Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 73 Whipping the World (Part )

Five bows and three kowtows were essential rituals for offering sacrifices to heaven and meeting the emperor during the Ming Dynasty. However, the vast majority of the Ming Dynasty's citizens would never see the emperor, and therefore would never have to perform the ritual. Therefore, only a handful of people could complete the ritual in its entirety.

However, no matter whether the ceremony can be completed or not, the final result is the same, prostrating oneself on the ground and kneeling for a long time.

"Stand up!" The emperor's voice came from his dantian, deep and powerful.

"Stand up!" The order was also transmitted to every corner outside the south wall of the imperial city in the form of two, four, six, eight, five hundred, and one thousand.

The common people were allowed to stand, looking up at the emperor's face across five bridges and a river. Dark clouds obscured the sun, and snowflakes filled the sky, making it impossible for people to clearly see the emperor's holy face. But above the Chengtian tablet, among the tiles of the palace, stood this man, standing alone.

Seen from afar, the emperor was tall and strong, like a pillar supporting heaven and earth.

The dragon roared again: "Abolish the sins! Peace to the people!"

"Purge the sin!"

"An Min!"

The Han generals and the imperial guards delivered the emperor's message in unison. The three thousand common people at the corner of the imperial city, pressed against the human wall, could hear it most clearly. The sculpted-faced palace guards, spears and banners in hand, delivered the message in unison, their rhythm steady, almost in sync with their heartbeats.

From the peasants working in the fields, to the monks and Taoists who worshipped Buddhism and practiced Taoism, to the knights who roamed the world, and even the priests who had met the Pope, all were shocked by this majestic aura.

When the room fell into solemnity again, the Minister of Justice Huang Kezan stepped forward, stood on a wooden platform only half a meter high, and unfolded a gray and white scroll embroidered with cloud patterns. It was the indictment of the fifty people.

The scroll enumerated in detail the crimes committed by the criminals present that violated heaven and earth and endangered the people, declared that these criminals were beyond reproach and requested the emperor to punish them on behalf of heaven.

This charge sheet was drafted by the Ministry of Justice, but the ending did not follow the usual practice of requesting the emperor's approval to take the criminal to the city to be beheaded in public according to the law. Instead, it used the words "punishment on behalf of heaven."

The common people below were clueless, but the ministers and officials above the gate tower knew all too well. “Sentence from Heaven” was far too vague.

Officials began to speculate that the emperor was going to punish the criminals on the execution platform with caning. Although caning was a form of punishment with a cane, it was not one of the five punishments of flogging, caning, imprisonment, exile, and death, and was completely different from the caning prescribed by the law.

If caning was a legal punishment, then caning in court was a "heavenly punishment" imposed by the emperor, whose voice was in the heavenly decree. Many people died instantly under the caning, while those who survived would suffer permanent scars on their buttocks. It was a horrific punishment that terrified all officials in the capital during the Ming Dynasty.

But compared to death sentences like beheading, hanging, and crucifixion, there are far more tricks involved in "court caning." The number of canings, the selection of supervisors, the department that carried out the execution—every detail can reflect the emperor's thoughts.

The punishment had already been decided, so the emperor did not express any further opinion, but directly ordered: "Start the execution!"

"Begin the execution!" His heavenly voice resounded. Each prisoner was accompanied by four eunuchs, all 200 of whom were from the Eastern Depot. In the past, they had executed outsiders, but today, they would execute their superiors.

The four eunuchs from the East Depot, who were carrying out the execution, began to move their canes. The first two slashed across the wooden planks of the execution platform, making a death-dealing sound. The sound quickly ceased as the two canes passed through his armpits, lifting his upper body, while the next two simultaneously struck his hind legs in the popliteal fossa. Cui Wensheng, who had just been pulled up, knelt down again.

"Oh!" The crowd erupted in cheers.

Most of them could not understand, or even hear, the charges read out by the Minister of Justice, but this did not prevent them from believing that these people were guilty, because the punishment was announced by the emperor himself.

According to the standard procedure for a caning, the first two sticks supporting the prisoner should be pulled back, forcing the prisoner to lie prone on the ground. Then, the four eunuchs carrying out the execution should immediately place their feet on the backs of the prisoner's hands and ankles. This will secure the prisoner to the ground in a spread-eagle position, facilitating subsequent execution.

But the two eunuchs who were carrying out the execution did not move, but continued to hold Cui Wensheng with the court stick. Then, the remaining two eunuchs who were beating the popliteal fossa of the hind legs put down the court stick and worked together to strip Cui Wensheng's cotton coat.

Cui Wensheng had no idea how the execution would proceed. He felt only the gust of wind and snow, instantly wiping away the warmth his cotton-wrapped body had barely preserved. Desperately, Cui Wensheng raised his head, but even if the snow hadn't obstructed his view, he wouldn't have been able to see the emperor, standing proudly on the highest platform. The two eunuchs, after stripping him of his clothes, once again raised the imperial cane, crossed it at his neck, and held his head securely in place.

"This doesn't look like a caning in the court." The official who had been caned by Emperor Wanli touched his buttocks where a piece of flesh was missing, and then began to talk about his experience.

"Is it possible that they are going to freeze people to death?" an official speculated.

"Freeze them into ice sculptures and then find a place to stand them up for public display?" An official suddenly recalled the "skinning and stuffing with straw" punishment during the Hongwu Dynasty.

The so-called "skinning and stuffing with straw" means peeling off the skin of corrupt officials alive, then stuffing straw into the skin to make a real scarecrow, and hanging it next to the official seat to warn future officials.

But before the censor could continue his fantasies, fifty real executioners arrived and revealed the answer. The punishment imposed on the prisoner was not beating with a stick or freezing to death, but flogging.

These fifty executioners were not eunuchs from the palace, but craftsmen who had passed down through generations. However, their craft was a little special: whipping.

Executions have always been lucrative, whether by hanging, beheading, or even the most brutal form of crucifixion, each one can profit considerably. For example, beheading can involve a single cut to the head, or ten cuts to the tendons. If someone survives after ten cuts, it's not a stroke of luck, but rather a sign that the executioner has offended them. If someone is sentenced to crucifixion, it's best to pay the executioner to cut into the heart before the initial cut; a quick death is better than being torn into pieces.

The result of "market demand" is "specialization." Therefore, various types of punishments have given rise to corresponding professions, and whipping is no exception.

Xing Kuan, then fifty-five years old, looked kind, but he was the master, even the grandmaster, of the remaining forty-nine executioners. He worked for the Eastern Depot, and the man who had tortured Zheng Lian with the saltwater whip was his direct disciple. So when the eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department came to Xing Kuan's home, they nearly gave him a heart attack. He'd made his living in this profession and knew the brutality of its methods.

Fortunately, the emperor was a wise man and did not take action against them. The people from the palace did not come to arrest him, but to ask him to bring his disciples to show off his skills to his former boss.

(End of this chapter)