There are many forms of decapitation. The first is beheading with an axe. The victim put his neck on a wooden anvil and cut it off with a heavy axe.
Secondly, the prisoner kneels, stands, or sits on his heels, with his hands tied in front, his head down and his chin on his chest, so that the executioner can see his neck (the most common method in film and television). Third, the prisoner stands to be punished, with one person holding the prisoner's head in front and one person responsible for the execution. This is the least and the most difficult way to behead.
Decapitation is a common method used by rulers. The ancients in China had a unique view on beheading. For ordinary people, it is very particular to ask questions at the food market at three o'clock at noon and ask questions for princes at the door at noon. It's11:00-13: 00 at noon, about 15 minutes later, and about 1 1:45 at 3 pm. At this time, the sun is shining and people can't see their shadows. According to feudalism, when the sun is shining, it is noon.
There is also a saying that the execution of the death penalty is a "dirty thing", and the ghost of the murdered person will come out to haunt the judge, the supervisor and the executioner, and the ghost can be suppressed at three o'clock in the afternoon. For the emperor, the beheading of the meridian gate occupied the right place and the right time, and the meridian gate was a sunny place in geomantic omen. In addition, when the sun is shining at noon, there is no concern about chopping people here and now. Whether it's death or wrongful death, the one in the dragon chair can sit back and relax. If the emperor still feels uneasy, then kill Jiuzu by the way.
However, according to historians' research, the execution time was indeed stipulated in ancient times, but it was never stipulated as "3: 00 noon"
In the month when the death penalty can be executed, such as the Tang Dynasty, it is the first month, May and September, and the death penalty is not executed during the leap period, which is the so-called "broken moon"
On the date when the death penalty can be executed, generally speaking, festivals, solar terms, sacrifices, new moons, first quarter moons, second quarter moons and "ten consecutive days" are not executed.
When it can be executed, there is no clear stipulation on when it must be executed. Generally speaking, it's like this ... the death penalty can't be executed until dawn and the rain stops. Of course there are exceptions. For example, there is a saying in the history of the Ming Dynasty that "Shen You will be executed from now on" (3 pm to 7 pm).
Since the Spring and Autumn Period, there has been a saying that "reward is in spring and summer, and punishment is in autumn and winter". In the history of China, all dynasties generally used autumn and winter punishments ... and then there was no killing after the winter solstice and before the autumnal equinox.
So the saying of three o'clock at noon probably only appears in novels.