"Under the world is the king's land, and the territory is the king's minister?" -"The Book of Songs Xiaoya Beishan Beishan"

This famous saying runs through the history of China for more than 2,000 years, which shows that imperial power is supreme and irreplaceable. There is no land under the sun that does not belong to the emperor, and there is no one under the sun who does not submit to the emperor.

But the question is, with so many people in the world, how can the emperor manage it alone? If someone bends the law, isn't it difficult to manage "the sky is high and the emperor is far away"? It is extremely dangerous that no matter how good a small matter is, it will gradually turn into a major event, thus affecting the emperor's rule.

Therefore, in order to better consolidate the status of imperial power, the emperor had to hand over some rights, but this power must not be given to those who are mercenary and damage their loyalty, but must be given to those who can be entrusted.

Then how to convince others of the power of these people became a problem, so the emperor took four weapons representing imperial power as evidence of the power of law enforcers and exercised their rights like an emperor. So what are these four weapons? Just introduce them one by one.

The first thing: whip the king.

First of all, the first weapon is the well-known king whip. The most famous whip-holder is Wei Chijingde in the Tang Dynasty, and our people respect him as a keeper. We often see the keeper sticking to it, and the weapon in Wei Chijingde's hand is a whip.

Whip is actually a short weapon in ancient China, which appeared earlier and became popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. There are two kinds of whips: soft whips and hard whips. Hard whips are mostly made of copper or iron, and soft whips are mostly made of leather, which are generally used to drive away animals. What we are going to talk about today is the hard whip.

Legend has it that in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, in order to consolidate his imperial power and protect his country, gave Weichi Gong a pair of whips to beat the king. His original intention is to entrust the country to this minister, so that Weichi Gong has the right to help him rectify the super-class. Therefore, this pair of whips also has the right to "beat the king, beat the traitor" and even start work first.

In ancient times, not every decision of the emperor was right. In order not to let future generations fall into the fatuous situation of extravagance and extravagance, Li Shimin specially entrusted Weichi Gong to help him supervise and manage and be the guardian angel of the next generation of emperors. This is also a measure to stabilize the situation in Jiangshan invented by the old minister a hundred years later.

There is such a record in Biography of the Tang Dynasty that Wei Chijingde beat the king's whip, which is engraved with "A bad king has no way, a minister is unfaithful, a man of God is inevitable, and a high-impedance god seals it". This also fully reflected the emperor's recognition of Weichi Gong, granted him power, and helped the emperor stabilize the Chaogang.

The second piece: Fang Shangjian

When it comes to beating the king's whip, we have to mention that it has the same status as beating the king's whip. Fang Shangjian was popular in Han Dynasty and Ming and Qing Dynasties. Fang Shangjian got its name from Fang Shang, who was responsible for making imperial vessels in ancient times. This place specializes in making royal utensils. Because only the royal family can use it, this kind of sword has been given the privilege of imperial power since its birth. So no matter who holds it, it seems that the emperor has come in person and mastered the power of life and death.

To say this sword is also very gorgeous. There are a pair of dragons and phoenixes carved on both sides of the body, decorated with the Big Dipper, which is extremely luxurious. But some people will say, what's the use of just looking good? Not necessarily easy to use! This is a big mistake, because Fang Shangjian was called "Fang Shangsaber" in Han Dynasty. A sword can chop a horse, which is a veritable sword. It was only in the Ming Dynasty that it was renamed Commercial Housing Construction.

The third piece: "Blue Sky Three Harvesters"

So besides the sword on the side, what other weapons can represent the imperial power? That is the legendary "three mowers in the sky" in the Song Dynasty, that is, dragon spear, tiger spear and dog spear, which were three mowers given by the emperor.

In "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness", the hay cutter in the sky is a torture device that Qin gave to Bao Zheng in Kaifeng. There is a hay cutter here, just like the emperor here, who has the privilege of acting first.

According to legend, when Bao Zheng handled the case, the emperor gave Bao Zheng three blank letters for convenience, so that Bao Zheng could dispose of those who hindered him at will in the process of solving the case. Later, Gongsun Ce designed these three blank letters into three hay cutters, and was appointed by Song Renzong as the hero to deter the ruling and opposition parties.

Among the three straw cutters, the leading spear is the highest level, which can be used to cut the pro-cutting country, and truly achieve "the Emperor breaks the law and Shu Ren is guilty". We have seen the allusion of Chen Shimei in Ann, which is the leading spear.

Secondly, the tiger shovel can be used to shovel corrupt officials and control illegal officials. The dog head can kill bullies without going through the procedure.

However, many people now think that this is just a folklore, which is not true. Moreover, according to the real historical records, there is no case of using the straw cutter as a torture device in ancient Chinese law, and the straw cutter is only a tool used by nomadic people to cut grass, so it is really difficult to say whether there is such a royal gift of the three straw cutters in history.

Fourth: Zhang Xi, the governor of Kowloon.

The last weapon that can be used to "beat the king and behead the treacherous court official" is the leading crutch. In ancient times, only military commanders or outstanding civil servants had the opportunity to be given this weapon. The most famous weapon is the leading crutch held by She Taijun, Tian Bo County in Song Dynasty. Because of Yang Jiajiang's outstanding achievements, he was granted supreme power by the emperor.

The full name of She Taijun's walking stick is Zhang Xi, a member of the Kowloon Army. It is engraved with eight small characters, such as "Although I have no driver, I will come personally", which is a royal gift from Song Taizu and Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperors of the Song Dynasty. So whoever holds it has the same strength as Zhao Kuangyin, so even later Song Taizong and Zhao Guangyi will descend to meet him, and She Taijun will take it to the temple without bowing to the emperor. In normal times, as long as you have this treasure stick in your hand, no matter how big an official you meet on the road, you have to stand aside. It can be said that it is very terrible. Of course, because she is loyal to her country, she will not do anything disloyal and disrespectful with this crutch.

These are four weapons handed down from ancient times in China, which can be used to "kill the king and behead the treacherous court official". It doesn't really matter what the four weapons are. If you don't have the strength, even the imperial weapon, the emperor in power can still take it back. What the emperor is afraid of is not weapons, but the real strength of those who hold weapons. So for us, whenever and wherever, the most important thing is to improve our own strength. Only when our own strength is strong enough to make the other party feel inseparable from you, you are the decisive party, and you will be taken away by others everywhere.