The Mystery of the Guards Why didn't the ancient guards assassinate the emperor with sharp blades?
In particular, the army responsible for the security of the imperial palace often fought side by side with the emperor, such as the guards of the Qing Dynasty, the gentry guards of the Ming Dynasty, the palace guards of the Yuan Dynasty, the forbidden army of the Song Dynasty, the twelve guards of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the northern and southern armies of the Han Dynasty. In fact, whether they are loyal to the emperor or not is more important than whether they are strong in martial arts. So, how do you guarantee their loyalty?
Extremely rigorous selection.
Since the emperor's army was directly responsible for the emperor's security, the most important thing in this army was loyalty, not martial arts.
The founding emperor often selected the best generals from his old ministry to form an army and take charge of its security. For example, during the Three Kingdoms period, Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi selected elite soldiers from the tiger and leopard cavalry to form the Wuwei Army; Tang Gaozu Li Yuan selected 30,000 forbidden troops from the Taiyuan rebel army and called"Yuanzong forbidden army"。This army is called"Yuanzong forbidden army"。Since this army was led by the emperor himself, its loyalty was already high, and the loyalty of the generals selected from this army was almost unquestionable.
Therefore, if others want to become soldiers, they must go through a rigorous review, not only to have top martial arts, but also to conduct a rigorous investigation of their origins. Taking the Ming and Qing dynasties as an example, the scale of the gentry in the Ming Dynasty was relatively large, and it can be said that the gentry at all levels held guard positions, but for the group of people after the nobles of the Ming Dynasty, it can be said that death is death, and attrition is attrition. The internal guards of the Qing Dynasty, especially the palace internal guards, were all children of Manchurian Hun Banner relatives and martial arts masters.
Arguably, strict scrutiny increased the loyalty of this army, which was mostly tied to the dynasty.
Extremely strict management.
If strict selection is the foundation, then martial law is the foundation, and only by establishing a complete and effective governance model can this army not lead to rebellion.
In general, the army responsible for the security of the palace had generals, who were all trained in combat and loyal, but the power of the army was ultimately in the hands of the emperor. Therefore, in order to mobilize this army, it is necessary to obtain a letter of trust from the emperor, and the generals in the army must be mobilized personally, otherwise it cannot be mobilized at all. For example, in the witch Gu whipping incident at the end of the Han Dynasty, although the prince came forward and mobilized the army with a military talisman, he was unable to mobilize the northern army.
In addition, in order to prevent the generals from rebelling, the emperor usually took two measures to contain each other: one was to divide the army guarding the capital into different departments, which were in charge of different people, such as the twelve guards in the Sui and Tang dynasties (changed to sixteen guards in the Tang dynasty). Second, like the Ming Dynasty's Ten Regiment Battalions, the army consisted of officers from different departments and was led by a governor, who was held by the Minister of the Interior, the Secretary of the Military Department, or the Royal Inspector General and Chief Military Officer.
Under this perfect system, everyone took care of each other, no one dared to act rashly, and it was difficult to mobilize the forbidden army alone without the emperor's order.
Special preferential treatment.
After all, the army was directly responsible for the security of the palace and the emperor, and in order to avoid unrest, the treatment of the forbidden army was often the best of all the armies, which largely avoided the dissatisfaction of the lower ranks from triggering a rebellion.
Taking the Qing Dynasty as an example, the court guards of the Qing Dynasty included the Jinyi Guard, the Ganqingmen Guard, the Ouchi Guard, etc., among which the guards who were closely related to the palace and the emperor were treated better. Under the Qing system, not only were these guards well paid, but they also received various perks and rewards in addition to their salaries, such as large sums of money on the birthdays of the emperor and empress or when accompanying them on their travels.
At the same time, the close relationship between the gentry and the emperor was usually conducive to their promotion. In the Qing Dynasty, many guards became high-level**, such as Sony, Mingzhu, Suo Etu, Long Keduo, He Shen and Su Shun, etc.
Would a good salary, a relatively comfortable working environment, and easy promotion opportunities make these guards defect so easily?
Very well protected.
When it comes to defending the palace, we always think of it"Three steps with one mast, five steps with one mast"This may be an exaggeration, but it is not far from the truth.
Besides, you can't just walk around in the palace, each army has its own camping and protected areas, and half-step minefields can't be easily crossed. For example, after all, you are only responsible for guarding the palace gate, running around in the inner courtyard, being let down, and having fewer requirements, it is estimated that it will be even more difficult to be killed on the spot. After all, this kind of high-kung fu film and television drama that flies on the wall and goes high and high does not exist in reality.
Under such a tight defense, attempting to assassinate the emperor with a few, or even dozens or hundreds, is tantamount to self-defeat.
The transfer fee is too high.
If someone assassinates the emperor, he is guilty"Conspiracy + Rebellion + Sedition + Sedition + Rebellion + Adultery + Fornication + Adultery + Fornication + Fornication + Adultery + Great Blasphemy"Crime.
If these guards go against the rebels"The point of no return", not only their lives will be threatened, but their entire families will be implicated, they will be"Zhulian Nine Clans", which is a very serious crime. How many people would take the risk of doing something that is almost impossible to succeed in? Even if they succeeded in assassinating the emperor, they would have found nothing.
It can be said that in the old imperial society, the emperor was highly respected and did everything in his power to ensure his survival. This is also the reason why there were no guards to kill kings in all dynasties. Even if there was a rebellion, it was either a large-scale rebellion led by a high-ranking general in the army, such as the Chenqiao Zhao Kuangyin rebellion, or a small number of officers directly opposed the emperor, such as the Shenlong Rebellion and the Tang Dragon Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty.