Lingchi, commonly known as death by a thousand cuts, was a cruel punishment that actually did not become an additional punishment until the beginning of the Five Dynasties. There were some extremely cruel punishments in ancient China. For example, there was a punishment of chopping people into pieces. The meat paste is called "熢". In addition, there are chariot splitting, which is the legendary five-horse dismemberment, and the human pig invented by Empress Lu, who chops off the hands and feet of the person, gougs out the eyes, smokes the deaf ears and leaves him to fend for himself. Destruction, this seems to be an extremely cruel one.
In China, there are several theories about the history and origin of Ling Chi, but the earliest written records of this punishment are from the Tang Dynasty. Although this torture already existed in the Qin and Han Dynasties, it was not until the Five Dynasties period that It was established that in the "Five Dynasties History and Criminal Law" compiled by Wei Zheng and Changsun Wuji in the Tang Dynasty, there was a sentence of "corruption with a light knife", which refers to Lingchi. The term Ling Chi was first established in the Liao Dynasty. It was incorporated into law in the Yuan Dynasty and was not abolished until 1905 at the end of the Qing Dynasty. The last person to enjoy this torture was named Kang Xiaoba. In fact, before Kang Xiaoba was Lingchi, this torture had been abolished, but he did it by himself, which angered the Empress Dowager Cixi. He was also lucky enough to be the last person to be Lingchi, and also lucky enough to be the person with the most knifes in history. Ming Liu Jin, the great eunuch of the imperial court, was cut 3,357 times. Kang Xiaoba broke the record for the number of cuts, 3,784 cuts, which took three days.
Although the punishment of Lingchi is extremely cruel, it is not easy to get stabbed twice for committing a crime. If a person is sentenced to Lingchi, it must be for the most heinous and treasonous crimes. This is exactly what Kang Xiaoba is. He is such a treacherous and evil person, and his crimes may not reach the level of Ling Chi at first.
Kang Xiaoba is actually a little gangster. He was famous for killing his original boss before. Later, he went too far, making the local people miserable and carrying a heavy bag on his back. He was involved in a human life lawsuit, and going to jail was nothing more than carrying a murder case on his body. In addition, he became more bold in the future and robbed the emperor's bar. After he was caught, although he was not alive for his crime, he was sentenced to be executed by the Queen of Autumn. , by this time the Qing government had already abolished Ling Chi, and no matter how vicious he was, he would never be as good as Ling Chi.
But a young eunuch in the palace pushed Kang Xiaoba to the forefront, added fuel to the fire, talked about his loyalty, and reported it to Cixi. After Cixi heard about it, she also thought that Kang Xiaoba Ba must be a man, very manly, and it would be a pity to kill him, so he decided to interrogate him personally. If he behaves well, Cixi may be happy, and his death penalty may be exempted. But this man just didn't accept this trick, and his appearance was far from what the Empress Dowager Cixi imagined. The tough guy with a head as big as a wheat bucket and a waist as big as ten girth turned into a dark and short guy. The difference in her heart was so great that Cixi's heart plummeted.
The Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly became angry and accepted the trial in a rage. It stands to reason that ordinary people like us would have been frightened when facing Cixi. However, Kang Xiaoba was just the opposite. He might He wanted to die vigorously, but he couldn't survive anyway. His expression was vulgar, and he said boldly? If you want to rob, rob the emperor, if you want to rape, rape the emperor's concubine? How could Cixi and the concubines standing beside her face such verbal insults? Unable to bear it, Cixi changed the word "behead" to "lingchi" in anger.
It is said that when Kang Xiaoba was executed, tens of thousands of people gathered in Caishikou to watch the famous Cai Liuye torture him. During the three days of execution, Kang Xiaoba Ba didn't even make a sound of pleading, so he could be considered a tough guy with strong bones.