朱元璋懲貪「剝皮實草」酷刑重研：兼與王世華教授商榷

A Critical Reappraisal of Zhu Yuanzhang's Alleged Atrocious Punishments: The Case of Bo-pi-shi-cao (Skin the Corpse, Stuff with Straw)

陳學霖(Chan Hok-lam)

《中國文化研究所學報》 42期 (2002/01) Pp. 197-212

https://doi.org/10.29708/JCS.CUHK.200201_(42).0006

並列摘要

This paper is a critical reappraisal of one of the most atrocious punishments ordered by Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming dynasty founder Taizu (r. 1368-1398), known as bo-pi-shi-cao (skin the corpse, stuff with straw), against officials and courtiers for committing a heinous crime alleged by the cruel and reckless emperor. The crimes that warranted such an extreme punishment included notorious corruption, high treason, adultery and other serious immoral demeanor. It is an infamous case of early Ming political and legal history that has drawn wide criticisms from both traditional and modern historians. Though concrete evidence was scarce, the notoriety of these cases had been much publicized by the Qing historian Zhao Yi (1727-1814) in a short essay in his famous Nianershi zhaji, juan 33, entitled: ＂Severe punishments against corrupt officials.＂ It reports that in Taizu's reign, corrupt officials who had embezzled an amount up to sixty taels of silver were liable to beheaded, the corpse be skinned, and the skins filled with straw for display in public. Inside the prefectures, subprefectures, counties and guards, a temple was erected on the left of the administration office, known as bichangmiao (＂Skinning site＂ Temple), for offering prayers to the earth-god and for skinning the corpse. The side of the administration office hanged a pouch loaded with skins filled with straw as a warning to the culprits. Zhao's essay, however, ends with a note declaring that later in Hai Rui's (1514-1587) memorial to the Wanli Emperor (r. 1573-1620), he made a reference to the bo-pi-shi-cao case in Taizu's time, and also to a statute in the Ming penal code stipulating that embezzlement of eighty guan be punishable by strangulation in order to rectify the administration. This incident is recorded in Hai Rui's biography in the Mingshi. Zhao's note seems to suggest that there is concrete evidence in support of his statement, and few scholars thereafter raised a query. However, in 1997, Wang Shihua, a Ming historian from Anhui Normal University, published an article in Historical Research (Lishi yanjiu), 1997.2 issue, attacking Zhao Yi's citation of historical sources as fictitious and dismissing the veracity of Zhu Yuanzhang's bo-pi-shi-cao atrocious punishment. While some of his charges merit attention, particularly his contention that Zhao was misled by a questionable source from the Wanli miscellany Baishi huibian by Wang Qi, Wang made a serious blunder by ignoring the note about Hai Rui's memorial to the Wanli Emperor citing Zhu Yuanzhang's bo-pi-shi-cao punishment which Zhao appended to his essay. In this memorial, submitted in 1585 pleading with the Emperor for harsher punishments against corrupt officials to ensure justice, the upright censor invoked the Ming founder's precedent as an example, although he did not advocate reinstating the notorious practice. Had the author paid attention to Zhao's note and retraced the case to Hai Rui and other Wanli official and private sources, he would have a better understanding of the event and might withdraw his outright rebuttal. The present paper attempts to verify these controversial and myth-laden episodes in Zhu Yuanzhang's reign through a critical reevaluation of the relevant sources throughout the Ming period. The first part of the paper exposes a number of fallacies and mistakes in Wang Shihua's arguments about the falsehood of the bo-pi-shi-cao atrocious punishment through a comparative investigation and utilization of new source materials. These new sources include Yu Ben's (1331-1403+) Jishi lu and Taizu huangdi qinlu; the former is a private record of the late Yuan and early Ming by a contemporary junior military officer, and the latter, a compendium of official documents of Taizu's reign forming part of the sources of the Taizu shilu. Altogether they recorded three instances of bo-pi-shi-cao punishment ordered by Zhu Yuanzhang against individuals charged with committing serious corruption, defrauding members of the imperial family, and engaging in adultery. The second part of the paper carries the discussions on the veracity of the bo-pi-shi-cao atrocity further through expanded investigation and additional citation of pertinent mid and later Ming official and private accounts hitherto eluded historian's attention. They include the aforementioned Hai Rui's memorial to the Wanli Emperor and other related memorials on the same subject abridged in the Shenzong shilu, and also the private biographies of two loyal officials of the Jianwen Emperor (r. 1399-1402) who suffered the bo-pi-shi-cao punishment of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-1424) for refusing to surrender after the palace coup d'état of 1402. A clear picture thus emerges not only laying Professor Wang's contention to rest but also reaffirming the veracity of Zhu Yuanzhang's atrocity. Lastly, the paper presents an account of the bopi atrocity against innocent people in Sichuan during the rampage of the notorious bandit chief Zhang Xianzhong at the fall of the Ming dynasty based on contemporary reminiscences. They show how officials and commoners, man and women alike, were skinned after random execution by the bandits and their skins, some of them stuffed with straw or in garment, were hung in public to terrorize the people into submission. It vividly attests to the continuation of some forms of Zhu Yuanzhang's notorious practices to the end of the dynasty.