There is an opinion that the largest dynasty in Chinese history was not the Yuan Dynasty, which was founded by the Mongols, but the Tang Dynasty. What's even more interesting is that this extreme territory was not created by the famous Tang Taizong Li Shimin, but by Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, who was selectively ignored by later generations. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the territory of the Tang Dynasty stretched from the Korean Peninsula in the east, the Aral Sea in the west, Lake Baikal in the north, and Hengshan in Vietnam in the south, with a land area of 12.37 million square kilometers.
Map of the territory of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, the Tang Dynasty also achieved a goal that was difficult for the later Central Plains Dynasty (except for the Manchu Dynasty, which I personally believe was not a pure Central Plains dynasty, but a composite dynasty similar to the Liao): to crush the nomads in the northern steppes and achieve de facto control over the steppes. This point has not been reached even in the Han Dynasty, which is full of martial values, even if the Han Dynasty has excellent generals such as Wei Qing and Huo Quzhi, which are rare in a thousand years.
To achieve this goal, the government and military system implemented by the Tang Dynasty made great contributions. This military system, pioneered by Jieyu Wentai, a generation of the Western Wei Dynasty, is considered to be the most effective and powerful military service system in ancient China. More importantly, this system has a unique advantage, that is, it effectively solves the contradiction between military expenditure and fiscal expenditure.
The cavalry figurines unearthed from the tomb of Prince Yide should be the prototype of the six-rate soldiers of the East Palace, who are mainly government soldiers like the Twelve Guards.
As soon as the cannon sounded, ** ten thousand taels. Although ancient wars did not have a gold-devouring beast like artillery, maintaining an army of a certain size would also consume a lot of resources. After all, the army requires adequate provisions, which requires a huge amount of financial expenditure to maintain. Once the expenditure is too large, the entire dynasty will fall into crisis. This was especially true in the middle and late dynasties, and this was how the Song and Ming dynasties were dragged down. In contrast, the government military system consumes less because it has achieved the integration of soldiers and peasants to a certain extent.
The government soldiers are selected from the Juntian households and obtain land from the state as economic security, but they need to prepare a considerable amount of equipment. In wartime, the country basically does not need to consume anything, and the financial expenditure is greatly reduced.
Tang Dynasty cavalry. Such a military service system can be said to be the most ideal military service system in the feudal era, but it eventually died out. In the eighth year of Tianbao (749 AD), the fish charm of the government soldiers was discontinued, and the government military system officially collapsed. A few years later, the Anshi Rebellion, which reversed the state of the Tang Dynasty, broke out, and the Tang Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline.
From the glory of sweeping the four seas during the Zhenguan period to the gloomy exit during the Tianbao period, the rise and fall of the government soldiers is almost a portrayal of the fate of the Tang Dynasty. And how did all this happen? The reasons are complex, but the following points are the most important.
The heavily armed Tang Dynasty forbidden army and emperor.
The first is the destruction of the system. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, in addition to foreign warfare, the government soldiers also had the task of taking turns to guard the Beijing Division, which was called "Shangfan". According to the distance between the Zhichong Mansion and the Jingshi, it is given: one hundred miles away, five months is the turn of the Zhiban Shangsu Wei for one month, which is called Wuban; Five hundred miles away, seven months is the turn of the straight fan to go to the guard for one month, called the seventh; A thousand miles away, eight months is the turn of the straight fan to go to the guard for a month, called eight; More than 2,000 miles, eighteen months to the turn of the straight side of the guard for two months, become the ninth ......Regardless of whether the dormitory is one month or two months, it refers to the actual date of the dormitory, excluding the round-trip time.
Although it takes a lot of time to go to Beijing and make a round trip, it is generally bearable. However, from the later period of Gaozong's reign, the system of taking turns to go straight was destroyed, and Tang ** began to let them go straight according to the regulations. This has seriously affected the agricultural production of the government soldiers' families, and the reason is very simple, the people who can perform the duties of the government soldiers are all strong young and middle-aged men, and they are responsible for the productivity in the agricultural era.
Schematic diagram of Tang Dynasty armor.
At the same time as the economic conditions deteriorated, the promotion mechanism of the government soldiers was destroyed. Originally, the soldiers who entered Beijing to guard the army can be regarded as the Praetorian Guard, known as the attendants, and their social status is quite high.
As the society of the Tang Dynasty became more stable, the original Twelve Guards of the Forbidden Army were no longer battle-hardened generals, but some incompetent relatives or generals who returned to the Tang Dynasty. The wingmen of the Twelve Guards Mansion have also become a channel for the children of the powerful to enter the body. These guys treat the straight guards like slaves. The status of the government soldiers plummeted, and the "attendants" in the capital Chang'an even became swearing. In this state, there are fewer and fewer people who are willing to serve as government soldiers, the quality of government soldiers is constantly declining, and the combat effectiveness of government soldiers is also declining.
An Lushan. Another important reason for the collapse of the military system was the protracted foreign wars of the Tang Dynasty. When the Western Wei Dynasty established the government military system, the territory was small, and the scope and time of government soldiers were relatively limited, and the impact on life was limited. In the Zhenguan period, the scope of operations expanded with the expansion of the territory of the Tang Dynasty, but the time was relatively short: "The expedition is not overdue, far from the age, but can overcome the victory." In this state, the burden of the government soldiers is not too heavy.
With the extension of the border, military missions have shown a trend of long-term and require a large number of troops to be garrisoned. Although most of these border guards were temporarily recruited, there were also a considerable number of government soldiers. This left the government soldiers with an almost endless burden of military service. Especially after the rise of Tibet, the confrontation and contest between the two sides showed a trend of normalization. In order to guard against the invasion of the Tibetan tribes, the Tang Dynasty had to station large armies in the area of present-day Qinghai and Gansu. The long-term garrison of the Tang Army, including the government soldiers, inevitably caused an unfavorable state of "fatigue of the division's veterans."
In later paintings, the Tibetan soldiers were well-equipped and the biggest opponents of the Tang army.
What's even more terrifying is that the government soldiers also have to face the consequences of defeat. In 670, Xue Rengui, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, was ordered to attack Tubo, but was defeated in Dafeichuan, with more than 100,000 dead (historical records, the specific number is unknown). Eight years later, in the third year of Yifeng, the 180,000 Tang army led by Liu Xianli and Heizhi Changzhi was once again defeated by Tubo. In 696, the Tang and Khitan fought a war, and tens of thousands of Tang soldiers were killed in the battle. The following year, the Tang army suffered heavy losses in the war with the Khitan, and the 170,000 army was wiped out ......In these battles, the generals of the unified army were all from the twelve guards of the forbidden army, and most of the soldiers under their command were government soldiers.
Even if it was a victory, the rich rewards of the Zhenguan years gradually disappeared. Because of the long-term war, there are not a few soldiers who have obtained military merits, and the Xuntian bound to it has gradually decreased or even disappeared completely. As early as the period of Emperor Wen of Sui, the household registration of the soldiers and their families has been under the jurisdiction of the local **, and the right of the whole family to be exempted from taxation and forced labor has also been lost. Only the soldiers themselves do not bear these responsibilities, and the difference between family members and ordinary households disappears. What's even worse is that in order to ensure income, local ** often conceals the information of dead and missing soldiers, so that there is a strange phenomenon of dead rent and storage.
The Tang Dynasty had a large number of infantry soldiers, and the responsibilities of the remaining soldiers such as guarding and conquest would increase. Once it is unbearable, fleeing becomes an inevitable option, and this creates a vicious circle.
All of the above are objective reasons, and the collapse of the Juntian system is a fatal blow to the government military system. Originally, under the equalization system, ordinary families could obtain two different types of land from the state: Yongye and Koufen. But as the population grew and land annexation intensified, the state held less and less land, and there was not enough land to allocate.
This situation is acceptable to ordinary people, but it is unbearable for the families of government soldiers! Because they need to bring their own horses, horizontal knives and other ** equipment, the cost is much more than that of ordinary families. Even if part of the rent adjustment is waived, it cannot be compensated. What's more, they have to go on a long-term expedition, and casualties are inevitable. Therefore, from the later years of Tang Gaozong and the reign of Wu Zetian, the economy of the government and soldiers has a tendency to decline.
Tang Dynasty soldiers. The improvement of the imperial examination system has also given children from ordinary families an additional way to advancement, and they can enter the official career without going to the battlefield. Even if you can't win by writing, you can participate in martial arts. The famous Guo Ziyi entered the military with martial arts, starting from a grassroots officer and achieving great fame.
Under various effects, the government military system collapsed, and the conscription system became the mainstream. What followed was that the situation of the early Tang Dynasty was heavy on the inside and light on the outside, and there was no armed force in the hands that could suppress the border towns. This laid a hidden danger for the later secession of feudal towns.