The Last Man to Die by Lingchi: He Publicly Harassed Cixi in History and Was Sliced with 3784 Cuts Without Uttering a Sound

Kang Xiaoba, male, nicknamed Wu Tuzi, of Hui ethnicity, age unknown, a native of Tianjin Wei, was a notorious bandit who roamed both Beijing and Tianjin during the Guangxu era. Because in his early years he was adopted into the Kang family of Donghuang Village in Beijing, he changed his surname to Kang, and his bandit title was Lord Kang the Eighth, known in the underworld as Kang Xiaoba.

At first, his family had three donkeys and made a living by hauling goods for others.

Later, because of his ruthless and vicious methods, he was taken notice of by a local rich man, who wanted him to serve as his mounted guard. The rich man bought a revolver and three hundred rounds of ammunition from Japan and gave them to Kang Xiaoba, letting him serve as his personal escort. While serving as the rich man's guard, he repeatedly eliminated business competitors for him. Later, a friend of this rich man reminded him to be wary of this Kang Xiaoba, who was savage by nature and cruel and ruthless.

The friend's warning made the rich man realize that he was in a certain dangerous situation, so he found an opportunity to ask Kang Xiaoba for the gun back. Kang Xiaoba handed the gun over, and just as the rich man was about to take it, Kang Xiaoba shot him dead with one bullet. The reason was that Kang Xiaoba liked this gun, which was easier to use than cold weapons such as knives, and with it he feared no one. After getting the gun, Kang Xiaoba continually committed crimes and killed people. In the end, he was wanted by the imperial court.

Kang Xiaoba committed crimes with audacity, and the imperial court was never able to arrest him and bring him to justice. After Kang Xiaoba fled beyond the passes, he gathered a band of bandits and repeatedly robbed the imperial court's official silver, which shocked Empress Dowager Cixi.

After Cixi heard about this matter, she was extremely shocked. Empress Dowager Cixi ordered all-out efforts to capture Kang Xiaoba. Kang Xiaoba was not only clever, but also highly skilled in martial arts, and he also had a foreign gun in his possession. Therefore, Cixi had the imperial court also step forward to invite several martial arts masters to help capture Kang Xiaoba. After a rigorous arrest operation, Kang Xiaoba was finally caught, but this time, Cixi specified that she wanted to interrogate him personally.

When Empress Dowager Cixi saw Kang Xiaoba, she angrily cursed him, saying he deserved his punishment and that death would not atone for his crimes. After confessing his guilt, Kang Xiaoba even shouted at Empress Dowager Cixi: "If you are going to rob, rob official silver; if you are going to violate, violate the Empress Dowager!" She had never been insulted like this in her entire life, and moreover she was the Empress Dowager, so how could she be spoken to like this? This bandit went from harassing women to harassing the Empress Dowager herself, so Cixi flew into a rage and ordered that Kang Xiaoba's execution method be changed from beheading to death by lingchi.

At the time Kang Xiaoba was executed by lingchi, nearly ten thousand people crowded into Caishikou.

It is said that just like this, cut by cut, the blade sliced down. Although his expression showed gritted-teeth agony, he did not utter a sound, not a single sound, until after 3784 cuts, the supervising executioner, admiring his toughness, drove a steel nail into his heart, and only then did he die. Kang Xiaoba was the last criminal in history to be executed by lingchi.