"Death penalty gold medal", in ancient times the formal name is called "Jinshu Iron Coupon", or "Danshu Iron Coupon", generally is the founder of the ancient dynasty of feudal emperors issued to the founding of the country merit ministers, ministers with a reward and covenant nature of the credentials, similar to the modern popular medals (or medallions), the purpose of which is to "show the virtues of righteousness, the rate of the world through the commonplace The purpose was to "show virtue and righteousness, and to lead the world and the common people", which could be regarded as the highest honor in ancient times. The main function of this kind of thing is to be exempted from death, only or can enjoy the rich and powerful, however, the big data show that this kind of thing has not been effective throughout the dynasties. Not only does it not save your life, but it's a death wish that urges you to die early.
Chan Mew's gold medal for exemption from death
The content engraved on the iron coupon generally includes four aspects:
The date of the granting of the coupon, the name of the person to whom it is given, the official title, and the cognizance of Euphrasia
Documentation of the performance of the person to whom it is given on the merits of the dynasty
Privileges given by the emperor to the person to whom it is given
The oath of the emperor. According to the relevant laws of the dynasty, meritorious and important ministers and their descendants who held iron coupons could enjoy various privileges granted by the emperor
The earliest surviving iron coupon is the iron coupon of Qian Miao, King of Wu-Yue of the Fifth Dynasty, which is treasured in the Museum of History of China, and is more than 1,000 years old. This iron coupon is 890 AD, Tang Zhaozong for rewarding the king of Wu Yue Qian Miao crusade Dongchang success, specially awarded to Qian Miao. Iron casting, shaped like an overlay tile, 29.8 cm longitudinal, 52 cm horizontal, 2.41 cm thick, weighing about 132 two, embedded in the gold on the 350 words, 25 lines of text, 14 words per line, the full text of the end of the regular very work, the cash word more peeling. The main content of the iron coupon is a record of the merits of the person given to the expedition of Dongchang, because of its so meritorious to the court, so "Qing forgiveness of nine deaths, three deaths of the children and grandchildren," the privilege.
Liu Bang, the founder of the Western Han Dynasty, invented it in order to enlist the world to work for him. There was nothing in the original Danshu Tiepiao that could save a person from death, but it was a promise that a meritorious official's descendants would enjoy honor and wealth for generations. Liu Bang named Han Xin as the "King of Three Qi", i.e., the King of Heaven, the King of Earth, and the King of Kings, and promised Han Xin that he would "not die", i.e., he would not die if he saw heaven, earth, the King of Kings, and the King of Kings, and that he would "stand up against the sky and the earth in the Han Dynasty and never add a sword to his body". As a result, Liu Bang asked Empress Lu to trick Xin into going to Changle Palace, where reeds covered the sky and red felt was spread on the ground, and he was ordered to be put in a sack and given a bamboo stick to kill him. Other meritorious ministers naturally did not enjoy any riches and wealth, and died one after another. Sima Qian did statistics, the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, there are more than a hundred people got the Danshu Iron Coupon reward, only five people survived. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the issuance of iron coupons became a regular practice, and all founding fathers, meritorious ministers and leaders of ethnic minorities were given iron coupons, and favored eunuchs and eunuchs were also given iron coupons. At that time has been clear with the function of death, but still not much use, the meritorious minister Liu Wenting on two death-free iron coupon, but only a year later was Li Yuan to the unfounded charge of conspiracy against the death of the execution. Song although there is a gold medal to avoid death, but no one has used it to avoid death, such as Yue Fei of the Southern Song Dynasty. Since the Ming Dynasty, there is a whole set of system, the court is divided into seven levels according to the level of the title of the meritorious ministers, important ministers, each according to the rank issued to the iron coupon, may not be exceeded. The founding ministers of the Ming Dynasty who held the gold medal of exemption from death were all executed by Zhu Yuanzhang. The case of Hu Weiyong and the case of Lan Yu made the founding civil and military elites almost slaughtered. The survival rate of the Ming Dynasty's gold medal holders was zero. The Qing dynasty abolished the gold medals.
The so-called gold medals of exemption from death are all issued by the emperor, as the emperor issued, the right of interpretation naturally belongs to the emperor. He has the right to give and naturally has the right to take back. The main thing is that the gold medal of exemption from death does not include conspiracy to commit treason (this is very key, how to determine that you are conspiracy to commit treason, the emperor said, planting evidence and framing Mousai can be). All emperors want you to die, as long as you are involved in treason, you are finished, free from death gold medal free from death 10 times are useless. And can get the gold medal is often meritorious ministers, just because of the high shock master, so that the emperor had to be afraid of. So in ancient times when you get the gold medal should strive to make their own threat to the imperial power to minimize, otherwise the gold medal not only can not be free from death, but also more of their own life-threatening talisman, the scourge of future generations.