Three copper spears of Qingtianshan straw cutter
Bao Gong's plays always reach a climax in the roar of "opening a spear", so many operas directly summarize Bao Gong's plays as "big spears". China's traditional operas include "Four Great Classical Novels", that is, four classic plays, namely "Bao Mian", "Beauty", "Uncle Guo" and "Guo Huai".
The hay cutter was originally a tool for raising horses. In fact, in ancient Chinese law, the straw cutter was never used as a torture device. From the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, there was no record of the execution of hay cutter. The type of death penalty in Qin and Han dynasties was "waist cutting", in which the sinner bent over the "chopping board" naked and cut off the sinner's body with an axe. Therefore, there is a saying that "axe" even represents the death penalty. The Sui Dynasty established a five-punishment system, and there are only two kinds of death penalty: beheading and strangulation. Beheading is beheading with a knife; Strangulation is to use a short stick to tighten the rope loop around the sinner's neck and suffocate him. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, the five-punishment system was basically followed, and the types of death penalty were still beheading and strangulation. Only for a few extremely serious crimes, the "annual death" has been specially set up. Therefore, in the Northern Song Dynasty, when Bao Gong lived, there were no hay cutters and other instruments of torture. In fact, the word "americium" also appeared very late. There is no such word in Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it is extremely difficult to find it in the documents of Tang and Song Dynasties. The records of "Haycutter" appeared in large numbers in the Yuan Dynasty. As nomads, Mongolians need to chop up their forage reserves in winter to raise livestock. The straw cutter has a fixed fulcrum, which can cut the forage evenly. The word "Ze" to the right of the word "Zha" has the same meaning as "painting" according to Shuo Wen Jie Zi. The words "spear" and "spear grass" were explained in Dictionary compiled by Ming Dynasty scholar Mei (forty-three years of Wanli, 16 15). It can be seen that the hay cutter is a tool specially used for mowing grass.
In Yuan zaju, such as Tingyu Zheng's "Exploring the Back Garden", Bao Gong asked for full authority to try the riddle, so his superior Zhao Lian promised to "fight you to the death in three days and ask me about it", and anonymous's "Tinkling Pot Ghost", "I want to see a public official with ulterior motives."
Although there are so many bronze plots in Yuan Zaju, there are no bronze instruments of torture or death penalty in the law of Yuan Zaju. Probably because the Yuan Dynasty totally acted recklessly and punished him privately with a hay cutter, which left such an impression on the society and was incorporated into the zaju.
There are six stories about Bao Gong in "Raping Thorns" published in Chenghua period of Ming Dynasty (1471-kloc-0/478), but there is no mention of the hay cutter. Later, the novel "Bao sentenced to 100 cases" was compiled by him at the meeting in Lai 'an, which erased all the legends and did not mention this "potential sword, bronze spear".
Bao Gong's three bronze spears appeared in Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses.
Three bronze spears of Bao Gong appeared in Shi Yukun's Three Heroes and Five Righteousness in Qing Dynasty. Chapter 9 of "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" tells that Bao Gong was named a scholar by Song Renzong in Longtuge, and he is still a government official, visiting Chen Zhou for disaster relief. Song Renzong "rewarded the imperial seal three times". Bao Gong suggested that Master Gongsun Ce use the word "Zagreb" as the word "spear" to design three bronze spears: dragon, tiger and dog. The next day, Bao Gong showed Song Renzong and invited him to "act according to the hierarchy if anyone violates the law", but Song Renzong was "very happy and admired Bao Gong's intelligence".
Back to the fifteenth time, "The First Trial of Chopping Pang Yu, Leading at the Temple Fair of the Motherland", it also described in detail the details of the hay cutter's execution: "... I saw Mahan throw him to the ground early. Four courtiers came to chew with him, stripped off their clothes, spread reed mats, immediately rolled them up and tied them with straw ropes three times. Zhang Long and Zhao Hu lifted him up, walked to the front of the spear, and put him at the mouth of the spear, with both ends flat. At this point, Mahan and Wang Chao face inward, holding the target in their left hand, pressing the back of the knife with their right hand, and looking straight at the seat. Bao Gong brushed off his robe sleeve, grabbed the tiger's neck and read the word "execution". The tiger's body stood upright and his arms were stiff, but he heard a click and the evil thief beheaded and split in two. "
The "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" is the source of many modern drama stories, and the stories of the three mowers are getting deeper and deeper and "deeply rooted in people's hearts".