MDZS/The Untamed Cultural Annotation Thread 4: Did you know the Stygian Tiger Seal is based off the real "tiger tallies" used to mobilize armies in ancient China?

before photos were a thing, it was uhh a real issue for troops to figure out which commands to trust. i mean, you could have some random person who's like "yeah I'm here with orders from the King actually, now MOVE"

tiger tallies were used to make sure the order was authentic

how they worked was that they were cast as two pieces that could only fit each other, then the mould was destroyed. the king kept the right half and the left half was sent off to the local army leader. only when the messenger provided the king's half could an army be mobilized

to my Chinese speakers out there, the term "符合" (to match up) is derived from this act of matching the halves of tiger tallies together. to prevent rebellions, even being a recognized general couldn't let you mobilize more than 50 troops at once. you HAD to have the right tally

idk how the pictures came across but they were TINY, btw

there have only been 3 ancient tiger tallies that have been unearthed. forgeries weren't easily made because every tally had unique inscriptions that the trusted commanders memorized

but has a King's tally ever been stolen??

yes. one very famous time, near the end of the Warring States era (basically the Top 7 of the various kingdoms that existed before China got unified in 221BCE)

the situation was that Qin MASSACRED Zhao in a huge battle and besieged its capital. shit was so bad that its people were trading babies to eat and burning bones for warmth

so its King begged for help from its neighboring state of Wei, but Qin terrorized Wei into stopping

but the King of Wei's brother, a prominent official named Wei Wuji 魏无忌 (same Wei and same Wu as Wei Wuxian!) was like NO I DON'T CARE WE HAVE TO GO HELP THOSE PEOPLE AND ALSO OUR SISTER'S IN THAT CITY??

so he got a concubine to steal the tally from the king's bedroom

this concubine did it because she owed him a favor for getting justice for her father's murder. she likely got executed for it after. idk. chinese historians didn't give a shit about her fate

but this incident became known as "Stealing the Tally to Save Zhao"

though even when they brought the tally to the general in charge of the Wei troops, the general had a moment of doubt.jpg

BUT THEY STRAIGHT UP JUST KILLED HIM LMAOOO

SO THIS IS NOT A FOUL PROOF PLAN IT ONLY WORKS UNDER EXTREME DESPERATION

the army ended up saving Zhao and so the Warring States continued for another few decades

but the greatest dramatic irony is that there was someone else in the city who could've died if the city had fallen: a 3yo son of a hostage Qin prince, abandoned before the siege -

who is this kid?? his name was Ying Zheng

AKA QIN SHI HUANG, THE FUTURE FIRST EMPEROR OF CHINA LMAOOO

SO THIS ACT OF TALLY THEFT ACCIDENTALLY SAVED THE LIFE OF THE MENACE THAT WOULD DESTROY ALL THE WARRING STATES AND CREATE CHINA OUT OF THEIR ASHES

Wei Wuji (Lord Xinling) in the final years of his life, probably: FUCK, I SHOULD'VE LET YOU DIE IN THAT CITY

Ying Zheng: *finger guns while getting the King of Wei to dispose of Wei Wuji through a series of shady schemes*