So, why is this?
First, ask questions after autumn to conform to heaven.
The ancients in China paid attention to the unity of heaven and man, and respected the laws of nature. Especially the emperor, as the son of heaven, must conform to the right time, place and people and do things in order to get God's blessing.
For example, in the story of Spring and Autumn Annals:
Heaven is warm in spring, nourishing in summer, killing in autumn and storing in winter, so it is called Tao that the king matches heaven. There are four seasons in the sky, and you have four strategies. The four strategies are like the four seasons, and the same is true. Celebrate spring, enjoy summer, punish autumn and punish winter.
Visible, in the concept of the ancients in China, heaven and king should be consistent, is in line with the law of good governance, the emperor should follow the heaven for political activities, is king. Therefore, when everything grows in spring, it is not appropriate to use swords and guns, let alone deprive others of their lives at will. However, in autumn, everything went up in smoke, plants withered, just in line with the weather, and the prisoner was executed after the autumn.
Second, asking questions in the autumn is more conducive to shocking people.
China was an agricultural society in ancient times, and most people were farmers. Farmers are usually busy with farm work, planting in spring and harvesting in autumn, and have no time to pay attention to prisoners' execution. In autumn, the harvest was finally harvested, and farmers began to enter the slack season. Choose this time to execute the most important criminals, just when everyone has nothing to do, everyone goes to see the beheading. The country just takes this opportunity to shock the people. The more people watch, the easier it is to form a sensational effect, and correspondingly, the greater the shock.
Third, the interrogation in the autumn reflects the principle of cautious punishment.
Cautious punishment means prudent punishment, especially for the death penalty. A little carelessness will kill a good man by mistake. The judicial principle of cautious punishment in ancient China began to take shape in the Han Dynasty, so in the Han Dynasty, interrogation after autumn was regarded as an important measure of judicial practice. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, all death sentences in the country were reported to the Central Committee for review and decided by the emperor himself. On this basis, the Ming and Qing Dynasties increased the classified disposal of the death penalty, that is, the death penalty cases in various places were divided into four categories: true cases, deferred cases, regretful cases and guarding ancestors. Under the premise of ensuring legal justice, the three legal departments will grant corresponding Amnesty, exempt the death penalty and emphasize human feelings.
Generally speaking, the implementation of autumn trial can leave enough time for the final review, and effectively avoid the occurrence of unjust, false and wrong cases to a certain extent.