Once upon a time, in the TV series "The Legend of Di Renjie's Case", there was a sentence "Yuan Fang, what do you think?" It became popular all over the Internet, and the title name of Yuan Fang's inspector General Qianniuwei also aroused a lot of interest.Well, there are two interesting questions.
First of all, we know that in ancient times, there were hussar generals, chariot generals, Wuwei generals, generals who conquered the north, conquered the south, conquered the east, conquered the west, and so on. These general titles all have a majestic aura in their names.
However, why did the Tang Dynasty choose such a puzzling name as "Qianniuwei" as the name of the general?
Secondly, what is the duty of General Qianniuwei?
Let's talk about these two issues.
The Xianbei sword-wielding samurai on the mural.
First of all, General Qianniuwei is a full-time guard department in the Tang Praetorian Guard, and his duty is to specialize in managing the security work.
The title of "Qianniuwei" in the Tang Dynasty is inherited from the Xianbei customs, and the name is derived from the Qianniu knife of the Xianbei people.
What is a Thousand Cattle Knife?
As we all know, the Sui and Tang dynasties originated from the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the Northern Zhou Dynasty originated from the Western Wei Dynasty, and the ancestors of the emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties were all Han generals and generals of the Zhu State in the Western Wei era. However, the Western Wei Dynasty was separated from the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the Northern Wei Dynasty was a dynasty established after Tuoba Xianbei entered the Central Plains. Therefore, the Xianbei custom tradition was actually a very common phenomenon in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
When the Xianbei people were on the grassland, they named the finely crafted and high-quality high-grade treasure knife as Qianniu Knife.
As the name suggests, the meaning of the Thousand Cow Knife is used as a metaphor for being able to slaughter a thousand cattle without the blade being rolled. The nomadic tribes of the steppe have such straightforward names.
Killing a thousand cattle without rolling the blade, such a treasure sword, of course, must be handed over to the most courageous warriors. In the era of the Xianbei tribe, all warriors who were qualified to wear the "Thousand Cow Knife" on their waists were called "Thousand Cows".
Those who can become "Qianniu" are all brave warriors who are one in a million, these people are skilled in martial arts, outstanding in riding and archery, and good at white-knuckle combat, and have always been with Xianbei Shan Yu, the prince and the tribal chieftain, as a personal guard, so it is also called a thousand cow guards.
During the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, the northern heroes rose together, and the heroes of all ethnic groups competed with each other, and finally Tuoba Xianbei swept the north and established the Northern Wei Dynasty. After the establishment of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Qianniu Guard, who wore a thousand cattle swords, became the special name of the personal guards of the emperor and the prince of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
And the commander who is responsible for the daily command and management of these Thousand Niu Guards is called General Thousand Niu.
The Sui and Tang dynasties followed this system, and Qianniuwei became one of the sixteen guards of the Praetorian Guard, so there was the position of General Qianniuwei.
There are two thousand cow guards, namely the left thousand cow guards and the right thousand cow guards.
The functions of the two guards are the same, the ranks are the same, and the staffing is also the same, and each has a general.
General Zuo Qianniuwei.
The right Qianniuwei general.
As for the Yuan Fang's position of inspector Qianniuwei general, what does it mean?
The word "inspection" is probably temporary, and it has not yet been officially turned into a positive meaning.
However, in the TV series, it was not explained whether Yuan Fang was the left Qianniuwei or the right Qianniuwei, which was an obvious negligence on the part of the director.
Tang Jun on the mural**.
The 16 guards of the Tang Dynasty Praetorian Guard were the core of the Tang Dynasty's military force.
Each of the sixteen guards is named as the left and right two guards, which are divided into the first twelve guards and the last four guards, which are as follows.
The first twelve of the sixteen guards.
1) Left and right guards;
2) Left and right guards;
3) Left and right guards;
4) Left and right Weiwei;
5) Left and right leading guards;
6) Left and right Jin Wuwei.
The back four of the sixteen guards.
7) Left and right prison guards:
8) Left and right Qianniuwei.
The above is the sixteen guards, from 1 6, a total of 12 generals, also known as the first twelve guards.
The characteristics of the former Twelve Guards generals are that they are not only the Praetorian Guards responsible for the defense of the capital in peacetime, but also the elite field army of the Tang Dynasty.
In the event of an incident, the emperor assigned one or two of them to serve as the chief of the marching road in a certain campaign direction, and then sent the government soldiers from the military offices of the prefectures under his jurisdiction to form a large army to carry out the military operations of the expeditionary crusade.
In the first year of Zhenguan, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty divided the world into ten administrative regions, that is, ten provinces. They are:
a) Kannai Road;
b) Hedong Road;
3) Henan Province;
4) Hebei Province;
5) Shannan Road;
6) Longyou Road;
7) Huainan Road;
8) Gangnam Province;
9) South Kemon Road;
10) Lingnan Road.
The above ten provinces, each province has jurisdiction over dozens of prefectures, with a total of 634 military offices and 600,000 soldiers under its jurisdiction. And these military governments and government soldiers belong to the management and dispatch of the former Twelve Guards General's Mansion.
Of course, the dispatch of government soldiers requires the emperor to issue an edict and grant a talisman for the transfer of troops.
Therefore, all those who served as the former twelve guards generals were generally famous generals in a hundred battles, such as Wei Chi Jingde, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Shubao, Su Dingfang, Xue Rengui and other legendary generals.
Let's talk about the back four of the 16 guards ranked 7 and 8.
Left and right prison guards:
Left and right.
Similarly, each guard also has a Kaifu general. But under the jurisdiction of these four great generals, there are only guards and do not command the army of the government.
The latter four guards were only responsible for guarding the palace and serving as accompanying guards for the Son of Heaven and the Crown Prince, and were not responsible for going out to fight.
As the name suggests, the left and right prison guards are dedicated to guarding the palace gates. And the left and right Qianniuwei are full-time guards who perform personal guards.
The establishment of the middle and senior generals of the Qianniuwei General's Mansion is as follows.
The left and right Qianniuwei each have 1 general of Qianniuwei, 2 generals of the left and right Qianniu, 2 generals of the left and right Qianniu, and 15 members of the left and right Qianniu preparations.
Qianniu prepares, that is, the meaning of the substitute general to be promoted, and is generally filled by the sons and daughters of the nobles with outstanding martial arts, and then one step further, it is the Zhonglang general.
The staffing of the Left and Right Qianniuwei Generals' Mansions are the same, and the ranks are also equal, for example, under the Zuo Qianniuwei Generals, there are 2 Zuo Qianniu Generals, and 2 Zuo Qianniu Zhonglang Generals, and 15 Zuo Qianniu Reserve Guards.
General Qianniuwei's mansion also set up middle and lower levels**:
There are 1 person in the long history, 1 person in the army, 2 people in the army in Cangcao, 2 people in the army in the soldiers, 1 person in the cavalry Cao and 1 Cao in the army, in addition, there are various official positions such as the division rank, the middle candidate, the Si Ge, the halberd, etc., in this regard, the rear four guards general's mansion is basically the same as the former twelve guards general's mansion.
The difference is that the first twelve guards are under the jurisdiction of the government soldiers, while the last four guards are under the jurisdiction of the guards.
However, it should be noted that although the left and right Qianniuwei General's Mansion did not have subordinate government soldiers, it did not form a field army. However, those skilled and well-equipped Thousand Cow Guards are also an elite Praetorian Guard force that should not be underestimated.
What kind of person can be selected as a Thousand Niu Guards?
Those who serve as personal guards for the emperor and the crown prince must be chosen from the sons of the nobles and the loyal and brave fighters in the army. For example, Hou Junji's son-in-law, Helan Chushi, is the guard military attache of Donggong Qianniu and the crown prince Li Chengqian.
As for the troops under the command of General Qianniuwei, how many guards are there?
There is no way to verify the specific number of troops, and it can be speculated that there are only more than 100, and at most only a few hundred. Because there are never so many warriors in a million!
As mentioned earlier, the common duty of the left and right Qianniu guards is to provide personal guards for the emperor and the crown prince.
Therefore, Qianniuwei is also in charge of the armor and ordnance of the palace guards, as well as the imperial ceremonial guards of the emperor and the crown prince, etc. In short, the ** treasury in the palace is managed by Qianniuwei.
The guards of Qianniu were to guard the emperor with armor and swords and bows and arrows when they were on duty, and to be in charge of the emperor's uniforms and utensils needed at any time.
When the emperor travels, he must be accompanied by a thousand cow guards, and the thousand cow guards are the royal guards.
From this point of view, Di Renjie in the TV series is outstanding, and there is a "General Qianniuwei of the School Inspection" to escort him, which is very illogical, because Di Renjie is in a high position and does not deserve the protection of Qianniuwei, not to mention the general of the school.
When the emperor ascended to the court, Qianniuwei was also responsible for the following important work.
One: Succession for the Emperor.
In the Tang Dynasty, every time a court meeting was held, if the ministers wanted to make a speech to the emperor and submit the recital, they had to first hand it to the left and right Qianniu Wei Zhonglang generals who were on duty in front of the palace, and then through their hands, it was handed over to the emperor for reading.
This position is also known as the Receiving Position.
Two: Make a microphone for the emperor.
As we all know, during the court meeting, the military officials of His Royal Highness gathered, and if the emperor's speech was to be heard clearly by everyone, he had to shout at the top of his voice.
However, shouting at the top of his voice, wouldn't that be a big loss of decency?
Therefore, when the emperor is in the palace, there are people standing beside him. Whenever the emperor wants to issue an edict, as long as the Son of Heaven speaks in a normal voice, the general secretary on the side is responsible for raising his voice and sending the word downwards loudly.
If you stand in the distance at the bottom of the stairs, there are still ministers who can't hear them, and then the middle generals of the left and right thousand cow guards in the hall will carry out a second loud transmission.
Three: Pickets and law enforcement teams in the palace.
Another important duty of the Senniu Wei Zhonglang was to be responsible for picketing those who violated the etiquette in the forbidden palace, such as walking sideways in front of the emperor's throne during the court meeting, talking to each other privately at the court meeting, or leaning over to talk to the people below, shaking his head and raising his hand to greet each other, and so on.
These behaviors are all stopped by the commander of the thousand cows, and the offenders must be corrected immediately. If, after the reprimand, there are still people who don't take things seriously and still don't change, then something big will happen. The skilled Qianniu guards will take down the disobedient on the spot, and then go to prison to judge the crime, and at this time, if it doesn't work, it will be killed and robbed.
The Tang Dynasty is a dynasty that greatly admires martial arts, and the emperor also has to practice archery from time to time.
And the Thousand Bull Guards were originally selected to become the royal armed guards with their martial arts and loyalty.
Therefore, whenever the emperor practiced archery in the palace, General Qianniuwei would lead a group of Qianniuwei's archers to serve beside the emperor.
The Qianniu Guards cleared the site in advance, deployed a guard, and set up arrow targets. Then he arranged the clothes, bows and arrows, and horses for the emperor, and accompanied the emperor to practice archery.
Although the generals of the Tang Dynasty never went out to fight, the Qianniu guards with a thousand cattle swords on their waists were indeed once a symbol of the Tang Dynasty warriors and martial arts.
The noble sons of the Tang Dynasty and the brave and good fighters in the army are all proud of being selected as Qianniuwei.
However, in the Middle Tang Dynasty, with the collapse of the military system and the existence of the Sixteen Wei generals, Qianniuwei naturally gradually became unworthy of its name and became a mere formality.