The Court of Yoking, also known as the Court of Yoting, was an integral part of the inner court of the ancient imperial family, mainly in charge of harem women and servants, and was also a special institution with close ties with emperors and eunuchs, palace people, concubines, laws, etc.
Produced from the Zhou Dynasty and continued to the Tang Dynasty, the Ye Ting was already its own system and has a history of more than a thousand years. It properly managed the harem of yunni and different roads, but after the Tang Dynasty, it disappeared into the stage of history like a flash in the pan. Although the Tang Dynasty's Ye Ting made people feel insignificant, there was a stunning Tang Dynasty figure in the Ye Ting, Shangguan Wan'er.
She was killed for the crime of her grandfather Shangguan Yi, and later accompanied her mother into the inner court as a maid. Because of his wisdom and good writing, he was reused by Wu Zetian. During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, she was even given the title of Zhaorong (the rank of an ancient concubine) and was in charge of the inner court, and her life was like a legend. The reason why her experience was praised by people was not because she was reused by Wu Zetian, but because she was just a small sin slave in the court at first.
This can't help but make people wonder: what kind of place is the Tang Dynasty's court, and what are the main functions?
The origin of the Tang Dynasty
The word Ye Ting first appeared in the Book of Han on the "Table of Hundred Officials and Secretaries of State": "In the first year of Emperor Wu's reign, he changed his name to The Examination Office as the Examination Worker, Zuo Yi as the Drinking Fly, the Living Room as the Bao Palace, the Ganquan Apartment as Kuntai, and the Yongxiang as the Ye Ting.
However, the predecessor appeared during the Zhou Dynasty, when it was called "Lane", and during the Qin Dynasty it was renamed "Yong Lane". During the Han Dynasty, Yongxiang was located in the harem gate, so during the Han Wudi period, the "lane" was renamed "Ye Ting". At that time, the court system was mainly related to the harem, and the main function was also to prepare for the emperor's selection of concubines, and the empress was also elected by the court at that time. In addition, during the Han Dynasty, the court also had the duties of a prison.
During the Two Han Dynasties, the yeting system was a process of continuous exploration, and it was only during the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties that the yeting system was gradually perfected, and at that time there were already institutional systems such as the yeting order and the yeting supervisor, and the officials were not eunuchs. During the Sui Dynasty, The Court of Yoting became part of the Province of Inner Servants.
The evolution of the name of the court was recorded in the "Official Palace Official Inner Servant Province, Ye Ting Bureau" in the "Six Classics of Tang Dynasty": Yoting, the alley of the "Poetry". To Qin for Yong Lane, Emperor Wu of Han changed his name to Yeting, with Ling and Cheng. After the Han Dynasty ordered one person, one person on the left and right, one person from the left and right, one person from the beggar, to take charge of the harem noble people to gather women. Wei and Jin also had the Imperial Court Order and the Yellow Gate Order, not eunuchs. Sui Nei Province's tongye court order and two beggars each, and the imperial dynasty was therefore the same.
During the Sui Dynasty, there was a reform in the Court of Tuo, and its rulers were changed from eunuchs to scholars, and the concubines entering the palace were no longer passed through the Court, and the function of selecting concubines in the Court gradually declined, and the function of guarding the daughters of criminal ministers was gradually highlighted.
Because of the addition of the daughters of these sinners, the education level of the court increased, and it also had the functions of rehearsing songs and dances to please the emperor, participating in sacrifices, and so on. In this dynamic development process, the name, main functions, and social status of the court have changed.
When it developed into the Tang Dynasty, it followed the previous dynasty system and had become a school of its own. In the history of our country, the Tang Dynasty not only played a role in carrying forward the work from top to bottom, but also was a period of prosperity, and the rulers consolidated and reformed the Tang Dynasty's court system on the basis of inheriting the previous dynasty according to their own needs and in accordance with the national situation, and finally formed a relatively strict and perfect political system.
The Tang Dynasty was managed by the official body of the Court
The Tang Dynasty's Yeting Bureau, like the Sui Dynasty, was part of the Inner Servant Province, first registering these criminal slaves who had not come, and then assigning them to the Si Nong Temple, and according to whether they had skills or not, the Si Nong Temple then assigned them to the Ye Ting. Those who can sing and dance are assigned to the Taile Bureau and the Church, and when they encounter banquets in the palace or some sacrifice activities, they can also perform.
Where they are assigned to the Yeting Bureau, the Yeting Bureau will re-register the details of these people, such as height, appearance, age, family background, etc. All those whose names were registered were under their unified management arrangements, so their main officials were eunuchs.
Judging from the position alone, the Old Book of Tang made the following description of the personnel: "Tang Fu is the Bureau of the Imperial Court, which belongs to the Province of Internal Servants, and is in charge of the palace books, and sets up two people, from the seven pins; three people, from the eight pins; and two doctors of the palace teaching, from the nine pins; The four overseers, from the Nine Pins, are subordinate to the history of the book, the history of the book, the history of the counting, the canon, and the palm. Jin also set up the Ye Ting Bureau Ling Cheng (令丞), the chief and deputy officer of the Ye Ting Bureau, under the Wei Dou Division, and was in charge of the affairs of the Empress Palace with the Bureau. ”
It can be seen from this that there are nine main official positions in the Ye Ting Bureau, of which the Ye Ting Ling is in charge of the forbidden female workers in the palace, and all matters related to the names of the palace people and the silkworms are handled by him, the Ye Ting Cheng is responsible for judging the affairs of the bureau, the doctor of the palace teaches the talents of the palace people in the ye Ting, such as piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, and calligraphy, and the supervising work is responsible for the affairs of the slaves. Among them, the eunuchs served as eunuchs.
In the last year of the new century, in order to gradually disintegrate the power of eunuchs, those in power began to reuse scholars, and the doctor of gongjiao began to be served by scholars. In the later step by step development, the doctor of gongjiao gradually evolved into a scholar and a eunuch at the same time. The Goris we know as Goris served as a doctor of palace teaching when he first entered the palace.
In addition to eunuchs and scholars, there were also female officials in the court bureau. Female officials can be divided into two categories, one is the internal official and the other is the palace official. Among them, the internal official refers to the emperor's concubine, and the palace official refers to the promotion of some powerful palace women to participate in the management, and the palace official is the highest status among the palace people. The Tang Dynasty palace was strictly forbidden, there were eunuchs on duty during the day, and there were people patrolling shifts at night, without the emperor's permission, ordinary people could not get close to the court bureau, and even courtiers were not allowed to enter and leave at will.
During the Tang Dynasty, the number of palace officials was large, but in general, palace officials were divided into six bureaus: Shanggong, Shangyi, Shangfu, Shangshou, Shanggong, and Shangyu, and each bureau could be divided into four divisions, and each division had a pawn and a palm, and its status decreased in turn.
The main function of the Tang Dynasty court
(1) The place where the concubine temporarily resides
Like other dynasties in history, the Tang Emperor had many concubines, but few favored ones, and the so-called entrance to the palace was as deep as the sea, and even some women had never seen the emperor once in their lives. The favored concubines had their own courtyard dwellings, accompanied by maids in and out, while the unfavored concubines could only live in the court.
Although the Tang Emperor chose concubines without going directly through the Ye Ting, the Ye Ting also became a place for the Emperor to look for sexual encounters when he was empty. In this huge court, not everyone can be favored by the emperor, and most people can only enjoy slightly higher treatment than the palace women and die.
Many people regard the function of providing the palace concubines with the residence of the court as the Afang Palace during the Qin Dynasty, but in fact, there is a big difference between the two. Although they were all places where unpopular concubines lived, the "smoke and fog, burning pepper orchids" in the Afang Palace were also luxurious scenes that were far from being comparable to the court.
(2) The place where the wrongful concubine is held
In ancient times, concubines were regarded as appendages of the emperor's rulers, and their existence was to please the emperor, and they had no freedom to speak of, even if they made mistakes, they were also imprisoned in the high gate of the long halberd, never seeing the other side of the sky, and the court was the place where the concubines were imprisoned.
When Tang Xuanzong quarreled with Yang Guifei, Yang Guifei once said: "Concubines deserve to die, and Your Majesty is fortunate not to kill them." Now when you are never far away from the court, the gold and jade treasures are all given by Your Majesty, not enough to be dedicated, but the parents of the hairmakers dare to recommend sincerity. ”
It can be seen from this that even if you are arrogant and arrogant like Yang Guifei, you are also talking about the tiger changing color for the court.
(3) The place where the daughter of a sinner is "distributed"
In ancient times, punishment was good for sitting together, and although the daughters of sinners were guilty, they did not sin to death, and most of these women were "assigned" to the court. It is not so much distribution as indoctrination, and compared with prisons, the court is an extremely tolerant place.
The Tang Dynasty was a culturally developed and enlightened dynasty, and even the slaves in the Ye Ting could have the opportunity to learn talents, and the Xi Yi Hall during the Wu Zetian period was the place where the Ye Ting Bureau received the study. The most typical example of this is Shangguan Wan'er.
She was implicated by her grandfather Shangguan Yi, who was still in her infancy and went into the court with her mother, and later flew up the branches because of her talent. Older women, if they are talented, can also become musicians or teachers.
The Old Book of Tang records that "Guozi Siye Wei Yinyu entered the cabinet gate and discussed the yin affairs of Concubine Guo's brother Guo Jing. Shang was furious, and on the same day, the Jingzhao Mansion decided to kill Yin Yu, and he had no home. Yin Yu's wife Cui Shi, the sound of zheng Yuke, Wang Yanke, weiniang, Hongzi and other nine people are worthy of entering the court. ”
Although the court nominally has the function of a prison, it is more humane than a prison, as long as it can sing and dance, it has a certain status, and even has a day to emerge.
Although there is a hint of humanity in the court, there are also people who would rather die than enter the court. For example, Wang Yunxiu, the wife of The Tang Dynasty prime minister Yuan Zai, said that "death is willingness, and it is better to make a concubine than to die." ”
The Tang Dynasty law stipulates: "Slaves and untouchables, law than livestock." "Slaves are like livestock, private property, and the master can dispose of it as he pleases. Therefore, Wang Yunxiu, as the wife of the prime minister, preferred to die rather than be humiliated.
In the final analysis, these few traces of humanity can also be realized by the eyes of our modern people, and it is undoubtedly a psychological blow for a noble woman to become a slave in the blink of an eye, which is not something that everyone can accept.
(4) A place to arrange the labor of the palace people
Although the palace was rich and luxurious, it was not a place to raise idle people, and the people who lived in the court, whether they were palace women or the daughters of sinners, had to work, and the female officials in the court arranged chores for them according to their strengths and weaknesses. The palace people in the court were all orderly in their work of raising silkworms, picking mulberry, sprinkling and sweeping, and sewing.
In the Tang Dynasty, there was a poem called "Water Drum Womb Words", which described these sewn palace people in the court:
The court can weave imperial clothes, and the fu ruler can be worn as much as possible.
The color of the mouth of the bucket dye is good, and the water ripples conceal dragon scales.
If there is really no place to arrange, the palace will also grant amnesty to the world and dismiss some palace women, so as to pray to the heavens.
The ultimate fate of the people of the Palace of Tuoting
Once you enter the palace gate, as deep as the sea, the palace people in the court have no personal freedom to speak of, and their lives are all coarse clothes and food. If you are sick, you will also be treated with medicine.
In the New Book of Tang, it was recorded: "There is a medicine storehouse in the palace people's suffering place, and the prison door is given to it."
However, their fate was not in their own hands, some were selected by the emperor, selected as concubines, flew up the branches to become phoenixes, or were favored by the emperor and entrusted with official positions; some were dismissed from the palace, but most of them were palace people with slightly older age and lower grades and no skills; and most of them entered the palace at a young age, and in the palace of old death, the simple eight words were the most appropriate description of them; some were rewarded as gifts to courtiers; and the last one was to leave the palace to guard the mausoleum.
That is to say, although the palace people of the court live a worry-free life, they are not dressed in fine clothes and jade food, on the contrary, they are all coarse clothes and food, there is no personal freedom, and their fate is too bad, and they cannot help themselves!
epilogue
There are officials, unfavored concubines, palace women, daughters of criminal courtiers, concubines who have made mistakes, etc. in the court, which can be described as the most mixed place of status in the palace. At the same time, this is also the place where life changes are most likely, and unpopular concubines can also be favored by the emperor and fly up the branches and become phoenixes. The daughters of sinners could also be reused by the emperor to administer the inner court. Empresses in high positions may also be rejected by the emperor and expelled from the court. But all these changes must go through the nod of one person, that is, the emperor.
It can be seen from this that although the court system is unpredictable, its ultimate controller is still the emperor, and it is still a product of feudal autocracy after all. It does not represent fairness or tolerance, but it always serves the rulers. To be precise, this special institution in the harem was created for the existence of the harem wives and concubines of the supreme ruler.
References: "New Book of Tang", "Old Book of Tang", "Official Palace Official Inner Servant Province, Ye Ting Bureau", "Study of the Harem System", "Tang Dynasty Chang'an Court History", "Chinese Court Politics", "Han and Tang Dynasty Ye Court System and Court Politics", "Tang Dynasty Slave System", etc
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