What were the things that held prisoners in ancient times?

Hello, all instruments of torture have a development process, which is roughly as follows:

1, manual control

According to unearthed objects, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and ancient documents, there were some instruments of torture specially used to hold criminals in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, such as shackles and shackles. "Qi" is used to buckle hands; "Qi" is used to buckle feet; "Card" is used to buckle hands. The pottery figurines unearthed in Xiaotun, Yin Ruins, have cangue cuffs on their wrists, with male figurines buckled behind their backs and female figurines buckled in front. "Zhang Prison" says: "All prisoners are bound by sin, bound by sin, bound by sin, and belong to your family."

This is a special torture device for prisoners. Zheng Sinong Yun: If you were a man, you would have two hands and a piece of wood. Historically, this arch-shaped instrument of torture was called the pot hand, also known as the flail hand. Why did the ancients call this instrument of torture * * * * because the prisoner's hands were put into a piece of wood, that is, his hands were a piece of wood, so the word * * was above it and the word * * was below it, just like the word * * in Chinese characters.

The iron handcuffs of the Han Dynasty were relatively mature in the history of China, and some of them were also equipped with lock plates, in which iron locks could be placed to prevent the iron locks from being opened by prisoners themselves. Later generations inherited the handcuff practice in Han Dynasty, and the forms of handcuff were increasing. For example, later generations are also called handcuffed elbows. Some handcuffed elbows are made of square iron, with hands in a round hole and an iron plate in the middle. The iron nose runs through from top to bottom and then locks. Some iron handcuffs are fixed with iron hoops, and a horizontal lock is inserted in the middle. There is also an iron nose in the hoop to lock it. There was also a kind of handcuffs made of bamboo slips in Qing Dynasty, which looked like two pieces of bamboo slips. After being folded, there is a round hole, from which the prisoner's hand protrudes, and the iron bar in the middle passes through the shackles. Because bamboo is stronger when exposed to water, this kind of bamboo handcuffs are mostly used in wet areas such as Sichuan and Hunan.

After the extensive use of iron instruments of torture, iron handcuffs and chains appeared, both of which were used in hands.

2. Neck control

As early as before the Tang Dynasty, there were torture devices to restrict freedom of movement, and three kinds of torture devices, fork, fork and (), were fully prepared. Then the flail of the neck appeared. It evolved from the most primitive branch with neck, which has a far-reaching influence on later generations.

Legend has it that during the period of Three Emperors and Five Emperors, there was a man named Chiyou, who was a long bull's head. He has a sword in one hand. The legendary God of Punishment in the sky, Shan Hai Jing Ye Xi Jing, records that in a place called Songshan, the Yellow Emperor fought with the God Chiyou and captured him there. Before his execution, he abandoned the flail board worn around Chiyou's neck on this mountain. Soon, the mountain was covered with maple trees, and the flail board made of this maple tree was dry and wet.

Cangue is an ancient instrument of torture that is put around the prisoner's neck. A variant of torture device originated in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, which used a log to clamp the neck to form a fixture and developed into a cangue torture device composed of two boards. When cangue instruments of torture first appeared, someone created a situation in which two people were caught in cangue. At the same time, it was named cangue, which was inspired by threshing farm tools. It began in the Jin Dynasty and took 1500 years in the Qing Dynasty. In such a long history, specifications, weights and styles are constantly changing, from heavy to light, from large to small. There are also flail functions that act on hands and feet respectively, mostly flail neck. From the material point of view, in addition to wood, there are cast iron flail, leather flail and so on. It's already been used, and the rope chain is also useful. Generally, wooden cangue is worn by one person, two people and three people.

Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who was the first to reuse cangue punishment equipment, proposed that cangue punishment should be used against criminals who committed treason with conclusive evidence.

There are all kinds of flails. In the Tang Dynasty, the cruel official Lai Junchen invented the "No.10 cangue", that is, the No.1 cangue, which was called "Ding Baimai"; No.2 cangue is "panting"; No.3 cangue is "violent roar"; No.4 cangue is a "writing time bearing"; No.5 cangue is "lost soul"; No.6 cangue is "opposite"; No.7 cangue is "anti-reality"; No.8 cangue is "Dead Pig Trouble"; No.9 cangue is "dying at the request of life"; 10 cangue is "seeking to break the family". According to "Biography of Yu Jing in the Old Tang Dynasty", Yu Jing was so heavy that the prisoner could not bear the burden after wearing it. If he could not lift it, he died of suffocation on the spot. There were two people's wooden cangues before Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, there was a cangue with a short side and a long side, which was specially marked with the name and charges of the prisoner. There is also a long cangue called Bi Yuwei, which is more than eight feet long. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, wooden cangue was widely used in various generations, with different sizes and weights. Some say that there are no horns around the cangue, which is convenient for prisoners to eat and drink, and some are also equipped with iron leaves nailed to the cangue. Most of them are square flail and long flail.

Cangue "Six Codes of Tang Dynasty" stipulates that cangue is more than five feet long and less than six feet wide, more than one foot four inches and less than six inches wide, and more than three inches and less than four inches in diameter. The size of cangue in past dynasties is generally similar. The cangue of Yuan Dynasty is about the same size. The cangue of the condemned prisoner weighs 25 Jin, the cangue of the escaped prisoner weighs 20 Jin, and the cangue of the staff prisoner weighs 15 Jin, all of which are made of maple. The cangue is engraved with length, width, size and weight respectively.

There are many kinds of wooden cangue in Ming Dynasty. In order to interrogate the prisoner, the minions of eunuch Liu Jin increased the weight of the wooden cangue to 150 Jin, or even heavier, and the prisoner could hardly live.

In the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was a heavy cangue, and a stone stood on the back of the prisoner's chest, which was the embryonic form of the cangue in later generations. Cangue was formally created in Ming Dynasty, which was called Lilong in Qing Dynasty, and later called Wooden Cage. The prisoner stands upright in a wooden cage, and the wooden cangue is placed on the top of the cage and placed around the prisoner's neck. Often, prisoners will die in cangue cages for several days, and what's more, they will put bricks at their feet so that they can't touch the ground. When the criminal persecuted him, the brick was removed, and the criminal immediately died like hanging himself. It is said that it was created by Liu Jin in Ming Dynasty, the Royal Guards. Someone asked for abolition, but the emperor didn't listen. In Wei Zhongxian, there are many big cangue. In the historical materials of the Yuan Dynasty, it was recorded that prisoners of war were escorted by branches. Because the war brought a large number of prisoners of war and there were few wooden cangues, branches were temporarily used instead of wooden cangues.

According to the Ming Dynasty's Prison Preparation Map, "The cangue is five feet and five inches long and one foot and five inches wide. It is made of dry wood, and the death penalty cangue weighs 35 Jin, similar to that of the Tang Dynasty.

Cangue, originally used as a torture device to bind prisoners. In the Ming Dynasty, besides wearing cangue, prisoners were also punished with cangue, that is, a wooden cangue was put around the prisoner's neck and displayed in the street downstream. Some people send minions and officials to clear the way in order to show off the public and recruit talents.

The prisoner in wooden chains is miserable. The cangue of instruments of torture is two thick boards, which are firmly clamped around the neck. The weight of the flail varies from at least 15 kg to at most 50 kg and 60 kg. They were pressed on their shoulders for a long time. After a few hours, the shoulders tend to be numb, like dead meat, and prisoners wearing cangue have to move every once in a while. In summer, the neck of the card cangue is often worn out and bleeding by the edges and corners of the cangue. In case a kind-hearted person puts a rag or cotton pad on his neck, those who don't have this condition will have to endure the blood and pus from the worn-out wound.

Prisoners wearing flail can touch their mouths and accept food from relatives and others when wearing small flail. When you meet a long cangue or a bigger cangue, you can only see the wooden cangue in front of your head, but you can't see the legs and feet under you. Others can't eat the food in your mouth. When you meet a kind person, you will help feed and water. When you don't meet kind people, you can't eat the food you see. Most prisoners who wear cangue are locked by hand. Some cangue can not only hold the prisoner's neck, but also hold the prisoner's hand. The degree of self-care can be imagined. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some prisoners were punished with flail for several months, even for a year or two, and some were always punished with flail at most.

Under normal circumstances, traitors are sentenced to one year and cangue for twenty days. The cangue was sentenced to two years in prison and 25 days. The cangue, which was sentenced to three years, was sentenced to 30 days. Those exiles who should serve 3,000 Li will be sentenced to 50 days' imprisonment. The second sentence is increased by five days in turn. Should be banished to a nearby cangue and sentenced to 70 days. A little further, the cangue will be punished for 80 days. The maximum sentence is 90 days in prison. Later, it became a punishment for various crimes, and it also became one of the special punishments for the automobile aftermarket. In the eighth year of Kangxi, cangue began for only one month, two months and three months. Later, there was a cangue number calculated by year or forever. The cangue weighs 70 kilograms and is as light as 60 kilograms. In five years, Qianlong decided that all prisoners who want to wear cangue should wear cangue with 25 hands, but after Jiaqing of Qing Dynasty, the heavy cangue was set at 25 Jin.

Of course, there was a strict management system for wooden cangue in ancient times, and there were specific regulations on when to clean up unclean wooden cangue. There are also specific provisions on cangue punishment and dynasties wearing cangue. The weight of the big cangue is strictly regulated and not used casually. For example, when an imperial censor visited Renhe County Prison in Song Dynasty, he found that the wooden cangue did not meet the weight regulations at that time. When the emperor knew this, he wrote a letter to lower his rank. This example is rare in the history of feudal autocracy in China.

Wooden cangue was widely used in the late Qing Dynasty, and prisoners were basically escorted with wooden cangue and arraigned in prison. In the Qing Dynasty, male and female prisoners wearing wooden shackles were often seen in downtown areas, roads and post stations. Some westerners come to China to inspect the laws of China, and often take pictures with cameras. These real photos bear witness to the thousands of years' history of traditional instruments of torture in ancient and backward China before the Qing Dynasty. Under the influence of western law, the wooden cangue was changed to pay a fine, and then the wooden cangue officially withdrew from the historical stage and became a cultural relic of ancient law.

In the Warring States period, the temperature was greatly increased by using "dense" air blast made of leather during smelting. This great invention greatly improved the efficiency and quality of ironmaking, because the melting point of iron is much higher than that of bronze. Iron smelting replaced bronze ware and entered the iron age. The instruments of torture unearthed in Qin and Han dynasties sites are all made of iron, with pliers and titanium unearthed the most. Titanium is fetters, and pliers are instruments of torture around the neck. "Han dynasty history. The Biography of Emperor Gaozu says: "The pliers are slaves of the royal family", and Yan Shigu notes: "The pliers are also bound with iron." A large number of pincers unearthed from the ruins of Qin and Han Dynasties show that the rulers of Qin and Han Dynasties, especially Qin Shihuang, needed a large number of prisoners to carry out large-scale construction. The coffins were changed into pincers and the pincers were connected together with chains, which not only strictly controlled the prisoners to prevent them from escaping, but also forced them to build underground palaces for them with their hands under the bondage of heavy iron tongs and iron titanium. This is the social root of the development and change from tree to pliers.

Many people will find it strange and suspicious to say that diaosi is also a torture device. If silk is used as a torture device for the neck, they will suddenly realize that the earliest strangulation was realized with silk, and later it gradually evolved into rope and iron rope, and the name of punishment was replaced by hanging. Zuo zhuan. "Two years of mourning for the public" contains: "If you are guilty, you will be hanged." It can be seen that it died in the Spring and Autumn Period. Because the noose tightens a person's neck and can die in a fairly short time, the pain is lighter than beheading. No wonder some people choose to hang themselves.

The punishment of strangulation or hanging by rope or silk began in the Zhou and Qin Dynasties. "Zuo Zhuan mourning for the public for two years" states: "If you are guilty, you will be strangled, and the coffin is three inches long. He will not become a monarch, but he will be an ordinary horse and he will be punished by Xia Qing. " "Book of Rites. Funeral "contains:" Those who twist the belt are also tied with ropes. This is a punishment for the next Qing dynasty, and it should be a weekly system. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu Wei was a minister. If the son was killed, he would all die. This system was first made. " The name of the crime of strangulation did not exist before the Han Dynasty, and it was often called "strangulation" in the Spring and Autumn Period.

During the reign of Qin Shihuang, large-scale construction put about 2 million people in a state of corvee. There is not enough male labor force, and even women are forced to transport. Many people can't stand the heavy corvee. During their service, they hung from trees on the side of the road, and there was a tragic scene of "the dead look at each other".

Besides, beheading is the death penalty for beheading prisoners, which is called "extraordinary" originally. Tang Yan's stone drum "Kuang Mu Zheng Su" explains: "Extraordinary, unique and different, and the head is detached from uniqueness and difference." But it is often not enough to blow your head off your neck with a sharp knife, an axe and a cruel heart. So the executioners who specialize in beheading found various methods and came up with many tricks.

When beheading, the executioner usually ties the prisoner to a stake behind his back. The prisoner kneels on his knees and his head naturally protrudes forward. The executioner cut forward and down from the back of the prisoner's neck with a knife or axe.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, hated the phenomenon of ordinary people becoming monks, and adopted a very strange method called "shovel head meeting" to execute monks. This method is to dig a hole in the ground and bury the prisoner with only one head exposed. The executioner cut it from the neck with a sharp axe. Once, fifteen holes were dug and fifteen monks were buried in the holes. The executioner cut off the heads of the monks exposed to the ground in turn with a bright axe.

The executioner is ruthless, not only has courage, but also has certain skills. Although a person's neck is thin, because there is a cervical vertebra in it, and the heat of human blood will bend the blade, the executioner should also know the trick of beheading.

When more than 50 pirates were executed at one time in Xianfeng period of Qing Dynasty, a pirate could cut off his head several times, so he found a big saw to cut down trees, and two executioners sawed off the pirates' necks. The carpenter's big saw has also become a torture device in his neck. Other instruments of torture applicable to the neck include beheading knives, swords, halberds, daggers, cymbals and axes, all of which are manifested by brutally cutting off the heads of condemned prisoners.

3. Leg control

At first, the instrument of torture used for feet was a wooden pier that restricted freedom of movement. The ancient folk customs were simple, but later, because Chiyou messed up the world, it brought bad things to the people. At that time, everyone who followed Chiyou became thieves. They corrupt morality, dominate the market, and do all kinds of evil. Because Chiyou is the leader of the Jiuli nationality in the East, for a long time, some people of Jiuli nationality have developed the habit of being arrogant and not listening to your orders, and the society is in chaos. Later, I didn't even listen to Chiyou. In order to maintain the basic social order of Jiuli nationality, Chiyou had to use punishment to restrain them, so he created five punishments. A wooden pier with two holes punched in thick wood was put on the foot to prevent prisoners from escaping, which was used to punish strangulation ... This article is called "White Tiger Yi Tong's Five Punishment", which reads: "Well, the kneecap was also removed." Put the prisoners' feet in two holes in the wooden pier so that they can't play, and then take off the kneecaps. This is the first corporal punishment in the old five punishments.

Zhou Muwang, with compassion, rebuked the Miao people's five-abuse punishment. In order to stabilize the people's hearts and rule, it is necessary for emperors to formulate a criminal system. When judging a case, both parties should have it and the punishment should be moderate. "Bite" contains: "stopping toes" consists of the word "crossbar". "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" contains: "Cross, cross the shin." The two shins intersect and cannot move. It can be seen that the school is a mechanical device that binds feet. Unlike wooden piers, the school consists of two boards at the ankle. Because of his petty crime, he imprisoned his feet with school and cut off his toes. If a person makes a small mistake, it will ruin his toes at school and make him afraid to make it again. Taking precautions against delays can not only save the society from greater harm, but also help to educate and save the first offenders.

All previous dynasties were also called school forks, and there were also wooden shackles. In ancient times, it was used to hold prisoners so that their hands and feet could not move freely to prevent suicide, escape or riots. It was called the shackles on their hands and feet and the cangue on their heads and necks. Because these three were all made of wood in the early days, they were collectively called "Miki". After the Han Dynasty, metal shackles became more and more common. At first, iron fetters were called "titanium", which were two annular products that were mechanically attached to the feet. After the prisoners were mechanically detained, iron locks were locked between them, which greatly restricted their freedom of walking and prevented them from escaping. The Ming Dynasty stipulated that "the chain ring weighs three Jin".

In torture, the most famous instrument of torture imposed on the feet is the "pliers stick". Torture is a barbaric and backward practice of extorting confessions by torture, but it has been very popular in ancient times and has been written into law, becoming a legal and reasonable interrogation method.

Clamping sticks, also called clamping sticks, foot sticks, wooden boots, etc. , is a kind of torture device consisting of a wooden stick and a rope, which is used to clamp the ankle. The use of this kind of torture device will often cause serious injuries to prisoners' legs, and even break their ankles, resulting in disability. Two clamping sticks more than three feet long run through an iron bar five inches above the ground, and there are three pairs of helpers in the middle of each stick. During interrogation, the stick is erected, then the prisoner's foot is placed in the middle, the three ropes on the stick are tightened, and then the stick is attached to the left side of the foot to make it unable to move, and then a big stick with a length of six or seven feet and a width of four inches is used to slam the calf from the right side of the foot. I can't knock two or three hundred times, not only the skin is broken, but also the bones have long been broken. Some cruel officials put stone chips in sticks, but they don't tighten, and the pain is abnormal, and they call them "knee-length pants." Han often uses this treatment to force prisoners to confess, resulting in a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases.