Preface
Living in ancient times, it seemed that being an emperor was a very good choice, not only as the head of the state, but also with supreme power.
But it is precisely because of the status of the emperor that anyone looks at it, so in ancient times, there were more and more people who assassinated the emperor, and in order to protect his own safety, the emperor could only strengthen the security work.
Former guards of the Zhou Dynasty
The emperor was the most dangerous position in ancient times, not only had to worry about all kinds of affairs of the country every day, but also had to be always vigilant for the assassination of others.
In order to protect the safety of the emperor, in ancient times, the emperor was generally equipped with personal bodyguards, but because of different dynasties, the work content of these personal bodyguards was also different.
Because of the lack of historical materials, I don't know much about the security work before the Western Zhou Dynasty, but in general, their security measures are very simple.
After all, the concept of the state had just been born at that time, and the total population of the country was not very large, so no one would want to seize power and usurp the throne.
At that time, the emperor generally looked for people he trusted and always followed him, which seemed to be the most desirable way to protect security at that time.
And for the princes at that time, their relationship with the emperor was not completely hierarchical, and they may be more like the patriarchs of the tribe.
Guards after the Western Zhou Dynasty
These ancient princes also did not have complete security measures, at most they found a few bodyguards to accompany them closely, and this number was also very small.
After the arrival of the Western Zhou Dynasty, as the population grew, security seemed to be more important, and during the Zhou Dynasty, three types of armies were divided to protect the emperor.
These three types of armies represent different positions, the first level is the emperor's most confidant guards, although the number of these guards is small, but they are the core of the guards.
These people generally kept Zhou Tianzi by his side to protect his safety, and each of them had to be descendants of nobles, and their elders had a direct kinship with Zhou Tianzi.
Or it is the descendant of Zhou Tianzi's most trusted minister in the court, and Zhou Tianzi requires each of them to be very strong in martial arts.
The remaining two armies, one heavy and one ring, played different roles, but in later generations they were generally combined.
Therefore, in the course of historical evolution, the Praetorian Army and the Praetorian Guard were merged, collectively known as the Praetorian Guard and the Imperial Guard, which were almost the same concept, both protecting the emperor's safety in a slightly outer place.
By the time of the Qin Dynasty, the duties of the guards to protect the emperor's safety were similar, but the names had changed slightly, and they were divided into Wei Wei, Zhong Wei and Lang Zhong Ling.
Among them, Lang Zhongling is actually the highest-ranking guard, converted to the Zhou Dynasty, his name should be called Guanzheng, and he belongs to the commander-in-chief of the bodyguards.
Therefore, among all the guards, only Lang Zhongling can get close to the emperor, but because of Lang Zhongling's special duties, his pros and cons are obvious.
In the Qin Dynasty, there was a very big assassination incident, that is, Zhao Gao plotted to kill Qin II, why Zhao Gao could get close to Qin II, because his position at that time was Lang Zhongling.
If Zhao Gao was not in this position at that time, it would be basically impossible to get close to Qin II through other methods, so Lang Zhongling's choice has a lot to do with a person's character.
But in the same way, it was precisely because of this incident of Zhao Gao that the flaws of the Qin Dynasty's security system were completely exposed. By the time of the Han Dynasty, this defect was corrected.
The Han Dynasty completely removed the position of Lang Zhongling, divided all the armies into two types, and did not give anyone the opportunity to approach the emperor at will.
However, this approach of the Han Dynasty was also problematic, because the imperial power would appear less centralized, so that in the last years of the Han Dynasty, there would be an incident in which Cao Cao coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes.
No one can protect the emperor closely, which means that everyone is at a distance from the emperor, and if someone clears the outer obstacles, they can directly contact the emperor.
Therefore, when the security system around the emperor was set up at the beginning, he walked slowly through one pit after another, so as to make the security of future generations more perfect.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, guards were set up not only to protect the emperor himself, but also to include the emperor's descendants, such as the crown prince, who were also planned to be protected.
And in the Ming Dynasty, the emperor set up the duties of the Jinyi Guard, not only as a bodyguard, but also to inquire for the emperor, such as collecting intelligence.
These people were more like the emperor's henchmen than the guards, and the emperor trusted them and was willing to entrust them with many important and secret matters.
Over the millennia, the emperor has become more and more experienced in how to protect himself. However, because of the particularity of the emperor's position, the assassination of the emperor has never stopped.
Even in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it stands to reason that the protection measures for the emperor have been relatively perfect, but there is still an assassination of the emperor, after all, having a personal guard is not the point, the focus is on the loyalty of the guard.
How to ensure the loyalty of the guards
So, how did the emperor in ancient times ensure that his personal guards could be loyal to him? In general, there are several ways to do this.
The first is to look at the selection method, in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the emperor made a hard rule, all the guards must be selected from the noble class, or the descendants of the people who are officials.
Once these people enter the palace, they will be trained first, and only those who can pass this wave of training can go to the emperor's side to ensure the emperor's safety.
There is actually a reason why the emperor would pick nobles who have a relationship with him, or the descendants of the ministers of the court.
The descendants of these people entered the palace, which was equivalent to the role of hostages, on the one hand, they protected the safety of the emperor, but also made those ministers dare not attack the emperor.
It's like in the movie Fengshen that aired some time ago, there is such a hostage group around the king of Xu, the purpose is to ensure the loyalty of the princes and ministers.
In the process of performing duties, you must conscientiously serve the emperor and protect the safety of the emperor, so that you can also protect the safety of your family.
If he neglected his duties in the process of serving the emperor on an errand, and even thought of wrongdoing, then the emperor would not only punish him, and even the family behind him would be reprimanded by the emperor.
From a certain point of view, this is a two-way relationship between the emperor and the nobles, which can not only protect the loyalty of the nobles, but also protect the safety of the emperor.
This is the same as whether the emperor looks down on the commoners, so he doesn't let them come over to be an errand for him. In fact, the underlying logic is still different.
In addition to the requirements when selecting the guards, the growth experience of the guards is also closely related to the emperor, especially for the personal guards, who generally grew up with the emperor.
In this way, the relationship between the two parties will become very deep, and the guards will feel that the emperor has been their master since childhood, so they will be more diligent in the process of serving.
Especially in the Ming Dynasty, this was even more obvious, and many of the brocade guards in the Ming Dynasty grew up with the emperor.
There was a similar example in the Qing Dynasty, when Wei Dongting, who grew up with Kangxi, also served as the emperor's personal bodyguard.
From the third point of view, that is, the emperor's salary to the guards is very high, in fact, the palace can be compared to a large listed company, and the guards are the people who work in it.
The emperor can understand that in fact, affection and family background are not the things that can best determine a person's choice, but the real benefits in front of him can definitely shake a person's decision.
Of course, there are also opposite examples of this matter, for example, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a municipal party committee that felt that the salary was too low, so it was not so concerned, so that the palace maid almost assassinated the emperor.
Since this incident in the Ming Dynasty, all emperors have attached great importance to the salaries of the guards around them, especially in the Qing Dynasty.
The guards of the Qing Dynasty were divided into three levels, the most powerful guard, he could be divided into 42 acres of land, and the annual salary was 130 taels of silver, and the lowest three grades could be divided into 24 acres of land, 80 taels of silver a year.
The money given to the guards was probably more than to some of the officials in the court, and this was only the basic salary, not including the various gifts that the emperor gave them whenever he was happy.
The ancients knew very well how to make a person work for themselves, first to give benefits to the other party, and then to ask the other party to do things.
In fact, as long as you grasp this, you can grasp human nature, but unfortunately many modern company bosses do not understand this truth, only give employees a small salary, but want to let employees do things for themselves like landlords.
epilogue
In ancient times, there was no monitoring of the emperor, and if you want the guards to serve you wholeheartedly, you can only do it through these methods. But in other words, it is more efficient to grasp people's hearts than to monitor.
Therefore, it is true that the emperor in ancient times was not something that everyone could do, and there were too many things to worry about, and it was quite complicated to deal with various interpersonal relationships.