Black Robe Guard

Biodata

Background / History

The Black Robe Guard was established to restrain martial artists and maintain a balance between the martial world and the imperial court. Successive Great Zhou emperors strengthened it until, by Song Xuan’s generation, it had become a colossal force with authority extending throughout the empire 9 14.

Its hereditary lineages trace their official standing to ancestors who followed the Founding Emperor in opening frontiers and expanding the realm. These families hold no noble titles, but their deep roots in the Guard make them among the emperor’s most trusted supporters 32 33.

By the time of Song Xuan’s posting to Mingzhou, many hereditary households had dwindled in numbers or lost their successors, retaining their names without their former strength. Xu Chang’an’s murder was suspected to be a test of the lineages’ remaining influence. Zhao Dezhu sent Song Xuan to replace him not merely to fill the vacancy, but to reassert their power 48.

Organization

Three Offices

The three offices are connected but relatively independent. Hereditary descendants generally begin in the Inspection Office; promotion to second class provides an opportunity for reassignment based on assessment performance 6.

Regional Offices and Imperial Prisons

• Local outposts: Huai’an Commandery has an Enforcement Office outpost capable of supplying an elite mounted squad 13 14.
• Thousand-Household Offices: Regional establishments include the Jiangzhe Prefecture office in Yangzhou, headed by thousand-household commander Fang Cheng 48 49.
• Imperial Prisons: Every Thousand-Household Office maintains one. Interrogation and punishment of prisoners arrested by the Guard take place there, making the prison a core institution 49.
• Prison command: The thousand-household commander normally serves concurrently as prison pacification commissioner or assigns a trusted confidant. Song Xuan’s direct appointment to the Jiangzhe prison threatens Fang Cheng’s control 49.
• Internal factions: Rival camps compete throughout the organization, including within the Inspection Office itself. Shared affiliation does not guarantee cooperation 48 49.

Authority and Jurisdiction

Imperial Powers

• Broad jurisdiction: According to Zhao Dezhu, the Guard can investigate anything within Great Zhou unless the emperor explicitly forbids it by decree 9.
• Independence from civil administration: It answers directly to the emperor rather than any court department 1.
• Case takeover: Its agents can assume control of local investigations and remove prisoners from local custody, as Song Xuan does with Sun Liu and her husband 10 15.
• Lethal enforcement: Zhao Dezhu authorizes the Song siblings to kill when threatened and promises to bear responsibility for resulting trouble 6.
• Escalation against sects: A sect sheltering an offender can be reported to the Imperial Capital, which may dispatch a first-class guard depending on the circumstances 17.

Martial-World Policy

• Usual nonintervention: The Guard generally leaves martial artists’ internal fighting alone when it does not harm innocent people or brutalize ordinary citizens 14.
• Grounds for action: Martial artists harming commoners cross its stated bottom line and give it grounds to intervene 17.
• Political restraint: Shen Lian warns that meddling in martial affairs without a suitable justification could unite the martial world against the Guard 16.
• Civilian relations: Song Xuan describes martial artists and officials as its main targets, stating that it does not deliberately seek trouble with ordinary people 42.

Ranks and Recruitment

Guard Classes

Second-class guards are further divided into battalion commander, company captain, company commander, and squad leader. Martial artists recruited from outside generally begin as squad leaders and need accumulated merit to become company commanders. Capital-based hereditary recruits with strong backing, such as Song Xuan, can begin at company commander immediately after passing their assessment 14.

Later appointments also use hundred-household commander, deputy hundred-household commander, and thousand-household commander. Song Xuan and Song Qian receive the first two posts respectively, while Fang Cheng holds the third in Jiangzhe Prefecture 32 49.

Promotion Assessment

• Purpose: Tests whether candidates can kill and face criminals who may disregard government authority 2.
• Danger: Song Yuanshan states that more than half of annual participants are injured or killed 1.
• Assignment selection: Zhao Dezhu offers the Song siblings several comparatively easy cases; they choose Langlang Mountain bandit suppression 2.
• Observation: Guard personnel secretly watch their fighting, record their performance, and report it to superiors 4.
• Reassignment: Successful candidates may transfer between offices. The Enforcement Office requests the siblings after their assessment, but Zhao Dezhu refuses because its work is dangerous 6.

Resources and Equipment

Pay and Hereditary Benefits

Secret Medicines

The Guard possesses the formulas for two medicines that help sustain its strength and deter the martial world 45.

• Great Rejuvenation Pill: Adds a year’s worth of internal power 1.
• Lesser Rejuvenation Pill: Treats internal and external injuries. It can also bring an ill or poisoned person close to full recovery within days, provided they are still alive 1 45.
• Restricted access: The pills are personally refined and bestowed by the Great Zhou Founder. They are exceptionally difficult to obtain outside the hereditary allotment system; even the emperor receives only a small annual allocation 1.

Uniforms, Arms, and Training

• Black robes and battle robes: Recognizable uniforms that cause civilians, officials, and soldiers to keep their distance 8 34.
• Identification tokens: Used to establish official authority and announce investigations; Zhao Dezhu issues new tokens when the siblings become second-class guards 6 9.
• Weapons and armor: Song Xuan’s listed standard equipment includes flexible armor and a longsword. Enforcement elites carry dark iron sabers, while guards gathering at the Jia Mansion wear black armor 3 14 34.
• Mounts: Blue-Maned Horses are used by Song Xuan’s traveling team; Enforcement squads also deploy on warhorses 3 9 14.
• Basic martial training: Includes unarmed combat, saber techniques, and sword techniques. Access to formidable techniques is associated with advancement into the Guard’s upper ranks 3.
• Cultivation records: The Guard maintains records on martial cultivation that Song Xuan uses when developing his ideas about the Sword Dao 44.
• Signal arrows: Song Xuan uses one to summon nearby guards during the Jia Mansion confrontation 34.

Notable Personnel

• Great Zhou Emperor — Direct sovereign authority over the organization. Orders the commander summoned after suspecting infiltration into the Guard 1 32.
• Black Robe Guard Commander — Unnamed overall commander; summons Zhao Dezhu to meetings and is answerable to the emperor 8 32.
• Zhao Dezhu — Head of the Imperial Capital’s Inspection Office. Oversees the Song siblings’ assessment, protects them from an Enforcement transfer, and directs their provincial posting 6 32 48.
• Song Xuan — Hereditary Song household member; advances from third-class guard to second class, then becomes a hundred-household commander and Jiangzhe Imperial Prison pacification commissioner 1 6 32 49.
• Song Qian — Song Xuan’s sister and fellow hereditary guard; promoted to second class and later deputy hundred-household commander 6 32.
• Shen Lian — Enforcement Office company commander who supplies armed support for the Huai’an investigation 14 17.
• Jin Yichuan — Enforcement Office squad leader serving under Shen Lian 14.
• Lu Xiaoliu, Monkey, and Big Ox — Third-class guards recruited into Song Xuan’s first investigative team 8 9.
• Xu Chang’an — Murdered hundred-household commander of the hereditary Xu household; Song Xuan is assigned to succeed him 33 48 49.
• Fang Cheng — Jiangzhe Prefecture thousand-household commander who resents Song Xuan’s appointment and loss of control over the Imperial Prison 49.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Langlang Mountain Assessment

• Song Xuan and Song Qian kill bandits attacking a village while hidden observers assess their performance 3 4.
• After the assessment is complete, Guard personnel wipe out the stronghold. Song Xuan identifies the clean, single-blow killings as characteristic of Enforcement Office work 4 6.
• Zhao Dezhu confirms their promotion to second class and immediately assigns them an investigation 6.

Huai’an and the Tian Household

• An apparent adultery case reaches the Inspection Office through the Ministry of Justice. Song Xuan suspects that senior officials are using the Guard against political rivals but proceeds to establish the facts 9.
• The investigation uncovers a pattern of supposed adultery cases involving married women, with no male accomplices caught. Shen Lian’s Enforcement squad joins the hunt for the suspected flower thief 14.
• The Guard removes prisoners from local custody, confronts officials, and fights through the Tian household’s private guards at the Jianghuai prefectural office 15 17 18.
• The resulting scandal reaches the imperial court. The emperor dismisses the minister of justice and orders further investigations; a later account reports three great families exterminated and several senior officials imprisoned 21 48.

Jia Mansion Blockade

• Song Xuan summons two or three hundred guards after the Jia household prevents Lin Daiyu from leaving and insults the siblings 34 35.
• The guards threaten searches and arrests, then escort Daiyu’s carriage in formation after the household releases her 35 36.
• Zhao Dezhu dismisses the incident as youthful impulsiveness, and the emperor declines to intervene 36 37.

Mingzhou Posting and Internal Conflict

• A report claiming that a Houtian-peak officer drowned while drunk prompts the emperor to suspect infiltration of the Guard 32.
• The siblings examine Xu Chang’an’s body and establish that he was killed before entering the water, his heart shattered by a martial technique 48.
• Zhao Dezhu authorizes Song Xuan to establish the hereditary lineages’ strength and permits him to mobilize nearby Enforcement forces if necessary 48.
• At Jiangzhe’s Thousand-Household Office, Fang Cheng and his officers oppose the newcomer. Song Xuan’s prison appointment intensifies the dispute by removing a key institution from Fang Cheng’s control 49.

Reputation

• Among civil officials: Hated and feared; many prefer to avoid contact or offer gifts rather than provoke an investigation 10 11.
• Among ordinary people: Compared to King Yama’s mortal office, with agents likened to his devils. The Imperial Prison is notorious for leaving prisoners unable to emerge intact 10 11.
• Among martial artists: Derided as the court’s “hawks and hounds,” while remaining powerful enough to make sects wary of direct confrontation 16 17.
• As protectors: Villagers terrorized by Langlang Mountain’s bandits welcome the Guard’s intervention, and Song Xuan offers his name as protection against corrupt local officials 4.