What is the function of the ancient "gold medal for immunity from death"?

The "death-free gold medal" seems to us to mean that it can save one's own death, but in real ancient times, it actually had no self-protective effect. I believe that in ancient times, the gold medal for immunity from death actually represented a kind of honor. People who really received the gold medal for immunity from death in history generally did not die well.

The death-free gold medal was first discovered in the Han Dynasty, and was sent by Liu Bang to his men. At that time, it was called the "Alchemy Book and Iron Coupon", which was not the one we saw in the TV series. Small token. In the Han Dynasty, the role of gold medals to avoid death was not as great as imagined. It was considered an honor at most, because all the gold medals obtained were heroes who had conquered the world together with Liu Bang. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the "Alchemy Book and Iron Coupon" was considered to have the effect of avoiding death. At that time, the emperor felt that rather than granting some land resources, it would be better to grant a guarantee of avoiding death, but even though he gave you a piece of "Gold medal for immunity from death", it is up to the emperor to decide whether he will die or not.

In the Ming Dynasty, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang also gave "Elixir Book Iron Coupon" gold medals to avoid death to these heroes who helped him unify the world. However, it was different from the gold medals in previous periods. , Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang added a standard, that is, except for treason, all other crimes can be exempted from death. Therefore, these important ministers who had obtained the gold medal for immunity from death were eventually killed by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang for the crime of rebellion. The gold medal for immunity from death turned into a joke. In the Qing Dynasty, there was no such thing as a gold medal to avoid death. However, there was a yellow jacket in the Qing Dynasty, but the effect of the yellow jacket was not that great and it could not save people from death.

As the saying goes, if the king wants his subjects to die, the subjects will have to die. Although the emperor gave these important ministers a gold medal to avoid death, this honor can be taken back at will. After all, just like our current shopping mall activities, all final interpretation rights are based on what the store says. After winning the gold medal, you actually need to be more careful. Therefore, the death-free gold medal cannot actually protect oneself.