In ancient China, wars were quite frequent, and wars are closely related, in addition to the direct determinants of grain and grass, national strength and other direct determinants, the role of the military system should not be underestimated, a good military system can greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the national army, a good army and a perfect military system is inseparable. Today, we will take a look at the two major military systems in ancient China - the government military system and the conscription system.
The government military system was founded in the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties of China, and the Western Wei Dynasty Yuwentai established the government military system in 550, the basic content of which includes the establishment of generals, the leadership system and the management of military status.
During the reign of the Great Unification of the Western Wei Dynasty, Yu Wentai, an important minister of the state and also the ruler of the dynasty, set up eight pillars of the state generals across the country, including him and the emperor, a total of eight. In addition to his internal and external military supervision, the emperor is only a false name, and cannot lead the troops, so in fact, the manager of the whole ** team is the general of the six pillar states, Yuwentai is extremely satisfied with the number of six generals, he thinks that this is in line with the system of the six armies of Zhouli; Under the six pillars, each governor has two generals, and the twelve generals manage two additional Kaifu, and one Kaifu leads one army, so there are a total of 24 armies in the country. In wartime, ** not only ordered the Kaifu generals, but also temporarily appointed generals with soldiers and horses, which weakened the power in the hands of the Kaifu generals; In terms of military registration management, the place of origin of government soldiers will be moved out of civilian registration and a separate list will be established.
Government soldiers, as the name suggests, are soldiers of the military government, and it was stipulated at that time that those who were government soldiers should provide their own equipment and equipment, and they would not be burdened with other military duties. The establishment of the military system is a major reform of the military system of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, on the basis of inheriting the military system of the previous generation, a huge reform was carried out on the government soldier system, and the government soldier system was further consolidated. According to the land sharing system, land is allocated to soldiers to engage in production; Others need to take turns to escort or perform other tasks in the capital in accordance with regulations.
The commander-in-chief of the Sui military system followed the old system of "Wei and Zhou Twelve Generals", placing twelve guards, each of which had a general, and the commander-in-chief was the emperor. Unlike the previous dynasties, the command of the government soldiers was concentrated in the hands of the emperor rather than a single minister, which strengthened the rule of the feudal emperor.
After the victory of the War of Unification of the Whole Country, the Tang Dynasty continued to use the government military system in the national military system, and with the development of the country and the expansion of the army, the government military system was more perfect and detailed. In the tenth year of Tang Zhenguan (636), Tang Taizong Li Shimin stipulated that the ** leaders of the government soldiers were the left and right guards, the left and right military guards, and the six rates of the East Palace were secondary institutions, and the general of the twelve guards was only one person and directly obeyed the emperor's orders, which greatly ensured the loyalty of the government soldiers, and at the same time, the emperor could directly control the national army under ideal conditions, and the six rates of the East Palace would each set up a rate of one person, which was under the jurisdiction of the prince. The basic unit of the government soldiers is the Zhichong Mansion located all over the country, also known as the military government or military government, and the Zhichong Mansion is led by the two captains of Zhichong and Guoyi, and is the highest military commander of the Zhichong Prefecture. According to the number of combat power, there are upper, middle and lower three classes, with 1,200 soldiers in the upper government, 1,000 soldiers in the middle government, and 800 soldiers in the lower government.
The state has set the policy of "controlling the heavy and controlling the light" with the government military system and geographical key positions: the military government is set up all over the country, especially the most concentrated place in Chang'an Guanneidao, and therefore holds heavy troops, and there is ** wrote that "the people in the pass are in the Quartet". Regarding the loyalty of the soldiers, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty in addition to promoting his trusted people as the general of the twelve guards, but also attached great importance to the military order, the Tang Dynasty soldiers must rely on the military talisman of Shangshu Province can be transferred, when the country fell into war, the emperor handed over the talisman of Shangshu Province to the general, ordered the general to lead the army to the battle, after the war, the general returned to the court, the soldier returned to the house, so it was difficult for the general to intervene in the state affairs and government with the army, which is what people later said "will be impermanent, soldiers are impermanent." In this way, the emperor made the right to command the army temporary, and separated the temporary power to command the army from the right to transfer troops, ensuring the absolute control of the country's government and soldiers, and maintaining the centralization and national unity.
In short, if the pre-Tang Dynasty simply combined the military military system with the production of the military military system and the production of the military system, then the Tang Dynasty's military system is a further improvement of this, the government military system is not only based on the military system, but also the system of the military system to ensure the stability of the military system, these two systems together created a situation of "integration of soldiers and peasants".
The government soldiers are fighting for the country, the government soldiers and guards joined the army at the age of 21, and were exempted from military service at the age of 60, and the state gave the land, but they needed to prepare their own weapons, armor and grain and grass to go to war. The government soldiers who have land participate in agricultural production in peacetime, and concentrate on training in winter in their spare time, in addition to the government soldiers also have the responsibility of defending the capital and guarding the frontier. The state guarantees the government soldiers through the uniform field system, and also reduces the national military expenditure through the uniform field system. Therefore, after the destruction of the Juntian system in the later period, it was difficult for the government military system to stand alone. The relations of production are always to react on the productive forces.
As we mentioned above, the soldiers requisitioned under the government soldier system should bring their own weapons and food, but with the development of society, after the collapse of the uniform field system, many soldiers lost their land, had no economy, not only had no money, but even could not eat, coupled with the frequent foreign wars in the Tang Dynasty, the soldiers under the government soldiers often did not return for a long time, so the enthusiasm of the government soldiers in the middle and late Tang Dynasty was generally not high.
Until the eighth year of Tang Tianbao (749), the grass-roots institution of the government soldier system in Zhichong Mansion has been unable to hand over even a soldier in the whole country, and the rulers of the Tang Dynasty had to stop the government soldier system and change to the conscription system. It is worth mentioning that the combat effectiveness of soldiers under the conscription system is higher than that of the soldiers under the government military system, because the soldiers under the conscription system are out of production, are professional soldiers, and have more training than the soldiers under the government military system, and the army under the conscription system is not only issued by the state with unified standard equipment, but also the state bears all the expenses of the army.
Both the government military system and the conscription system are the construction of the national military system, both of which were produced in the context of different social developments, and both were more suitable for the overall social conditions at that time, but they were not perfect military systems, such as the government soldiers were not highly motivated, but the state military expenditure was very small, and the division of powers such as dispatch, training and command was clear, which almost eliminated the harm of the general's arbitrary power. Another example is that although the recruited soldiers are highly motivated and have sufficient soldiers, they increase the financial burden of the state, making military expenditure a major expenditure, and even some countries in history have lost their country because of this; In addition, the training and deployment of the army belongs to the generals, and once the generals change, it will endanger the stability of the country.
Another difference is the identity of the soldiers, the soldiers under the government military system are a combination of soldiers and farmers, both soldiers and farmers, and the soldiers under the conscription system are in the army, and in general, it is more difficult to command the recruited soldiers.
The ancient Chinese military system is constantly changing in the ever-evolving society, if the ruler can keenly discover when to use what military system, then he can dominate the world, look at the world, and only know that blindly follow the system of the previous dynasty, or even without reform, then the country is in danger, the reason for the secession of feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty is that the ruler in the case of following the conscription system, did not keenly notice the changes in the army, and did not know the power to control the recruitment of local generals.
In short, there is no perfect military system, if you want stability, you need to use the government military system, and if you want combat power, you can use the conscription system.