For those who are interested in the rebellion of ancient generals, the History Encyclopedia editor brings detailed articles for your reference. Why did most soldiers in ancient times listen to the general instead of being loyal to the emperor when he rebelled?
In the past, people used to believe that political power could emerge from the barrel of a gun. In fact, whoever could control the army of the country at that time had the bargaining chip to control the state power.
Looking back at the past and present, both at home and abroad, it is like this. If we start from this point, then the emperor himself must control the army.
Otherwise, the position of the emperor would not be what he said he wanted to be. Without military power, he could become a puppet of some people who hold military power in minutes, or even be demoted by some people.
And those ancient generals who were already holding heavy troops must have developed a group of their own confidants under their control, who would only listen to the generals’ words.
If you collapse, then the large number of generals you promote may not escape the fate of being purged and replaced, after all, they all know who is who.
Moreover, the soldiers and generals under their command have been living together day and night, even being brothers who can go through life and death together. What kind of emotional bond would this be?
And we need to understand that they are their generals who train with them every day. If something happens, the only one who can share joys and sorrows with them is the general.
Have the soldiers who spend their days on the battlefield and in the military camp ever seen the emperor? Can I see the emperor? Most of them may not even know who the emperor is.
Perhaps in the eyes of these soldiers, the emperor’s words may seem like symbols at most, and he cannot be considered a person at all. Since they are no longer considered human in their eyes, how could they possibly have emotions?
So, if the lower level officials want to rebel, there will definitely be voices of support from multiple parties. Even if they want to break the skin with the emperor and publicly rebel, to be honest, it is not impossible.
Since the soldiers below have no contact with the distant emperor, it means they cannot establish any interest connections with the so-called distant emperor.
So, in this case, can soldiers be beaten less in the military camp, and can they add two extra pieces of meat to each meal.
When fighting on the battlefield, can we avoid charging forward and be arranged in a relatively rear position of the army, instead of being cannon fodder charging forward. In fact, these are all about monitoring the expressions of one’s own centurion, centurion, centurion, and even the general.
If the generals on the front line want to rebel, then the soldiers under their command will naturally only say that they care about the attitude of their immediate superiors.
Any dynasty that can lead to underground rebellion is actually flawed in the design of certain systems, such as some systems in the Tang Dynasty that had many drawbacks.
After the establishment of a regime, it will also face many difficulties or difficult choices in controlling the military power of the army.
To be more precise, after becoming emperor, one must not only prevent one’s own brother, the prince, from rebelling, but also prevent the possibility of rebellion among the generals under one’s command.
So it has to be said that in this situation, the issue of ancient emperors’ control over the army and military power was really exhausting and they did everything they could.
In fact, the legitimacy of the existence of ancient emperors was already an unsolvable issue, despite the many reasons they concocted for themselves, such as being the supreme emperor, having divine authority, and requiring unanimous support from the masses.
However, a statement from Chen Sheng and Wu Guang at that time quickly overturned this theory – could there be something else between princes and generals?
Later on, upon careful consideration, it was discovered that it was indeed as they claimed, and Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was only from a commoner background.
If the emperors want to sit on their throne steadily, then when it comes to the bottom, they still need to rely on these two things to maintain their current rule. One is to restrain people’s thoughts; The second is the need for oppression through force.
Moreover, the concept of thought can be changed anytime and anywhere. For example, if you say you are the emperor today, you are the greatest.
Perhaps tomorrow, it can also be said that others are the true dragon emperor and so on. Thought is arguably the most uncontrollable thing.
So after excluding one thing, the only thing left that can truly guarantee the throne as an emperor, which can be incredibly stable, is military force, also known as a large army.
In fact, to put it simply, in ancient times, if someone had control over the army and military power, then they might have claimed to be the true emperor at that time.
In summary, this issue is actually quite similar to the working class in today’s era. If your team leader doesn’t want to do it anymore.
When you want to switch jobs, at that time, most people would say that you followed the team leader and left, because after all, it is a team that has been working together for a long time and has a tacit understanding. Even this team can be said to be twisted into a rope.
But we rarely hear nowadays that when a company’s general manager wants to switch jobs, the more junior employees under his command may say they followed the general manager to switch jobs.
It’s not that the people under your command are disobedient, but rather that they may not even be able to reach the general manager, and some may not even have met in person. By then, you may know them, but they may not necessarily know you.
The same principle applies when facing this issue, because for these soldiers at the grassroots level, they may only be loyal to their immediate superiors and able to meet in person. As for the distant emperor, it is really too far away and a bit too dreamy for them. Fundamentally, it does not affect them. Therefore, these soldiers naturally do not care who the emperor is, but will rebel with the general they live with day and night.