[snowybeagle]

I am starting a new thread on the Imperial Guards of the Tang Dynasty, motivated to create a sort of appendix to the ongoing CHF RPG in the Dragon Gate Inn folder.

Contributions and corrections are welcomed.

During the Tang Dynasty, there were two types of army:
(1) Fu Bing (府兵) - This is already being discussed extensively in the military of Tang thread. These are the what would be termed as the Imperial Army, composing of enlisted men. They are managed by the Imperial Court via the Premier.

(2) Jin Jun (禁军) - The Imperial Guards under the direct control of the Emperor.

Technically, the Imperial Army also came under the system of Twelve Sentinels (十二卫) and Six Commands of the Eastern Palace (东宫六率), which in turn came under the supervision of the Imperial Guards system.

The Twelve Sentinels were named after the garrisons of the twelve Circuits established in AD 618
(01) 万年道 WanNian Circuit - 参旗军 CanQi Army
(02) 长安道 ChangAn Circuit - 鼓旗军 GuQi Army
(03) 富平道 FuPing Circuit - 元戈军 YuanGe Army
(04) 醴泉道 Li Quan Circuit - 井钺军 JingYue Army
(05) 同州道 TongZhou Circuit - 羽林军 YüLin Army
(06) 华州道 HuaZhou Circuit - 骑官军 QiGuan Army
(07) 宁州道 NingZhou Circuit - 折威军 ZheWei Army
(08) 岐州道 QiZhou Circuit - 平道军 PingDao Army
(09) 邠州道 BīnZhou Circuit - 招摇军 ZhaoYao Army
(10) 西麟州道 XiLinZhou Circuit - 游奕军 YouYi Army
(11) 泾州道 JīngZhou Circuit - 天纪军 TianJi Army
(12) 宜州道 YiZhou Circuit - 天节军 TianJie Army
The above system was discarded in AD 614, revived again in AD 616 when TuJue (突厥) became a threat.

The Imperial Guards' history began with the founding of the Empire.
Emperor GaoZu of Tang began by his uprising in TaiYuan (太原). After successfully established the dynasty, he allowed some of his troops to retire. Those who volunteered to remain in service number some 30,000 strong. The founder of the empire awarded them fertile but abandoned lands located north of the Wei (渭) river next to the Bai irrigation canal (白渠). This body of troops was named "Pioneer Forbidden Guards" (元从禁军). The membership became hereditary.

There were two bureaus managing the military.
One was the Southern Bureau (南衙 or 南司) located south of the Imperial Palace, which managed the Imperial Army. This was staffed by civilian officials and presided by the premier.
The other was the Northern Bureau (北衙 or 北司) located at the north, managing the Imperial Guards. This was staffed by the eunuch officials for the Emperor's and Crown Prince's personal guards.
Occassionally, the troops would swap command or duties.

The most well known units are the Ten Wings of the Imperial Guards as listed below
(1) 左右羽林军 Left & Right Wings of the YüLin (Winged Forest) Guards
(2) 左右龙武军 Left & Right Wings of the LongWu (Dragon Militant or Dragon Martial Prowess) Guards
(3) 左右神策军 Left & Right Wings of the ShenCe (Divine Strategy) Guards
(4) 左右神武军 Left & Right Wings of the ShenWu (Divine Militant or Divine Martial Prowess) Guards
(5) 左右神威军 Left & Right Wings of the ShenWei (Divine Prestige or Divine Might) Guards

For this thread, I will seek to introduce each of the units above in subsequent posts.

References (all in Chinese)
http://military.china.com/zh_cn/history2/0...12229054_2.html (新唐书：志第四十 兵, excerpt from New Tang History)
http://www.white-collar.net/02-lib/01-zg/0...1%D2%AA/t08.htm (summary of Tang's administration, including the military)
http://vip.6to23.com...ty8/cxyng8.html (Hierarchy of ranks of civil officials and military officers of Tang)
http://bbs4.tom.com/...4&postid=584245 (Historical military organization of China)
http://zanmei.anyp.c...51750.aspx?sv=1 (Tang's military organization)
http://www.yhwwhy.net/his/tang.htm (Introduction to Tang dynasty)
http://asp.6to23.com...en/tangchao.htm (examines the Tang military and its decline, traced its evolution and assessed it against the An LuShan's rebellion)
http://www.ndhu.edu....45/report-3.htm (analyses military of Sui and Tang)

[snowybeagle]

(1) 左右羽林军 Left & Right Wings of the YüLin (Winged Forest) Guards

This unit as part of the Imperial Guards could be traced to the Northern Bureau's seven battallions (北衙七营) established by Emperor TaiZong from rigorously selected candidates. Originally called the Left & Ring Wings of the Tun Camp (左右屯营).

The term YüLin also came to denote the entire body of Imperial Guards as a whole.

They had a long history of involvement in political intrigues, including plotting against Empress Wu's favourites (the Zhang brothers).

In AD 662, 2nd year of LongShuo (龙朔) reign of Emperor GaoZong (高宗), they were the designated guards during Court sessions and Emperor's excursions.

AD 747, selection criteria relaxed to include 5'9 tall as there were insufficient qualifiers of 6' tall.

[Yun]

Just a note: the Six Commands of the Eastern Palace (东宫六率) actually refers to the Crown Prince's bodyguard, since his palace was the eastern palace 东宫.

[snowybeagle]

(2) 左右龙武军 Left & Right Wings of the LongWu (Dragon Militant or Dragon Martial Prowess) Guards

This unit had its origins back to Emperor TaiZong's hunting hobby.
In the beginning of the reign of Emperor TaiZong, he selected a hundred expert archers, stationing them at the northern gate and titled them "Hundred Riders" (百骑), making them his hunting companions.
During the reign of Empress Wu in AD 689, the "Hundred Riders" became the "Thousand Riders" (千骑).
During the reign of Emperor Rui Zong (睿宗) in AD 710, the "Thousand Riders" became "Ten Thousand Riders" (万骑).
Emperor XuanZong had deployed this unit against Empress Wei, and renamed the unit to Long Wu (龙武), with Left and Right Wings.

In the 12th year of TaiZong, the "Flying Cavalry" (飞骑) unit was established and stationed at the XuanWu Gate (玄武门). The criteria for selection were
(1) Come from families of second grade class onwards,
(2) Minimum of 6 feet in height,
(3) Minimum four draws of the cavalry bow (试弓马四次上),
(4) Five rounds of weight lifting (翘关举五),
(5) Thirty steps carrying 5 dou (斛) of rice [1 dou = 5 pecks]

During the reign of Emperor XuanZong, the membership was restricted to descendants of the pioneers of the empire and notable statesmen.

* Note : many of the Imperial Guards units had common origins from the élite cavalry units founded during the reigns of GaoZu and TaiZong. It is my guess that the five primary units were derived from various elements of the pioneering batch.

This post has been edited by Yun: 18 April 2005 - 11:58 PM

[Yun]

Also, the Right Longwu was involved in Xing Zai's failed coup to assassinate Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong and Chen Xilie in early 752. The coup was exposed just two days before its planned date, and Xing Zai tried to fight his way to the imperial city with a group of his followers. They were put down by 400 armoured cavalry of the Feilong detachment (one of the imperial stables) led by Gao Lishi.

[snowybeagle]

(3) 左右神策军 Left & Right Wings of the ShenCe (Divine Strategy) Guards

During the reign of TianBao (天宝) of Emperor XuanZong, this unit was established as a border guard against tribal dangers. General Geshu Han (哥舒翰) was its commander, having defeated the Tibetans in a battle 200 li from the city of LinTao (临洮城). The Imperial Court appointed Cheng RuQiú (成如璆) as the Prefect of TaoYang (洮阳太守) as well as commander of the ShenCe unit.

From what I understand, the ShenCe unit only became part of the Imperial Guards after An LuShan's rebellion, having fought loyally for the dynasty for Emperor SuZong. It became the most important element of the military of the Tang dynasty after An LuShan's rebellion. It included numerous non ethnic-Han tribal soldiers.

[snowybeagle]

(4) 左右神武军 Left & Right Wings of the ShenWu (Divine Militant or Divine Martial Prowess) Guards

The first mention of this unit I could find was after the outbreak of An LuShan's rebellion. It was formed in AD 757 during the reign of Emperor SuZong. It was initially exclusive in selecting candidates of nobility or long-serving Guardsman families, but insufficient numbers led it to include those from other backgrounds too.

[snowybeagle]

(5) 左右神威军 Left & Right Wings of the ShenWei (Divine Prestige or Divine Might) Guards

This was another unit formed after the rebellion of An LuShan broke out.

There are numerous materials in the references listed in the first post.
However, they are sometimes conflicting, and not too well-organized (for my own liking).

I will add modifications or additions as and when I gained more understanding significant enough to be posted.

Looking forward to all your contributions and corrections!

[Yun]

When An Lushan's rebellion broke out, the "Flying Cavalry" (飞骑) detachment and the "Strong Cavalry" (Qiangqi) imperial guards detachments were led out together with some newly recruited troops and border garrison troops then on leave in Chang'an. They numbered 50,000, and Gao Xianzhi commanded them in a defensive position at Shan prefecture (present-day Sanmenxia).

110,000 young men had also been recruited from the streets of Chang'an to form a Heavenly Martial Prowess (Tianwu) army, but they were totally untrained and undisciplined, and did not even have weapons. Feng Changqing led 60,000 of them to defend Luoyang, further east of Shan prefecture. When An Lushan's army attacked Luoyang, they were thrashed by his cavalry in five successive battles, and had to escape by tearing down the western wall of Luoyang.

When Feng's tattered army retreated to Shan prefecture, he told Gao Xianzhi that it was hopeless to try and hold Shan prefecture, and they should all withdraw to the Tong Pass which was then unoccupied. Otherwise, if they were routed and Tong Pass fell easily to the rebels, Chang'an's last line of defence would be gone. Gao and Feng then withdrew again when the rebels reached Shan prefecture, but in the process the army fell into disorder and many men were killed by trampling each other. Nonetheless, when the rebels advanced to the Tong Pass, they found it held by Gao and Feng, and had to halt their advance.

The eunuch Bian Lingcheng, who had a grudge against Gao Xianzhi for not bribing him, reported to Li Longji that Feng had demoralised Gao's army with his own defeatist attitude, while Gao had withdrawn from Shan prefecture without authorisation and was furthermore selling millitary rations and the imperial court's gifts to him on the black market. Li Longj was furious and ordered their execution. This was the first big disaster suffered by the Tang army in An Lushan's rebellion, and illustrated the serious decline of the quality of its units.

[TMPikachu]

were these Imperial guard actually better trained or equipped than the regular army, were they elite troops?

I've heard of 'Imperial/Eagle' style kungfu of Shaolin originating from the Imperial guard. Is that myth, or does it have a basis in reality? Because I've heard that imperial soldiers were taught various martial arts, probably in a less stylized, more efficient form.

[Liang Jieming]

(That's Angry Boar mounted on his horse ca. A.D. 750)

[Yang Zongbao]

Tahnks Beagle! This helps alot!

[snowybeagle]

TMPikachu, on Apr 19 2005, 01:46 PM, said:

were these Imperial guard actually better trained or equipped than the regular army, were they elite troops?

I am not familiar with kungfu history about this.

From what I could gather, the Imperial Guards were indeed better equipped. As for training, if I'm not mistaken, they were initially selected from proven veterans. Subsequent generations were recruited largely from veterans' families or nobles' families, and were expected to have received prior martial arts training as a matter of family tradition. Upon joining, I supposed they would undergo further training to become more effective as a unit.

Nonetheless, the perception of their "cushy" duties led to others paying to be admitted, and hence some of the qualities of the units might be suspect.

[TMPikachu]

well, the Kungfu history is that Emperor Tang Taizhong had strong ties to Shaolin because they had saved his life, and he sent Imperial guardsmen to study at Shaolin monastery, and there Shaolin recorded the "Imperial" style martial art used by guardsmen. That's how the story goes, I don't know how much validity is in it.

[Yun]

TMPikachu started a thread on this some time ago: http://www.chinahist...?showtopic=2656