For those who are very interested in executioners and those who stay under the knife, the History Encyclopedia editor brings detailed articles for your reference. Why did ancient executioners stop when they heard the phrase ‘stay under the knife’? Where does the reason lie?
The phrase ‘keep the person under the knife’ is often heard in TV dramas. When these four words are spoken, the executioner will stop, which means that there is a turning point in the situation. The person who was killed may be released, or the case may need to be retried. Only in this way can the truth be revealed.
Is it true that the four words “leave a person under the knife” are just meant to increase dramatic effects and create tension in TV dramas? In fact, it is not because in ancient times, the four words “leave a person under the knife” had a source. According to historical records, they first appeared in the Song Dynasty and were explicitly stipulated by law. If a person who is killed on the court shouts the words “leave a person under the knife” before execution, the executioner must stop, otherwise they cannot afford the consequences.
The legal origin of the “Thirteen Characters” in the Song Dynasty
The Song Code is a collection of laws from the entire Song Dynasty. It imitates the Tang Code, and if there are any mistakes or omissions, they must be compiled. The most important and famous part of the Song Code is the Song Criminal Code, which is a popular text in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, compiling the Song Code is a common practice. In ancient times, it was not as convenient as it is now. Although productivity was low, the lives of the people in the Song Dynasty were very valuable.
In the Song Dynasty court, civil officials were not killed, and in the common people, those who were not extremely guilty were generally not easily killed. The first rule of the law was that “the murderer shall die”. However, in ancient times, there was no advanced criminal investigation technology. In an era where hearing was not necessarily false and seeing was not necessarily true, witnesses were the only ones who acted, and autopsy reports were used to determine the crime. It is not clear how many such wrongful cases there are, and it is very irresponsible to judge the case solely based on the subjective consciousness of the judge. Moreover, after signing and pledging, it is indeed very difficult to try the case again. Those who are executed after autumn are like being sentenced to death with a reprieve, and even if they are found wrong, there is no chance for retrial due to the long time. The sentence is:.
So during the process of legal compilation, Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Guangyi, ordered someone to add a thirteen character text to the law, which means that if a condemned prisoner cries out for injustice before execution, he can be investigated and reported again. The emergence of this law can also be considered as an opportunity to correct cases that have been wrongly tried. Unlike officials, if officials are killed, they are usually beheaded at the Meridian Gate, while ordinary people are mostly beheaded at bustling vegetable markets.
There are so many people coming and going at the vegetable market, and there are so many onlookers. Even the executing officials dare not openly violate the law in front of everyone. If there are really death row inmates calling for justice, everyone will be witnesses. When the executioner hears this, he will definitely stop and the case can enter the “second instance” stage.
The laws of the Song Dynasty not only stipulated that death row inmates could appeal for a retrial, but also stipulated in the law that the executioner must stop when he heard the four words “leave a person under the knife”. If he did not stop and directly cut down, he would bear serious consequences and be punished for “murder”. Therefore, in ancient times, being an executioner was also a technical job, requiring both a strong heart and the skills to strike, otherwise one’s future and life would not be guaranteed. Therefore, before the execution, the executioner would repeatedly determine the situation of the executed person to avoid wrongful convictions. This is why we often see scenes of “leaving a person under the knife” in TV dramas.
Real Case Explanation: Thirteen Character Application of Criminal Law
The phrase ‘leaving someone behind under the knife’ in TV dramas was meant to enhance the effect, but real cases emerged after the promulgation of this law in the Song Dynasty, and because this law saved an innocent and wrongly accused person named Wang Yuanji.
Wang Yuanji was originally a scholar who lost his mother at a young age, leaving his father alone. After his coming of age ceremony, he remarried and continued his marriage. As for his stepmother Wang Yuanji, she fulfilled her duties as a son, helping his mother dress up in cold weather and serving soup and medicine in front of the bed when he was sick, which was considered filial piety. However, when his son grew up and established a family, it was a necessary path in life. His father took care of his son’s lifelong life and married a beautiful woman from the same hometown. The family of four lived happily, but there was no such thing as a spoon not touching the edge of the pot when living at home. Since ancient times, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has been a major problem in history.
The daughter who married over is not a biological daughter. There was a conflict between the daughter-in-law and stepmother over some trivial matters, and whoever disagreed would argue. For Wang Yuanji, he didn’t want to get involved in these matters. How far could he hide? When his wife saw this and cried in front of him, she always felt that a man should stand up to the heavens and earth. I was married by a clear matchmaker. How many men are you if you don’t even care about your wife? Wang Yuanji looked at his wife who was crying with tears in her eyes and felt heartbroken. He then went to his stepmother Liu to give her a lecture. Her stepmother felt sad and felt that she had been married into the Wang family for decades, without any achievements or hard work. Although she was not her biological mother, she wondered what she could do better than her biological mother. You, as a younger generation, were preaching to me. After Wang Yuanji and his wife left, Liu couldn’t help but feel more wronged and shed tears.
So Liu couldn’t swallow this breath and brought a lawsuit against Wang Yuanji and his wife to the yamen, accusing them of abusing him. The government attached great importance to this accusation and immediately had the yamen staff lock up Wang Yuanji. Since ancient times, filial piety has always been the top priority, and the Song Dynasty has been more comprehensive in this regard. His parents must be filial and listen to his mother at home.
Faced with the elderly mother of a vulnerable group, the county magistrate did not specifically inquire and took Wang Yuanji back to prison. The atmosphere of the Song Dynasty has always been based on “filial piety”, and even choosing Song officials based on “filial piety” is a criterion for assessment. The “Song Penal Code” clearly stipulates that parents who do not show filial piety to their parents during their lifetime shall be hanged, those who do not worship their parents after their death shall be exiled three thousand miles, and those whose parents are discouraged and have fun shall be punished with a hundred lashes. Such strict laws were engraved in the bones of filial piety in the Song Dynasty. The prison guards looked down upon Wang Yuanji when they saw that he had come in because of “unfilial” behavior. Therefore, during the interrogation, they beat Wang Yuanji until he was covered in bruises. Wang Yuanji, who wanted to cry but had no tears, had not yet recovered. His stepmother suddenly fell ill and passed away. Now, Wang Yuanji was completely hopeless. Without the biggest witness, he would undoubtedly die. Unable to bear this torture, he confessed his guilt and was completely determined to be executed.
The execution was scheduled for a few days later, and Wang Yuanji, a scholar, felt that he needed to live with integrity. He kept shouting about injustice before the execution, which was considered lucky. This remark was just heard by Emperor Taizong of Song, who came down to patrol in disguise. Upon hearing this, Emperor Taizong postponed the execution and wanted to personally investigate the matter. He immediately sent someone to investigate the whole story in Wang Yuanji’s hometown. It turned out that there was a problem with the mother-in-law daughter-in-law relationship, and Wang Yuanji had never abused his stepmother from beginning to end. After investigation, Emperor Taizong ordered someone to release Wang Yuanji. From this incident, Emperor Taizong also discovered the imperfection of the law, so he ordered someone to add these thirteen words to “Song Execution”. In the ‘Tong’.
In fact, such situations would occur in any dynasty and generation in ancient times. Why was this matter determined and implemented in the Song Dynasty?
The Implementation and Application of the Thirteen Character Legal Documents of the Great Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a highly developed cultural and economic dynasty. In the eyes of the people, the Tang Dynasty was considered strong, but in the Song Dynasty, people called it weak. Why? Because the military of the Song Dynasty paid money regardless of whether they won or lost, and gave money if they won or lost. In short, it was the Song Dynasty that paid the money. The fundamental reason for this was that the Song Dynasty was wealthy because its economy and culture were quite developed. Since the founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin, the Song Dynasty has been paying great attention to the development of people’s livelihoods, because only when people’s livelihoods are well developed can military forces be continuously replenished,
So in the glorious stage of comprehensive development of people’s livelihood, economy, and culture in the history of the Song Dynasty, it was also known as the “Wen Song” and “Fan Song” representative of the prosperous economy of the Song Dynasty at that time. The founding emperor of the Song Dynasty came from a military background. Due to the Chen Qiaoyi Mutiny, he became emperor with a yellow robe, which made him wary of military commanders. It is uncertain whether he would have a “yellow robe plus body” on that day. As a result, literati in the Song Dynasty were highly valued for their work in compiling laws, and there were even more who studied law. Therefore, there were many changes in the laws of the Song Dynasty, the most famous of which was Song Ci, the chief prosecutor of the Great Song Dynasty. He was a forensic expert in the Song Dynasty and had made significant achievements in both law and medicine.
The most familiar person to everyone is Bao Zheng, who is equivalent to the mayor of Kaifeng Prefecture. When he was in office, Kaifeng was governed by him with clean politics and abundant food and clothing for the people, which represents the good implementation of the laws of the Song Dynasty.
The appearance of these thirteen characters also indicates that the status of the common people in the Song Dynasty had been elevated. If you were really forced to confess, the phrase “stay under the knife” would really save your life. Here, “stay under the knife” is not only something you can shout when beheading, but also something that you can use to save yourself if you feel innocent, like beheading, car splitting, or hanging. What’s more, if you are implicated by nine clans, it could be the lives of hundreds of people.
The legal provisions of the Great Song Dynasty had a profound impact on the later dynasties, which led to the scene of “leaving people under the knife” that we mentioned at the beginning. With the gradual development of society, some bloody scenes such as beheadings were abolished during the Republic of China period, and the law was always constantly improving and repairing.
As we grew up under the red flag, our criminal investigation methods and legal system are constantly improving, and the process of solving cases is becoming more professional and concise. With sufficient evidence and evidence, the law believes in evidence, which can minimize the rate of wrongful convictions. We no longer need to resort to the saying “stay under the knife” to save ourselves for the second time. If you are dissatisfied, you can appeal directly. The first and second trials meet your requirements, and the criminal should also be convinced with reason and evidence.
The Song Dynasty has been more than a thousand years away from us, but its culture has deeply influenced the development of future generations, because these thirteen words saved a life. This is the responsibility of the government to the people of the world. Nowadays, whatever we need to do is to abide by laws and regulations, and take responsibility and obligation to serve our country.
