As soon as "Qing Yu Nian" was broadcast, it was well received, and the original work depicted the struggle for the throne between the party and the opposition, but the play showed us the growth process of Xiao Fan with comedic effects. At first, Lord Xiao Fan was only the illegitimate son of Fan Jianyang, a servant of the household, but since the Red Armor Knight brought him to Beijing, he became a key figure in the struggle for party power like a dragon.
The red-armored knights in the play, they are dressed in red armor and pedal horses, like a well-trained army with amazing combat strength. Although the Red Armor Knight did not appear much, every time it was shocking, and even Zhu Ge in the Inspection Bureau (Control Yuan) had to avoid his sharp edge.
The red-armored knights were owned by the Qing Emperor and were responsible for protecting the emperor's safety, which made us wonder whether there was such an invincible army in the Tang Dynasty, which was only owned by the emperor.
The creation of the Forbidden Army of the Northern Tang Dynasty
In ancient feudal society, power was highly concentrated in the emperor, from the livelihood of the people to the diplomacy of neighboring countries, all of which were closely related to the emperor. The emperor's life seems to be infinite, but in fact it is full of dangers. His crisis comes from many aspects, first of all, for the perpetrators of adultery, if you want to make the country chaotic to take advantage of the opportunity to gain benefits, the most direct way is to solve the top decision-maker; secondly, if the neighboring countries want to expand their territory and invade other countries, the most direct means is to assassinate the emperor to cause civil unrest in the country; the implementation of the New Deal goes against the interests of the majority of the people, and the most likely way to think of those who are forced into a desperate situation is to assassinate the emperor and solve the New Deal from the source. Therefore, the safety of the emperor also became the top priority of the ancient feudal dynasty.
In order to ensure his own safety, the emperor would mostly train his privatized army, the forbidden army. In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, all kinds of wastes were revived, the shortcomings left by the Sui Dynasty had not yet been solved, the local uprisings had not yet been appeased, and the inside and outside of the imperial court were mixed.
In this case, the Tang Emperor established the Beiya Forbidden Army to ensure his own safety. The Northern Forbidden Army refers to the emperor's private soldiers stationed north of Miyagi Castle, whose main duty is to defend the emperor and the imperial family. It is composed of left feather lin wei, right feather lin wei, left dragon tiger army, and right dragon tiger army. Therefore, these four are also known as the "Four Armies of the North Gate".
The development of the Tang Dynasty Northern Ya Forbidden Army
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Gaozu practiced the father-son army system at xuanwumen beimen tunbing, which was the predecessor of the beiyan forbidden army, the beimen tunbing.
The New Book of Tang records: "In the beginning, Gao Zu raised Taiyuan with righteous soldiers, and he had already set the whole world, and he was sent back, and he wished to stay with 30,000 guards, and Gao Zu gave it to him by abandoning the fields of the People of Weibei Baiqu, and the number Yuan was forbidden from the army, and the old man did not do anything, and replaced him with his sons, and called the father and son army."
During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, the emperor selected the best of the soldiers from the palace and served as the emperor's bodyguard, and set up a "left and right camp" at Xuanwu Gate, also known as "hundred horses", with the recruitment system and private ownership as the basic characteristics.
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, the left and right tun battalions were changed to left and right Yulin armies. Since then, the Beiya Forbidden Army has had its own official position and internal system. In the middle and late period of Emperor Gaozong's reign, the situation was unstable, and it was extremely necessary to cultivate his own strength, and the treatment of the Yulin Army also reached its peak at this time.
In the second year of Tianzhi, the left and right Yu Lin armies were renamed left and right Yu Lin Wei, of which two officers were the generals of Zheng Sanpin, four officers were generals from Sanpin, two generals were two members each, two were generals of Zhengsi Pin Yifu, and two were generals from Sipin.
After the establishment of Yulin Wei, the Hundred Horsemen were not abolished, but gradually became stronger with the development of the Northern Imperial Forbidden Army, until the development of "Ten Thousand Horses" during the Tang Zhongzong period, and assisted Tang Xuanzong in overthrowing the Wei hou regime and obtaining the title of "Dragon and Tiger Army".
After the death of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Wu Zetian had tense relations with the imperial court ministers and imperial family, and in order to consolidate his power, Wu Zetian promoted martial arts, in order to select talents to be included in Yulin Wei for his own use.
In the year of Wu Zetian, Wu Zetian trusted the eunuchs, and his relationship with the yulin wei generals became more and more distant, and Wu Zetian ate Li Tang's world, which was already not tolerated by the royal family, and the people did not resist her, just because they were afraid of her, and now Wu Zetian and Yulin Wei were separated, and the imperial court rose up and attacked her.
In addition to Wu Zetian, the Tang Dynasty also had a woman who "pointed out the country and mountains", Wei Hou. She learned the lesson of Wu Zetian's failure and devoted herself to cultivating her own cronies in Yulin Wei. After the death of Tang Zhongzong, Wei Hou intensified his efforts and opened the door of the Forbidden Army, making the Forbidden Army the "back garden" of the Wei clan. Her immediate family members such as Wei Bo and Wei Rui, including her son-in-law, were all assigned to important positions in Yulin Wei.
Taking the Anshi Rebellion as the dividing line of time, before the Anshi Rebellion, although the Northern Forbidden Army had ills, it was constantly growing. After the Anshi Rebellion, the Yulin Weilonghu New Army was almost destroyed, and the Beiya Forbidden Army suffered an unprecedented blow.
The establishment of the Divine Strategy Army
After Emperor Suzong of Tang ascended the throne, at this time of internal and external troubles, he once again established the Northern Army, and the Divine Strategy Army came into being. As soon as the Divine Strategy Army was established, it recruited new troops everywhere, and gradually gained the momentum of a monopoly. The Beiya Forbidden Army also gradually developed from the original "Four Armies of the North Gate" to the "Ten Armies of the Northern Gate" - the Left Yu Lin Wei, the Right Yu Lin Wei, the Left Dragon Tiger Army, the Right Dragon Tiger Army, the Left Shen Wu Army, the Right Shen Wu Army, the Left Shen Wei Army, the Right Shen Wei Army, the Left Shen Wei Army, and the Right Shen Ce Army.
The Divine Strategy Army began to be established in the period of Emperor Suzong of Tang, and it was not until the time of Emperor Dezong of Tang that it was gradually perfected. The development of the Divine Strategy Army, after three emperors, finally became the top of the Northern Forbidden Army.
The scale of the Beiya Forbidden Army became larger and larger, but its development was not carried out by the rulers on their own initiative, but was forced to improve after discovering problems in the step-by-step temptation. The development of the forbidden army often preceded and after the palace change, and after Li Shimin easily launched the Xuanwumen Rebellion to seize the throne under Tang Gaozu's present, he found that there were many loopholes in the palace army system, which began to rectify the "hundred horses" and train the forbidden army.
The establishment of the Yulin Army was the result of Wu Zetian's game with the imperial family and the expansion of his own power. When Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and Empress Wei seized power, the New Army of Longwu came into being. However, in the prosperous era of peace, the Northern Forbidden Army has not developed much. With the outbreak of several palace coups, the Beiya Forbidden Army became more and more standardized, but the Beiya Forbidden Army also left many drawbacks due to its rapid development.
The evils of the Divine Strategy
Take the top Shen Ce Army in the Northern Imperial Forbidden Army as an example, its creation brought new military vitality to the Tang Dynasty, and brought the decaying dynasty back to life after the Anshi Rebellion. In the long run, the internal decay of the Divine Strategy Army gradually decayed, and its end brought irreversible disasters to the Tang Dynasty.
First of all, the core command of the Divine Strategy Army was in the hands of eunuchs, and the emperor's original intention was that the power of the Divine Strategy Army was too great, and it was easy for people to induce people to rebel. The eunuch had no heirs, which put an end to the possibility of his rebellion, and the eunuch had the most contact with the emperor, which allowed the emperor to better understand the situation of the Divine Strategy Army.
But the eunuch is a mortal after all, driven by seven passions and six desires, the eunuch also vainly tries to perpetuate this power, so the eunuch begins to practice an unrelated father-son system, using the adopted son to satisfy his lifelong desire for power.
The New Book of Tang records: "The world is a divine strategist, and the family is victorious in the industry, and it is high for the world." Father Zong, Skillful Archery, Extravagant Self-Serving, And Servants of Thousands of People, in this way, to eliminate the Inspector Sikong and the Great General Jingo, and to lead the Xingyuan Festival. ”
As a result, the eunuch father and son passed on the tradition and became a military family. Such family misfortunes and blessings depend on each other, occupy a certain position in the imperial court, and pose a certain threat to the imperial power. Moreover, the eunuchs interfered in the government, and the emperor was easily deceived by his close subjects, gradually derailed from the situation, and continued to let the eunuchs act arbitrarily, and eventually the king would not be a king, and the country would not be a country.
Secondly, eunuchs not only interfered in the affairs of the dynasty, but also in matters related to local emissaries.
According to the Old Book of Tang, "Since the Gregorian calendar, the removal of worship has increased the number of lieutenants in the forbidden army. Whoever is destined to be handsome will be generously bribed. The forbidden army regards the school as a marshal, although he has no family wealth, he will take the capital from the people, and after he wins the town, he will anoint the tired people with blood to pay for it, and Gao Yu's worship will be righteous inside and outside, and the gentry will celebrate each other, and Wei Gong will be the prime minister, and the debt will be rare. ”
The central government had the right to control the military, but in the era when eunuchs were in charge of the divine army, they could only be subject to people everywhere, and in order to obtain the power they deserved, they had to pay bribes. And these officials, who should have been incorruptible, could only demand from the people in order to make "achievements" that satisfies the eunuchs. This not only increased the burden on the people, but also worsened the relationship between the local and the central government, harsh exploitation, and intensified the contradiction between the people and the imperial court. In such a social environment, the Tang Dynasty gradually set over the west.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Beiya Forbidden Army, it made great contributions to protecting the safety of the emperor and consolidating the imperial power. But with the development, it gradually became a tool for launching coups and usurping power. Until later, the Northern Forbidden Army completely violated its own intentions and became the pocket of the eunuch.
In particular, in the late Tang Dynasty, eunuchs were appointed as commanders of the forbidden army, so that the emperor's private soldiers became the eunuchs' private soldiers, and the eunuchs gradually took power, and finally it was difficult to balance. After the Northern Forbidden Army was taken over by eunuchs, it was equivalent to completely controlling the central government, and the abolition of the emperor and the decision-making of major state affairs were basically in the hands of eunuchs, which also led to most of the emperors in the late Tang Dynasty, although sitting on the dragon chair, had no real power and became puppets in name only.
With the later usurpation of the Tang By Zhu Wen, the Northern Ya Forbidden Army also withdrew from the stage of history with the demise of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the Beiya Forbidden Army is the product of the prominent private needs of the Tang Emperor, both born in and stopped in the Tang Dynasty. The creation of the Beiya Forbidden Army was originally intended to keep the Tang Emperor from being subject to the power of the courtiers, but he did not expect to be subject to eunuchs in the end, which is really a historical paradox.
The red-armored knight in "Qing Yu Nian" is actually too idealistic, no matter what kind of environment it is in, it is actually the emperor's private property, the real history is far more cruel than the reality, and for the Tang Dynasty's Beiya Forbidden Army, it is really a fate.
References: "New Book of Tang", "Old Book of Tang", "Tang Dynasty Forbidden Army System", "Development and Evolution of the Forbidden Army in Beiya"