Friends who like to watch costume dramas should be familiar with the special weapon of the Shang fang sword, right?
It is just a simple weapon, but it can "fight the emperor up and behead the traitorous subjects", ignoring the imperial power and having the right to "cut first and play later", which can be said to be the peak "artifact" of challenging the feudal imperial power in ancient times. In addition to the Shang Fang Sword, there are actually some other weapons in history, which also have this effect of "cutting first and playing later", and today we will introduce them one by one.
The earliest "artifact" in history is not the Shang Fang Sword, but the Dragon Gong held by Di Renjie in the "Detective Di Renjie" series of movies. But in real history, on it is called the whip of the king. Whips are a weapon that was very popular in the pre-Qin period, and some emperors gave the whips they used to the symbol of royal power and gave them to their confidants, so that they could fight the traitors under the emperor, becoming the earliest "privileged weapon", beating the king whip.
Why is it said that the whip is the earliest? Because as early as the Yin Shang period, the king whip appeared, and the treasure held by Wen Taishi WenZhong was the golden whip of the king. Chi Gong, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty and a confidant of Li Shimin, was also given a whip to beat the king; in the "Water Margin", the Song Dynasty general Hu Yanzhuo also had a whip to beat the king. However, after the Tang and Song dynasties, whips were not so popular, and the whips began to be replaced by other treasures.
In place of the whip of the king, included the Shang Fang Sword. The Shangfang sword we see in film and television dramas generally appeared in the Ming and Qing dynasties, in fact, it appeared as early as the Han Dynasty, but the Shangfang sword also had another name in the Han Dynasty, and the official called it "Shangfang Chopping Horse Sword". The Book of Former Han once recorded such a sentence: "The subject gave Shangfang a sword to cut off the horse, and cut off one of the servants to force the rest." ”
The special status of shangfang's sword is very related to the two words "shangfang". In ancient times, Shangfang was the place where royal weapons were made, and the Shangfang sword became the emperor's royal sword. Therefore, when the emperor gave it to his courtiers, he was also given the emperor's unique power of life and death, representing the meaning of "seeing the sword as if seeing the son of heaven".
However, as mentioned above, although the Shangfang Sword has appeared as early as the Han Dynasty, it is really popular as an "artifact", mainly in the Ming and Qing dynasties. There were two other things that were popular during the Tang and Song dynasties, one of which also appeared frequently in film and television dramas, and the frequency was higher than that of shangfang's sword, that is, the dragon head crutch.
After all, the Shangfang sword is the emperor's sword, which cannot be displayed from time to time; the symbolic significance of beating the king's whip is also very large, and it does not dare to be used as an ordinary weapon; only this dragon-headed crutch, although it is a royal gift, has the meaning of "beating the emperor up and beating the adulterer", but it can be used in daily life, symbolizing the supreme glory.
In film and television works such as "Mu Guiying Hangs Commander" and "Yangmen Female General", the crutch that She Taijun has been carrying is the dragon head crutch given by the emperor, so She Taijun has such a transcendent status. And the dragon head crutch is also real, the dragon head crutch of Mount Emei was included in the fourth batch of intangible cultural heritage protection list of Leshan City in 2013.
The last treasure was the Qingtian Three-Fold Sword given to Bao Qingtian by Emperor Renzong of Song, which represented "Ru Shuo's presence", namely the dragon heads of emperors who were relatives of the emperor and the dragons and grandsons of the fengzi dragons, the tiger heads of corrupt officials and corrupt officials and traitors of the country, and the dog heads that specially punished local tycoons and inferior gentry and bullies and scoundrels. All three cutters can be cut first and played later, so that Bao Zheng can handle the case worry-free.
References: Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses, Book of the Former Han Dynasty