Tang Dynasty Crossing Guide: Chang'an and People's Life Manual

Chapter 33 Attention comrades who intend to enter the political world (6)
The Qianniu Guard is a very special organization among the Twelve Guards. There are very few guards in this guard, only 270 in total.They didn't do anything else, they just followed the emperor's side as guards and attendants.Among them, the most senior one is "Qianniu Beishen". There are only twelve people in total.

The rank of Qianniu Beishen is also the highest, and it is the lower rank of the sixth rank, that is, once out of society, it is on the same level as the deputy governor of a medium-sized state (the second generation of evil officials).Moreover, Qianniu Beishen are generally promoted quickly and smoothly. Basically, if they can get stuck in this position when they are young, they will not have to worry about wealth for the rest of their lives.

Okay, you want to be a thousand bulls, don't you?Don't worry, let's see step by step how to get into this system.

First of all, it is still the most important technical work - reincarnation.Not only do you have to be a child of an aristocrat, but you must also belong to the most senior bureaucratic family in the country, such as:
[-]. Dad is a prince, and you are his heir, the "Heir King", so you are entitled to hold a knife for your grandfather or uncle.

Second, Dad is a senior official of the first and second ranks.In the Tang Dynasty, there were very few officials of this level, that is, the honorary positions of Wang, Guogong, Taishi, Taiwei, and Sikong. Except for the royal family, when ordinary people took up these positions, they had basically retired as consultants.The highest official position that really holds power and does things is the third grade.

[-]. Dad is a prime minister, or a "pure official" such as the Yushi doctor.The so-called "pure and important officials" can be simply understood as the kind of opinion leaders and public intellectuals who are only pragmatic but not pragmatic...

Fourth, the father is "the third-rank official with the third-rank official", such as Shizhong (the head of the provincial government), Zhongshu Ling (the head of the provincial government), and the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and then bring "Jinzi Guanglu Doctor" "Or the loose official title of "Champion General".

After meeting one of the above four items, it is not over yet.If you want to be a thousand oxen during the Zhenguan period and hold a knife for His Majesty Li Shimin, then your biological mother must still be the main wife of the old man, not a concubine.

Very good, you who have successfully landed and reincarnated, grew up to 11 years old in a noble family, have a good appearance and a steady demeanor, you can choose Qianniu to prepare yourself (you will be over the age limit after 14 years old, don't waste the opportunity).Due to the limited number of places, the candidates to be selected, in addition to the PK family background, also need to pass the classics, and also need to know how to bow and horse, that is, they have to have a brush with both civil and military skills before they can be selected.Considering that their age is about the fifth and sixth grades of primary school, the overall quality requirements are quite high.

How do you go to work after you are selected?The government will give you very gorgeous work clothes - a green brocade robe embroidered with flowers. You wear it like an embroidered vegetable dumpling, and take turns holding the imperial sword for the emperor with your classmates. , at the rear of the emperor's throne.

During working hours, it is forbidden to whisper, it is forbidden to walk in front of the emperor (if you need to walk around, you must go around behind the emperor), it is forbidden to chat with other people under the imperial seat, it is forbidden... There are many prohibited items, but there is no express prohibition on stealing Watching the emperor take a bath, there is no express prohibition to stand by the pool and serve with a knife while the emperor is taking a bath.

It is said that the post of "Qianniu Beishen" seems to have retained a simplified version when it was passed on to Dongying. Behind those generals, there is often a boy who specializes in holding a knife. The relationship is very close...

In addition, the matter of "choosing three guards" was more effective during the Zhenguan period, and the system was almost abolished in the era of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu, and basically there was no such thing during the reign of Xuanzong and Li Sanlang (top the pot cover, I admit this guide The shelf life is too short, and it is suspected of deceiving the workload).

One last thing to add, if the one you want to spy on is Empress Wu, then there is another shortcut, which is the legendary "Controlling Crane Mansion".It is suggested that you can take some small blue pills through, and then ××××××× (sorry, according to the laws and regulations of Datang, your input results will not be displayed)...

References & in-depth understanding recommendations for this article:
Liu Qinli. A Preliminary Study on the Military Officer Selection System in the Tang Dynasty. Beijing: Social Science Literature Publishing House, 2006
You can't "kill the nine clans" when you're happy, and you can't "pull them out and cut them up". Please rule the country according to the law!
law
Today we are going to play a more difficult crossing.

You calm down, unite your mind, close your eyes, and pass through with a sound of "biu".Open your eyes, and you find that you are in a large hall, kneeling in front of you with a few gangsters, and guards standing on both sides. In addition to yourself, there are also a few dignified high-ranking officials sitting in the hall, listening to people's presentations together case.

You are quick-responsive and adaptable, and you quickly understood that you escaped to the body of the official of the Criminal Department of the Tang Dynasty who was trying the case.

There's no way, hurry up and read the case files to figure out what's going on.It doesn't matter if you look at it, it's actually a case of treason that is being tried!
You, who are patriotic and loyal to the king, see the crimes recorded in the case file of the criminals who committed all kinds of lawless and deceitful behaviors, and your blood surged up, and you were so angry that you yelled at the case: "Mother Xipi! This is unreasonable! Pull the main criminal out and give me a living!" Cut to pieces! Execute his nine clans! No one is allowed to live!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the hall looked at you with eyes of sizing up rare birds and animals. The servant you (the one who passed through the upper body) brought hurriedly ran out to ask for a doctor, and the presiding judge kindly announced that the court will be adjourned for a while For a while, the three divisions will discuss together.

A few officials moved into the back hall, and some of them may be straightforward. They came over and asked you: "Public desires to fight against evil?"

Halo, aren't I interrogating a conspiracy case together?How did it become that I was going to rebel?
That one said, you don't want to rebel and become emperor, so how did the words "Zhu Jiu Clan" and "pulled them out to be cut" come out?We are civil servants, and the trial and sentencing must follow the provisions of the law. In the thick and large volumes of "Yonghui Law Book", how can there be "Zhu Nine Clans"?How can there be "living cut"?This kind of extrajudicial punishment, even if the emperor ordered it to be carried out in a moment of urgency, we, the courtiers, should advise and stop it. Are you out of your mind today, yelling about this in public?

If you are smart enough, it is best to answer at this time: "Yes, yes, I have a mental illness in a moment of confusion, and I need to go home and rest."—Stay up all night to make up for Tang Dynasty's law.

High difficulty crossing is a test, right?

In fact, the types of punishments in the Tang Dynasty were not complicated. If there were too many, there were only five types, and if there were fewer, there were only three types: spanking, exile plus hard labor, and beheading.

Spanking, at least ten times, at most one hundred times, divided into ten times in the middle.Ten, twenty... to fifty blows are called "flogging", and sixty to one hundred blows are called "stick punishment".The cane punishment can be doubled up to 37 times, and no more beatings are allowed. Any more beatings are called "caning corpses", and non-integer beatings are not allowed.

Relegation to slavery to do hard labor is called "imprisonment", which is often used together with "exile" (exile).Imprisonment is also divided into five grades, that is, hard labor for one year, one and a half years, two years, two and a half years, and three years.

"Exile punishment" is divided into three classes, that is, exile for two thousand miles, two thousand five hundred miles, and three thousand miles.

There are only two types of "death punishment": hanging, which means strangling people to death with a rope, because a whole body can be left behind, which is a lighter death penalty; beheading, which means beheading, is a heavier death penalty.

The only legal punishments in the Tang Dynasty were the above.In addition, pinching fingers, cutting off ears, beheading hands and feet, skinning and cutting into pieces, tied to a platform and burned to death, drowned in water, killed by three guns... all belong to extrajudicial "" Lynching", you don't see that in official court documents.

What, what are you asking?I know I can't kill people, but why can't I kill the Nine Clans?Isn't this an ancient punishment?
Uh, I haven’t studied the punishments before the Tang Dynasty. Let’s ignore the various illegal lynchings in the Tang Dynasty for the time being. We only talk about the legal punishments stipulated in the "Yonghui Law Book", the most serious of the ten evils-"rebellion" , the execution is nothing more than: the principal offender beheaded, the principal offender's father and adult son were hanged, relatives within the "three clans" were implicated in confiscation of property or exile, nothing more.

You say your mind is a little messed up?Well, let's look at a specific case. For example, the case file in your hand can be a crime involving a wide range of punishments.

The reason for uncovering this conspiracy case was that two hooligans in Yongningfang, Wannian County, Chang'an City, had a fight.

Of course, such trivial matters as ruffian fights will not alert your Ministry of Criminal Justice, Dali Temple and other central judicial organs to intervene, and even Jing Zhaoyin (mayor of Chang'an City) and Wannian County Magistrate (head of Wannian District of Chang'an City) will not be disturbed at all. Maybe I didn't bother to reason, Wang Wu, the "Fa Cao Joining the Army" (the assistant to the district chief in charge of judicial affairs) in Wannian County, tried it: Both of them only saw slight blood, but no serious injuries, but the ruffian Zhang Asan copied the board during the fight. Bricks, rods sixty; the ruffian Li Sinu was beaten with bare hands, no weapons were used, and forty canes were used, and everyone was spanked and finished.

Zhang Ahsan limped back home, thinking that he had received [-] more boards than Li Sinu, and was furious, so he found Wang Canjun the next day and reported: "That kid Li Sinu is not a good person. Seeing him moving property to his house with others at night, it was either stolen or robbed."

Since someone made a report, the county didn't bother to ignore it, and sent some urban management Xieqin (the Tang Dynasty called these people "bad people") to search Li Sinu's house.In fact, no one took it seriously, even if some stolen goods were found in Li's house, as long as they were not worth five bolts of silk, it was nothing more than beating up Li Sinu again.

Unexpectedly, the bad guys came back, all of them with unhealthy complexions and crooked mouths and eyes.Seeing this, Wang Wu smiled and asked: "It seems that Li Sinu really stole a lot of things, more than five pieces of silk? Then it will take him a year. It's okay for him to do hard labor, just' The punishment of "a criminal" and above has to be judged by the county magistrate or even Jing Zhaoyin, and he has to be sent to Dali Temple for judgment, which is too troublesome. Li Sinu deserves to die."

Bad guys look at me, I look at you, someone said in a muffled voice, "Well, what he stole is worth more than five bolts of silk."

Wang Canjun frowned, and said: "No way, steal a foot of silk and stick sixty, steal one extra horse and add ten sticks... stealing five silks will cost you a year, stealing ten silks will cost you one and a half years, and stealing fifteen sticks will cost you ten." Two years... stealing [-] bolts of silk will result in exile for [-] miles, and stealing [-] bolts of silk will send you [-] miles plus two years of hard labor. This is the maximum sentence for theft. How much did Li Sinu steal? "

The bad guy said: "He stole a dragon robe."

"..."

The case was reported to Wannian County Magistrate, who reported to Jing Zhaoyin, and Jing Zhaoyin reported to Dali Temple.The matter was of great importance, and Dali Temple reported to the prime minister to play Tianzi, and appointed officials from the Ministry of Punishment and Yushitai to conduct a "three-division joint trial" together with Dali Temple officials.The servant of the Ministry of Justice, who you passed through the upper body, has only now participated in the case.

While investigating and interrogating, Li Sinu couldn't be tortured ("It's really useless to kill the material, you can only recruit if you hit [-] boards, and you can hit up to three times, a total of [-] boards!" Dali Temple official came to a certain comment), and fully confessed There are several accomplices, one of whom is the servant of the noble official Shao Lurou, who is responsible for guarding the warehouse of the Shao family.The dragon robe, as well as other belongings, were all stolen from the Shao family.

The theft case of Li Sinu and his gang has been cleared so far, and the next step of the investigation will focus on Shao Lurou's conspiracy to make a dragon robe privately.Before that, let's deal with all kinds of people involved in Li Sinu's case.

The main culprit, Li Sinu, and several others stole a number of fake dragon robes and gold and silver wares, worth more than [-] bolts of silk.At the same time, property equivalent to twice the value of the stolen goods was confiscated from their homes.

Li Sinu was originally punished for hiding the stolen goods, but since the punishment for the above-mentioned crime of theft has reached the upper limit, no further punishment will be given.

There was a thief in Yongningfang. Lizheng (the director of the sub-district office) of this square should be whipped fifty times. Because he solved the case within [-] days and caught the thief, Lizheng was exempted from punishment.

The first accuser, Zhang Asan, can get a reward. From the property confiscated by Li Sinu and others that is equivalent to double the stolen goods, the portion of the stolen goods will be deducted, and the remaining portion will be distributed to Zhang Asan and the bad people who worked hard to catch the robbers. tips.

Zhang Asan happily kowtowed to accept the reward and left. Li Sinu packed up his things and went to serve his sentence in tears. The case of Shao Lurou's privately made dragon robe can be heard next.

Originally, if this Shao Mou just sewed a dragon robe by himself, or even stole the dragon robe to play cosplay, it would not be counted as "rebellion". .However, with the deepening of the investigation, it was discovered that this person not only made dragon robes, but also made crowns, ritual vessels, chariots, weapons, armors... He raised a bunch of horses, warriors and advisers privately, and made a plan to assassinate the emperor and change the dynasty. I contacted the officials of the frontiers outside Beijing, and drew up a map of military operations...

To put it simply, if this person is not classified as treasonous, I will not give up... So the officials of the three divisions interrogated the sentencing, and the emperor approved "Yiyi". According to the law of Tang Dynasty, the punishment is as follows:
The principal culprit, Shao Lurou, chopped off his head, without saying anything.His father and son (first-class relatives) must be hanged according to the law, and his mother, daughter, wives and concubines, daughter-in-law, grandparents, brothers, sisters (second-class relatives), and servants should all be fined and confiscated as officials and servants. Family property should also be fined and confiscated as official property.

But when it comes to specific breakdowns, there are many other situations.For example, the principal culprit has three sons, Shao Da, Shao Er, and Shao San. Among them, Shao Da and Shao Er have reached the age of 16, they must be hanged, while Shao San is less than 15 years old, he can be exempted from death, demoted to a lower class, and punished. Serving as servants.

The principal offender's mother, Shao Gushi, is over 60 years old and can be exempted from punishment. She can take away her own family property and live in a separate family.His father, Shao Guike, was even more miserable. A man must be 80 years old to be exempted from punishment. old, sick, and disabled) certificates, then you can also leave the family property without penalty.

The principal culprit has two daughters. The eldest daughter is engaged and has accepted the dowry contract. She is considered a member of her husband's family and can be exempted from punishment. She can get back her own dowry from the property of the official. Go get married; It's a pity that the youngest daughter is not allowed to marry yet, so she has no choice but to go to Yeting court to be an official servant.

In addition, Shao Lurou's uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces (third-class relatives) will also be exiled for three thousand miles according to law.Shao's uncle filed a complaint, saying that his family and the principal criminal had already separated, and they did not live together to share property. Well, you will be exiled, but your family's property can be taken away by yourself without being confiscated by the government.

This is the most severe "legal punishment" in the Tang Dynasty.

You may feel that it’s not enough, it doesn’t matter, in addition to legal punishment, illegal lynching and indiscriminate punishment have always existed in all social strata, but the degree of severity varies with the atmosphere of the times.

For example, none of the emperors in the past dynasties dared to slap their chests to guarantee that I would abide by the law and never lynch for the rest of my life; For a cruel official like Lai Junchen, the prisoner can only complain about his fate but seeks a quick death; it is not uncommon for ordinary nobles and even commoners to lynch their slaves.

As for lynching, in the Tang Dynasty, it was a kind of behavior that could not be extinct, but it was always criticized.There are various provisions in the Tang law to restrict the abuse of lynching by officials and masters. Once they break the law, they must bear the responsibility and be sentenced.Although there was no effective supervision and control method for the emperor's excessive punishment, when ministers and historians discussed this matter, most of them held a negative attitude, and some people directly spat at the emperor.

If you want to understand this better, I suggest that you adjust the coordinates and accurately travel to the Taiji Palace on a certain day in the first year of Zhenguan. You may be able to see with your own eyes a pair of monarchs and ministers who are arguing about public punishment and lynching.

Li Shimin, who was furious: "I have ordered the world that anyone who dares to forge a resume to apply for an official will be hacked to death. This is a typical example, but you only sentenced him to exile! Are you slapping me in the face? "

Dai Zhou, who rolled his eyes, said: "If your old man catches the forger and hacks him to death by lynching on the spot, I can't help it; now that you have handed over this person to our judiciary for trial, of course we will punish him according to the national law— They all play passionate judgments like your old man, what will this country become?"

Li Er: "...Okay, just slap me in the face...Anyway, I've already been slapped into a meat bun face."

① Dai Zhou (?—633), a minister in the early Tang Dynasty, and the prime minister during the Tang Taizong period.

References & in-depth understanding recommendations for this article:
Written by Qian Daqun. New Notes on Tang Law Shuyi. Nanjing: Nanjing Normal University Press, 2007
(End of this chapter)