl in Dali, and Chen Yan, a young girl in crack. In the Tang Dynasty, various dynasties used stick to kill instead of beheading, strangulation and other death sentences for the captured "anti-thief" leaders. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Mao Zhao Kuangyin was appointed to liyao, the magistrate of Shanghe County, stick to kill, in April of the second year of Jianlong (961), and Dong Yanwei, an inner-class worker in stick to kill, in December of the fifth year of Kaibao (972). In the third year of Taiping and Xingguo (978), Emperor Taizong Zhao Xuan ordered Li Zhigu in stick to kill in July, and Zhan Shicheng and Xu Xuan in stick to kill in August. In the 12th year of Shaoxing in the early Southern Song Dynasty (1142), in September, Emperor Gaozong, Zhao Gou, stick to kill, pretended to be a blessing country, princess royal, Li Shanjing. Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties also killed people with sticks. In the Ming dynasty, the emperor used a scepter on ministers, and many important officials were killed by the scepter. (See this book "Tingzhang") Tingzhang was abolished in the Qing Dynasty, but there are still examples of the emperor's staff killing people. Yong Zhengdi once watched the troupe's performance of "Embroidered Sasakawa". The actors and singers were all excellent, and Yongzheng was overjoyed. He sent a decree to reward the excellent people with food. Because the official position of Zheng Yuanhe's father, Zheng Fei, is the secretariat of the state, an actor asked an official who the current Changzhou magistrate was. When yongzheng emperor learned of this, he was furious: "You are just an actor, how dare you pry into official affairs without authorization!" So the decree put the actor under the stick. Not only the emperor did this, but also officials at all levels did it. In the 11th year of Shunzhi (1654), Li Senxian toured the south of the Yangtze River, and put Wang Zijia and Shang San, the famous excellent people, in Suzhou.
In the past dynasties, various pretexts were often invented to increase the punishment. In the Northern Dynasties, when Yuwen Yun, Emperor Xuandi of Zhou Dynasty, used his staff on people, he had to hit it 12 times, which was called the "heavenly staff", or doubled it to 24 times. There was a man named Yang Wenyou who satirized the state affairs by writing songs, and was told by Zheng Yi that Xuan Di, and Xuan Di ordered the staff to be given 24 to death. In the Five Dynasties, when Liu Zhu of the Southern Han Dynasty used a staff, he always hit two staff at a time, which was called "Acacia Staff". When he was executed, he asked the age of the person who was beaten. The number of sticks must be the same as his age, which is called "sticks with the year". Older prisoners are often killed on the spot. When Emperor Yangdi was in Sui Dynasty, Wang Wentong was appointed as a minister of praise in Hengshan County, and the method of beating prisoners was even more peculiar. He asked people to bury a big wooden stump in the courtyard clearing, which was more than a foot above the ground. He also buried a Xiao Mu branch around the big wooden stump, put the prisoner face down, put his chest on the big wooden stump, tied his limbs on four Xiao Mu branches respectively, and then beat him on the back with a stick. After a few times, he beat his body to death.
Moreover, in the past dynasties, other things were often used instead of sticks. In many cases of killing people with sticks, sticks are used instead of sticks. Compared with sticks, sticks are much heavier, and hitting people is obviously more likely to cause disability or death. In Liao Dynasty, besides the staff, there were wood blade, big sticks, sandbags and iron flowers, all of which were more powerful than the staff. During the reign of Ye Ludeguang, Emperor Taizong of Liao Dynasty (927 ~ 938), he made sticks and wood blade. The number of people who beat people ranged from fifteen to thirty, and few of them were not disabled. Yelujing of Liao Muzong made sandbags again in the calendar year (951 ~ 969). It was made of cowhide, six inches long and two inches wide, and was equipped with a wooden handle more than a foot long. It was stipulated that anyone who should be beaten with a stick of more than fifty would be hit with sandbags. During the execution, the body was slammed, the skin was not scarred, and the internal organs were broken and bleeding. Many people died soon after being punished. Later, the iron bone flower was made, and the number of executions was stipulated as five or seven, but even if it was only a few times, it would be light and fatal. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Li Zong Zhao Yun used cruel punishment, and often used "broken firewood" as a stick to hit people's hands or feet, which was called "falling firewood". Similar to the iron-boned flower in Liao Dynasty, it was called golden melon in Ming Dynasty, and was in charge of the imperial court by a captain, which was often used to punish courtiers. In the first year of Hongxi (1425), Li Shimian angered Zhu Gaochi in Renzong, and Renzong ordered the samurai to hit him with a melon and broke his ribs seventeen times.
Other staff used by cruel officials are specially made. During Chenghua period of Ming Dynasty, when Wang Yan, the supervisor, toured Suzhou, he made a bamboo board out of big bamboo and named it "Fanhuang". When it is used for execution, many people will die before they are beaten enough. Those who are lucky enough to die must also ask craftsmen to carefully remove the bamboo thorns from rotten meat with fine tweezers, and then seek medical treatment to remove the congestion and stay in bed for more than 1 days before they can recover. One day, when Wang Yan visited Wuxi, a monk didn't have time to avoid it and collided with his ceremonial duties. He immediately ordered to blame the monk with a yellow stick. The monk died in a short time. Wang Yan was furious, scolded him for playing dead, and ordered him to continue playing. The monk finally didn't wake up. Later, Wang Yan was promoted to a post in the DPRK, which offended Zhu Jianshen, the xian zong, and he tasted the cudgel at the meridian gate. As a result, he died two days after being cudgeled.
Although there were regulations on what crimes should be punished by flogging, they were often convicted at will and used flogging at will. The servants who serve in the yamen don't know which words offend the officials, and they will be punished by the rod. In the Tang Dynasty, Du Mu said, "When you join the army and the county commandant, the dust is shocking. A word is not cured, and you are covered with sores. " The situation mentioned in the poem is also the same in other dynasties. Cui Hongdu of Sui Dynasty was once eating turtle meat, and eight or nine people were waiting beside him. Cui Hongdu asked them one by one, "Is turtle meat delicious?" Waiters are usually afraid of him and all answer, "Jiamei." Hongdu cursed: "Stupid slave, how dare you lie to me! You haven't eaten this turtle meat, how can you know if it tastes beautiful? " Ordered them to each stick eighty. At that time, there was a proverb in Chang 'an, the capital of Beijing: "It is better to drink three liters of vinegar than Cui Hongdu." It can be seen how tyrannical this Cui is. Yan Rong, a well-known cruel official at the same time as Cui Hongdu, often flogged his opponent when he was in charge of Youzhou. The number of flogging at a time was as high as thousands, and the person who was beaten was dripping with blood. He was drinking and eating meat beside him, and he was as cool as a cucumber. On one occasion, Yan Rong went out to inspect and saw that thorns clustered along the roadside could be used to make a cane, so he asked someone to make one at that time and grab an attendant at will to see if it was easy to use. The man pleaded, "I didn't commit a crime. Why did you hit me?" Yan Rong said: "I hit you today, and if you really commit a crime in the future, just use the number you hit today instead of hitting again." Soon after, the attendant really deserved to be flogged for making a mistake. He immediately said, "I have been flogged last time. Your Excellency said that I should be exempted from punishment if I commit another crime, so I can't hit me today." Yan Rong rebuked him and said, "You didn't commit a crime in fashion and you can get the stick. Now you have committed a crime, shouldn't you get the stick?" So high-handed, beat the man again. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a man named Chen Jingji, the governor of Huzhou. He had a problem and hated crows. He occasionally heard crows in the courtyard in the yamen, so he added a stick to the chief. Therefore, people called him "Chen Laocrow" at that time.
In some dynasties, it was stipulated that the punishment of slapping the staff was to slap the buttocks, that is, spanking. If a woman commits a crime, she needs to use a cane, and it is also a cane butt. Song and Yuan dynasties both had the rule of "taking off clothes and receiving sticks". The Ming dynasty followed the old system, stipulating that women who committed rape and needed to be whipped must take off their pants and be naked. For women, this is not only a cruel pain, but also an embarrassing spiritual humiliation. This provision in the Ming Dynasty caused a social malady. If there were enemies between relatives and neighbors among the people, one side would make shadows, look for trouble, accuse the women in the other family of having an affair, and then bribe the government to arrest the accused women naked. On the day of execution of the penalty, the plaintiff made an appointment with relatives and friends in advance and came to court together, called "Kanda". They also paid off the executioner, so that they could bully the woman in every way during the execution.