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/gravity8/cxyng8.html (Hierarchy of ranks of civil officials and military officers of Tang)
http://bbs4.tom.com/read_t.php?forumid=54&postid=584245 (Historical military organization of China)
http://zanmei.anyp.cn/49/articles/050119024751750.aspx?sv=1 (Tang's military organization)
http://www.yhwwhy.net/his/tang.htm (Introduction to Tang dynasty)
http://asp.6to23.com/satie1/hongwen/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.tw/~u9103045/report-3.htm (analyses military of Sui and Tang)

(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.

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.

(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.

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.

(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.

(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.

(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!

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.

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.

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

Tahnks Beagle! This helps alot!

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.

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.

TMPikachu started a thread on this some time ago: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=2656

The first two colored pictures Liang Jieming posted

does it seem too 'light' looking to be armor to others? Something about the armor, the way it's portrayed, looks odd. Like it's patterned cloth instead of metal plates.

That's because it's lamellar with a layer of cloth covering it. This was common for liangdang armour from the Age of Fragmentation onwards, and as you can see in the first picture it came to be applied to mingguang armour too.

Also, the FuBing largely disappered during Kaiyuan times and was replaced with full time professional frontier troops.

with this one, I know there's cloth over it. I guess... how tight was this clothing? Just that the guy on the left has a sort of "fat guy with a tight belt" appearance with how that rope sinks into his body.

Many Tang figurines of soldiers have that prominent bulge in the belly - it seems to have been a fashion at the time to tie the belt really tight.

or they were fat? heheh. I noticed that alot, the bulge. I thought "could it be a reflection of noble status?" like.. maybe the owners of these figurines could'be been 'plump' fellows?

HERE IS A LIST OF THE TANG TROOPS AT THE BEGINING OF TIEN BAO ERA (742 A.D.) FROM ZI ZHI TONG JIAN

【唐纪三十一】 起玄黓敦牂，尽强圉大渊献十一月，凡五年有奇。

玄宗至道大圣大明孝皇帝中之下天宝元年

朔，春，正月，丁未朔，上御勤政楼受朝贺，赦天下，改元。古

诙壬子，分平卢别为节度，以安禄山为节度使。

时，天下声教所被之州三百三十一，羁縻之州八百，置十节度、经略使以备边。安西节度抚宁西域，统龟兹、焉耆、于阗、疏勒四镇，治龟兹城，兵二万四千。北庭节度防制突骑施、坚昆，统瀚海、天山、伊吾三军，屯伊、西二州之境，治北庭都护府，兵二万人。河西节度断隔吐蕃、突厥，统赤水、大斗、建康、宁寇、玉门、黑离、豆卢、新泉八军，张掖、交城、白亭三守捉，屯凉、肃、瓜、沙、会五州之境，治凉州，兵七万三千人。朔方节度捍御突厥，统经略、丰安、定远三军，三受降城，安北、单于二都护府，屯灵、夏、丰三州之境，治灵州，兵六万四千七百人。河东节度与朔方掎角以御突厥，统天兵、大同、横野、岢岚四军，云中守捉，屯太原府忻、代、岚三州之境，治太原府，兵五万五千人。范阳节度临制奚、契丹，统经略、威武、清夷、静塞、恒阳、北平、高阳、唐兴、横海九军，屯幽、蓟、妫、檀、易、恒、定、漠、沧九州之境，治幽州，兵九万一千四百人。平卢节度镇抚室韦、靺鞨，统平卢、卢龙二军，榆关守捉，安东都护府，屯营、平二州之境，治营州，兵三万七千五百人。陇右节度备御吐蕃，统临洮、河源、白水、安人、振威、威戎、漠门、宁塞、积石、镇西十军，绥和、合川、平夷三守捉，屯鄯、廊、洮、河之境，治鄯州，兵七万五千人。剑南节度西抗吐蕃，南抚蛮獠，统天宝、平戎、昆明、宁远、澄川、南江六军，屯益、翼、茂、当、巂、柘、松、维、恭、雅、黎、姚、悉十三州之境，治益州，兵三万九百人。岭南五府经略绥静夷、獠，统经略、清海二军，桂、容、邕、交四管，治广州，兵万五千四百人。此外又有长乐经略，福州领之，兵千五百人。东莱守捉，莱州领之；东牟守捉，登州领之；兵各千人。凡镇兵四十九万人，马八万馀匹。开元之前，每岁供边兵衣粮，费不过二百万；天宝之后，边将奏益兵浸多，每岁用衣千二十万匹，粮百九十万斛，公私劳费，民始困苦矣。

Hi, I am very curious about the composition ShenCe or Divine Strategy armies. Apparently they numbered 240,000 men in the early 9th century when they stopped being just a northwestern garrison army and became the imperial guards, and they were a very formidable force! I want to know about what kinds of different units they had. Heavy or light infantry, did they have cataphract and horse archer cavalry, crossbowmen or some other kind of foot archers? Also, what was their training like?

Since their numbers are so large, to compare with the Western tradition I assume they are more comparable to the regular Roman army than just to the Praetorian Guard.

Can you recall where you got the figure 240,000?

In the entry from History of Tang, the highest figure quoted was 150,000.

As a full army in its own right, campaigning against warlords and foreigners, it should have all applicable units.

The ShenCe (Divine Strategy) Army became the primary military force under the control of the central authorities, used several times to deal with seditious jiedushi (provincial governor-generals), sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

For comparison purposes, I'd say they were more akin to the Tagma of late Byzantine Army rather than the Praetorians of the Roman Empire, the latter which was more known in history for its direct involvement in installing/deposing emperors. But as the ShenCe came under the control of eunuchs who installed and deposed emperors, there is a certain parallel, though here, it was the eunuchs controlling the soldiers, but it was the Praetorians who controlled the Roman Court.

But valid comparisons are limited as none of the above; ShenCe, Tagma and Praetorians, existed in a single form but underwent continuous changes through their respective existences.

I remember that there is a manuscript of the Imperial Guard in wall. They were equipped with bows, sword and a special helmet with neck protection looked very distinctive. Does anyone have this picture? It keeps wandering around CHF but I forget where it is? Depiction looks very different from what Liang have posted? I think they wear the kind of armour Wujiang and Yun discussed long ago: bubingjia or Burenjia

Boleslaw, here's a detail from that mural. We can see from the two chestplates that it was mingguang armour without cloth covering the lamellae.

Thanks for clarifying. The 240,000 figure is from Charles Benn. Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty


Were the Divine Strategy soldiers more professional and/or better equipped than the armies of the jiedushi or other regional powers would have been, then? I basically just want to know if they were as bad*** as they sound.

Thanks, I'd look out for it and check out his references.


Their quality varied throughout the existence of the unit.

As you might recall, they started out as a border unit under Geshu Han during the An-Shi rebellion. They distinguished themselves in several campaigns, but until they became the favoured unit of the Imperial Court, there was no mention of their having been better equipped.

Can't say whether they were more professional than other troops - if you mean professional as opposed to being mercenaries of doubtful loyalty, I don't see any differences since there was no mention of their loyalty being tested in the face of failure of payment or comparitively unattractive wages - they were very well paid since making a name for themselves.

As mentioned in the link (and check out Wikipedia's Imperial Guards (Tang Dynasty) entry which I created), their quality deteriorated sharply later - complacency, nepotism, corruption, hired-proxies and all.

Great article. The fact that Wikipedia has an Imperial Guard disambiguation page is pretty sweet. Somebody should expand the stub article on the Qing dynasty one.