After the Han Dynasty, the punishment of whipping staff was chaotic and disorganized. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, some dynasties used whipping, or flogging, because the whipping rod was too light. Since the Sui Dynasty, it was officially separated from the staff, and all of them were listed as one of the five punishments (namely, slap, staff, prison, exile and death). Among them, slapping is the lightest, and the rod punishment is slightly heavier than slapping, and the number of rods, the size of instruments of torture, the parts to be punished and the sentencing period are clearly defined.
As for the number of flogging, Sui, Tang, Song, Jin and even Ming and Qing dynasties all designated flogging as five grades, ranging from ten strokes to fifty strokes, with one grade added for every ten strokes. The punishment for whipping varies from 60 to 100, and it is aggravated for every ten strokes. The punishment in Liao Dynasty was heavier, and there was no flogging. There are six levels of stick punishment, 50 to 300, and one level is added every 50 times. The number of strokes with sticks in Yuan Dynasty is quite special. There are six levels of flogging, from level seven to level fifty-seven, with one level for every ten strokes and one level for every ten strokes. This figure was stipulated by Kublai Khan of Yuan Shizu. His original intention was to reduce the punishment. For the number of "spare him, spare him, and I will spare him" stipulated in the Song Dynasty, each class was reduced by three times. In fact, in the Yuan Dynasty, flogging was increased by one level, from five to six. As a result, except for the lowest flogging, every equivalent value in the future has increased seven times compared with that in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, during Yuan Dade's reign, Wang Shangshu, the minister of punishment, said: At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was stipulated that the number of employees should be reduced from ten to seven, and the number of employees should be reduced to forty-seven, and there should be no more 57 products; Whipping should range from 57 to 97 and should not exceed 107. But Wang Yue's opinion was adopted, so the criminal law was always adopted at the end of Yuan Dynasty.
The regulations on the size and location of instruments of torture vary from generation to generation. In the Han dynasty, regardless of the staff, they were all called pestles, and the size was as mentioned above. Bamboo slips used in the Jin dynasty followed the Han system: the walking stick was a living tree, six feet long, with a big head surrounded by an inch and a small head with three and a half sections. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the staff was also made of raw thorns, which was 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 staff has a big head of one inch and three points and a small head of five points; The stick is about an inch, with a small head and a sharp tip. There are three kinds of sticks in the Northern Wei Dynasty, that is, the sticks used for interrogating prisoners are three points in diameter, the sticks used for prisoners' backs are two points in diameter and the sticks used for legs are one point in diameter. There are two kinds of sticks in the Northern Qi Dynasty, one is four feet long, the big head is three points in diameter, the small head is two points in diameter, the other is two and a half points in diameter, and the small head is 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. The Sui Dynasty overused sticks, and there was no fixed size. In the Tang Dynasty, the walking stick and the walking stick were separated, both 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 a prison stick, with a big head two-thirds in diameter and a small head two-thirds; The other is called crutches, with a big head diameter of two minutes and seven centimeters and a small head diameter of seven centimeters. When using punishment, hit it on the back, ass and leg respectively. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the number of official staff stipulated by Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin was determined in the fifth year of Zhou Xiande (958). This staff is 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 (1028), Nie, a captain of Jixian County, 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 have specially made heavy sticks and increased the punishment, so they have to make regulations. Zhao Zhen, Emperor Injong, adopted his suggestion and issued a decree stipulating that the weight of official staff should not exceed 15 Liang. The size of the Jin and Yuan Dynasties was uncertain, but it was stipulated that the diameter of the stick should not exceed five points of gold.
The cudgel punishment system in the Ming Dynasty was inherited from the Tang system, with a slight change. There are three kinds of sticks, sticks and sticks, all three feet and five inches long. Well, the big head is 2.7 cm in diameter and the small head is 1.7 cm. Staff, two-thirds in diameter with big head and two-thirds in diameter with small head; Information officer, the big head is four and a half centimeters in diameter and the small head is three and a half centimeters. Walking sticks and rattan are made of bauhinia strips, which are hit on the ass during execution; The stick is made of bauhinia wood, and it hits the buttocks or legs during execution. Gaps, sticks, information sticks, etc. used by local governments should be compared and checked with the styles of instruments of torture issued by the Ministry of Punishment, and can only be used if the dimensions meet the requirements. That kind of torture device is made of copper and is under the unified management of the punishments department. In the Ming Dynasty, it was also stipulated that when making shackles, sticks and other instruments of torture, nails should not be nailed on sticks with animal tendons or leather glue.
The walking stick used by the Qing government began to follow the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, and later it should be a bamboo board with a big head two inches wide and a small head one inch wide. It is difficult to find out when this kind of bamboo board came into use.
The above-mentioned regulations on the dimensions of instruments of torture of all generations used the standards of weights and measures at that time. The standards of all generations are different, and the standards of modern dimensions are also different. Therefore, the size recorded in the history books is the number at that time, which is equivalent to the modern measurement standard. It is difficult to verify clearly, but it only reflects the general situation of various generations of instruments of torture.
As for the crimes committed by each generation and the number of sticks, there are many entries, so I don't need to elaborate. It is worth mentioning that some dynasties stipulated that people sentenced to flogging could pay property to make amends. For example, the criminal law of the Song Dynasty stipulated that one sentence was flogged ten times, and one catty of copper was redeemed without three times. If you should hit 20, redeem 2 Jin of copper to avoid hitting 13 times; If you should hit 30, redeem 3 Jin of copper to avoid hitting 22 times; If you should hit forty, redeem four catties of copper and avoid hitting thirty-two times; If you should hit 50, redeem 5 Jin of copper to avoid hitting 40. So is the stick punishment. Those who need to fight 50 dozen and 100, redeem 5 Jin to 10 Jin of copper respectively, and don't fight 37 dozen and 80. In the Jin Dynasty, the punishment of beating the rod was also redeemed with copper, and two Jin of copper was redeemed for every ten strokes. If you need a hundred sticks, 20 kilograms of copper can be redeemed without hitting. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that the punishment of beating the staff could be redeemed with copper, with half a catty of copper redeemed for every ten strokes and one catty of copper redeemed for every ten strokes. Later, it was changed to money exchange, and 600 copper coins were exchanged every ten times. If it should be 20 times, the redemption money will always be 0,200 yuan, 100 pieces and six passes. After Jingtai, the amount of redemption became larger and larger. In the first year of Jingtai (1450), it was stipulated that 200 yuan should be exchanged for every ten feet and 300 yuan for every ten sticks. Later, the dynasties gradually increased the code, stipulating that money should be converted into silver. Women who should be punished for crimes have a larger redemption amount. There are also some officials who temporarily stipulate that you can redeem it without money, but use what you need. For example, in the late Ming Dynasty, the magistrate Wang of Rugao County, Jiangsu Province loved to raise butterflies. Whenever someone should be punished with rattan, he asks the prisoner's family to pay the butterfly ransom. When he entertained the guests, he kept the butterflies out and flew around the room in colorful colors, like the wind blowing through brocade. The king and the guests all laughed happily. The eighth volume of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, published by Qing Keting, contains an article "Flying Butterfly", which describes this matter.
Although there were clear regulations on the punishment of flogging in each dynasty, the actual execution was often not in accordance with the formal regulations. Officials often use whipping only according to the subjective will at that time, and the instruments of torture used often exceed the official standards. In this way, 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 simple means of punishing people.
Originally, the death penalty was not under the staff, but from the emperor to the county magistrate, the staff was often used as the way to execute the death penalty, that is, the prisoner was killed under the staff, which was called stick to kill. In the Han dynasty, it was common to die with a stick. After the Sui Dynasty, there were still stories about clubbing or clubbing in history books. In the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wendi personally ordered the killing of Li Juncai, who joined the army in Chuzhou, and also killed Zhao Chuo, a girl from Dali, and Chen Yan, a girl who was a crack. In the Tang Dynasty, the leaders of "anti-thieves" captured by various dynasties were all killed with sticks, instead of beheading and strangulation. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Mao appointed him as Bangsha in Shanghe County. In April of the following year (96 1), he and Dong Yanyou, a member of the Bangsha inner class, met in December of the fifth year of Kaibao (972). In the third year of Taiping and Xingguo (978), Zhao Xuan of Emperor Taizong ordered Li Zhigu to be killed with a stick in July and Zhan Shicheng and Xu Xuan to be killed with a stick in August. In the 12th year of Shaoxing in the early Southern Song Dynasty (1 142), in September, Zhao Gou Emperor Gaozong, killed princess royal with a stick, and pretended to be a rich country. Liao Jinyuan also killed people with sticks. The Ming emperor used a scepter to his ministers, and many important officials were killed by it. (See the book Zhang Ting) Zhang Ting was abolished in the Qing Dynasty, but there are still examples of the emperor's aides killing people. Yong Zhengdi once watched "Embroidered Sasakawa" performed by the troupe. The actors and singers were excellent, and Yongzheng was overjoyed. He ordered that excellent people should be rewarded with food. Because Zheng Yuanhe's father, Zheng Fei's official position is the State Secretariat, an actor asked an official who is the current Changzhou magistrate. Yong Zhengdi was furious when he learned of this: "You are just an actor, how dare you spy on official business without authorization!" So the law puts the actors in a difficult position. 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, putting Wang Zijia and Shangsan, famous outstanding people, to death with a stick.
In the past dynasties, when flogging and caning were carried out, various names were often invented to aggravate the punishment. In the Northern Dynasties, when Zhou Xuandi's Yu Wenyun hit someone with a stick, he had to hit 120, which was called "heavenly stick", or doubled it to 240. There was a man named Yang Wenyou who wrote a satirical song about state affairs, which was known by Zheng Yi. Xuan Di and Xuan Di ordered 240 people under his command to be executed. In the Five Dynasties, when Liu Zhu used one staff, he always hit two at a time, which was called "Acacia Staff". When executing the death penalty, he asked the age of the person who was beaten. The number of sticks must be the same as his age, which is called "stick with the year". Older prisoners are often killed on the spot. When Yang Di was in the Sui Dynasty, Wang Wentong was appointed as the commender of Hengshan County, and the method of beating prisoners was even more peculiar. He asked people to bury a big stump in the open space of the yard. The stump was more than a foot above the ground. He also buried the small wooden branches around the big wooden pier, put the prisoner face down, put his chest on the big wooden pier, tied his limbs to four Xiao Mu branches respectively, and then beat him on the back with a stick. After several times, he killed the body.
Moreover, in the past dynasties, when using the rod punishment, something else was often used instead of the rod. 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 the Liao Dynasty, besides sticks, there were wood blade, sticks, sandbags and iron flowers, all of which were more powerful than sticks. Ye Lude, Emperor Taizong of Liao Dynasty (927 ~ 938), 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 made sandbags again in the past years (95 1 ~ 969). It is made of cowhide, six inches long and two inches wide, with a wooden handle more than a foot long. It is stipulated that anyone who is hit with more than 50 sticks should be hit with sandbags. During the execution, the body was hit hard, the skin was not scarred, and the internal organs were broken and bleeding. Many people died soon after being punished. Later, it was made of iron bone flowers, and the number of executions was set at five or seven, but even if it was only a few times, it was light and fatal. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Li Zong and 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 bone flower in Liao Dynasty, it was called golden melon in Ming Dynasty. A captain was in charge of the court and was often used to punish courtiers. In the first year of Hongxi (1425), Li Shimin angered Zhu Gaochi in Injong, and Injong ordered the samurai to hit him with a melon and broke his ribs 17 times.
The staff used by other cruel officials are specially made. During Chenghua period of Ming Dynasty, when Wang Yan, the supervisor, toured Suzhou, he made a bamboo board with a big bamboo pole and named it "Huang Fan". When used for execution, many people died before they had enough. Those who are lucky enough to die must also ask craftsmen to carefully remove bamboo thorns from carrion with fine tweezers, then go to a doctor to remove blood stasis and stay in bed for more than 100 days before they can recover. One day, when Wang Yan was playing in Wuxi, a monk had no time to escape, which clashed with his etiquette duties. He immediately ordered the monk to be accused with a yellow stick. The monk soon died. 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 work in North Korea, which offended Zhu Jianshen, the xian zong, and he tasted sticks at the meridian gate. He was beaten with a stick for two days and died.
Although there are regulations on which crimes should be punished by flogging, they are often convicted at will and flogging is used at will. The officers who serve in the yamen, if they don't know which words offend the officials, will be beaten with sticks. In the Tang Dynasty, Du Mu said, "Joining the army and the county commandant shocked the world. If you can't cure it in one sentence, you will get sore all over. " The situation mentioned in the poem is also true in other dynasties. Cui Hongdou of the Sui Dynasty was once eating fish and nails, waiting for eight or nine people next to him. Cui Hong asked them one by one: "Is the fish meat delicious?" Waiters are usually afraid of him and all answer, "Mei Jia." Hong du cursed: "stupid slave, how dare you lie to me!" You haven't eaten this turtle meat, how do you know if it tastes delicious? " Ordered them to post eighty copies each. At that time, there was a proverb in Chang 'an, the capital: "Three liters of vinegar is not as good as Cui Hongdu." This shows how tyrannical this Cui is. Yan Rong, a famous cruel official who was contemporary with Cui Hongdu, often whipped his opponent when he was in charge of Youzhou. The number of people flogging at a time is as high as thousands, and the people who are beaten are dripping with blood. He drank and ate meat beside him, as cool as a cucumber. On one occasion, when Yan Rong went out to inspect, he saw that the thorns on the roadside could be used to make a walking stick, so he asked someone to make one at that time, and grabbed a follower casually to see if it worked. The man pleaded, "I didn't commit a crime." Why did you hit me? " Yan Rong said: "I hit you today. If you really commit a crime in the future, use the number you called today, and don't call again." Soon after, the waiter made a mistake and really deserved to be whipped. He immediately said, "I was whipped last time." Adults say that I will be exempted from punishment if I commit another crime, so I can't hit me today. " Yan Rong reprimanded him and said, "You didn't commit a fashion crime. You can get a stick. Now that you have committed a crime, shouldn't you get hit with a stick? " So he threw himself into it and beat the man again. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a man named Chen Jingji, who was the governor of Huzhou. He has a problem. He hates crows. He occasionally heard crows in the courtyard in the yamen, so he added a stick to the chief. Therefore, people called him "Old Crow" at that time.
In some dynasties, the punishment of slapping the staff was spanking. A woman needs a cane to commit a crime, and it's also a cane ass. Both the Song and Yuan Dynasties had the rule of "taking off clothes and connecting sticks". The Ming dynasty followed the old system, stipulating that women who committed rape and needed whipping had to 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 people have enemies between relatives and neighbors, one side will create shadows, make trouble, accuse the other woman of having an affair, and then bribe the government to arrest the accused woman naked. On the day of execution of the penalty, the plaintiff made an appointment with relatives and friends in advance and came to the court together, which was called "Kanda". They also paid off the executioner in order to abuse women in every way during the execution. Officials are good at this kind of thing. Their methods include "digging taro", "digging water chestnut", "cutting gourd" and "peeling water chestnut". Sometimes, before the county magistrate is promoted to the court, the county magistrate first takes off the pants of the defendant for public display, which is called "hanging the buttocks"; Sometimes after the execution, women are still not allowed to wear pants, and then they are dragged to the street in front of the door and called "selling meat". In this case, some women can't stand the humiliation and then commit suicide when they go back. There is also a convention that the defendant woman must go to court barefoot. Before going to court, you should put on a torture device in front of your office for temporary detention. At this time, the enemy took the opportunity to make trouble and encouraged rogue children to take off women's shoes and trousers. Some people picked them up conveniently and people all over the street circulated them at will. If the official doesn't leave the court today, there will be trouble the next day. After the trial, they will be detained in front of the yamen for one day, and the hooligans will come to watch, tease and laugh all day. Women's humiliation is unbearable, and some are killed on the spot. During the Jiajing period, Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang Province, was arrested for crimes in Beijing and his wife and daughter were arrested in Hangzhou, which was such an insult.
In the Qing dynasty, women were still naked and clubbed. In the late Qing Dynasty, Yu Yue recorded such a thing: a county magistrate was young and frivolous, and he liked to tell erotic news best. When he tried the case, he found something related to female identity, so he deliberately involved it, classified it as adultery, and then took the woman naked. He often said to people, "It is clearly stipulated in the criminal law that women should be punished with sticks when committing crimes, and' the traitor undresses and bears a single coat for remaining crimes'. When you walk with crutches, you will bump into your hips. The so-called single clothes are single pants. Of course, it is to go to clothes or pants. " Others can't argue with him, but he always insists on doing so. Later, he was executed for corruption, his family property was confiscated and his wife was engaged in prostitution. Some people say it's his naked girl's karma.
Yu Yue also won a similar award. A peasant family married a 27-year-old daughter-in-law for their 13-year-old son. On the wedding night, the new wife tied the little son-in-law to the leg of the bed and hid the lover's butcher in the new house to live together. After the incident, she was arrested, and the county magistrate ordered her to take off her clothes and severely punish 40 people so that her parents could take her home. Parents helped their naked daughter out of the yamen, took off her clothes and covered her. At that time, there were hundreds of people onlookers, and many people took off their clothes and refused to let her wear them. The woman had to walk home naked.
There are more vicious examples of naked women's sticks in Qing Dynasty. During the Qianlong period, Zhu Shuo, the magistrate of Pingyang County, made a special thick cangue stick during his tenure, and often used severe punishment on prisoners, especially for adultery cases. Once, I interrogated a prostitute, ordered the officer to take off her clothes, punished her with a stick, and let the head of the stick stab the prostitute's vulva. Zhu Shuo proudly said, "Look at how you receive guests!" Zhu hated prostitutes and tried to stop local prostitution with heavy punishment, but there were too many means.
There are many malicious officials and drug officials like Zhu Shuo, but in ancient times, a few officials were more reasonable and a little generous when using the punishment of aides. It is said that Cao Bin, the founding hero of the Song Dynasty, was kind, tolerant and generous, and cautious in using punishment. When Xuzhou was the magistrate, a small official once committed a crime and should be punished with a stick after filing the case, but it took Cao Bin a year to punish him with a stick. Subordinate officials don't understand why they do this. Cao Bin said, "I heard that this official just got married when he committed the crime. If he is tortured, his parents will definitely think that this is a disaster caused by his new wife's personality error, which makes her ill-treated and unable to survive. I suspended this matter, which neither affected his family nor safeguarded the dignity of the law. " Everyone admires his point of view.
In the Song Dynasty, Hu Taichu once said that "the old and the young are worse than the sick and disabled", which means that prisoners of all ages and the sick and disabled should not be whipped. He also said that torture should not be used in three situations: when officials are drunk, when prisoners are drunk or when prisoners are weak. Lv Kun, a former assistant minister of punishments in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, further developed Hu Taichu's viewpoint. He wrote eight chapters of "Punishment and Caution" and made eight precepts about the use of rattan in interrogation. The first one is called five don't fight: the old people don't fight, the children don't fight, the patients don't fight, and they don't fight when they are hungry. Those who have beaten will not be beaten. The second item is called "five don't fight lightly": imperial clan doesn't fight lightly, officials don't fight lightly, literati don't fight lightly, young students don't fight lightly and women don't fight lightly. The third item is called "five don't call right away": some people don't call right away when they are anxious, some people don't call right away when they are angry, some people don't wake up when they are drunk, some people don't call right away when they arrive after a long journey, and some people don't call right away when they arrive halfway. The fourth item is called "Five Slow Beats": I will slow down when I am angry, I will slow down when I am drunk, I will slow down when I am sick, I will slow down when I don't see the real evidence, and I will slow down when I can't handle the case. Article 5 is called "Don't hit again": Don't hit again with used fingers, don't hit again with used sticks, and don't hit again with flail. The sixth item is called "Three Compassions, Don't Fight": don't fight when the festival is beautiful, don't fight when it is hot or cold, and don't fight when it is sad. The seventh item is called "three should not fight": the elders will fight if they are wrong, and they will not fight if they quarrel with the younger generation; If the people are wrong, they should fight, but if they argue with the chief, they should not fight; If there is a mistake in the service shop, you should call, but if he is working for the yamen or buying things for his own use, don't call. The eighth item is called three prohibitions: it is forbidden to hit with a heavy stick, it is forbidden to hit from the lower part of the criminal's body, and it is forbidden to hit hard by non-criminal means.
Cao Bin, Hu Taichu and Lv Kun. In ancient times, they were honest and kind officials, but such officials were really rare. These merciful practices only take some mitigating measures within the scope of the legal system, and cannot fundamentally abolish the torture of flogging.
In the yamen, people who directly punish prisoners are generally ruthless, otherwise it is difficult to act as such messengers. But among these people, there are also some good people. In the Qing Dynasty, the ancestors of Zhu Jin, a native of xiushui county, Zhejiang Province, worked as a policeman in the county government and were very sympathetic to the sufferings of prisoners. He heard that drinking urine after criminal injury can relieve pain and detoxify, so he soaked his bamboo stick in the urine bucket of the toilet. When it was his turn to execute, he used this bamboo stick soaked in urine, which didn't hurt or fester when hitting people. In this way, he persisted for decades. In Zhu Jin's generation, people say that he was rewarded because of his ancestors' virtue. In the Southern Song Dynasty, a man named Zheng Jin invented a prescription called "Zhang Dan". The method is to bake leech, grind it into powder, add a little mirabilite, add water and mix it evenly, and apply it to the wound. He often applies this secret recipe to people who have been punished with sticks, and the effect is very obvious. In the feudal era when torture was abused, this kind of kindness can be said to be a rare bright color in the vast darkness.
note:
Flogging was the most widely used punishment in ancient times. The original meaning of "rubbing" is to hit people with bamboo sticks or wooden sticks, and the original meaning of sticks is crutches. In ancient times, when a son was unfilial, his father could beat him with a cane. Shun was very filial when he was a child. Father hit him with a small stick, and he endured it. If he hits him with a big stick, he will run away. Later, as a punishment, it is said that it followed the admonition of ancient fathers to beat their sons, so it was also called punishment.
Before the Han dynasty, the five sense organs were ink, licking, palace, gouging out and killing, without sticks.