My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 382 Redundant Guards

In addition to the Nei Shi and Shao Fu, there was another freak in the Han Dynasty's system of three dukes and nine ministers - or rather, a freak composed of several other departments, which was the Han Dynasty's rather redundant guard force.

As we all know, among the Nine Ministers of the Han Dynasty, there were two positions directly related to the Imperial Guards: Weiwei and Langzhongling.

In addition to the Nine Ministers, there was a lieutenant who, although not titled as one of the Nine Ministers, had more power than the Nine Ministers and was responsible for the entire Chang'an city's guard duties.

To describe it in more popular language, with the Han emperor in the Xuanshi Hall as the center, there were three independent guard systems from the inside to the outside - the Langzhongling who guarded the emperor, the Weiwei who guarded the Weiyang Palace, and the Zhongwei who protected the city of Chang'an.

Three lines of insurance, three unrelated systems, seem to ensure the emperor's personal safety to the greatest extent, but in most of the time, the powers and responsibilities performed by these three departments are highly overlapping.

Take Liu Rong today for example: whether due to political considerations or due to the past traditions of the Han family, Liu Rong rarely "moves".

Apart from visiting the Eastern Palace Changle every five days and inspecting Shanglin Garden every now and then, Liu Rong never left Chang'an City - he even seldom left the Weiyang Palace.

The existing imperial guard system of the Han Dynasty clearly defined the duties of the three departments: Langzhongling, Weiwei, and Zhongwei.

——In theory, the Langzhongling himself should be by the emperor's side at all times, leading the palace officials under him and being responsible for the emperor's safety, as well as the work of secretary, assistant, and even private doctor.

In other words, no matter where the emperor was - staying in the Weiyang Palace or having fun outside the palace, the Langzhongling had to stay by the emperor's side all the time.

Of course, as a mortal man with a family, it is obviously impossible for the Langzhongling to stay by the side of the Han emperor for his entire life.

But at the very least, when the emperor traveled, the doctor-in-chief had to make sure he was by his side;

When the emperor was staying in the Weiyang Palace, the Langzhongling had to ensure that he would be with the emperor for one or two hours out of the twelve hours of each day.

This is the Langzhongling, the dog-skin plaster beside the Han emperor, not controlled by any bureaucratic system of the Han family, and is a "personal armed guard" force directly responsible to the emperor himself.

The Weiwei, on the other hand, was in stark contrast to the Langzhongling.

—Law of the Imperial Household, wherever the Emperor is, there I am;
But the Weiwei said, "No matter where the emperor is, I will only be in charge of the imperial palace."

Liu Rong remembered that when he was a child, the old teachers in the palace used an extremely vivid example to explain the relationship between the Langzhongling and the Weiwei when they were teaching the princes.

If a group of thieves were able to abduct the Han emperor from the Weiyang Palace without destroying the gates and walls of the Weiyang Palace or setting foot on any piece of land in the Weiyang Palace, then this matter would have nothing to do with the Weiwei.

Because the responsibility of the Weiwei was never to protect the Han emperor in the palace, but only to protect the palace.

Although this vivid example is a bit exaggerated, Liu Rong is very clear that this statement can basically be regarded as being true.

The reason why there is such a position that is only responsible for guarding the imperial palace without caring about the safety of the emperor is because the Weiwei is essentially the commander of the guard army equipped by the outer court, or the state, for the emperor.

The Langzhongling was the emperor's personal armed force and bodyguard; the Weiwei was the armed guard provided by the state - this was the most essential difference between the two.

It was also for this reason that Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, who succeeded to the throne from Dai more than 30 years ago, felt extremely uneasy and unable to sleep or eat well on the throne in the Weiyang Palace at the beginning of his reign.

——The Weiwei were the imperial guards assigned by the outer court to the emperor;

At that time, Emperor Taizong Xiaowen was merely a clay statue brought in by old ministers such as Chen Ping and Zhou Bo to serve as a facade, and he had no right to interfere in the affairs of the outer court.

Therefore, Emperor Taizong was not able to ensure his personal safety and control his own armed forces by appointing a Weiwei he could trust. Instead, he had to be blocked in the palace and monitored from all angles by the Weiwei appointed by the outer court.

In the end, Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, who was helpless, could only invent a position of "General of the Guards" and appointed his confidant Song Chang, who he brought from Dai State, to the position of General of the Guards.

Then, it was General Wei Song Chang, who led the personal guards brought by Emperor Taizong from the State of Dai, and patrolled the Weiyang Palace - the area inside the walls of the Weiyang Palace and outside the gate of the Xuanshi Hall, separating the circle of armed forces belonging to the Weiwei on the palace wall from Emperor Taizong in the Xuanshi Hall.

In this way, Emperor Taizong finally had his first good sleep in the Xuanshi Hall of the Weiyang Palace since he entered Chang'an and succeeded to the throne.

At that time, Emperor Taizong had no choice but to invent this "General Wei" to protect himself. On the one hand, the Weiwei was not under the control of Emperor Taizong;

On the other hand, the emperor's personal armed guards: the Langzhongling, were also not under the control of Emperor Taizong at the time.

The fact that the Weiwei was not under the control of the emperor could be barely understood as: the outer court was powerful, the emperor was weak, and had not yet completely controlled the court.

But the fact that the Imperial Physician-in-Chief was not under the control of the emperor was enough to show how bad the situation of Emperor Taizong was at that time.

It is for this reason that there is a saying in the Han Dynasty's political arena that "a new emperor may not have his own ministers, but every emperor must have his own imperial physician."

——The commander of the imperial guards is directly under the emperor. No matter who becomes the emperor, wouldn’t he have to appoint a close confidant whom he trusts absolutely?

As for the Weiwei, successive Han emperors did not treat him like the Langzhongling, adhering to the principle of "only confidants can be appointed", but simply tried to appoint honest, dutiful and principled people as much as possible.

Firstly, the Weiwei position itself is inseparable from the outer court. Even if he is appointed by a confidant, there is a high probability that he will be corrupted by the outer court.

Secondly, it is to form a check and balance relationship between the Weiwei and the Langzhongling.

——The Langzhongling was in charge of the emperor’s personal safety, and the Weiwei was in charge of the garrison and guarding of the imperial palace;
If the relationship between these two people is too good, if any accident happens, the Han emperor who is surrounded by layers of enemies will really be in a state of panic.

Therefore, in the past few years, the appointments to the two positions of Langzhongling and Weiwei also have a certain degree of correlation.

The general pattern is: first appoint a confidant of the emperor as the imperial physician;

Then select all the honest, dutiful, principled and moral gentlemen in the court;

Finally, among these moral gentlemen, the one who has the worst relationship with the Langzhongling will be chosen to serve as the Weiwei.

If we can't find one - if all the virtuous gentlemen in the court have a good relationship with the already appointed Physician-in-Chief, then sorry, we have to replace the Physician-in-Chief and choose another one who is close to the emperor.

Then repeat the above operation: from among all the moral gentlemen in the court, select the person who has the worst relationship with the doctor as the Weiwei.

Even Liu Rong, a visitor from later generations, could not help but admire: If the Han Dynasty's imperial guards only had these two departments to check and balance each other, then this would definitely be a very sophisticated system.

But in fact, in addition to these two Nine Ministers, the Han Dynasty also had at least two other non-Nine Ministers departments, which were also responsible for the guard work of the capital Chang'an. - First, the lieutenant;
As the superior of the General of the Household and the person primarily responsible for Chang'an's public security and patrol work, the lieutenant's authority was mainly in the non-imperial palace areas of Chang'an City.

That is, the residential area except for the Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, Gui Palace, Gao Temple and other areas.

However, if the only duty is "security patrol in residential areas", then the lieutenant's powers will not overlap with those of the Langzhongling and Weiwei.

Just think about it and you will know: if he is really just a patrol captain or a police station chief, then the lieutenant cannot be called a non-Nine Ministers office that is "not Nine Ministers, but better than Nine Ministers".

The answer is: Among the powers in the lieutenant's hands, patrolling the streets of Chang'an and maintaining public order are only the most insignificant ones.

In addition, the General of the Household under the command of the Lieutenant was directly responsible for the ceremonial guard of the emperor when he traveled, as well as the protection of his carriage.

Everyone knows about the Zhonglang Jiang - the group of Zhonglang he led were national-level military elites who were selected from armies all over the country and trained as reserve officers.

Today, the two generals Cheng Buzhi and Li Guang of the Han Dynasty are the most representative figures of this group.

After being summoned to Chang'an by the central court and organized into the General of the Five Officials, the Zhonglang group, in addition to daily military training and learning of military theoretical knowledge, had another very important task, which was to serve as the emperor's guard of honor and escort when he traveled.

——On the one hand, it is to allow these reserve officers and future generals to enjoy the grace of the emperor up close, so that they can have a greater sense of identity and intimacy with the emperor himself;

It can be regarded as a small reward and honor for these young talents.

After all, for a feudal emperor, not everyone can serve as a ceremonial guard or a personal guard.

On the other hand, wouldn't it be an honor for the emperor to have outstanding military reserve talents serve as his ceremonial guards and face?
Just think about it, you are sitting in the middle of the left banner of the Yellow House, with guards leading the way in front of you and sounding the alarm, knights accompanying you on your side, and palace maids holding various ceremonial objects behind you. It's quite a grand scene.

The people retreated to both sides of the road, marveling at the grand occasion, only to discover that among your entourage were figures of world-famous people like Li Guang and Cheng Bushi!
In your emperor's court, even these two famous generals are just ordinary pawns...

In everything, I am afraid of such a comparison.

You say you are invincible, but without any reference, people generally have no idea and will just blindly agree with it.

But if you say that you killed Tyson in five seconds and knocked out Ip Man in ten seconds, that Bruce Lee was no match for you in three rounds, and that Schwarzenegger couldn't even withstand one of your punches, then everyone will have an image in their mind.

The same principle - you say that the Son of Heaven is born divine, and that he is all-embracing and omnipotent in heaven and on earth, but no one has any idea of ​​this;
But when Li Guang and Cheng Bushi serve as your personal guards, Xiao He and Zhang Liang give you advice, Han Xin helps you get off the car, and Zhou Bo polishes your shoes, then everyone will have a reference and understand intuitively: Wow, it’s really awesome!
From a certain perspective, using military reserve talents to serve as ceremonial guards and escorts was the only image project of the Han Dynasty, apart from the Changle and Weiyang Palaces, which "had to be magnificent to have great prestige".

Furthermore, long-term close contact between military reserve talents and the emperor is also a great opportunity.

Back then, Zhidu was appreciated by Emperor Taizong Xiaowen because Zhidu, who was only a Zhonglang at the time, stopped Emperor Taizong from taking risks without any fear, thus enabling him to rise to prominence.

Li Guang was given an important position, also as a Zhonglang. During one of his trips accompanying Emperor Taizong to hunt, he demonstrated his extraordinary personal strength and conquered Emperor Taizong.

During the reign of the previous emperor, Zhonglang Zhidu was not sent out as a general after the "training period" as Zhonglang according to the usual practice. Instead, he was directly promoted from Zhonglang to Zhonglang General, which undoubtedly set a different precedent for the Zhonglang group of the Han Dynasty.

——Zhonglang does not necessarily have to be sent out to be a general and take the path of a pure military general;

As long as he had the ability, he could have stayed in Chang'an for a long time like Zhidu, first established his foothold in the court, and then been sent out as a general with a higher starting point.

For example, if Zhidu was sent out as a Zhonglang, he would probably start as a county lieutenant or a colonel.

But Zhidu first served as General of the Central Army in Chang'an, and was even almost promoted to lieutenant, with a rank of two thousand stones!

Therefore, Zhidu was directly sent to be the prefect of Yanmen County.

Nowadays, there are rumors that Yanmen Prefect Cheng Buzhi may be transferred to Shuofang, and Zhidu will most likely be promoted again and serve as Yanmen Prefect.

A county governor is a real pillar of the country and a frontier official!

If one starts out as a county lieutenant or colonel, how many years would one have to endure in the army and how many military merits would one have to achieve before one could reach the rank of county magistrate, a two thousand stone official?

Therefore, today's Zhidu has become the object of learning and imitation for the Zhonglang group...

Closer to home.

The Zhonglangjiang under the Zhonglie were responsible for the ceremonial guard and escort work when the emperor traveled for political reasons.

This indirectly meant that the lieutenant in charge of the Zhonglang Jiang's office had the additional responsibility of "escorting the emperor when he was traveling."

This obviously overlaps with the authority of the emperor's personal medicine: the Langzhongling.

——Lieutenant: Guard the emperor when he is traveling;
——Langzhongling: Guard the emperor in any state;
——Weiwei: In theory, they only guard the imperial palace, but in reality, they also have to guard the emperor inside the palace.

This means that whether the Han emperor was inside or outside the palace, he had at least two groups of unrelated people responsible for protecting the emperor.

This is not over yet.

More than thirty years ago, the boomerang thrown by Emperor Taizong Xiaowen hit the future Han emperor right between the eyebrows after Emperor Taizong's death.

——General Wei!

In those days, the post of General Wei was only temporarily created by Emperor Taizong for the purpose of "establishing a personal guard force". However, after Emperor Taizong evolved into the living saint, Emperor Wen of Han, the post was upgraded to the first commander of the capital military region!

There were two imperial guards in Chang'an: the southern and northern guards were under the command of the Weiwei and guarded the imperial palace, while the northern guards were under the command of the Zhongwei and guarded Chang'an.
The two armies of the north and the south, plus the lieutenants and lieutenants who controlled the two imperial guards, were all under the jurisdiction of the general!

If we say that more than 30 years ago, General Wei was "protecting" the Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, whose foundation was unstable and whose wings were not yet fully developed;

But now, the General Wei is "protecting" the entire Chang'an - even the "pan-Chang'an" area...

(End of this chapter)