一切經音義 23.29

23.29

"Or decapitating their heads" (The twenty-fifth treatise, the "Biographies of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing" in the Hanshu, says: "Beheaded three thousand and seventeen ranks." Yan Shigu says: "Originally, one rank of nobility was conferred for severing one enemy head; hence, severing a head came to be called a 'rank' [級]. Capturing one person alive was also termed a 'rank.'" The Zhucong says: "Severing a head is also called a 'rank'").